This chapter is a lot shorter than the previous ones, because I realize that I've been writing 10,000 word chapters and making you guys wait forever between chapters. So I'm trying to split them up a little more and get them out to you quicker. The next one is nearly finished already, so I should have it up in just a few days. Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think.
Chapter 9
The second that Allie stopped producing flames, El drew her back through the air. It was a considerable distance, since she had needed to float the baby farther and farther and farther away to keep from being consumed by the fire. Both Mike and El stood up from behind the car they'd used for shelter, agonizing over each second that passed before they could touch their baby again.
She dropped softly into El's arms, and the two of them smothered the little girl with their embrace. Even if Mike hadn't been crying for her, his eyes were tearing up against the stinging heat all around them. Allie seemed to have cried herself out, and was now only quietly sobbing in her mother's arms. Mike felt as helpless, as useless, as it was possible to be. All he and El could do was stand around at the edge of the flames while Allie went through whatever nightmare or episode or whatever had caused the fiery outburst. The two of them clung to the baby in silence for a long time, miserably wishing they knew how to make it all stop.
"Is it over?" Dustin asked, coming up behind them. Mike lifted his head from El's shoulder and turned to see Dustin and Will returning. The two of them had done the smart thing and retreated even farther from the epicenter of the firestorm. Dustin had tried to drag Mike to safety with him, but Mike had refused to release his iron grip on El's arm as the two of them had watched Allie from afar as she burned up the place.
Mike nodded in answer to Dustin's question and wiped his eyes. "I think she's mostly calmed down. At least she isn't making fire anymore."
"What happened?" Dustin asked, nervously moving a little closer to Allie. Mike could only come up with an empty stare. He had no idea what had caused the outburst.
"Wow," Will said, staring out over the swath of burning terrain. Mike turned to follow his gaze. It was a sight to behold. Those slimy, disturbing tentacle-vines were burning. The empty cars were burning. The mall was burning. The very pavement itself was burning. This fire looked to Mike somehow worse than the one that had consumed his house in a few short minutes. Wooden houses burned. That made sense to him. Here, things were burning that shouldn't have been.
Up until then, his eyes and ears had switched to a kind of tunnel vision for Allie, and he hadn't paid attention to much else. As the moment began to pass away, Mike became aware of a new sound. Over the roaring of the flames, he began to notice the piercing screams that came from those vines as they writhed and died in the fire.
"Is it safe to move Allie yet?" Dustin asked, breaking into Mike's thoughts.
"I don't think there's much of a choice," Mike said slowly, looking down at the baby again. "We can't stay here. We just have to hope it's out of her system for now. I don't know what else to do. We'll move a little farther away from the mall to make sure we're away from the agents, then Will can bring us back." He felt a little unsure even as he said the words. It might have been lucky that Allie had her outburst in the Upside Down. If they'd still been in the real world at the mall, she might have burned hundreds of people who were just going about their normal day. At least in the Upside Down, there was no one for her to hurt. He felt very nervous about bringing her back around crowds of people, although, for all he knew, the Upside Down itself had somehow caused Allie's episode. It was a problem, but he wasn't going to keep Allie in the Upside Down a second longer than he needed to, so the possible risk to the everyday people back in the real world was a risk he'd have to take.
"Do you think the people on the other side saw any of this?" Dustin asked.
"Huh?" Mike asked, not following.
"Well when the demogorgon moved around in the Upside Down, it messed with lights and phones and things in Hawkins," Dustin reminded him. "This is a huge fire. Do you think it did anything to the other side? Do you think people noticed?"
"I don't know," Mike said, considering it. "Will?"
Will waved a hand at all the empty cars, some on fire, some still covered in vines. "Probably. I mean, there are a bunch of cars in the parking lot up there right now. They might be going crazy. Flashing lights. Honking horns. Car alarms..."
"Then we'd better get even farther away before we shift back," Mike concluded. "Are you ready to move, El?"
She looked up from quietly talking and humming to the baby and nodded in answer. Mike again stuck very close to her shoulder and to the baby as they moved out. He knew there was nothing he could do to help. There was nothing he knew how to do to keep Allie from having another episode, or to make things better when it happened again, but he stayed close anyway.
Hopper scowled out the window of his truck as he sat parked at a gas station a few blocks away from Will's house. In the seat next to him, Sam peered through binoculars.
"I see two of them parked across the street," Sam narrated as he scanned the area. "There's movement inside the house, too. I make out at least two people who walked past the window. That white Honda parked out front. Is that Will's car?"
"Yep," Hopper said darkly.
"I doubt they're keeping Will inside the house, though," Sam said. "If they're holding him for some reason, it makes more sense that they'd take him back to wherever they come from. If they're still here, it probably means they're hoping to catch people who come looking for will."
