What's Left of Us

Camping

A/N: Kind of a filler but not really. Last chapter before the Lab and everything else that will happen. 

Camping

Mike dragged his feet as they walked through the forest, they had decided to walk through the woods because there was shade, and it would be easy to just follow the highway from a distance. They walked in an awkward line, however Mike was at the back with Lucas and Max, while Eleven and Percy led the line at the front, talking about their experiences with Dustin and Will behind listening in awe.

Mike wasn't aggravated per se, he didn't know what the feeling was? Jealousy — maybe? Eleven was getting really close to him and, listening in awe and— and

What am I thinking, get over yourself — Mike thought to himself.

Still though, as much as he tried, he wanted to walk up there and tell this Percy kid that El was his girlfriend and that his stories weren't nearly as cool as Eleven's. Apparently his super power was combustion?

Pfft who cares about that — So what if he could make things explode with his mind. Mike tried to focus on the map and where to go, only occasionally looking up from the ground to steer them in the right direction. After a few miles they stopped to eat, Max had made sure that they packed lunches in their backpacks before leaving the hotel, simple peanut butter sandwiches and mini bags of chips, nothing special.

As they sat and ate lunch in an opening in the trees near a small stream, Eleven sat by Mike and was trying to talk to him about the plan when they got there. They were only an hour or so outside of Fort Wayne's city limits, and while El didn't know much about the city, she had been to Chicago before to visit her sister. To her, Mike seemed noticeably...distracted, or not all there. It was hard to tell, and she kept talking to him but he wasn't speaking to her like he normally did.

"Mike, is everything okay?" Eleven asked, looking him in the eyes.

"Yeah, everything is fine, we should probably get moving again soon" he responded, not meeting her gaze.

This was the only way for him to ignore his jealousy, and he didn't want to argue with El.

Eleven could tell something wasn't right, she knew Mike and he never acted like this. "Boyfriends don't lie, Mike" Eleven said abruptly, "tell me what is wrong" she finished.

"Nothing is wrong Eleven" Mike replied.

She thought about how much she loved him and she got butterflies inside all over again. He never really called her that though, she thought. This was the only way for her to know for sure that something was off. She couldn't figure it out though, but she decided when they started walking again to walk closer to him so she could be by his side and maybe that would make him feel better.

"Okay everyone, we are here" Mike pointed at the map, "and, Fort Wayne is here" he pointed again, only a short distance from their location.

"We have about an hour of walking to go, and we will be going in and out of some neighborhoods, but the Lab isn't far. So let's talk strategy. We can't go in there without a plan to defeat Brenner." Mike said, as he looked at El, "she still doesn't have her powers back so...we are going to have to be smart about this"

Percy paused and looked up, "wait, what?! She doesn't have her powers..? What are you all thinking? This is insane?!" he began to panic a bit. Everyone was just staring at him questioningly.