"IM SO PROUD OF YOU, DEL"

"Which one?" Max held up 2 comics a Wonder Woman comic and a green lantern one.

"I don't know" El sighed laying down next to Max and Delilah.

"Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?" Max smiled.

"It doesn't make sense" El frowned. "Heather.
The blood. The ice".

"Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now. That has to be it. I don't know where that blood came from, but... we saw her.
We both saw her. She's totally fine" Max reassured.

"What about Hallie?" Delilah asked, concerned for the girl that she had gotten close with.

"What about her?" Max asked.

"She seemed wrong. Different. She grabbed my arm" Delilah spoke quietly.

"I'm sure she's fine, she's probably just sick, she did say she had a headache yesterday" Max smiled at her and Delilah nodded reluctantly.

The three girls were woken up the next morning by Lucas' voice on the walkie-talkie "Do you copy?
This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code red.
Max. Do you copy?".

"Shut...up" Max spoke angrily turning it off.

Then the phone started to ring, Delilah got out of bed and picked it up. "We're sleeping. Go away".

"This is Mike. Do not hang up. Something happened, something bad. Our very lives can be at stake" he told her.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Just come over to my house. We'll explain everything" he told her "Hurry".

Will explained to all of them in Mike's basement what was happening "I didn't think it was anything
at first. I mean, I think I just didn't want
to believe it. The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead".

"Power went out that night, too" Mike added.

"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day. Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers" he continued.

"What does it feel like?" Max asked.

"It's almost like... You know when you drop on a roller coaster?" He asked.

"Sure" everyone agreed.

"No" El shook her head.

"It's like...everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but... this is worse. Your body... it goes cold and you can't breathe. I've felt it before, whenever he was close" Will explained.

"Whenever who was close?" Max asked.

"The Mind Flayer" he told them.

"Me and El closed the gate" Delilah asked in confusion.

"I know, but... what if he never left?What if we locked him out here with us?" Will asked.

"This is him. All of him" Will drew on a piece of paper "But, that day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me. Our mom got it out of me... And Del and Eleven closed the gate. But the part that was still in me, what if it's still in our world? In Hawkins".

"I don't understand. The Demodogs died when Del and El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies" Max stated.

"We can't take any chances. We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer's back" Mike told them all.

"Yeah. And if he is, he'd want to attach himself
to someone again. A new me. A new host" Will agreed.

Delilah paused, remembering what Hallie told her the day before.

'Good, we like it cold'.

"How can you tell if someone is a host?" Delilah asked worriedly.

The group crowded around the community pool where Billy was lifeguarding.

"I don't know. He looks pretty normal to me" Max looked through the binoculars, shrugging.

"Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?" Lucas asked.

"I mean, it's a little weird" Max agreed.

"More than a little. He was in a tub with ice.
The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything El saw" Mike added.

"But he's lounging at the pool, which is, like,
the least Mind Flayer thing ever" Max protested.

"Not necessarily. The Mind Flayer likes to hide.
He only used me when he needed me. It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you,
you're activated" Will told them.

"Okay, so we just... wait until he gets activated" Max suggested.

"No. What if he hurts someone?" Mike asked.

"Or kills someone" Delilah added.

"We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host" Mike got up and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Delilah asked him angrily.

"I have an idea. Boys only" he told them.

"Seriously?" Max asked.

"Just trust me on this one" he told them.

El, Max and Delilah rolled their eyes in annoyance.

"Hey, I found the breakers" Mike told Delilah as she put a training dummy over her shoulder "Whoa, that thing is super creepy. Let me see it".

He took the dummy and put it on his shoulder "I think this'll work. Right, buddy?".

Delilah snatched it back off of him and looked at him with a blank expression.

"Hey, Del... I just wanted to say... You know when I said Nana was sick? She wasn't. I lied" he explained to her.

Delilah rolled her eyes "I'm aware".

"Right, right, right. No, I just... think it was important for you to know the context.
Hopper, he went all crazy on me, telling me I'm spending way too much time with you, that I got in the way of you and El. He made me lie. I mean, you're the most important thing to me
in the world" Mike told her.

"What if he's right? Hop" Delilah shrugged.

"No, no, no, no. He's just some angry old man
who hates joy" Mike argued.

