bitchin'

Chapter 65

Lucas, Max, and Erica all take one ambulance to Roane County Hospital. They put Lindsay in another. She had started to breathe again, just as the EMTs began to move her.

"Guh!" Lindsay gasps, "Ahh! Ahhh!"

She begins to scream out in pain, not being able to see or move.

"Get an IV prepped!"

The other two EMTs in the vehicle prepare to put a needle in. They need to sedate Lindsay in order for her pain to go away before they get to the hospital.

"Ahhh!" she screams as the needle plunged into her vein.

"Connected! Start anesthesia drip!"

A bag is held and a solution runs from the line to Lindsay's arm. Within a minute, the screams stop and she is fully sedated.

***

Erica and Max sit together in the waiting room. They think Lindsay is dead and wait for Lucas to finish getting medical attention. People flood into the hospital from the 'earthquake'. The two girls sit side by side with grey blankets around their shoulders.

They haven't said two words to each other. Max has continuous tears and Erica can't stop thinking about that moment in her head. The moment she saw Lindsay cradled in Max's arms, limbs snapped.

Max looks up to find Steve, Nancy, and Robin walking in. Nancy and Robin look exhausted, their clothes dirtied and ripped in some places.

"Max?" The two girls question. Erica and Max stand up, as Steve follows behind the girls.

"Max..." he stops walking, "H-H... how are you.... where's Linds?"

The younger girl looks down and Max's tears begin to turn into a waterfall down her freckled cheeks.

"Max... where's Linds? Where is she?!" he shouts, not in anger at the girl, but in fear.

"Steve, I'm so sorry..."

"No! Where is she!?" he shouts, tears falling from his eyes. He puts his hands to the back of his head and looks up, not wanting to believe anything. Robin takes the redhead into a hug and Nancy goes to Steve.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," she whispers as he hugs her. He settles into her arms for a moment, letting more tears fall. But when he lets go, he becomes enraged. He kicks a chair over.

"Fuck! God damnit!" he screams. Patrons in the hospital stop and turn. He takes off out of the hospital, with Nancy turning to Robin. Everyone in the hospital remains silent, nobody needing to know what happened. They all understand his pain as he's not the only person that's lost someone important.

"I got them, go," Robin says. Nancy turns and follows Steve out of the building.

While Nancy tends to Steve, Lucas returns, his eye swollen shut and stitches to his forehead. His knuckles are wrapped, just like how Lindsay's were.

When he approaches Max he breaks down all over again, "I'm sorry Max, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let her! I shouldn't have let her!"

"It's not your fault, Lucas... it's not your fault..." she cries with him. He can barely hear her voice, she lost it from screaming so much. Even if he didn't let Lindsay go through with her plan, that means Max probably would have had the same fate. Robin pulls all three of the younger teens into a hug.

"Where's Steve and Nancy? And Dustin and Eddie?" Lucas asks when the group breaks. He takes his younger sister under his arm and for once, she doesn't push him away in disgust. She leans into his body, not wanting him to go away.