•••

"I FOUND HIM," El said, breaking the silence that loomed over the teens back in Mike's basement, they were currently trying to find Hopper to you know have an adult to tell about the problem they were having.

"Where is he?" Max asked.

"Woods."

Levi looked around the room, rubbing his throat, he knew a handprint was wrapped around it by the aching bruises he felt just by rubbing it. Five noticed Twelve touching it and sighed, he reached out and grasped the boy's hand in his, making sure Levi doesn't touch the bruise anymore.

"He's with...Will's mom."

"My...My mom?" Will stuttered, looking around the group sitting around with a confused and worried face.

Max made a disgusted face, thinking the worse. "What are they doing?"

"Ill...annoy. They're going to ill...annoy." El said slowly, not knowing what that meant.

A knock on the basement door startled them all but they calmed when they just hear Karen's voice. "Mike! Breakfast!"

"Not now, mom!" Mike shouted over his shoulder before focusing back on his girlf--- ex-girlfriend.

"Why would they be going to Illinois?" Five questioned his brows furrowed as he glanced at El taking his eyes off Levi, Eleven took off the blindfold shrugging towards her brother figure.

Levi rested his head on Five's shoulder feeling super tired since the group basically stood up all night and him using lots of his powers yesterday didn't help as he faintly felt the familiar burning pain. El and Max went to the bathroom so Max could help El with her bloody nose and just talk to her without the boys listening in.

Five gazed down at the boy on his shoulder with a soft smile before glancing at the other boys talking, "Hey, bud?"

Twelve lifted his head off the boy, looking at him blue clashing with green as the boy took in the concern flowing through Five's eyes. "Hmm?"

Five's eyes trailed down to Levi's neck feeling his heart swarm with rage as he takes in the dark handprint on his neck; purple and blue fingers wrapped around his throat, the colors mixing, making it look like a sad painting on the boy's soft skin.

"Does it hurt?" He breathed out, not being able to let his voice be louder than a whisper.

"Only when I talk," Levi whispered back before lying down with his head in Five's lap, closing his eyes as Five gently caressed the bruise with a finger before he reached the boy's hair and tangled his fingers in his curls.

That could be the reason Twelve hadn't spoken since Billy ran off, or it could be that the young boy didn't have anything to say towards the situation.

He really just wished he didn't have to hurt Billy and he didn't even want to think about if the burn he left was scaring badly, knowing Billy would have to live with a burned hand for the rest of his life, and whenever Levi sees him he is gonna be reminded that he hurt the older and he is gonna hate himself for it.

"They're conspiring, I'm telling you," Mike grumbled, trying to make his point about the girls as his eyes burned the bathroom door.

Five rolled his eyes, "Are you stupid? They're not conspiring, you idiot, they just don't want to deal with you because you're annoying as fuck." he stated, smiling sweetly as the freakishly tall teen.

Mike glared at the older boy going to reply but was cut off by a frantic knock on the basement door. "Not now, Mom!"

"Mike open the door!" Nancy's voice rang out causing Levi to pop up energized as ever compared to his just lagging form.

What? Don't judge him, even Dustin still had a crush on the girl.

Mike shared a confused look with the group as El and Max come out of the bathroom looking at the boys with furrowed brows while Mike runs up the basement stairs unlocking it and pulling it harshly revealing Nancy and Jonathan looking between the group of teens in alert.

•••

"It was the same thing. It was the exact same thing that happened to Will last year. And look at this. Look at the body temperatures." Nancy rambled, bending down to pick up the papers that she stole from the patient's file, handing the evidence to Will as everyone looked over his shoulder to see.

"He likes it cold," Will said looking at the abnormal temperatures, glancing up at the older teens.

Mike looked at his sister squinting his eyes, "Okay, so this crazy old lady who was eating fertilizer--"

"Mrs. Driscoll," Nancy stated, closing her eyes briefly annoyed with Mike's description.

Mike rolled his eyes, before going serious. "Yeah, right, Mrs. Driscoll. What time was this attack?"

"Last night."

"Yeah, but what time last night?"

"Around 9:00," Nancy shrugged not understanding why that information was so needed as she looked at the group dumbfounded.

"You waited all night to call?" Jonathan looked at his girlfriend with a confused look.

Nancy looked up at the boy with wide eyes as Levi watched the awkward teens, "I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests."

"You weren't there?" Will questioned harshly, looking at his brother accusingly.

"Well I'm here now, aren't I?" Jonathan exclaimed raising his hands in the air cowering from the looks he got from his brother's friends.

"Hallelujah," Nancy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms connecting eyes with Levi who looked at her concerned when he noticed the tension between the usually lovey-dovey couple.

"So, uh...w-what time was your sauna test?" Nancy asked after sending the boy a reassuring smile.

"Around 9:00." The whole group of young teens all murmured nodding at one another for confirmation.

Nancy huffed out looking at her little brother, "Well, that proves it. That proves my theory."

"She's flayed, just like Billy." Mike nodded.

"Flayed?" Jonathan rose his brows at the boy.

