The Mind Flayer's Minions

{A Stranger Things Fan Fiction Story}

“He doesn't like you.”

“What? Will, don't kid around.”

“I'm not joking Dustin. He is coming for you. You abandoned Dart, you wanted to kill him.”

“He was a Demogorgon and he ate my cat Will, besides what happened in the bus at the junkyard. Did you forget about that little detail?”

“If you don't give him what he wants, he's going to drag you to the upside down in your sleep.”

“Now you're scaring me, Will. This isn't cool. Friends don't lie, remember.”

“I'm not lying, you have to give him what he wants,” the look in Will's eyes sent shivers through Dustin, chills crawling up his spine.

Dustin waved a hand at Will and turned to get on his bicycle. Riding home he thought about reaching out to Mike on his walkie-talkie. Realizing Will might be able to listen in, he changed his mind and decided to talk to him and Lucas at school the next day.

“You're back already? I thought you were riding bikes with Will?” Claudia was startled when Dustin banged the front door open and threw his backpack onto the couch.

“He didn't want to ride out to the junkyard. I'll be in my room,” Dustin pulled the walkie-talkie out of his pack and took it into his bedroom. He knew he needed proof, or Mike and Lucas wouldn't believe him. Digging into his nightstand, he pried open a fresh pack of size D batteries and put them in the back of the two-way radio. Pulling out a roll of electrical tape, he wrapped it around the handset and taped the talk button down, so it would transmit whatever sounds to the rest of the party all night tonight. If anything came after him, his radio would broadcast it to the party and the others would know.

Grabbing a dog-eared copy of The Dragons of Autumn Twilight from his nightstand and flicking on the lamp, Dustin buried his mind in the world of Krynn. He had been reading for a half hour when he thought he saw the light bulb flicker. Closing the book slowly he looked over at the radio handset, the red light was still glowing. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. The lamp flickered again and simultaneously the lamp, the nightlight, and the red LED on the radio snuffed out. The only noise was the click of his alarm clock ticking.

The gentle glow of the street light filtered through his bedroom window. The first specks were almost like dust on his wall. Dustin grabbed the walkie-talkie and screamed 'Mike, Lucas, code red, do you copy!' Banging it on the bedpost the static was gone, and the light was out. The specks grew into a swirling mass like swarming bees.

He was about to jump from the bed when the black tendril vine wrapped around his open mouth and stifled his screams. More vines grew out of his bed and bound his wrists and ankles. The dust funneled into his nostrils in an angry vortex and his vision shifted, everything was now dark and dilapidated, and black snow floated in through the open window. Then he heard the low growl.

Dustin's eyes grew wide with terror. The guttural purring rattle of a Demogorgon drifted in on a soft breeze. He could hear it huffing and sniffing before its faceless head breached the window pane. Fear shot through him like ice water coursing through his veins. Dart crawled in the window, his claws crushing the window trim as his sleek, hairless black body dropped to the floor and stepped slowly over to Dustin's bed. He could feel its hot breath on his cheeks and smell the sulfur and death. When its mouth split open in quarters revealing a circle of curved teeth it let out a deafening, screeching howl.

“AAAHHHH!” Dustin sat up and rubbed his eyes. His Mom, Claudia had flipped on the light and was mumbling something. He looked over at the window.

“Oh Dear Dustin, you can't leave a window open when it's this cold at night.” She shut the window and locked it, “It's time to get ready for school, didn't you set your alarm?”

Dustin turned on the shower as hot as he could tolerate and stood under the water as it flowed around his head. He hacked and spit into the drain, the mucus, dotted with black flecks slid down the drain. He lathered up his whole body with a bar of soap. He felt like he was covered in an invisible slime.

After dressing and slurping down the pink milk leftover from a couple of bowls of Trix cereal, Dustin put his radio back in his pack, ran out the door, and hopped on his bike. The ride to the school felt strange. Even with a windbreaker, the cold air found its way to his skin. He tried to focus on what he was going to tell Mike and Lucas, yet his mind kept rewinding the image of Dart's open mouth, dripping saliva on his face.

Locking his bike to the bike rack, Dustin spotted Mike and Lucas near the front doors of the school, chatting with Mad Max. Not wanting to tip his hand, he walked by and casually said, “Meet me in the boy's bathroom on the first floor at lunch.” He wasn't sure he wanted Max in on it, she wasn't officially in the party yet, despite her efforts.

