Chapter 37

"This is a lot to absorb," Darren said as he took a long pull from his beer.

Alexei nodded. "I don't know if it has anyding to do vid all dis," he said. "But if LaTisha-"

"I understand why you told me." Darren shook his head. "All this happened under everybody's noses?"

"People see vat dey expect to see."

"So what now?"

"I don't know. Ve keep our eyes open, yes?"

"I guess so." Darren reached for his wallet. "This is not going to be easy to explain to Gloria."

"I vill get dis round," Alexei said. It wasn't much, paying for a man's beer after upending his understanding of the world, but else could he do? "Maybe I could come over and explain?"

"That might be good."

When Alexei got home, he started dinner. This was the day Joyce and Rosario changed the prices for the next week's discounts, and she wouldn't want to cook. When Joyce got home, he motioned her into the kitchen while Lily sat down to draw in the living room.

"I told Darren," he said, and proceeded to relay what Darren had told him about LaTisha. "Vat do you dink?"

"I think we should both go over there after dinner," she said.

And so they ended up in the Jacksons' living room, repeating the whole story quietly while the girls played in LaTisha's room. Gloria sat for a moment after they'd finished before responding. "I don't know what game you're playing, but I think it's in bad taste, given what's going on with Conner."

Alexei shared a glance with Joyce. "We're not playing," Joyce said.

"Well, then you're both delusional. I'd suggest you get a grip on reality before you put your poor daughter into therapy. And I'd ask you to leave my home."

Joyce started arguing, as Alexei knew she would, but he recognized a lost cause. He quickly collected Lily, grabbed their coats and started ushering Joyce out before she said something she'd regret. When he opened the door, however, Hopper was standing on the other side.

"You weren't at home," Hopper said.

"What do you need us for?" Joyce asked.

"Tell me about this afternoon," Hopper said.

"I picked up Lily and Rosario's son Manny from school. They played in the store while we changed the prices. Then I took Lily home."

"Nothing to indicate Manny was unhappy or wanted to leave?"

"Oh God. No, nothing. Nothing at all. Oh God. Poor Rosario."

Hopper sighed and closed his notebook. "Let me know if you think of anything, or where he might have gone." He looked over at Gloria. "Sorry to be back so soon, Dr. Jackson."

"Not a problem. They were just leaving," she said.

Lily didn't say anything as they drove home. She only broke her silence after bath time, when she asked to sleep in their bed. Neither of them had the heart to say no, so she nestled in between them.

"The bad man got Manny," she said. "The bad man wants all the special kids."

"You're safe," Alexei promised. "Ve vill do everyding to keep you safe."

00000000

He and Joyce had agreed to a call over the lunch hour to decide what to do. It wouldn't do Lily any good to hear her parents discussing whether to flee the state, and she couldn't stand to even be in a different room for more than a few minutes.

He was just about to pick up the phone when he saw a burnt hand reaching up from under his desk.

He pushed his chair back instinctively and rolled across his office. A man, his hands and face blackened by burns, was staring at him. Alexei stared back, like the deer that met their ends on the roads outside Hawkins. The man turned, and Alexei could see half of his head was gone. And the dead man started to crawl toward him, smiling maliciously. The man was almost close enough to grab his ankle when Alexei's brain jolted back into functioning. He threw the chair at the dead man and ran for his office door, fumbling to lock it once he was on the other side. Then he saw the others, dead men, horribly burned, destroyed by his machine, limping and crawling toward him, and he forgot about the door. He ran for the stairs.

He leapt down multiple steps at a time until he almost ran into Darren. The other scientist was looking up the stairwell, glassy eyed with fear. Alexei looked up, expecting to see one of the dead soldiers following him down, but he saw nothing. What was Darren seeing? "Come on," he said, shaking him, and they both ran until Alexei stepped wrong and twisted his ankle. "Go," he said, and Darren ran. The soldiers wanted him, not Darren. They shouldn't both have to die.