"The Mind Flayer. He flays people. Takes over their mind. Once they do that, they basically become him."

"If there are two flayed, we have to assume there are more." Five stated, looking up at the two older teens from over Levi's shoulder as he held the boy on his lap since Max, El, and Will managed to squish on the small couch with him still on it.

"Heather." El breathed out glancing at an uncomfortable Levi as he looked down at his hands, "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming."

Twelve closed his eyes, whimpering as he remembered the painful screams of Heather. "Bad screams."

"What's a good scream?" Lucas questioned dumbfounded.

"Max said..."

"Doesn't matter." Max and Five exclaimed at the same time as Max sent a warning look towards Levi as he let a somewhat small smile slip.

"I'm sorry, I'm lost. Who is Heather?" Nancy squinted at them as Jonathan nodded along with her.

"She's a lifeguard at the pool," Max said.

"Heather Holloway?" Nancy looked towards Jonathan, worry on both their faces, "Tom."

•••

"Seriously?" Mike exclaimed.

"Welcome to my world," Will mumbled, climbing into the way back of the car with Mike following behind him.

Nancy clipped her hair out of her face glancing over her shoulder, "Ready?"

Everyone in the back mumbled in agreement. Nancy turned back around putting the car into gear before backing out of the driveway, crashing into the younger group's bikes before speeding down the road. Levi holds Max tighter in his lap and Five does the same with Lucas as Nancy drives crazily down the road.

Levi put his face in the crook of Max's neck as she rolled her eyes with a smile not noticing the look Lucas was giving them. Max practically forced Levi to hold her since she didn't want to sit in Lucas' lap. Twelve didn't mind it, to be honest, if Max was uncomfortable with sitting on Lucas' lap Twelve would gladly take his place and deal with the numb legs if it meant she was comfortable.

The doorbell chimed loudly feeling the awkward silence as Nancy and Jonathan stood in front of the door, sneaking glances at each other while the group of young teens stood behind them waiting for the red door to open, sharing looks of amusement at the older awkward teens.

When no one opened the door Nancy rang the bell once more following another awkward silence before Nancy and Jonathan gazed towards El who just glared at the door.

The red door slammed open with a big bang and the group slowly and wearily walked into the house, taking in the eery silence looming over the house.

"Tom?" Nancy called out to her boss, cautious with how silent it is, just the sound of their breathing and footsteps were heard throughout the home.

"Heather?" Levi's concern showing in his voice as he walked between Max and El.

"Jesus, it's freezing," Max mumbled, rubbing her arms with her hands in an attempt to warm herself.

Twelve being the gentleman he is, untied his denim jacket from around his waist handing it to Max who took it with a smile and put it on, just until they make it outside again.

Lucas looked at the two with squinted eyes, feeling jealousy swell in his belly, "How is he stealing my girl when he doesn't even like girls?" he whispered to himself but Five who was next to him heard and scowled.

Five nudged him harshly causing the boy to wince. "He likes anyone, dumbass, get it right. And he isn't 'stealing Max', he's just has a case of human fucking decency, ever heard of it?"

Five walks closer to Levi ignoring Lucas' harsh whispers to come back,  Lucas crossed his arms and pouted, not liking the feeling of being ignored by both his girlfriend and best friend.

Mike rolls his eyes at Lucas nudging him forwards as the group settled in the living room, looking around.

"Do you guys smell that?" Nancy sniffed all the others looked at her weirdly before sniffing as well cringing at the smell resembling bleach burning their noses as they breathed in.

They all followed the scent to the kitchen seeing the whole fridge toppled on its side, multiple chemical bottles on it opened and spilled all over.

"Oh god. More chemicals." Nancy got over the stench, walking further into the room looking at the scene with wide eyes.

"You think they're guzzling this shit?" Jonathan questioned, glancing over all the cleaning chemicals laid out around the kitchen counters.

"Yeah, either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree." The older teen girl mumbled gazing towards Jonathan.

"But last year, Will didn't eat chemicals," Max stated before her face scrunched out and she leaned towards Will whispering. "Did you?"

"No." Will murmured, looking down. "This is something new."

"When you mix chemicals you create a new substance, obviously, could that be what's happening?" Five asked.

Mike nodded, looking at the older boy in realization."They could be making something."

"In themselves?" Max looked at the boy confused. "I mean, come on, if you drink this crap, it'll kill you."

"Yeah, if you're human," Lucas replied, crossing his arms.

Levi, who was standing by Nancy, looked at the older girl in concern as she looked behind them and slowly started walking towards the dining room with everyone behind her.

Everything was set out like how it was when Max, El, Levi, and Five came.

There were still plates set out on the table, glasses full of wine, the cookies Heather offered on the table. Levi glanced around before subtly grabbing a cookie...okay he took 4, don't judge him, and started nibbling on it while watching the group.

On the big rug in the middle of the big room was an empty wine bottle on the floor that caught everyone's attention. Nancy crouched down looking at the rug intently, seeing a puddle of red on the rug. "Blood,"

"Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead," Nancy said grabbing onto the wine bottle seeing blood smeared on the edge, looking up at the group and releasing a shaky breath. "He was attacked."

