Chapter Thirty-Six: Finding The Source

(E Pluribus Unum, Pt. 7)

***

The TV's white noise filled Cami's ears, filled the silence of the cabin as El sat in front of the TV, blindfold around her eyes. Cami, Max, Will and Lucas sat on the couch while Alistair sat on the arm of it and Mike sat in an armchair next to the couch, as Nancy and Jonathan stood behind the couch. All of them watching El as she watched Billy like she had been for the past couple hours. But so far, nothing had changed with him, as he'd apparently been staying in his room all day.

El panted before she pulled the blindfold down, breathing in and out heavily. Worry was stoked in Cami at that as Max asked the telekinetic girl, "What's he doing now?"

Cami glanced over to Max, seeing Hugin hop off Alistair's shoulder and flew onto hers, obviously to provide the redhead some comfort. Max petted Hugin, accepting the comfort, as El turned to them, blood dripping from her nose as she answered, "He's still in his room."

Max bit her lip as they all shared a look, as El stood up and headed into the kitchen.

As the tap was turned on, Nancy turned to Max and questioned, "So, he's been in his room all day. And that's not normal, right?"

"Billy staying in his room on the 4th of July? No, that's not normal," Max responded.

Cami bit her lip—today was the 4th of July. In another life, she'd be preparing to head to the festival, maybe secretly set some fireworks off with Valerie, celebrating her first 4th of July in Hawkins with all of her friends.

But that was a life where the Mind Flayer hadn't risen from the dead and had Flayed people. Where Valerie could be one of the Flayed right now. Where instead of festivals and fireworks, Cami had to focus on energy on helping to stop the Mind Flayer and everyone it infected.

"He wants us to find him," Will realised, and that stoked a kernel of fear in Cami—that the Mind Flayer wanted the Party to find it and its Flayed so not could lay its trap. If her sister was here, she'd be quoting "It's a trap" from Star Wars right now.

God, she missed Valerie.

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. If we go to Billy, then the rest of the Flayed will know where we are," Nancy pointed out.

"How else will we be able to stop the Mind Flayer and the Flayed then?" Cami inquired. Even if it was a trap, there was no other way for them to stop the Flayed other than seeking out Billy and run that risk of the Flayed knowing where they were just to stop this shadowy hijo de puta.

"I don't know," Nancy replied.

"it's a trap, I agree. We'll be ambushed," Mike responded, agreeing with his sister.

"We won't be surprised. We know that they're coming, and we'll kick their Flayed butts," Lucas said, obviously in an attempt at a pep talk.

"You mean El and Al will kick their butts," Max pointed out dryly.

"I can go to Billy—make myself invisible and he won't even know I'm there," Alistair suggested.

Cami's eyes widened, fear of Billy or the Flayed catching her best friend—even in his invisible state with his soul-power—clutching at her as Will rebutted, "Yeah, but what if Billy senses you and you're Flayed, too?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Alistair replied, shrugging.

"And what if the other Flayed are there? What if you're on your own and we can't help?"

"I'll figure something out. Even if it means killing or exorcising a few Flayed."

"No, it's too risky," Jonathan shot down, shaking his head.

"Yeah, and unnecessary. Killing or exorcising the Flayed won't stop the Mind Flayer. We have to find out where it's spreading from. We have to find the source," Nancy argued, determination in her face as Cami squirmed, reminded that with how there were so many Flayed and the development of how they could melt into monsters... there was no feasible way to burn or exorcise the Mind Flayer out of all of them. Which meant if Valerie was indeed Flayed...

Cami would never see her hermana mayor again.

But if they found the source, they could stop the Mind Flayer. They could prevent more people from being Flayed—prevent more little sisters losing their older sisters to this monster.

"Billy knows it."

Everyone turned to El, stepping out of the kitchen as she continued, "Billy's been there. To the source."

"Yeah, but—" Mike started to protest.

"It's a trap. I know," El interrupted. "We can't go to Billy, but I think there's another way. A way for me to see where he's been."

