╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
THIRTY TWO!
earth to will
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────

The atmosphere of the Byers residence was bittersweet to say the least. Every single person was feeling a mixture of emotions, whether it be relieve, deep grief, panics of worry or even happiness.

Many of the group was relieved to have escaped the horrible circumstances of the lab and were even happy to have been reunited with Wendy Harrington.

But emotions of deep sadness for Bob Newby's death and feelings of impending doom about the future, still hung in the air around them. The group felt helpless in all kinds of ways.

Currently, the group was sitting around the Byers residence, trying their best to absorb the situation. Most of the group was situated in the main living space of the house.

The preteens, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Nina and Max all sat at the dining table. The Harrington family, Thomas, Stanley and Wendy all sat on the couch together. The chief, Jim Hopper stood in the kitchen with his attention engulfed by the phone line. The other teens were somewhere in the mix.

The only Party members not present were the Byers family. Jonathan sat with his younger brother, who rested in his bedroom and Joyce was on her own to tackle her emotions of despair.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin questioned Jim Hopper.

The chief had decided that the best course of action was to relay a message by phone call to the military. Clearly his plan didn't work out too well as he finished his call by aggressively slamming the phone down.

"We'll see." Hopper shrugged.

"We'll see?!" Mike exclaimed in annoyance. "We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

"We stay here and wait for help." Hopper replied in a monotone room before leaving the main living area to attend to Joyce. The Byers woman was currently grieving in her bedroom over Bob Newby's death.

Mike stood up from his seat at the kitchen table and walked over to the pile of intricate puzzles and mind games that Bob had left for the younger boy. He picked one up, studying it carefully.

"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" The boy announced, gaining everyone's attention.

"He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fundraiser for equipment. Mr Clark learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?" Mike explained, his tone filled with grief.

"Yeah." Wendy, Dustin and Lucas nodded.

"We can't let him die in vain." Mike reminded.

"What do you want to do, Mike?" Dustin pondered. "The chief's right on this. We can't stop these demo-dogs on our own."

"Demo-dogs?" Max and Wendy questioned in sync with each other. The two then shared a slight smile at their similar idea before staring back at the Henderson boy with a serious look.

"Demogorgan dog. Demo-dogs." Dustin explained. "It's like a compound. It's like a play on words."

"Okay!" Max gave the group a strange look.

"I mean.....when it was just Dart, maybe." Dustin pointed out with a cough.

"But there's an army now." Lucas reminded.

"Precisely." Dustin agreed.

"His army." Mike muttered to himself.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked strangely.

"His army." Mike repeated in a louder tone for everyone to hear. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too."

"The shadow monster." Dustin pointed out.

"It got Will that day on the field." Mike stated. "The doctor said it was like a virus. It infected him."

"And so this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Max questioned.

"To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down." Dustin confirmed.

"Woah, slow down, slow down." Steve begged, not comprehending what any of the preteens were rambling about.

"Yeah, not all of us can understand this technical talk." Stanley agreed with the older Harrington boy. He was equally as confused.

"Ok, so the shadow monster's inside everything." Wendy pointed out. Despite not being involved in for as long as the others had been, she was still able to get a grasp on the situation.

"Yes and if the vines feel something like pain then so Will does." Mike nodded in agreement.

"And so does Dart." Lucas added.

"Hive mind?" Mike pondered out loud.

"A collective consciousness. A super organism." Dustin confirmed for the Wheeler boy.

"And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain." Mike pointed it.

"Like the mind flayer." The preteens agreed in sync.

"The what?" Max questioned in confusion.

"I'm so lost that I'm not even gonna try and understand what you kids are saying?" Thomas shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

To help better explain the situation, the preteens needed some sort of visual that would help the older members understand. Dustin remembered that their D&D manual books would be their best bet on relaying the information.

He had quickly run into the other room to secure the books that were piled on top of a side table in Will's bedroom. He rushed back into the living room, struggling to carry the dust covered books.

The curly haired boy dropped the pile onto the kitchen table and opened the first book closest to him, flipping aggressively through to find the page that would be the most useful.

"The mind flayer." Dustin announced, showcasing the open book to the group.

"What the hell is that?" Hopper questioned in annoyance, upon seeing the drawing of the supposed creature the preteens had used to describe the monster from the Upside Down.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home. Ok, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using it's highly developed psionic powers." Dustin explained.

"Oh my god! None of this is real. This is a kids game." Hopper exclaimed in frustration.

"No, it's a manual and it's not for kids." Dustin argued back, getting annoyed by the older male's antics. "And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor...."

