CHAPTER TEN - THE MIND FLAYER
PART TWO
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MIKE QUICKLY FLIPPED through the pages of the book, finally stopping on one that was titled: Mind Flayer. Jackie stared at the drawing on the page in shock, out of all the things she imagined in her head, the picture was definitely worse. But what was even scarier was the fact that this Flayer thing actually resembled what Will had drawn.
"The Mind Flayer," Dustin announced to the group huddled around the table. He glanced around at all of them, taking in their reactions.
"The hell is that?" Hopper asked from beside Jackie, her head turning in his direction as he spoke. Hopper was intimidating, actually, he was one of the scariest people she'd ever met and she'd only knew him for five hours. However, he was so sarcastic at times that it made her do a double take. From the stories the kids had told her to pass time that night, he sounded like a total badass.
"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home." At everyone's confused looks, Dustin continued. "Okay, it enslaves races from any other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."
"Oh my God, none of this is real. It's a kid's game," Hopper broke in, annoyed.
"No," Dustin protested. "It's a manual, and it's not for kids. And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor—"
"Analogy," Lucas corrected, cutting him off.
"Analogy? That's what you're worried about right now? Fine. Analogy."
"Knowing big words also isn't going to get you brownie points with my sister but you know, A for effort."
"That's not—"
"Uh-uh," Jackie wiggled her finger in Lucas's face, ignoring Max's warning glare. "You can't slip that shit past me I know everything."
"Okay, so this mind-flamer thing—" Nancy started.
"Flayer," Dustin said immediately. "Mind flayer."
Nancy sighed dramatically. "So what does it want?"
"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race."
"Like the Germans," Steve stated.
"I was gonna say like Billy, but that works," Jackie mumbled, elbowing him in the ribs. "Even though it was the Nazis, dumbass."
"Oh, right. Yeah."
"Uh," Dustin stammered, his voice faltering for the first time that night. "If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally. It views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."
"It wants to spread," Mike carried on. "Take over other dimensions."
"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," Lucas said, his expression more serious than Jackie had ever seen.
"That's great," Steve threw his hands up in the air. "That's really great. Jesus."
"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it..."
"We kill everything it controls."
"We win." Mike concluded, sounding awfully confident.
"Theoretically."
"Oh great, so how do you kill this thing? Shoot fireballs or something?" Hopper asked, brows raised.
Dustin chuckled. "No, no. No fireballs. You summon an undead army."
"Oh Jesus."
"Because, you know. Zombies don't have brains."
"Right," Jackie drummed her fingers on the table. "Do you guys have any zombies laying around? Anyone?"
"It's just a game, it's a game." Dustin said defensively, shrinking away from Hopper's hard glare. Yup, Jackie thought. Definitely terrifying.
"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper questioned, clearly annoyed as he dropped the book roughly back on the table.
"I thought we were waiting for your military backup."
"We are!"
"Even if they come, how are they gonna stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns!" Mike pressed on, clearly aggravating the chief even further.
"You don't know that! We don't know anything!"
"We know it's already killed everybody in that lab!" Lucas chimed in.
"And we know the monsters are gonna molt again!" Dustin stated.
"And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town," Mike declared, his gaze narrowing at the older man in front of him.
"They're right," a weak voice called from the hallway. Joyce stood there with a blanket wrapped around her. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."
Hopper gently took a few steps towards her, his attitude completely changing, something that didn't slip by Jackie. "Me too, me too, Joyce. But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."
"No, but he does," Mike said, gesturing to the unconscious Will on the couch. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it, he knows all of its weaknesses."
"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore," Max spoke up. "That he's a spy for the mind flayer now."
"He can't spy if he doesn't know where he is," Jackie said aloud, more to herself than anyone, but Mike once again looked impressed with her. She thought it was weird that she needed approval from a thirteen year old boy, but somehow having it made her confidence go up. "We just have to make sure he doesn't figure out where he's located."
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As Hopper worked on clearing out the shed, Steve, Nancy and Jackie worked on covering the walls to make them look unfamiliar. She found herself forcing to ignore how close together the other two were working, and aggressively stuck another piece of duck tape to the wall.
"Hey, what you guys did, um, with helping the kids...that was really cool."
"Don't pin that on me," Jackie said, glancing in the other girl's direction, who looked at her with surprise written on her face. "That was all Steve. I can't take credit for it."