"Like Joyce, maybe," Hopper agreed.
"Just who are these guys, Hop?" Sam asked, putting down the binoculars. "What are we up against? What did you get into ten years ago?"
"Government types," Hopper shrugged. "I never knew who they were. NSA. CIA. Men in Black, I don't know. I don't think hardly anyone knows who they are. That's the point."
"If we're going to outsmart them, we need to know who they are and what they want," Sam pressed. "Otherwise we're walking around blind."
"Maybe somebody can tell us a few things," Hopper thought out loud. "Do you know anyone on the Chicago PD?"
Mike blinked his eyes as he stared up at the clear blue sky. It was amazing how good the sun felt on his skin after spending time in the cold and dark of the Upside Down.
"We should radio Lucas now," Dustin said, already taking the device out of his pocket.
The baby seemed not to notice the transition back to the proper world. Mike huddled close to El and watched Allie's face very carefully. She was back to her calm and happy self at last, nestled against El's arms, listening to her mother's unspoken comfort. It was almost possible to imagine that a little while ago she hadn't been burning up everything around her.
"Was it just the Upside Down that made her do it?" Mike asked in a quiet voice.
"Maybe," El said. "Maybe I got distracted. Maybe there's something else. I think there is."
"Yes, Dustin, I copy. Where have you guys been?" Lucas' voice came over Dustin's radio. Mike was barely listening, still caught up in his concern for Allie.
"Don't worry about that now," Dustin said into the radio. "Is this channel still safe?"
"They could be monitoring all the airwaves," Lucas said. "We can't be sure."
"In that case, meet us..." Dustin thought for a minute.
Will sprang to his side. "Meet us where we can all save Princess Daphne," he said with a conspiratorial grin. Dustin looked at him sideways, but Will gave him a reassuring nod. "Ok... Lucas, you know where that would be?"
"I'll find the place," Lucas told him. "Wait for me there, and don't use the radio unless you have to. Over and out."
Dustin cocked his head at Will. "There's an arcade nearby, I take it?"
"Yep," Will said. "It was better than maybe giving away our location over an open channel.
Mike listened to the whole exchange with half an ear as he looked in the direction of the mall, which wasn't really visible from the several blocks distance that they'd put between themselves and the mall before leaving the Upside Down. He didn't see a plume of smoke rising into the air, and he didn't hear fire truck sirens, so he assumed that Allie's fire had been contained to the Upside Down, and hadn't translated over into the normal world. That made him feel a little better, at least. He also didn't see any black sedans or white vans creeping around near by, which made him feel even better, but it didn't mean they weren't just around the corner, about to pounce.
"Mike, did you hear me?" Dustin asked, shaking Mike out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, yeah, we're ready to go. Lead the way, Will," Mike said.
"Actually, we should take a quick detour," Dustin told him. "We won't blend in looking like this," he waved a hand at Mike's shirt, which was burned black in places and had a few holes in it. Mike looked down and also noticed that his shoes and the knees of his pants were covered with the black mold-stuff that grew all over the Upside Down. The same was true for El. Will and Dustin were even more covered with the stuff.
"We don't want random people to remember seeing us," Dustin told him. "We need to steal or buy some new clothes."
"We still have a little money," Will said. "Let's not start stealing things yet."
"Survival, guys," Dustin said. "You do what you have to when your back's against the wall."
Hopper brought his truck to a stop in the little alleyway behind Joe's Pizza. He could smell the over-filled trash cans.
He and Sam stepped out of the truck and approached the single squad car that was also parked in the alley. "Lou," Sam greeted him, as they came up to the open driver's side window. "Thanks for coming down here."
"Sam," the Chicago cop replied with a nod. "Who's this?"
"This is Hop, an old buddy of mine from the Indianapolis PD," Sam told him.
"You still on the force?" Lou asked.
"I'm retired," Hopper said.
"Listen, we have a friend who's gone missing," Sam said, getting right to the point. "That's why I need your help."
"Missing?" Lou asked. "Did you report it?"
"That's what I'm worried about," Sam told him. "I've seen a couple of Black Suits running around. Do you know anything about that?"
"You're missing friend is caught up in that?" Lou asked, alarm showing on his face.
"Caught up... kind of," Sam allowed.
"That's not good, Sam," the cop said. "Is it a close friend? Cause my suggestion is to stay out of this whole thing."
"So you do know about the Black Suits?" Sam asked.
"Not much," Lou told him. "The Chief called us all downtown for a meeting the other day. Told us about our guests. Some kind of agents. We're supposed to help if they ask for it, but otherwise stay out of their way, and not ask any questions."