So that was how they ended up back in the living room, after El shared how she could do this—by looking into Billy's memories, like how she looked into her mom's and found out what happened to her, what Brenner had done to her when she refused to give up on finding El and bringing her back home. Hearing that had Cami's heart hurt for El and made her glad Brenner was dead, that the Demogorgon had actually done a good thing by killing him according to Alistair, Mike, Lucas and Dustin, otherwise she knew she would be very justified in beating that cabrón to death with the chancla. But with El looking into Billy's mind... it sounded incredibly risky, especially with the Mind Flayer lurking within it. Combined with how El had been searching for the Flayed for hours and what Alistair said about how his and Rowan's—and therefore El's—powers were like muscles that needed rest or they could be damaged if pushed too far, perhaps permanently... it made Cami worry even more.

But she kept silent, since El was willing to do this, and that she would know her own limits, know the risks. Right?

Cami looked over to her person, seeing him walk outside, before looking back to El as she got ready to look, as Mike crouched next to her and murmured, "El, I know you think you have to do this, but you don't."

Beside Cami, Max rolled her eyes at Mike, but Cami only bit her lip, knowing this was just Mike worrying for El pushing her limits too far, especially with who she was going into the mind of, as he continued, "It's just, you've only done this before once. And your mom, she loved you, and wanted you to know what happened. And Billy's mind is... is sick, diseased. The Mind Flayer is in him."

El turned to Mike, saying, "He can't hurt me. Not in there."

"We don't know that," Mike argued, saying what Cami was thinking—just because neither El or Rowan had been hurt when they'd been, respectively, mind-walking and dream-walking, that didn't mean they couldn't be hurt when they did that. Right?

El held Mike's hand, looking at him as she murmured, "Mike. I need you to trust me."

Mike looked at her, before glancing to Max and Cami. Max gave him a look while Cami nodded furiously, hoping he got the message that yes, despite his worry, he should trust her.

Fortunately, he got it as he said, "Yeah. Yeah. Just... be careful."

El nodded before she let his hand go and Mike resumed his spot on the armchair, as Cami, Max, Will and Lucas sat down on the couch, and El tied the blindfold around her head firmly. A minute later, Alistair rejoined them, something shadowing his face, but it faded as he sat on the arm of the couch. He looked at Mike, seeing his worry and giving him a comforting look, before turning back to El, as they all watched her, waiting for her to find Billy—to enter his mind and find the source via his memories.

Another minute passed, before a change came in El.

She started breathing faster, her entire body going rigid, Mike noticing first as he said, "Something's wrong."

Alarm bells rang in Cami's mind as Alistair looked at El and asked, "El, are you okay? Jean Grey, you okay? El!"

El didn't respond, her breathing going higher and higher and Cami felt the urge to leap off the couch and shake her shoulders and see she was okay, until her breathing smoothed out.

"El, are you okay? Are you okay?" Mike questioned, a note of panic inflecting his voice.

"I'm okay," she answered.

"What's going on?" Mike pressed.

"I'm... on a beach," El replied.

Cami blinked, confusion rising up in her, sharing a puzzled look with Alistair, as Lucas said, "Okay, I may be dense, but the last I checked, there weren't any beaches in Hawkins."

"What else do you see?" Max questioned.

"A woman. She's... pretty," El answered. "I... I think she's looking at me."

A few seconds passed, before El said, "There's... a boy."

Cami frowned, still confused, as another few seconds passed until El revealed, "It's Billy."

"It's California," Max murmured, and that eradicated Cami's confusion immediately. "It's a memory."

Cami turned back to El as she said, "I think I see it. The source."

Cami bit her lip, as tense silence filled the cabin as El now walked to the source in Billy's memories. She looked over to Alistair, seeing how anxious he looked, Hugin, also looking anxious, and she tried to give him a comforting look, but it faltered under her own storm of anxiousness and fear for El, of what could happen to her if she searched for the source—if the Mind Flayer realised she was in there.

After minutes of silence, El finally spoke again.

"I think I found it. The source."

"Where, El? Where are you?" Max demanded, worry threading her voice.

"Brimborn... Steelworks," El answered.

The minute she said it, Jonathan was moving, grabbing the phonebook as Nancy went with him. He flipped through the pages frantically, muttering, "Here. Okay, uh, steelworks, steelworks, uh..."

When he found it, he said, "Uh... Here, steel. Uh... Found it. 665522 Cherry Oak Drive."

"That's close," Nancy realised.

"El, El, we found it. Get out of there. Get out," Mike told her as Alistair nodded.

