Shadows of the Night •a Stranger Things story•

Will's the Host

November 5th, 1984
Hawkins, Indiana

"Eleven," Mike mumbles out, stepping forward. She meets him halfway, breathing his name out in response. They embrace and Eleven cries against his shoulder. Mike pulls away from her.

"I never gave up on you," he says assuringly. "I called you every night. Every night for—"

"353 days," replies El, shaking her head slightly. "I heard."

Mike frowns, staring at her. "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper pipes up. Mike and El turn to him. Hopper steps toward the young girl. "The hell is this? Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" she repeats, slightly bitter. Hopper and El hug.

"She was okay," Chris comments, hissing in pain slightly. Chris' eyes lock with Eleven's, she smiles wearily. "We found each other."

Eleven turns toward the girl, pulling away from Hopper. "Hurt."

"You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike snaps at Hopper, hitting him on the shoulder.

Hopper grabs Mike by the arm, pulling him aside. "Hey! Let's talk. Alone."

Hopper and Mike move down the hallway towards Jonathan's room, bickering along the way. Eleven breathes out heavily, moving to hug Lucas and Dustin.

Steve gently pushes Chris to sit on the couch. She groans painfully as Ronda tears at the bottom of her jeans to reveal the wound. Ronda peeks up at the girl as she begins cleaning away the blood, only to be greeted with fresh blood.

"Steve, I need you to apply pressure while I clean it," she says.

Steve takes the cloth from Ronda, putting a firm hand on Chris's shin. She hisses, trying to pull away. Ronda yanks her left leg back toward them, raising an eyebrow at her friend. "Don't move."

Chris swallows, going still again. She knows that this is probably the only time Ronda will ever talk to her again. Ronda and Steve carefully clean and wrap her leg. Ronda finishes taping it off and looks up at Chris again. "I understand," she whispers. Chris gives her a confused look. "I'm not happy about it, but I understand what this must've been like for you. Protecting her. Hiding things from us."

Chris gives Ronda a grateful look, tears pooling in her eyes. "Thank you."

"Chrissie," Eleven mumbles, standing behind Ronda. Ronda and Steve make room for Chris and Eleven to hug. Chris wraps her arms around the girl, closing her eyes tightly.

"I'm glad you're safe," Chris says, placing a gentle kiss on Eleven's forehead. Eleven pulls back, holding Chris's arms in her hands, she stares up at Chris.

"Can I see him?"

Chris glances over at Joyce, who sighs heavily. Joyce leads Eleven over to Will, who is resting quietly. Steve checks the windows outside as everyone settles again. Hopper and Mike come back into the kitchen, where most of the party is sitting around the table. Joyce and Eleven walk in as Hopper is talking. Steve turns back from the window, where the fog outside is growing.

"It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot," the Chief of Police says. "And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs," comments Dustin, facing him.

Hopper stares down at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass—" Dustin explains.

"How is this important right now?" asks Ronda, folding her arms.

"It's not. I'm sorry."

"I can do it," says El, firmly.

Hopper shakes his head. These kids are driving him mad. He doesn't like not being listened to. "You're not hearing me."

"I'm hearing you. I can do it."

Mike glances at everyone, "Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies."

"I thought that was the whole point," says Max, confused. She puts her hand on the table, leaning against it.

"It is, but if we're really right about this I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army," comments Chris, sniffling.

"Will's a part of that army," Lucas adds.

"Closing the gate will kill him," Mike adds.

Joyce and Jonathan share a terrified look. Joyce moves toward Will's room, going to check on him. "He likes it cold," she mutters, staring down at her son.

Hopper frowns, "What?"

She moves around the bed to the open window, bringing in frigid late autumn air. "It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." Joyce slams the window shut. "We keep giving it what it wants."

Nancy stares down at Will from the edge of the bed. Jonathan crouches down in front of his brother. Nancy furrows her brows. "If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then—"

"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable," says Jonathan.

"So if he likes it cold," begins Nancy.

"We need to burn it out of him," finishes Mike. "We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time."

"Yeah, somewhere far away," agrees Dustin.

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