𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

43

𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃&𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 with a thud. the six of them, along with nancy, jonathan, and hopper, crowded around the opened pages. details of creatures and their stats filled the spread top to bottom. "the mind flayer," dustin began.

"the hell is that?" hopper asked lowly.

"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."

"oh my god, none of this is real. this is a kid's game," hopper groaned.

"i mean, it makes sense," sheridan piped up. all eyes fell on her. her face flushed as she cleared her throat. "well, think about it: we didn't know any of this stuff existed, what? a year ago? so who's to say it's been here all along? is that so crazy?" although no one wanted to admit it, she made a point, and they knew that. "like, el has mind powers and she saved will from that dimension; jonathan and nancy saw one of those things," the girl motioned towards her brother and his friend, "and i literally got attacked by one. we all know at least some element of this is true, that's all i'm saying."

"yeah, i-it's a manual, and it's not for kids," dustin continued, being firm in his stance now that he had dani to back him up. "and unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor-"

"analogy," lucas chipped in. dustin's eyes widened and his mouth fell agape.

"analogy? that's what you're worried about? fine! a-an analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is!"

"okay, so this, mind-flamer thing-" nancy began.

"flayer, mind flayer," dustin hypocritically corrected.

nancy sighed. "what does it want?"

"to conquer us, basically," dustin explained. "i-it believes it's the master race."

"oh, like the-like the germans," steve compared. dani snapped her eyes shut. a wave of secondhand embarrassment overcame her body. she held laughter captive behind her pursed lips.

"uh, the nazis?" silence swarmed the space.

"yeah yeah yeah, the nazi's," steve brushed off.

"uh... if the nazi's were from another dimension, t-totally," dustin responded nonchalantly. hopper let out a sigh and rubbed his temples in frustration. "uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."

"it wants to spread, take over other dimensions," mike added.

"we are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," lucas emphasized.

"that's great, that's great, that's really great," steve exhaled. he stepped away from the table, running a hand through his hair with the other on his hip. he really made this kind of thing hard for sheridan to take seriously; it was both a blessing and a curse.

"okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything," nancy started as she took the book in her arms, "then, if we kill it..."

"we kill everything it controls," mike finished his sister's sentence.

"we win," dustin concluded.

"theoretically," lucas piped up.

"alright, great, so how do you kill this thing?" hopper inquired, snatching the book from nancy. "shoot it with fireballs or something?"

a smile spread across dustin's face. "no, no. no fire-no fireballs," the boy answered through giggles. his expression deadpanned as he met hopper's deadly gaze. "uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because... because zombies, you know, they-they don't... they don't have brains, and the mind flayer, it... it... it likes brains." their eyes met once more. "it's just a game. it's a game," he rushed out.

hopper shut the book and tossed it onto the table. "what the hell are we doing here?" he muttered.

"i thought we were waiting for your military backup!"

"we are!"

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

"you don't know that! we don't know anything!" hopper persisted.

"we know it's already killed everybody in that lab!"

"and we know the monsters are gonna molt again!" lucas carried on.

"and we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town," dustin amended.

"they're right," joyce groggily chimed in from the entryway. sheridan glanced over nancy to see her in all of her distraught glory. steve stepped towards her, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder. "we have to kill it." hopper made his way over to the byers woman. "i want to kill it."

"me too. me too, joyce, okay? but how do we do that? we don't exactly know what we're dealing with here," jim divulged. his tone was soft now, gentler in comparison to how he talked to the kids. dani found it to be endearing in all of the mess that her family was in.

"no, but he does," mike impeded. he sauntered from the kitchen and into the living room, where will laid on the couch, unconscious. "if anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's will. he's connected to it. he'll know its weakness."

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

mike's mind raced with possible solutions to the problems when it hit him like a truck. "yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

✽