He limped to the next floor, quickly checked and darted into Ricci's office. It locked from the inside. He would be safe there. He quickly locked the door behind him and was going to hide under the desk, but the spot was taken. Ricci was curled up, rocking like a child. He looked up at Alexei, said something that was probably Italian, and cried. Alexei tried to hush him. The dead soldiers would hear them if Ricci couldn't be quiet.

"Please, please don't cry," Alexei whispered. "Qviet. Qviet."

"Sovetskiy?" Ricci grabbed his shirt like a drowning man. "Sovetskiy?"

Alexei wasn't sure how that helped, but he assured Ricci he was Soviet. So obviously his boss had no idea who he was. And then he noticed the numbers tattooed on Ricci's arm. He never took off his jacket in front of his subordinates, let alone rolled up his sleeves. Alexei suddenly understood why. "Yes. Yes. You are safe."

He risked a glance above Ricci's desk – and looked straight into the eyes of the man who'd been under his desk. He crawled back, looking for a way out, but there was nowhere to go. The dead man limped over until the cuffs of his camouflage pants were brushing up against Alexei's legs – camouflage? He looked at the man again, who was standing over him, not doing anything. Where was his red star? Alexei kicked the man's leg and felt no more resistance than if he'd assaulted the air. Did that mean the thing couldn't hurt him? He didn't want to wait around to find out. He crawled past it and shook Ricci. "Come on. It's liberation." Ricci took his hand and they ran as best they could, until they were outside and Ricci collapsed, clutching his chest.

"Does anybody have a car phone?" Alexei asked, but the end of his question was drowned out by a blast. They all fell to the ground, covering their heads as best they could. When Alexei dared to look up, he saw the glass walls in their new cafeteria were gone. They should have been at lunch, he felt dimly. They should have all been cut to pieces.

The emergency vehicles arrived just moments later. They took Ricci and a few others who were more than just terrified away. Hopper came over to him first.

"Please tell me you all just got careless," he said.

Alexei was tempted to ask Hopper what on earth he thought they did there, but it seemed like too much effort. He told him what had happened. "I don't know vat I saw, but it didn't come from my head. It vas like somevone knew vat vould scare me most, but had never seen a Soviet soldier demself."

Hopper shook his head and was starting to say something when his radio crackled. "We need medical response at 520 State St.," the dispatcher said. "Probable carbon monoxide poisoning." One of the ambulances took off. Alexei had the vague feeling he'd heard that address before, but he couldn't place it.

"You all right?" Hopper asked him after the radio quieted down. Alexei nodded. "Okay. Go home. The feds are going to take this one over once they get here. You'll need to figure out your story."

Alexei limped to his car. Darren had parked next to him and was sitting on the hood of his own car. "What did you see?" he asked.

"Dead men," Alexei said, because he was too tired to explain more. "You?"

"The ones I saw were lynched," Darren said. "Hanging everywhere."

He hugged Darren, because what could he say? What could he do? Nothing. Darren thumped him on the back and coughed. "We should get home."

Alexei didn't expect to see Joyce already there when he got home. She was wrapped up in a blanket and her hands were shaking. "I went to check on Rosario when you didn't call," she began.

It clicked. "520 State St."

"You heard?"

"De police vere at de lab." He suddenly felt so completely drained of energy that he couldn't imagine explaining it again. "Is she all right?"

"They took her to the hospital. If I'd waited until after work-" She trailed off. "We have to get out of here."

"Yes." He saw no other way. "Ve go see Jonadan in Michigan?"

"I think so."

They curled up together on the couch. "Lily?" he asked.

"I picked her up early from school. She's sleeping now. I haven't told her anything." Joyce looked at him. "But I think she knows."

"I dink so too," Alexei said, and he looked up the stairs. Suddenly it seemed to him that dead soldiers with a desire for revenge were nowhere near the most frightening thing in Hawkins, Indiana.