CHAPTER NINE.
what happened at the byers house?

—

once they had made it to the byers house, everyone finally let out a relaxed breath. the conversation in the car had consisted of the police officer, nineteen finally knew him as hopper - the man who had been protecting the first thing nineteen had ever found comfort in - telling the rest of them what all happened at the lab.

it was now quiet, everyone spread out around the room. hopper was leaning against the wall, talking into the phone.

"sam owens. dr. sam owens." he announces carefully. owens is alive! nineteen lets out a breath, and then shivers. it's pretty cold in the house, so she keeps her hands in her pockets.

hopper listens to the woman through the phone. "i don't know how many people are there!" hopper yells. "i don't know how many people are left alive!

"i am the police!" he then says. "chief jim hopper!" he then scoffs. "yes, the number that i gave you, yes." he starts backing up.

"6767. i will be here." he says, before slamming the phone back on the receiver.

"they didn't believe you, did they?" dustin asks him. nineteen stares up at hopper from her seat between dustin and lucas. he turns around. "we'll see."

"'we'll see'? we can't just sit here while those things are loose!" mike yells angrily.

"we stay here, and we wait for help." hopper tells him calmly.

"uh, we kinda already have help." dustin says, pointing at nineteen. nineteen gets chill-bumps from hopper's sudden stare.

"and who is this?" he asks, mike turning around, too.

"this is nineteen." dustin informs the man. hopper stops and puts his hands on his hips. he looks directly down at the girl, and nineteen can see a hint of a smile in his eyes.

so you're nineteen, huh? eleven said you can hear everybody's thoughts. do you know where she is?

nineteen nods at him, not breaking eye contact. "yes." she says. the kids around her look in confusion.

is she safe?

"yes." the girl repeats. hopper puts his hand on his mouth. "okay," he sighs, walking away.

she leans back in her seat, staring at her hands. it was quiet between all of them until she felt a prickle going down her back. like someone was watching her. she glances up.

mike wheeler's frustrated gaze makes her want to shrink into her seat. he wants to know everything.

i wonder if she knew el

nineteen just simply gives a small look at him, and then down at the table. she listens to him let out a sharp breath, and nineteen feels sadness take over her as el was coming and he doesn't know.

nobody says anything after that, just wait and process the entire day. a few of them think about bob's death, and wonder what else would happen.

mike suddenly stands up. he walks over to the table and picks up something nineteen can't see. "did you guys know that bob was the original founder of hawkins av?"

nineteen's nose scrunches up at the unfamiliar words. "really?" lucas asks. mike turns around. "he petitioned the school to start it and everything. then he had a fundraiser for equipment." he smiles. "mr. clarke learned everything from him." he walks back of the table. "pretty awesome, right?"

the other two boys let out noises of agreement. mike sets down a small blue box on the table. "we can't let him die in vain." he tells them.

"what do you want to do, mike? the chief's right on this. we can't stop those demo-dogs on our own." dustin says. nineteen's eyes furrow. 'demo-dogs'?

"demo-dogs?" max voices her thoughts. dustin stares at her like she's stupid. "demogorgan dogs." he says, gesturing to his hands as he puts them together. "demo-dogs. it's like a compound." max is staring at him like he has three heads.

"it's like a play on words-" he continues. "okay." she says, annoyed, quickly giving him a once over. she just wants him to stop explaining. he sighs and looks at the table.

"i mean, when it was just dart, maybe.." dustin trails off.

"but blue could just kill them, right?" max asks. "i mean.. you saw what she did on the bus." mike looks at her and then at nineteen, analyzing her again.

"that would drain her. you saw how she looked on the walk home." steve interrupts.

"blue?" mike asks, confused. steve sits up. "i call her blue, because she really likes the color - and it was just in the moment, okay? and her eyes were the first thing i saw when i looked at her, alright? she wouldn't tell me her name. and it's not like i could just walk around calling her a number." steve explains.

"anyway.." mike says, turning away, annoyed. "there's an army of those things now." lucas says.

