Alexithymia | STRANGER THINGS [ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

sixteen | the gate

Dustin replied, "That's not entirely true. I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

With a hand on his hip, Lucas said, "So if we get their attention..."

As she turned to look over at Lucas, Max said, "Maybe we can draw them away from the lab."

Then Mike said, "Clear a path to the gate."

With his arms crossed over his chest, Steve replied, "Yeah, and then we all die."

While Matthew nodded to himself with a mere tilt of his head, Dustin said to Steve, "Well, that's one point of view."

Steve told him, "No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact."

It was then that Mike quickly ran past them and yelled, "I got it!" While Matthew and the others quickly walked after Mike, Mike told them, "This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So..."

While Mike started to walk away from them once more, he said, "Here, right here. This is like a hub." While walking towards the other side of the drawing that was taped to the floor, Mike said, "So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire..."

As he turned to look over at Mike, Steve said, "Oh, yeah? That's a no."

While staring down at the drawing, Dustin said, "The mind flayer would call away his army.""

With his eyes wide as ever, Lucas said, "They'd all come to stop us."

Mike said, "Then we circle back to the exit. By the time they realize we're gone—"

With a nod of her head, Max said, "El would be at the gate."

It was then that Steve yelled with a clap of his hands, "Hey. Hey! Hey! This is not happening."

While Matthew slowly turned his head to look over at Steve with a raised eyebrow, Mike said, "But—"

Steve replied, "No, no, no, no, no. No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?"

With a shake of his head, Mike said to him, "This isn't a stupid sports game."

While pointing a finger at Mike, Steve said, "I said, does everybody understand that? I need a yes."

With a wave of his hand and a shake of his head, Matthew replied, "How about a no?"

With a sigh, Steve started to say to him, "Goddammit, Wheeler—"

He only stopped talking when the sound of an engine revving was heard from somewhere nearby the house.

While the others turned their heads over in the direction of the noise, Max hurriedly made her way over towards the window with Lucas close behind her before she told him, "It's my brother. H-He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me." Then she turned to Lucas and said to him, "He'll kill us."

It wasn't long after she said that that Billy's car came to an abrupt halt in front of the house that they— minus Steve Harrington, for obvious reasons— were inside of.

With his eyes narrowed and a tight grip on the crowbar he was holding onto, Matthew watched as Billy Hargrove stepped out of his car before slowly looking over at the red-headed girl that was sitting in the front passenger seat with her arms crossed over her chest and her body practically pressed against her door.

It didn't take long for him to realize that the red-headed girl was none other than Valerie Mayfield, Max's older sister and one of Billy's stepsisters.