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the dark, covered skies exploded the colassal sounds of thunder, as it surrounded the once- quaint town of hawkins, indiana. downtown hawkins was mostly a ghost-town. it was a miracle some businesses were still open.
will byers and mike wheeler were sent out to gather emergency supplies of their own, a shimmer of a bell heard behind them as they left the store. in one bag, it contained blue and yellow flashlights with extra batteries, radios, walkie-talkies, food to last them for days, and in the other, heating pads, extra water, water filters, and anything else necessary.
home base was split into three pods, the wheeler's home, hopper's cabin and the byer's old house. majority of the party were camping at mike's, hopper, joyce, and el were at hopper's cabin, and somehow, at the very last minute, it was decided it would be safer if the two of them somehow found a way back to will's house to keep lookout.
"is there a faster way back?" mike asked, his voice slowly getting more and more tired as they continued walking the empty streets of hawkins.
"mike, i don't know if you've seemed to notice, but we're in a apocalypse, and you're asking for a faster way home? i'm trying to find a faster way home! you should be contributing to finding us a way back home safely," will sputtered, sprinting across the sidewalks, mike trying to keep up in the path behind him.
"what if-- what if we steal a car?" mike interjects quickly, stopping to catch his breath.
"what-- mike?" will stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at mike.
"w-what if we steal a car? there's plenty of abandoned cars around here."
will chuckled. "do you even know how to drive?"
"nancy taught me the basics?"
will thought for a moment. mike wheeler? driving a car? with him in the passenger's seat?
"you said i should contribute, and this is all i have right now. it's either that or walking all the way back to home base. which would be riskier."
"and driving a car isn't risky enough?"
mike walks closer to will.
"we don't have a ton of options, will. if we're going back to home base, we're going together."
will thinks for a moment, blushing at the thought of mike using the term, "together".
"um- uh- car, it is. but we need to be quick. we don't know who or what is watching."
mike sprints off, finding any car within a mile radius. will is left on the side of the street, smirking.
almost immediately, a few minutes later, mike whisper-yelled, "i found one!", as he waved will over.
it was, admittedly, a very nice 1984 chevorlet cavalier.
"woah, mike."
"i know, right? and i still found the keys in the icgnition." he chuckles, the keys being juggled and played around with in his hand.
will smiles as they enter the car.
outside, they hear, "HEY, THAT'S MY CAR!", and they look to see a rich-looking, old man, exiting a bar, coming near them.
"shitshitshitshit," will murmurs, mike quickly putting the keys in the icgnition and pulling away, just barely tapping the old man in the kneecaps.
"you sons of-"
mike presses the pedal hard, and zooms away, leaving the old man speechless, flipping him off in the rear-view mirror.
"youths these days," he sighs, walking back to the barely-functioning bar he was in, "always stealing my cars."
"i can't believe you just did that, mike." will laughs.
mike chuckles as he drives, quickly picking up on speed, zooming around familiar parts of hawkins, indefinitely breaking the speed limit.
as soon as they get to the driveway leading to will's house, they notice something. will's house is destroyed. vandalized, ripped apart from the bottom, smoke pouring out of jonathan and will's old room.
"stop the car." will immediately unbuckles his seatbelt, and runs to the front of the house. from even closer, it looked worse. all of those memories made inside of that house. gone.
mike walks out of the car, and closer to will.
"i know what i'm about to say might sound douchey."
"it can't be too bad to what i'm thinking right now, mike."
"i know this place meant a lot to you, but we can't focus too much on it right now. is there- is there literally anywhere else we can stay?"
will is silent for a moment, as he looks at mike, watery eyes and all.
"there is one place." he sniffles.
he starts walking to his backyard.
"where are we going?"
"uh, so, do you remember castle byers?"
"faintly."
he turns around and stops.
"it might take a few hours but it's the only other place we could stay."
"few hours to do what?"
"rebuild."
mike sighs.
"c'mon, we have no where else. there should be enough wood. we'll have to hurry. and it isn't even too badly damaged. it just needs a few repairs. it just needs a bit of work."
"...fine."
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