"precisely."

"his army." mike whispers, looking down. steve turns to him. "what do you mean?" he asks. "his army." mike repeats, looking at them.

"maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too." mike explains, walking across the house. they all share looks.

he grabs a piece of paper as they all crowd around in a circle. there's a monster, and nineteen stares wide eyed at it. she'd seen it before.

"the shadow monster." dustin says, grabbing the drawing. "it got will that day on the field."

it   got   him
it got him
itgothim

"the doctor says it like a virus, it infected him." mike says, looking around. "and so this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" max asks him.

"to the tunnels, to the monsters, to the upside down, everything." he explains.

"okay, woah, slow down. slow down." steve says, holding up his hands. mike turns to him, showing him the picture. "okay, so, the shadow monster's inside everything. and if the vines feel something like pain, then so does will."

"and so does dart."

"yeah. it's like what mr. clarke taught us. the hive mind." mike says.

"hive mind?" steve asks.

"a collective consciousness. it's a super-organism." nineteen backs away, too confused.

"and this is the thing that controls everything. it's the brain." mike explains. dustin's eyes widen.

"like the mind flayer."

the other two boys look at him in shock. lucas snaps his fingers, and points to him in a 'eureka!' moment.

"what?" steve, max, and nineteen all ask, desperately confused.

everybody had come out and crowded around the table as dustin slammed down a book onto it, and then looked at everyone.

"the mind flayer," he starts.

"what the hell is that?" hopper asks from the back of the group in annoyance.

"it's a monster from an unknown dimension. it's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home. okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers." dustin explains.

"oh, my god. none of this is real. this is a kids' game." hopper groans.

"no, i-it's a manual. and it's not for kids." dustin says. "and unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor-"

"analogy." lucas interrupts.

"analogy? that's what you're worried about? fine! an analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is." he points at the book.

nancy shakes her head and bends down over the book. "okay, so this mind flamer thing-"

"flayer. mind flayer."

nancy sighs in annoyance. "what does it want?"

"to conquer us basically." he says. "it believes it's the master race."

"like the germans?" steve asks. nineteen perks up. she knows that word. the bad men had spent years teaching her that language.

"uh, the nazis?" dustin corrects. steve seems confused until he realizes his mistake. "yeah, yeah, yeah, the nazis."

"uh.." dustin starts. "if the nazis were from another dimension, totally. uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."

inferior. nineteen mouths the word to herself over and over, trying to get a sense on what it meant as dustin starts explaining again.

inferior: lower in status and rank.

she glances over at mike as the word pops into his mind, and she gets the definition. she nods and then looks back over across the table.

"that's great, that's great." steve suddenly says, walking away from the group. "that's really great. jesus!"

"okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it.." nancy starts.

"we kill everything it controls." mike finishes.

"we win."

"theoretically."

"great. so how do you kill this thing? shoot it with fireballs or something?"

"no, no. no fireballs." dustin chuckles. "you summon an undead army, uh, because.." he sees the expression on hopper's face, realizes how his words sounded, and falters. ".. because zombies, you know, they-they don't have brains, and the mind flayer, it.. it likes brains.

"it's just a game. it's a game." dustin defends.

"what the hell are we doing here?" hopper asks, throwing down the book. he walks away from the table.

"or you could get a wizard." lucas says to everyone at the table as he walks past. hopper scoffs. "yeah, well, we don't exactly have one just standing around, do we?" he asks sarcastically.

"are you kidding?" the dark haired boy asks. hopper stops and turns around, following lucas' line of sight as it landed on nineteen. she nervously looks around.

"she'll be a backup plan. she's just a kid." hopper scoffs.

"hey, wait, i thought we were waiting for your military backup!" dustin asks sarcastically, taking the attention off of nineteen.

"we are!" hopper yells back.

"even if they come, how are they gonna stop this?" mike asks angrily. "you can't just shoot this with guns!"

"you don't know that! we don't know anything!"

"we know it's already killed everybody in that lab." mike says. "we know the monsters are gonna molt again." lucas interrupts. "and we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town."

