-8-
'I don't like it here,' Eleven thought to herself as she wandered around the site of the gas station, hugging herself for a moment as she stood around while being close enough still to the van, so when they could leave she would just run over and get back in, and they'd be on their way. 'It does not feel right here.'
As she looked around the bleak landscape after going wandering a little away from the small, dilapidated gas station which had certainly seen better days, Eleven could not help but shiver in a way she didn't like; in many ways, it did feel somewhat like the feelings of dread she had when she had lived in Hawkins, just before she was about to go up against the Gate, or whenever the Mind Flayer was about to attack, but it felt different here.
It might have been the desolated ruins near the gas station, which, rather humorously was named 'Fred's Oasis,' there was a collection of rundown sheds, what looked like a chimney on the point of collapse without a house around it, and a few sparse trees.
Actually, it looked like there had once been a small town here, perhaps a village, or service stations for passing cars and trucks on the road that had long since closed and had never reopened. There was an old abandoned water tower she doubted had been used for years, and there was a car that was barely a frame. But she wasn't interested in the history.
Maybe that was why this place was giving her the creeps, she wondered to herself. She had already caught a conversation between the old man who was still working here and Jonathan; the old man had claimed there was nobody around here they would want to speak to, ever. And she had shivered with dread; Eleven wasn't normally afraid of people, especially now her powers had come back after losing them in that horrifying mess last year, but something about his statement worried her.
The biggest difference between this place and the NINA project site was at the NINA project, there was nothing unspoilt about the place, and it had just felt natural, but here it felt wrong.
Eleven glanced backwards towards the gas station, seeing Mike hanging around with Jonathan and Argyle briefly, and she felt a pang, wondering if the distance between them would ever go away. There had always been a gap between herself and the others, and while Mike was somewhat closer to her than others, barring Max, even if the redhead had distanced herself from Eleven as well this past year, she had hoped that after he had given her something to fight for during that battle with One in the Upside Down, that they might be closer now.
But apparently not.
Eleven hadn't been too surprised when she had seen the old man - Fred - was packing up. The place looked so rundown now, it was hard to imagine anyone even managing to eke out a living around here. There were signs he would be leaving within a few hours.
What was that?
Eleven swung around, hands already raised instinctively, preparing to launch a devastating blast of telekinetic power that would have ripped half of these ruins to bits. She had just heard something in the distance, a metallic noise not far from where she was standing. It sounded like somebody had just shifted some of the corrugated bits of metal trash around, and then went silent and still when they saw her react.
Eleven narrowed her eyes, her nerves stopping her from relaxing even a degree. She was tempted to smash something near where she had heard the sound and see what happened. After her battle with One in the Upside Down, the last thing she wanted was to be attacked by some hick out here.
A hand came on her shoulder.
"El?"
Eleven swung around and shrieked with surprise, her hands automatically moving, but fortunately, she stopped herself reflexively throwing Will away. She panted with shock and growing anger.
"Will," she gasped putting her hand to her chest, "Will, you scared me to death!"
"Sorry. We're about ready to go. The old man Fred, he's given us the direction to California," Will said sheepishly.
Eleven nodded, struggling to calm down. "Good."
Will was busy looking around at the ruins. "What were you doing around here?" He asked.
"Ah, just curious. I wanted to see what was around here."
"There's not a lot to see, is there?" Will asked his adopted sister, gazing around at the bleak ruins nearby.
"No, but then….," Eleven wondered if she should tell Will what she'd heard, or what she'd thought she'd heard. "Will, can I ask you something?"
"Of course, you know you can."
"When you sense things like the Mind Flayer and the Upside Down, does it work for other things?" Eleven asked awkwardly. The Upside Down was never a topic the Byers' family liked to bring up, and since she just wanted to put that part of her life behind her until recent events, Eleven had been more than happy to go along with it.
Will, who hadn't expected the question, was taken aback and he didn't know how to respond. "No," he said at last, "It works only with the Upside Down. I mean, at first, I thought it might be cool if it worked like Spider-Man's Spidey Sense, but it doesn't. Why do you ask?"
"It's this desert. It's creepy. While I was at the NINA project, I was allowed as a privilege to go outside for brief walks that were watched by the guards. When I got out, I was amazed by the breathtaking beauty. It felt calm and relaxed, natural. But I don't get that same sense here. A few minutes ago, just before you touched my shoulder, I heard something nearby. It sounded like somebody was here," Eleven replied.
"Did you see them?" Will asked, unsure whether to believe it or not.
"No."
Will gently took her hand and they walked a little deeper into the collection of ruins and trash strewn all around them. As they walked, Will tried to focus on the sixth sense he'd developed as a side effect after the Mind Flayer infected him with that thing while he'd been in the Upside Down, and had been with him ever since.