"Analogy." Lucas corrected for the curly haired boy, earning an annoyed look.

"Analogy? That's what you're worried about?" Dustin pondered in annoyance. "Fine! An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."

"Ok, so this mind flamer thing?"

"Flayer, mind flayer." Dustin corrected but received a glare from the older Wheeler girl. She was so done with life that she looked ready to close line him.

"What does it want?" Nancy asked worryingly.

"To conquer us, basically." Dustin confirmed.

"Like the Germans?" Steve implored, trying his best to understand the situation.

"I think you mean the Nazis." Wendy corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis." Steve nodded.

"If the Nazis were from another dimension, then great historic reference." Stanley sarcastically complimented the older Harrington boy.

"Uh, it views other races, like us, inferior to itself." Dustin continued.

"It wants to spread, take over dimensions." Mike

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." Lucas finished.

"That's great. That's great. That's really great. Jesus!" Steve exclaimed, causing a sudden outburst. The boy then began to pace back and forth in worry.

"I'll take care of him." Thomas assured before leaving the group at the table to calm his panicked nephew down in the living room.

"Ok, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything." Nancy wondered. "Then if we kill it...."

"We kill everything it controls." Mike confirmed.

"We win?" Stanley pondered in confusion.

"Theoretically." Lucas pointed out.

"Great, so how do you kill this thing?" Hopper questioned. "Shoot it with fireballs or something?"

"No, no, no fire, no fireballs." Dustin shook his head. "Uh, you summon an undead army because zombies, you know.....they don't have brains and and the mind flayer.....it likes brains. It's just a game. It's just a game."

"What the hell are we doing here?!" Hopper exclaimed angrily at the curly haired boy.

"I thought we were waiting for your military backup." Dustin argued.

"We are!" Hopper assured.

"How are they gonna stop this?" Mike questioned in frustration. "You can't just shoot it with guns."

"You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper exclaimed.

"We can't just leave those things in the lab. We have to find some way to kill them." Wendy reminded.

"She's right." Joyce spoke up suddenly.

She was so unbelievably quiet that no one had even noticed her presence in the room. She was shaking beyond belief out of grief but her eyes were filled with determination. "We have to kill it, I want to kill."

"Me too, Joyce, okay?" Hopper agreed with the Byers woman. "But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here?"

"No but he does." Mike gained everyone's attention. "If anyone knows how to kill this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know it's weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore." Max pointed out. "He's a spy for the mind flayer now."

"Yeah but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is." Mike argued.

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The group had come up with a plan that would easily deceive the young Byers boy but still be able to get important information out of him.

The Party had set up camp in the shed at the back of the Byers property to use an interrogation room but changed the exterior/interior design of the place, so that Will couldn't figure out where he was being held.

It took an hour or so to set up the place but once it was perfect, Hopper had carried out the unconscious boy to the shed to begin the interrogation. Joyce, Jonathan, Thomas and Mike Wheeler had all volunteered themselves to participate in the matter.

This left the rest of the teenagers to sit awkwardly in the Byers house as they were no longer any tasks available for them afterwards. Dustin Henderson had decided to take watch on the situation and had been glued to the back window for the last twenty minutes or so.

The rest of the teens were scattered around the front room. Nancy stood by herself against the wall, next to the telephone. Max and Lucas were seated together in the hallway to the bedrooms, with their backs against the walls. Steve was practicing his batting skills in the living room, in case of another attack. Nina and Stanley sat in the living room and finally, Wendy was alone on the kitchen floor with closed eyes to rest her mind.

The silent atmosphere was interrupted by the kitchen door being harshly flung open. In came Hopper with Joyce right behind him. The group all scrambled to the table to check out the situation.

"What happened?" Dustin demanded in confusion.

Hopper ignored the curly haired boy and just rushed over to the kitchen table. He grabbed the closest sheet of paper and pen to him before beginning to scribble a random assortment of dashes and dots on the page. "I think he's talking, just not with words." He announced to the group.

"What is that?" Steve questioned in confusion.

"Morse code." Everyone responded. The Harrington boy just stared at the group in confusion.

"H-E-R-E." Hopper spelt out, once he had figured out the message. "Here. Will's still in there. He's talking to us."

Hopper and Joyce quickly returned to the shed to continue the interrogation and this led the rest of the teens on coding duty. The chief had set up a walkie talkie radio in the shed for the group to hear any sudden noises that Will makes that could potentially be a code.

The group sat together at the kitchen table with an abundance of papers, writing utensils and an opened book of the basics of Morse code, to help figure out the messages easier.