Nancy looked off to the side and saw one of the rugs nearby was crumpled up against a doorway as if something was drug against it.

Nancy walked towards it, coming up with what happened in her mind, she stopped for a second as she saw red on the off white carpet leading to a brown wooden door.

Everyone slowly followed the girl as she opened the door leading them into a garage, in the middle of the ground there was a thin but long piece of rope.

"They must of tied them," Jonathan stated, "They must've taken them somewhere."

"Mrs. Driscoll. She kept saying 'I have to go back'" Nancy thought out loud. "What if the flaying, it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where all this started, right? A source."

"Somewhere he didn't want either of us to see." El caught onto what she was saying glancing at Levi who still was eating cookies but was listening intensely to what they were saying.

Nancy nodded, "If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him. Or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals."

"How do we find it?"

"Mrs.Driscoll. If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?" Will came up with, looking around the group.

•••

When they finally made it to the hospital Nancy gestured for the large group behind her to hurry as she tried to make it past the front desk where the lady was talking quite loudly on the phone.

Nancy sighed when she heard the phone slam on the receiver and the lady's voice yell out to them. "Excuse me?! Where do you think you're going?"

Nancy turned to look at the familiar woman, fakely smiling. "Oh, um...I was just going to visit my grandma again. A-and this is my family."

The lady behind the counter looked at her before raising a brow at Lucas who innocently smiled at the woman, "Extended."

"I don't care who they are. You know the rules. Two visitors at a time." the worker stated, glaring towards Nancy who masked her annoyed face.

"Yeah, but--"

"Two!" the woman shouted before grabbing the phone again and talked, "Girl has lost her mind, she brought a damn zoo in here."

Everyone just glanced at each other before going into the waiting room where Jonathan and Nancy decided to go see Mrs.Driscoll as the others stayed.

Max and El were going through the magazines on the side table, Five was sitting on the chair nearest to the table looking at one of the magazines with a bored expression.

Will was sitting on a chair with his head against the wall as Levi had his head on Will's shoulder, closing his eyes holding Ben close to him feeling exhausted as Lucas and Mike stood at the nearby vending machine.

Mike groaned as his KitKat got stuck, banging on the glass when all of a sudden most of the candies jumped out of their place, both the boys turned to look at Eleven who glanced at them, wiping her nose.

At the loud thud, Levi had snapped his eyes open and looked towards them, he hurried over and snuck candy into the pockets of his jean jacket he got back from Max, making sure to get Reese's for both Will and Five since it was both their favorite candy.

When the boy was finished smuggling all the good food, he plopped back into his chair next to Will, handing the boy some Reese's Pieces while Twelve ate a KitKat.

Will smiled softly at the boy and Levi returned it widely as Five came over to sit on the other side of Levi, holding his hand out expectingly, Levi dug in his pocket slapping the candy in the boy's hand with a giggle.

As the three sat in silence, Mike spoke with El but Levi didn't focus on anything they said. Twelve hummed finishing his candy, digging in his pocket for another one, he took out the candy, frowning as he sees the 3 musketeers in his hand.

Five looked at the boy, humming when he saw the lost look on his best friend's face, "What's wrong?"

Will gazed towards the two in confusion, his eyes attaching to Levi.

Twelve felt both pairs of eyes on him and wanted to sink back into the chair but he couldn't go any farther, "I miss Dusty." he mumbled.

"You saw him the other day." Five stated slightly amused at the lovey-dovey couple even though that much mushy gushy couple stuff slightly bothered him.

Twelve sighed, fiddling with the candy bar in his hand a slight pout on his face. "I know. But I'm worried."

Will put a hand on his shoulder when he noticed Five's uncomfortableness, the blue-eyed boy looked at Will with wide eyes, "It's okay, Levi. He's gonna be fine, you don't gotta worry about him."

Twelve smiled at the boy, leaning over the armrest and enveloping Will in a tight hug. Will looked at Five with wide eyes over Levi's shoulder before finally relaxing into the boys embrace as Five chuckles at the two.

The three went back to a comfortable silence, Twelve looked at Will confused when the boy stood up abruptly.

Twelve stood up, going behind the boy to look at him concern on his features as he takes in Will's bewildered face."What's wrong?"

Will glanced at the boy before nodding his head upwards, Levi followed his line of sight just in time to see the lights flicker. The lights continued to flicker before faintly Twelve could hear a screech.

Five snuck up behind the two also seeing it, making the two jump when he spoke with a deadpan expression. "Well, shit."

•••

A/N) I'm late...sorta. I don't even know how but I thought today was Thursday fml :) I made a ko-fi if you want to support me on there( link in the description), but you don't have to.

Also, we're almost done, only like five chapters maybe? and like three are of the actual show. It low-key makes me emotional.

Anyway!! I love you guys!! And thank you for like what? 40k reads!! It means so much to me and makes me so freaking happy my dudes! <3

and welcome to the new readers!! (i see you) and I appreciate the votes and the reads, *virtual hugs*