Chapter 16

“The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world,” Mike said.

“And it almost did,” Nancy added, “That was just one tiny piece of it.”

“How big is this this?” Hopper asked.

“It’s big,” Jonathon said, “I mean, thirty feet at least.”

“Holy shit,” Claudia felt her heart drop to her stomach. Steve patted her on the back, letting his hand stay there. Nancy looked over at the two with an unreadable expression on her face.

“It sorta destroyed your cabin,” Lucas admitted, Hopped looked at him as if he was ready to scream, “Sorry.”

“Okay, so, just to be clear, this… this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it’s some kind of gigantic… weapon?” Steve asked.

“Yes,” Nancy said.

“But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon… with melted people.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Yeah, okay. I- Yeah, I’m just making sure.”

Claudia moved away from Steve, sitting down next to Robin and leaning on her shoulder. “We’re actually gonna die,” she said.

“Oh my God, you’re so pessimistic. We’ve beat something like this before, we’ll do it again. Don’t worry, alright?” Dustin said.

“Alright. Sorry.”

“Are we sure this this is still out there, still alive?” Joyce asked.

“El beat the shit out of it but, yeah, it’s still alive,” Max said.

“But if we close the gate again,” Will began.

“We cut the brain off from the body,” Max added.

“And kill it,” Lucas finished, “Theoretically.”

They fell into a silence, which wa a interrupted by a frantic man walking into the mall, waving some papers around. “Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!”

——————————

“Okay, this is what Alexei called ‘the hub’,” Murray said, “Now the hub takes us to the vault room.”

“Okay, where’s the gate?” Hopper asked.

“Right here. I don’t know the scale on this, but I think it’s fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so.”

“More like five hundred,” Erica said, “What, 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?”

“Murray… Bauman.”

“Listen, Mr Bunman. I’m not trying to tell you how to do things, but I’ve been down in that shithole for twenty four hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you’re all gonna die.”

“I’m sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?”

“Um, I’m ten, you bald bastard!”

Claudia let out a snicker. “Erica!” Lucas said.

“Just the facts!”

“She’s right,” Dustin said, “You’re all gonna die, but you don’t have to. Excuse me. Sorry, may I?” Dustin took the paper. “Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. There’s a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It’s a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way.”

“You can show us the way?” Hopper asked.

“Don’t worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we’ll just be your… navigators.”

“No. Nope.”

——————————

Robin, Steve and Claudia sat on the counter of one of the stores. “You okay?” Robin asked.

“As okay as I can be,” Claudia answered.

“Listen,” Steve said, “You survived evil Russians, and Daniel, this’ll be a piece of cake, especially when we’ve got a girl with superpowers on our side.”

“Yeah,” Robin said, “Plus, I’ll kill the Mind Slayer myself if it comes near you.” She wrapped her arm around Claudia.

“It’s the Mind Flayer. Robin, don’t you think people’ll get suspicious with you have your arm around me all the time.”

“Suspicious of what? We’re just gal pals,” Robin winked.

——————————

“Oh, man, now this… this is what I’m talking about!” Steve said. He’d been given the keys to Hopper’s car.

“Toddfather?” Robin asked.

“Oh, screw Todd! Steve’s her daddy now.”

“Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?” Claudia asked.

“Did he just call himself daddy?” Erica added.

“Alright, where are we going?” Steve asked.

“Weathertop,” Dustin answered.

“Weather-what?”

“Just drive.”

“Okay. Jesus!”

The engine revved as Steve pulled out of the parking lot and began to drive. They’d been driving for a while. “Jesus, Dustin, how far is this place?” Claudia asked.

“Relax! We’re almost there,” Dustin said.

“Suzie must be pretty special, huh? I mean, if you built this thing and lugged it all the way to the middle of nowhere just to talk to her?” Robin said.

“I mean, nobody’s scientifically perfect, but Suzie’s about as close to being perfect as any human could possibly be.”

“She sound made-up to me. She sound made-up to you?” Erica asked Steve.

“Why are you hesitating, Steve?”

“I’m- I’m not! I’m not! I think she sound real. You know, totally, absolutely real,” Steve said.

“Left. Turn left.”

“There’s not a road here.”

“Turn left now!”

“Woah! Henderson, where are we going?!”

“Up!”

They began to go up a steep hill. “We’re not gonna make it!” Robin yelled.

“Yes we are!” Steve said, “Come on, baby! Come on, baby! Come on!”

Steve was wrong. “Guess the Toddfather has its limitations,” Robin said. They got out of the car, and walked up the hill instead.

They made it to the top of the hill. “Griswold Family, do you copy?” Dustin yelled into the walkie, “Griswold Family, do you copy? Griswold Family, do you copy?”

Snarling sounds could be heard from the radio. “I don’t think they copy,” Claudia said.

Steve suddenly stood up. “Where are you going?!” Erica asked.

“To get them the hell out of there! Stay here, contact the others!” Steve said.

“Shit,” Claudia and Robin said in sync.

“Wait, Claudia!” Dustin called, “Stay in touch,” he threw a walkie at her.

“Got it. See you when this is over, Henderson.”