The Virus | ST Mileven fanfiction

The Waiting Room

Mike:
Mike awoke with a gasp and sat up, coughing his lungs out as he looked around. He noticed that he was still in that stupid field, but it was dark... and dreary. Where were his friends?
"El?" He croaked, his voice nothing but a broken crack. "L-Lucas? Dustin? Will? M-Max? Anyone?"
Why was it nighttime? Did they leave him here? The last thing he remembered was..... the liquid fire.
"Burning." Mike said aloud. "Oh my..."
Was he in the upside down? How did he get here? They had defeated the demogorgon and the mind flayer! Why was he here? Was he the only one here- was El here too?
"El?" He called out in a stronger tone. "El, are you here? Eleven! Jane? Anyone?"
A flash of red lightning crashed across the sky from behind him, sending a wave of chills down his spine. He jumped and turned around numbly.
"El!" he was becoming more frantic now. "El, where are you?" He called as he took a step away from the gigantic beast beyond the trees. "El! You gotta run! H-He's, oh my god, he's coming for us! Everyone one of us!"
Mike prayed that his girlfriend, wherever she was, she heard his warnings. "El! The monster's coming! He's coming and he's not happy! El!"
The monster charged at him and he then couldn't see. He felt as if his body was shutting down. In less than a second, his knees were buckling underneath him as they lost their strenth to hold him.
With the little breath he had left, he called out to her one more time.
"El... please.... please..... El....... h-h-hurry......El....."
And then, he was out cold for the second time that day.

Mike awoke again, but this time, he was completely blind. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't breathe.
He was gasping like a fish out of water and he couldn't move his hands to claw at his throat. He was stuck.... he was alone and afraid, but most importantly, he couldn't call out to anyone!
Some sensation formed around his nose and mouth. It felt vaugly like a plastic cup, his breathing steadily became easier. It wasn't completely better, but he was now getting a little bit of air in his lungs now.
It seemed like an eternity until the pressure finally relieved. Mike hung there, gasping and coughing and spitting metallic liquid: blood.
His head was lolling on his shoulders, exsaustion washing over him. Still panting, and coughing up blood, he finally closed his eyes.
He had come to realize that he was somewhere dark. He was dangling from his tied together hands, and the more he fidgeted, the more it ached.
Images flashed behind his eyes when he closed them: rectangular lights wizzing by over head, then darkness. In a flash, color was returned. His head had been turned to the side and he was now looking up a worried looking lady as she shouted thing inaudible to someone in front of her.
She didn't noticed him though, she was focused on something else in front of them.
A flash of darkness engulfed him once again, and then he was facing a blurry looking faded woman. The same one from before, she was talking, maybe shouting, to him, but not a single word reached Mike's ears. Her hand was out of view below his chin, her fingers against his neck.
The vision was dimming slowly, though, and soon Mike was back at the dark place with his hands tied up.
Once he had gained a tiny bit of his composure, he called out into the inky stillness. "El? Are you there?"
He closed his eyes and listened for an answer, but, truthfully, he didn't want to hear anything. If he heard any sort of talking, that'd let him know that the monster had gotten someone else too.
No voice reached his ears and he relaxed for a minute. The shadow monster hadn't gotten anyone else, but that also meant that he was here alone.
He was here all alone and afraid. No one knew where he was.... but, surely someone was looking for him! El would come and take him home safely!

