---

     WILL SCREAMED IN PAIN AS THE DOCTORS WHEELED HIM THROUGH THE HALLS OF HAWKINS LAB. Miles followed behind trying to keep his composure. Will wouldn't stop screaming and they had no idea what was wrong; Miles was scared.

     When they got into Will's room they moved him from the gurney onto the bed. Joyce cried as her son continued to scream and writhe in pain, a few tears escaped Miles' eyes.

     Doctors milled around the boy, reading vitals and connecting Will to various machines. "Will, where does it hurt?" A nurse asks.

     "All over!" He says weakly, the pain reaching such intensity that he begins to feel numb.

     "She says it feels like he's burning, check for burns." Says the doctor. They take off his gown to look. "I don't see anything."

     "Where does it hurt the most, Will?"

     "Everywhere! EVERYWHERE!" He screams. They inject him with morphine and the room falls quiet.

---

     MILES STAYED BY WILL'S SIDE THE ENTIRE NIGHT, NOT LEAVING ONCE. The boy had called his dad to let him know that he was at the hospital with the Byers, the man seemed indifferent, more concerned about reminding him of the chores he'd need to get done once he was home. Joyce had met with the doctors and was now back and talking to Bob in the far corner of the room.

     "Mom?" The sound of Will's weak voice could be heard and all attention was drawn to him. Miles, Mike, and Joyce all rushed to his side.

     "Hey." The woman smiles at her son.

     Bob exits the room calling down the hall, "is there a doctor? We need a doctor!"

     "Sweetie, how you feeling? You okay?" Joye asks warmly.

     Bob comes back in, "Okay, they're on their way." He comes to Will's bedside, "Hey."

     Will looks at the man with confusion. "Who is that?" He asks his mom.

     Joyce is taken aback, "What?"

     The man chuckles nervously, "It's me, big guy. It's Bob." 

     He reaches to hold the boy's hand and Will pulls away, "Are you... doctor?" 

     "No. No, it's just me. Just... just Bob."

     The group looks at the boy in concern. The doctors come in along with Hopper. Dr.Owens sits in front of Will, shining a light in his eyes, "Do you know your name?"

     "Will."

     "Your full name?"

     "William Byers."

     "Do you know... do you know who I am?" He asks.

     Will thinks for a moment, "A doctor."

     The man nods his head, "Have we met before?"

     He shakes his head, "I don't remember."

     Dr.Owens hums, "You don't remember me?" Will shakes his head. "Okay. How about this guy here?" The man asks pointing at Miles. The boy smiles at Will as the pit of anxiety grows in his stomach. "Do you know who he is?" Will only stares at the boy for a while. "It's alright. Take your time."

     "That's... my friend... Miles." Says Will and the other boy releases the breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

     "How about me, kid?" Hopper questions. "You remember me?" He looks at the man for a moment before shaking his head. "they tell me you helped save me last night, you remember that?" He shakes his head again.

     "Do you remember anything about last night?" Asks Dr.Owens. "About what happened?"

     "I remember..." He begins. "They hurt me."

     "You mean the doctors?"

     He shakes his head, "No. The soldiers."

     "The soldiers hurt you?"

     "They shouldn't have done that," Will says, but it's clear he's not all there. "It upset him."

     Dr. Owens pulls a photo of the picture Will drew of the shadow monster out of his folder. "You say 'upset him'." He shows the boy the photo, "Is that him?" Will looks back at the doctor and nods. "Okay. Okay, I wanna try something. It's gonna seem a little odd at first, but I think it's really gonna help us understand what's going on." The man puts a hand on Will's shoulder, "Is that okay?"

     Will nods, "Okay."

     Dr. Owens leaves, coming back a few moments later with a cart, and a piece of the vines from the tunnels inside. "Now, Will, I want you to just let us know if you feel anything, okay?" A doctor lights a blow torch and begins lowering it towards the vine. Miles rubs at his chest; a nervous tic he's picked up due to anxiety. The flame touches the vine. "You feel anything?"

     "A little sting." Will shifts uncomfortably.

     "It stings? Where?"

     The other doctor moves the flame closer and Will grunts in pain, grabbing his chest, "My chest."

     Dr. Owens nods at the other man and as he moves the flame away Will starts to relax. "Okay, son." The doctor moves the flame closer once again and Will tenses, clawing at his chest. "How about now?"

     "It- it burns!" The creature screeches as the flame burns it and Will yells out in pain. "It burns!"

     "Where?"

     "Everywhere!" Will yells.

     "That's enough," Joyce speaks up. "That's enough."

     Will continues to scream. Hopper jumps in, "Stop! You heard her, that's enough! That's it. We're done."

     They listen. "Okay." Says Dr. Owens.

     "Sweetie- sweetie it's okay." Joyce calms.

---

     MILES WAS WORRIED, HIS MIND OVERWHELMED WITH EACH RUSHING THOUGHT, EVERY ONE OF THEM CLAWING TO THE FOREFRONT OF HIS MIND. He didn't realize he'd zoned out until he heard Mike's voice, "What's wrong? Are you hurting again?" He asks Will.

