mercy ; peter ballard

37. m r l o v e r m a n

september 8, 1986

"we need to find one of them. if we find one of them, i can extract the information. do you guys know where they would be?" peter asked, trudging through the woods.

"we could try the wheeler's," will suggests, pointing in the direction of the wheeler home. "mike or nancy could be there and dustin and lucas live nearby."

eddie pushes a branch away. his hair was shoved up into a baseball cap and he wore a striped polo and jeans. he was practically unrecognizable. will's hair was cut shorter, detracting from his awful bowl cut. he wore jeans and grey t-shirt. peter wore a white polo with a grey sweatshirt on top and jeans.

they began to approach the first house. it was the henderson home. will walked up to the door as eddie and peter stayed hidden. he knocked firmly on the door.

"coming!" a woman's voice sounded. a couple of clicks echoed from the door as she unlocked it. "will? i thought you were in california?" she asked, opening the door.

will shakes his head. "we are back visiting! do you know where dustin is?"

mrs. henderson thinks for a moment. "i don't sorry. he said something about the wheeler's and going to melvin's before he ran out the house. let him know he needs to be home before five tonight. i don't know if your mother knows, mayor elsberry is setting a curfew with everything that is happening. the small earthquakes and the murders. the curfew starts at six."

"i will, mrs. henderson. thank you!"

"no problem, dear!"

will ran to the hiding spot.

"anything?" eddie asked.

"dustin went to melvin's and he mentioned something about the wheelers. could you read anything, peter?"

peter had searched mrs. henderson's memories. "dustin was going to the wheeler's house with max and lucas."

will smiles, "to the wheeler's."

"max, what is it like being blind?" dustin asked. lucas shoved dustin's shoulder. "ow!"

"she's not blind! she just waiting for the nerves and stuff to heal dumbass!"

max shakes her head. "lucas, it's fine. everything is just really blurry. all the colors kinda melt into one."

"woah," dustin mutters under his breath.

mike races down the stairs. "i hate this. we are sitting ducks!"

"relax, mike," lucas rolls his eyes as mike plops down on the couch.

"none of this would've happened if you guys weren't idiots," max mumbled under her breath.

"what was that?" mike asked, raising his voice.

max looks in the direction of his voice. she carefully annunciated the words again. "none of this would've happened if you guys weren't idiots," she spat. "i understand that we are all stressed, but rash decisions are escalating the situation. i mean, have we really stooped so low as to kidnapping a pregnant woman?"

mike thinks about it for a second. "yes. considering she could kill us...yes, we have."

"well, she wouldn't have left if guys weren't stupid. how many times do people have to spell it out for you?"