She didn't know when she had fallen back asleep, and when she felt the slow movements of someone holding her she let her eyes drift open. For a moment she thought she had fallen asleep on the couch again and Hopper was moving her back to her bed. She'd woken up every time he picked her up, but didn't want him to know that she was awake and pretended to be sleeping. The feeling of being tucked in at night always gave her warmth she would never be able to describe, but as she felt a sheet touch her skin she felt cold. The air was almost stale, and each sound made an echo.

She let her eyes drift into the pale room. She could hear the sound of squeaking wheels leave the room, and as she turned her head to her right she met the gaze of Papa; Brenner. He was looking down at a stuffed animal of an old lion, the toy making a shiver run down her spine. She closed her eyes when she saw his finger twitch a bit, not wanting him to know that she had woken. She could feel the toy fall next to her pillow, the sound of his shoes on the tile floors grew silent of he closed the door and let her to lay alone.

She opened her eyes to look at the ceiling, the small squares making her feel nauseas as she thought of her old room from what felt like ages ago. She looked down at her bed, her hands were finally free, the blanket white, thin, and scratchy. Her room might have been smaller than her last one, the walls a dirt white, and the overhead light reminded her of the snow in the sun, almost blinding. She slowly sat up, pulling her knees to her chest, Mike's cousins clothes still on her body, but her shoes were missing. She could feel her chin begin to wobble, but refused to let the warm water fall from her eyes. She let it turn to anger, looking to the door and waiting.

…

Will was having a bad dream. He was back in the upside down, but instead of hiding in Castle Byers like he always did he was in a city; one he couldn't place from the design of the sky scrapers. He walked the empty streets, watching as black vines moved around the old dirty buildings. He felt like he had been walking for hours, turning aimlessly down random streets, looking through the sludge covered windows to find nothing; until he made it to a dead-end; a big library sitting tall amongst the small buildings around it. He took a look behind him; he had made it to the outer rim of the city.

The air was colder than what he had remembered; although this felt different all together. He tried to think of the last thing he remembered, but all he could picture was the light of the sky fading as he drifted to the bottom of a body of water. Was he dead? He thought about his uncle. His mother would always tell him the story of him drowning at the lake one summer, and how the life guard was able to restart his heart. Will placed his hand over his heart, feeling a small rhythm play as he stood in the middle of an unknown street. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, moving up the steps of the library, knowing he would have to find some place to hide; what was safer than a place full of knowledge.

He was finally able to get the door open after slamming his body against it a few times, but before he could get a good view of what the library had to offer, he felt his eyes fly open.

"Mom?" he said automatically to the empty room. His voice slightly echoed into the tall ceiling, the sound of metal against metal made his ears hurt. He moved his hands only to find that they were restrained to the side of his hospital bed. "Mom!" He yelled, his heart speeding; water forming in his eyes. He looked around the room; it almost looked like Hawkins Lab. In front of him lay a big mirror. "Mom?" he cried quietly not knowing what was happening.

He felt like his head was heavy, and his arms were sore. There were cuts on his wrist, but they didn't look fresh, almost as if he had been restrained for a while. He thought back to his dream; the city, and the library. He thought about the buildings he past, about all the tall sky scrapers he couldn't really place. He had seen them before, but he didn't really know where he had seen it. He closed his eyes trying to concentrate, trying to think, but he couldn't. He couldn't focus his mind, because all he could feel was something inside him; like a scream wanting to leave throat. The warmth of the blanket wrapped around him was making him feel sick; the sound of silence driving him insane.

He let his arm fly sideways fast with force, and anger built inside of him as his got caught on the hand cuff that was keeping him in place. He just wanted to move freely, he wanted to eat something, and he wanted to get the damn blanket off of him. He closed his eyes to the frustration. The only time he could remember the anger that he felt in this moment was when the mind flayer was inside of him. The time he looked at the guards in the lab, the guns strapped to the side of their waste. He had never felt the need to kill a man, but in that moment he wanted to; he needed to.

Will opened his eyes, letting the anger calm him. He could hear gasping, the feeling of something crushing under his hands. He pictured El in his mind; sitting over her and choking the life out of her. He calmly closed his eye, letting the world around him go dark as he heard himself scream.