     "Uh- I saw something." He says, shaking slightly. 

     "In your now-memories?"

     He nods, leaning forward he whispers, "The shadow monster... I think I know how to stop him."

     Mike leaves to get a doctor, Miles scoots closer to Will's bed. "Are you okay?" Before Will can say anything Miles shakes his head, "That was a stupid question, I'm sorry." He apologizes. The boy looks at Will's hand, thinking for a moment of holding it, pushing the thought away he looks a moment at the floor before looking back up at his friend, "It's sort of like deja vu, don't you think?" Will gives him a questioning look. "Just last year you were in the hospital... and I was at your bedside, just like this."

     The boy nods, "Thank you," Will says.

     Miles' eyebrows furrow, "For what?"

     "For being here." The boy says simply. He shakes his head, "I don't think I could do this without you." Miles smiled warmly in return.

     Soon enough doctors came and got Will and they all met together as the boy explained how he thought he could stop them, with much reluctance from some of the many scientists involved, he was able to convince them he knew what he was talking about.

     Will had pinpointed the "heart" of the shadow monster, Dr. Owens expressed his confusion. Will shook his head, "I don't know... I just know he doesn't want me to see there." They all stood in the conference room, scientists out-numbering Will, Joyce, Bob, Hopper, Mike, and Miles nearly 5 to 1. Will kept pointing to the "heart" speaking, "I think it's important."

     Joyce, Bob, Mike, and Miles all went with Will back to his room. A doctor came and hooked him back up to each of the machines he had been connected to already with the addition of a machine that would monitor his brain activity. The rest of the scientists suited up, ready to go down into the tunnels to destroy what Will had told them to.

     Miles sat the closest to Will's bed, he rested his head against the edge of the mattress. After a while, the boy began to dose off as a result of not having slept for nearly 3 days now. Just as his eyes closed he suddenly sat up alert, hearing Will begin to cry, "Will? What's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

     "I'm sorry." He cried, catching the rest of the group's attention.

     "What? What do you mean, sweetie?" Joyce questioned in concern.

     Will looked to his mother, whimpering, "He- he made me do it."

     Joyce sat straighter, "Who? Who made you do what?"

     "I told you." The boy said with wide eyes. "They upset him. They shouldn't have done that. They shouldn't have upset him."

     Miles looked up with wide eyes, "The spy." He jumped from his seat, "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." Mike jumped up as he came to the same realization, following close behind. He reached the guards, "It-It's a trap. I need to get in there." He raised his voice. "I need to warn them!"

     Mike jumped in, knowing he could be forceful where Miles could not, "You heard him! Let him through!" He yelled. The boy began trying to shove through the soldiers, "He said it's a trap!"

     "Please!" Miles begged. "Please! It's a trap!"

     Their voices overlapped, Bob came and grabbed Mike but it didn't stop the two from shouting at the men. "It's a trap!" Mike screamed, "IT'S A TRAP!"

      "PLEASE! IT'S A TRAP!"

     They all got quiet as alarms began to blare throughout the lab. "What the hell?" Bob asked in confusion.

     Miles and Mike looked at one another with fearful expressions, Mike looked back at Bob, "We're too late."

     "What?"

     "WE'RE TOO LATE!" Mike screamed, shoving the man away from him.

     They ran back to Will's room, Joyce met them near the door, "What's going on?" She asked.

     Mike looked to Miles and back to Joyce, "We're under attack."

     Bob and Joyce moved, unhooking Will from the machines. Miles jumped as he heard loud pops coming from somewhere inside the building. Bob looked back with a fearful expression, "those are gunshots!"

     "He's lying!" Will screamed. "He's lying!"

     "Okay, Will, Will, listen. Do you know who I am?" Joyce asked her son. The boy looked blankly back at her. "Do you know who I am?" She yelled.

     "You're... you're- you're- you're mom."

     Joyce looked to Bob, "Hold him down."

     The man did as he was told and Will began to yell again, "No! No! Let go! No! No! Let me go! Let go!" 

     Joyce took a needle filled with morphine and stuck it in the boy's arm, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." The woman repeated as the boy continued to scream. Mike held his hands over his ears, watching the scene unfold with a shocked expression, Miles rocked back and forth on his feet as he rubbed at his chest, finding it hard to breathe.

     Joyce pushed down on the end of the syringe and the boy calmed until he was knocked unconscious.

     Hopper and Dr. Owens burst into the room. Hopper looked between Joyce, the syringe, and Will's still body. Before he could say anything he was interrupted by a loud roar, one that sounded nearly like the one that plagued all Miles' worst nightmares, one that he never thought he'd hear again.

     Pounding and the breaking and splintering of wood could be heard from down the hall, "We gotta go. We gotta go."Hopper quickly grabbed Will and ran out, everyone following behind. Joyce grabbed multiple containers of Morphine as she ran out of the room.

     They stopped suddenly, watching as an unknown creature tackled a man, tearing and knawing at his flesh. They turned to go the other way but saw a soldier being back into the corner. They turned to the left and quickly ran into the security room. Hopper sat Will on a desk as Dr. Owens closed and locked the door behind him.

