WILDFIRE ↝ E. MUNSON

[34]

Lily Mayfield always thought she knew what it meant when people said that, in the middle of a crisis, time stopped.

It had certainly slowed down during the Battle of Starcourt Mall, when she felt as though she was racing through molasses to kneel by Billy's side as he took his final breaths. One last shared glance with Eddie before his eyes shut had both felt as though it was over all too soon, and as if that moment could have stretched out forever. But nothing had prepared Lily for the feeling of time stopping completely as the weight of Max's absence crashed over her like a tidal wave.

"No," she whimpered, leaning back against the figure behind her, who she then realized was Debbie through the tears blurring her vision. "No no no no no."

"Lily," Sarah spoke up, and when Lily finally looked back up at her friends, she saw that they now all stood in a circle surrounding her, protecting her from the prying eyes of those in the waiting room, though in the chaos ensuing after the earthquake, people were far from focused on the group in the center of the room. "She's alive." Sarah continued, kneeling down next to her. "She's in surgery right now."

"S-she's alive?" Lily stammered, looking around frantically at the others.

"Come on," Steve suggested, jerking his head in the direction of the hallway. "Maybe we should all talk about this in private, yeah?"

"Y-yeah," Lily said, though as Steve began to pull her up, she yelped in pain at the burning feeling once again spreading through her shoulder, the final remnants of adrenaline melting away after their race to get Eddie help.

"Lily?" Debbie asked as she flinched away from Steve, almost as if she'd been burned with a hot iron, and Lily's eyebrows furrowed as she cradled her left arm, suddenly dizzy as the pain coursed through her upper body.

"I-I don't know what's wrong with me." she said, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. "It hurts."

"Hey, we need help over here!" Steve shouted over the crowds, bounding over to where a nurse waited behind a table, and Nick stepped closer to Lily, leaning down to take his original place.

"Here, give me your other hand." Nick said, tentatively studying where Lily still cradled her arm. "Does that one hurt too?"

"Just the one, I think," Lily said, hesitantly holding out her other hand in Nick's direction and allowing the girl to slowly pull Lily to her feet, with Debbie supporting her from where she still sat behind her, and together, the two girls managed to get Lily up as Steve returned with a wheelchair.

"It's a madhouse in here," Steve said as they helped Lily into the chair, the redhead once again cradling her arm to keep it steady as he wheeled her out of the waiting room, followed by Dustin, Debbie, and Nick while the others waited for any other news about their friends. "The gates have to be worse than we thought, worse than what Nancy saw in her vision."

Suddenly it all clicked into Lily's mind that the earthquake rolling through Hawkins and causing their car to crash hadn't just been her friends in trouble in the Upside Down, but rather that Vecna had succeeded in his plan when he'd hurt Max. Despite having somehow survived her encounter with Vecna, according to their friends, Max had still been the fourth and final sacrifice, and Vecna won.

And somewhere in the hospital, amidst all the screaming and chaos of Vecna's plan coming to fruition, the two most important people in her life were fighting for their lives.

Lily had hardly registered when Steve had rolled her into an examination room, lined with too-white walls as they were followed by a nurse with a clipboard held tightly in one arm as she studied the redhead in front of her.