Chapter Sixteen: The Unwelcome Return

(The Sauna Test)

***

The Mind Flayer was back.

That was the only thing running through Alistair's head, the only thing he could think of. It was in Alistair's head during the bike ride back to the Wheelers—after Alistair had taken a quick detour back to his trailer to grab some clean shirts and underwear and one of his thicker flannels—and when they gathered back in the basement, ticking in his head like a clock, pounding fear in time with his heartbeat.

The Mind Flayer was back. And it took everything in Alistair to keep from utterly freaking out.

Due to the more pressing matter of the return of a creature Alistair had been hoping was dead and rotting, everything that had happened between them was put on the back burner. There was still tension, but Alistair was willing to force it aside to focus on the terrifying fact the Mind Flayer was back.

And that meant telling the rest of the Party it was back.

The four of them spent a mostly sleepless night in the basement, Alistair close to Will, his best friend wearing a long-sleeved shirt—to ward off the Mind Flayer and its penchant for having its hosts prefer the cold. And that was another thing that scared Alistair about the Mind Flayer returning—that Will could be possessed again. It had been exorcised out of Will, burned out by the flames and the power Alistair had wielded, but it had nearly killed Will in the process. Alistair was terrified if he was possessed again and they had to burn it out, Will wouldn't wake up after it.

So Alistair pressed close to Will, promising to himself he was not letting the Mind Flayer dig its claws back into Will again, holding his friend as he trembled, just as terrified as Alistair of the Mind Flayer possessing him again and using him as its puppet. That if it did happen, Alistair was using his power to exorcise it out—to bring Will back to the light before he could have the chance to be consumed in the dark.

The ghosts, funnily enough, didn't haunt his dreams or when he woke up after the nightmare of falling and pain—confirming what Alistair already suspected, that they were panicked about the Mind Flayer being back and trying to warn him about it, to have him stop it again. He just hoped the absence didn't mean what else they were scared about—that, somehow, the Mind Flayer had gotten into the ghosts, burrowing into their hazy bodies like a parasite. They were ghosts, after all. It couldn't be possible.

But Alistair also thought it was impossible for the Mind Flayer to come back, especially in summer. He just hoped they were okay, even the ghosts that had tried to attack him or bring him to the Mind Flayer and show him last night. 

No one deserved to be used as a puppet by the Mind Flayer.

When the new day began, Alistair went to the tiny bathroom in the basement to quickly change into a new pair of underwear, a Led Zeppelin shirt and his thick flannel patterned in grey, brown and black. Stepping out and balling his old clothes into the seperate bag he'd also brought, he saw Mike had also changed in a new outfit, and they all gathered around the couch, Lucas' Super-Comm in his hands.

Alistair joined Will, their knees knocking together as Lucas said into the Super-Comm, "Dustin, do you copy? We've got a Code Red. I repeat, a Code Red! Dustin, are you there? Do you copy? We have a Code Red, I repeat a Code Red!"

Static crackeld back as Lucas said, "He's not picking up."

"Try again," Mike insisted, from where he was crouching on the arm of the couch.

Sighing, Lucas said, "Dustin, are you there? We have a Code Red! Do you copy? We have a Code Red! I repeat, we have a Code Red!"

When static only responded back, Lucas turned to Mike and shrugged. "He's not answering."

"Call the girls," Will suggested. Alistair pressed himself closer to Will, feeling the slight tremble in his tense body.

Lifting the walkie to his mouth, Lucas said, "Max, are you there? Do you copy? This is a Code Red. I repeat, this is a Code Red. Max. Do you copy? This is a Code Red!"

The walkie crackled, and through the static Max's irritated voice said, "Shut. Up."

Then the walkie gave the crackling whine of it shutting off.

Lucas looked at them, saying in shock, "She turned it off."

Alistair bit his lip. He could get why Max would turn it off, but this couldn't be ignored. Max, Cami and El—and Dustin if they got back in contact with him—needed to know.

He was about to project his soul into Max's house, assuming that was where the girls were, before Mike got off the couch and marched over to the phone, ringing Max.

A few seconds later, Max responded, snapping, "I'm sleeping. Go away."

"This is Mike. Do not hang up," Mike said. "Something happened, something bad. Our very lives could be at stake."

"What are you talking about?" Max asked, sounding confused.

"Just come over to my house. We'll explain everything," Mike responded.

"What?"

"Hurry," Mike said, and he hung up. Turning back to the group, he ordered, "Try Dustin again."

"He's not answering," Lucas replied.

