The Strangest is Yet to Come

06.

Her eyes widened, "Wait, what exactly did you do in this sauna test? Where did-did you do it at the pool?"

"Do you know anywhere else with a sauna?" Mike snarks and she glares at him.

"Not the time for a snarky attitude, Michael." she rubs at her temples. If she had gone to work yesterday instead of moping around, she would have been there to help them, make sure that they were alright, "Are you sure he's flayed?"

"Definitely," Max shudders, "He broke the chain like it was nothing."

"You keep saying flayed," Jonathan says quietly, "What does that mean exactly?"

"The Mind Flayer," Mike explains, "He flays people, takes over their minds. Once he does that, they basically become him."

"If there are two flayed..." Lucas begins.

"We have to assume that there are more." Will finishes.

Samantha's brow furrows when Eleven puts her hand on Mike's arm, "Heather."

Her stomach drops. She only knew one Heather..."What about her?"

"Billy was doing something to her," she looks to be remembering something, "She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams."

Everyone looks at each other, "What's a good scream?"

"Max said-"

"It doesn't matter," the redhead quickly interjects, shaking her head when Eleven looks at her.

"I'm sorry," Nancy shakes her head, "Who is Heather?"

"Heather Holloway," Samantha says, looking at her, "She works with Billy and me at the pool."

Was the pool at all connected to this? It couldn't be a coincidence that two victims of the Mind Flayer worked there, could it? Maybe it was a good thing she hadn't been there. If she had, would she have been next?

"Holloway?" Jonathan repeats, looking at Nancy.

"Tom."

Samantha looks at El, "Do you know where she lives?"

She nods.

"Let's go."

~~|~~

"That's it there," Eleven points to the large house with the red door, "Billy and Heather were in there."

"Wait," Samantha says as they all get out of the car, "Have you been here before?"

"Last night," Max nods, "We found Heather's first aid kit in Billy's bathroom. El said something happened, that Billy had hurt her so we came around to make sure she was alright."

"On your own?" her eyes widened, "Honestly, I think you kids have a death wish sometimes."

There would be time to scold them properly later. Right now, there were more pressing matters at hand.

The rag-tag group of eight move their way up the path, Jonathan knocking loudly on the door when they reach it and Samantha can't help but look around nervously; what would the neighbours be thinking if they saw them?

"Maybe nobody's home?" Jonathan offers, earning another eye roll from the two Wheeler's and she steps through the party to try the handle.

"That's not creepy at all," Lucas pips up when the door swings open with an ominous creak.

"They wouldn't just leave their doors unlocks," Nancy notes in a whisper, "They have to be here."

Samantha leads the way, stepping into the silent house with Jonathan close behind her and she shudders as they step into the hallway, "Jesus, it's freezing in here."

"Tom?" Nancy calls as they split off for a brief moment.

"Heather?"

"Hey," she turns when she feels Jonathan catch hold of her hand, "I'm really sorry."

She raises an eyebrow, "For?"

"This morning. That was a really shitty thing to do." he keeps his voice down for the sake of nosey teenagers, "And I'm sorry for everything else. I'm-" his eyes flit to Nancy as she squeezes by them to investigate the kitchen, "I've been distracted, work has been crazy...I've been a shitty boyfriend."

A smile pulls at Samantha's lips, "I'm not going to argue. But I do appreciate you apolo-"

"Oh my god," they hear Nancy say from the kitchen and Jonathan's brow furrows before he's going to see what she's found, pulling Samantha along with him.

"What is it?"

"Look at this."

Samantha covers her nose as soon as they cross the threshold into the kitchen, nostrils being assaulted by bleach and other cleaning products that are lying open on the counter, "Are they...they can't be drinking this stuff, can they?"

"It's either that or they've just gone on one hell of a cleaning spree." Jonathan coughs.

"But last year," she murmurs, "Will wasn't eating chemicals, were you?"

"No," he shakes his head, looking rather disturbed by all of this and she reaches out to rest a hand on his shoulder, "This is something new."

"Mr Clarke," Mike begins, whirling round to look at his friends, "Fifth grade posit. What happens when you mix chemicals together?"

"You create a new substance." they say simultaneously.

Samantha looks around, eyes zeroing in on a glass that's on the floor of the next room, Jonathan glancing at her when she drops his hand.

"Samantha?"

She hesitantly peeks around the doorframe, as if Billy was going to be there waiting for her, stepping into the lavishly decorated dining area when she's sure it's safe.

The table was set for four; the food that the Holloways and their guest had been dining on was still out, attracting flies and other insects.

Looking deeper into the room, there's a wine bottle laying on it's side. She hears Nancy follow her over to it and she glances at her when they both notice a small pool of blood that's seeped into the rug just mere feet from it.

"What do you think happened?" she asks as Nancy's eyes light up.

"Yesterday," she begins, looking at Jonathan who's standing behind them, "Tom had a bandage on his forehead."

Samantha picks up the wine bottle, its white label was also splattered with blood, "He was attacked."

"And look at this," Jonathan points out the carpet runner that was all bunched up at one end, right next to a door.

Nancy leads the way this time in following the faint trail of blood; through the living room, the hallway until they come to the door to the garage.

In the middle of it, in a neat little pile, is a rope and Jonathan looks at them all, "They must have been tied, moved."

"Mrs Driscoll," Nancy breathes, "She kept saying that she had to go back. What if the flaying is taking place somewhere else? There has to be a plae where it all started."

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see." Eleven nods and Samantha feels a shiver roll through her.

"If we can find the source, maybe we can stop him."

"And how do we find it?" Samantha asks, "Nancy, it could be anywhere."

Will, who had looked deep in thought, steps forward, "Mrs Driscoll. If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

Nancy and Samantha look at each other again, both in silent agreement. They had to go back to the hospital.