Dustin's machine now on the ground seems to be back at work measuring the earthquake. The other two see it moving in real time. It seems to be an endless thirty seconds of pulsing before it slows down and everything seemingly becomes still again. Eleven doesn't realize she is screaming until the noise of nature rattling itself seizes. They each take a breath. Nothing much has changed around them although the water looks white and bubbly.
Mike and El get up first and retrace their steps to meet up with their missing friends. Max, Lucas and Will are still recovering. Sitting up, they're panting heavily and getting water out of their nostrils. Their clothes are completely soaked through.
"Are you okay?" El asks putting a hand on Max's back.
"Yeah, just unlucky I guess," Max answers, noticing that the other two are dry. Lucas doesn't let Mike help him up.
"Where did you guys go? We were trying to catch up," Will questions them.
"Dustin got the reading he wanted. We just made it out of a cave with our lives," Mike replies.
"What? Where's Dustin?" he asks him.
"He's back there," Eleven answers and points her flashlight.
When they've all gotten to their feet, they march over as a group to the cave. Dustin is back to taking notes on his machine that was miraculously not damaged in the earthquake.
"Guys! You're alive!" he smiles happy to see them. "You wouldn't believe what I found," he looks pumped.
"We're alive no thanks to you and your stupid plans. We could have died!" Lucas yells at him. "You could have killed us!"
"Lucas, he didn't know we'd get stuck in an earthquake. You can't blame him," Max tries placating him.
"We decided to come here as a group," Mike reminds him.
"'No danger' that's what he said! We wouldn't be putting ourselves in danger by coming out here. And you're telling me Dustin had no clue another earthquake would strike while we were out here on his stupid mission. He's the expert!"
"I don't know when earthquakes are going to strike! How would I know that?" Dustin defends himself.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just go back to your stupid reading, what does your box even say?" Lucas asks Dustin obviously pissed off.
"It's not stupid; it's science!" he retorts, getting up to fight. Will and Eleven place their bodies in front of Dustin while Mike and Max block Lucas. The boys push against their friends and manage to get a couple of hits in.
"Guys, guys, cut it out!" Mike insists.
"Stop fighting! Stop it!" Will yells.
"You're being really dumb right now!" Max, who is tired of all the BS, observes. She gets Lucas's attention with that, and he stands down although obviously resistant to withdrawing. He breathes heavily and then turns on his foot to get some space. She doesn't go to comfort him. "What did you find Dustin?"
Dustin doesn't speak. He is still baffled by Lucas. He shakes his head and goes back to the machine.
"I got the reading from the first earthquake and this one. I'm not entirely sure I know what's happening, but I have a theory. The first reading shows an aftershock in the vicinity of the New Madrid, Missouri along the seismic zone. So, originally what we felt reached us from 300 miles away. It was a big one for sure, but not too close to us here. What I think happened is that first one triggered a another one here in Hawkins."
"It came from here? It started here?" Mike questions him.
"What does that mean?" El asks.
"It's like a current, or a slingshot. The first earthquake is the rock being placed in the slingshot, juicing it up. The second is the pull back and aim. The third—that's the release. The first earthquake might have triggered the response here, but if I'm right, then there's one more coming and that one is going to be way, way worse. What we felt might have been a 5 or 6 on the Richter scale. The next will be at least a 7 or 8; up to 200 times more powerful."
"How will the town survive that?" El asks.
"It might not," Dustin responds earnestly.
"Is there anything we can do?" Will asks.
"The earthquake will happen here whether we do anything or not. The best we can do is warn everyone and somehow get everyone to evacuate their homes in 48 hours."
"You're giving us 48 hours?" Mike panics.
"These things happen quickly. Science doesn't play around."
"It seems like it's playing a game with us right now," Mike snaps back.
"So, what are we going to do?" Will asks. He has no intention of going home at 6am for the bus ride out if he's leaving his friends in danger. He doesn't need El to speak to know she feels the same way. Hawkins weirdly enough always has been and always will be home. And their friends need them.
"Guys, there's one more thing I forgot to mention..." Dustin adjusts his cap and then his collar.
"Forgot to mention or chose not to admit?" Max looks at him pensively.
"The second earthquake marks the whole town as one wide epicenter, but the center is slightly shifted south to, uh, Hawkins Laboratory."
~A.N. Finally we get the connection between all the crazy stuff that has been going on and the laboratory. We'll see how this goes. Thanks for reading and let me know in the comments how you like it so far! TY :)