Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Siege On The Cabin

(The Bite, Pt. 2)

***

The Party didn't waste a second preparing for battle.

Nancy and Jonathan headed outside for weapons, while inside Max, Cami, Alistair, Will, Mike, Lucas and El barricaded the inside of the cabin as best as possible—mostly against the windows—with Lucas also closing the doors to any rooms the Mind Flayer could creep into.

Alistair panted as he helped push a shelf in front of a window, Hugin flapping around. Wiping the sweat off his brow, Alistair stepped away, raising his hands and mumbling, "Step back."

His friends did so, watching Alistair as cold burned in his eyes, the white returning as the temperature plummeted. Outside, the ground rumbled, and Alistair could feel the corpses rising—squirrels, possums, rats, snakes... and a coyote, a wolf and two bears. They lumbered in the woods, ready to be called upon when the Mind Flayer attacked. Alistair wiped the blood away from his nose, keeping a mental hold on his reanimated soldiers as he jumped back into helping barricade.

"Yeah. That's good like that," Mike said in regards to their barricades—just as Nancy and Jonathan came back, Nancy wielding a gun, not like Alistair expected anything else, and Jonathan holding an axe. They set their weapons down to push the couch up against the door, blocking it.

Picking up the gun again, Nancy ordered, "Hey, get away from the windows."

They obeyed, standing in a tight circle. Now waiting for the Mind Flayer to attack.

Alistair's heart was in his throat, and he could feel the dead animals under his control in the woods, waiting for the chance to attack the Mind Flayer. And if what he felt was true, if his hunch was correct...

Maybe he'd help more than he realised.

They waited, as everything seemed to go silent—the world waiting as much as they were for the monster to attack.

Until things in the cabin started rattling and lights began to flicker.

Alistair's heartbeat spiked, and he reached for Will's hand unconsciously. Will took it as he murmured, "It's close."

Alistair gulped, eyeing the walls of the cabin as now crashing noises sounded, the noises sending chills creeping down Alistair's spine as the flickering intensified and the rattling grew louder. His grip tightened on Will's as he felt his dead animals watching the shadows, waiting for his command to attack, as the living people waited in tense silence for the Mind Flayer's attack.

Except, it never came, as the crashes grew faint and distant. Almost like it... left.

"Where'd it go?" Max whispered.

"Did it leave?" Cami asked, too much hope in her voice.

"No, it can't be that easy," Alistair muttered—especially when he could still feel his power reaching out to the Mind Flayer, or rather what the Mind Flayer was now made of.

It was still here.

Another few heart-stopping seconds of silence passed.

Then wood splintered as fleshy-tentacle thing burst through the wall, screeching as it whipped out.

Hugin croaked as they backed away into the walls and Jonathan slammed the axe into the tentacle. It shrieked, curling up, as black blood erupted from it. Jonathan slammed the axe into the tentacle again before it threw Jonathan against the room. He collided with a shelf, the axe discard as the tentacle hovered above him, the bone shards or teeth or whatever in its "head" primed for blood. And maybe it would have killed Jonathan, if Nancy didn't step in and fired the gun into it. Gunfire boomed as the tentacle turned to Nancy, hesitating as Nancy kept shooting.

Until the gun ran out of bullets. 

Sensing the attack had ended, it approached, backing Nancy into a corner. It snarled, about to attack—until El grabbed it in a telekinetic hold, freezing it in place.

Monster and girl fought, the tentacle writhing in El's merciless hold, until El jerked her hand and the "head" of the tentacle was ripped off. It screeched before whipping back through where it came, leaving the rest of then to stare at it.

"Holy shit," Max said, eyes wide.

That was the only chance she got to say anything before two more flesh-tentacles burst through, lashing around and screeching, their "maws" full of teeth and bone shards reaching for them. Alistair screamed, Now! to his soldiers, hearing the roars and snarls and the Mind Flayer's screech as the undead animals attacked it, tearing into it's rotting flesh and organs, black blood probably spraying their decomposing bodies.