Dustin could barely focus in class. He went over and over what he was going to say to his friends. He had no proof of what Will said or what happened, yet he felt they needed to kick Will out of the party. If he was one of them now, he couldn't be trusted. He knew without trust, their friendship was worthless.

The lunch bell rang and Dustin flew down the stairs to the first floor, following Mike and Lucas into the bathroom.

“Where's Will?” Dustin looked around his nerves tingling.

“I haven't seen him, I think he skipped today. Ever since he was rescued from the upside down, he's been sick a lot.” Mike could sense Dustin's anxiety.

“Will sent Dart after me in my sleep. I tried to use my radio so you guys would hear it if I got attacked, but the power and lights went out. I met up with Will last night after dinner, and he threatened me, he said if I didn't give the Mind Flayer thingy what it wants, I'm going to get trapped in the upside down.” Dustin was animated, the words flooding out of his mouth.

“Whoa, wait a minute. You're saying Will said what?”

“The Demogorgon crawled in my window last night as I was falling asleep, the vines held me down and covered my mouth so I couldn't scream. It wasn't a dream, the next morning my window was open and the trim was busted where its claws grabbed the window. You guys gotta believe me.”

“What does it want with you, Dustin? Ever since Will almost died, you are the one that has been acting weird. Wasn't it you that adopted and fed Dart before he molted and became a Demogorgon? Maybe he was just coming back to visit his old buddy.” Mike chuckled and slapped Lucas in the belly. They both smiled and cracked up.

“I'm serious. I think we need to vote Will out of the party.” Lucas and Mike turned to him with stunned looks.

“I've heard enough, my house tomorrow at ten o'clock, we have to finish The Dungeons of Daggoth D&D module.” Mike walked off shaking his head.

Dustin spit into his palm and held his hand out.

“Spit shake? Are you serious?” Lucas was startled. The last time they sealed anything with a spit shake was when they formed the party. A spit shake was a pact, an oath of truth and silence. The sentence for breaking a spit shake was death.

“I don't know Dustin. That's pretty serious.” Lucas wavered, wanting to believe him.

“I'm not lying Lucas, lightning strike me dead.”

Lucas spat into his palm and they shook hands on it, “Lightning strike you dead. I'll see you tomorrow at Mike's for Dungeons and Dragons.”

The pair split and Lucas went to the cafeteria for lunch. His lunch felt dry like he couldn't swallow. If the others found out about the pact he now had with Dustin, he would have to tell them. Honesty between friends was the foundation of the party. He wondered why or how Will would do it. Threaten a member of the party, it was unconscionable.

As the school day wore on Lucas kept shaking his hand. It felt like he had hit his funny bone, or like his hand fell asleep. It tingled and almost felt cold. In between classes, he went to the restroom. The hot water made it feel better. Turning on only hot, the burning sensation felt oddly satisfying.

Later at home, he couldn't shake the discomfort. At the dinner table, he kept staring at his hand. None of this was making sense: “Can I be excused?”

“Sure honey, would you like some dessert?”

“No, I just want to lay down for a while.” The thought of eating something cold sent shivers through him. He deftly grabbed the cigarette lighter from the candle on the way to his bedroom. Sitting on his bed Lucas had the urge to burn himself. He lit the lighter and eased it up to the base of his thumb. Dark lines formed and dissolved in his veins as he passed the flame over his skin. The fire made him smile as he smelled the flesh and hair singe. Will's voice suddenly shrieked in his ear. He looked down at the radio. It was silent. Shivers quaked in his arm.

He decided to lie down and mull what Dustin had said in the bathroom. Then he remembered the pact. It was the hand of the spit shake. He looked down at his arm and his veins pulsed like rivers of soot. Black ink shot into his hand and he realized he had no muscle control over it. His hand flipped over like a spider and crawled up his chest. He reached with his left hand to stop it. It was too late, his right hand coiled around his neck like a serpent.

