Nancy pressed the small round button, hearing the doorbell ring from inside of the house. There was no answer, so she rang it again. Her and Jonathan looked back at Alex, and he looked at the door and flicked his head. The door opened and the group started to walk into the house, looking around at the room for clues.
"Tom?" Nancy called. "Heather?" She said, turning and walking down a hallway.
"Jesus, it's freezing," Max said, shivering. The group walked down the hallway and into a seperate room.
"Do you guys smell that," Nancy asked. They turned around and walked towards the kitchen, plugging their noses as they did so. On the washing machine, which looked to have been ripped from the wall and brought into the kitchen, was a bunch of spray cans and clorox and stuff to clean or spray bugs. Most of them were spilt or empty, the smell intoxicating. "More chemicals." Nancy said, walking over to the machine.
"You think they're guzzling this shit?" Jonathan asked, picked up one of the bottles and looked at the name.
"Yeah, either that or they're on a hell of a cleaning spree," she said, grimacing.
"But, last year, Will didn't eat chemicals," Max said, looking at him with slight disgust. "Did you?"
"No, this is something new," he said, nodding.
"Mr. Clark, fifth grade, pausit. What happens when you mix chemicals together?" Mike asked, looking at his friends.
"You create a new substance," Lucas and Will said, looking at Mike with realization.
"What if they're making something?" Mike suggested.
"In themselves?" Max asked, grimacing. "I mean come on if you drink this crap it'll kill you."
"Yeah, if you're human," Lucas pointed out. Nancy turned and went through another entryway, landing in the dining room, everyone following her. She walked over to the living room and saw a wine bottle a few feet away from a blood stain in the carpet.
"Blood," she muttered, looking at Jonathan. "Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead." She said, looking at the bottle of wine. She picked it up, seeing blood spattered across the bottom of it. "He was attacked." She said, looking around at everyone. They walked over to a small carpet that was bunched up against the wall, following it to a door that had a small blood stain on the carpet. Nancy pushed the door open, walking into the room to see another door. She twisted the handle, pushing it open and leading to a garage. Jonathan bent down next to a rope that was laying on the floor.
"They must have tied them," he said. "They must have taken them somewhere."
"Mrs. Driscal," Nancy said. "She kept saying, 'I have to go back'. What if the flaying..it's taking place somewhere else. I mean there must be a place where all this started right? A source."
"Somewhere he didn't want me to see," Alex said.
"If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him. Or atleast stop it from spreading and doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals."
"How do we find it?" Alex asked, walking towards Nancy.
"Mrs. Driscal," Will said, getting everyone to look at him. "If she wants to go back so badly why don't we let her?" He said. They looked at Nancy, waiting for her approval, earning a nod in return. They ran outside and to the car, getting in their same spots and heading towards the hospital. Alex had started to close his eyes again, getting comfortable in Mike's arms as he slowly started drifting off to sleep.
"Alex, stay awake," Justin said. He sat up a bit more, rubbing his burning eyes that begged to close.
"He can sleep if he wants to," Mike said, pulling him closer. Alex ignored them but decided to go with Mike's choice and laid his head down on his shoulder, his nose in the crook of his neck.
"No, he can't. What if he has another panic attack and wakes up screaming again? We don't have time to waste." Justin said, glaring at Mike.
"We aren't wasting time on him," Mike said, sneering at Justin.
"That's not what I meant and you know it, Mike. I'm just trying to-"
"Enough! I'll stay awake, Jesus Christ," Alex said, moving out of Mike's embrace, ignoring his protests, and moving to sit next to him.
"Alex, I'm-" Alex cut him off.
"Shut up, Mike, just shut up." He said. Mike watched as the boy shivered, and he took off his jacket, handing it to Alex for him to put on. He did, leaning his head back on the car and taking deep breaths.
He tried to think about anything but what was happening right now. He tried to think about anything other than Mike burning holes into his skin. He tried to think about anything other than the chill creeping up his spine. He tried to think about anything that didn't involve him or his friends. He tried to think about Darryl. He tried to think about his old school, even his old bullies, anything but fucking this. He didn't want to think about all of the shit that's been going on for the past week. He didn't want to think about the fact that he could do shit with his mind or where they were headed right now. He didn't want to think about how he broke up an innocent couple, no matter how much they both say he didn't.
What he did think about was, where the hell is Dustin? He grabbed Mike's walkie, ignoring his questions and turning it on. He pulled up the wire, shifting the frequency before pressing on the mic button and saying,
"Dustin, are you there? This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code red," he paused, not hearing a response. "This is a code red, do you copy? Over." He said, waiting for a response. When there was one he sighed, pulling down the wire and turning it off. "Dammit!" He muttered, putting down the walkie and leaning back again, putting his face in his hands.
"Alex-"
"Don't," he choked, wiping away a tear that fell down his cheek.
