Third Person POV:
"This is the area," Jonathan says, as the group stops at a cliff.
Will's eyes widened as he took in the view. It was a beautiful area, the steep mountain they were on dropped down what seemed like a mile down, and a huge forest stretched left and right. there was a huge lake in front of the forest, going so far out you couldn't see the shoreline.
"Wow," Mike breathed out.
"These mountains should be the ones the man was talking about," Nancy says, pointing to the range of mountains dotting around the water.
Erica huffed, crossing her arms. (NAH BECAUSE I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT HER😭😭😭) "It's not that impressive," She says, rolling her eyes.
Lucas rolled his eyes in return. "Well how are we supposed to find the haven?" Dustin asks, scanning the ground to try and see if anyone was there. "It's not like we have time to walk around all of these mountains to see if anyone's there," He pauses. "I mean we do, it's just we shouldn't."
Ironically, right after Dustin stopped, a large net suddenly sprang out of the woods behind them and wrapped around Mike, crashing him to the ground and sliding over to the edge.
"What the hell-" He started, but a small tranquilizer dart flies at him, lodging into his arm.
"Mike!" Will yelled, running over to his friend(cough cough).
But someone grabbed him by the arms, holding him back. Will turned his head around, expecting to see a smiling face, but that wasn't it. This person wasn't smiling.
"What are you doing? Let me go!" Will says, struggling in the person's grip. "We're not infected!"
"Yeah, but that one is," Another person said, who was holding Nancy down on the ground. They nodded at Mike, who was drifting in and out of subconsciousness.
Will frowned as another person approached Mike. "No he's not!" Will yells.
"My scanner says otherwise," The person behind Will says. "Why wasn't he attacking you? Answer us."
Will stayed quiet for a second. "Will, just tell them!" Lucas says, struggling on the ground with someone on top of him.
"Alright, fine," Will says, glaring at the person standing above Mike, the boy who was now completely unconscious. "He almost got turned. But he didn't. We found a way to stop him from turning all the way."
The person in front of Mike frowned. "That's impossible," She says.
"You better believe it!" Erica says. "I did not walk up here all the way from Hawkins for you all to turn us down!"
"All the way from Hawkins? Hawkins, Indiana?" The person standing by Mike said.
Will nodded. The same person who just talked furrowed her brows and looked down at Mike. Everyone else who was holding the group down stayed quiet while the person made their decision. Will could tell that this person was the leader.
"Alright, we'll bring you all into the M," The leader says. "Then we'll do a more intense scan on this one," She nudged Mike with their foot. "C'mon."
Everyone holding the group down backed off, and Will shook his hands out before rushing over to Mike.
"What did you shoot him with?" Lucas asks.
"A regular tranq," The leader says. "Silvia, come get this one," An older girl with short blonde hair and chestnut skin ran forward, picking up Mike using a rope on the net. Will frowned as she walked into the woods, and stood up. The leader, who was standing next to him, nudged him forward. "Just follow everyone else."
Will nodded, and moved over to Lucas and Dustin to walk next to them, not feeling comfortable around the strangers.
...
"Stay here," One of the safe haven people says, showing everyone into a large room with a dining table. "Me or one of my friends will come and explain things to you in a bit."
Hopper nodded to them before they left. Everyone either sat or stood around the table.
They had entered at the bottom of the mountain to the left of the cliff. The group had been separated from Mike almost immediately, and had weaved through a bunch of huge tunnels and chambers before finally coming into the room they were in right now.
"So.." Robin says. "We're here."
"And they took Mike to do whatever experiments on him," Nancy says angrily. "What the hell?"
Dustin blinked. "In all things considered, it does make sense," He says, making everyone turn to him. "Apparently they have a scanner to see if someone is a Smilie or not, so it makes sense they don't trust the person their scanner showed as infected."
Everyone stayed silent for a moment. "Sure," Lucas says.
They continued to wait for an hour or more. Everyone was getting impatient and angry.
Finally, two people entered the room, one was the person who showed them in the room before and the other one was new.
The second one had curly brown hair that was chin length with green eyes. Her skin was a dark olive. She also was the one Will had deduced as the leader before. The first had long wavy brown hair and brown eyes, and her skin was paler. They both looked maybe seventeen.
"Hello," The second one says in a neutral tone. "I'm Zia, and this is Ruby."
"Where's Mike?" Will questioned immediately.
Ruby frowned. "Who?" She asks.
"The one you guys took with a net," Nancy says. "He's my brother, where is he?"
Zia and Ruby exchanged a glance. "Uh, I think he's meeting with our boss," Zia says, nodding.