"Yeah, get the hell out of there, Jean Grey," Alistair agreed.

Cami didn't say anything, but she agreed. El needed to get out of Billy's mind right now.

El nodded, and they waited. And waited.

She didn't pull the blindfold off.

Mierda.

"Guys, shouldn't El be waking up right about now?" Cami asked, unable to hide the terror in her voice, the tremor in it.

"Shit, something went wrong!" Mike exclaimed. Panic twisted his face as he launched himself off the armchair and was instantly at El's side, shaking her as he yelled, "El, can you hear me? Come on, you have to get out of there! El? El!"

Now Alistair was moving to her side, shaking El as well as he demanded, "El, are you okay? Come on, you have to wake up now! Jean Grey? El!"

When El didn't respond, Cami's own panic spiked inside her, as Alistair looked to Mike and shouted, "Keep trying to wake her up, Mike!"

"Al, what are you doing? Al!?" Will yelled, panic in his face, as now Cami stared at her best friend, her heart dropping out of her chest as she realised what he was planning, as he stood up.

"Helping her," Alistair said as he closed his eyes—and separated his soul from his body.

Now, Cami had seen Alistair project his soul or whatever her best friend did with his soul out of his body, often seeing it appear next to him either purposefully or accidentally, a hazy copy of her best friend like some sort of afterimage on a photo, and she'd grown used to seeing his soul unexpectedly pop out of his body. But Cami would never get used to how Alistair's entire body stiffened up, how unless his eyes were closed they just stared blankly ahead, nothing in them as they rapidly moved about it—how Alistair looked either asleep... or dead.

And now Cami was terrified because her best friend's soul hadn't appeared next to his body—which meant it had appeared in front of Billy.

"No, Al!" she yelled, running to him as she shook his unresponsive body, knowing it would do little but she still tried, her face utterly terrified as Will joined her, shaking Alistair as he said, "No, no, come on, Al, come back! No, Al, please! Al!"

Around Alistair, Hugin was croaking frantically, the raven's panic tangible even though Cami didn't share a bond with the undead bird like Alistair did as she kept shaking him, her reckless, brave best friend, the fear of Alistair, her best friend, her person, her soul twin, being Flayed and melted, of losing him like she could have lost Valerie, flooding through her, yelling, "Come on, you el idiota. Get back in your body and wake up!"

"Al, come on, wake up! Please, it can't get you as well! Al, please!" Will begged.

"AL!" Cami and Will screamed.

And then Alistair was gasping, his eyes flying open as he staggered back.

Cami bit back a sob of relief as Hugin croaked up a storm and Will tackled Alistair, saying, "Holy shit, Al! You scared the shit out of me! I thought..."

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Alistair assured, hugging Will. And when they pulled back, Cami glomped her best friend, squeezing him tightly as she threatened, "Do that again, and I'll haunt you for the rest of your days, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'm serious! You're like my soul twin or something! I wouldn't know what I'd do if you were Flayed and became one of those things or died! So don't pull anymore stupid shit, okay idiota?"

"I won't. Promise," Alistair vowed as he smiled at her.

She narrowed her eyes, not entirely believing him but accepting it as she felt the relief her reckless idiot of a best friend was okay, as Max stepped in and punched him in the arm, saying, "That's for being a dumbass, dumbass."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for reminding me," Alistair muttered as he rubbed his arm, before his eyes widened and he asked, "Did El wake up?"

At that, Cami's eyes widened, realising that El still hadn't woken up, as everyone else's faces fell and she turned along with Alistair to see her still on the floor, Mike holding her as blood poured from her nose.

"Shit, El!" Alistair shouted as he rushed to her side—just as El screamed, "No!" and ripped off the blindfold. El looked absolutely terrified, her eyes darting everywhere before she looked to Mike as he assured her, "El, you're okay. It's oaky, El."

El only sobbed, collapsing into Mike's arms, clutching onto him, and Cami's heart clenched.

"El, what happened?" Cami asked her, even as a part of her dreaded the answer.

El looked at Cami, looked at all of them, terror still in her face as she was about to answer—until a guttural scream silenced her.

Cami whirled and her eyes widened as her heart missed a beat in panic as Alistair collapsed to the ground screaming, convulsing.

