CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
( escaping hawkins lab )
MADDIE FROWNED AS her arms crossed over her chest. She was back in a chair and the scientist man had taken the tentacle out of the room before leaving Maddie and Mike to sit there. Joyce had come back in a bit later as did Bob from whatever he was doing and now they all waited on word from any doctor. Which was taking forever.
"What the hell is taking so long?" Joyce questioned to herself with a frown as she looked at Will, who was just staring straight forward with a void expression. Bob frowned. "Hey... doctors take forever, always. Just try and relax. Just be patient."
Joyce exhaled heavily and sat for a moment before shooting up out of her seat. "You know, I just..." She walked out of the room quickly and Bob instantly began to follow, once again leaving Mike and Maddie in the room.
Maddie could hear the arguing outside the room but tried not to focus on it when Mike moved towards Will. "Will. Will? Will?" He put his hand on the boy, who jumped as he was obviously zoned out. "What's wrong? Are you hurting again?" Mike wondered worriedly. "Uh... I saw something."
"In your now-memories?" Mike asked, giving Will his full attention. Will nodded slowly before leaning towards Mike. "The shadow monster. I think I know how to stop him."
At that Mike and Maddie shot up, running to gather anyone they can that could help with Wills plan. Maddie got Joyce and Bob, quickly stopping the argument and need for entry Joyce had moments before while Mike knocked on any door he could to find the doctors as well as Hopper.
Dr. Owens brought everyone into a meeting room where images of the map from the Byers house that had been taken earlier were spread around a table for Will to look at. They put the map in its order and all stood silently as Will was thinking.
"Sam, this is ludicrous." One of the doctors spoke and Maddie sent him a glare from where she sat next to Will. Dr. Owens held a hand up. "Just give him a moment, okay?" The doctor shook his head. "We don't have time—"
"Hey, jackass, why don't you do us all a favor and shut up, okay?" Hopper spoke, silencing the doctor. Maddie smiled lightly but put her attention back on Will when he stood. He began moving around the table, causing Dr. Owens to push people back and out of his way.
He stopped at the head of the table and pointed down at one of the pictures. "That's it." Dr. Owens looked at the image confused. "That's what? What... what's there, Will?"
"I don't know. I just know he doesn't want me to see there. I think it's important." Owens sent the other adults in the room looks before nodding slightly and setting people off to what they needed to do.
Maddie, Mike, Bob, Joyce, and Will were escorted back into Wills room while the rest of the doctors, staff, and Hopper began getting ready to go where Will had told them to go. Maddie paced lightly as time went on, anxiously awaiting any news at all.
Maddie only stopped pacing and picking at her nails when Will began lightly sobbing. "I'm sorry." Joyce perked up at that, looking at her son worriedly. "What? What do you mean, sweetie?"
Will turned towards her as he continued to sob. "He made me do it." Joyce moved to hover over her son, trying to comfort him. "Who? Who made you do what?" Maddie looked over at Mike, wondering if he was thinking what she was thinking. She hoped not, because what she was thinking was not good.
Wills face went hard. "I told you. They upset him. They shouldn't have done that. They shouldn't have upset him." Maddies hand went over her mouth because Will was in fact talking about what she thought he was and now people were probably going to die. Mikes head shot up. "The spy." Will continued to sob.
"The spy!" Mike yelled before dashing out of the room. Maddie followed after him quickly, she had no idea if Hopper had gone into the tunnels again and did not want a possibility of losing him again.
Maddie and Mike rammed themselves into the guards, who instantly tried to stop them from getting through the doors to the main lab. "We need to get through! It's a trap!" Mike screamed. "Let us in!" Maddie yelled at the same time. "Hopper!"
"It's a trap! We need to warn them. It's a trap!" Mike screamed again as Bob wrapped his arms around the boy. He grabbed Maddie as well, forcing the girl away from the door.
"Let me go! My— Hopper is in there! We need to get them all out!" Maddie screamed. Bob forced the kids against the wall, looking at them seriously. "Stop, please! Just talk to us." Maddie looked at the man as he looked between the two worriedly but before she or Mike could say anything, an alarm started to blare throughout the whole lab.
"What the hell?" Bob wondered as he looked up at the flashing light. Mike frowned. "We're too late." Bob turned his attention to Mike. "What?"
"We're too late!" Mike just yelled, getting out of Bobs grasp and grabbing Maddies hand before pulling her back into Wills room. Bob ran after the two and they stopped in front of Joyce, who stood up worriedly. "What's going on?"
"We're under attack." Mike responded. Joyce looked at him confused. "What? What do you mean "we're under attack?" Maddie shot a glance towards Will, who was now staring at his friends as if they'd never met. "We need to get out of here, now."
Mike nodded in agreement before his eyes shot down to a needle. He grabbed it and held it up. "We need to make Will sleep." Joyce looked at the boy shocked. "What?" Mike frowned. "He's a spy. If he knows where we are, so does the shadow monster."
"He's lying!" Will yelled instantly. "He killed those soldiers. He'll kill us, too!" Mike continued and Will began screaming his head off and thrashing around. "He's lying! He's lying! He's lying! He's lying! He's lying!"