…

"Maybe we should think of this like depression," Dustin said as Mike slumped against Will's bed. Dustin sat on top of the bed holding the old brain model. Lucas sat against the other side of the bed with Max, the sound of Dustin moving the brain back and forth in his hands was starting to drive Mike insane. "I mean they say when a person is depressed it has to do with receptors in the brain right? They aren't getting the right chemicals from one place to another?" Mike moved onto his knees, grabbing the brain from Dustin's hands; stopping Dustin in his movement. Mike glared at him.

"I don't know man," Lucas said on the other side of the bed. "Can we take like a ten minute break or something? I can't keep my eyes open, and I think your boring drone of a voice put Max to sleep." Dustin rolled his eyes looking to Mike.

"What do you think," Dustin asked Mike. Mike had been silent for a while, his body coming down from the adrenalin high, and his arm was really starting to hurt. He looked at the brain for a moment. He thought of the time his mom locked herself in her room when her and his dad had a small argument. She later told him and Nancy it was over a lack of communication, and that everything was fine. He knows she just got scared when she heard him grab his car keys later on in the night, and rushed out of her room.

"Maybe what they gave her stops the communication from one part of her brain to another." He thought about how his arm didn't really hurt at first, how all he could think about was staying alive, and keeping El safe. Now that the chaos had calmed down his arm was hurting. "Maybe she would just need something that made her brain think she was scared. That way she would go into fight or flight." Him and Dustin locked eyes with one another. "Like when we were at the cabin. She couldn't do anything until the men busted into the cabin. She reached her fight or flight response, and started using her power again."

"So you're saying all we have to do is scare the shit out of her?" Dustin asked, taking the brain back from Mike. They stared at the brain together, both in their own thoughts. Mike let his eyes drift to Will's window; the sun had been up for a while now, but he really wasn't tired.

…

"This won't take long," the woman said as she took velcro plastic clothe around El's arm. It blew up with air; the noise of the nurse pumping the small black ball in her hand was giving El a migraine. She watched as the cloth inflated suffocating her right arm. "Hmm," the woman said stripping it off of her and grabbing her clip board from the small trolley she rolled into the room.

"We're waiting," a man said from the open door. He held a small black gun at his waist, his hat almost hiding his eyes.

"Yeah yeah," the woman said, putting all her supplies back in order. "Get up girl," she said to El, pushing the cart against the wall. El looked around her room, not sure if she should listen to her. She let her bare feet hit the cold floor, the woman grabbed her arm with force, shoving her to the guard and then going back to work on her cart. El felt a little growl building in her throat, and die out as the pain almost blinded her.

The man pretty much dragged her down the hall. It looked different from the place she had once thought was home. She was able to see a few windows down the hall. Doors lined the wall, each holding a small barred window towards the top. She hadn't tried using her powers yet, too scared that it would hurt her head more than it did already. She imagined how it would be when she did; how everyone that walked in her path would be dead, because she was a monster; that's what monsters did.

They walked for a while in what felt like circles to El. At one point they went down a flight of stairs, and then another time through two large wooden doors. She watched he slie a card through a little machine by a large metal door, gripping her right arm at the same time. The door clicked loudly, and he pushed it open dragging her inside.

The large room was cold, a large tank filled with water on one end, a metal chair with a bunch of metal contraptions on the other. She stared in fear thinking back to a show she watched with Hopper one time; where the spy got locked into the metal chair, only to be fighting for his life while a laser came towards his body.

"Ah," she heard a voice boom and echo. She jumped out of her gaze, looking away from the chair to see Brenner walking up to her. "Let get you started with something small." She looked over to the tank as her stomach dropped, and then back to the chair as her heart beat started to pick up. "Oh no. None of that for today. We have other plans." The guard pushed her as Brenner let the way to the small office that sat in the comer of the large room. They filed in, the space warm with large computers and lights flashing. There was a small chair sitting in the middle of the room, the guard pushed her towards it.

