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Chapter One

It didn't take long for her to find her way in the basement, to an exposed drainpipe. It was small enough for the girl to fit through, and her if she tried hard enough. With only the slightest amount of trepidation, she slipped into the pipe; she had to believe her daughter was out there somewhere and she wasn't leaving her behind in the hellhole she had been born into.

With a steadying breath, she fled.

The pipe was tight and, had she not been in smaller spaces before, she might have panicked at the thought of getting stuck before she reached the end of the line.

As it was, she continued on through the grime and muck on her good hand and her knees without a fuss. The end appeared in sight after a long while, the air freshening and the world becoming a bit brighter.

It was still dark outside, but not as black as the pipe, and she breathed a welcome breath when she emerged from the tunnel. The outside world was different from what she expected; colder, but somehow more real than the world she had grown up in. It was lighter, crisper, and she liked it.

Rising crookedly to her feet, she glanced around for any sign of her girl. She wouldn't be hard to see, a pale, gangly thing among dark trees -at least, she assumed they were trees, having never actually seen any before. But the darkness and thickness of the trees prevented her from seeing very far.

Holding up a palm, she cradled a small ball of fire within her fingers and held it up. Glancing over her shoulder, she sought any sign of Brenner or his men, but when no one lunged for her immediately, she knew she was safe. Holding the light out before her, she moved swiftly into the forest.

She grimaced at the rough feel of sticks and rocks beneath her feet, stepping gingerly but quickly. She stumbled a time or two, when her foot caught on a root, but she remained upright, her light aloft.

She called for her girl, quietly, hoping not to alert anyone else who would undoubtedly be looking for her. She wished for a sign of her, a flash of pale skin, of her stark, white hospital gown, but she saw nothing.

She didn't fear the forest; it interested her, but she wasn't afraid. It held uncertainties, yes, but she could guarantee nothing would be as dangerous to her as what she left behind in the facility. Men, she learned, were far more terrifying than anything she may encounter in the trees and the darkness.

She had no sense of direction, as one stuck in only a handful of rooms in her entire life wouldn't, but thought she was potentially headed in a straight line. She felt relatively certain that she wasn't going in a circle and prayed she was right. She didn't want to end up back at the facility; not only would it bring her closer to danger, but it would take her farther away from her daughter.

Suddenly, the trees thinned out and her feet touched something hard and rough. She traced it with a bare toe, wondering how safe it was to walk on; she pressed her whole foot against it, testing her weight, and determined it could hold her well enough. It was black, stretching as far as the eye could see on both her left and right.

A road.

She had heard the word, seen it in one of her books. Once, she thought.

She liked it better than the forest floor; it was less painful and more even, and it was nice and cool against her heated skin. She wasn't certain which way to go out of the two options. Her girl could have taken either path, or neither. More trees covered the horizon before her, beyond the road, and she easily could have thought it safer to fade back into the darkness.

A large, green sign sat beside the road to her right and she approached it, reading the stark, white words carefully. They might have been names - she knew that the facility was called Hawkins Laboratory, and she studied them and the numbers beside her curiously.

HAWKINS - 3

ANDERSON CITY - 15

FT. JACKSON - 28

Hawkins likely referred to the facility and she certainly didn't want to go there. Perhaps she had taken a turn somewhere in the darkness of the forest and was closer than she felt comfortable with. She wasn't certain what the numbers stood for, but the smaller ones worried her more than the larger.

With a resolute nod, she turned on a heel and strode purposefully away from it. If her daughter had seen the sign, she wouldn't have headed in that direction.

She hesitated a few yards away from the sign, though, and peered over her shoulder at it, contemplating the words once more. What if she hadn't seen the sign? What if she went that way? Did it really lead back to the facility?

Yes, it probably did.

She faced forward once more, her eyes widening at the blinding lights rapidly approaching her. She raised her hands before her defensively, wild, burning flames bursting from her palms. The lights swerved immediately, away from her fire, veering violently off of the road and slamming into the very sign she had been reading.

The lights belonged to a large vehicle, a car, she thought. It was white, with a stripe of brown along the side and words she didn't want to get close enough to read. She began to run from it, before a muffled shout caught her attention.

She turned, torn, wondering who might be inside. If it was Brenner, there would have been more vehicles. That wasn't big enough to carry the amount of men he would send out after them. He never did anything without at least five or six armed men accompanying him.

Perhaps it was just a regular person, though sometimes she doubted they even existed. Anyone within the facility was either there to hurt her or to create something that hurt her.

Worrying her lower lip, she frowned when the shouting occurred again. With a huff, she ran back to the car, knowing she could easily fry the person inside to a crisp if need be. She ran to the left side of the thing and glanced at the front of it. It steamed and smoked, crumpled as it was, but it didn't originate from her gift.

She peered through the glass and saw a large figure struggling to disentangle himself from the contraption he found himself in. There was a large, white balloon-like thing hanging limply before him and he fought with it for a moment.

He turned toward her briefly, before hastily returning his attention to her. He banged a fist against the window and she jumped, looking at the words on the side of his car.

HAWKINS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

She wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she winced at his shout and reached for the glass. She pressed her hand against it, her palm glowing red; in mere seconds, the window heated and melted under her touch.

The man inside the vehicle - for he was a man, and a big one at that - stared at her in surprise, blood trickling from his temple. He shook himself and reached out of the window, his crimson-coated fingers hooking onto the latch on the door and opening it wide.

He shoved himself out, falling to the ground and shuffling backwards on his hands, coughing and cursing loudly. She backed away from him herself, skittish now, and eyed him warily. She raised her hands, but didn't attack just yet. If he was from the facility, she would take care of him, but if he could guide her to her daughter, she would do what she had to.

"Where'd that fire come from?!" he exclaimed wildly, his voice deep and panicked, "are you hurt?! Ma'am, are you alright? Ma'am! Ma'am!"

She stumbled away from him and he raised his hands in surrender, hauling himself to his feet. He pressed his hand to his forehead, a pained grimace twisting at his scruffy face.

"Ma'am, it's alright," he approached her cautiously, his hands raised innocently, "my name is Jim Hopper. Are you okay?"

/

Doctorwhoamypond: thank you so much! Hope you like this chapter!

PsychoBeachGirl88: aww thanks! I'm so glad you liked it!