Notes:
July?
July, are you shitting me?
That's ages away!
Seriously, I am so excited for season three, I can't even tell you.
I'm so excited, in fact, that I've managed to upload another chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 4
"Oh dear God," gasped Joyce.
"Yeah," said Hopper darkly, playing with the catch on his gun. "I know."
"But," spluttered Joyce. "How-how do you know? You spoke to-"
"Joyce!" said Hopper. "We shook on it. There is a human being in there. She said she knows me."
Hopper didn't share with Joyce his hopes for Demi's real identity.
Joyce slumped down on the sofa.
"Ice-cream?" offered Eleven kindly, holding out her heaped spoon to Joyce.
"No thank you honey," she replied weakly.
El shrugged. Suit yourself.
"Look," sighed Hopper. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, I just need to understand what the hell is going on. I'll bring a pen and some paper and I'll see if she write…or even draw what happened to her."
Joyce looked upset.
"Hopper…but, but what if it was another kid? And what if we can't fix her?"
Hopper grunted determinedly.
"We'll fix her," he said with a nod. "We will. If she can be turned into a monster she can be turned back."
After having armed El with a dustpan and brush, Hopper and Joyce drove in silence to the spot where Demi had run across the road. Hopper pulled up in the place where he could still see his skidded tire tracks from the previous night. There was a plume of smoke above the trees. So far so good.
"Kay," said Hopper. "Here we go".
Bravely, and clutching their guns, Hopper and Joyce ventured into the woods, towards the smell of smoke.
Hopper could hear Joyce's hitched breathing. She was understandably very afraid, and so should he have been except…for some reason he trusted the monster. He felt a connection. She had found him. And there was a possibility…she could be…
"Stay behind me," mumbled Hopper as they neared the clearing and Joyce gratefully obeyed.
He stepped through the tree line, cautiously not to scare Demi.
Though a small fire was burning, no-one was there.
"Wha…?" whispered Joyce.
Hopper shushed her.
"Hey," he called gently. "If you're there, it's just me. We brought guns like I said but we don't want to hurt you."
Nothing.
"This here's my friend Joyce. We're going to help you," said Hopper clearly. "We brought some paper so you could dry and write stuff down."
Hopper's suspicions were aroused.
"Joyce," he hissed. "Something's not right. She left."
He looked around the clearing. He saw the lighter on the ground.
"She just left this," he said, weighing the object in his palm. "Why?"
"Hey…Hop?" said Joyce. "Did you notice that yesterday?"
She pointed to something carved into the bark of one of the trees.
Hopper walked towards it, aiming his flashlight beam at it. On the tree was one hastily, and very messily scribbled word:
RUN
They heard the helicopter.
"It's a trap!" cried Joyce.
"Shit!" cried Hopper. "No it's not! The must have seen the smoke!"
He thrust his flashlight at Joyce and began clawing at the earth.
"Quick, help me put this out! Use damp soil."
With the thrum of the incoming threat in their ears, they smothered the fire and the two of them dashed for cover.
Joyce buried her head in Hoppers chest as the helicopter…passed over them.
"Huh?" asked Joyce breathlessly. "Where's it going?"
As if in answer, they both heard a roar of agony from the old junk yard where Will and his friends liked to hang out.
"Demi!" shouted Hopper, charging towards the sound.
"Hopper, wait!" cried Joyce, crashing through the undergrowth behind them.
They reached the railroad and ran along it until they come to a point where they could see what was going on. Hopper wished he didn't have to. The helicopter had the Demogorgon caught in it's searchlight and it had opened fire. The Demogorgon roared in pain but didn't go down. Time for round two. A barrel of burning tar was dropped onto the monster along with a missile. There was the thud of an explosion.
Hopper's shouted "no!" was lost in the roar of flames.
Satisfied, the helicopter flew away.
"Shit, shit!" shouted Hopper as he raced towards the new crater in the junk yard.
"Wait, you don't know it's dead!" cried Joyce frantically. "And what if it's not the right one?"
However as they got closer, there could be no doubt that this was the right one. Where there should have been a smouldering Demogorgon body, there was instead the naked body of a woman, a woman, in fact, that they did indeed know.
"Is that…?" began Joyce shakily, aiming the flashlight beam as what should have been a pile of ashes..
"'Auntie'," said Hopper hollowly.
They could hear the roar of engines and searchlights in the woods, Hawkins lab wanted it's creation back. Without really thinking, Hopper took off his jacket and wrapped it around the unconscious woman, lifting her into his arms.
"Hopper! Leave her! She's one of them anyway!" cried Joyce wildly. "Let's just go!"
"They are going to kill her!" accentuated Hopper slowly. "I am not going to leave her!"
He said he'd help her. They shook on it.
"Hopper!" screeched Joyce.
Hopper staggered into the darkness with Joyce at his heels. They got back into the woods and out of sight just as the search party broke the tree cover at the other side of the junk yard.
After what seemed like an age of searching, without flashlights so they weren't seen, Joyce and Hopper launched themselves, shaking, into the truck.
