Chapter Text
Quiet static could be heard at the MAC-Z, bodies of soldiers lay around, fires were still burning and Mike Wheeler was on the ground, baffled by what he had just witnessed.
He was still holding his arm in front of his face, knowing it would do nothing to protect him from the lunging demogorgon in front of him, but it was all he could do. He was scared, but he had accepted his fate, now all he could do was wait for the creature to actually reach, and kill him. He had stood there, and it was taking too long, so when he dared to slowly look up from behind his arm, he saw the demogorgon hanging frozen in the air. What was happening? He had once again escaped death, but he knew it couldn't have been El that saved him, she was in the upside down with Hopper, from whom they still hadn't heard anything. When he was certain the demo was actually frozen, he brought his arm down and desperately looked around to find anyone else still standing, and that's when he saw him. Will was the one doing this. It was a pretty cool scene he was looking at, he had to admit to himself, Will stood there, both his arms raised in the air and his eyes a glazy white, he was in control. When Mike wanted to run to him, Will pulled his arms closer to him very quickly, and made the bones of he beast snap, just like Vecna did with his victims, or that's what Lucas had told him at least. The demogorgon schrieked one last time right in front of Mike's eyes and then fell to the ground with a hard thud, which caused him to flinch a little. Will fell to his knees and his eyes slowly returned to their normal green colour, as a small trail of blood would run from his nose. Mike looked at his friend with amazement, which instantly turned to panic as he saw Will swaying on his knees. Suddenly he could hear Joyce as well, calling out for her son, both of them made a run for the boy but it was too late, he was already on the ground, his eyes closed and his skin looking awfully pale.
"Shit, shit, Will!"
Mike screamed louder then he intended to, he had reached him faster than his mother had, and without thinking at all, had put the boy's head in his lap. Joyce reached the two boys quickly after Mike had taken him and talked to Will, hoping for him to wake up. He really didn't look well, his eyelids were dark from the exhaustion, he had sweat all over his face and there still hadn't returned any colour to his face.
"Will, honey, please come back to us."
Joyce gently tapped his face while her son was still unconscious in his best friend's lap, the latter, not really knowing what else to do than awkwardly sit there on his knees and pray for his friend to wake up.
While Joyce and Mike were too busy with doing everything they could to wake Will up, they hadn't noticed one of the few soldiers that was lucky enough to make it out of the massacre alive. He had quietly taken his walkie out and was able to communicate with the rest of his crew still in the upside down. He had made a short description of what he had seen, for he may he survived, but he was still heavily wounded, and had been made sure of that his crew was on their way now. Because he was so weak, his grip on his walkie loosened and it fell to the ground, and because of how quiet it was at the MAC-Z now, of course the sound it made echoed throughout the entire place. Mike and Joyce were caught of guard and both of them turned around immediately to see what they had just heard.
"What was that?"
Mike said carefully to his friend's mom, but obviously she didn't know either. He wanted to go check it out, because he was sure the noise didn't come from that far away, but then he remembered he was stuck with his unconscious friend on him. When Joyce realized he couldn't go look, she decided she trusted Mike enough with her son to go do it herself, but when she got up they heard another, softer, sound. Will whinced in pain as he slowly and still very weakly opened his eyes a little, now two big sighs of relief coming from Joyce and Mike could be heard, and they started fussing over the boy again.
The soldier a few meters away from them was watching them like a hawk, he knew very well what he had seen wasn't normal, that boy had just taken out one of those things that had taken out his entire crew! He realized his boss would be very pleased to have him, even if it meant she couldn't get that girl she had been talking of for so long now, it definitely would be a start for her and he would most likely be remembered for giving her this start. When he heard the familiar sound of humvees pulling up, he as well sighed of relief.
The two had, again, been paying more attention to Will than to their surroundings, they were helping him get up so they could escape through the tunnels and go back to their radio base. So when they finally had succeeded in getting the boy on his trembling feet, they were taken very much by surprise when they saw multiple untouched humvees surrounding them. Soldiers jumped out of them with their guns and told them to stop moving, Mike had stopped in his tracks, but Joyce was desperate to get her son to safety and still tried to do so. When an unknown female voice told her to stop moving she was taken by surprise again and did as she was told, the two of them now stood there with a half unconscious and very exhausted Will in their arms, using all their strength to keep him upright.
"Let go of the boy, and take three steps backward."
The woman, of whom they soon realized was the doctor Kay Hopper had told them about, told them with a stern voice, but of course they didn't listen, they weren't just gonna let go of him now. They stood there in silence, multiple guns pointed at them, Will mumbling something from the exhaustion. Kay told them to let go of him again, and Joyce protested, but fearing for her life, and that of Will if she didn't put him back on the ground, she did as she was asked. Now it was Mike who hesitated, yes of course he didn't want to be killed by thirty something soldiers, but he was afraid of why they wanted them to put Will down so badly. And his fears were proven right, as Joyce was reassuring them that they had an explanation for why they were there, three soldiers lunged forward on Kay's command and reached for Will. Mike's eyes widened as he slowly put the piece together and realized they weren't there to arrest them for trespassing this military territory, but they were there because they saw what Will had done. He ran back toward his friend, but he was too late, Kay was prepared and had soldiers holding him, and now Joyce, who had had the same realization as Mike, back from getting to Will. They were forced to watch how Will opened his eyes weakly as he was lifted off the ground and carried toward the back of a humvee, where his hands were tied behind his back before a soldier shut the door and tapped on the vehicle, letting his friend know he was good to go to start driving.
Kay didn't say anything to the pair as she stepped in a vehicle herself, before signaling to the soldiers holding them back that they could let go. Mike and Joyce had still tried to chase the parade of humvees driving back into the upside down, but obviously were too slow to catch up, and both of them realized they had just lost Will.