American Heroes: A Stranger Things 3 Fic

On Fire

Panting, Will and Max collapse on the grass beside Cerebro. Jonathan and Nancy stand above them, wiping sweat off their foreheads. Will lets out a cough, his throat sore and scratchy, which only leads to a minute-long coughing fit. Max grabs the radio. "Does anyone copy? Lucas, Mike? It's Max. We have something important to tell you. Over." She pauses before repeating herself. "Do you copy? This is Max, Will, Nancy, and Jonathan. We have important information to share. Extremely important. Do you copy? I repeat, do you copy?"

"Max?" Lucas answers. "What's going on? Did you get the Mind Flayer out of Billy already? We're still in the hallway. Over."

"No, we didn't. That's the problem. There's something... wrong. We need you guys to meet us back at Hopper's cabin. Over."

"What?" Mike says. "Now? We can't. Over."

"Not now, but as soon as possible. Get Dustin and the others, then get the hell out of there. You can't close the gate yet. Over."

"What's going on? Over."

"The Flayed. They're..." Max looks to Will, lifting a shoulder to ask what the hell are they? He has no idea. Staring at the ground, Max lets out a breath.

Jonathan leans down and takes the radio from her. "We ran into Tom and Bruce at the hospital, and they turned into some kind of... monster. I don't think burning the Mind Flayer out of Billy is going to be as easy as we thought it would be. Over."

There's silence on the other end until Lucas says, "Okay. We'll meet you at the cabin once we find the others. It'll probably take a couple more hours, but we'll be there. Over and out."

Groaning, Will and Max get to their feet and follow Nancy and Jonathan down the hill. All of them are breathing heavily and covered in sweat by the time they get back in the car. No one says a word the entire ride to the cabin.

When they get inside, Will, Nancy, and Max plop down onto the couch while Jonathan brings them each a glass of water before sitting on the armchair beside them. He winces as he sits down, rubbing his back.

"Are you okay?" Will asks, sipping his water.

Jonathan shrugs. "I think so. Bruce hit me with a stool." He gestures to Will's arm. "Are you okay? Maybe we should bandage that up."

Will examines the cut on his arm from the scissors Tom slashed at him. It's not deep, but it reaches nearly the entire length of his forearm. "Um, sure... yeah."

Jonathan goes over to the bathroom, shifting through the cabinet for bandages, but all he finds is gauze and tape. He brings it over to Will along with a wet washcloth. Max sighs, watching Jonathan wash Will's wound before covering it with the gauze and tape. "They really need better medical supplies here."

"Yeah," Jonathan murmurs, "well, we can head to the store tomorrow or something. Get more supplies." He finishes taping the gauze on Will's arm and pats him on the shoulder but falters when he looks at Will's bruised neck. "What happened there?"

"Oh." Will traces the sore skin. "That guy, Tom, grabbed me. I'm fine, though. Don't worry."

"Okay. Just tell me if it feels worse." Jonathan gestures to the cut on Max's forehead where Tom had kicked her. "Want me to bandage that up?"

She nods, and Jonathan tapes gauze over the cut. "I'm sorry you two had to go through all that," Jonathan tells Max and Will. "I know it's stupid after everything that's happened the last two years, but I never would have expected what happened tonight."

"It was crazy," Nancy said. "I don't think anyone would've expected it."

Max shrugs. "At this point, we should expect anything."