For Whom the Bell Tolls

Chapter One - Lullaby

"She'll be home any minute now," Linda said reassuringly.

"How do you think she'll handle this?"

"It depends... She won't go to Nevada. I know that for a fact. But maybe–" Linda was cut off by the sound of the front door opening.

"Hey, Aunt Linda!" Kat's voice ran out cheerily. She was in a seemingly good mood this afternoon as she trotted over to the kitchen, dropping her backpack on the couch as she went by. When she became fully aware there was a difference in the usual routine, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Uncle Hank... uh, hi?" she spoke hesitantly.

"Hey, Kat. Nice to finally see you," he smiled warmly at her. His face was kind, but that did nothing to soothe the anxiety that was starting to bubble inside Kat.

"Wh-what are you doing here? I mean...I thought with work, you weren't..." Kat stammered, failing to hide her shock. Linda had been incessantly trying to get her to talk to her uncle. Always leaving out why it was so urgent, Kat started to connect the dots on her own. This was about her power.

"Kat, I know this is sudden, but we really need to talk. We need to talk about you... about your abilities," he began cautiously. "What do you remember from when you lived here before?"

"No. I'm not talking about this," she said sternly.

"I'm sorry, kid, but you're gonna have to. Look, I don't want to do this as much as you don't want to; however, you were born with incredible abilities that we need to get a handle on. At the very least, we need to know where you're at."

"Why?!" interrupted Kat. "So you can use me as some top secret agent to fight your battles for you? To poke and prod me some more like I'm a lab rat? I'm not fighting in some made up war–"

"No," Hank cut off Kat's rant, his voice forceful. "This has nothing to do with the Russians. This threat is very real and right here, in Hawkins. We know things are only going to get worse and we need to be prepared. You need to be prepared. Hawkins will be at the epicenter of what's to come."

"Epicenter of what? If you ever want me to agree to anything, quit bullshitting me."

"Kat! Don't speak to him that way!" Linda interjected, which only earned an eye roll from Kat.

"It's fine, Linda. I'm sorry for the ambiguity. In order for me to fully explain, I need to know how much you remember from the lab."

– – – – – – – – – –

Kat thumbed through the albums behind the placard marked with an 'M.' She paused when she finally found the one she was searching for. Smiling to herself, she took a moment to bask in pride for what her friends had accomplished. The day was finally here.

"Did you find it!?" Eddie asked, buzzing with excitement. He almost crashed into her when he body kept going forward past his scurrying feet.

Kat grabbed two copies of the record to show him its artwork. She was beaming. "Look at this fucking cover!" she exclaimed, holding out the record for both of them to admire. "Did you find two cassettes?" He responded by shaking a cassette in each hand. His face was lit up like a small child's on Christmas morning. To them, this was Christmas.

Once they purchased their new music, the pair practically ran to Kat's car. "Okay, so should we–" she began to ask.

"Don't even bother asking. I've waited three months for this record to come out and I'm gonna wait any longer," he cut off Kat as he began unwrapping the plastic from the brand new cassette. "We'll start from the top when we get back to yours." As Kat threw her car in reverse out of the parking spot, Eddie popped in Metallica's new album, Master of Puppets.