Byler- The Unwanted Return of Everything (And How It Finally Ends)

The Grip

"Mike!" he head Lucas yell from behind him. Mike turned to face him. "Are you okay, Mike? Oh my god, you're bleeding."

Mike sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's not bad, though. I don't think he got very far before Dustin fucking tackled me." Mike's side would probably bruise from the weight of Dustin shooting at him at a million miles an hour, although that was better than being impaled with a stick.

"Okay," said Lucas, exhaling. "Good. I was-"

" GUYS!" Dustin sounded somewhat strained as he yelled from Mike's left. Mike turned and remembered that he was currently rolling around with the stick-wielding Mind Flayer, trying not to die. "Help me, will you?"

Mike and Lucas ran to him. Mike pried Will off of Dustin, attempting to hold him in place. Will jerked his shoulders out of Mike's grasp with a violent motion, elbowing him in the chest. Mike fell once again, coughing slightly. His back still stung. When he looked up, he saw Will back towards the edge of the cliff, smiling like a maniac.

"What are you doing?" Dustin shouted at him. He looked at his friends frantically and got into some sort of battle stance. "Running away? Come on! Fight us!" He urged the Mind Flayer to come back. The creature in Will's body just smiled and continued backward. He was almost to the edge.

"Hey," said Mike, realizing what was happening. "Hey!" He ran forward, trying to stop Will.

Will put out his hand, commanding Mike to stop. He did so, breaking on his heels and waiting for some sort of explanation from the evil monster.

"Don't come any closer," said Will, slowly putting down his arm. "Or I'll jump." He looked back at the drop behind him. "I'd survive, of course, but I'm not so sure about this body." He stuck up an arm and tilted his head towards it as if he was studying its composition.

"You wouldn't," Lucas argued. "You need him, don't you?" He stepped forward, reaching out to get the monster.

Will stepped back again. "Don't underestimate me. I can do whatever I want, it doesn't matter if he dies now." He took one more step, an inch from the edge.

Mike realized he was shaking even more now, and not because of the cold air. "Stop," he said. "What do you want, then? Why are you doing this?" He couldn't let this thing kill Will, no matter what he wanted. Mike hated how the Mind Flayer found to power to put everyone in these situations.

Will looked pensive for a moment, then went back to his horrible grin. "Well, I would say leave me alone, but I feel like I need something more from you."

"Do you?" Dustin muttered, crossing his arms. He spoke up. "Fine, name your price. In exchange for Will, right?"

The Mind Flayer kept on smiling, it grew larger. Mike had the feeling he was doing something sly. "In exchange for Will. Do we have a deal?" Will's eyes gleamed with deceit, a look Mike had never seen on the boy.

"You haven't even named our end of the bargain," said Lucas hesitantly. All three boys knew that whatever the Mind Flayer suggested wouldn't be good. Something bad was about to happen, Mike could feel it in the air. "What do we have to do?"

Will stepped to the right, covering the glow of the moon behind a cloud so that Mike couldn't see it. He almost looked like he was glowing in the light, a specter of himself. "I want two of you to get out of here as fast as you can and leave me to my business," he paused, for dramatic effect perhaps. "And I want the remaining of you to jump off of this cliff."

Mike froze up, staring with an open mouth at the Mind Flayer. He tried to say something, but his mouth felt dry. He didn't like that deal at all because he knew who it had to be.