"they're right." a voice suddenly croaks. they all turn around. joyce is standing there, tears dried down her cheeks. "we have to kill it. i want to kill it."

hopper walks forward. "me too. me too, joyce, okay? but how do we do that?"

"our wizard.." dustin mumbles.

"we don't exactly know what we're dealing with here." hopper tells her, ignoring dustin.

"no. but he does."

they all turn to mike. "if anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's will." he says, walking to his best friend, who's laying on the couch. "he's connected to it. he'll know its weakness."

"i thought we couldn't trust him anymore?" max asks. "that he's a spy for the mind flayer now."

"yeah, but, he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is." mike says suddenly. everyone seemed to suddenly get the same idea, nineteen heard everyone's thoughts suddenly jumble together at once, and nods in agreement, suddenly understanding.

everyone goes outside, dumping everything out of garbage cans and getting everything out of the byers' backyard shed, while also covering it up completely. they just need to create a place will had never seen, so that the mind flayer wouldn't know either. nineteen stays inside with will. just in case.

she sits on the floor of the living room, laying her arms folded on the table and laying her chin on top. she watches him silently, trying to get into his mind to see anything. but there was nothing. it was like he wasn't even there anymore. she would get a little wisp of fear here and there but nothing else changed.

she stands up from her spot, walking over to the boy, and kneeling next to him. she stares at his extremely pale face. the dark circles under his eyes were more prominent than ever. she grabs at his wrist, the same place she had tried to touch when she was in the dark place, and rubs at it comfortingly. she leans in.

"she's coming. soon." she whispers softly to him. "and.. i know i can't hear you, but i know you're okay."

and just like that, it's like a light broke through.

nineteen lets out a choked sound and nods her head as will tells her thank you repeatedly. he feels so grateful, but still so scared. and he wants her to tell his family how much he loves them. nineteen nods. "hold on a little longer, okay? we're gonna help you." his words start to fade away.

unbeknownst to her, joyce, hopper, and jonathan had started into the room, but stopped in the doorway behind nineteen and will, watching the exchange silently.

"we're gonna kill him." she whispers softly to him. "i promise. we're gonna get him, just like you said. and he'll be gone. i'll never let you see him again. just hold on, please."

joyce covers her mouth. she looks back at the two men behind her and lets out a shaky breath.

"all right, kid, we gotta get him out there." hopper interrupts, walking over to them. jonathan follows, and picks up his little brother, carefully walking out. joyce follows after him, giving nineteen and hopper a small once-over and then a grateful look.

"you were at the lab this entire time, weren't you?" the man asks. nineteen looks up at his question. she then nods and looks down at her feet.

hopper lets out a long sigh, and then reaches over to her. "don't worry, kid. i'm gonna help you." he says, rubbing her hair much like steve did, and walking out. nineteen stares out after him, tears brimming her eyes.

-

it had been several minutes after half of the group all went out to the shed. nineteen was now in the kitchen with the other half. she lays her head down on the kitchen table, pressing her cheek on the cool wood. dustin walks back and forth out of the kitchen to the dining room repeatedly, nancy stands beside the phone thinking, steve is in the living room, swinging his bat back and forth, and max and lucas sit out in the hallway.

nineteen sits up, covering her ears. the voices were getting to her again. it was strange. they only did that sometimes. other times, she could block it out with no problem. perks of not having your abilities fully developed.

she starts panicking when the lights begin to flicker. "blue, is that you?" steve asks, running into the kitchen. she shakes her head frantically and they all quickly look out the window.

a few minutes later, they watch hopper burst out of the shed and stalk towards the house. he opens the door, the others trailing behind him. he looks around before grabbing a pen and piece of paper. "what happened?" dustin asks.

hopper makes a beeline for the table and bends down across from nineteen. he starts writing. "i think he's talking, just not with words."

"hey, what is that?" steve asks, looking down at the paper. "morse code." the three boys answer. nineteen looks over. she knew that too. it seemed like she knew everything except the basic english language.

