Chapter 6

The trek back to Steve's car seemed to stretch on forever. The same woods that had seemed so bright and cheerful earlier was dark and forbidding now. It didn't help that Jamie could see everything as clearly as if she had a pair of flashlights stuck to her head. There were too many noises too, from the trees creaking to the critters stirring in the ground.

Steve had suggested they all head back to his. The logic was sound. If they came home covered in grime and monster blood, there'd be questions. Steve's parents were gone for the weekend, he had five separate bathrooms in his house and spare clothes that would probably fit all of them with some minor modifications. Again, sound logic, but Jamie still thought he suggested it mostly so he wouldn't be left alone after their brush with near-death. That was how she felt anyway.

Every time a branch snapped or an owl hooted, her hand went out on its own, searching for something to hold on, usually finding Steve. She had no idea how he could be so calm and collected, the spikes on his bat were still dripping goo, but he was. Solid as a rock. Cool as a cucumber. Each time she'd grip the fabric of his jacket, he'd place a calming hand on her shoulder, waiting for her to say she was okay to move on.

Her left leg tingled, the torn up muscles unused to this amount of walking. The blowtorch hung heavy in her arm and she was scared all the fuel was gone, but daren't leave it behind in case it wasn't. She and Steve were up front, each with their weapon of choice. He was busy scanning the horizon for any threats, she was there to avoid listening to the bickering of her brother and his friends. Instead, she and Steve carried a vastly different conversation, free of monsters.

"In the master bathroom, we have that kind of waterfall-shower installed last year. Ever try one of those? It's like a showerhead three times larger than normal, like you're in a warm, well, waterfall."

"Do you have soft towels?"

"Oh, the towels! Dude, we have those expensive Egyptian cotton towels. It's like wrapping yourself in a cloud." Steve gestured with his free hand, looking over his shoulder at Jamie where she was half a step behind him. "I plan to live in that towel when I come home now. Shower, order some pizza, watch - you know - any film that's on TV that takes place in daylight."

"I can't wait to put on fresh clean clothes. Clean socks, most of all, I feel like the ones I have on have become one with my feet, permanently."

"No problem." Steve shook his head, letting his fringe dance around. "You can borrow some of Mom's stuff, or my stuff if you want, all clean, I swear. You want tennis socks, fuzzy socks, dance socks, I got it all."

Jamie smiled, appreciating him humoring her by talking about anything else than what just happened. The boys though were a different story. She scowled and tapped Steve's arm to get him to stop. Dustin and Lucas were in each other's faces, with Max as an awkward audience, and they were arguing about breaking some party law.

"Guys, come on," Jamie started and moved to break them up, but Steve gripped her wrist to keep her in place.

"You hear that?" he asked. Of course, Jamie heard everything these days, but it was getting increasingly difficult tuning in on what she wanted to hear. Screeches. Like the newly dubbed Demodogs made. Steve went off the railroad tracks, following the sound a few feet and Jamie followed, not wanting to be left alone.

The noise was far off, but Steve still brandished his baseball-bat. They looked at each other. What could have drawn the Demodogs away from them back at the school-bus? It was worth investigating.

"Guys!" she and Steve shouted at the same time, finally getting Lucas' and Dustin's attention. They heard it too. In silent unison, they started to move towards the screeching, leaving a confused Max behind. She followed quickly though. It was better to face the unknown in company than alone after all.

They reached a ridge that had a view all over Hawkins and the surrounding forest. Lucas produced his binoculars, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sounds. Jamie squinted her eyes, as if that aided her hearing.

"It's the lab," she said and Lucas trained his sight at the huge, ugly building in the distance. It was dark, but there was no doubt in Jamie's mind that the sounds came from there. A new chill ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold dark forest. Nothing good ever came from that lab.

"Guys. I-" she started and faltered. Did Steve know about her regular check-ups at that place? That this was where they treated Will too, when he was having one of his episodes? Did it matter? There hadn't been anyone home at the Byers' and Dustin had mentioned something was up with Will. "I think Will's at the lab."

