Eleven came out of her room nearly fifteen minutes after she'd entered it, now wearing entirely different clothes from earlier -- the clothes that Kali and her friends had given to her the last time she'd lived with them. "...I found her." she said quietly.
"Where is she?" asked Mike.
"Chicago."
"Still?" this came from Will.
"Different home," said El.
"Wait," said Max to Mike and Will, "how do you know about this sister person?"
"She told us," said Mike, clearly irritated at how obvious the answer should have been.
"Why didn't you tell the rest of us?" Dustin said to Eleven, who was starting to look uncomfortable.
"She wasn't ready to talk about it, shitheads," Steve said, standing up from the couch, "It's obviously complicated, and you guys would ask way too many questions." Eleven gave to teenager a small, grateful smile which he returned.
"Now," Steve started again, this time addressing El, "If I can get us to Chicago, will you be able to find whatever place we're looking for?"
The girl nodded slightly, "Yes."
"Okay, let's go, then."
"Wha-- now?!" Max said, looking incredulous.
"Yes, now!" Steve said, imitating the way Max had said the word, "You wanna wait here for the government to find us?"
"He's right," said Mike, "We need to go before they find us. It's only a matter of time-- they already found Hopper and Mrs. Byers."
After several more minutes of discussion, the group piled into Steve's car, El in the front passenger seat and the others squeezed in the back -- it was tight, but somehow everyone managed to fit.
It was about a five hour drive just to get into the city -- it would have been four, but they'd hit traffic about half-way, much to the dismay of the group. When they did finally reach the city, it was ten-thirty, and everyone was tired; in fact both Will and Dustin had fallen asleep already, and the others didn't seem too far behind them -- except for El, who didn't think she'd be getting any sleep as she was too worried about her adoptive parents.
Steve pulled into the parking lot of the first motel he could find, announcing that they'd be staying there for the night.
"We'll find your sister tomorrow," he said to the young girl sitting next to him, "Okay?" El just nodded a little in response.
It took nearly thirty minutes to get all of the kids out of the car, pay for a room, and get everyone ready for bed. There was only one bed and one small sofa in the room. The bed went to Eleven, and the sofa to Steve, everyone else agreeing to sleep on the floor for the night.
The teen sat down on the couch while the kids were getting ready, removing his jacket and shoes, wrapping a thin blanket around himself as he finally laid down for the night.
Over the corse of the five-hour drive, he'd begun to feel worse than he had when he'd arrived at the cabin, and now that he knew that he and the kids would be safe -- at least for the night -- his body simply wouldn't let him deny himself rest any longer.
He pulled the blanket closer around himself and shivered a little, closing his eyes and quickly drifting into sleep.
He only slept for a few hours, however, before he was awoken by someone shaking his shoulder.
The teen jolted awake, gasping in surprise as he did so, which turned into a brief coughing fit. He sighed once he'd managed to stop coughing and looked up to see who had woken him.
"Steve..." Eleven whispered, looking down at her temporary guardian.
"Hey," he said, sitting up and patting the now empty spot next to him on the couch, "What happened?"
The girl sat down next to him and he draped the blanket he'd been using over her shoulders. She gave him a slight smile of gratitude and leaned into his side, resting her head on his shoulder as he wrapped a brotherly arm around her.
"I saw them..." El said finally.
"Hopper and Mrs. Byers?"
"Yes."
"...Are they okay?"
"I don't know... Joyce was yelling..." El was the only one of the party who called Joyce by her first name -- mostly because that's what she always heard Hopper call her.
"What was she saying?"
"...Me..."
"Something about you?"
The girl nodded slightly, "And..." she trailed off, looking over at Will, who was sleeping comfortably.
"She was yelling about you and Will?" Steve asked. It made sense; if Joyce was face-to-face with the man who was responsible for everything that had happened to both Will and El, then Steve wouldn't be surprised if she just flat out killed him then and there.
"Yes," Eleven said, responding to the teenager's question.
Steve nodded slightly, "They'll be okay. We'll find them. I promise."
The girl smiled a little, reassured by the boy's promise, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Steve was beginning to doze off again when he was startled back to awareness by Eleven whispering, "Bed."
" You're going back to bed?"
"Yes," El said. She hesitated for a moment, then looked at the teenager, "...Sit with me?"
Steve nodded, "Sure."
The girl smiled again and stood up, taking the teenager by the arm and pulling him over to the bed, the blanket draped around her shoulders dragging behind her like a cape.
She crawled under the covers, abandoning the blanket-cape on the floor. Steve sat down next to her, on top of the covers, stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning his back against the headboard.
He crossed his arms over his chest and shivered a little. Eleven noticed this and leaned over the side of the bed, picking up the blanket she'd left there, then sat up and turned to Steve. "Cold," she said, handing it to him.
"Thanks," he said with a small smile, taking the blanket from her and wrapping it around his shoulders, "Now get some sleep, okay?"
The girl nodded and laid her head back down on her pillow. "...Thank you," she said softly, closing her eyes.
Morning came too quickly for the teenager, the combination of the light pouring in from the window and the sound of the kids' talking waking him.
His head felt as though it was stuffed with cotton, making it difficult for him to breathe through his nose, and his throat was dry and sore, making it hard to swallow.
Steve groaned a little and turned over to see the kids grouped together on the floor in a circle, El with a cloth tied over her eyes. She was looking for someone.
This went on for a few more moments before the girl pulled the cloth away from her eyes and nodded in confirmation that she'd found what she was looking for.
Steve slowly sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Max noticed this and stood up, going over to him. "Good, you're up," she said, "We need to go; El found her sister."
The boy nodded a little, "Okay. Just give me a minute." He stood up and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He turned a knob on the sink, splashing some cold water onto his face and then looking at himself in the mirror.
He was paler than normal, and he looked tired. He sighed, which once again turned into a few coughs -- which were starting to sound deeper and as though there was a slight rattling to them. ...Shit, he thought, this might not be as easy to shake off as he'd thought.
He walked back to the group a couple minutes later and went over to the couch, putting on his shoes and grabbing his jacket.
"Alright, shitheads," he said, trying to ignore the slight raspiness and congestion in his voice, "You ready?"
The kids all nodded, evidently having not noticed the difference in Steve's voice, and the group left the motel, piling into Steve's car once again.
"You sure you know where she is?" the teen asked Eleven, who was sitting next to him in the passenger seat.
"Yes."
"Okay. You give me directions, then, alright?"
"...Directions?"
"Tell me when and where to turn and what streets to take."
The girl nodded in understanding, "Okay."
It took about half an hour of driving before they pulled up to an abandoned warehouse. Steve turned to El with a somewhat confused look.
"…This is it," she said, looking at him.
Steve nodded and then opened his door. "Alright," he said, stepping outside of the car, "let's go."
The kids piled out of the car, and Steve opened up the trunk, grabbing his nail-riddled bat -- just in case.
They entered the building, Steve and El leading the way, finding a group of four people gathered around a trash can which had a fire burning in it in the middle of a vast, otherwise empty room.
