freaks of nature - stenbrough

-19-

TW: comas, death, stitches, surgery?, mentions of self harm
(A/N): i know these last few chapters have been pretty shitty. i'm just trying to move the storyline along as fast as i can...also i struggled to write this chapter so i hope it's okay x

——

Eddie spoke too soon. Almost straight after he said that, they got swarmed with agents. They didn't even have to tell Ben to leave them and take Bill, he just did it.

"Lower your guns. I am your superior officer!" Richie boomed in Stryker's voice.
"Who is this mutant and where are you taking him?" One of them growled.
"Eddie Kaspbrak. Bill found him on Cerebro. He's dangerous so I've been asked to move him to a more secure facility, so if you will excuse me, I have to go."
"Under who's orders?"
"President Clinton's."

Richie didn't need to see Eddie's face to know he rolled his eyes. He probably would've face palmed too if he wasn't handcuffed.

"Sorry Agent Stryker, seems that you have important business to attend to," one of the agents saluted.

He waved the rest of the group off and they carried on walking.

"How the fuck did that work?" Richie whispered.
"No idea. Take the cuffs off me and I'll run us over there. We don't know how much time we have."

——

Ben arrived with Bill. He made himself visible and laid the boy down. He wasn't moving or breathing at all.

"Fuck," Mike stood and walked over.
"Does anyone know CPR?" Ben asked.
"I do," Beverly stood up, "someone call the ambulance."

Mike called for his grandfather and told him to class the ambulance. Beverly ran over and knelt down next to Bill. She felt for a pulse and found nothing. Beverly placed her hand on Bill's chest and laced it with her other one creating a fist. She began pushing in rhythmic beats. After thirty compressions she blocked his nose, opened his mouth and blew some air in. When he didn't respond she repeated this over and over.

After doing this over and over for three minutes, Bill still wasn't responding. Tears were now forming in Beverly's eyes as she made a desperate attempt to save him. She kept going, letting her emotions get the better of her.

"Bev," Mike said, bending down next to her, "he's gone."
"No...no he can't be," he sobbed, "he can't."

Mike slowly took her arms away from Bill and she didn't put up much of a fight. Ben dame over and she collapsed in his arms.

"Don't blame yourself," Ben told her quietly, "he was gone before I got here."

She buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed loudly as Ben comforted her. Ben held back his own tears attempting to console her, as he knew crying would make her feel worse. Mike sat with Betty and put an arm around her shoulder. She was crying too, but not as much. Betty was used to hiding her emotions as she was a government agent for years, but she couldn't stop the tears. Eddie had explained that if Bill didn't wake up, then Stanley wouldn't either meaning they were both gone.

Betty and Mike had become unlikely friends. Best friends. She helped on the farm most days and they had a similar sense of humour. Mike and Stanley had also been close friends so they were always hanging out together and most of the time Betty was there too. There wasn't much to it, they'd just clicked.

Betty grabbed a scalpel out of her bag and walked over to Bill.

"Hey hey hey, what are you doing?" Mike called out.
"Do you want me to remove his tracker?"
"Oh yeah...right."
"It's in his shoulder...h-help me roll him over, Mike."