They picked up their pace, ignoring Max' new bout of questions. Lucas had laid the groundwork, but apparently she hadn't believed him and so hadn't really bothered to pay attention to the details. It seemed superfluous now to repeat anything. They moved in quiet through the woods, picking branches and leaves out of their clothes and hair, sometimes getting smacked with a twig after the one ahead of them forgot to give warning. The guys all had flashlights, Max had none and Jamie didn't need one.

"Gate's down here," she said and indicated the direction of the main gate, not the decoy parking lot her mom used to park in. The building loomed ahead of them, looking like a dead animal, all black and unmoving.

"Stop, stop, stop," Steve said and held out an arm to still the small group. Jamie had heard it too, someone calling out down by the gate.

"Hello? Who's there?"

Whoever they were, they sounded more scared than them. Steve indicated for Jamie to get a bit more behind him, so she did, and he went ahead with his flashlight raised. Two figures stood alone on the small patch of grass near the tall wired fence by the gate. When they got closer, Steve lowered the flashlight to reveal Nancy and Jonathan.

"Steve?!" they burst out in unison at the same time that Steve said: "Nancy? Jonathan?"

"Nancy!" was Jamie's only exclamation and she rushed ahead to envelop the other girl in a hug. It must have shocked her, because it took several seconds for Nancy to return the hug. "I heard you ran off wit- I heard you ran off! Where've you been?"

Nancy pulled away from the hug and gaped at her, a good expression for her face, considering she was basically just two large eyes and a mouth. "Jamie?"

"Jonathan?" said Dustin in a voice laced with as much irritation as shock. "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

The two groups joined as one and questions flew past each other, most going unanswered. Nancy and Jonathan were here for Will and Mike, but couldn't get past the gate. Dustin quickly explained the Demodog-situation, one that Steve emphasized by showing off the goo on his bat.

Nancy grabbed Jamie's arm and pointed questioningly at Max. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Max," was Jamie's only reply and she grinned as she said it. She was truly and genuinely happy to see Nancy and that she was OK. At Nancy's confused expression, Jamie clarified: "She's in the same year as Dustin and Lucas. From California."

"Hargrove's sister?" Nancy asked with disgust dripping from her tongue, causing Max to scowl and wrap her arms around herself.

"I'm not his sister," she said defiantly, and Nancy continued to stare. It went back to Jamie though.

"And you...?"

"It's a long story, but essentially Dustin adopted a baby Demogorgon as his pet but then it ate Mom's cat and then we tried to kill it but nearly got killed instead," Jamie said breezily, gesturing at Steve. "Dustin somehow convinced Steve to help out, I don't have the details there. So, uh, where the hell have you been? I heard you skipped school on Thursday and your mom has been telling me you've spent each night at a different girl's house, so, that's obviously bullshit."

"Oh, uh," Nancy said and tucked her chin-length hair behind her hair. She was about to start explaining, when she made a face and asked: "Are you okay, Jamie? You seem...well, you seem okay, but - uh - different?"

"She's got superpowers now," Dustin chimed in and ducked as Jamie swiped at him.

Nancy stared again and Jamie just shook her head no. "Don't listen to him. I don't have superpowers."

"Yes, you d- ow!"

"I don't. But I did stop taking those pills the doctors working there-" she pointed at the ominous lab "-prescribed me and now I'm feeling a lot better. Big shocker. You?"

"I got arrested by the doctors working there-" Nancy pointed too "-and taped their confession before we worked together with a journalist to mail copies of the tape to every major newspaper in the country in order to get justice for Barb."

"Nice." Jamie grinned.

Nancy grinned back. "Yeah. It was." Her smile faltered and she looked beyond Jamie and the others. Jamie turned to see what she was seeing. "Guys, the power's back on."

"Wait, are we going inside to the scary monsters?" Max asked, but was unheard as they all rushed down to the gate. Jonathan flew into the security officer's cubicle, but the gate stayed shut. Dustin, like Jamie herself, was convinced that he was always the best person for a job and therefore shoved Jonathan out of the way to slam the buttons himself.

For some reason, after the he'd kicked and swore at the box, the gates opened. And for some reason, Nancy and Jonathan got in their car and told everyone else to stay put. Jamie slunk back to lean against the cubicle with Steve.

