[ 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍 & 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎 ] ~ 𝙱𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

XXVII - Tree First, Questions Later.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Nancy added after her brother.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked, El pressed up against his side in a hug-ish position.

"It's big." Jonathan muttered. "Thirty feet, at least."

"Yeah. . .It sorta destroyed your cabin." Lucas grimaced. "Sorry."

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this. . .this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic. . .weapon?" Steve asked, clearly not fully believing the few he hadn't been with.

"Yeah." Justin scoffed.

"But instead of like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon. . .with melted people."

"Yes, exactly." Nancy huffed out her words.

"Yeah, okay. I- Yeah, I'm just making sure." Steve shrugged into a nod.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce asked.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max nodded.

"But if we close the gate again-" Will started, only to get cut off by Max.

"We cut the brain off from the body."

"And kill it." Lucas finalized enthusiastically before slowing down to a less excited tone. ". . .Theoretically."

"Right. Theoretically." Justin scoffed.

"Yoo-hoo!" The stranger called, holding two sets of papers that he was waving them frantically. "Yoo-hoo! Okay, this is what Alexei called 'the hub.'" He pointed down at a box on the paper.

"Who the fuck's Alexei?" Justin murmured under her breath. Rylie shook her head softly, almost impressed at how unserious Justin always seemed.

The stranger gave her an annoyed look, apparently hearing what she'd said, before going back to talking. "Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?" Chief Hopper questioned his friend.

"Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so." He trailed his finger along the paper.

"More like 500." Erica stepped forward. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" The man asked.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?"

"Murray. . ." He paused in irritation. "Bauman."

"Listen, Mr. Bunman. I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." She snarked.

"I'm sorry, why is this four year old speaking to me?"

"Actually she's six." Justin said, looking over at the stranger with a proud smile.

"Uhm, I'm ten, you bald bastard!"

"Uh- Y- Erica!" Lucas scolded.

"Just the facts!" Erica huffed, getting a high five from Justin.

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to." Dustin started, stepping up beside Lucas's little sister, and lightly nudging past her. "Excuse me. Sorry, may I?" Dustin asked the stranger.

"Please." He said sarcastically.

Dustin sat down across from him, pulling the yellow papers in front of himself to look at them. "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility." He circled with a short pencil. "There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system."

Lucy stepped up next to him, scratching at her arm. Rylie frowned, sighing. "It will lead you to the base of the weapon." Lucy said while Dustin drew a line across to the gate.

"It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me, Lucy and Erica-"

"Lucy, Erica and me." Lucy corrected Dustin's grammar.

"and me?" Steve mouthed with a frown. No wonder he almost failed English. Rylie grinned, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry- Between Lucy, Erica and me, we can show you the way."

"You can show us the way?" Chief Hopper raised his brow, looking irritated at just the idea.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your. . .navigators." The three kids at the table nodded.

"No fucking way." Rylie huffed, her words in line with Steve and Justin's.

"I just got Lu out of that death trap, she's not going back in." Steve scoffed.

"I will tie Lucy to a tree before she goes down there." Rylie added, entirely serious. She stepped up behind Lucy, as if scared she were going to make a run for it.

"No." Hopper added, shaking his head as he looked down at the kids. Dustin's little prideful smile fell, and Hopper only shook his head more and shrugged. "Nope."

"You're gonna tie her to a tree?" Justin whispered, getting a slight shrug and nod from Rylie. She would one hundred percent tie Lucy up if it meant keeping her safe. Would she be proud of it? No. Would she like it? Definitely not. But she'd do it. Especially after what was happening to Billy. . . 

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Word Count - 819

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Published - June 29, 2024

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