Chapter Text
Lucas was laying in the tunnels. The scratch that the demogorgon had done was getting bigger as he moved around and his clothes were getting more and more bloody as the wound was open. The kids were gone and even though that particular demo had somehow died, he was by no means out of harms way. Would there be more? Would he bleed out before he could get outside — okay maybe not, but it was a fair possibility especially since he wasn’t sure what was waiting outside. Oh and were his friends alive? So many questions and so few answers.
Dizzy and aching, he tentatively rose to his feet, taking hold of the tunnel wall.
“Shit…” He muttered as he touched the wound which was also filled with mud and other dirty particles. Max would be raging about the need for disinfecting the wound.
“Anybody there?” He shouted, wondering which was the most likely way out. Heading to the field and walking to Quack or back towards MAC-Z and most of his friends. Hoping that Robin and Murray were able to drive away, he opted for number two — doubling back towards the military. His only wish was that Erica was sane enough to stay hidden in the bell tower.
He wasn’t fast, but the adrenaline kept him going.
After a while he had made his way to the place where they retrieved the kids from. There was no movement. He decided to walk past it and enter the Radio Shack, which was Hopper’s usual way out to the crawls.
Climbing out wasn’t easy. His chest was aching and lifting his arms was painful. Nevertheless he managed. Quietly he walked to the nearest window to look at the yard.
It was pure chaos. Dead soldiers everywhere. No kids in sight. He was getting a bad feeling.
Amongst the smoke and fire he could spot three people moving and managed to recognise Mike’s tall build. With that hopeful thought that at least one of them was still alive he started to run towards them.
“You guys okay?” He shouted and saw Mike and Joyce gathered around Will, who was kneeling on the concrete.
“Lucas?” Mike’s voice reeked of panic.
“Are you okay?” He repeated and finally caught up to them.
“You’re bleeding!” Mike stuttered, staring at Lucas’s ripped shirt.
“A demo… They took the kids. I couldn’t—“
“Ours too,” Mike said solemnly.
“But the demo—“
“It died?” Mike finished the question for him. “Will.”
“What?”
“Will killed it. Here as well,” he said.
Joyce was silent, still hovering over Will, who was panting on the ground. Channeling Vecna’s powers had taken a toll on him. Whilst they were distracted Lucas closed his jacket to cover the wound and to not give the others another thing to worry about.
“Holy shit!” And that voice belong to his sister, who was running towards them.
“Erica?!”
“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!” Erica kept on repeating the whole way through. “You killed them!”
“You’re okay,” Lucas sighed and pulled his sister in for a hug. “But what the hell are you doing here?? You knew that this was a war zone and decided it would be wise to Walz on in here??”
“Chill Lucas,” Mike tried to intercept, but Lucas didn’t even look at him.
“Shut it Wheeler. You have the survival instructs of a wet sock, why the hell didn’t you just walk to Squawk and wait for us there?”
“Zip it, dumb-dumb. I watched the whole thing. I knew it was safe. You’re the one who ran here without checking, and I’m pretty sure you’re dying of blood loss right now—“
“Erica!”
“Just the facts!”
“Okay we need to get out of here. Now,” Mike said firmly. He and Lucas stood, and Will leaned on them as they made their way back to the tunnels and slowly back where he came from, towards the field. Joyce was still silent — Lucas could understand why. It was a new situation for them as well. And a tough one at that, since this confirmed the connection between Henry and Will.
“Does anybody know about Robin or Murray?” Lucas asked them.
Finally Will spoke. “The truck fell, the kids are gone. I stopped the demo, but I don’t know what—“
“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Mike said quietly to him. “Let’s just get to Squawk, we’ll plan everything after.”
A silence fell over the group as they made their way out of the tunnels and on the field.
On the yard Mike spoke up. “Joyce, you need to drive and try to find Robin and Murray.”
“No, I need to stay with Will,” she protested instantly.
“No Mom, I’m fine.”
“You’re the only one with a license, it’ll take way too long for us to drive there on our bikes,” Mike said. “I’ll look out for him, I won’t let anything happen.”
“Fine. I’ll be quick,” Joyce said, stroking her son’s cheek with his thumb. “You rest now. I’ll be super quick.”
Will nodded slowly.
“I’ll take this from here,” Erica said and pushed her brother out of the way, letting Will lean on her instead. “If either of them is hurt you need to help them. And you need to go to the hospital.”
“Just go,” Will nodded.
“Fine. Just stay safe,” Lucas finally muttered, patted Will’s back and left the three of them. At least they had each other. Mike wouldn’t let anything happen to Will and after what happened with Holly, he’d rather die than let Erica get hurt.
***
“Okay let’s just drive towards the boarder, that’s where they were heading I guess.”
Joyce remained quiet.
Just few minutes later Lucas spotted the truck on it’s side on the field.
“There!”
Joyce parked the car on the side of the road and Lucas jumped out before she had even fully stopped.
“Robin! Murray!” He shouted.
“Lucas?” Robin’s panicked voice came from inside the truck.
“Yeah! You okay?” He shouted and walked around the truck to the front window which Robin had smashed to get out and now back in.
“I’m fine, but Murray’s passed out. He has a pulse, but we need to get him to a hospital, now,” she said, struggling with his seatbelt.
“Alright—here’s a knife,” Lucas said, pulling a pocketknife from his backpack. “You cut the belt and I’ll pull him out.”
They worked together. Joyce helped free his legs from under the steering wheel, and they got him out onto the field.
“Murray?” Joyce tried to wake him gently. “I don’t think he’s waking soon, can you help me carry him to the car.”