"Dash, dot, dash, dot." Dustin called out after hearing the message from the radio.

"Yeah, got it!" Lucas announced happily. "C!"

This continued for another twenty minutes or so, until the group had figured out the entire message, thank to Will's expert message skills. "L. O. S. E. G. A. T. E."

"Close gate." The group read out loud in sync, once Nancy had cleared the paper of excess red crayon.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring loudly, interrupting the group's silent atmosphere. Their heads all snapped towards the wall where that dangerous phone laid.

"Shit! Shit!" Dustin quickly ran over to the ringing phone. He picked the phone up, slamming it back down on the receiver to end the call. It didn't work as the phone began to ring again.

Without thinking, Nancy immediately rushed over to the phone and aggressively pulled it off of the wall. She threw it at the ground and it shattered into many ceramic pieces. The rest of the group stared at the Wheeler girl in shock but she just walked back over to the table as if nothing had happened. But now the group was worried.

As soon as the phone began to ring, a sensation had hit Wendy Harrington and it was one she knew very well, it was a vision from the future. It felt like time had officially slowed down when she blinked.

When she re-opened her eyes, she was presented with the dark tunnels that ran under the streets of Hawkins. Her mind had transferred her there was something important for her to witness here.

Wendy took one step forward in the slimy tunnel and was immediately met with the sight of a demo-dog, who had curiously turned around at the sound of the distant phone ring. It had clearly heard the noise, which meant it knew where Will Byers was.

The demo-dog began to screech in order to gain the attention of the other beasts that lurked in the shadow of the tunnels. Within an instant, a whole pack of monsters had swarmed the tunnels before running at full speed, past Wendy.

The girl had turned to follow where the pack of wild beasts was heading and caught sight of the end of the tunnel that was miles away. It was clear that the exit out was to the Byers' household. Will had alerted the army, they were coming for him.

Wendy's future sight went pitch black as soon as she made eye contact with the Byers' house. Her mind consciousness was immediately projected back into her regular body. She no longer stood in the tunnels but was now back in the kitchen, where the other teens were still standing.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max questioned nervously in a panicked state.

"It's just a phone." Steve shrugged. "It could of happened anywhere, right?"

"No, they're coming." Wendy announced suddenly, earning looks of worry from the others. "I can sense them. They know where we are. They're coming."

The group didn't understand what she meant until the air was filled the echoed screeches of the beasts. They all looked at each other in disbelief as they knew something bad was about to happen to them.

Immediately, the kitchen door open to reveal a panicked Hopper, who was carrying an unconscious Will. Joyce, Jonathan, Mike and Thomas were all right behind the chief and they were equally as scared at the others.

"Hey! Hey! Get away from the window!" Hopper exclaimed to the group as he entered the living room. The teens all scattered on command and backed up against the opposite wall.

"Wendy! Stan! Behind me!" Thomas quickly demanded.

Despite being a nervous wreck and a first time participant of this crazy journey, he still knew when he needed to step up as a father. It was now his job to protect to his children, even if he had to walk through death. The two Harrington teens immediately rushed to their dad's side.

"Do you know how to use this?" Hopper questioned Jonathan, gesturing to the shotgun in his hand.

"What?" The Byers teen looked like a deer caught in the headlights at the sudden question.

"Can you use this?" Hopper repeated himself.

"I can!" Nancy unexpectedly volunteered.

The gun was handed to her and she quickly loaded it. Steve had raised his bat, to swing when he needed to and Lucas had prepared his slingshot. The rest of the group huddled in the living room for safety.

The room went completely silent. The only thing heard was the shrieks of the beasts and rustling in the bushes outside. Outside the window, it went completely silent and the group anticipated an attack about to occur.

Suddenly, a demo-dog came flying through the front window, causing shards to fly everywhere in the room. The dead beast harshly hit the floor, landing right in front of the group. The group all screamed in terror and brought their weapons closer to the beast, despite it already being dead.

"Holy shit!" Dustin exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Is it dead?" Max asked in disbelief.

Hopper moved closer to the unconscious beast. He nudged it with his foot and nothing had happened. It was clearly dead.

Suddenly, the creaking of the front door echoed through the living room and everyone's snapped their heads to look in that direction. The door knobbed turned by itself, undoing the lock. The chain lock also slid off on its own. Finally, the front door began to slowly open and the group watched with wide eyes.

A small person, decked out in a new all black attire and white sneakers, gently stepped into the residence. There was only one person who could of just done that action and it was Eleven. She was officially back.

★ 𝐎𝐃𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄 ! stranger things fanfic ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)