"So much for that shower," he said sardonically, but the light was gone from his eyes now. Apparently, seeing Nancy and Jonathan together had hit him kinda hard. Lucas, Dustin and Max milled around aimlessly, all staying within the few feet of light emitted from a lamppost.

"Yeah." Jamie didn't know what to tell Steve. Nancy and Jonathan had obviously conspired together to get justice for Barb, and Steve had been left in Hawkins to help her brother kill a Demodog.

"Listen," Steve said slowly, like he was working out each syllable before he said it. He cast a glance at the kids, as if to check none of they were listening. They weren't. Steve rubbed the toes of his shoes in the gravel, not looking at her. "I'm sorry if I - uh - if I was an asshole to you in Middle School."

Jamie's eyebrows rose. "Everyone is an asshole in Middle School. Just look at this lot."

"Your brother's okay." Steve smiled, but Jamie rolled her eyes.

"Don't be fooled by his teddybear-appearance. My brother's a total dick." She rose her voice on the last part and like clockwork, Dustin gave her the finger from where he was studying the goo left on the baseball bat.

Steve chuckled lowly and looked down at his hands. "Truth was, I was a little intimidated by you in Middle School."

"I didn't even think you knew who I was in Middle school."

"Are you kidding me?" He bumped her shoulder with his. "You were undefeated Slug Spitting Champion!"

"Just what a girl wants to be remembered for, how well she could hit slugs with spit."

Steve was quiet for a while and Jamie wondered if he was recalling how he absolutely sucked at hitting those fat slugs with wads of spit. Instead, he said: "But, uh, seriously. If I ever said anything or- I'm sorry, that's all."

Jamie rolled her head his way to give him a quirked brow. "Dude. You saved my life twice now. I'd say that makes up for anything you could've possibly said in Middle School. Besides, I-"

She froze mid-sentence. Loud banged echoes penetrated the otherwise quietness.

"Gunshots."

"What? Are you sure? I didn't hear anything." Steve gestured for Dustin to return his baseball bat.

Jamie just nodded and closed her eyes to listen. Gunshots. Screaming. Car honking. Screeches. Her eyes flew open. "Get out of the road!"

They had just enough time to run to the side before Jonathan's busted up Ford skidded through the gate. It didn't stop for them, but the next car did - Chief Hopper's Chevy pick-up.

Jamie had never been so happy to see another person ever in her life, as she as when she saw the trustworthy scowl on Jim Hopper's face.

"Get in!"

Steve tore open the passenger-side door and flung the seat forward, shuffling all the kids into the back. Jamie froze where she stood. The growls and screeches from the Demodogs were closing in. Fast. She opened her mouth to scream as she caught sight of the first one, running on all fours to the car.

"GET IN!" Steve and Hopper both screamed, and Jamie flinched when Steve grabbed her, pulled her onto his lap and slammed the car-door shut. "Go go go go!"

Chief Hopper drove like Hell was on his tail and in many ways, it was. Jamie's mind entertained the idea of arranging a car-race in Hawkins, just to see who was faster between Chief Hopper and Billy Hargrove. The erratic driving had her bouncing all over the place, only Steve's arms preventing her from falling out the window. Dustin was screaming in the backseat to slow down - they were rattling like popcorn kernels in the microwave.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Jamie asked when she finally found her voice and they were at least two miles away from the lab. Chief Hopper was not in his usual uniform, but rather in some form-fitting teal scrubs like hospital staff wore.

Chief Hopper laughed gruffly. "Long story, kiddo."

Steve apologized every time he had to move his hands, as they either landed on her hips or legs. He adjusted her so he wasn't choking on her hair. "Sorry. Sorry. Where are we going?"

"Byers," Chief Hopper replied, chewing on his fingernails. Something was bothering him, something that overshadowed any joy of escaping Hawkins Lab alive. He had an assault rifle by his side, one that he checked on every few seconds.

"What's wrong with Will?" asked Dustin, shoving his head forward between the seats.

"Don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know, he's-"

"We - don't - know!" Hopper yelled and Jamie pushed Dustin's head back gently to prevent him from agitating the Chief further. "Let's just get to the Byers' house first. Then we'll figure out what we're gonna do."

Jamie sighed and leaned back, but jolted back up when Steve winced. "Sorry. I'm crushing you."