"So try him again," Mike commanded.

Sighing, Lucas lifted the walkie up and said, "Dustin, do you copy? I repeat, this is a Code Red. Dustin, are you there?"

When Dustin didn't respond, Lucas turned the walkie off, as it was clear that wherever Dustin was, he wasn't picking up. And with Nancy, Jonathan, Steve and Rowan at their jobs—same with Joyce, Hopper and Aunt Aco—they couldn't contact them or get their help.

That meant they, Cami, El and Max were on their own.

Sighing, Alistair got up and headed back into the bathroom, clutching the sink as he stared at the mirror. He stared into his reflection and his reflection stared back. Until something moved behind his reflection.

As Alistair watched, the hanged ghost reappeared, her distorted jaw hanging loose.

"You don't need to haunt me anymore," he muttered. "I figured it out."

The ghosts stared at him, before disappearing.

Alistair sighed again, fingers fisted in his hair before he walked out and leaned against it.

"You okay?"

Alistair looked up and saw Will there, concern on his face. Alistair's heart thumped, remembering last night—leaning, his lips about to touch Will's, before he pulled away, sensing the Mind Flayer. He wondered what would have happened if he hadn't, if their lips had touched. He found himself sad and relieved that it hadn't happened.

"Not really, but I guess I have to be," Alistair replied, flashing a halfhearted grin. He frowned and pushed himself off the door and stood in front of Will, asking, "Are you okay?"

Will barked out a hollow laugh. "God, no."

Alistair's frown deepened, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed Will's hand. 

"Hey, he's not gonna get you again," he said firmly, determination glinting in his eyes. "I'm not gonna let that bastard get its claws in you again. Never."

Will bit his lip, fear flashing as he said, "You can't promise that. If... if the Mind Flayer does, if he gets me again—"

"He won't," Alistair interrupted, face fixed in protective determination. "And if it does, I'll burn it out or use my powers to exorcise it out of you. The Mind Flayer will not get you Will. I won't let it get you again."

Something flickered in Will's eyes, before he gave a hesitant smile. "I don't know if I believe it, but... thanks, Al."

"You better believe it. Because it's true," Alistair replied, giving his own spectral smile. "And no problem."

He pulled Will into a hug, feeling his best friend shudder under him. They held each for what felt like hours until they pulled apart and rejoined Mike and Lucas, waiting for the girls to arrive, sitting as close to each other as possible.

Alistair's finger locked around Will's.

***

It didn't long for the girls to arrive.

A couple hours or so after the call, Max, Cami and El arrived. All three were dressed colourfully—Max wearing a pink sleeveless hoodie that exposed the rainbow stripes of her sleeves, Cami wearing overalls with cartoony flowers appliquéd next to the straps and on the pockets with a pink, blue, white and yellow striped shirt underneath and a pink scrunchie in her curls and a blue one around her wrist, joining the braided string bracelet and the colourful beaded bracelet, and El in a dark shirt with a bright, paint-like pattern on it and jeans with suspenders, a scrunchie her hair that Alistair realised was one of Cami's. They all looked worried and confused, and the worry increased at seeing their faces.

The girls found a spot in the basement as they all turned to Will. Alistair sat on Will's left, as his friend hesitated for a moment before he said, "I didn't think it was anything at first. I mean, I think I just didn't want to believe it."

Will paused, and Alistair bumped Will's knee with his, comforting him. Will sent a tiny smile to Alistair before he breathed in and went on.

"The first time I felt it was at Day Of The Dead," he revealed.

Alistair bit his lip as Mike noted, "Power went out that night, too."

Alistair looked at his friends, all of them knowing one thing—if Rowan wasn't responsible for affecting the power, then it could only mean the Upside Down.

"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day," Will continued. "Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers."

Alistair bit his lip, before he revealed, "The ghosts have felt something too. They... they've been trying to warn me, like they did last year when Will was possessed. But because they're cryptic as shit, I didn't know what it was until last night, when Will felt it."

Silence filled the room as Alistair felt eyes on him. He looked away, before he felt his knee being bumped. He looked at Will, saw comfort in his face that Alistair returned with a grateful smile before looking away, the memory of their almost-kiss burned in his head. He could feel Cami looking at him, a million questions in her head, before Max asked, "What does it feel like?"

"It's almost like..." Will started, before he questioned, "You know when you drop on a roller coaster?"

"Sure," Mike said.

"Yeah," Max affirmed.

"Of course," Cami replied.

"No," El murmured.