"Now," Brenner said, pushing her into the seat. El looked around wide eyed as more guards started to file into the room. "There is no need to be scared, but you know how this goes Eleven." She looked up at the man, trying to place anger in front of her fear but she couldn't figure out how. "We can't have this hair getting in the way," he said placing his hand through her curly hair. She pulled away and winced as one of his fingers got caught in the curls. She stood from her seat, looking at all the men in the room. All their guns rose as she glared at them with intense eyes.

"Now now," Brenner said to the men, raising his hand to them to place the guns down. He went to put a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away.

"No," she said in a raspy voice. It pained her to talked, but she would rather that pain than lose her hair.

"Don't be spoiled," Brenner warned, shoving her into the chair hard. Men came fast behind them as she kicked out. Two grabbed her arms as she tried to punch them away. Brenner pulled zip ties from his pocket to hold her down. She cried at how tight he tied her to the armrests. The plastic was cutting into her skin. She kicked her legs out as she let out a scream, the lights in the room slightly brightening.

"Do it already," someone said beside her. She could hear a vibration as cold metal touched her scalp, and she stopped moving as she watched her hair fall into her lap.

"You know how this goes," Brenner bent down in front of her, placing a hand on her knee as she let her head fall in defeat. "Now you should start coming to the realization," he continued, "that you are going to be here, and you are going to help us. You are old enough now, you have seen enough of the world to know that it needs saving. You are what's going to save it." Brenner stood from his spot, making his way to the door. "She needs more time before we start. Make sure you bring her back to her room when she's done." And then he left.

…

"She needs to wake up," Hopper growled in anger as the punks glared back at him. "Don't you want to find your friend to?"

"Yeah," said the Mohawk, "but from what little we know about what her and Kali can do sometimes they need rest."

"She'll never be able to find them if she's too weak," Ray said. Hopper huffed looking at the girl that lay in Jonathan's bed. He looked back at the group, the girls half asleep in the corner, while the guys took guard. He had sent Joyce to bed, telling Jonathan not to leave her side. He could hear Nancy on the phone down the hall; the boys had quitened down in Will's room. He backed himself into the door frame, looking at the small girl in the bed.

"What does she do anyway," Hopper asked them. He tried thinking back to the night El slept walked into the cold. He thought about when she screamed in pain when Dustin pulled the bullet out of the girl.

"It's complicated," the Mohawk kid said. "She messes with your emotions, yeah?" he slowly sat himself down into the corner. "Make you feel things you don't want to feel. Make you feel pain you never thought was possible." Hopper looked over to Ray, who sat down on the side of the girl's bed.

"She's just a girl," Ray said. "Trust me when is say, she's more scared of herself than we are of her." Hopper scratched his head, letting his eyes fall slightly as he turned to look down the hall.

"When she wakes up," Hopper said," Tell me." Ray nodded his head once, and Hopped walked back down the hall way. He passed Nancy as she yelled over the phone; flopping himself on the couch before letting his eyes shot only for a second.

…

"I don't think your understanding the situation here," Mike woke to Hopper angry voice. It was muffled by the closed door, and Dustin's snores from the top of Will's bed. Mike sat up straight, he had fallen asleep sitting up; there was a kink in his neck and he could feel a pulse in his arm. "Just do whatever you do," Hopper said, "and find them." Mike stood from his spot; looking back to see Dustin spooning the brain, while Max and Lucas sprawled out on the floor. All three were fast asleep.

Mike slowly opened the bedroom door, looking a few feet down the hall to see Hopper standing over a bed in Jonathan's room. Mike backed out of Will's room, slowly closing the door as he went. He took slow soft steps, looking through the opened door way to see the girl sitting up in bed. Hopper stood over her, pitching his nose in frustration.

"I should wait until she's asleep," She said. Mike took a closer step into the room. He looked at the punks all around him; Ray gave him a slight nod from the other side of the bed. "If you say she had been injected, than the best time to find her is when she most venerable." The girl put her hand to her head, she ruffled the small patch of hair that began to grow all around her scalp. Ray took a red beanie from his pocket, placing it on top of her head.

