Other Friends

Chapter 14 - The Plan

"I'm never walking in the woods at night again." Bella complains as she walks next to Windy. The pre-teens ahead of them as Steve leads the group with a flashlight.

"Are we even sure he knows where to go?" Windy questions as they continue.

Bella doesn't get to respond as a voice starts to shout at them from a distance. "Hello? Who's there? Who's there?"

As the group reached the treeline they were met with a confusing sight. "Steve?" Both Nancy and Jonathan question.

"Nancy? Jonathan?" he questions right back.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy questions them.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asks right back.

"We're looking for Mike and Will." Jonathan answers, still confused.

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asks, looking over at the spooky looking labs.

"We're not sure." Nancy replies.

"Why?" Steve asks.

A monster screech fills the air answering the question. "Is it too late to say I really hate this plan?" Bella chimes in as they slowly make their way over to Jonathan's car and the security booth that lacked its guard.

All she got was a nod from Windy and Max as they watched Jonathan push a button to open the gate, but nothing worked, over and over again. "Let me try." Dustin says impatiently, "Let me try, Jonathan!" he says with sass, getting into the booth and pushing the button a bunch. "Son of a bitch! You know what..." he mutters as he just pushes the button harder.

After a minute of Dustin just pushing the button with no success, the gate suddenly opens with a buzzer noise. "Hey! I got it!" Dustin says with excitement.

Jonathan and Nancy get in the car and waste no time driving towards the lab. "Do we wait or do we follow?" Windy questions as they all just watch the car drive off.

"If they wanted us to follow, they would have given us a ride." Lucas replies as he paces around.

"Stop messing with the flashlight." Bella complains to Steve who was leaning on the security booth and just hitting the flashlight on his hand. "You'll break it."

"I'm not gonna break it." he replies, and continues to hit the flashlight.

"Guys?" Max says loudly, gaining everyone's attention as she looks towards the lab. A screeching of tires fills the air as they watch two sets of headlights turn a corner, driving towards them.

The car honks as it rapidly approaches them. "Look out!" Dustin shouts and they all move out of the way. Jonathan drives past but the chief's car stops in front of them, Lizzie in the passenger seat.

"Let's go!" Liz tells them, looking just as frazzled as they do.

No one argues as the preteens get into the back seat, "Come on! Get in!" Bella was quick to instruct, using her serious babysitter voice. Liz slides over so Windy gets in next to her, and the two other teens hop in the trunk, holding on the headrests as the Chief begins to speed again.

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Having a moment to sit together and 'relax' despite the scary situation, was what the three teens needed. Bella, Liz, and Windy all sat together on the floor, holding hands. They were together. They were alive. They were safe. Their adrenaline was going away from being in a familiar environment, allowing the actual fear to set in. Whatever this shadow monster is, it has basically possessed Will and has been trying to kill all of them with demodogs... great.