George and Nicole Harper had never had an easy life. From one set of divorced parents to another, these half siblings have had it tough.
Ever since their mother, Naomi, split from George's father and forced them to move from England back to her hom...
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This time, El didn't need telling to hop on Mike's bike. She followed their lead as the boys frantically rushed to get on their bikes and pedal after the troop of ambulances. George's thighs burnt and his bum sat crookedly on the sadel. Everything was hurting, or at least uncomfortable but he powered through it. He had to. He grit his teeth, clenched his jaw and got on with it.
He pedaled furiously, moving his legs without having to think. They went on autopilot while his mind raced. There could only be one logical reason as to why there were so many ambulances in such a boring town as Hawkins and that reason was Will.
The sirens wailed distantly. They were getting further and further away by the second. There was no way they'd be able to keep up with a speeding ambulance, they were only on bikes. They were going to get there much too late. At this rate they'd never know if it was Will they'd found.
*
Nick's eyes flicked back and forth between the road ahead of her and her speedometer. 40 mph. 50 mph. 55 mph. Then she reached 60. And 70 came not long after. Her foot itched on the pedal as she hesitated, debating in her mind whether the risk was worth it. She had already gone well over the limit for a built up area...but it wasn't going to be built up for long. She was heading away from town. 80 mph.
She could still see the faint trail of red and blue lights in the distance. She wasn't going to lose them, she told herself. She owed it to Joyce and she owed it to George to find out. She had to keep going, she had to get eyes on them. Her foot slammed the accelerator right down. 90 mph.
*
They stuck to the back roads and bike trails through the woods, hoping to hell that it would be a quicker route than trying to cycle down the main road. But they could only go so far before the cycle trail crossed the road. If they continued down the bike path, they'd only be heading further away. They had no choice.
George felt the resistance from his tyres ease out as he started to cycle over tarmac instead of the uneven surface of the forest floor. Hopefully that would allow them to go faster.
George had lost sight of the ambulance but he could still hear the sirens in the distance. As he swerved out onto the road, he caught a glimpse of lights further down the road. They were getting close. Had the ambulances stopped? Is that why they had caught up so fast? Was Will still in Hawkins? Had he been there the whole time? How had they missed him?! How could the ambulances have stopped if he could hear the roaring of an engine?
"Jesus!" Lucas called out in panic from in front of him as he darted off his bike and jumped back to the side of the road. George barely had a chance to look behind him before he had to dive of his bike and jump to the side of the road to avoid getting hit by a speeding car.
"What the damn hell?!" He heard Lucas shout after the car had passed and he'd righted his fallen bike.
All George could do was stare at the number plate as the car sped away. Was that-? No, it couldn't be... Nick?
*
Nick was going too fast to break in time as she saw four bikes emerge from a path by the side of the road. There just wasn't enough time. She swerved widely, hoping to god they'd seen her coming in time and had jumped out of the way or something. She was pretty sure she had a good idea as to what four people would be biking after a fleet of ambulances at this time of night.
Nick managed to maintain her speed and checked in the mirror to make sure she hadn't killed anyone. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw all four bikes still upright on the road.
The ambulances had definitely stopped. The wailing of sirens was getting louder and through the trees she could make out the flashing lights. They'd pulled up somewhere by the side of the road. Nick slowed down to make sure she didn't miss the turning. Squinting out into the darkness she passed a road sign that indicated what the next turning was and she prayed to a god she didn't believe in that it wasn't where the ambulances had stopped.
The sign read: quarry.
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