"Right," Nancy's eyes darted between the two of them. "But thank you, anyway."
"Yeah," Steve stepped back on the stool. "Those shits are real trouble you know?"
Nancy chuckled. "Believe me, I know."
Soon, everyone was working on taping things to the walls to make them unrecognizable. They all worked quickly, hoping to get it done before Will woke up. It was a suspenseful process, nobody spoke. It was a tough silence, too. Not a comfortable one. Everyone focused on their task.
Hopper handed her another stable gun once hers ran out, and she attempted to give him a small smile even though he was actually terrifying to be around. "Thank you."
"Uh-huh."
And that was that.
She went back to working in silence after that, and narrowly avoided stepping on Lucas who was lying on the floor as he taped the lower half of the wall he was positioned at. Jonathan was busy screwing in a lightbulb that made her squint because it was so bright, and Joyce carried in a chair. It wasn't long after that they finished, and the unconscious Will was strapped to the chair in the middle of the room.
The rest of them were ushered out of the shed, much to Jackie's relief yet disappointment. She sat on the floor, back inside of the house, watching Steve swing the bat in his hands. The house was somehow even quieter than it was before. But yet the silence was so loud at the same time. It made her uncomfortable.
She was surrounded by people but felt completely alone and stuck with her thoughts. Thoughts she had tried so hard to desperately push away. Max would laugh in her face if she told her any of this.
The lights suddenly started to flicker, and everyone who was in the house gathered to look at the shed in worry. Jackie pretended not to notice how Steve protectively stood in front of her, and what it did to her heart. Hopper bursted in the back door, quickly grabbing a pen and paper.
"What happened?" Dustin asked, stepping towards the chief.
"I think he's talking, just not with words."
"What? Like morse code?" Jackie questioned, and Hopper gave a slight nod.
"H. E. R. E"
"Here." They all said in unison.
"Will's still in there, he's talking to us."
Chaos quickly erupted as everyone hurriedly set up a morse code machine. Jackie watched as Dustin jotted down the letters Will was sending.
Closegate.
"Close gate," they all said together again. A knowing silence passed through the group just as the phone began to ring.
"Shit, shit!" Dustin ran over to shut it off. Silence, and then it started again.
Jackie followed the phone line and quickly tugged it from the wall, and the phone shut up for good this time. "Do you think he heard that?" She asked, worry clouding her tone as she turned to the group.
"It's just a phone, it could be anywhere. Right?" Steve questioned, sounding hopeful.
A shout came from the shed. Jackie could've sworn the kitchen grew heavier. "Shit. He knows."
A familiar screech echoed throughout the air, one Jackie knew way too well. "Well, we're screwed."
"That's not good."
Hopper walked in with two guns under his arms, one placed in his hands. He turned to Jonathan. "Do you know how to use this?"
"What?" he shrunk back, eyes wide.
"Can you use this?" Hopper demanded.
"I can!" Nancy called, and he tossed her a rifle.
"I've got one more," Hopper stated, glancing around. "Any takers?"
"I know how," Jackie said abruptly, and all eyes turned to her. "My dad taught me."
Hopper nodded, and Jackie caught the gun with ease as she loaded it. Max jumped behind Lucas, staring at Jackie in shock. "Dad taught you?"
"Of course he did."
"Why am I not surprised you know how to use a gun on top of everything else?" Dustin asked, ducking to hide behind her.
"Cause I'm a badass. Duh." As they all aimed at the windows in anticipation, Jackie shifted around anxiously on her feet. She'd never actually killed anything before, her father had taught her how to shoot one as a precaution. Never in her life did she think she'd actually have to use one.
"Where are they?"
The noises continued, closer now. A loud growl came from the left side of the house, and everyone turned. Then, the sound came from the right, and shortly after the dead demogorgen flew through the window. They all jumped in fear away from it, and Hopper shot it a few times, making sure it was truly dead.
"Holy shit."
The sound of the door creaking made everyone turn their attention away from the demogorgen, facing the new threat. The door swung open on its own, revealing a girl with really short gelled hair and dark makeup. Eleven. Dustin hadn't gone into much detail about her while telling Jackie the whole story, almost as if it were too painful to even mention her name, but she knew from the loud gasp that went around the room that she was correct.
Eleven was alive.
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authors note
(rewritten as of 3/15/21)
finally! the baddest bitch has arrived