"But if I only see you, and I'm a different species than you, then I shouldn't let you get in the way of being with my species" Delilah jabbed at his chest.

"What are you talking about? Did you get El to spy on me?" He asked in offence.

Delilah walked away from him and he groaned.

Mike spoke on the walkie-talkie attached to the dummy.

"Pool's closed. Hey. Do you hear me? Pool is closed!" Billy shouted.

"Billy!" Mike put on a squeaky voice.

"Who's there?" He grumbled.

"Billy! Billy!" Mike continued.

"You think this is funny, huh?" He asked.

"Billy. Come and find me"

"I find you, it is your funeral" he yelled across the locker rooms.

"Come and get me, you piece of shit" Mike taunted.

Billy yanked open the door to one of the sauna rooms only to see a dummy in there. He lifted it by the throat in anger. Mike spoke on the walkie-talkie again "behind you".

He turned around rapidly to see El and Delilah stood behind him. El used her powers to throw him down and Delilah used hers to keep him down long enough for them to lock the door and wedge a metal rod in, so he had no chance of escaping. Will chained the door for extra protection.

Billy groaned in annoyance. He punched at the door. "Max" he spoke tauntingly.

"Do it" Max told Will who turned the heat up on the dial.

"Max! Let me out of here! Let me out. You kids... You think this is funny? You kids think this is some kind of sick prank, huh?" He asked angrily.

He spat on the glass window "You little shits think this is funny? What is this? Open the door".

"Open the door!" He punched at the door making the whole thing shake.

"Open the door!"

"Open the god damn door!"

Will turned the temperature up more "We're at 220".

It began to sound like Billy was crying "It's not my fault. It's not my fault. I promise you, it's not my fault".

"What's not your fault, Billy?" Max asked.

"I've done things, Max. Really... bad things. I didn't mean to. He made me do it" He cried on the floor of the sauna.

"Who made you do it?" She asked him.

"I don't know, it's like a shadow. Like a giant shadow. Please, Max" He told her, still crying.

"What did he make you do?" Max was concerned.

"It's not my fault, okay? Max, please. Please, believe me, Max, it's not my fault. I tried to stop him, okay? I did. Please believe me, Max" he begged and Max started crying a little too.

"Billy, it's gonna be okay. We want to help you. We want to help you. You just have to talk to us, okay?" She told him softly. Max had her hands pressed up to the glass.

Will put his hands on the back of his neck "I feel him.He's activated" he whispered.

"I need you to trust me. Please" Max told Billy.

"Max, get away from the door" Delilah spoke softly.

"What?" She asked.

"Get away from the door!" Delilah screamed in an attempt to get Max to move just as she moved away Billy punched through the glass.

"Let me out, you bitch! Let me out! I'll fucking gut you! Let me out!" He screamed and managed to move the rod from the door.

Lucas used his slingshot to hit Billy in the eye, causing him to fall back.

"Max, Come on" Lucas shouted to her.

Delilah hugged Max quickly and then stood in front of her to protect her. The lights flickered and Delilah found herself subconsciously grabbing Mike's hand, he noticed but didn't say anything just held it tightly.

"He cant get out, can he?" Max asked as Billy got dangerously close.

"No way. No way" Lucas repeated.

Billy smashed against the door and screamed until eventually the door broke through and he came tumbling out.

Delilah pushed her friends back so she was standing infront of Billy, his face had black veins all over. She used her powers to lift a dumbbell from the side and chucked it at him, trapping him to the brick wall. She screamed but eventually she started to weaken up, causing Billy to grab it and throw it off of himself.

Delilah fell to the ground from exhaustion. Billy took that to his advantage and bent down next to her, grabbing her by the neck. He lifted her by the throat choking her until she went purple.

El threw the metal rod at his head, in shock he let go of Delilah. El ran to the other girls side.

"Go to hell you piece of shit" Mike yelled at him as he tried to hit Billy. Mike backed up against the wall in fear but El used her powers to lift Billy into the air.

Delilah, despite her exhaustion, helped El throw Billy so hard that he broke through the brick wall. She backed up into Mike's chest and fell down to the floor again, he wrapped his arms around her chest.

Billy got off the ground and ran far away.

"I'm sorry" Delilah whispered to Mike.

"You drained yourself so El didn't have to. I'm so proud of you, Del" he told her softly "You did so well".