"h-e-r-e."

"here." they all answer. hopper lets out a sigh. "will's still in there. he's talking to us." he looks across at the young girl. "can you hear him at all?"

nineteen shakes her head. "not a lot."

joyce steps forwards. "sweetie," she bends down and takes nineteen's right hand comfortingly. "what is it that you do hear?" nineteen looks into her chocolate brown eyes.

"he's scared. he just wants to be home."

joyce lets out a shaky breath. she looks to hopper and then back to the girl in front of her and smiles comfortingly. "tell me if you hear anything else, okay, sweetheart?" nineteen feels warmth spread through her chest at the mother's gaze, and nods, smiling gently.

they all disperse after that, grabbing things that nineteen was unaware of and walking back out to the shed.

the rest of them all gathered around the table, listening to the walkie-talkie as hopper sent through whatever signs will was doing. "dash, dot, dash, dot."

"c." nancy wrote it down.
"l."
"o."
"s."
"e."

"g."
"a."
"t."
"e."

they all gather around nancy holding the paper. "close gate." they say simultaneously.

the shrill sound of the phone suddenly ringing brought them all out of their trance.

"shit. shit!" dustin grunts, running over to it and taking it off the receiver and slamming it back down. it then immediately starts ringing again and nancy grips it before completely ripping it off its hinges and throwing it.

"do you think he heard that?" max asks. "it's just a phone." steve answers. "it could be anywhere. right?"

it wasn't right. the demo-dogs then start howling, close enough for everyone to hear it. they all face towards the front of the house. "that's not good." dustin mutters.

joyce, jonathan, and mike bring will in, hopper coming in last with a two guns. nineteen recognizes the black one as one that the security guards at the lab carried, while the other was a rifle. they had made her learn them all, for when she saw the russians she could pick out what type they had.

"hey. hey, get away from the windows!"

the kids all run away to the wall. hopper turns to jonathan. "do you know how to use this?"

"what?"

"can you use this?" he repeatedly asks. "i can!" nancy says and he tosses it to her. she cocks it and points. they all get in positions. several screeches emit from outside. they continue to growl, until a loud thudding makes them all turn to the right.

"what are they doing?" nancy breathes out. a sudden, loud snarl erupts and they all turn left. they're in front of the house now. there's a loud creaking sound, then a whimper, and then the noises stop. they wait.

the demo-dog suddenly bursts through the window, landing in the living room right in front of them. it lets out a howl. they all scream and back away quickly.

the demo-dog starts to get up, looking straight at hopper. before anyone could move, and before nineteen even takes a second thought, she was on it, grabbing it by its neck and electrocuting it. it lets out a horrendous wail as it's head gets burned off, and its body drops in front of her, its head in her hands.

she slowly stands up straight and turns around. the rest of the group all stare right at her. she glances down at the head and then tosses it across the floor. hopper and nancy aim their guns at it as it rolls.

blood starts to trickle down nineteen's eyes as she backed away towards max and lucas.

more shrieks emit. "that's not good." jonathan whispers as the sounds continue.

"she just killed that thing with her bare hands, and you're still worried if we're gonna die?" dustin mumbles from across the room, looking over at him.

the noises suddenly stops again and they all look towards the window, just in case something comes again, but it's silent.

a sudden creak from outside makes them all turn quickly.

the door's locks suddenly started to open by themselves. nineteen feels her stomach do flips. she had been so preoccupied, she hadn't even noticed that eleven is finally there.

they all point to the guns but all nineteen can do is stare, waiting.

the door creaks open and eleven walks in. they all lower their weapons, mouths dropping open. nineteen feels rooted to her spot. it's like she couldn't move even though she wanted to so desperately hug the girl.

mike suddenly walks out in front of them, not believing his eyes. eleven stops, her mouth falling open. nineteen hears the sad but happy thoughts going through her mind.

she's home.

—

i was contemplating on if nineteen should be the first to hug her but i had already changed the storyline around too much plus i'm a slut for mileven so