Mike parks the car in an alcove where families who picnic leave their vehicles.
"Alright, does everyone have a flashlight?" Mike looks around at the group to confirm that they're all holding working flashlights.
"Okay so it's not a far walk, but we need to be extra careful of rock slides. We get my machine and the reading from the earthquake and we return to the car. Simple mission. If you see something—anything—out of the ordinary, don't go alone. Stay with the group. This is very important," Dustin says seriously. He makes eye contact with each of them. They nod their heads in agreement. "Huddle is over. Let's get moving!"
It takes exactly 3 minutes for the group to break up.
Will, Max and Lucas let the others walk ahead choosing to toss rocks into the still water. Max's rock skips further than Will's in the water, but Lucas's trumps them both. His makes an extra three skips before vanishing into the lake. He smirks. Max fights him playfully for showing off.
He doesn't mind her pretending to fight with him when it's like this. It almost seems as if they're back to old times—the part that both of them can agree was always good. He grabs her in his arms as she tries to run away after doling out a hit to his chest. She folds her body as he scoops her from behind. They laugh for a moment before he lets her go.
Max never saw the Quarry up-close. Walking to the side, she admires the scaling rock wall formations that in the dark seem impossibly tall. Her hands feel the roughness of the stone. The birds seem to blend into one soothing sound that bring a quiet peacefulness. Taking full breaths of the fresh air, she can see why people would visit here. If she wasn't already wired, she could fall asleep near the bank of water. In the morning she'd be content to stay a little longer. She might even take a dip. She mentally promises herself that she will do this someday. If she invites Lucas… well, maybe she will.
While Max has the luxury of a calm, thoughtful moment, Lucas has a lot more trauma on his mind. He already told Max the story about Will. How the "bad men," supposedly, collected Will's body from the lake 3 years ago and how Dustin, Lucas, Mike and El watched when it happened. He thought that his best friend was gone forever. Standing there now, he can't help but think about the sick feeling he had then. It still gives him the creeps even after all this time. The feeling never goes away. He rubs his sneaker into the dirt, which is more like gravel. He shivers and looks around realizing he has no idea where Dustin, Mike and El may have gone.
Will is quiet as he skips rocks by himself without all the competition. He might have been thinking about the same time too, but obviously his memory would be very different. He never went to the Quarry and he didn't know his friends were looking for him. In the dark, he didn't know where to find his friends. The Upside Down was oppressive. He thought he was going to die there. He never thought anyone would find him before the monster got to him. The last year has been hard, but still nothing compared to the horror of being stuck in the Upside Down and then being a prisoner of the Mind Flayer trapped in his own body after he got back. He didn't like to think about these things, but something about this place at night reminded him about what his life was like; he wouldn't wish it on anyone.
He skips a stone as far as it will go, willing it away from his body. He is pleasantly surprised by how strong his arms are when he focuses. Almost cheerful, he peers to his side where he last saw his friends hoping they saw it too, but when he looks to where his two friends were, he doesn't see them anymore.
"Guys?" he asks aloud. "GUYS!" he yells a little more frantically.
~A.N. Will has always gotten the short end of the stick. I really hope things will work out for him in season 4. He deserves it. His friends should pay more attention to him. Unfortunately, according to what we've seen so far, the characters are pretty likely to walk away from him. So sorry Will! Leave a comment if you think he deserves to be treated better in S4. :)