"How do you know she's not asleep now?" Mike asked. Hopper turned around giving him a sad glare. Mike looked down at himself. His cloths were still dirty from when they went to the quarry; he let his right arm hold his left. He could feel the bags under his eyes, but he didn't care. "Maybe she's still asleep; she was knocked out only a few hours ago." He looked over to the girl, stepping closer to her to stand next to Hopper. She looked him up and down, and then right in his eyes.

"You are the one she watches," She says to him. "I've seen you before in the dark place that we meet." Mike felt a slight blush play on his cheeks, Hopper let out a small cough.

"Are you going to at least try?" Mike asked her. She gave an annoyed sigh, hugging her blanket around her body.

"Everyone needs to be quiet," she said as she started to close her eyes.

"Wait," Mike said thinking back to what he and Dustin had talked about. He looked up at Hopper. "I have a theory," he said to Hopper. Hopper rolled his eyes at him, but he continued. "I think in order for her to truly get a hold of her powers she needs to trigger her fight or flight instinct." Hopper raised his eyes brows in confusion. Mike let out a sigh. "Maybe if she gets scared enough she will be able to hack into the part of her brain that they tried to shut down when they shot her up with that black stuff." He looked back at the girl, sitting down on the bed next to her. "If you see her tell her I was hurt, but don't tell her I'm okay."

"Wait, wait," Hopper said. "Make sure she knows they took Will, and make sure she knows Kali is with her too."

"She needs to feel like she needs to flee. The gates open, the monsters are coming, I was shot." Mike said to her.

"What's the gate?" She asked him.

"Long story," Hopper said. "Just hurry up and try." The girl blinked at them both, before slowly closing her eyes. They all sat in silence. Mike watched her eyeballs dance under her eyelids. For just a moment he let himself feel hope.

…

She was back in her night gown, and it was cold. She shivered with the scratchy covers on top of her, but her eyes kept closing and even with all the will in the world, she couldn't stop them. She longed for some peace, just a moment of sleep where she didn't have to be reminded of anything. As she felt her she lift into the nothingness she kept hearing the sound of someone breathing right next to her.

She opened her eyes to see, only to find that see stood alone in the darkness. The water around her feet was freezing, and the air was chilled making her breath fog.

"I'm here," she heard the voice echo around her. She spun in a circle, unable to find anyone near her. "I'm here," she heard again. She stop spinning, listening to her environment; trying to search in the distance. "Jane? EL?" El turned around, Tory standing right behind her. She looked at the girl, a blanket around her shoulders, and a hat on her head. She looked better, like she wasn't sick any more.

"How did you find me?" El asked. "How is everyone? Is Hopper there? Are my friends okay?" Tory raised her hand to stop her from speaking. El could feel a cold breeze play on the top of her naked head.

"They took your hair," Tory said to her, a frown deepened on Tory's face. El could feel a slight tinge in her heart. She put a hand to her head.

Pretty?

Still Pretty.

She was happy Mike wasn't there; he wouldn't see her like this. She was happy Hopper was gone too, because she wouldn't know how to look him in the eyes. She brought this on herself, because of who she was. This was going to be her life; it was meant to be her life. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be normal, maybe that's why she was here again; maybe that's why bad things always seemed to happen when she was around.

"They took Will with you," Tory began to talk again. "Look for kali," Tory's color started to fade.

"No," EL said out loud. "Please don't go."

"The gate," Tory kept talking but El couldn't hear her. She mouthed words, but silence filled the air as her body began to fade away. El could feel tears on her face, as she watched the girl go; she could feel warmth on her upper lip. She took in a gulp of air, closing her eyes, and snapping them back open to a dark room. It was cold, and she cried as she hid her head under her blanket.

…

Mike watched as the girl fell back onto the bed. Her eye remained closed, and even though she said it would take a little while; it felt like they had been sitting there for ages.

"Jane," the girl said quietly. Mike perked up at the name, looking up at Hopper. They both leaned closer to the girl, listening carefully. The girl didn't say anything after that. She moved to one side, and then slowly to another. She let out a shallow breath before snapping her eyes back open. Blood ran down the side of her face, and she sat up while whipping it away.