"It's like... everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but... this is worse. Your body... it goes cold and... and you can't breathe," Will explained, his face twisted. Alistair leaned against Will, offering support as he continued, "I've felt it before, whenever he was close."

Ice chilled Alistair as Max asked, "Wherever who was close?"

Will looked at them and answered gravely, "The Mind Flayer."

Alistair tensed and saw the horror dawn on his friends' faces. A part of Alistair had hoped that Will was wrong, that the ghosts had been warning him of something else, that the Mind Flayer was dead.

But that wasn't true. The Mind Flayer had returned, rising from the dead like one of his zombies. Alistair would have felt a lot better if he was the one in control of it.

"I closed the gate," El said, reminding everyone of that—and the fact that if the brain was cut off from the body, the Mind Flayer and every monster in Hawkins cut off from the hive mind in the Upside Down, it would be dead with the closure of the gate thanks to El.

But apparently, that wasn't true, because it was back.

"I know, but... what if he never left?" Will responded, face as serious as the grave. "What if we locked him out here with us?"

That lead to all of them gathering around the table as Will slammed down a piece of paper, a black crayon in his hand as he drew the shadowy form of the Mind Flayer.

"This is him. All of him," Will said. "But, that day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me."

Alistair bit his lip, mind flashing with that day—Will, standing frozen, unable to see or hear them as he was possessed, and them unable to do anything to stop it or realise it was even happening until it was nearly too late. He noticed Will's tense shoulders, and he bumped his shoulder next to Will's, trying to give him some comfort.

The way they relaxed by a fraction told Alistair that it had, as Will brushed his hand over the drawing, holding it up and showing the black imprint on his hand, symbolising the Mind Flayer possessing him.

"My mom and Al got it out of me, and Eleven closed the gate," Will went on, making Alistair remember the cabin, the  overwhelming heat, Will's distorted face, his and Joyce's screams, how he'd been so angry at the Upside Down refusing to release Will from its clutches, the heat and his power driving the Mind Flayer out. "But what if the part that was still in me, what if it's still in our world? In Hawkins."

He turned the paper over and slammed his hand onto it, leaving behind the shadow of a handprint. The shadow of the Mind Flayer, left behind in Hawkins.

Dread lodged itself in Alistair, wrapping around his throat like Rick's cold hand had.

"Shit," he whispered, already fearing the implication while wanting to scream. One summer. He wanted just one freaking summer where everything was okay and he could hang out with his friends and try not to worry about monsters or the Upside Down or—

Don't even think about, he scolded himself right as Max pointed out, "I don't understand. The Demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies."

"And  even if it did, without a gate, it would have to be because of Al, and I don't think he did it," Cami reminded, before she looked at Alistair and asked, "Right?"

"My powers don't work on anything from the Upside Down," Alistair revealed—before the lab had been permanently vacated, Dr. Owens had let him try to reanimate a Demodog corpse, to which nothing happened. "And even if they did, I would never raise the Mind Flayer. I would rather put this bastard back in its grave again and make sure it stays dead."

"Exactly. So how can the brain survive but the body doesn't? Especially without a gate connecting it to the rest of the brain?" Cami questioned, frowning.

"We can't take any chances," Mike said, looking more serious than Alistair had ever seen him this summer. "We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer's back."

"Yeah. And if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me," Will added, his face as serious as the revelation he'd said.

"A new host," Lucas realised.

A tense silence filled the room, as El asked, "How can you tell if someone is a host?"

"Well, I guess the big thing is that the Mind Flayer likes it cold," Alistair said, crossing his arms as he eyed Will. 

Mike nodded. "Right. Anyone the Mind Flayer would get would try to stay cold—and hate being in the heat."

"That will be hard. It's summer. It's hot all the time," Lucas pointed out.

"That's what makes it easier. The Mind Flayer will probably make the host do anything to stay cold," Mike argued.

"Like having an ice bath?"

The boys turned to the girls, as Max, El and Cami, who had spoken, shared a look.

"Yeah, probably," Mike agreed. He frowned. "Why?"

The girls looked at each other, before Max turned back, her expression conflicted as she revealed, "We think we might know who the new host is."

***

This was fun :)

The kids are all together! (sans Dustin) And all in the loop about the Mind Flayer. It was really fun to write, and I enjoyed it a lot. Especially the little Alisill moment :3

Yep, we're really getting into the plot now! And I'm so excited to write it!!

Next chapter will be soon!

Please read, vote and comment!

GhostWriterGirl out!