Maddie found her hand was over her mouth once more as she watched Will, trying to cover up the noise of her sobs as she watched her best friend disappear.
Gunshots rang from somewhere else in the building and Bobs head shot up. "Those are gunshots!" Will just continued to scream. "He's lying! He's lying!" Joyce held Will down. "Okay, Will, Will, listen, listen. Do you know who I am?"
Will stared at Joyce angrily as she shook him a bit. "Do you know who I am?" His body shook a bit on its own as he answered. "You're... you're... you're mom." Joyce's lip quivered a bit before she looked at Bob. "Hold him down."
Bob wrapped his arms around Will, who instantly started fighting it. "No! No! Let go! No! No! Let me go! Let go! No, let me go!" Joyce cried as she grabbed the needle, putting it by Wills arm. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Mike held his hands over his ears to try and keep from hearing Wills screams as Maddies hand stayed over her mouth but she turned her back away from the thrashing boy, tears streaming down her face as she listened to his pleas.
"Let me go! Let go! Let me go! No! Let me go! Let me go!" Wills screams soon died down as the drug entered his system and he was quickly out completely.
Moments later Hopper and Dr. Owens burst through the door, instantly seeing Will asleep with Joyce and a needle hovering over him. Hopper went to say something, eyes going to the two kids momentarily before sticking on his niece until the sounds of monsters growling could be heard once more.
There was a banging on a door as it began to crumble. "We gotta go. We gotta go." Hopper turned and grabbed Will, throwing the boy carefully over his shoulder. Joyce grabbed an extra container of whatever drug was used to put Will to sleep and everyone followed after Hopper in silence.
Maddie wiped her eyes as she ran next to Mike, Dr. Owens and Bob running behind them. Hopper stopped and everyone else followed as a woman was thrown out of a room, some sort of Demogorgon like thing jumping on top of her instantly. Maddie went to turn around before flinching when rapid gunfire began going off from behind them.
Bob opened a door right next to the group, ushering everyone in instantly before Owens shut and locked it when they were all safely inside. "Oh, my god." Bob breathed out. Maddie turned to where he was looking and gasped at what she saw.
It was security cameras and those Demogorgon things were walking through every hall as dead bodies laid scattered around the lab. Not one hall didn't have either a corpse or a monster that could be seen and Maddie felt like she was going to puke more than ever.
The lights began flickering before the power completely shut down, leaving everyone in the dark. "What— what do we do now?" Maddie questioned, voice shaking with every word. She was terrified. She didn't want to die yet.
"We just need to find an exit and get out." Hopper replied, trying to sound like he knew exactly what to do as he put a hand on the young girls shoulder and squeezed it. He really didn't know what to do and she knew that, but for a split second the confidence almost sounded real.
Dr. Owens shook his head as he grabbed some blueprints that were laying on the table in front of them. "Look, this is us, and this is the nearest exit. But even if we somehow make it there, there's no way out." Hopper moved towards the man, looking down at the blueprints. "What do you mean?"
"The locks are fail secure." Owens replied. Joyce looked at him confused. "Fail secure?" He turned towards her. "If there's a power outage, the building goes on full lockdown." Bob looked at Owens. "Can it be unlocked remotely?"
Owens nodded. "With a computer, sure, but somebody's gotta reset the breakers." Hopper continued with his composure. "Where are the breakers?" Dr. Owens turned back to his blueprints. "The breakers are in the basement, three floors down."
Hopper began walking away from the group instantly but Bob stopped him. "Hey, where are you going?" Hopper turned back around like it was obvious. "To reset the breakers." Maddie frowned. "Like hell you are." Hopper sent Maddie a look as Bob moved closer to him. "Okay, then what?"
"Then we get out of here." Hopper replied. Bob shook his head. "No, then the power comes back on. If you wanna unlock the doors, you have to completely reboot the computer system, and then override the security codes with a manual input." Hopper stood there for a moment before nodding. "Fine, how do I do that?"
"You can't. Not unless you know BASIC." Bob replied instantly. "I don't know what that means."
Mike sighed. "It's a computer programming language." Hopper moved towards Bob. "All right, teach it to me." Bob just scoffed in his face. "Shall I teach you french while I'm at it, Jim? How about a little German?" Bob turned around to Owens. "How about you, Doc? You speak BASIC?"
Owens lifted his hand as if to speak but then dropped it with a sigh. "No." Bob chuckled dryly. "Okay, I got this." He turned back towards Hopper. "I got this." Joyce instantly became teary. "No. Bob." She wrapped the man up in her arms as he smiled towards her. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay. Remember, Bob Newby, superhero."
"Follow me." Hopper spoke, unlocking the door and slowly leaving the room cautiously. Bob followed instantly, shutting the door again once he was out.
Maddie frowned as Mike pulled her towards him, engulfing her in a hug she instantly returned. "I know this is totally stupid and pointless but if we somehow survive this... do you want to go to the dance with me?" Mike whispered so just Maddie could hear him, head by her ear.