     "Oh my god," Bob said breathlessly, drawing everyone's attention to the computer screens. There was the same creature down every hall of the building, each surrounded by the bodies of scientists and soldiers. The lights flickered and the power went out.

---

     THEY CONDUCTED A PLAN, AND TO SAY MILES WASN'T A FAN WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. They needed the power back on and the doors unlocked to get through the lab and the only person with any knowledge of computers who would be able to do that was Bob. Miles had faith in the man's knowledge of BASIC, but he did not have faith in the man's fighting abilities. The plan was that Hopper would go with him and help him down into the basement and come back while Bob rebooted the system.

     "No, Bob." Joyce cried, embracing the man.

     "It's okay." He said.

     "There's really no other way?" Miles questioned, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at Bob.

     The man pulled away from Joyce, shaking his head, "It's gonna be okay." He said looking at both Joyce and Miles. "Remember," He looked directly at Joyce, "Bob Newby, superhero."

     Miles ran to the man, wrapping him in a tight embrace, Bob hugged back. "Thank you." Miles spoke, voice slightly muffled by the fabric of the man's shirt. Bob pulled away, nodding. He looked at Hopper, "Let's do this."

     A few minutes passed and Hopper came back. They all waited impatiently, some pacing while others sat in the corner trying not to cry...

     Miles jumped when the lights suddenly came back on, he rose to his feet, standing with the rest of the group as they watched the screens all come back on. They could see Bob. "He made it." Mike sighed in awe.

     Dr. Owens turned on the radio, "Okay, Bob, can you hear us?" The man spoke into the microphone.

     "Loud and clear, Doc." Bob's voice could be heard through the radio speaker. "can you hear me back?"

     "Yeah, we hear you alright."

     "All right, give me a minute." They all watched Bob work at the computer anxiously. The man worked quickly and efficiently. "Open sesame." 

     A loud buzzing rang out through the lab. "It's open." Said Dr. Owens.

     "Son of a bitch did it." Hopper smiled and a small smile tugged at the corners of Miles' lips as well.

     "Right, I'll meet you outside," Bob said.

     "Nice job." Dr. Owens told the man. He stopped speaking into the radio. A roar could be heard, "Hold on a second chief." He told Hopper.

     "What's wrong?"

     "West stairwell's not clear anymore."

     "What's going on?" Bob asked worriedly.

     "We've got some company."

     "Where?"

     "The west stairwell."

     "I got an idea."

     They all watched as Bob went back to the computer, typing away. "What the hell is he doing?" Dr. Owens questioned worriedly.

     Miles' mind began to race and he looked behind him at Will's lifeless-looking body, quickly looking away. He focused on everything and nothing all at once; Will, Bob, Dr. Owens, Mike, Joyce, Hopper, and every one of those stupid creatures shown on the security monitors.

     The sprinkler system turned on in the floor above the west stairwell, attracting the creature that once resided there up and away. "Okay," Dr. Owens said, impressed, "That worked. Now, get out of there! Go! Go!" Hopper grunted as he lifted Will over his shoulder. "Wait a second, Cheif?" Dr. Owens called.

     "What?"

     "Take this." The man said handing him the hand-held radio.

     "What are you doing."

     "Any more surprises and I'll let you know." He said and the knot in Miles' chest seemed to grow if it were even possible. "Go. Go!"

     They all followed behind Hopper carefully as they navigated through the lab. A few minutes later they were out of the building, waiting for Bob to meet them.

     Joyce and Miles waited just outside the glass doors. A few minutes later they saw the man rush through the double doors that led into the main lobby from inside the facility. Miles smiled and Joyce told him to stay where he was, she stepped inside, "Bob?"

     He turned around slowly with a smile on his face, sighing in relief and joy as he saw the woman he loved. "Yeah!" Miles cheered quietly to himself.

     The next part seemed to happen in an instant. Miles's smile quickly dropped off his face as both he and Joyce let out horrified screams. Bob had been tackled, being slowly clawed apart. The man screamed in pain.

     Hearing them scream Hopper ran inside. "NO!" Joyce screamed. Hopper shot at the creature but more came until eventually, they were forced to leave him behind.

     Hopper came out carrying a crying Joyce. Miles was sobbing at this point, his hearing muffled, not even hearing Mike as he tried to call out to him. "What happened?" Mike asked Hopper as they came out of the building.

     Joyce continued to cry, fighting against Hopper as she tried to get back inside. "He's gone. He's gone." He told the woman.

     The sound of a car horn could be heard and they all look ahead. Jonathan's car screeches to a stop with Nancy in the passenger seat, "Come on. Get in!" He yells.

     Hopper takes Will and Mike grabs Miles' arm, dragging him towards the car. The world was quiet to the boy. 

     Bob Newby Superhero was dead.

---

screaming, crying, throwing up. i miss bob so much i can't.

vote and comment pls, i have nothing funny to say bc I'm sad.

~lee

06/20/2022