In My Blood

Episode 14 - Studies

"That's great," Steve said sarcastically. "That's great. That's really great." He went to walk away to take a breather, forgetting that he was helping me stand. I stumbled a bit from the movement. "Jesus..."

"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain... that's controlling everything," Nancy said, leaning closer to the book to read the creature's stats. "... then if we kill it..."

"We kill everything it controls," Mike answered her.

"We win," Dustin said simply.

"Theoretically," Lucas mentioned.

"Sorry to burst that bubble, but isn't your friend still connected to that thing?" Charity brought up. "The Mind Flayer. Doesn't that mean he will die too?" Joyce shuddered at the idea, and my father placed a hand on her shoulder. "Was this not a thought we were all thinking?" The room was silent, and even Dustin seemed to be at a loss.

"We just have to separate him first then," I spoke. I kept my tone firm, knowing that we had to have some kind of hope to keep us going. I didn't want Will to die, but I knew there had to be another way to save both him and Hawkins. "It's a parasite, is it not? We just have to get it out first... then we kill the Mind Flayer."

"Great," Dad huffed, picking the book up off the table so he could read it himself. "So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with Fireballs or something?"

"No," Dustin chuckled before trying to regain himself. "No, no Fire- no Fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because..." He made eye contact with my father, who was staring at him as if he was insane. "... because zombies, you know, they don't- they don't have brains, and the Mind Flayer, it... it, uh... it likes brains." He knew there was no return from that point. "It's just a game. It's a game."

"What the hell are we doing here?" my father cursed, closing the book and throwing it back on the table.

"I thought we were waiting for your 'military' backup," Dustin shot back at him.

"We are!" Dad yelled.

"Even if they come, how are they gonna stop this?" Mike questioned the older man, growing agitated. "You can't just shoot this with guns!"

"You don't know that!" my father argued. "We don't know anything!"

"We know it's already killed everybody in that lab!" the boy told him.

"And we know the monsters are gonna molt again," Lucas added.

"We know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town," Dustin said.

"They're right." All heads turned to Joyce; this was the first time we had heard her speak since coming back from the lab. She gave a sniffle, backing away from us. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."

"Me too, Joyce, okay?" my father told her, following her back. His tone wasn't as abrasive with her. "Okay, but how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."

"No, but he does," Mike said, and he took a few tentative steps toward Will. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will." We followed him to the boy on the couch. "He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore," Max said in confusion. "That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now."

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "But... he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

♢♦︎————————♦︎♢

The house was moving with no intent of slowing down. My father was tossing everything out of the Byers' shed, preparing the hiding spot for when Will would wake up. Nancy and Steve were inside stapling soundproof tarps to the walls, and I only hoped it wasn't as awkward as I was imagining in my head. Dustin and Lucas had gone outside, and I could only assume the rumbling of trash cans was them. Joyce and Jonathan were monitoring the unconscious boy in the living room while Charity and I ruffled through the Dungeons and Dragons books at the table. Plural now, as Dustin pulled every one from Will's bedroom so we could "look for battle tactics."