Maddie looked up slightly and somehow found it in herself to smile. "Like... as your date?" Mike immediately got flustered at that. "I mean— if you want... I just— it could be friends just—"
"Hey, Wheeler?" Maddie interrupted, moving out of Mikes arms to stand in front of him. "Yeah?" Mike responded, expecting rejection. "It's a date."
Mikes eyes widened in surprise and he excitedly smiled. "Great! Cool." Though the moment was instantly ruined as Hopper came back into the room and locked it again. "You're gonna have to lead the way, Doc."
Owens, who had been pacing in his own little corner looked up with a nod, ready to help.
They all waited in worry until soon the lights began flickering again and the power turned back on. Everyone gathered around the cameras to see Bob on one of them. "He made it." Mike smiled, hope building in his chest.
Owens sat before a microphone and turned it on, hoping Bob would hear. "Okay, Bob, can you hear us?"
"Loud and clear, Doc. Can you hear me back?" Bobs voice rang through and Maddie smiled in relief. "Yeah, we hear you alright." Owens smiled. "All right, give me a minute."
They all waited in silence for Bob to clue them in to anything he was doing. And then it came. "Open sesame." Owens looked around in shock. "It's open."
Hopper smiled. "Son of a bitch did it."
"Alright, I'll meet you outside." Bob announced. "Nice job." Owens replied as he watched the cameras but his face quickly fell. "Hold on a second, Chief." Hopper turned towards Owens instantly. "What's wrong?"
Dr. Owens pointed towards a camera. "West stairwells not clear anymore." Maddie took in a deep breath, fear going through her body once more as she watched the monsters walk by. "What's going on?" Bob questioned. "We got some company." Owens responded.
"Where?" Bob wondered. "The West stairwell." Owens voiced, warning Bob to stay clear. "I've got an idea." Bob replied, turning back towards where he had come from. "What the hell's doing?" Owens questioned nervously as they all watched Bob.
But his question was soon answered when a sprinkler went off in one hall, causing the monster in the West stairwell to take notice and run up the stairs towards the noise. Owens looked around shocked. "Okay. Okay, that worked. Now, get out of there. Go! Go!"
Hopper put Will over his shoulder once more and headed towards the door. "Wait a second, Chief?" Owens spoke, standing up. "What?" Hopper questioned and was met with a walkie. "Take this."
"What are you doing?" Hopper wondered. "Any more surprises, I'll let you know. Go. Go!" Owens replied and after a moment, Hopper listened and began walking out of the room once more after unlocking it.
Joyce, Maddie, and Mike followed after him. Hopper held up a gun as he carried Will, making sure everywhere was clear before walking completely out of the room.
The group soon made it to the exit with ease and ran towards the doors, leaving instantly. Maddie and Mike helped Hopper set Will down carefully as they now waited for Bob.
"I can't believe we just got out of that." Maddie sighed, a small smile itching its way onto her face. Hopper smiled down at the girl, pulling her into his side lightly before checking on Joyce, who was by the door waiting for Bob.
Mike looked at Maddie, nerves overcoming him quickly. "Hey, uh, I know I kinda threw that whole dance thing on you as we were scared for our lives, so... if you don't want to go with me that's totally cool. I don't want to force you into a date you agreed to when we thought we were going to die."
Maddie smiled sadly at Mike. "Wheeler, I wish you'd stop second guessing yourself any time someone says yes to you. We're gonna go together and have the best time and... I'm excited, especially now since we didn't just die." Mike smiled, nodding his head at her words.
Though Maddies head shot towards the lab when a scream could be heard from inside. Hopper ran in and Maddie moved to look at what was happening before instantly wishing she hadn't.
There was Bob, laying on the ground as one of those monsters ripped at him. Hopper began firing at the monster, which only screeched back at him before it went back to Bob. Two more monsters burst through the doors, followed by others who all went towards Bob.
Hopper turned around, grabbing Joyce and pulling her out of the lab as she fought to stay. Maddie ran towards the grass, finally letting out everything that had been threatening to leave her stomach for hours.
"What happened?" Mike screamed as he held Will up, looking between Hopper and Maddie as Joyce was far too distraught to answer anything. The monsters began banging on the glass, trying to get to the group as Hopper looked at Joyce. "He's gone! He's gone!"
Maddie stood back up again when there was nothing else, not even water, that she could throw up and a second later a horn was honking. Maddie looked up to see Jonathan's car pulled up before them, Johnathan and Nancy inside. "Come on! Get in!"
Hopper took Will from Mike while Mike ran to Maddies side, pulling the girl behind him and into the car while Hopper continued to also hold Joyce.
Once Joyce and Will were inside the car, Hopper instructed Jonathan to drive as he began running towards his own car. Jonathan did as told, speeding down from the lab towards the exit as Hopper quickly followed.
"Are you guys okay?" Nancy questioned, turning back towards the four who now sat in the car. "Ask again in 10 minutes." Maddie replied, leaning her head against the window.
AUTHORS NOTE!
I love writing a bunch of chapters at once it moves things so much faster