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Will was still screaming and crying while he was rushed inside the lab, voice muffled through an oxygen mask, tossing and turning on the stretcher. Joyce was frantically trying to reassure him he was going to be okay, holding his cold hands. Hopper, Mike, and Ethan ran behind her and Will on the stretcher, Bob just a few feet behind after he messily parked the car outside in the parking lot.
The lab people began to lead Hopper elsewhere, being in those tunnels so long could apparently make him very disgusting or possibly infected with some unknown disease. There were clumps of slime on his clothes, his hands and feet freezing cold, even after being basked in the shitty heater in his car. He gives a last glance toward Will and Joyce before following the people in white hazmat suits into another room. Mike and Ethan ran into the room where the emergency services had Will put in, watching as they went over vitals, blood pressure, heart rate, etcetera. His temperature at 106F, yet he was as pale as a ghost, still wailing and crying.
Ethan backs against the wall, unable to look at Will. Mike places a hand on his shoulder, trying to give his friend a little comfort while also seeking some for himself.
"Will, where does it hurt?" a nurse asks, hooking up an IV.
"All over," Will groans as they cut his blue sweatshirt off his chest, drenched in sweat.
"Where does it hurt the most, Will?" one of the doctors asks him again.
"Everywhere! Everywhere!" he screams, clenching the sheets beneath him.
The nurses and doctors hook wires and tubes into him while Joyce sobs into Bob's arms, Ethan and Mike standing flat against the wall behind them, terrified. Whatever was in the syringe they injected into his bloodstream had knocked him out, leaving the doctors to be able to put more wires and tubes in him, now calm and not shaking, screaming, and crying.
"I-I shouldn't be here, Mike. I have to go." Ethan whispers frantically, grabbing Mike's hand to squeeze it.
Mike puts his free hand on Ethan's shoulder, glancing back at Will. "We are not letting them take you. Whatever it takes, you aren't going anywhere." He reassures, leading Ethan out to the hall for them to both calm down. "I promised Will, and we all promised each other, that you're not going to be taken by the bad men."
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By the next morning, Mike and Ethan were sleeping in the hall, covered in blankets thanks to Joyce. Will was still calmly asleep. Bob and Joyce had been up all night worrying for Will, Hopper the same. They sit in some chairs in the hall with the kids beside them, slumped over each other for comfort. Joyce, restless, moves to wake Mike and Ethan up, as they were gonna run tests on Will while he was awake and the two could provide him some much needed comfort.
It was around eight in the morning, the sun burning bright into the room as Mike and Ethan walked in. They sit beside Will's bed, patiently waiting for him to wake up. Shortly after, the doctors joined them after Will woke up, including Owens. He looked at Ethan, giving him a small smile.