"What did you see?" mike asked. "Did you find her? Do you know where they are?" The girl took the hat off of her head, moving her hand over her head. He could see water building to the rims of her eyes, and wondered if what she saw was worse than they thought. He could see how much it took out of her, the darkness setting under her face.

"She was so sad," she said slowly. "It felt like she didn't want to try anymore; like she had accepted where she was."

"No," Mike said loudly. He thought about the last few days he had spent with her. She had been distant; okay with being on her own. She was always quite, he said in his head. She was okay with leaving him behind. She didn't think twice when leaving with Will to the lake. Maybe she wanted to give up; maybe she was tired of being herself. She opened the gate, but that wasn't on purpose; she did it out of fear.

"They took her hair," The girl put the hat back on her head. A tear slipping from her eye, she removed it from her face fast. "They took me from my mother when I was young," she said looking into Mikes eyes and then around the room. "More like I took my mother away from me, because I could never control taking over peoples thoughts and feelings." She looked around the room of people, and then down at her hands. "My mother and I had the same hair, and they took that from me. It was the only thing I had that was hers." Mike slowly looked up at Hopper, not sure of what to say.

"She felt close," she said. "I don't know, this time it just felt different." There was a silence that moved through the room. Hopper let out a grumble of air, turning around swiftly. He walked out the door, putting each hand on the side of his hand, before quickly punching the wall in the hall way. The sounds was loud in the silence, causing Mike to jump. He looked over to the girl, before following Hopper out, and walking out the front door of the house for some fresh air.

He swung on the porch swing he forgot the Byers had. He let the cold wind hit his hurt arm, and he listened to the animals move around the trees as midday past. He thought of the time he found El in the woods. It was raining, and cold, and she didn't have any hair. Even in the dark he could see the fear deep in her eyes, but there was something else there. Something that told him she was determined; her own person.

She didn't give up; she wasn't that kind of person. Even though it sounded stupid; even though he hadn't spent a crazy amount of time with her, he still knew her. She never was the person to give up, and she was always willing to put others first when it came to danger. He couldn't believe that she was willing to stop believing in herself, because without her than how was the world going to be saved this time?

Hopper stood in the doorway of the house. The smoke of his cigarette drifted past the porch, and Mike watched it dance in the air before it disappeared.

"I'm going to kill that man," Hopper said throwing the cigarette onto the floor and stomping it out. "We were so close. She was about to have it all; freedom, education, a life." He looked over to Mike, Mike let his eyes drift to the front yard. He watched as the tall grass dance with the trees. He listened to the ruffles of leafs, half frozen from the cold. "Don't you guys have school or somethin'" Hopper said.

"Winter break," Mike said back. He leaned his back against the hard wood of the bench; letting out a small whimper as his shoulder hit the wood wrong, sending pain through his arm. "It's almost Christmas." Mike said. He had big plans for Christmas, other than listening to his bickering parents. He was excited to have El back, it was going to be her first Christmas and he wanted to do so much for her.

"I'm meeting with Owens in an hour," Hopper walked onto the porch, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans; his short sleeve shirt providing no heat. "I'm hopping he's heard something through the grape vine. Maybe he knows a place close to here they might be working from." He walked over to the bench, sitting next to Mike. Mike could smell the nicotine on him, but didn't really mind all that much. The smell reminded him of something safe, something warm. "We'll get her back, she may feel like giving up at this moment, but she'll realize how much she needs us." Hopper let a fake grin play on his face. "That girl can't live without you any way." Mike played his game, grinning up at him as if he was happy with the statement. Hopper swatted his Mike leg playfully before standing up. He left Mike to sit, waiting for an idea to play in his mind.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, all he knew was that he was getting cold, and Hopper hadn't left yet to see Dr. Owens. There was a small rumble in the trees; the sound was quiet as the leaves shook in the wind. Mike could hear it getting louder every few seconds, but by the time he knew it was something serious it was too late. The ground was shaking; the Earth was giving a quake Mike had never felt before. He could hear everyone inside yell, the sound of a stampede, or was it thunder, a stampede?

