fourteen.

                                    

                                          

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
                          
CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
                          
[ THE GATE PART I ]
                          
❖ ❖ ❖
                          
          It was several minutes later when they regathered at the table, Eleven now returned to the group, standing beside Thomas. Hopper was the first to speak as he lead Mike, who had clearly been crying, into the dining room to lean against the marble kitchen counter. "It's not like it was before," he began. "It's grown, a lot. I mean, that's considering we can get in there, the place is crawling with those dogs.
                          
          "Demo-dogs," Dustin interjected. 
                          
          Hopper peered down at him, the space between his brows wrinkled in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?"
                          
          "I said demo-dogs. Like demogorgon dogs," Dustin explained, though no explanation to Hopper's question — considering everyone in the room but Dustin seemed to grasp that he hadn't been confused about what was said, but why it was said — was needed. "Put 'em together, sounds pretty badass — "
                          
          "How is this important right now?" interrupted Hopper, intentionally snapping at the young boy in an attempt to shut him up.
                          
          His attempt was successful. "It's not, I'm sorry," Dustin admitted, looking away with a slight rosy tint to his cheeks. 
                          
          Thomas looked away from Dustin and up to Hopper. "I can do it," he spoke up, causing Hopper to try to argue with, "You're not hearing me — " but Thomas interrupted instantly, stating with certainty, "I'm hearing you. I opened it last year. I can definitely close it now." And it was true. Despite his control being just as unreliable as it had been last year, he was stronger than he had been back then — far stronger. And he knew it. 
                          
          "Even if he can do it, there's still another problem," Mike began, hands in the pockets of his navy jacket as he glanced around the table. "If the brain dies, the body dies." 
                          
          "I thought that was the whole point," said Max.
                          
          "It is, but . . . If we're really right about this . . . I mean, if he closes the Gate and it kills the Mind Flayer's army — "
                          
          "Will's a part of that army," Lucas interrupted with widening eyes, the first of the group to grasp what Mike was saying. 
                          
          Mike nodded. "Closing the gate will kill him."
                          
          The group stood in a rippling silence around the warm glow of the ceiling lamp for several moments, before, at the head of the table, the chair in which Joyce Byers sat was scraped back abruptly and the drag of the wooden legs against the floorboards sliced the quiet. Without a word, Joyce stood and moved to the bedrooms, where Jonathan had placed Will. Hopper, followed by Jonathan and then Nancy and then the rest of the group, were quick to follow her.