"No, no, no," he said quickly, though it was an obvious lie. "You're light as a feather, Henderson."

"You're full of bullshit, Harrington," Jamie replied and tried to shift her weight more onto the center console, without hitting the gearshift. They kept trying to change positions all the way to the Byers' house, failing completely to find something comfortable for both of them, and sighed a breath of relief when the Chief finally parked the car.

Jamie stretched her back while Steve rubbed his thighs, and in silence they all went inside where the others already waited. Nothing could have prepared any of them for what they found inside. Last time she'd been her, the place had been lit up like a Christmas tree, with hundreds of multi-colored lights strewn across the entire one-story house. Now it was drawings. They were everywhere - on the floor, ceiling, walls, crossing into different rooms and over furniture. It looked like a maze or something, they were all connected, but no-one seemed inclined to explain anything so they all shuffled into the kitchen where at least the lights were on.

Will laid on the couch in the living room, still as a corpse and shrouded in a white blanket. Jonathan knelt by his side, Nancy at Jonathan's again. Jamie stared from the kitchen doorway. She could not imagine being in Jonathan's shoes, if it was Dustin instead of Will laying there. God, but she guessed Dustin knew what it was like. Was that how her mom and Dustin had stood over her, when she had been lost from this world all that time? Not dead, but not present either?

"Is he gonna be okay?" Dustin appeared next to her. She had no answers for him. Instead, she wrapped an arm across his shoulder and pulled him tightly to her. Steve paced the living room just outside the kitchen, like he was keeping guard, and Hopper was on the phone trying to alert the National Guard to the emergency.

They weren't believing him.

It was a big hot mess right now. At least Dustin was safe, for now. No-one had said it yet, but those things were still out there. Dustin had kept close watch of Dart and he'd grown from a tadpole to a dog-sized monster in a matter of days. It was only a matter of time before they were full-grown Demogorgons and it had taken a small army and Eleven to kill even one of those things last year. Now there were a whole pack of them. If they tore through Hawkins, they would kill everyone in its wake. Their teachers, their friends, their families...

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Dustin said from beside her and reached over to embrace her fully in a hug. Jamie hadn't realized it, but tears were dripping from her eyes. "What'd I say, Jamie? No hysterics, remember?"

Jamie nodded, too choked up with tears to speak, and clutched at Dustin's hoodie like a lifeline. When had her baby brother grown this much? She kissed the top of his head, hugging harder, until he tapped desperately at her arm.

"Choking. Choking!"

She released him and wiped hastily at her eyes. "Sorry."

"Jeez, dude," Dustin said and fixed his shirt so it wasn't laying straight on his throat. He dropped his voice to a whisper: "You realize you're basically turning into Spiderman, right?"

"I'm not turning into Spiderman."

"Yuh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Shut up, dipshit."

"You shut up, mouth breather."

They stopped at the same time, now aware of their audience. Jamie shoved at Dustin, who instantly shoved back, and shrugged to the rest of the guys. "Sorry. Nerves." They all returned to staring gloomily out into thin air. Until Mike got up, grabbed a block puzzle from the living room table and then began talking about the newly deceased Bob Newby and how to honor his name.

In a matter of minutes, the gang was discussing a way to save the world - again.

"Wait, wait, hive mind?" Steve was not following the rapt conversation. Jamie struggled a bit too. She had never played D'n'D, not her scene, but the boys were still in that age were they could believe this was all some big adventure, like their campaigns. So when Dustin said this was just as the Mindflayer, she was as blank as Steve and the others.

Everything they said, made sense. Will feeling the pain inflicted upon other in the same hive mind state, how the Mindflayer tried to take over entire universe by enslaving other races, how if they killed the Mindflayer - the Shadow Monster - they killed everything he controlled. Everything made sense, until Dustin started talking about summoning an undead army as their best bet to take the Mindflayer down.

"Dustin," Jamie groaned and let her head thump into the table.

"Okay, I'll admit, that isn't very practical, but-"

Chief Hopper, a man who had a glimmer of hope before it was snuffed out by overeager teenage nerds, slammed the D'n'd-manual on the table. "What the hell are we doing here?"