Mike watched as one of the trees in the front yard fell, piece of the house were coming off the wall, and dust from the porch ruff was falling down onto Mike's black hair. It only went for what must have been a minute or so. Mike crouched on the porch floor not really trusting his legs to keep him up. He could hear Dustin yell Earth Quake, and as the rumbling past, Mike still felt like his body was wiggling.

He stood from his spot on the porch, running through the front door to see a slight haze of dust in the air. Hopper took his hat, slapping it against his hand to get the dust off. Everyone stood in the hall way, crouch down like a tornado drill.

"What was that," the Mohawk punk said. Everyone looked around at one another, Jonathan helped his mother to her feet, and Nancy crouched beside him. Hopper looked down at his watch, letting out a cough before looking over to Steve. Steve was helping the kids to their feet, his big hair turning white as the dust settled on his head.

"We should get out of the house," Hopper said. "It might not be safe standing here." Hopper grabbed Mikes shoulder; Mike gave a small scream in pain as Hopper mumbled a sorry under his breath. They all filed out of the house, Joyce gasped at the down tree. In the distance Mike could hear a car alarm, maybe a fire truck or ambulance.

"What's that," he heard Max say. He turned to her voice; she was facing the house; a dark cloud rising in the distance. They all stood and watched as they cloud rose over the trees. Mike could feel his stomach slightly drop.

"Is that-" Mike began to say.

"Everyone back inside," Hopper said fishing through his pocket. "Don't leave the house and find Will's radio." Mike watched as he walked towards Steve's car still looking through his pockets.

"I have them," Steve said pulling his keys out. "I'm coming with you."

"Steve," Nancey grabbed his arm, Jonathan holding her back.

"I'm going," Steve said loudly to her. He threw his keys to Hopper, walking to the passenger side of the car. Mike watched as they got inside, the car instantly turning on; hopper quickly turned the car around while Steve was still closing his door. He drove through the grass, past the down tree and out of sight.

"What's going on," one of the girls in Kali's crew said. Mike looked back at the black cloud, getting higher into the sky. He could hear it, a slight whistle in the air. The Mind Flayer.

…

"We're going to do things a little different." Brenner said. El walked over the bridge platform, her small swimsuit tugging at her skin. Her cuts were visible to the air, the gash across her chest finally fully scabbing over. She wondered how her neck looked, if she had a bruise over her eye from the car accident. "We aren't looking for people anymore, we're looking for what you found, what you opened." She looked up to Brenner; ever since she woke up from her small nap she could feel it, the buszzng in her head. She knew it was back, her ability, but she didn't how much of it she had.

She didn't know where she was, where Will was or kali were. One of the lab men fit the wires over her bold head as she watch Brenner walk down the steps. She walked over to the opening of the tank, letting them slip the large breathing helmet over her as she took a step into the water.

They took Will, look for Kali.

They wouldn't know what she was looking for. They couldn't see what she could see. Maybe if she just figured out where Will was, if she could see that Kali was okay; then maybe they had a chance of getting out of there. She let a shiver run down her body as the salt water stung her cuts. She looked at Brenner on the other side of the glass. She stepped off her small platform. Her heart began to race as she listened to them close the latch over her; she was locked in. She stared at Brenner, one of his hands resting on his chin; thinking. She tried to calm her breathes, she tried to concentrate on what was happening.

She was the monster after all, but at least she would have a chance to save them. She could get Will back to his family; she could get Kali away from these people. She tried to remember the word for it, the word Hopper had given her forever ago when he had brought her back to the cabin. He said he wanted to redeem himself, from the man that he used to be. He wanted to do that by taking her out of the cold; giving her a place to live. Now that she looked back on the memory, maybe he wanted more than being redeemed, just like she did. Maybe he wanted a family too.

The tank became dark, the light leaving the water as they closed her view to the window. Leaving her alone in the water as they listened for any sign that she had found what they wanted. She took a deep breath, before closing her eyes. All she could hear was the ringing of silence, it was her least favorite noise because of how loud it could get. She tried to find the place in between, where she could find them; her friends. She wanted to check on Mike, she wanted to see if Will was still Will or if the monster had taken him for good.

