003 (Billy Hargrove x OC)

Chapter 13

~

We drove back to Heather's house...
No one opened, so El opened the door with her mind.
"Tom?" said Nancy, it was freezing inside the house... "Heather?"

"Jesus, it's freezing" said Max.
"Do you guys smell that?" I asked.
We went to the kitchen and saw all sorts of chemicals lying around...

"More chemicals" said Nancy.
"You think they're guzzling this shit?" asked Jonathan.
"Yeah, either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree" said Nancy.

"But last year, Will didn't eat chemicals" said Max. "Did you?"
"No" said Will. "This is something new"
"Mr. Clarke, fifth grade. Posit" said Mike. "What happens when you mix chemicals together?"

"You create a new substance" said Lucas and Will in choir.
"What if they're making something?" asked Mike.
"In themselves?" I asked.

"Trisha's right" said Max. "If you drink this crap, it'll kill you"
"Yeah, if you're human" said Lucas.

Nancy saw something and we walked into the living room.
"The table" I said and they looked at me. "It's exactly the same as last time"
"Blood" said Nancy and she touched the carpet. "Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead"
She took a bottle of wine that was on the floor. "He was attacked" she said.

We walked to the garage...
We found rope...
"They must've tied them" said Jonathan. "They must have taken them somewhere"
"Mrs. Driscoll" said Nancy. "She kept saying 'I have to go back'. What if the flaying, it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where all this started, right? A source"

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see" said Eleven.
"If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him" said Nancy. "Or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals"
"How do we find it?" asked Eleven.
"Mrs. Driscoll" said Will. "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

~

We went to the hospital, where we were stopped by the lady at the reception...
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Excuse me!" she shouted. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh, um..." said Nancy. "I was just going to visit my grandma again. And... and this... this is my family"
"Extended" said Lucas.

"I don't care who they are" said the lady. "You know the rules. Two visitors at a time"
In the end Jonathan and Nancy went to visit Mrs. Driscoll.
I sat down, trying to get my mind off of Billy.

But it wasn't really working.
Not only Billy, but I was thinking about Dustin. I hoped he was with Steve, because I had no idea where my little brother was...
"You okay?" Max sat down next to me.

"How are you holding up?" I asked and took her hand.
"Scared" she admitted. "Billy was really doing better with you. He... he was almost like a real brother"
"We'll get him back" I whispered and squeezed her hand. "I'll get that thing out of him. Promise"

"You are so cool" she suddenly said. "I mean... not only your powers. But you changed a dick like Billy into becoming a decent dude. And you help me..."
"Of course" I said. "You are my friend, Max"
"I'd like to think you're more than that" she said. "Like a sister"

I hugged her and she wrapped her arms around me.
"Like a sister" I smiled.

~

The lights began to flicker and Will stood up.
"Will?" I said and everyone looked at him. "What's wrong?"
"He's here" he said.

"No time to waste" I said and we passed the lady at the reception.
The elevator wasn't working, so we took the stairs.
We saw Jonathan trying to open a door, but I opened it for him.

"What the hell" I said when we saw the monster.
"Jesus" said Mike.
"What the f..." said Max.

El threw the monster around with her powers, before giving it a final push outside.
"Go" I said to Jonathan while the kids and I went outside to look for the monster.
But it was dissolved and going into the sewers...

~

Eleven tried to find others we thought wereinfected.
"It can't be good for her to be in there for this long" said Mike.
"Mike you need to relax" said Max.

"What if she gets brain damage or something?" said Mike.
"Oh shit, is that like a real thing?" asked Lucas.
"No, it's not" said Max. "He made it up. Mike doesn't know what the hell he'stalking about"

"Oh, and you do?" asked Mike.
"No, I..." said Max.
I looked at a picture of me and Billy. I knew how to find him now. I could... butI had to admit sister was better at this than me...

"Okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?" asked Max suddenly and went toNancy, Jonathan and Will. "Who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike orEleven?"
"The way that you frame that is such bullshit" said Mike.
"It's not bullshit, Mike" said Max. "This is your whole problem"

"Language, both of you" I scolded.
"Sorry" they both said.
"But it's the reason why El dumped your ass" said Max.

"El dumped you?" said Nancy and I at the same time.
"Yeah, because she is conspiring against me" said Mike. "She's corrupting her"
"No, enlightening her" said Max. "The fact is, she's not yours. She's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions"

"She's risking her life for no reason" said Mike.
"For no reason?" said Nancy and she looked at me, she knew I was hurt. "Mike, the flayed are out there doing God knows what"
"Killing, flaying,..." said Lucas.

"Transforming into monsters" said Will. "Billy being one of them"
"And El's not stupid" I said. "She knows her abilities better than any of us"
"Exactly, thank you" said Max.

"And she is her own person" said Nancy. "With her own free will"
"Exactly" said Max. "El has saved the world twice and Mike still doesn't trust her"
"You wanna talk about trust, really?" said Mike defensively. "After you made Eleven spy on us?"

"Wait what?" asked Lucas.
"Oh, she didn't tell you this?" asked Mike.
"No" said Lucas.

"Your girlfriend used El's powers to spy on us" said Mike.
"No, no, no I did not make her" said Max. "It was her idea. And why are we even talking about this, seriously?"
"Yeah, who cares?" asked Will.

"I care" said Lucas.
"Yeah, I guess girlfriends don't lie, they spy" said Mike.
"We were just joking around" said Max.

"Wouldn't it've been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?"asked Mike.
"You weren't" said Max.
"But what if I was?" asked Mike.
"Then gross!" she shouted.
"Seriously?" I asked. "Mike, get to the point already"

"I'm just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Eleven's powers" hesaid. "In fact how careless all of you are. You're treating her like some kindof machine when she's not a machine, and I don't want her to die looking for the flayed when they've obviously vanished off the face of the Earth. So can we please just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can't lose her again"

Author note:

I added a theme song in the characters for Trisha!
It'll be of use in a few chapters...

-Amara