Rhiannon // Max Mayfield

9: don't drink chemicals

"What if they're making something?" Alex questioned, turning to Nancy.

"In themselves? I mean, come on. If you drink this crap it'll kill you." Nancy said, not even thinking it was possible.

"Yeah, if you're human."

~~

"Guys?" Alex called shakily, staring down at the items in the living room. She knelt beside the bottle, noticing it was flecked with blood.

"Yesterday Tom had a bandage on his forehead," Nancy remembered, looking over to Johnathan for confirmation. He nodded his head in agreement as Alex backed away from the bottle.

"There's blood on the bottle," Alex told the, feeling sick at the thought of her being here hours before it happened by the looks of it, "He must have been attacked."

Nancy looked from Alex to the bottle in worry, before she noticed a rug behind the girl, pulled against the door like it had been dragged. Alex followed Nancy's gaze, looking at the rug and paling.

"They must've taken him through here," Nancy whispered. She walked through, everyone following her as she opened doors through the house which had traces of blood on the handles and frames.

Alex opened another door into the garage, looking around at the equipment on the desk as Johnathan went to the rope on the floor.

"They must've tied them," Johnathan spoke as Alex subconsciously stepped closer to Max. It had become habit for the two be be right next to each other in times of crisis.

"They must have taken them somewhere," Nancy said as she walked closer to the rope. Crouching down beside Jonathan to get a better look.

"Mrs Driscoll," Nancy carried on, "she kept saying... 'i have to go back' What if the flaying... it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place this all started right? A source."

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see," El said speaking up and thinking back to when Billy sensed her in the void.

"If we can find the source we can stop him," Alex speaks up, formulating an idea in her mind, "stop it spreading and get rid of it."

"How do we find it?" Eleven asked her, looking to the group as a whole.

"Mrs Driscoll," Will suggests, "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

~~

When they arrived at the hospital Alex huffed, this was the second day in a row she had been here. At least it was better in the accident department, it didn't remind her as much of last year, when she when was brought here for a week due to the tunnels.

"Alex? you okay?" Max asked, sensing the girls discomfort as they walked into the wing of the hospital. She had fallen a few steps behind and stared at the building, not replying to Max.

"We need help!" Steve screamed out, holding his sister in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he looked around desperately.

"Please, Alex stay awake for me please," Max and Dustin cried from either side of Steve, Mike was trailing behind her silently, he wasn't sure if his friend would pull through.