Major Malfunction (Sequel to American Heroes)

Lost and Found

Reaching underneath his bed, Will fishes his walkie-talkie out from behind a pile of old sketchbooks and hops back to his feet, waving the walkie-talkie at his mom, brother, and El. "Okay, got it."

El, holding her own walkie-talkie with a worried expression on her face, says, "Do we have to split up?"

"We'll cover more ground that way," Jonathan says. He squeezes her shoulder. "Besides, I'll be right there with you. You don't have to worry."

"Are you sure this freezer room will work?" Joyce asks as they leave the bedroom and go into the hall. "It won't be like the bathtub, and it'll be freezing. Will she be okay?"

"It's pitch black in there and all you can hear is the evaporator running." The four of them leave go into the living room where Lonnie is on the couch, watching the news and smoking a cigarette. Jonathan grabs his car keys from the end table. "It's the only place I can think of."

Keeping his voice low, Will whispers to them, "If El can't find him, we can still call Dustin and Max."

"Yes, of course," Joyce says, opening the door, "and who knows? Maybe Lucas knows where he is already."

As they leave the apartment and head down the stairs, Will glances at El. "Why didn't you tell me your powers were coming back?"

"I wasn't sure."

He hesitates, wondering whether or not he should mention the dreams he had of the Mind Flayer. Was it comparable? It's not like his dreams were anything more than that. They were just dreams, right?

"Will, El, come on," Jonathan calls from the landing below. Will looks at El. No more secrets. He opens his mouth to tell her at the same time she opens her mouth to say something, but Jonathan shouts, "Guys, come on!"

The two of them rush after Jonathan and Joyce, heading out of the apartment building and to the parking lot. Will meets El's eyes, holding the walkie-talkie up. "Radio contact at all times, okay?"

She holds hers up. "Okay."

"If we do this fast enough," Joyce says, "then we can be back before five to celebrate your birthday." She ruffles Will's hair. "We'll figure this out."

"See you soon," Jonathan says, giving Will a quick hug before getting in his car with El. Will hops in the passenger's seat of his mom's car before they leave for the beach.

Joyce glances at Will. "I'm really glad you told me about last night."

Looking up from his walkie-talkie, he purses his lips. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything before."

"It's okay, Will. I understand not wanting to tell your mom everything. I was a teenager once, too."

Will forces a smile.

She taps her fingers on the wheel. "I know you haven't mentioned it much, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but... I never really understood what happened between you and Mike. I know people grow apart, but you two were always so close."

That familiar lump lodges in Will's throat.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me."

He shakes his head, choking out, "No, it – it's fine."

His mom keeps quiet as he takes a breath. "Before his accident," he starts, his voice strained, "we had a really bad fight, and I told him I didn't want to talk to him anymore. That – that's the last thing I told him before it happened."

"Oh, sweetie-"

"I was going to call him after our fight, but then Dustin called and told me what happened and I... I couldn't-" He sucks in a breath, covering his face with his hands. "I know I should've gone. I... I wanted to, but I – I just... couldn't. And I couldn't even talk to him because – because I'm a horrible person."

"Will, don't say that. You're not a horrible person."

"Everyone thinks so. I know it. No one in the Party even wants to talk to me anymore, and Mike couldn't even stand to come here this weekend to see me."

"That's not true. Hey, look at me. That's not true, Will. Sweetie, you're so so kind and so caring, and I know your friends can see that, and I know Mike can see that. What happened to him, I know it was hard on you, and I know there's a lot going on right now, but you're not a bad person, Will. I think you just need to talk to him, so you can understand what's going on and how you both are feeling."

"How we're feeling?"

"It's good to communicate, that way everyone's on the same page."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to do that if he's missing."

His mom sighs, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. "We'll find him. Don't worry. Everything will be okay."

They pull into the parking lot of the beach a few minutes later and park by the lifeguard station. Walking up to the counter, a girl behind it shakes her head. "You can't go in the water right now. There's a storm coming."

"We're not here to go in the water," Joyce says. "We actually wanted to ask about a party that happened here last night where a boy may have been injured."

"Oh, that." The girl rolls her eyes. "Don't worry about it. We let the idiot who was supposed to be on duty last night go."

"Actually, we wanted to know what happened to the boy who got hurt."

Staring blankly at them, she shrugs. "Kid had some sort of fit. That's all I know."

"Was he taken to a hospital?"

"Far as I know."

"Do you know which one?"

"I'm guessing the one down the block."

"Okay. Thank you."

Joyce turns to go, but Will holds up a hand and gestures to the girl. "Were there any backpacks left on the beach yesterday?"

The girl motions to a bin on the other end of the counter. "That's our lost and found. If anything's found on the beach, it'll be there if someone didn't steal it."

Will and Joyce go over to the bin and sift through the items. Towels, bags, keys, phones. No sign of their backpacks.

As they walk back to the car, Will tries to keep his breath steady. Everything's going to shit. Complete shit. He nearly killed someone. His backpack with a journal revealing everything about his powers is missing. Mike is missing. Even Daniel is missing.

"Will," Jonathan's voice breaks out from the walkie-talkie, "are you there?"

Will scrambles to answer it. "Jonathan? Hello? Did El find Mike? Over."

"Uh, not exactly," his brother murmurs. There's a beat of silence in which Will's mind goes over all the possible meanings of what Jonathan's saying. "I think we should-" Jonathan's voice is uneasy. "I think we should meet up. Did you find your backpacks? And do you know what happened to that kid?"

"No," he says, "we didn't find our backpacks. We looked through the lost and found, but they weren't there." He sighs. "But the lifeguard said Jake could've been taken to the hospital a block away from the beach. Over."

"Huh. Well, it's good we know where Jake is. We'll meet you at the hospital then."

"I just don't know where our backpacks could be," Will murmurs.

Joyce squeezes his shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find them somewhere."

Will nods even though he doubts they'll find his backpack anywhere. It's lost for good; someone will read his journal and turn him into those people from Hawkins Lab or whoever else wants to do experiments on freaks like him.

Into the walkie-talkie, he says, "We're heading to the hospital now, and we'll wait for you by the entrance. Over and out."