EPISODE FIVE & SIX
the flayed & e pluribus unum.

THEY SOON arrived at the hospital, and attempted to get past the lady at the desk since it was meant to be only two visitors at a time.

"uh, woah, woah, woah! excuse me!" the lady snapped, still on the phone as she stood up, they all turned around to face her. "where do you think you're going?" she put a hand on her hip.

"oh! i'm sorry, i was just going to visit my grandma again. and this...this is my family." nancy motioned to the group. they all smiled.

the woman's eyes landed on lucas and she raised a brow, he cheekily grinned, "extended."

nova stifled out a laugh as max smacked her hand to stop her. "i don't care who they are. you know the rules. two visitors at a time." the lady spoke sassily.

"but—" nancy began.

"two!"

"girl, this child has lost her mind. she brought a whole zoo in here." the woman returned back to her phone call as nancy and jonathan shared a look before going.

the kids all sighed and went to the waiting room as nova sat next to lucas and rested her head on his shoulder tiredly. "you feeling better?" he asked and she nodded, smiling lightly.

"lucas, come with me to get a snack." mike called out, lucas nodded, and turned to nova, "you want anything?" he asked.

her eyes landed on the vending machine and she hummed, "m&ms, please." he nodded and smiled before getting up with mike.

she overheard mike yelling at the machine, and then seeing a bunch of candy fall down as they both looked to eleven who wiped her nose and went back to reading the magazine.

"hey, will the wise." nova smiled at him, sitting down as he sighed.

"don't call me that. it's stupid." he said, slightly embarrassed at his love for D&D.

"hey! it's not stupid. it's really cool...and lucas taught me how to play d&d so i can play with you whenever you want." she smiled, crossing her legs as he let a small smile fall onto his lips, muttering a thank you.

"what happened with you and mike? did you argue?" she asked quietly as he tensed.

"no." he mumbled.

"don't lie." she glared, and will sighed.

"nothing. i was just annoyed he kept going
on about el breaking up with him." he said in annoyance, his eyes traveling to mike.

"so...do you like him?" she asked simply, and he widened his eyes, "what?! no!" he almost yelled, the others looking in his direction before going back to what they were doing as she smiled lightly at him.

"no. i don't...okay? i don't." will said firmly and she nodded slowly.

"okay." she said simply, nodding.

"i don't. seriously." will continued as she smiled lightly.

"okay, will."

"novs! check this out." lucas called out as she smiled at will before going over to lucas. "okay. let's play a game."

"what game?" she asked, "i chuck the m&ms and you have to catch it in your mouth." he spoke and she shrugged. "cool."

after many failed attempts, she gave up and ended up chucking the packet at his head, him groaning as she laughed loudly, causing him to laugh with her as their smiles and laughs filled the others ears. "you're so stupid." she said between giggles.

"no way! that's you." lucas said with a scoff.

"come on, one more go." lucas insisted as she sighed, he chucked it, and to her surprise, she caught it.

"yeah!" he laughed, grinning as he clapped, "that was good!"

she caught another one and beamed, "two in a row! look at me go!" they both cheered, high fiving as it was his turn.

lucas seemed to have caught every single one, causing her roll her eyes at him every time, only making him laugh even louder as she crossed her arms. "you're annoying." she said, him laughing again as he wrapped his arms around her and they swung side to side lightly.

all of a sudden, will stood up and looked up at the slightly flickering lights, as they all looked over at will, standing up as they joined him in a circle. his hand went to his neck as he shivered, "he's here."

they all shared a worried look as they immediately went for the elevator, ignoring what the lady was yelling at them. eleven pressed the button multiple times, but it took too long, "stairs." mike spoke and they all ran to the direction of the stairs, lucas holding onto nova's hand.

after running around the hospital, they finally reached jonathan who was banging on a door, screaming nancy's name as eleven pushed him back, and yanked the door off its hinges with her mind.

their eyes all widened in horror as they saw the large creature hovering over nancy. "jesus." mike gasped, "what the fu—" nova exclaimed, however was cut off by the roar of the creature.

eleven yelled as she slammed the creature to one side, and then to the other, and then to the ceiling, breaking it all down and then finally she slammed it to the ground, falling slightly as she lost balance but caught herself.

as the creature made its way towards them, she flung both hands out, screaming slightly as it smashed out of the window and down all the flights until it landed on the floor.

waisting no time, they all ran down the stairs and outside, only to see the creature was slipping through the gaps of the drain, until all that was left was a few bones.

"now, what the fucking fuck was that?" nova exclaimed, breathing heavily as they all shared a horrified look.

forever wishing they called it the mind slayer and the slayed it would've been so funny bye