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No questions need to be asked. They know what 'they' are.
Seems Lucas was on the right track trying to keep everyone accounted for, counting each second standing around as a second wasted, a second they could've used to gain an advantage on Vecna. Nancy cocks her rifle back, getting ready to aim and fire. She uses the scope to look out into the distance, waiting.
Ethan seems hyper focused on Will. His eyes are stuck on him, unable to peel them away. Joyce quickly understands why. From where she stood, she couldn't see down the small gap between Will's collar and his neck.
Those veins. Those black veins from before. Ethan had them, not for long, but Will had them longer.
It wasn't Vecna who left that oozy, venomous color running through their veins.
It was the Mind Flayer.
Ethan shares a nervous look with Joyce and Jonathan. Will pushes himself to his feet before staring straight at Ethan beside him. It's an unnerving stare, something that pinches his heart. That stare... it's otherworldly, like Henry is staring straight back at him, like he expects to see El, but it's just Ethan.
It's just the failed experiment.
And then, just as fast as it'd come, it'd gone.
Only one eye remained glossed. One stuck in reality, one trapped in another plane.
Ethan can't find a single word to push out of his mouth. He can only stare as the black grows, trailing down Will's hands, up his neck, across his face. The one brown eye, Will's reality eye, tells him everything. He's scared.
"Hey, guys!" Dustin calls back from beside Nancy, voice echoing across the land, "There's an army headed straight towards us!"
Ethan looks away from Will momentarily, landing his eyes on what Dustin warns them of. Demos. Hundreds of Demogorgons. They sprint, moving faster than cars on highways. They snarl like beasts, mouths opening like flowers as they locate the group through sound.
Ethan redirects his attention to Will. He grabs the boy before a sound can escape his lips, scooping him up bridal style. And he runs. He just runs. It's all he can do to protect Will.
Dustin, Mike, Hallow, and Lucas watch as Ethan runs as fast as he can, weighed down by an extra hundred-twenty pounds of Will in his arms. He seems to have a fraction of a plan. He runs towards a mountain, seemingly looking to get to the high ground.
Either way, he needs to disconnect Will from the hive mind. He cannot let him suffer. They have guns, fire, grenades, knives. They plan to kill. Will can feel everything like this. He can't let his best friend suffer anymore, he can't let him go through that again. The screams, the cries, the lain. He cant do it again. He can't watch it happen again.
