TWENTY: BACK FROM THE DEAD

WILL, OF COURSE, WAS THE ANSWER. Everything seemed to always link back to him. No one knew how to kill the Mind Flayer until Mike stepped forward.

"He does," Mike motioned towards Will, who was lying, sedated, on the couch, "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it, he'll know its weaknesses."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore," Max sighed, her arms crossed. "That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now."

Daniel furrowed his brow in confusion before he remembered the whole Will-being-possessed part. That meant at any moment, they could think they were talking to Will but instead be talking to the monster. That was a fun thought.

Mike seemed to consider this for a moment before he had a breakthrough, "Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is. What about the shed?"

Hopper thought for a moment before saying, "What's that?"

Mike nodded towards the backyard, most likely going to answer his question. The two of them left, leaving everyone else just standing there. Daniel was shaking and he had no one to hold onto. Steve seemed to realize this as he took a moment to squeeze the boy's shoulder reassuringly. Daniel felt warm, Steve seemed to have the same calming energy his sister always had over him. Maybe those two were meant to be. That thought almost made him smile. At least there was some good in Hawkins right now. Soon enough, Hopper and Mike reentered the house.

"Can some of you help me out here?" Hopper asked, slightly out of breath, "I've already cleared out the items in the shed, but I need some of you to help me cover up all the walls."

"Jesus Christ," Steve mumbled before volunteering himself. Nancy, Veronica, and Jonathan followed. The kids and Heather stayed put, Heather would have helped if she could but Daniel was content with staying here.

As soon as Mike had come back into the house he walked over to Daniel. Dustin and Lucas had gone out to help, so all that remained was Mike, Max, Daniel, and a sleeping Will.

"So, you two are like in love or some shit?" Max asked, watching as the two boys absentmindedly wrapped their arms around each other. Daniel leaned against the wall, one arm slung over Mike's shoulders while the Wheeler boy laid his head on his boyfriend's shoulder and fiddled with his fingertips.

Daniel nodded, quietly saying, "Yeah, have been for awhile." A small giggle following his statement.

"He helped a lot after El," Mike nodded, "Because even though I lost one of, I guess, one of my best friends, I had him. We've been together since last November. Why?"

Max shrugged, looking at the floor. "Just wondering. Most feelings at this age are just silly crushes," Daniel noticed how she gazed out the door before her eyes landed on the boys again, "I just think it's cool that you found each other... or something like that."

"Do you like someone?" Daniel teased, "I mean, I know now's not the time, but I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. I mean, we've kept this one for almost a year."

The girl shook her head, but her cheeks were tinged with a slight pink. "That's none of your business."

Daniel smiled but dropped the subject. "We should probably help."

So, they got to work. Daniel went out to the shed to see what he could do while Mike and Max decided to look for stuff they could use inside the house. Daniel walked out the shed, stopping to stare at the large pile of accumulated, assorted items that had been thrown from the structure. He helped tear duct tape pieces, handing them to Steve as he hung tarps along the walls, blocking anything that could possibly be recognizable to Will. Soon enough Max and Mike joined them, everyone working frantically. Finally, after everyone was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and out of breath, the entire shed was covered and unrecognizable.

Jonathan placed his still unconscious younger brother in the chair and tied him up. Everyone else was cleared out, leaving just Joyce and Jonathan inside. He wouldn't say it, but Daniel was terrified.

Mike seemed to realize this, doing his thing by grabbing his boyfriend's hand and squeezing it.

"He'll be okay," Mike whispered in Daniel's ear, "I think this might actually work."

"It better," Daniel scoffed, leaning against the wall of the house. "I miss Will. He hasn't been the same Will that was my best friend, not since last November."

"I know he hasn't," Mike sighed, "I'm gonna go back in there, Will might recognize my voice. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm not unstable enough that I can't be without you," Daniel laughed, but there was an underlying fear to it, neither boy acknowledged this, "Just go, you'll help."

Mike kissed him on the cheek and left. Once he was gone, Daniel walked over to the kitchen table where Steve was replacing Heather's bandages.

"How are you, sis?" the boy asked, earning a shrug from his sister.

"Feeling lightheaded," she sighed, her voice slow as if she had to think about her words, "Probably from blood loss, but the blood is finally starting to clot, but it won't start actually healing until I get stitches but there is a huge ass hole in my leg and I can't walk."

"I'm taking you to the hospital," Steve sighed, "We have to."

"No," Heather spoke affirmatively, "I'm not fucking leaving. Besides, someone needs to watch the kids."

Steve sighed. The attention shifted when Veronica spoke up, "I'll take you. We'll get you stitched up and be back here by dawn, okay? Heather, you need to get help, that's not gonna stop bleeding and it's not gonna get better no matter how many times we wrap clean gauze around it. Just let me help you, you've helped me millions of times over the fifteen years we've known each other, let me do this one thing. Steve and Nancy can watch the kids."

