𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

68

❝𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑,❞ mike wheeler began, "it built this monster in hawkins; to stop el, to kill her, and pave a way into our world." while the younger kids stayed closer to the fountain, both eleven and sheridan (the eldest out of three) were enveloped in their parents' arms as they sat along one of the many benches. steve paced directly next to dani, of course. his hands had naturally gravitated to his hips as he sauntered back and forth.

"and it almost did, that was just one tiny piece of it," nancy tacked on, alluding to the slug-looking creature eleven had wrenched from her body moments before.

"how big is this thing?" jim hopper questioned.

"it's big," jonathan answered. "thirty feet, at least."

"yeah... it sorta destroyed your cabin," lucas disclosed to the chief. he nodded in understanding; he didn't have the time or the emotional capacity right now to fully absorb the news. "sorry," the sinclair boy whispered.

"okay so, just to be clear," steve commenced, "this... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt el..." he motioned toward the young girl in hopper's arms. she sipped on her dad's burger king fountain drink as he held a cool rag to her head. "it's, like, some kind of gigantic... weapon?"

"yes," nancy replied plainly. her hand fell from her curled hair.

"but instead of, like, screws and metal, the mind flayer made its weapon... with melted people..."

"yes. exactly."

"yeah, okay, i- yeah, i'm just makin' sure," the harrington boy stuttered. dani smiled to herself, doing her best to hold in her giggles.

"are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" joyce inquired from behind her daughter.

"el beat the shit out of it but, yeah. it's still alive," max responded, just from the other side of steve.

"but if we close the gate again," will started.

"cut the brain off from the body," max amended.

"and kill it," lucas finished. "theoretically." the entirety of the group sat in silence momentarily, letting courses of action run through their minds, before being interrupted by murray.

"yoo-hoo!" the balding man hollered from the other side of the food court. he waved his arms in the air, his papers fluttering as everyone turned to look at him. "yoo-hoo!" as he neared the group, he pushed in between steve and sherrie. he rushed over to one of the fallen food court tables, placing it back upright before slamming his papers on top of it. hopper jumped from the plant bench and helped his daughter down before joining murray. everyone else did as well, even if steve and sheridan did so begrudgingly. "okay, this is what alexei called 'the hub.' now the hub takes us to the vault room," murray explained, pointing to each spot on his makeshift map.

"okay, where's the gate?" hopper asked.

"right here," murray answered as he pointed once more. "i don't know the scale on this, but i think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so."