Love And Hellfire

Chapter 7: 9 Days

"Quiet please..." Chief Powell spoke softly, as the last few residents took their seats. The hall was jam packed, which made Nancy even more anxious. So many people with so much to say, it was bound to be a long night. She kept reminding herself of why she was there. For the good of the future of Hawkins. To collect intel. To hopefully, save the world.

"Full House tonight." Her mother muttered into her ear, looking around herself. People still continued to seat themselves and chat, nobody seemed to have listened to the police chief. He paced the stage, positioned just behind the pilar in which a large microphone sat on top of it. Grabbing it suddenly, Chief Powell boomed down the speaker "Find your seats please!"
The people of Hawkins were taken aback by his temper, it was completely out of character for him. Often compared to the old Chief, Jim Hopper, Powell commended himself on his good nature and positive attitude and relationships with the towns people. Sadly, that all seemed to be changing tonight.
Those few caught out talking quickly took to their seats.
"Thank you." He sighed deeply. His tone of voice was worrying to Nancy. He sounded exhausted, scared, nervous. What kind of news was he about to unveil to this potentially angry mob of people.
"Good evening everybody." He tapped the top of the mic, comically before pointing to his right hand man, officer Callahan. Callahan stood just to the side of him, guarding a large chalk board. Being given the nod by Powell, Callahan spun the board around, the opposite side adorned with numbers and words.
The top line read;
'Casualties: 72'.
These weren't just words. They were statistics. They were keeping count of the dead and the wounded. They were secretly monitoring the situation, day by day. Very similar to what her and the gang were doing, Nancy thought. She was impressed with the police force, for the first time in a while.
"I'm not going to beat around the bush." Powell continued, looking to the floor with great demise. "Tonight's meeting is no where near a positive one, and as a police force who's job it is to protect and preserve life, we aim to be honest with you people..."
Anxiously, Mrs Wheeler took Nancy by the hand and gripped it tightly. She was clearly frightened. Frightened for the lives of her children as well as herself. Tonight could change everything. Nancy felt terrible guilt. She was only there to gather intel, not to truly sit and comfort her mother who was terrified. Perhaps she should have been there for her mother more, she thought.
Taking a deep breath, Powell made his looming announcement.
"This morning, army squadron 2003 recieved anonymous intel that their group leader, Jonah Carver had been spotted entering the diseased part of west Hawkins...." He explained. "Since then, the entire squadron dispatched themselves to the area to follow up on the intel.... they have since not returned."
There were a few gasps and murmurs from the crowd. Nancy anxiously made mental notes of all this information. She knew of Jonah, older brother of Jason, but not much more. And this anonymous tip? She found it to be very suspicious.
"We will be dispatching a follow up group as soon as possible." Powell added. "Be assured, we are doing everything we can to track down these young men and bring them home so they can continue their good work to protect Hawkins...."
"Why don't you go out there and find them yourselves!" An angry older lady jumped to her feet, sobbing as she shook her fist to the chief. As she was comforted by a nearby resident, Nancy assumed it must have been the mother of one of the missing soldiers. Understandably she was upset.

"Now, moving on to.. an uneasy topic that is not up for discussion." Chief Powell revealed, menacingly. The towns people fell silent, anxiously waiting on the words of their leader.
"As we continue to assess the potential disease that is infecting our town, we have to think to the future of Hawkins...." He began. "By the look of things.... in 9 possibly 10 days time we will be looking at a complete infection..."
"What does that mean!" A tall, stocky built, muscled man jumped up from his seat, shouting at the police chief. "What aren't you telling us!?"
A few other members of the crowd joined him, ranting and raving, shaking their fists in rage. The police chief held his head in one hand, wiping the beads of sweat from upon it as he took yet another deep breath. Officer Callahan tried his best to ease the crowd off, waving his arms down to them.
After a few moments, the chief finally snapped.
"Quiet!" He bellowed down the mic, causing the angry mob that was developing to completely disperse. Taking another deep breath, he continued with a heavy heart.
"We have come to the decision that, if things don't change dramatically for this town, we will have to completely evacuate all residents in 9 days time."
The crowd immediately broke out in shrieks of terror. One after another, residents challenged the words of the police, arguing until they were blue in the face.
Mrs Wheeler tightened her grip on Nancy.
"This is it." Her mother said sadly, swallowing the prominent lump in her throat. "We're losing our home Nancy."
Nancy didn't have the words for her mother in that moment. She didn't know what to say. Panicked, she tried to make sense of what was happening. After all, how was she possibly going to tell her friends all of this?