Not Just Another Number

What If?

Sarah's POV

"Holy shit." I whisper. I quickly run up, and launch myself in Mom's arms. "Holy shit, you're okay!" I gush, holding her tightly.

"Where have you been?" She asks, pulling away and making me face her. I look down sheepishly. "Not important, we need to talk about the Mind Flayer." I pull away completely and take her hand.

I lead her over to the rest of the group, Dad and the newcomer following behind. I gesture to Mike. "You've been dealing with this thing, you should start us off."

He nods and immediately begins. "The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece." Nancy continues.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asks.

"It's big. Thirty feet at least." Johnathan guesses.

"Yeah, and it sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry." Lucas apologizes. I cover my mouth and sigh. Shit. How are we gonna deal with this, this time?

Steve waves his hand, gaining our attention. "Okay, just to be clear, this...this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic weapon?" Nancy tries to confirm it, but I shake my head.

I lean forward, wrapping my arms around myself. "It's much more than a measly weapon, more like a doomsday device. Except this one has a conscious." I feel someone grab my arm in a comforting way. I look over and meet Mom's gaze.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" She asks.

"Definitely, I would have felt otherwise." I say, patting her hand.

Christine raises her hand. "How would you have 'felt' it?"

Right, she doesn't know about the stupid connection. I shake my head and dismiss her question with a wave of my hand. "Long story." She nods, knowing that that's the most she'll get out of me.

"But if we close the gate again-"

"Cut the mind off of the body-"

"And kill it. Theoretically." Lucas, Max, and Will all come up with a plan. Just like last year, I guess.

"Yoo-Hoo!" The new guy yells, waving papers back and forth, getting our attention. He slams a piece of paper down onto a table next to us. We all crowd around him as he points at it.

It's a map of the Russian base. Could've really used that down there. Wait, how did he get one? He frantically points at one of the bigger boxes. "Okay, this is what Alexi called 'the hub'. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Where's the gate?" Hopper asks.

"Right here," he says, pointing at another box, "I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so."

I snort at the guess, knowing that that's no where near how far it really is. Erica feels the same. "More like 500." Everybody turns to her, most confused.

She pays them no mind. "What, you think you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?"

"Murry Bauman."

"Listen, Mr.Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." She sasses.