Adolescence, m. mayfield

016. finding will

A distant screech made everyone halt in their step. Tom and Max shared a quick glance, he looked at the three behind them that were all still now too. "You all heard that?" Steve asked wearily. The kids nodded and Steve glanced between them before to the left where it came from. He swung his bat over his shoulder and started walking through the woods, though there was more caution about his step now.

Dustin, Lucas and Tom were all quick to follow after him, shining their flashlights around them to try and see where they were going. "Guys!" Max called out, "No, No. Why are you going towards the sound?" They all continued on despite her, she cursed under her breath and reluctantly followed on.

There was a clearing not far from their original spot and it was easier to see now they were out of the woods. They came to a stop just at the top of a hill and tried to look out into the distance for the demogorgons, "I don't see 'em." Dustin shook his head.

Tom sighed and squinted to try and get a better look, but it was all just darkness, too far away to see anything. "It's the lab." Lucas spoke, using his binoculars to see out farther. Tom gasped at the words, feeling his chest tighten. "They're going back home."

Everyone just stayed silent for a while and Tom felt the worried glances they were sending his way. Going back to the lab wasn't something Tom had ever thought he would do, not when him and El had done so much to stay away from there— but it was the only way to have a chance at saving Will, and if he didn't save Will then so much more bad stuff could happen.

"We have to go." He spoke up finally, trying to ignore the way his voice came out strained. Without waiting for anyone's input Tom started down the hill. The others all watched him go for a moment before getting to a start and following after him, almost scared just as much as Tom himself. They all knew about the lab, what happened there, what the people there were capable of— and if the demogorgons were going there to go home, well there was probably a lot more they just didn't know about yet.

Walking through the dark forest was tough, especially for the first part where it was downhill, and Tom didn't have a flashlight, only the glow from Steve's just behind him. It mustn't have been too long though before Tom could see distant lights off of something.

"Hello?" A voice called out. Tom was stunned into a halt, not expecting anyone else— he glanced nervously at Steve, the older teen taking a deep breath before leading the rest of the way. Tom followed a little reluctantly, enough people had already seen him today, and he didn't even know who this man was— he could be working at the lab. "Who's there?" The man called out again just as the group pushed through the tree line.

Tom stepped out from behind Steve, there were two people there— just shadows in the distance. Tom continued to follow behind Steve until the light from their flashlights light up their faces enough for Tom to recognise them as people he's see before. They were at the school last year, which had Tom not being as cautious— if they knew about this stuff then it wasn't as bad. But they didn't see him just yet, his head still only just poking out from behind— "Steve?" The pair asked when they finally got a look at just who was leading this small group of children.

"Nancy?" He asked in return, eyes jumping from her to where Jonathan was standing to her side.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked Steve as the group walked over to them.

"What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for Mike and Will"

Dustin shifted on his footing, "They're not in there, are they?" He asked, pointing his flash towards direction of the lab.

Nancy narrowed her eyes questioningly at Dustin, "We're not sure... Why?" She was hesitant, like she already had some sort of idea of what could be wrong. A loud screech answered for them. Everyone quickly looked over to the dark building as roars erupted from within.