Thrashing around he tried to call out to Erica in the next room. The grip tightened and he felt dizzy from his blood and wind being cut off. Reaching inside of himself with all his strength he grabbed his wrist and pried the hand from his neck. Jumping and running to the bathtub, he turned on the hot water. Steam poured from the faucet. He forced his right hand under the water. The dark veins receded and he felt control return as it warmed up. He let out a sigh and was tempted to get on the radio and call out to Dustin. Will could hear everything they said. He decided it would be best to call Dustin's home phone in the morning. Whatever Will had unleashed, they needed to be quiet until game time tomorrow. He hoped they could make a plan.

Falling asleep he dreamed of a violent dust storm shredding the town of Hawkins. Powerful winds poured corrosive specks of dirt into the town, eroding the structures like dry acid, pulverizing the wood and concrete, and sweeping everything away in a powerful tornado of filth and decay. Lucas shot awake, looking down at his arm. It still felt cold but he could move his fingers.

Needing to see his friends, he showered in only hot water, his flesh bristling in the heat. Steam rolled into his bedroom as he pulled on his sweats and packed his gaming stuff into a backpack with his radio. He stopped at the telephone and looked down. He grabbed the phone and put the corded handset to his ear and poked his finger in the rotary dial, spinning the numbers to Dustin's home phone: “Mrs. Henderson. Can I talk to Dustin?” In the background he could hear Claudia telling Dustin it was Lucas.

“I told you, Lucas!” He didn't even wait for the story.

“My own hand tried to kill me, Dustin. I don't know what is going on, but we're going to confront Will today!” They exchanged goodbyes and Lucas slammed the phone down, the base letting out a muffled ting. Running out the door he mumbled to his Mom and Erica, hopping on his bike and tearing down the street.

He rode up to Mike's house, Dustin and Will's bikes were already laying in the yard. He went around back to the basement door and stopped. He wasn't sure what he would say to Will. The door was open. Shuffling down the stairs, Mike already had the Dungeon Master screen up, flipping through his notes. Lucas peeled open his pack and pulled out his character folder, spinning down cross-legged on the floor and pulling out his character sheet.

“Alright, Will, you were about to roll a to hit on the twenty-sided die. You had turned a corner in the Dungeon of Daggoth and confronted a Troll eating the remains of a Drow Elf. Are you still using your long sword? Will? Will!” Mike was trying to hand Will his dice and he seemed to be in a trance, his eyes wiggling around behind closed eyelids.

A sudden vortex of dust poured out of his closed eyes and caused Mike to pull back. The clouds of darkness accumulated on the ceiling. Dustin and Lucas looked at each other in shock. Dustin started coughing and hacking, and within seconds the same dark matter was pouring out of his mouth. Lucas looked down at his hand. The dark veins were forming. Vines erupted from his fingertips and crawled up the walls, meshing with the maelstrom gathering at the ceiling. Mike looked around and crab walked back to the wall and yelled the only thing that made sense at the moment.

“ELEVEN!!!”

El's eyes shot open, she could feel Mike's panic. She sat up and reached for her blindfold, wrapping it around her head she whispered, “Take me to him.”

She focused and felt the blood begin to drip out her nose. She projected herself through the gate. Zooming through, Eleven pushed herself to the center of Hawkins. Hovering above the town, near Mike's house, was the Mind Flayer. Its eyeless face was a mass of undulating tentacles, its arms and legs in an X. Three appendages stretched out its face, down to the house. One was attached to Will's eye sockets, another was whipping around and jammed down Dustin's throat, and the third was connected to Lucas' wrist with vines branching out swallowing the house. El pushed her hands together and focused.

A beam of hot blue flames erupted from her and poured into the Mind Flayer's body. It screeched and writhed trying to maintain control of the party as El concentrated her energy to destroy it. Blood dripped from her nose and her body shook as she dug for every last ounce of strength. The creature's exterior cracked. Its tendrils pulled back as it tried to protect its essence. Eleven screamed with the last bit of power she could muster and the Mind Flayer blew into the dust from which it came.

Eleven collapsed on the floor of the cabin, unconscious. In the basement, Mike crawled over to his friends. They were passed out on the floor. He shook them awake one after the other and ran up the stairs to get them some drinks. They looked around at each other trying to make sense of what just happened.

Will spoke first, “It's my fault. I brought it back with me.”

“I'm sorry Will, I wanted to kick you out of the party.” Dustin realized his role with Dart was equally to blame.

“I think we just need to stick together. We can't defeat this thing alone.” Lucas sighed and reached out to Will and Dustin.

“We're friends we need each other.”