"AL!" Cami screamed, her scream joining Will's, Mike's, Lucas', Max's, as she rushed to her shaking, screaming best friend, grabbing him as Hugin croaked in panic. The minute Cami's hands made contact with Alistair's skin, she jolted—her best friend was cold. Cold as ice. 

Cold as death.

Cami's eyes widened as she whirled to Max and Lucas, saw the realisation dawn in their faces as Alistair screamed louder, screams that tore Cami's heart in two, full of such utter agony as her best friend curled up—and the air turned frighteningly cold.

This had happened before, last year—when nearly everyone in Hawkins Lab had been killed by the Demodogs and Alistair had collapsed screaming from feeling all of that brutal death. If that was what was happening right now...

Cami didn't hold much hope for the Flayed.

"What's happening? Al, what's happening to you?! Al!" Will yelled as he shook Alistair, his voice cracking from desperation, from fear.

"Jesus, what is happening to him?" Jonathan muttered, making Cami realise Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, Will and El didn't know what was happening to Alistair—confirmed when Mike whirled around, saw the looks on Cami's, Max's and Lucas' faces and yelled, "What's going on? Guys, what's happening to Al?!"

"It's his powers,. We saw something like this last year," Lucas revealed, Cami nodding as she interjected, "And we can't help him right now, and whatever you do, don't get panicked or scared when it gets creepy and he wakes up!"

"Especially when he wakes up," Max added, Lucas and Cami nodding in agreement, Cami remembering how Alistair's eyes had gone wholly white—no pupil or iris in sight. That his eyes could very much look like that after he woke up.

"What? What is going on?" Nancy demanded, Mike and Will about to shout questions again—when Alistair's body locked up and he let out a banshee howl of a scream. Except it wasn't only just Alistair screaming, as Cami swore she heard hundreds of agonised voices screaming with her best friend's.

"Holy shit!" Lucas exclaimed—right as the earth ruptured and bone-chilling howls joined Alistair's scream.

The group whirled around, eyes growing wide as dark shapes loomed in front of the windows of the cabin, glowing white eyes piercing as they moaned, growled and howled, banging against the walls, scrabbling at it, the cabin so cold Cami could see her own breath, as Nancy breathed, "Holy shit," and Alistair kept screaming.

Then his screams abruptly cut off and the warmth flooded back as the shapes stilled and Alistair shot up, his entire body shaking, hand clutching his chest as blood poured down from his nose. Relief swarmed through Cami at the sight—even as his eyes opened, revealing nothing but blank, glowing white eyes.

"Holy shit!" Mike yelled as El, Nancy and Jonathan stared at Alistair, eyes wide as saucers. "Your eyes, dude!"

Cami and Max harshly elbowed Mike as Lucas hissed, "Dude," as Will slammed into Alistair, holding him tightly even as Alistair hissed at the contact, as he asked, "Al, are you okay? What happened? Al?"

"I... I..." Alistair tried, words failing him. He hesitated, breathing in and out sharply as Hugin croaked and everyone stared at Alistair, torn between looking at him and the dark, unrecognisable shapes just beyond the cabin, as Cami still felt the relief her best friend was okay filling her.

"I..." Alistair croaked, before he swallowed, pain entering his wholly white eyes as he said again, "I don't think we have to worry about the Flayed as people anymore."

And like that, Cami's relief shattered—especially when she looked at El, at the look on her face, of what she'd seen.

Something bad had happened.

***

Oh Cami, you have no idea...

Listen, the scene where El found the source in Billy's mind is one of the most STUNNING scenes in Stranger Things, cinematographically speaking. Unfortunately, I couldn't show it, but I love it so much—especially when she enters the storm—and it's so freaking gorgeous (again, props to Stranger Things and their gorgeous cinematography)

And yeah.... this wasn't a fun time for either Alistair or Cami, as Cami's panicking over her best friend/platonic soulmate when he first tries to go after Billy and then when he feels the Flayed being melted alive, along with her worrying over El. She just wants all her friends to be happy and safe, okay?

Next chapter will have us into episode seven! I still can't believe we're only two episodes away from finishing s3. Who's ready? >:)

Spanish translations:

Hijo de puta: Son of a bitch

Hermana mayor: Big sister

Cabrón: Bastard

El idiota: Idiot

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!