SATELLITE [STEVE HARRINGTON]

the navigator

"THE MIND FLAYER, IT BUILT THIS MONSTER IN HAWKINS," MIKE EXPLAINED. The whole team stood around at the fountain, telling each other what all had happened the last few days.

Ginny listened intently, standing in front of Steve as Mike told their side. "To stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world," he told them.

Max nodded. "And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it," she explained, referencing the bit El had in her leg.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked from where he held El close to his side.

"It's big," Jonathan commented. "Thirty feet at least."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "It... sorta destroyed your cabin." Hopper shook his head gently. "...Sorry."

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this..." Steve shook his head, causing Max and Ginny to look back at him. "This big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, its some kind of gigantic... weapon?"

Nancy nodded gravely. "Yes."

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon..." Steve began.

"With melted people," Ginny finished for him. Her face held a disgusted expression.

Nancy nodded. "Yes, exactly."

Steve pursed his lips. "Yeah, okay. Yeah— I'm just making sure..."

"How did it find the people?" Ginny asked. "Like, was there a spy this time, or what?"

"We think the Mind Flayer possessed Billy," Mike told her. "And he got to the people, brought them somewhere... and flayed them."

Ginny's brow furrowed and her heart sank. "Wait— Billy Hargrove?" she asked, looking worriedly at Max. "Is he okay? Is Iris okay?"

No one answered. Ginny felt her heart in her throat now. "Iris Hawthorne, she's Billy's girlfriend. Tall, red hair, she's my best friend," she told them, though the last time she saw her, Iris denied it. "Did she... Is she okay?"

Nancy's eyes were soft, her lips pulled into a gentle frown. "Ginny... I'm sorry, but... Iris got flayed."

"Flayed," Ginny repeated, not believing her ears. She looked between her friends and siblings frantically, not understanding. "Flayed— what does that mean?"

Silence again. "Nancy?"

"It means... she's part of the monster. She's gone," the Wheeler girl replied quietly. "Ginny, I'm sorry."

Ginny's breath was knocked from her chest. Her entire body went numb and her heart raced, her blood rushing in her ears. She's gone. Iris was gone.

Ginny tried to swallow, grief and despair flooding her body so that she leaned into Steve. He put an arm around her, whispering something in her ear, but Ginny couldn't understand him. She couldn't think straight.

Iris, gone. And the last thing she said to her...

Ginny's stomach lurched with sorrow, anger. She gritted her teeth. "This... thing. It's still alive?" she asked.

Max answered uneasily, "El beat the shit out of it, but yeah. It's still alive."

"But if we close the gate again," Will began.

"We cut the brain off from the body," Max said.

Lucas nodded. "And kill it. Theoretically."

"So let's do it," Ginny said, setting her jaw. "We did it once, it can't be that hard to—"