"You don't know who they are?" Hopper interrupted. "CIA? NSA?"
"That's above my pay grade," Lou said with a half joking shrug. "I'd tell you if I knew. Whoever they are, they're official enough to come in here and do whatever they want, but secret enough that they don't have to tell us grunts who they are."
"You haven't talked to any of them?" Sam asked.
"Nope," Lou said. "They haven't asked for anything yet, so it's business as usual, unless they decide to call us in as reinforcements on whatever they're working on. Maybe they're looking for Russian spies or something. Maybe the president's daughter's been kidnapped. I don't know. I think they're looking for people. And if your... friend is mixed up in all that... I'm sorry."
Mike and the others sat together at a table in the corner of the little arcade Will had led them to. The place sold snacks, so Dustin had ordered them a basket of cheesy fries so that they had an excuse to hang out at the arcade without playing the games. After waiting for what felt like years, Lucas showed up and casually slid into a chair at their table.
"Was it hard to find the place?" Dustin asked, around a mouth full of cheesy fries.
"I just found a group of skater kids and asked them if there was an arcade nearby," Lucas told him. "Is everyone OK?" He looked at each of them in turn. "New clothes?"
"We had to stop and buy some," Dustin explained. "Our old clothes were... Will, can I tell him, or are you going to?"
Will shrugged his shoulders, looking down at the table.
"You sure? OK," Dustin said to Will, then turned back to Lucas. "We went into the Upside Down."
"What?" Lucas said, then realized he'd spoken a lot louder than he'd meant to. He glanced around the arcade, but no one way paying attention to them.
"It was intense," Dustin said, his eyes lighting up. "The place is just as nasty as Will always told us."
"How did that happen?" Lucas asked. "Is there another gate?" He leaned in a whispered. "Is the demogorgon back?"
"Nonono," Dustin said, waving his hand dismissively. "OK, hold on to your chair. Are you ready for this? Will is a planeswalker."
Lucas's eyebrows went up.
"Yeah, he can go into the Upside Down whenever he wants," Dustin said. "He's been able to ever since-"
"That's how you got away from the agents?" Lucas asked.
"Yep. We walked out right under their noses," Dustin said proudly.
"It's safe to go down there?" Lucas asked, his face growing concerned.
"We didn't run into anything," Dustin told him. "But there's more." He glanced over at Mike for permission, who waved his hand for Dustin to go on.
"Allie had another... episode," Dustin said, leaning closer to Lucas so he could keep his voice down. "It was intense. I've never seen so much fire. If there was a demogorgon around, she would have taken the thing out, no problem."
"This is crazy," Lucas said. "And we still don't know what's causing it?"
"Not really," Dustin said, looking at Mike. "Kind of unpredictable. It could have been some effect from the Upside Down, I guess, but..."
"We have to figure it out," Lucas said. "We could probably slip out of the city right now before the agents catch up to us... but if Allie has another episode, sorry Mike, they'll just find us again."
"Will..." came a voice from somewhere. "Will, can you hear me?"
"What the-" Dustin began.
Lucas jumped, then seemed to catch on. He unclipped a radio from his belt and placed it on the table.
"Will, are you there?" Came the static filled voice over the radio. The group stared down at it.
"Where'd that come from?" Dustin asked.
"I took it off one of the agents," Lucas explained.
"Will, if you're there, I need you to answer me," came the voice again. Will stared around at everyone else at the table.
"Mom?" Will said to them. "What's she doing on the agent's radio?"
"Oh no," Dustin said, his face falling. "They must have captured her."
"Will," Joyce said again.
He reached out to pick the radio up off the table, but Lucas stopped him.
"Careful. It might be a trap," Lucas said.
"If the agents do have her, we need to hear what she has to say," Mike told them. "Maybe she can secretly tell us where they're holding her and we can go break her out."
Glancing at everyone around the table one last time, Will picked up the radio and pressed the talk button. "Mom? I'm here."
"Oh, Will, honey, are you alright?" Joyce said, sounding relieved.
"We're fine, mom. We're all fine. Where... where are you?" Will asked.
"Listen to me, sweetie, you won't like this, but I need you to trust me," she said. "I'll explain everything when I see you but... You need to meet with this man."
Will stared across the table at Mike, his jaw falling open.
"His name is Smith, if that's his real name, but he needs to meet with you. Well, with Mike and El, really. I know it sounds crazy, but this isn't a trap. They aren't forcing me to call you. You really need to hear what Smith has to say.
Will and Mike stared at each other, each shaking their heads in disbelief.
"Are you still there? Will? Listen, I need you to trust me. I'm using password Radagast. Do you hear me, Will? Password Radagast."