The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

022. we don't stop believing

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.
2x09: The Gate

ONE MONTH LATER
DECEMBER 15

So Corey's parents were getting divorced, which was really fun.

(Sarcasm.)

After the events in the tunnels, after they'd all made it out and Billy's headlight had dimmed so that they could see again, Sam crumbled to the ground. It could have been a multitude of things that made her pass out—the fumes of the tunnels, the amount of running, the exhaustion, the anxiety, many things—but they took one look at her torso, and they quickly concluded that was the real reason.

Steve forced the kids to let him drive, claiming that one of them driving would never happen again (little did he know that Corey would be starting Driver's Ed soon). He rushed them all to the hospital, this time with Sam laying across the four boys' laps instead of Steve, and it was much more enjoyable considering how light Sam was and how clingy Mike was being since Corey saved him.

Corey knew Sam hated hospitals, knew the last thing she would ever want was let anyone bring her to one and be treated. But this injury needed attention—Corey had seen it when they picked Sam up from Hawkins Lab and rushed her to the Byers household. There was way too much flesh missing to be considered normal, and way too much blood for any sane person to handle.

Sam was definitely not sane, so Corey knew this would be a problem.

Corey also knew Stephanie being called from home, discovering her little sister was in the hospital—in the same place her parents had been when they'd gotten the news—would be a problem. He knew Stephanie's anxiety was serious, because she'd forced Corey's father to drive her to the hospital.