So they did. They loaded him into the car—thankfully, there were three of them, because Lucas wouldn’t have managed alone with his wound.
“I’ll drive you to the hospital and then get back to Will,” Joyce said once she started the car.
“Is Will?” Robin asked gently.
“He’s fine. It’s a long story, but he was able to channel Henry’s powers after it came to MAC-Z and managed to kill the demogorgons.”
“He Vecnad—“
“Yeah,” Lucas muttered.
“Damn,” Robin said. For once actually lost for words.
It was another quiet car-ride. What Lucas had said to Max just one day before was coming true. The final battle had started and they were in the thick of it now.
***
At the hospital Lucas and Robin flagged down a nurse who took out a gurney where they loaded Murray and wheeled him inside.
“Stay safe you guys,” Joyce said. “And call me when you need a ride back. And Robin, get checked out as well.”
Lucas thanked the stars that apparently Joyce was so preoccupied with Will that she didn’t notice the huge wound on his chest and he was saved from the fuzzing around.
“Oh shit—“ Robin whispered and came to a halt at the doors.
“Huh?”
“I just missed—“ And just then a red haired candy striper walked up to them — or more specifically Robin — with a worried look on her face. Robin swallowed the rest of the sentence.
“What are you doing here?” Lucas was sure he knew her from somewhere, but with everything that had happened that day, there was no way to place her.
“I’m fine,” Robin said quickly. “I’m sorry about Enzo’s.”
“She was in a car accident, she might have a concussion,” Lucas interrupted her. He really wasn’t one to meddle in people’s lives, but at the same time he was more aware of people than most. And even without knowing what was going on, he was sure that this girl cared about Robin enough to do a thorough check.
“What?” And he knew his hunch was right based on the panic in her voice. “Is that why you didn’t show up?”
“I’m okay, but yeah a truck I was in fell,” Robin explained. Almost reaching for Vickie’s hand, but just barely containing herself. “I really am sorry…”
“Okay, right through here,” Vickie walked towards the nearest exam room. Now that everyone was being seen, the adrenaline holding Lucas upright finally wore off. Blood loss hit him hard. He tried to step toward the desk, but his legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees. The commotion in the ER caught even Robin and Vickie’s attention.
“Lucas!” Robin shouted, running to him. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he stuttered. Vickie was already assessing him for injuries.
“Lucas?” Robin’s voice softened with concern.
“I just—” Lucas gripped his chest as the pain worsened. Robin unzipped his jacket as he leaned against the wall. The torn shirt, the blood, the muddy wound beneath—everything was exposed.
“What the hell?” Vickie blurted. “Sorry—it’s just… what makes those marks?”
“Vickie,” Robin warned gently. Not the time.
“Right—um, doctor!” she called out and the nearest doctor walked over to them.
“Alright, let’s patch you up,” the man simply said with a smile and helped Robin and Vickie lift Lucas on a wheelchair which they then pushed to a room, where he started to clean his wounds and stitch them closed.
He didn’t ask many questions, which Lucas was thankful for. Well not until he was finishing the job and putting gauze on him.
“I’ve seen you here,” he simply said.
“Right…” The same doctor worked on Max one and a half years ago. He had seen him around a few times since.
“She’s lucky to have someone who visits so often,” the man said with a gentle smile. Lucas simply nodded.
“Alright, you’re all patched up. You need to stay here for at least few hours, but you can go see Ms. Mayfield if you’d like.”
“Thanks,” Lucas said earnestly.
“Oh and here’s your jacket, but it’s pretty bloody so you might want to ask for some change of clothes,” he added.
“Thanks doc.”
Lucas pulled up the zipper of his jacket since his shirt was done for and walked to Max’s room. It was getting chilly, and the hospital was by no means warm place to begin with — he had noticed that over time when visiting Max.
“Hey you,” he said with a small smile when he entered her room.
“I guess you can guess what happened. The final battle has for sure started and we’re getting our asses kicked. I mean Hop and El are hopefully together in the Upside Down, but we’ve lost all communication. Same with Dustin, Nancy, Jonathan and Steve. Plus Murray is out of it…”
“On the plus side Will can kill the demogorgons now. Well at least he could once. So maybe he can in the future.”
He sighed and looked at her, taking hold of her hand.
“But we’re not doing good. Henry has taken more kids. Not only Holly. We need your help.”
A tear escaped his eye as he looked at her. Then a knock on the door.
“Yeah?”
Robin and the red-haired-girl walked inside.
“I though you’d maybe want this,” Robin said and threw a Squawk-sweater to Lucas.
“Thanks,” he said and took of his jacket.
“Max, now would be a great time to resurrect, he’s not wearing a shirt.” Robin hollered and gave Lucas a wink which in turn made his face bright red.
Vickie smirked, but shoved her girlfriend as to say — shut it.
“Anyways, I’m Vickie,” she said and extended her hand to him. “Robin’s friend from the marching-band.”
“Lucas. And I remember. You played at our games,” he said and shook her hand. Both girls smiled brightly. This was just one testament as to how amazing of a guy Lucas really was. Most jocks didn’t even notice that they had a marching band.
“How’s Murray, do you know?” Lucas asked.
“We’re now going there,” Robin answered. “Want to come with or stay here? Wait dumb question, I’ll come here after.”
Lucas smiled a little and sat back down on the chair beside her bed. Slowly he took out the cassette and Kate Bush filled the air. He leaned back on the chair and looked at her intensely.
After maybe ten minutes he saw the lights on the hallway start to flicker. He waited for a few seconds for it to stop. But it didn’t.
Shit.