"Please, Heather," her brother pleaded, looking at her with his puppy-dog eyes that he knew could convince her to do anything.

After a long pause of thought, she sighed, "Fine, but if anything happens to these kids, you're dead Harrington. You too, Wheeler."

"I'll take care of them, scout's honor," Steve joked, pressing a kiss to the girl's cheek as he helped her up. He handed her off to Veronica who began to help her to the car. It broke Daniel's heart to see his always independent and strong sister wobble and be held up by people. It seemed so unlike her and he knew she must have hated every bit of it.

As soon as they were gone, the house fell silent again. Dustin, who had been looking out the window, sighed and walked off. Everyone too tense and stressed to make conversation. Daniel rests his head in his arms, leaning against the kitchen table. He heard Max and Lucas discussing what would happen if Will figured out where he was, but Daniel didn't want to think about things like that, so he blocked it out.

A few minutes of this and Hopper burst through the door.

"What happened?" Dustin asked as everyone in the house crowded around him.

Hopper, writing something down, explained, "I think he's talking, just not with words.

"What is that?" Steve questioned, looking at the dots and lines Hopper was drawing on a torn, opened envelope.

All the boys answered at once, "Morse Code."

"Here," Mike said, looking at the translation on the paper.

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

This was a small bit of good news, causing Daniel to breathe a sigh of relief. With this news, Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike ran out of the house again, this time Jonathan was carrying an old stereo and a cassette tape. There wasn't time to ask why since the group was already out the door.

Morse code began to come through the walkie talkie they had on the table, coming from Mike. Lucas and Dustin began to look over the sheet with all the translations Hopper found for them. So, they began translating.

"Dash, dot, dash, dot," Lucas spoke, Dustin writing it down quickly. "Yeah, got it. C."

Nancy nodded and wrote down a C. This continued for some time, for what felt like forever, until they had a full message.

They all crowded around it, everyone at the same time reading, "Close gate."

"What the fuck?" Daniel exclaimed, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hey, language," Steve scolded, earning a scoff from the boy.

Before anyone could say anything, the phone rang. They all jumped.

"Shit, shit, shit," Dustin cursed while sprinting to make the ringing stop. He picked up and hang up the phone, but Daniel had the inkling feeling it was too late. They were too late. The phone rang again, so Nancy slammed it down and ripped the phone from the wall. They were done for.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked, out of breath much like everyone else in the room.

Steve nodded, "It's just a phone. It could be anywhere, right?"

Daniel wanted to agree with it, but then that terrible noise was heard in the distance. It was the noise of the creatures screeching, it was a warning. They all crowded to the window.

"That's not good," Dustin muttered.

Hopper ran into the house a moment later, a rifle in his hand. "Hey, hey, get away from the windows," he yelled, all of the people heading into the living room. He held out a rifle towards Jonathan, "Do you know how to use this?"

Jonathan scrunched up his face in confusion, "What?"

"Do you know how to use this?" the man reiterated, his voice much angrier than before.

"I can," Nancy spoke up, which surprised Daniel. Call him old fashioned, but she didn't seem like the type. Then again, neither did his sister, but she still kicked his ass when they used to take hunting trips when their dad was still around. Hopper tossed the gun to Nancy while everyone else grabbed anything that could possibly be used as a weapon. Steve had his bat, Lucas had the wrist-rocket, Mike had a candlestick, while Daniel ran and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. The monsters screeched, sounding closer than before.

"Where are they?" Max asked. The noises sounded like they were coming from every angle and direction. Then, there was a loud thud and everyone jumped, turning to face that wall.

"What are they doing?" Nancy questioned, but she got no answer.

There was a distinct snarl, then a groan, and... weirdly enough, a whimper. There was a screech, but then it cut off abruptly. Everyone was shaking, Daniel had one hand linked with Mike's, holding on for dear life. Then, the window shattered and a monster flew through it. However, the monster was limp and unmoving.

"Holy shit," Dustin muttered as they all stepped slightly closer to it.

Max spoke next, asking, "Is it dead?"

Hopped nudged the Dema-dog's head with his foot, garnering no response. Before anyone could say anything, the door creaked. The locks flipped unlocked, no one touching them. Everyone got their weapons ready again, the defense right back up. The door opened up slowly and a figure stepped inside. Much to Daniel's disbelief, that figure was Eleven. Back from the dead.

( note! )

grammarly got rid of its word counter so i had no idea how long this was until now so im pleasantly surprised that this was almost 2k words because i was so scared i was gonna think i wrote like 4000 words but it was actually like,, 800. also, only one episode left to write and like maybe two or three chapters left oof