Alistair let them attack, cold searing his veins and blood trickling from his nose, as a tentacle coiled up in front of him, like a snake about to strike, before it shrieked and lunged for his throat.

But El jumped in before Alistair could, stopping it in its tracks and soon after the second, in the middle. She panted, blood dripping from her nose. A screech came and Alistair whirled, seeing a third tentacle burst through the wall, aimed right for El.

Alistair raised his hands, praying his hunch was right.

It was, as the tentacle stopped in its tracks, confusion and rage in its screeches as Alistair controlled the dead flesh, blood pouring from both nostrils as he kept it in control, glaring at it as he made it retreat, the Mind Flayer giving a howl of rage.

Alistair turned, about to help El when she again wrenched the "heads" of the tentacles off with a yell. The headless tentacles whipped out of the cabin, their heads crawling away.

El panted, recovering, as Alistair winced, feeling the dead animals—mostly his smaller ones—being destroyed by more of those tentacles as the Mind Flayer screeched its anger.

The ceiling shattering was the only warning before a tentacle grabbed El's ankle.

El screamed as she was lifted up. Alistair lunged, grabbing her hand as Mike reacted next, shouting, "El!", as grabbed her hands. They were locked in a standstill as Mike shouted El's name again, as now Will, Cami, Max and Jonathan jumped in, holding her with a death grip as the Mind Flayer howled above them, the tentacle refusing to let El go. And in the opening it made, Alistair saw the monster—a fleshy, eyeless face with two protrusions in the back and a maw full of teeth and shards of bone. Undead snakes and rats crawled across it, scratching and biting, but it didn't seem to bother the Mind Flayer, not when it had El in its grip.

Alistair gritted his teeth, eyes burning brighter, white taking over, cold spreading through his body. No way in fucking hell.

"Pull!" Mike shouted as Jonathan screamed, "Nancy, shoot it! Al, do something!"

Nancy responded, reloading the gun and shooting it right in it faces, each bang of the gun thunderous in Alistair's ears, mixing with the monster's horrible screeches and El's cries of pain. And as Nancy fired, Alistair let go with one hand to try and take control, but the Mind Flayer had caught on and latched on tighter, inciting more screams of pain from El. Immediately Alistair grabbed El's hands, relying on the animals as the smaller ones stiffened and fell dead, as he heard the two bears stand up and roar, swiping at the Mind Flayer's legs while the coyote and wolf tore into the flesh with rotting fangs. Hugin jumped in, pecking the tentacle and raking his claws against the flesh, the Mind Flayer screeching. And as the undead animals attacked and Nancy shot it, Alistair focused on pulling El toward him, grunting as his teeth ground together, as they all pulled and grunted and El screamed, the gunfire constant.

But the bullets would run out again, and Alistair could feel the tentacles tear into his zombie animals, and he commanded, Hugin, fly away!, Hugin obeying—but not without scratching his talons on the tentacle one last time with a vengeful croak—as Max screamed, "Come on! Lucas!"

Lucas, the only one not holding El, snatched up the axe and leapt up on the coffee table. With a yell, he swung the axe into the tentacle, connecting. Black blood erupted in a fountain and Lucas swung again as Max yelled, "Pull!" and they pulled even harder as El struggled and Nancy shot the gun, as Lucas swung the axe into the tentacle a third time, and with that swing it was cut in half.

El fell to the ground in Mike's arms, as he  immediately asked her, "El! El, are you okay?", and the remaining tentacle was leashed back into the depths of the Mind Flayer's body, and Alistair commanded his soldiers to give it hell before he focused on El—and the thing still clamped around her leg.

"Dios mío," Cami breathed, her eyes wide as Mike grabbed the the thing and ripped it off.

El let out an agonised scream. Alistair's eyes were wide as blood gushed out from the wound and Mike threw the thing away, as it crawled back to the Mind Flayer. Alistair sucked in a gasp as his coyote fell, and they all backed away as El crawled back, as Alistair felt the last of his zombie animals fall and the Mind Flayer refocused on them, snarling as more tentacles grew out from its maw.

