Return & Redemption

Part 4

"Code red!" Steve shouted into the house, slamming the front door open. "Guys! Code red! Code freakin' red!"

"Steve," I grabbed his arm. "Calm down, weirdo!"

"Absolutely not!" he swiveled around to face me. "Do you understand what this means, Sanya?"

"Uh, no! Because you haven't told me shit!" I spat.

Steve groaned. "No time for that! Come on!" he slipped through my grasp and sprinted down the stairs to the basement. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but followed him anyways.

"Hey!" I heard Steve yell into the basement, before following him down into the darkness.

"Steve?" Dustin, the curly-haired kid from earlier responded.

"Ugh! Did you guys not hear me shouting 'code red' fifty times?" Steve muttered.

"Not really," I heard Nancy's little brother, Mike say. "We're watching a movie."

"Okay, fine, whatever!"

"Hey, are you okay?" a red-haired girl who was curled under who I assumed was Lucas, the older brother of my cousin's daughter's best friend.

"No! I'm not, thanks for asking though!" Steve exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lucas asked, annoyed.

"Oh, you want to know what's wrong with me? You really want to know? Well, I'll tell you, bud. I'll tell you what the hell is wrong with me," Steve eyes were red and bulging. He looked terrifying. "I just saw Billy." There was a moment of silence as all the kids looked at each other in shock. "That's right. Billy. Billy Hargrove. Max's brother. A.K.A. the guy we saw die last summer!"

"You've got to be kidding," Mike shook his head.

"I'm definitely not, but thanks for asking," Steve said incredulously. "She—" he pointed at me. "—basically ran over him in the middle of the street!"

"Okay, what are you saying?" the redhead said, standing up. "That...that Billy's alive?"

"I don't know," Steve breathed. "All I know is that I just saw some guy who looked exactly like him lying in a hospital bed at Hawkins General about 30 minutes ago."

"We should go," Dustin said. "We have to go see if it's him. We need Max to confirm!"

"What? No!" Lucas interrupted. "That's so messed up!"

"No, he's right," the girl (who I assumed was Max) insisted. "We have to make sure," she nodded confidently, a slight sense of hope seemed to emit from her eyes. "I have to make sure."