Will:
Will had been sitting in the waiting room for quite some time now, thinking to himself. He was so deep in thought, he barely noticed when his mother burst through the hospital doors. Her usual expression of worry plastered across her face. Then, he remembered; Steve had called everyone's parents from the hospital's phone. His mother was simply the first to arrive.
"Will?" She cried out, scanning the waiting room.
Will stood up to make her search easier. He took a step towards her and when she spotted him, she rushed over and crushed him in a hug. "Are you alright? What happened?"
"I'm alright Mom," Will said quietly. "But, I don't know about Mike. Mike's the one who got hurt."
His mother pulled him out of her embrace and let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad you're alright." She whispered."Now, what happened to Mike?"
"I don't know," Will said. "He kind of collapsed. I don't know what happened."
"Will helped us when we were panicking though, Mrs. Byers," Dustin spoke up from the corner of the room. "He helped us make sure Mike was alive. He handled the situation beautifully."
Joyce pulled her son into her embrace again. "Oh good, I'm so proud of you," she murmured. "Is Karen here yet? Did you call Karen?"
"I did call Karen," Steve said. "She said she was on her way and before the phone even hung up, she had left."
After Joyce had hugged Will again, the doors to the hospital burst open. Between the doors, Chief Jim Hopper stepped through, a cigarette between his teeth. He pulled it out of his mouth, and chucked it into a garbage can before looking around. "Where is she?"
"Maybe she's still with Mike," Dustin piped up. "No one has seen here come from there yet."
As if on cue, El stepped into the waiting room behind Lucas, wiping her eyes. She looked around, and as soon as she spotted the Chief, she rushed over to him.
"What happened?" Hopper asked as the two embrace each other.
El looked up at him, her eyes little voids of emotion. "Mike..." she whispered. "Mike's hurt. He's nearly dead..."
Will couldn't see her face because she hid it against Hopper's body, but he knew she was crying. He looked over at Lucas, raised an eyebrow, and gestures to a seat between him and Max.
Lucas sighed heavily and nodded. He trudged over to Will and took the seat. He bent his head down and rubbed his temples with the palms of his hands.
"What happened in there?" Max asked quietly. "Is... is he okay?"
Lucas took a deep shaky breath and shrugged his shoulders. "They wouldn't let me in the room..."
"Yeah, but what about the ride?"
"Oh." Lucas sighed. "It was really, really scary, and...." He trailed off.
Max laid her hand on his shoulder. "And what?" She pressed.
"And.... When... when we got in the ambulance, he obviously wasn't doing well...." Lucas croaked. "We got in there and they tried to wake him up and they gave him a shot. Then, they cut his shirt, and tracked his heartbeat and... and they, and it was only 39 beats per minute and.... 39 beats per minute...." he broke off with a small whimper.
"Then what happened?" Steve asked.
Will looked up and frowned at everyone crowding around Lucas, listening intently.
"He... He, his heart stopped beating....
Max covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh no," she whispered.
Lucas continued shakily. "They turned on the defibrillators and put the mask on. A-After two tries, they brought him back, but... but, he woke up screaming. Screaming and shouting for El, even though she was right there.... his heartbeat reached 300... and... and-" Lucas buried his face on his hands and let out a quiet cry.
"Your friend's heartbeat reached 300 beats per minute and we had to sedate him. He was stable for a bit, but then his skin began to turn blue. He was losing air quickly and we had to crack his chest because he had gone into cardiac arrest. Then, he began coughing up blood, and that's when we finally arrived at the hospital. We arrived in the ER and Michael's lung collapsed. We entered a chest tube and managed to stabilize him. Right now he is in a hospital room awaiting the approval of his parents. Are they here yet?"
"Where's Michael?"
Everyone turned to the door as Karen burst in. "Where is my son? What happened? Is he okay? Someone needs to tell me-"
"Ms. Wheeler, if you will come with me, we can take you to Michael's room."
"Is he okay?" Karen demanded. "What happened to my son!?"
"I can explain to you along the way. Is there any other family that will come with us?"
"I'd like to come!"
Everyone's heads turned to the door again, right as Nancy Wheeler jogged through. Closely following her was Will's brother, Johnathon, who just so happened to be her boyfriend as well.
The lady nodded her head and gestured to the hallway. "If you will come with me, you may see your son."
Nancy rushed past the group of kids and followed her Mother and the nurse down the hallway.
When they started down the hall, Karen began asking things. As they disappeared, Will could faintly hear her pelting the lady with questions. The last thing he heard from her was a high pitched exclamation: "A CT? Are you kidding me? Why does he need a CT?"