"I found him," El said. She had one of Ted's ties around her eyes. Everyone was at the Wheeler's now, looking for any adults who could help in this situation.

Lili was sitting next to El as the television beside them was tuned to a static station. She sat anxiously, waiting for more information.

"Where is he?" Max asked.

"Woods," El said plainly.

"Woods?" Lucas asked.

"That could be anywhere," Lili shook her head.

"He's with Will's mom," El said.

"My- My mom?" Will leaned forward.

"What are they doing?" Max scrunched her nose.

"Ill... annoy," El said. "They're going to Ill-annoy."

"El, you know the states," Lili groaned. She hated when El acted like she didn't know things. "What state does that sound like?"

"Mike! Breakfast!" Karen called for the boy.

"Not now, Mom!" Mike shouted back. He turned back to El. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?"

El took her blindfold off and shrugged. "I--Illinois."

"Come on," I grabbed El's hand. "Let's get your blood cleaned off."

The pair went into the bathroom with Max trailing along behind them. Lili turned the water on and wetted a towel. She brought it up to El's nose and dabbed the blood away. As she was doing so, the bruise around El's neck was showing and Max caught sight of it. Lili didn't want to look at it since she still couldn't believe that Billy would try to kill anyone.

"Does it still hurt?" Max asked. The bruise was shaped like a smile on El's neck. She touched lightly before turning to Max.

"Only when I talk," El said.

"Well it's good thing you aren't Mike, then," Max grinned. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you'd be in constant pain." They both chuckled whilst looking into the mirror.

"Are you guys friends now?" Lili asked. She remembered that last year, EL wanted nothing to do with Max, but now they're laughing about exes together.

"There's more to life than stupid boys," El said to her sister. She shrugged and nodded.

"That's true." Lili smiled and hugged both of them. "I'm so happy you guys are friends now."

"Yeah, finally," Max scoffed playfully.

"I said I was sorry!" El laughed. Max grinned.

"I know! I'm just joking," Max giggled. Lili smiled but it slowly faded when her eyes caught El's bruise. Her eyes turned sad as she stared at it. But then something caught her eye. The pattern of it seemed all too familiar.

"Wait," Lili mumbled and tilted El's head back gently. "Look."

Max peered at El's throat and at the bruise. "What is it?"

"The bruise, it's familiar," Lili said. "I've seen it before."

"What do you mean?" El asked. The bruise moved as she spoke.

"Billy wasn't trying to choke you," Lili said. El have her a look and Max scoffed.

"Were you in the sauna? El lost oxygen," Max said.

"I know," Lili rolled her eyes. "But have you ever been choked by Billy?"

"No?" Mad raised her brow.

"That's what I thought," Lili said. "El's bruise is similar to the ones he gave me."

"Wha-?" Max started but then her face contorted into a disgusted one. "Oh, Lili! Gross!"

"I'm just saying!" Lili exclaimed. "This bruise is like the ones he used to give me. He wasn't trying to kill El. I mean, look at the pattern."

Max looked at the bruise again, but didn't see anything different. "It's just a bruise."

"It's darker in some areas and nonexistent in others," Lili pointed. "Billy was fighting it. Billy's still in here."

"Are you saying that he's still conscious when the Mind Flayer takes over?" Max asked.

"Yes," Lili smiled. "But we just need to figure out a way to get through to him."

"They're conspiring against me..." Mike's voice could be heard from the door.

"Oh my god," Max rolled her eyes.

"Is that really what your biggest concern is about right now?" Will whispered angrily to Mike.

"It's not my main concern, it's just a sub-concern."

"I thought it was already over..." Will said.

"It's not over, okay? We're just taking a break," Mike said.

"She said she dumped your ass! That doesn't sound like a break!"

"It wasn't!" Max shouted. "You guys do realize that we can still hear everything you're saying, right?"

Lili and El couldn't help the giggles that escaped them as they cleaned the counter up and opened the door.

A knock sounded at the basement door. "Not now, Mom!" Mike shouted.

"Mike, open up!" Nancy called.

Lili walked out and Nancy and Jonathan were running down the steps.

"You guys might want to sit down," Nancy said. Lili and El both sat next to each other on the couch and Max sat next to Lili.

"There's this eighty year-old woman named Mrs. Driscoll who called a couple days ago about rabid rats eater her fertilizer," Nancy said.

"Rabid rats?" Lili asked.

"Yeah, rats with rabies," Mike explained.

"I know what rabid rats are," Lili glared at the boy. She turned back to Nancy. "But why would they eat her fertilizer?"

"That's why she called," Jonathan said.

"Anyways, two nights ago, Jonathan and I visited her again to ask about the rats some more and we found her in her basement eating fertilizer."

"Wait," Lucas waved his hand. "The old woman was eating the fertilizer? I thought it was her rats."

"That's what we thought too, but when she was took away to the hospital, she kept on screaming about how she 'needed to go back'." Nancy said, her eyes wide.

"I went there last night to check up on her and... well, she looked like she was in pain, black veins were crawling all over her." Nancy gasped for air after speaking.

