"It was the same thing, the exact same thing that happened to Will last year:" Nancy spoke when she showed up, Jude and Mike in the middle of getting breakfast when she busted into the kitchen. "And look at this. Look at the body temperatures."

Will leaned over the sheet she laid out before looking up. "He likes it cold."

"Okay, so this crazy old lady who was eating fertilizer-" Mike began.

"Put some respect on your elders." Jude scolded him. "Mr.Drisell."

"Mrs. Driscoll." Nancy corrected him.

"Right, yeah, Mrs Driscoll. What time was this attack?" Mike looked toward his sister and Wills brother.

"Last night." Nancy repeated herself.

"Right, but what time last night?" Mike asked her with a curious look.

"Around nine." Nancy nodded her head.

"You waited all night to call?" Jonathan asked in disbelief. Jude held back a grin.

"I was waiting for the doctors to run some test." Nancy side glanced his way.

"You weren't there?" Will asked his brother in disbelief.

"Well, i'm here now, aren't I?" Jonathan rose his hands with a shrug.

"Hallelujah!" Nancy scoffed.

"Oh." Jude gave a snort, Mike slapped him in the arm. "Sorry."

"Um, so, what time was your sauna test?" Nancy recalled the explanation Mike gave when she arrived.

"Around nine." they all said on sync.

"Well, that proves it. That proves my theory." Nancy's face lit up slightly as she looked at each of them.

"She's flayed, just like Billy." Mike nodded his head in agreement. He kept his hand on Jude's shoulder from how he stood, while Jude sat.

"Flayed?" Jonathan gave a questionable look.

"The Mind Flayer. He flays people." Mike explained quickly. "Takes over their mind. Once they do that, they basically become him."

"If there are two flayed-"Lucas began.

"We have to assume there are more." Will cut him off from the other side of El.

"Heather." El spoke up, looking at Max and Peter. "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams."

"What's a good scream?" Lucas gave an odd look.

"Max said-" El began.

"Doesn't matter." Max added.

"I'm sorry, i'm lost. Who's Heather?" Nancy spoke up with a questionable look.

"Chick that works with Billy. Short, pretty, senior I think." Jude nodded his head.

"Heather Holloway?" Nancy's eyebrows went up. Her and Jonathan shared a look. "Tom."

"Tom?" Nancy called down the hallway. "Heather?"

"Jesus, it's freezing." Max commented. Jude went to touch a photo before Mike caught his hand.

"Dude." Jude looked in disbelief. "Carful, this hand is my life now. If I can't throw a baseball, I don't get on the team."

"You really won't get on the team if you someone touch something and flay yourself." Mike rolled his eyes, dragging him by the wrist.

"Do you guys smell that?" Nancy asked as they all paused in the living room, taking a sniff of the air. Walking into the kitchen, they all held their noses at the strong smell. "God, more chemicals."

"You think they're guzzling this shit?" Jonathan asked her as he picked up one of the bottles.

"Either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree." Nancy looked at the empty bottles across the counter.

"Wonder if they bulked up from it." Jude held the cleaning supplies, Mike shook his head and took it from him.

"Don't even think about it." he warned.

"But last year, Will didn't eat chemicals." Max pointed out from the other side of the Byers boy. "Did you?"

"No. This is something new." Will confirmed.

"Mr.Clarke, fifth grade. Posit, he always talked about chemicals."

"Getting a new substance when they're combined." Jude agreed with a nod of his head.

"What if they're making something?" Mike asked out loud.

"In themselves?" Max questioned. "I mean, come on, if you drink this crap, it'll kill you."

"Doesn't make any sense." Corey shook his head.

"I know." El agreed.

"Yeah, if you're human." Lucas shrugged. Nancy began to walk toward the dining room, the rest of them following after the girl in purple.

She leaned down to the stain on the ground. "Blood. Yesterday Tom had a bandage on his forehead."

She grabbed the wine bottle, looking at the blood smeared across the side. "He was attacked."

Nancy followed the bunched up carpet, opening the door closest to it. Jude gave a scream of panic when the door squeaked, hiding behind Mike. Every single one of them looked back at him in disbelief. Jude cleared his throat after a second. "I-I was just testing you guys. Making, you know, making sure you were alert."