"You have to find her," Mikes voice ranging with an echo throughout the darkness. El let her wet feet take the lead as she looked around her, trying to find the boy. "You have to try harder," El felt her heart skip; he sounded mad. She watched as colors danced in the distance, a group of people standing together. She ran for them, wanting to see what they were doing. Mike stood with his hand on Tory's arm. He looked at her with mad eyes; she looked at him in shock. Axel pushed him away from her, making Mike land on his butt, yelling in pain holding his left arm.

"Hey," Joyce said over the group. "We are not fighting!" El watched as Dustin and Lucas helped Mike up, he bent to the left in pain, something was wrong with him.

"I'm not going to look," Tory said. "She was too weak the last time, and that was only a few hours ago. Plus she's giving up; I could feel it from her. She doesn't want to come back." EL looked at her in confusion. She would love to be home, lying in her bed, her teddy bear tucked under her arm. She wanted to be home, but she knew what came with that. She knew that her life with them wasn't the best it could be, only because of what kind of person she was. People would be after her, which meant people would be after them. She could close the portal again, but she could also make something worse happen if she really wanted to.

"That's not true," Mike said in a raspy voice. He turned to the girl with an ugly glare, his friends mimicking. "She's a part of this party; she is a part of our family."

"I don't want to be here anymore," El turned to the new voice. It was someone standing behind her. El turned, and there Will stood, his eyes dark, and skin pale. "I just want all this to stop, but all I can see is the upside down." He was staring at her, or more like staring through her. She took a small step closer to him, trying to take every detail in. "They keep my room freezing cold, my blanket warm, and they really like it when he talks." Will turned his head to the side, looking at something far away. El followed his gaze, to a larger body of water, large rocks piled around it. "He's coming," Will said in a whisper. "Their coming and you should go." She looked back at him, a tear escape his eye, as he began to disappear.

She didn't know what to think. What was coming, when was it going to be here? She thought about the quarry, maybe the gate was growing; like before. She looked around the darkness one more time, trying to see if she could find Kali through the nothingness. She tried to take in a deep breath, concentrating. All she could hear was a whistle, almost like a train in the distance. She thought about the day she watched the news, how they talked about a tornado touching down in southern Indiana. They said it sounded like a train running over their house; the sound of metal scrapping on metal, the sound of the wind whistling.

She could hear someone open the latch above her tank; she opened her eyes with a gasp. She felt someone pull her up by her shoulders, taking the breathing helmet off her shoulders as they did. She took in a gulp of water as it splashed on her face. Someone pulled her out of the tank, making her land with a thud onto the metal landing. She could hear people moving fast, the sound of sirens playing as they went. El opened her eyes to see people running around the large room, Brenner standing beside her with wet arms.

He grabbed her roughly, making her stand; dragging her across the platform bridge and down the metal steps. She looked around franticly, her body letting out shivers as her wet body tried to get used to the temperature. She slipped slightly on the tiled floors, as Brenner took her out of the doors and into the lab hall ways.

"We still don't have all of our equipment," a man said keeping pace with them. "They still haven't given us the go ahead to get more weapons, and the guns we do have are scares. We can do a total shut down of the building, but they got through our doors last time, metal and wooden." Brenner pushed him away as he opened the doors to the stairway. He dragged her up the stairs, into the next hall way; he was taking her to her room. She looked around her as she watche people stred files, and run down the halls, radios in hand. Some yelled orders while others ran through doors with guns.

"You're staying here," Brenner said, opening the door to the room she had been staying. He pushed her through, slamming the door behind him. "What did you see?" he yelled at her. She shook her head, not sure what to say to him. "Don't lie to me, we know it's spreading, it's coming here. Is it coming for the boy?" She looked around the cold room, her body still dripping with salt water. She let out and angry growl, looking to her bedroom door, and pushing it open with her mind. She looked at Brenner with death in her eyes, because she had enough; she was done. She let him fly into the wall, his body hitting it with a loud smack, and then he landed on the floor.

A nurse jumped at the sound as she ran down the hall way, looking at her with wide eyes as she went. She could hear Will screaming in the distance, and the sound of squeaking wheels. She ran out the door, blood dripping to the floor as she went. Each door she came to she opened with a bang, finding them empty. She got to the end of her hall way, opening the last door, clothes lined the small closet. She raised her eyebrows walking in.

