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𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓲𝔁:
"𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢."

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MACKENZIE SAT ON the arm of Mike's couch in his basement, a bored expression painted across her face. Mike and Lucas were trying to contact Max and Eleven on their walkies but neither of them were answering. She had told them that she just could've gone on her bike and went to Max's house where they had slept over, but Mike and Lucas refused.

Her legs were draped across Will's lap, who was absentmindedly playing with the laces of her new black Converse she had gotten at the mall. Both of them remembered what had almost happened last night, but neither wanted to bring it up. Especially not in front of Mike and Lucas.

"Do you copy? This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code red. Max. Do you copy? This is a code red," Lucas recited.

Mackenzie rolled her eyes.

Max came on the station. "Shut. Up."

The walkie beeped. Lucas turned back to Mike with a shocked expression. "She turned it off."

"I told you, you should've let me handle it," Mackenzie said.

Mike then stared at something. Mackenzie followed his gaze to see him staring at the phone on the wall. Mike went to get up, but Mackenzie placed her hand out to stop him and stood up herself. Mackenzie walked up to the phone and took it out of the receiver. She dialed Max's number, leaning against the wall slightly while twirling the cord around her finger.

"I'm sleeping. Go away," Max said as soon as she picked up the phone.

"It's Kenz."

The line went silent for a moment. "Sorry Kenz, I thought you were Lucas. What's up?"

Mackenzie sighed. "We have a problem."

"A problem?"

"Yeah, a problem. A you-have-to-get-over-here-because-something-bad-happened problem."

"What? Kenz, what's going on?"

"Just . . . please, get over to Mike's house as soon as you can. We'll explain everything when you get here. And when they say a code red this time, they're not lying."

She hear El say something briefly in the background before Max spoke again. "Okay, we'll be there. Just give us twenty minutes."

"Perfect," Mackenzie breathed out.

"Hey, Kenz . . . are you all right?"

A small smile made its way onto her face. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Want me to bring you a scrunchie?"

"God, yes please," Mackenzie responded. She had forgotten one when her and Will stopped at her house so she could get dressed in her yellow shirt with purple polka dots and jean shorts, and she desperately wanted to get her hair out of her face. "Preferably a purple one."

"You got it."

"Perfect, see you soon."

Mackenzie placed the phone back on the wall, turning to see the boys staring at her in slight shock. She rolled her eyes again and sat down in her previous position, Will beginning to play with her shoelaces once more.

"Try Dustin again," Mike ordered to Lucas.

"He's not answering."

"So try him again."

Lucas sighed. "Dustin, do you copy? I repeat, this is a code red."

It was a long twenty minutes of waiting and listening to Lucas try and reach Dustin before El and Max finally arrived. Max gave a purple scrunchie to Mackenzie, who tied her hair back into a low ponytail while telling Max that she was her savior. The group then sat in a circle around the basement, Mackenzie sitting on the ground next to Will's legs. They all listened as he began to tell everyone what happened.

"I didn't think it was anything at first," Will continued. "I mean, I think I just didn't want to believe it. The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead."

"Power went out that night too," Mike noticed.

"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day. Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers."

Mackenzie frowned. All of those times she had noticed something was wrong and didn't do anything about it. He had told her not to worry, but still. She felt like a terrible best friend.

"What does it feel like?" Max asked.

"It's almost like . . . you know when you drop on a roller coaster?"

"Sure," Mike responded.

Max nodded. "Yeah."

"No," El said.

"It's like . . . everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but . . . this is worse. Your body . . . it goes cold, and — and you can't breathe. I've felt it before, whenever he was close."

Max looked confused. "Whenever who was close?"

"The Mind Flayer."

Will's screams echoed throughout Mackenzie's mind. She shuddered for a moment just thinking about that night.

"I closed the Gate," El argued.

"I know, but . . . what if he never left? What if we locked him out here with us?"

Will suddenly stood up, walking around Mike's basement and looking for something frantically. The group gathered around a table as Will put a piece of paper on it and began drawing hard on it with a black crayon.

"This is him. All of him." He drew a picture of the Mind Flayer, Mackenzie recognizing it from the one he drew months ago. "But, that day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me." Will then wiped his hand across the paper, making black residue stick onto his palm. "My mom and Mack got it out of me, and Eleven closed the Gate." Will flipped the paper over. "But the part that was still in me, what if it's still in our world?" An image of herself watching the black spirals of smoke dissipate into the air on the porch with Nancy flashed through Mackenzie's mind. She snapped out of her thoughts when Will smacked his hand down on the paper, leaving a black handprint behind. "In Hawkins?"

"I don't understand," Max voiced. "The Demo-dogs died when El closed the Gate. If the brain dies, the body dies."

"We can't take any chances," Mike replied. "We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer's back."

"Yeah," Will said softly. "And if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me."

"A new host," Lucas added on.

Max, Mackenzie, and El all shared a troubling glance. There was an inkling of who they thought it might be.

"How can you tell if someone is a host?" El asked.

Mackenzie sighed and gave a small nod to Max. "We need to go back there."

It hurt her that she was accusing Max's brother, but all of the clues was leading back to him. The ice bath, the bloody whistle . . . it couldn't all just be a coincidence.

"Back where?" Will asked as she began to walk towards the door.

She turned around once her hand was on the doorknob, looking at the group with a grim expression. "You guys up for a swim?"

༻✦༺༻✧༺༻✦༺

THEY ALL STOOD in the parking lot of the community pool, watching Billy at his lifeguard tower through binoculars. From what Mackenzie could see from afar, he was wearing a long-sleeved swim shirt, a towel was covering his legs, the umbrella was blocking him from the sun, sunglasses were over his eyes, and he was holding an ICEE cup. All of it seemed to scream he likes it cold.

"I don't know," Max said. "He looks pretty normal to me."

"Normal?" Lucas asked incredulously. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"

Max shrugged. "I mean, it's a little weird."

"More than a little," Mike argued. "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus, everything else—"

"But he's lounging at the pool," Max insisted. "Which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever."

"Not necessarily." Everyone turned to look at Will. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like . . . like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you, you're activated."

"Okay, so we just . . . wait until he gets activated."

"No. What if he hurts someone?" Mike questioned.

"Or kills someone?" Will added.

"We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host."

He suddenly straightened up and began walking away.

"Where are you going?" El asked.

"I have an idea. Boys only."

Mackenzie scoffed. "Are you serious?"

"Just trust me on this one."

Mackenzie watched with her arms crossed in annoyance as Mike, Lucas, and Will walked off. Will turned around and gave her a small smile which calmed her down some, but not a lot.

"What do we do now?" Max inquired.

A thought popped into Mackenzie's brain. "You said it yourself, Max. We have to give them a taste of their own medicine," Mackenzie said, turning to the girls with a smirk. "It's our time to shine and figure out a plan. Girls only."

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if you don't think will & mackenzie's aesthetic includes interlocked fingers, forehead kisses, and being fiercely protective over one another ,,,,,, you are wrong.