One Eighty Stranger Things book Three

Chapter 6: E Pluribus Unum

Everything went into overdrive, in the midst of all the monsters and madness. Thing is, everyone was terrified, it's a false note that clangs as loud as a Soviet Klaxon in an underground bunker, the sort of sentiment popular kids think weirdos harbor. Robin's been super-cool up to the point Dustin has been shipping her with Steve, which is to say that she's been uncool and fine with it.

She seems to be suggesting that every member of The Breakfast Club secretly wants to be Emilio Estevez and Molly Ringwald rather than themselves. That sentiment feels sharply at odds with a group that's made a point of championing misfits and losers.

Steve's own revelation, that he knows he was an "a hole" and now sees he's paying the price, Even so, it's probably best they're spared further reflection when Dustin and Erica break in to rescue them, cattle prod in hand, as chaos erupts around them. It seems the Russians time operating beneath Starcourt Mall unnoticed will soon be found.

That might be the case even if Dustin and Erica, who are turning into a winning team, didn't come to the rescue. In Illinois, Hopper, Joyce, and Murray interrogate Alexei about what he knows while Alexei tries to milk the situation for all it's worth. His hardball tactics only get him so far when Hopper gives him his freedom as a way of calling his bluff. Much to Joyce's surprise, it works.

After fumbling around with a translation aided by some drawings they figure out what's going on beneath Hawkins, call the authorities via Hopper's secret line, and head back to Indiana on a rescue mission.
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Meanwhile at the cabin the kids, Nancy, and Jonathan were trying to figure out where The Mind Flayer was hiding. Calling all around to see if anything weird was happening. "It can't be good for her to be in there for this long." Mike said, pacing back and forth, he was worrying about El of course.

"Mike, you need to relax." Celeste told her brother, as she sat in between Max and Lucas.

Mike exclaimed, "What if she gets brain damage or something?"

"Oh, crap. Is that, like, a real thing?" Lucas asked.

"No, it's not. He made it up. Mike doesn't know what he's talking about." Max said.

Mike looked at Max in annoyance, "Oh, and you do?"

"No, I..." Celeste got up walking over to sit beside Will, she didn't want to hear the other two teens bickering. She sighed, Nancy was still on the phone, while Jonathan was crossing out all the names in the phone book.

Where they probably won't like what they find, based on what El and her companions uncover back in Hawkins. In short: The Mind Flayer is not messing around. After El gives it a beating at the hospital, it escapes into the sewer to regroup and make new plans.

"Um, sorry to bother..." Nancy hung up the phone and stood next to Jonathan.

"Who's next?" She asked.

"There is no next. Unless you want to start calling random people's homes." Jonathan replied.

"It doesn't make sense."

"What part of any of this makes sense?"

"There's a pattern, okay? A consistency to their behavior. They've been feeding on these chemicals since this started, and... and, what, they just stop, out of the blue?" Nancy theorizes.

"Maybe they have all the chemicals
they need. Maybe they've all turned into those... things." Will said.

"But what about the source? I mean, did the Mind Flayer just suddenly stop infecting people?" Celeste asked, crossing her arms.