Will narrowed his eyes at her, before standing up and walking right in front of her, glaring dangerously. He poked her in the chest a few times. "You're gonna let me see Mike right now, or god help me I will make this mountain collapse," He hisses at Zia's face.
"Okay, okay jeez," Zia says, holding up her hands in joking surrender, taking a step back.
"He's actually talking with our doctors," Ruby says. "Zia can show you the way," She elbowed her friend in the side. "Right, Zee?"
Zia nods, and turns toward the door. "Come on, lover boy," She says nonchalantly.
Will flushes red but follows the girl anyway. Lucas and Ruby grin at the same time. Ruby pulls out a phone and types in a number, before putting her phone up to her ear.
"Yeah, hello," She says when the person on the other side picks up.
Almost everyone around the table strains to hear her.
"No, no, everyone's still here," Ruby says. She looks around as she listens. After a moment her eyebrows raise in surprise. "Oh, he's.. really?" She looks down at the ground in thought. "That's good for him I guess, so does that mean he can.." She listens more. "Oh, alright."
She hums as she hangs up, turning back to face the group, who were all watching her.
"What was that about?" Jonathan asks. "Was it Mike?"
"What?" Ruby questions, looking confused. "Who's Mike?"
Jonathan sighs, facepalming.
...
Will walked behind Zia as she guided him through the twists and turns of the tunnels. After a few minutes, they finally arrive at a large room full of medical equipment.
"How did you guys get all this?" Will asks, looking around.
Zia shrugged. "We have a lot of sources," She says, walking farther into the medical room. They walked into a separate room with a few cots with bedding on them and another teenager.
"Sage!" Zia yells, running at the girl and enveloping her in a hug.
The girl smiles. "Hey, Zee," She says.
Mike was on the cot next to Sage, sleeping peacefully. Will quickly moved over to him to make sure he was okay before looking at the two girls.
"What are you doing with him?" Will asks.
Sage turned and looked at him, confusion written on her face. "Who are you? Another one?" She asks. Will nods. "Oh, alright. Well, I just did another scan, two actually, so I have to wait for both of their results."
"What are you scanning him for?" Will asks.
"To see if he's infected or not," The girl replies. "If he isn't then everything's good, but if he is then we'll have to make sure he's asleep and drop him off a kilometer away from here."
Will frowns in concern. "Well he's not," He says. "He almost got turned a week or so ago, and he's been awake and normal since then."
"They can hide," Zia says. "Stop smiling and stuff."
Will's eyebrows raise in shock. "They can stop smiling?" He asks. "I didn't think that was possible."
Zia shrugs. "Well it's not like they like doing it," She says. "But they'll do it to fit in with everyone else," She looks over at Mike with caution. "But I'll believe you if he wakes up regular."
"Alright, that's fine," Will responds.
A small beep came from a machine at the wall away from them, a machine Will hadn't noticed before.
"Well, this is it," Sage says, walking over to it. "These are the results," She adds as a piece of paper slides out of the bottom. She plucks it up and reads it. "Huh."
"Huh what?" Will says. "What does it say?"
Sage holds the paper out in front of her with both of her hands and tilts her head. "It's quite strange," She says. "My scans say he's not infected. And also.." She stares at the paper with narrowed eyes. "Huh..."
"Lemme see," Zia says, walking over to her friend and pulling the paper so she could see. "Oh shit."
"What?" Will asks, looking between the two girls.
Sage and Zia exchanged a look before turning to Will. "Nothing, we're just surprised he's not infected with this scan," Sage says. "Even though it said he was infected in the portable. Well, it is still a prototype."
"So you'll trust Mike?" Will asks.
Another look was exchanged between the two girls, before Zia gave Will a smile. "Yeah, he's fine and not infected, I don't see the problem," She says. "And he should wake up anytime from now to four or something hours."
"Alright, thank you," Will says, nodding to them. "And, thanks for letting us be here as well."
Zia smiled. "By the way," She says, turning to Sage. "They're sending another team out to find the lake, do you want to join?"
"What lake?" Will asks.
Zia looks back at him. "Uh.." She glances between Will and Sage a few times. "There's a hidden lake somewhere in the mountains around that people say can cure the Smilies. I don't have all the information right now but you could go ask our boss."
Will's entire face went slack. "There's a cure?!" He exclaims.
"Yeah," Zia says. "Well, not exactly. It's complicated."
"Everything's complicated," Sage complains.
<^> To Be Continued
(1.7k words)
hmmmmmmm
have I been writing every single chapter waiting (not so) patiently to write this one?
yes