✓ cold blooded, mike wheeler ¹

xix. TOO LATE

"He killed those soldiers. He'll kill us, too!" Mike spat, looking directly at Will as he did. Will continued to fight and try to get out of the bed, but Joyce and Bob held him down. "He's lying! He's lying! He's lying! He's lying! He's lying!" Will continued to scream over and over, eliciting fear in Ben. Mike squeezed Ben's hand in reassurance, and Ben squeezed back.

Ben jumped at the sound of gunshots, holding onto Mike even tighter as he mumbled curse words. "Those are gunshots!" Bob shouted, glancing at his son to make sure he was okay. Will never stopped repeating 'he's lying!'.

"Okay, Will, Will, listen, listen. Do you know who I am?" Joyce calmed Will down and questioned him. Will looked puzzled for a moment as he tried to search his brain for an answer. Joyce shook his shoulder and repeated the question, "Do you know who I am?"

"You're..." Will stuttered, trying time come up with an answer. "You're... You're Mom," Will finally answered, but everyone in the room knew it wasn't really Will that answered the question. His eyes were empty and held no emotion other than anger, no sign of Will. Joyce turned to Bob, "Hold him down," she ordered, and he obliged as Joyce got the syringe from Mike. Once Mike's other hand was empty he wrapped his arms around Ben and hugged him tightly, the two boys still kept their eyes on Will.

"No! No! Let go! No! No! Let me go! Let go!" Will screamed as he started thrashing around when Joyce rushed over with the syringe. Bob got Will's arm ready for the injection, which made him fight harder. "No, let me go!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Joyce mumbled over and over through quiet sobs. "Let me go! Let go! Let me go!" Will's screaming continued, Mike moved his hands up over his ears to block out the yelling, Ben turned Mike away so he didn't have to see.

Once Joyce finally injected Will with the syringe and he passed out, Ben nodded at Mike to let him know it was okay to remove his hands from his ears and turn back around. Ben kissed Mike's cheek before the boy turned around, thankfully, the adults were too focused on Will to notice.

All attention went to Hopper and Doctor Owens as they burst through the room. The sounds of growling and banging on a door sent a chill down Ben's spine, and his eyes widened in terror.

"We gotta go. We gotta go," Hopper rushed out as he ran over to pick up Will, then the group followed him down the hallways, not knowing where they were going. Ben and Mike clung to each other, not letting each other go, not wanting the other to leave their sight.

A monster jumped on a guard only a few feet in front of them, making them all stop in their tracks, and behind them a guard was trying to shoot down a monster. So, Hopper lead them into a room next to them and laid Will on table in the room as Doctor Owens shut the door.

"Oh, my God," Bob said as he looked at the monitors with the security cameras, showing the absolute chaos that was going on in the lab. Everyone turned to look as well, Ben gasped in disbelief. The lights then started to flicker, and the power soon went out. "Oh, my God," Joyce whispered in fear. Ben walked backwards until he felt his back hit a wall, staring forward in shock and fear as he slid down the wall to sit. The boy brought his knees up to his chest and hid his face in them.

Ben had never felt more scared in his life.

✰✰✰

     "You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas questioned to Dustin. Dylan was in-between Lucas and Steve, both of them were holding her up to help her walk, and Max was waking behind them, Dustin walked ahead.

"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt," Dustin replied with a sigh. Lucas let go of Dylan and slowed a bit so he could walk next to Max, who glanced up at him for a split second before looking back to Dustin. "He was tiny two days ago," Max pointed out.

"Well, he's molted three times already," Dustin informed the redhead. Steve's eyebrows scrunched together, "Malted?"

"Molted," Dustin corrected, "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

Dylan hadn't said anything for awhile, sometimes she would mumble nonsense, but it'd been awhile since she did, and Steve was starting to grow worried. "Dylan? You still breathing?" Steve joked, but after not getting a response, he looked over to see her eyes half closed. "Dylan!" Steve shouted, which made her stand up straighter and open her eyes wider. "You can't fall asleep on me, okay? Once we get you to a hospital and fix you up, then you can sleep all you want. But you can't right now, all right?"

Dylan mumbled a sentence that Steve couldn't understand, but she must've agreed, since she was still awake.

"When's he gonna molt again?" Max queried. Dustin shrugged, "It's gotta be soon. When he does he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve piped up. Lucas stopped Dustin from walking, which caused everyone to stop walking. Dylan mumbled another incoherent sentence, probably wondering why they had stopped. "Wait, a cat? Dart ate a cat?" Lucas asked in disbelief.

"No, what? No," Dustin lied, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews," Steve reminded, causing the wavy-haired redhead next to him to question, "Mews? Who's Mews?"

"It's Dustin's cat," Steve answered as if it were obvious. Dylan leaned her head against Steve's cheek and mumbled, "Rest in peace, Mews," which caused Steve to let out a laugh. "Steve!" Dustin yelled as Lucas gasped and shoved his shoulder, "I knew it! You kept him!"

"No! No... No, I... No, I..." Everyone looked at the curly-haired boy and waited for him as he stuttered, trying to come up with a lie. "He missed me. He wanted to come home," Dustin finally admitted with a deep sigh. "Bullshit!" Lucas shouted.

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?"

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys, who cares? We have to go," Max butted in, attempting to stop the bickering. "I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!" Lucas ranted, and Dustin's eyes widened.

"So did you!" Dustin yelled in defense, confusing Lucas, "What?" he asked. "You told a stranger the truth," Dustin pointed out, shining his flashlight in Max's face as he said 'stranger'.

Max scoffed in disbelief, "A stranger?"

"You wanted to tell her too! And you also told a stranger the truth!" Lucas said as he gestured to Dylan, who brought a hand up and weakly pointed it to herself in question. "But I didn't Lucas, okay? I didn't tell her! And I only told Dylan about the Demogorgon! Nothing else!"

"You still told her! She's more of a stranger than Max!" Lucas fired back. A screeching sound dragged Steve's attention away from the fighting children. Steve walked with Dylan closer to the sound.

"Guys?" Steve tried getting the trio's attention.

"Yoo-hoo," Dylan mumbled in an attempt to get their attention as well, but they didn't hear her. "Guys!" Steve yelled as he looked over to them, quieting them so they could hear the screeching sounds. Steve then wrapped his arm around Dylan tighter as he helped her walk towards the source of the noise. They made their way to a lookout point.

"I don't see him," Dustin mumbled.

"It's the lab," Lucas said as he looked through his binoculars. "They were going back home."

( note! )

this ones kinda boring i am sorry. next chapter doe... all i have to say is buckle up.