slay 'em dead//Steve Harrington

16

The plan is to seal off the shed in the yard. If Will doesn't know where he is, we'll be safe. We can get him to tell us how to destroy the Mind Flayer.

I help Jonathan gather the things we need.

"You and Nancy," I say. "You seem..."

Jonathan takes a deep breath. "I'm only telling you this because you are my best friend." I nod. "Nancy and I slept together."

"I knew it," I tell him.

"No, you didn't," Jonathan insists.

"I had a feeling," I assure him. "Steve is gonna be heartbroken."

Jonathan nods. "I know."

"But he'll get over it," I insist.

"Did you make it home for your date?" Jonathan asks.

I nod. "Yeah."

"Does he make you happy?" Jonathan asks.

"What?" I ask.

"Does Billy make you happy?" Jonathan questions.

"Yes," I tell him. "He does. I just... All of this... This stuff with the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer. It doesn't exist when I'm with Billy."

"Then I guess I have to get over it," Jonathan says. I smile. "We both deserve to be happy."

"With whoever makes us happy," I say.

I stand in the shed with Jonathan, Mike, Joyce, and Hopper. Will is tied to a chair with a light in his face. Hopper holds a cotton ball covered in bleach up to Will's nose.

Will gaps as he wakes up. "What? What? What is this?" He looks around confused. "What? What is this?" He struggles against the ropes. "Why am I tied up?"

"Will, we just wanna talk to you. We're not gonna hurt you," Joyce tells him.

"Where am I?" Will asks.

Hopper holds his drawing up. "You recognize this? Do you recognize this?"

Will shakes his head no.

"Hey. We wanna help you. But to do that, we have to understand how to kill it," Joyce tells him.

"Why am I tied up? Why am I tied up?" Will shouts. "Why am I tied up? Why am I tied up?"

Hopper puts his hands on his shoulders. "Hey."

Will keeps thrashing around trying to get loose. "Why am I tied up? Why am I tied up? Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" The lights start to flicker. Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" Will starts to calm down. "Let me go! Let me go... Go... Go..."

"Do you know what March 22nd is?" Joyce asks. Will just stares at her. "It's your birthday. Your birthday. When you turned eight, I gave you that huge box of crayons. Do you remember that? It was 120 colors. And all your friends, they got you Star Wars toys, but all you wanted to do was draw with all your new colors. And you drew this big spaceship, but it wasn't from a movie. It was your spaceship. A rainbow ship is what you called it. And you must have used every color in the box. I took that with me to Melvald's and I put it up and I told everyone who came in, "My son drew this." And you were so embarrassed." Joyce laughs. "But I was so proud. I was so, so proud."

"Do you remember the day Dad left?" Jonathan asks as he sits down beside Will. "We stayed up all night building Castle Byers... just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering." Jonathan and Joyce laugh. "You'd miss the nail every time. And then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway. We were both sick for like a week after that. But we just had to finish it, didn't we? We just had to."

"Do you remember the first day that we met?" Mike asks. "It was... It was the first day of kindergarten. I knew nobody. I had no friends and..." Mike sniffles. "I just felt so alone and so scared, but... I saw you on the swings and you were alone, too. You were just swinging by yourself. And I just walked up to you and... I asked. I asked if you wanted to be my friend. And you said yes. You said yes. It was the best thing I've ever done."

"Do you remember the first thing you ever said to me?" I ask. "You were probably only two. I laugh. "You told me I was pretty." I smile at the memory. "Then you threw a toy car at me. Hit me right in the head. I was so mad at you." I can feel tears in my eyes. "But then you laughed. And then you wouldn't stop laughing. Then Jonathan started laughing, and then your mom, then even I was laughing."

"Will, baby..." Joyce sniffles. "If you're in there, just please... please talk to us. Please, honey, please, can you do that for me? Please. I love you so much."

Will starts to breathe heavily before calming down. "Let me go."

We head back into the house.

"What happened?" Dustin asks.

"I think he's talking, just not with words," Hopper says. He's drawing lines and dots on a piece of paper.

"What is that?" Steve asks.

"Morse code," Mike, Lucas, and Dustin say.

"H-E-R-E," Hopper says.

"Here," the boys say.

"Will's still in there. He's talking to us," Hopper states.

Jonathan grabs his boombox and takes it out to the shed. He plays the song "Should I stay Or Should I Go?" It's Will's favorite.

"Do you remember the first time I played you this?" Jonathan asks. "Mom and Dad were both arguing in the next room. So, I played you the mix tape I made you. And it was the first time you got into music. Real music."

It goes on like this. Each of us telling Will about his memories. Our favorite memories.

"And then the party escaped into the sewers, and there were those big insect things, and you guys were still on level one," Mike says. "Then you cast Fog Cloud and you saved us. You saved the whole party."

"You saw that little girl and she was in the sandbox, and she was crying. You gave her your Tonka Truck and I told you we couldn't afford to buy another one," Joyce says. "You said she should have it because she's sad. "She's sad, Mommy." I love you so much. So, so much."

The phone rings inside the house. Will's eyes go wide. The phone rings again. Will's eyes close but I can see them moving.

Joyce leans towards him. "Hey. Hey, can you hear me?"

"It knows. It knows where we are," Hopper states.

"Oh, shit," Joyce remarks. She stabs Will with a sedative.

I can hear a monster screeching in the distance.

"They're coming!" Jonathan shouts.

"What?" Joyce asks.

"Come on. We gotta go," Hopper tells her.

Jonathan starts to untie Will. "Come on."

"Come on, come on. Let's go. Let's go," Hopper says.

We all rush back into the house.

"Hey. Hey, get away from the windows!" Hopper warns.

"Do you know how to use this?" hopper holds a shotgun out to Jonathan.

"What?" Jonathan asks.

"Can you use this?" Hopper questions.

"I can," Nancy tells him.

I can hear the monsters screeching no longer in the distance.

"Where are they?" Max asks.

The growl gets closer. Then there's a thud.

"What are they doing?" Nancy asks.

Another snarl comes from the other side. The monster groans before the screeching just stops. Everyone screams as one of the Demo-Dogs comes hurtling through the window.

"Holy shit," Dustin remarks.

"Is it dead?" Max asks.

Hooper kicks it with his foot, and it doesn't move.

There's a creak on the front porch and then the deadbolt unlocks followed by the chain. The door opens and Eleven walks in.