They argued about how to deal with this, until Joyce emerged from her bedroom. Joyce Byers had once been the prettiest girl in high school, according to Jamie's parents. Then she'd married an asshole, had two kids and a divorce, and it had taken its toll on her looks. She was still good-looking, just a little worse for wear, but now she looked absolutely dreadful. She wrung her hands together nervously. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."

" Me, too. - I - Me, too, Joyce, okay?" Chief Hopper went to meet her in the hallway, his voice mild and low, but easy to hear for someone like Jamie. "But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."

Mike sprung up, but walked to Will instead of Joyce. "No. But he does. If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore." Max was the one who said it, though most of them thought it. "That he's a spy for the Mindflayer now."

"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

"How did I get stuck doing the heavy lifting?"

Jamie was basically a carbon-copy of Dustin. Stocky build, but with twig-like arms and no real strength beyond a quick mouth. And still, Chief Hopper had enlisted her help in cleaning out the old shed behind the Byers'. It was, like all old sheds, filled with junk. A stained old couch, defect TV, Will's old toys, crates of vinyls, curtains, anything you could imagine. Chief Hopper scooped up as much as he could at once and dumped it a few feet outside the shed. Jamie followed suit, but tried to stack the boxes in case it had some nostalgic value for the owners.

Chief Hopper was chewing on his lip as he worked, occasionally glancing at Jamie, but not saying anything. Whenever she caught him staring, she met his gaze evenly with raised eyebrows.

"I - uh - I talked with Doctor Owens," he finally said and Jamie paused in lifting a box labeled 'CHRISTMAS LIGHTS'.

"What, now?"

"No, no, earlier, when Will was- when we were there with Will," Hopper said and rubbed the back of his neck. He still wore the ugly scrubs, but with his patrol jacket over it, to give an inkling of authority. As far as Jamie had understood it, Doctor Owens was still at the lab - presumed dead...or worse. "He - uh - he told me you passed out at school."

"Oh," Jamie said cleverly and bent down to take another box to hide her face. "Yeah, uh, it was nothing. Just a flu."

"Yeah." Chief Hopper had stopped cleaning the shed and paused to light a cigarette. "Uh, he told me to keep an eye out on you, in case you went off your meds."

Saying nothing, Jamie carried the box outside. Shit. Shit shit shit.

Chief Hopper had a way of asking questions that made you want to tell him the answer. It was probably that what made him a good cop. "What meds did they have you on?"

She shrugged. "It's called Stablon, but that's all I know. Mom handled the prescriptions."

"Stablon," Chief Hopper repeated, tasting the word, turning it over to see if it rang any bells. "Am I right to assume you've stopped taking them?"

Jamie froze in the vicinity of the good old Chief Hopper-stare. A bad liar from the get-go, she had no way of outwitting a veteran cop. Still, she tried to look at his shoulder instead of his face. "No." He only had to wait a few heartbeats before she relented. "Yes."

Hopper grabbed her by the shoulders and bent down, forcing her to look at him. His cigarette smoke hit her in the face, but was quickly carried away by the breeze outside. There was something hard in his eyes when he said: "Good."

"Good?" she repeated and stared at him. "Really?"

"I don't trust those bastards," he grunted and went back to emptying the shed. "And I wouldn't accept any fact from them without ten other sources backing it up. I'll keep an eye on you, so you won't go looney on us, but as far as I'm concerned, those pricks only look out for themselves and don't give a rat's ass about us. They say you gotta take some pill, I say shove it up their ass."

Jamie followed him back inside and blurted out: "Dustin thinks I'm developing superpowers."

Hopper had his back to her, halfway bent over an old keyboard and he froze there for a few seconds, but he didn't turn around. He continued to carry the keyboard out and said: "Superpowers I can deal with." Hopper paused after dumping the instrument on the pile outside. "Uh, what kind of superpowers are we talking about?"

She had picked up an item at random and held it while she talked. "I can hear someone talking 500 yards away like they're standing right next to me." That was the best thing about telling stuff to Chief Hopper. He didn't overreact, or react at all, until he had thought things through. "And I'm getting kind of strong."

He took a long drag from his cigarette and nodded. "I bet. That gun safe you're holding weighs almost 200 pounds."

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review if you did(n't).