"Good tactic." Corey smiled.

Mike held back a laugh, patting Jude's shoulder to show his support, wrapping it around him.

"They must have tied them." Jonathan looked at the loose cords across the floor. "They must have taken them somewhere."

"Mrs Driscoll." Nancy spoke up once more, getting their attention. "She kept saying 'I have to go back.' What if the flaying, it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place all this started, right? A source."

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see." El went along with her words.

"How rude." Corey shook his head.

Jude snorted. "So rude."

El looked at him annoyed. "Stop."

"If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him." Nancy nodded her head. "Or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with these chemicals."

"Mrs Driscoll." Will spoke up from behind the pair. "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

The group attempted to sneak past the woman in the front desk, failing miserably as she stopped the phone call. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Excuse me! Where do you think you're going?"

Nancy turned around with her best forced, good girl smile. "Oh, um. I was just going to visit my grandma again. And-and this is my family."

The nurse gave a look of disbelief toward Lucas as he grinned. "Extended."

"I don't care who they are. You know the rules. Two visitors at a time." the nurse shook her head at the group, eyeing each of them suspiciously.

"Yeah, but-" Nancy began.

"Two!" she rose her voice.

"You two go." Jude looked at Nancy and Jonathan with a nod. "Incase she remembers you, maybe. I'll hold down the fort."

Jonathan looked at Will. "You're in charge."

Jude tossed his hands up in disbelief. "How rude."

Mike looked over at Corey and El, standing near the vending machine and speaking to each other quietly with their own curious eyes. He turned to look for Jude, seeing him walking away. "Jude."

The Mackenzie boy looked back as Mike caught up with him. "Huh?"

"Where are you going?" he followed him.

"You remember when I had to get that surgery? Because my appendix starting trying to murder me?" Jude asked him with curiously eyes.

"Yeah, I brought you all that candy for for the doctor so say you couldn't have any." Mike nodded, still following him.

"A lot of bed rest introduces you to places you didn't think you could find in a hospital." Jude walked into the elevator, looking back as Mike stood on the other side. "You coming, or what?"

"I'm starting to believe my parents." Mike walked into the elevator with a sigh. "You are a horrible influence."

Jude flashed him a smirk, hitting the button as the elevator began to move. It took the two the roof, opening up as Jude walked out first. "Welcome to my only world of freedom when I was arrested to my hospital bed."

"Jesus." Mike looked around. "We're high up."

"True." Jude walked to the side. "Dare me to walk the ledge."

"Absolutely not." Mike grabbed his arm to pull him away quickly. "Do you have a death wish?"

Jude giggled. "Maybe."

They stood there, Mike holding his arms while Jude grinned up at him. They just stood, looking at each other. Jude's eyes widened, grabbing Mikes face and laying a forceful kiss to his lips. He pulled back after a few seconds, staring with wide eyed while Mikes did the exact same thing. That was it, a stare, a kiss, and now they were frozen and didn't know what to say. Jude wasn't sure why he did it, but apart of him wanted to do it again.

A roar echoed below them, making the two snap back. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know." Mike answered with a worried look, the pair taking off into the elevator again and finding their friends after running side by side. They met up with their friends in the middle of the hallway.

El took the lead, Jude and Mike close behind her, the party all crowding together as they hurried up the stairs. The sound of metal hitting metal filled their ears.

El lead the group. They came across Jonathan hitting the door with a fire extinguisher. El hurried forward, Jude stood infront of Mike, pulling Corey back when he tried to go after El.

A giant, slug like, creature turned their way, breathing heavily in their direction. Mike grabbed onto Jude's arms, pulling him as far back as he could.

"What the f-" Max began before the creature shrieked loudly. As he came their way, El yelled as she used her powers to slam it against one wall, then the next, doing that a few times more to the ceiling and floor.

She backed up some as the creature came at them again, yelling once more before throwing it out of the small window. Jude looked over his shoulder at Mike, the pair sharing a look.

"Can you breath?" Corey asked El worried, holding her arm as she nodded.

Jude hugged his cousin. "I'm sorry."

She didn't know why he was sorry, just that they needed to run now.

•

kylie speaks

they give perks of being
a wallflower + mickey and
ian vibes sm.