"Last night," Lili spoke. "We think that Billy's Flayed. We locked him in a sauna to test our theory and it turns out that he is." Lili gulped. She couldn't believe that she said that without crying.

"It was the same thing, the exact same thing that happened to Will last year," Nancy was pacing. She walked to the little coffee table in front of the couch that the sisters were sitting on.

"And, look at this. Look at the body temperatures," Nancy have the papers to the kids. Will leaned forward and pointed to the temperature that read 95 degrees.

"He likes it cold," Will nodded.

"Okay, so this crazy old woman who is eating fertilizer-" Mike said.

"Mrs. Driscoll," Nancy grimaced.

"Right, yeah. Mrs. Driscoll," Mike sighed. "What time was this attack?"

"Last night," Nancy said.

"Right, but, what time last night?" Mike asked. Lili and Max finally caught onto what Mike was getting at.

"Around nine," Nancy said.

"You waited all night to call?" Jonathan spoke lowly at her.

"I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests," Nancy lied.

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

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Jonathan said.

"Hallelujah," Nancy rolled her eyes and feigned excitement.

"Ooh," Lucas sucked air between his teeth.

"Um, so, wha- what time was your sauna test?" Nancy changed subjects.

"Around nine," Lili said. "The same time as the Driscoll attack."

"Well, that proves it," Nancy said. "That proves my theory!"

"She's flayed, just like Billy," Mike said. Lili winced a bit at that. She's never going to get used to saying that.

"Flayed?" Jonathan asked.

"The Mind Flayer," Lili spoke up. "It flays people, taking over their bodies and brains until they become him, essentially."

"So if there's two Flayed," Lucas said slowly.

"We have to assume that there's more," Will nodded.

"Heather," El breathed. Lili and Max turned to her. "Billy was doing something to her."

Lili shifted uncomfortably. "She was scared," El continued. "She was screaming. Bad screams."

"What's a good scream?" Lucas asked.

"Max said-" El pointed to the redhead.

"Doesn't matter," she shook her head vigorously.

"I'm sorry, I'm lost, who's Heather?" Nancy asked.

"She's a lifeguard at the pool," Max explained.

"Heather Holloway?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah," Lili nodded.

Nancy and Jonathan both turned to look at each other. "Tom."

"Who's Tom?" Lili asked.

"He's Heather's father and our ex-boss," Nancy said quickly. "Come on, we have to see if he's okay."

Everyone scrambled out of their seats and made their way to the garage. Nancy walked quickly, fumbling with her keys. Lili, Max and El got into the back seat and Jonathan took the passenger. Mike, Lucas and Will pouted as they got into the way back seat which was cramped.

Nancy tied her hair up and looked at the kids in the back seat, including the one other adult.

"Seatbelts," she said plainly and everyone buckled up. She took the car out of neutral and went into reverse, backing up and hitting the bikes that were propped up.

"Sweet Saint Christopher, Nancy!" Lili clutched the seats as the girl drove aggressively down the road. They made it to the house in one piece.

Nancy, Lili and Jonathan all stood on the front door mat while the kids behind them stood idly by.

Nancy pressed the doorbell, but no one answered. Nancy looked at Lili expectantly and Lili tilted her head a bit, opening the door with ease.

The trio walked inside, Nancy first and Lili second.

"Tom?" Nancy called. "Heather?"

"Jesus," Max shivered. "It's freezing."

"Do you guys smell that?" Nancy asked the kids.

"Bleach?" Lili sniffed.

"Detergent," Max said.

"Both, maybe," Lili shrugged. They all walked over to the kitchen, but recoiled when they were met by chemicals and cleaning supplies that were spilled and the refrigerator horizontal on the floor that was clawed open.

"Oh, god," Nancy shook her head. "More chemicals."

Lili walked up to an empty bottle of bleach on the floor. She bent down and turned it to see the packaging.

"A couple of days ago," Lili said. "I found Billy in the storage closet at the pool. He was drinking bleach."

"This proves it further, then," Nancy nodded.

"But proves what?" Mike asked. "What are they doing with these?"

"Last year, Will wasn't drinking chemicals," Max said. "Were you?"

"No," Will shook his head. "This is something new."

"Mr. Clarke," Mike said. "Fifth grade. Posit. What happens when you mix chemicals together?"

"You create a new substance," Will and Lucas answered.

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

"Yeah," Lucas said. "If you're human."

Nancy turned to face the dining room. She started to walk out so Lili and El followed. The dining table still had half-eaten food on it and spilled wine. Nancy walked past it and to the living room. She crouched by a circle of red on the rug on the floor and barely touched it.

"Blood," she whispered. Lili stood behind her as Jonathan crouched next to Nancy.

"Yesterday..." Nancy said to Jonathan. "Tom had a bandage on his forehead."

Nancy grabbed an empty wine bottle from the floor and stood up, examining it. "He was attacked."

"Nancy," Lili tapped her shoulder, jutting her head towards the hallway where the long carpet was bunched by a door. "It looks like he was dragged."