Alistair stood up and so did El, getting shakily to her feet, dragging her injured leg as she stood in front of the Mind Flayer. It snarled, tentacles wriggling, and El raised her hands, blood pouring from her nose as she screamed and the Mind Flayer screamed before its face was ripped in half.

"Holy shit," Cami gasped eyes wide, as El fell back into Max's arms.

"Go, go, go!" Nancy yelled, and Alistair realised that they had to leave, to get away while they still could. They ran to the doors as Jonathan shouted, "Come on, guys, come on, go!

"Go!" Nancy screamed, beckoning at them to run—like they needed to be told twice.

"Hurry up! Come on!" Jonathan yelled as they ran to the front door and Jonathan threw the couch down, Mike and Max helping El as Mike yelled, "Everybody out!"

"Go!" Jonathan yelled, holding the door open for them all to sprint out.

They ran into the night, where Alistair saw the remains of the zombie animals he raised—and the Mind Flayer, shaking, its split head wagging about as it roared.

"Go, come on!" Nancy shouted as they sprinted for Nancy's car, as Jonathan screamed, "Go, go, go, go!"

Alistair paused, turning to the Mind Flayer as it snarled.

What is Alistair doing! Have to run! Hugin yelled, as Will screamed, "AL!"

"I'll catch up!" he yelled as he glared at the Mind Flayer.

It roared and charged toward them, but Alistair raised his hands, halting it in its tracks.

It shrieked, writhing in his hold as Alistair ground his teeth, his body trembling. Ice was in his veins, as his veins burned a steady white and the air was frigid, his eyes burning so intensely cold he knew they were wholly white as he glared at the monster and commanded with all the power he had, "FREEZE!"

The Mind Flayer screeched, but it did, freezing. Alistair dropped his hands, exhaustion crashing down onto him, and he almost collapsed—if Cami hadn't grabbed him and yelled, "Come on! We have to go!"

Alistair nodded, his head heavy, blood streaming from his nose as he and Cami ran to the car, the Mind Flayer remaining in place, howling in rage and hate. Up ahead, he heard Nancy shout, "Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!"

When they caught up, Mike was getting El into the car, saying, "Get in. Right here." Alistair and Cami got in next, pressed close against Lucas, Will and Max as Jonathan and Nancy were in the front, Mike screaming, "Drive! Drive!"

Nancy did and they roared out of there, tyres squealing as in the back, El breathed laboriously, the metallic smell of blood filling the cramped space of the car.

"Al, your nose," Will said, and Alistair touched his nose, seeing the blood. Hugin croaked as Alistair wiped it away, but more was coming, it wasn't stopping, shit, shit, shit!

"Here," Cami said, giving him her bandana.

"Thanks," Alistair mumbled, pressing it against his nose to stem the flow, knowing why there was so much.

He'd overexerted himself, pushed his limits too dangerously far.

Note to self: Don't try and control gigantic monsters made out of dead human flesh anymore, Alistair thought dryly, as the flow of blood finally stopped and behind them, Alistair felt his command snap and the Mind Flayer roar in anger.

But there was a fair enough distance now, and the Mind Flayer was heavily damaged. But that was not a victory.

Not when El was bleeding out in the back.

***

This was supremely fun to write!

I love writing action scenes, so this was a blast to write! And yes, Alistair helped kick the Mind Flayer's ass along with El! We love powerful besties teaming up to beat up an inter-dimensional monster 🥰

And, of course, I loved writing Nancy's and Lucas' solo scenes! They were such badasses 

And yes, due to it being technically made of melted dead flesh, Alistair could take control of the Mind Flayer's weapon and even command it to freeze! Not to mention raising up multiple animals of differing sizes from the dead, including a couple bears... he was a true badass. And compared to how he begin... we love power growth 🥰 I love my necromancer child 🥰

And now, we're getting near the end of this episode and the last one of s3—then onto s4! Who's ready? >:)

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!