She found white coats and scrubs. She took green doctors pants from a small pile, throwing them on over her wet suit, tying the string around the hip. She grabbed a shirt behind her, pink like the nurses wear. She peeked her head out of the door, trying to decide what to do. If she went for Will she knew a few things could happen. He could kill her, like he tried to do before, he would scream, like he had been doing, or he could get into her head again.

They're coming and you should go.

She tapped her fingers on her legs, bouncing up and down trying to figure out what to do. She didn't know where Kali was, and she knew Will was close but he wasn't Will, he was that thing. She slowly made her way down the hall, people ignoring her as they ran through the building.

"Hey," El stopped in her tracks, the nurse that had looked her over just hours before staring at her. "What do you think you're doing," the woman got closer to her. Her face stern moving to grab El's arm. El moved, sliding away from her twisting her head slightly as the woman screamed, her arm bending in a way even El knew it shouldn't

"I'm sorry," EL said quietly to her. "I'm sorry." She moved a little fast away from her, not really sure where she was going.

"Stop her," the woman screamed down the hall, but no one paid attention through the panic. After many hall ways, and going up on flight of stairs El finally found a glass door. She could see the trees outside, a wind making them dance. The sun seemed to be going down, which meant it was about to get cold outside. She looked down the hall one more time, not sure if she should leave or not.

"I'm sorry sister," she said before pushing the glass door open. She walking onto the side walk, following it out to a parking lot where she watched people run to their cars. Some sped down the road while others went through their trunks, looking for anything that would help. El looked to the sky, she could hear it; the whistle she heard in the void. She stopped in her tracks, spinning in a circle as she looked for it; the monster.

"Kid," someone yelled from one of the cars. "Get the kid back inside," El looked around seeing men with guns run towards her.

"Eleven," she could hear Brenner say from behind her. She looked around her, taking in her options. She didn't want to be here when it came, she wanted to be shellfish; she wanted to run. She looked to the men running her as she stood in place, twisting their necks and letting them fall to the ground. She heard some people scream as they ran back into the building, she looked back at Brenner, who looked to the sky and then to her. She turned, looking at all the cars that sat in the parking lot.

She knew Max had driven a car once. Mike had told her about it over the radio one night. She looked a small blue car that sat closest to her, walking up to it and opening the front door. She sat in the driver seat, trying to remember how Hopper did it. He always had keys, and that's what made the car work. She looked at the key hole on the right of the steering wheel, turning it up and letting the engine turn on. She smiled at herself, closing the door. She moved the seat slightly forward, her feet still not touching the peddles. She frowned and remembered that she could use them with her mind. She pressed one down but nothing happened, than pressed the other down and car roared. She looked around her in confusion, not understanding why she wasn't moving.

"You have it in park," El jumped at the voice, a cold breeze came through the passenger side door. Kali stood in her hospital gown, her hair buzzed just like hers, he nose bleed more than she had ever seen. "Let's switch, I'll drive." EL looked at her in confusion. Trying to piece together how she could be there. "Move!" Kali yelled at her. "We don't have much time, and if you want to get to your friends we'll have to move fast." El nodded her head one, crawling over to the passenger seat as Kali slammed the door shut.

She looked behind her through the back window. Brenner was gone, and most of the people had left the parking lot. Kali took a seat, closing her door and putting the car in reverse. El pulled her seat belt over herself, listening to the click before looking over to the girl

"I realized I had my power back when I started to hear those sirens," she said driving out of the parking spot. She took the turned in the small area too fast; El slammed into her door and gave a small wince. "Brenner should be confused once he realizes he's not taking you back to your room, but a flower I picked and had given him," Kali said looking to El as she blazed past the guard post and out of the lab parking lot. "I would have come looking for you if I had known you were there." El looked down at her hands, feeling band. What did that say about her, she knew Kali was there, but only looked for a small amount of time before running.

"Same," she said to Kali. She was telling a lie, and it felt bad. "I would have looked to." The car remained in silence as Kali flew down the road, the sky getting darker, but not with night; with dark cloud.