Clean cut American kid ~ Stranger things

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Getting out of the building would have been a lot easier if I was on my own. I would have ran faster if I didn't have to worry about the others behind me. Hopper is slowed from carrying Will, and Joyce isn't very fast to begin with. Mike is somewhere behind me. The laboratory is a maze of long corridors, dressed as an obstacle course of human and alien flesh. Hopper is barking out directions from dr Sam on the radio. I'm prepared to use my abilities for all they're worth if we stumble upon something or someone who will be in our way.

But I don't have to. I push through a double door and the cool air of the outside night hits my skin. Mike almost crashes into me. I hear the adults heavy breaths and roll my eyes. This was a cakewalk.

I breathe in the fresh air for a second before I turn towards Hopper. He looks worriedly behind him. Joyce is not here. He carefully hands Will to me and Mike. Our lanky bodies struggle together to keep him from collapsing. The amount of team building between me and the little brother today is both irritating and amusing. Who would've guessed?

A scream.

Joyce.

Hopper dashes inside.

The sound of flesh being ripped.

Gurgling noises.

More screams.

Joyce.

Eye contact with Mike.

Horror.

The door burst open. Hopper drags Joyce outside. She's screaming. Bloodcurdling screams.

"He's gone!" Hopper shakes her.

Bob.

Joyce cries.

Hopper pushes her forward. He picks up Will. We make eye contact. He nods. I nod. Emotionless.

No emotions.

Not now.

No time.

We move forward.

A car swerves and stops in front of us. The door opens. Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers screams at us to get in. Behind us demogorgons throw themselves against the entrance door. Trying to get out. Hopper grabs my arm and shoves me inside the back of Jonathan's car. I didn't realise I was last.

We drive through the gates, away from the lab. I watch Hoppers police car through the rear window. Steve's in the passenger seat. The last time I saw him he asked me if I was going to kill our father. It was a lifetime ago. Around when death was the worst thing we could imagine. Now it's everywhere. I listen to the silent sobs coming from Joyce. Her broken breaths.

They drive to Joyce's house. Jonathan carries Will inside.

"Sherry!" Hopper opens his trunk. He shows me a pile of clothes. My clothes. I gasp. Hopper grunts and spins around when I pull the disgusting scrubs from my body. My pants. My T-shirt . My sweater. My socks and my boots and my coat. I crumble the scrubs together and they fit in my hand. I give a laugh. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed wearing clothes. Hopper peaks behind himself and turns around when he sees I'm dressed.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yes of course." I shrug.

He stares at my face. I sigh.

"We're not going to keep running." He says. "We're going to make a plan and get this over with. I don't like running. But sometimes I have to. And you do too."

I stare at him. He sighs.

"Okay let's go." He pulls me with him to the house.

It looks as it did when I last was here. Which is chaotic. The papers and drawings are still taped to the walls. Fabrics hang over the windows. Steve is standing in the middle of the kitchen. He looks at me when I enter. He's confused as to why I'm here or how I got involved but he doesn't say anything. Instead he walks over and wraps his arms around me. We stand like that for a minute.

"I'm sorry." I say. For anything and everything. We part. He looks at Hopper who's shouting into the phone, at the kids around the kitchen table, then back at me. He looks defeated but it's just his face. I'm used to that face.

"We're have you been?" He asks.

"It's a long story."

He sighs.

"I think we have time."

I roll my eyes. This is his big brother act. I let him have it. Perhaps it's time to tell him. I take a deep breath.

"Brace yourself."

Steve leans against the kitchen counter and waves his hands for me to continue. I keep my voice low so that only Steve will hear.

"The night I ran away I did some stupid shit and broke some things, so the next day Hopper tried to find me. I thought he was going to bring me back to rehab so I ran away. Eventually he found me and it turned out he wasn't going to take me to rehab but really needed my help sort of..." I trail of. This story is all over the place.

"Help with what?" Steve urges me on.

"I was able to open a portal to the upside down."

I watch Steve turn pale.

"Ho... How?" He stutters and stand up straight.

"Do you know Eleven?" I ask. Steve turns even paler.

"I wasn't actually in a rehab. I was in a lab. Like Hawkins lab."

Steve is staring at me. Processing. He looks sick. I don't quite understand.

"What's wrong?" I ask. I carefully push him back against the counter. It looked like he was going to fall over. He clears his throat.

"Nothing... I err.. I'm sorry."

I tug on the corner of my mouth.

"I'm actually fine."

He eyes me sceptically.

"Well, as fine as we can be right now," I add.

He smiles absently. Then he nods to my arm.

"What happened?"

"Got caught in a vine. It's broken."

As I think about my injury I realise that it hurts. The painkillers must have started leaving my system. It's a throbbing ache underneath the itching cast. The floor starts to sway.

"Woah, take it easy." I feel Steve's hands under my arms. He sits me on the countertop and carefully lean my head against the wall. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. In and out. Slowly. I keep breathing until the room stops spinning.

"What happened?" Hopper.

"I don't know, she just..." Steve begins. I interrupt him.

"Meds left me..." It's a grunt. Hopper is closer now. He speaks lowly.

"Well you have to hang in there without. Take it easy and breathe. Save up your energy for whenever we might need you later." He rubs his hand over his beard. I notice a small smug smile that wants to take over his face. "At least now you can't go off and do anything stupid."

I try to scoff but it sounds like a groan.