Eleven was almost to the exit doors when she felt someone lunge for her, trying to knock her down. She pushed back with a yelp of surprise, pinning her attacker against the wall. She realized a second later that it was her Papa.
"Eleven," Dr. Brenner pleaded. "Eleven, stop this, now."
El merely shook her head, speechless with rage and slammed the door behind her, activating the lock.
Eleven arrived in Michael Wheeler's physical reality trailed by fire and destruction and several different species of mice. Her eyes were bloodshot and red gore dripped from her nose and ears, so that Dustin, Lucas, and Will hung back with a kind of visceral fear that they would afterwards wholeheartedly deny experiencing. Mike reacted differently. He ran to her and pulled her into a hug that could have lasted for a year.
"She's real, and she's here, and she's safe. She's safe, and she's here, and she's real."
Dustin was the first one with the courage to speak. "You… you're El?" he asked, hesitantly.
El looked at him from over Mike's shoulder and nodded.
Lucas looked like he had seen a ghost. "This… this is crazy," he muttered to himself.
"We gotta get out of here," Will pointed out to the others. "They're gonna find us and when they do… it won't be good."
"This way…" El whispered, pointing. The boys looked at her in surprise, not expecting her to sound so weak.
They ran through the hallway and up into a stairwell, with Mike keeping a vice grip on El's hand. The elation of finally being next to him in real life made her run faster than she ever had before, even as her bare feet began to bleed and her chest ached from the smoke.
Smoke… this wasn't good. The fire had spread farther and faster than she had expected, helped along by some stockpiles of an unknown but highly flammable substance. Smoke was poring in from the stairwell's exit door, and Mike tugged on El's hand, pulling her down to a crouching position on the ground.
"If we breathe too much of that stuff, we'll die," he told her. "We have to stay low."
Dustin pushed against the door, grunting in frustration. "It's locked!"
They all turned to El and she stepped forward, letting go of Mike's hand. With a nod of her head the door swung open, revealing a hallway that was almost completely engulfed in flames.
"How the hell are we supposed to get through that?" asked Lucas. He looked frightened.
Eleven held out her hand, her eyes ferocious. Suddenly a path appeared in front of them, as if someone had poured water or sprayed a fire extinguisher through the middle of the hall. She moved forward and the boys followed nervously. Looking backward, they could see the flames moving back into place behind them, as if they'd never even gone away. As the flames grew higher, the boys dropped to their knees, trying to stay under the smoke line. But Eleven just kept walking, utterly determined. She knew a thing or two about endurance, about forcing down the part of her that felt weakness or pain. They were so close to freedom, and even though she wasn't quite sure what that was going to look like, she knew in her heart that it was going to be worth everything.
Finally - finally - they reached an exit, the doors swinging open in front of them, and they ran, gulping in the cool evening air and trying to get as much distance as they could from the fiery wreck of a building they were leaving behind. All Eleven could see was blue, and light, and it should have been beautiful but her eyes stung so much - and her chest hurt - and she couldn't breathe…
Mike reached her just before she collapsed to the ground. "El! El, wake up!" He looked around at his friends wildly. "What's wrong with her?"
"Probably breathed in too much smoke," Lucas said. He looked back at the laboratory complex. It was still too close. "Mike, we can't stay here."
Mike turned to Dustin. "Help me carry her!" he screamed, sounding utterly panicked. Dustin nodded and pulled the girl up into his arms. He cursed under his breath and let out an "oof" as he lifted her into a fireman's carry.
A bit slower now, going at Dustin's pace, they made their way through the woods towards the gap in the security fence. Mike cautiously scanned the terrain for anything that might make Dustin trip and fall. They heard helicopters overhead and ducked underneath a huge oak tree, paranoid about being spotted.
"Where are we going?" Lucas asked after they passed through the outer gate. Mike considered this.
"We can't go home yet," he said. "They might be looking for her."
Will spoke up. "Let's take her to Castle Byers," he suggested quietly. "We can wait there until things settle down."
Mike nodded, smiling gratefully. He reached over and squeezed El's hand. "Just hold on El. It's gonna be ok."
"This girl -" Dustin wheezed - "this girl better be really freaking nice to me." He attempted to shift her weight a little, huffing and puffing.
Mike glared at him. "She rescued us from a burning building so I think you're even."
Dustin considered launching a counterargument but his hand was starting to cramp and he couldn't quite muster up the energy. Besides, the whole meeting-a-girl-with-psychic-powers thing was pretty awesome. He started speculating on what else she could do… like beating up Troy for instance…
They reached Will's wooden fort just after sunset, and Dustin laid El down inside while Mike covered her in one of Will's blankets. Will, Lucas, and Dustin immediately tore into Will's stash of junk food, barely pausing between bites.
Mike stayed by El's side, refusing to move or take his eyes off her. The moment her eyes finally fluttered open, he felt a kind of relief that was almost painful. "El! El, are you feeling alright?"
She looked up at him, blinking. "Mike?" Her forehead crinkled in a way that he found unbelievably adorable. "Dream?"
He laughed and was almost surprised at the sound. "No, it's not a dream, El, I swear. You're safe now. We got you out of that place - well really, you got yourself out, but you know, we came too, and…"
"What happened?" she asked.
"You blacked out," he told her. "You breathed in too much smoke and it made you sick."
She nodded and winced. "Head hurts."
Mike grabbed a water bottle off the ground and handed it to her. "Drink some water - it'll help, I think." He looked at her worriedly. "Are you hungry?"
She shook her head, cautiously sipping from the bottle, but he was already rummaging through their pile of snacks. He found an unopened bag of Reese's Pieces and tore it open. Shyly, he reached for her hand and poured the candy into her palm.
She looked up at him quizzically, then back down at the candy in her hand. "It's good," he told her, reassuring.
Eleven took a cautious bite and then smiled, her eyes wide. "Good," she repeated, grinning at him. Mike wasn't sure he'd ever felt so pleased with himself.
One by one, the boys drifted off, and Mike yawned, suddenly aware of how utterly exhausted he was. It was getting so dark he could barely see El's face. Part of him just wanted to collapse, but he couldn't let himself fall asleep if there was even the slightest chance El would need him.
"El," he whispered, waking her from a light doze. "Are you… are you cold?" He had noticed her shivering - there was no heat in Will's fort, and it was mid-November after all.
El stared at him. This wasn't a question she was used to being asked.
Mike tried to think of a solution. There was only one thing that occurred to him, and the thought instantly turned his ears bright pink. "I could… um, I mean, if you want… I could… I could… I could help… warm you up?" His voice creaked and he cringed, but El seemed completely unaware of the boy's embarrassment.
"Okay," she said. Then she tilted her head. "How?"
Feeling like he was going to self-incinerate, Mike scooted in closer to her as he tried to explain. "We could… share blankets," he said, trying to keep quiet so his friends wouldn't overhear. Then he started to ramble nervously. "If you want to, I mean it's not a big deal, but it would probably help keep you warm, because of like body heat and stuff, at least that's what I read in a book once, I think, I don't quite remember…"
El smiled and interrupted his nervous babbling. "Share," she said, rolling over and throwing her blanket on top of him.
"Oh…okay…" Mike said. He cautiously moved closer to her until his head rested on her pillow.
"You're warm," said El, closing her eyes and sighing. Mike chuckled. He certainly felt warm now.