The Long Game━ (l. sinclair)

the one where sam isnt there

To make a long story short: Corey might have gotten a little... ruthless due to his anger issues and claustrophobia. Argyle might have provided him with "Purple Palm Tree Delight" to calm Corey's nerves. Corey might have gotten a little too calm, and confessed to Mike that he loved him, aloud, for the very first time.

Luckily Mike loved him too, so it was all okay.

There were pillars of black smoke clouds up ahead; a concerning amount, there were way too many to count. Helicopters flew in the sky, into the presumed disaster that occurred in Hawkins. Corey's fear only increased.

What happened when they were gone?

Jonathan shared nervous looks with the occupants of the van. He quickly switched on the local news station, breaking the tense silence that the six members had been riding in.

"It's been less than forty-eight hours since a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the quaint town of Hawkins, 80 miles outside of Indianapolis, in an event that seismologists are calling 'a natural disaster of near-unprecedented scale,'" the reporter relayed.

Corey looked away from the van window with a quiet gasp. He shared wide-eyed looks with Mike, which confirmed that they were both thinking the same thing. It wasn't a natural disaster. It was a supernatural disaster.

"The death toll now stands at twenty-two. But with hundreds more filling Roane County hospitals and many more still missing, officials except those numbers to rise."

Corey screwed his eyes tightly shut. Please don't be Sam, he pleaded to himself. Please, to all that's above, don't let that be Sam.

They drove into the town square, and Corey suddenly lost any ability to breathe.

It was worse than he could have ever imagined. There wasn't even a town square any more to look at.

The black smoke still lingered in the air from what looked like a collapsed town hall building. Flames continued burning from the crumbled piece of architecture. Multiple construction vehicles were still trying to rehabilitate the area, with news reporters surveying the scene. Military soldiers, cops, and construction men were all working together to control the damage. It hit Corey like a ton of bricks how bad the wreck had to be, because this happened two days ago, and there were still lingering horrors in the town.

The town hall was also covered in black, living vines.

Corey held Mike's hand tighter.

"This is only the latest tragedy to befall this once-safe town. Most recently, a string of high school students were killed in a series of ritualistic murders, which have been linked to a local satanic cult known as 'Hellfire.'"

Corey's head whipped towards Mike, fast. Mike was staring forward, mouth having fall slightly agape. They think Hellfire Club did this? The group of nerds Corey was constantly making fun of? Corey didn't know what to think or say, didn't know how to comfort Mike in a way that could make any of it okay. It seemed that nothing was okay right now. Corey wondered how the hell this shitty town found a way to rope Mike into this all the way in California. His Mike.

Corey narrowed his eyes back outside the van's window. He wasn't going to let anyone touch Mike. Nothing was going to happen to him, not on Corey's watch.

He couldn't even listen to rest of the news report, he was so pissed off. Corey should have excepted it, honestly — Hawkins was full of small-minded idiots. It made perfect sense that instead of progressively solving the issues of murders in the town, they preferred to blame a high school club full of teenagers.