SINISTER ~ STRANGER THINGS (2)

IDENTIFY THE HOST

"Don't be dramatic, we had to go to the boys' locker room. I know you and Max like to ignore rules like that but girls aren't allowed," he waves her off, reminding them of their search for Will last year.

"Whatever. What's the plan?" Max questions.

"We're gonna lead him into the sauna," Will speaks up.

"He hates heat, if he's the Mind Flayer, he'll freak," Bianca smiles.

"And if he's not, we'll just have to be ready to run for our lives," Lucas nods.

"True. Billy will kill us if he's not the host," Max agrees.

"We'll cross that terrifying bridge when we get to it. How are we gonna lure him?" Bianca raises her eyebrows.

"We wait until the pool closes," Mike suggests. "Then we pretend to sneak into the sauna and taunt him the whole way there."

"He's so quick to anger that he won't even think before charging in there to beat us up."

"Yeah, one problem. How do we pretend to be in there without actually being in there?" Max asks.

Bianca looks around for a second, hearing him blow a whistle, which makes her get an idea. "We need a CPR dummy."

"Huh?"

"They look enough like real people for him to get confused by the steam in the sauna. We place that thing in with one of our walkies and talk through, he won't even know the difference."

"We'll also need weapons and something to keep him in there."

"What are we waiting for? The pool closes in an hour," Bianca checks her watch, power-walking towards the storage closets.

"El, grab a dummy. Lucas, Will, get weapons and chains if you can find them."

"Any preferences?" Lucas asks.

"Something hard," she responds. "Mike, help El."

"What about you and Max?"

"We're keeping an eye on Billy. This plan can't work if he leaves," Max retorts.

"Alright," Mike follows El to the closet as she unlocks the door.

"Hey, El?" he taps her shoulder, as she searches for the dummy.

"Yes."

"We're friends, right? Like family," he smiles.

"Yes," she gives a small grin.

"And friends help other friends. How mad is Bianca?" he gets straight to the point.

"Remember when we tricked Hopper?" she raises her eyebrows.

"That bad? I didn't even do anything!" he immediately begins to defend himself, to which she rolls her eyes.

"Bianca is very smart," she glares.

"Yeah, I know," he gives her a look of confusion.

"You used to be too," she pushes past him, carrying out the dummy.

"El, that was so not helpful!" he shouts, sighing as Bianca walks in the storage closet as well.

"Needed a lock," she walks around him, reaching for the metal lock behind him.

He nods awkwardly for a second, before reaching for her arm right as she's about to leave.

"Can we talk? I want to explain."

"You sure I'm logical enough to understand where you're coming from?" she narrows her eyes. "Wouldn't want my emotions to get in the way."

"What are you talking about? Don't be like that Bianca, I miss you."