The group made their way over to the carpet and where it grouped at a doorway. They walked over the carpet and into the garage. Lili walked over to some thick rope on the ground and held it up.

"And tied up," Lili finished.

"They must've taken them somewhere," Jona than said.

"Them?" Lili asked.

"Yeah," Jonathan nodded. "Do you know where Heather's mom is?"

Lili didn't say anything. So it was the whole family that had their lives taken.

"Mrs. Driscoll," Nancy said suddenly. "She kept saying, 'I have to go back'."

"What if the Flaying is taking place somewhere else," Nancy said.

"Last year," Lili said as she stood up. "The demodogs were almost always called away to the Hub. What if there's another Hub? Or, in this case, a source?"

"A place where it didn't want me to see it," El said, referring to the Mind Flayer.

"Maybe if we can find it, we can stop it from spreading or doing whatever it is doing with those chemicals," Nancy nodded. "But where?" She looked at Lili as if she had the answer.

"If Mrs. Driscoll wants to go back so badly..." Will said slowly. "Then why don't we let her?"

"Nancy, where is she?" Lili asked the girl.

"Hawkins Memorial Hospital," Nancy said. "That's where she was admitted."

"Start the car," Lili said as she walked out of the garage. Nancy ran after her and the kids and Jonathan followed.

The hospital was empty. Eerily empty. Lili got a strange feeling as soon as the walked through the sliding glass doors.

"It's not mean, it's honest," an African American woman was at the desk on the phone. "She won't find out."

"Okay, act natural," Nancy whispered to the kids. Everyone started walking quickly by the desk.

"See, you're the only one gon' tell- woah, woah, woah! Excuse me!" The woman stood up with the phone still on her ear. She set it back down. "Where do you think you're going?"

Nancy cursed under her breath and turned to far the woman. "Oh, um, I was just going to visit my grandma again."

The woman stared at Nancy. "A-And this, is my family."

The woman set her gaze on Lucas. He shifted uncomfortably. "Extended." He shrugged.

"I don't care who they are, you know the rules," the woman shot back. "Three at a time."

"Yeah, but-" Nancy grimaced.

"Three!" The woman held up three fingers. She sat back down and picked her phone up again. "Girl, this child has lost her mind. She brought a whole zoo in here."

Nancy and Jonathan looked at each other before looking at Lili. She sighed, knowing that she'd have to walk through a creepy hospital with them.

Lili left El and Max with a dollar, which was more than enough to get a snack or something from the vending machine.

Lili was in the elevator with Nancy and Jonathan. There was a thick tension between the two, anybody with a brain could feel it.

The pair started talking and making up yadda yadda yadda, but Lili was tuning it all out. He honestly didn't really care about their relationship, she just wanted to get Mrs. Driscoll and have her lead them to the source and take out the Mind Flayer once and for all.

The elevator finally got to the fourth level of the hospital and Lili was the first one out.

"Which room?" She asked Nancy.

"Um, 408," Nancy replied. Lili nodded and quickly walked off, not wanting to hear Nancy and Jonathan talk. She found the hospital to be really empty. No doctors walking through the halls, no patients out to use the bathroom, no nurses running back and forth and no loved ones walking out of rooms. No one.

Lili reached 408 and walked in. She just wanted to take Mrs. Driscoll and leave. Only, when she got to the room, Mrs. Driscoll wasn't there. The covers on the bed were pushed back and the vase with flowers on the desk by her bed was overturned. Water was pouring out of it and flower petals dropped onto her bed.

Lili was stopped dead in her tracks. Nancy almost bumped into her while coming in.

"Lili, what is going on-?" Nancy started but then caught sight of the second in the room.

"Nancy," Lili said slowly. "Where's the old woman?"

"I- I don't know!" Nancy said as she quickly walked over to the desk with Mrs. Driscoll's vitals and began reading it quickly. "It doesn't say that she was discharged."

"Are you sure this is the right room?" Jonathan asked. Nancy looked up from the folder she was reading.

"Yeah," she nodded. The lights started to flicker around the trio.

"Guys," Lili whispered. They didn't hear her nor did they see the lights. Lili slowly walked out of the room and looked around the dead hallway. No one. She walked over to the left and noticed that there were some papers spilled across the floor. She shuddered at the feeling that something was seriously wrong.

There was a squishing sound from the hallway on Lili's right. Her breathing quickened as she peered around the corner.

What she saw almost made her gasp. A man was hovering over a dead woman, repeatedly stabbing her in the chest with surgical scissors. Lili clapped a hand over her mouth to mute her surprised gasp. The man must've heard because he stopped and straightened his back. Lili flattened herself against the wall and listened. Footsteps were coming closer in her direction.

There was no where for her to go. She couldn't run, she couldn't scream. All she could do was wait and fight.

The man turned the corner and was right in front of Lili. He turned his head towards her and she finally saw who it was. There was blood all over his polo and hands and his hair was disheveled. A sinister grin etched its way onto his face.

"Well hello, Lili," he smiled.

"Cory..." was all Lili could mutter out before she let out an ear-piercing scream.

[UNEDITED]

sorry for the delay. im scared for lili now.