They walked around for a few minutes, keeping absolutely silent while Eleven had her free hand ready in case they were attacked, and their eyes darted around, searching for signs of anyone nearby. But there was nothing.
"Do you think you imagined it? You have been under a lot of pressure," Will asked gently after a bit.
By now even Eleven was beginning to think she had imagined it. "Maybe, come on, let's get back to the van."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Will said.
-8-
But Eleven hadn't been imagining anything.
There had been someone nearby.
Safely hidden away near one of the old sheds, Ruby had struggled to keep herself hidden the entire time that strange girl with the short hair and the tall boy tried to find her, relying on the skills she had learnt since she was old enough to walk to keep herself hidden. Her arms and legs had ached while she had knelt down, huddling in the shed after she'd carelessly knocked that sheet of metal which fell with a clang, but what surprised her was what the girl did.
The savage girl had dressed herself up in the hopes her grandfather, in exchange for some of the newest things to trade, would take her away from the hills and so she could have a new life away. Ruby knew it wouldn't be simple or easy since she had had a totally different upbringing than everyone else, but she was tenacious enough to try. And her grandpa Fred had always been reasonable.
Ruby had been watching the girl closely, seeing her clean, beautiful face that was both marred and yet helped by her short hair and comparing herself to her. All her life, the only females Ruby knew were those of the other clans, and many of them were insane and became as cruel and evil as the men like Hades, Papa Jupiter, Mercury and Pluto, to say nothing of Reaper and Big Brain.
But this girl was not like them. She wasn't one of the Hill People or one of the clans who lived out here ever since those scientists who'd come from the outside world started his experiments that ruined many lives. But what surprised Ruby was why she had raised her hands like that, she just did not get the answer, and she had been cursing her circumstances when the girl and boy had walked towards where she was hiding, and Ruby had been considering revealing herself in the hopes they would take her away from this hell she lived with all her life, but then they had given up and walked away.
-8-
Mike watched as El and Will both came back to the van with some relief. "Are you both okay?" He asked with concern.
El nodded. "Yeah. We were just wandering around," she said without giving away too much.
Mike sighed inwardly, seeing that she was closed off from him again, and wondered what was making her upset with him now. They had both made many mistakes lately, especially with how he'd signed their letters and how she'd lied about her life in Lenora, but he'd thought she would put the past behind her.
"Well, we're ready to go; Fred's given us the right directions for getting us back to California."
Eleven grimaced at the thought of returning to Lenora, especially since the town likely knew about her being sent to Juvie by now. But from Lenora, they could make their way back to Hawkins safely. That was all that mattered.
"Okay," she said and she got inside the van, but Mike stopped Will.
"What's wrong?" Will asked curiously.
"Did she say anything?"
"She said she thought she'd seen someone hanging around the station."
"What?" Mike looked around, but he didn't see anyone. In fact, the place looked as bleak and uninviting as before. "There's nobody else here."
"I know, but she's still kind of on edge after what happened when she used the freezer," Will said.
Mike shuddered at the memory of El thrashing about, whimpering in agony during her battle with One. Discovering that she had lost her memories because of a fight with another person like her in the Lab had been one thing, but finding out she'd lost them because she had thrown One into the Upside Down and Brenner had tried to use her to get him back had been hard to hear.
But seeing the physical strain was even worse.
"I don't know how to speak to her anymore, Will," Mike confessed quietly. "It's like she's pulling away."
Will groaned inwardly. He hated being in the middle of the relationship between Mike and El. He loved her, but he was jealous of her. Ever since he'd learnt he was gay and that he fancied Mike, it had been straining their relationship and had done so for a while, so he had focused on his artwork.
"Have you considered talking to her about it?" He asked.
"I did, and she twisted my words."
"When was this?"
"Right before she was arrested."
"You just need to find the right words, Mike. She has been through a lot in the last few years, and you are important to her," Will said, holding back another sigh.
Mike nodded. "I'll give it some thought," he promised.
Just then Jonathan came over. "Right, good to go?"
Mike doubted he would ever be more pleased to leave a place than he was now. He didn't like it here, and it felt so barren and empty (no desert pun intended).
Just as they were getting back into the van, Fred yelled. "Y'kids stay on the main road, y'hear me! Stay on the goddamn road!"
As they were pulling away, Eleven wondered why he sounded so desperate. She was so curious she missed someone running back towards the gas station, but if she had noticed she would have seen their raggedy clothes.
-8-
As the van sped down the road towards California, Jonathan just hit the accelerator without any care about the traffic laws since out here there wasn't anyone to worry about. He had a map out on his lap, as he didn't trust Argyle at this point not to make some stupid mistake, but he made the mistake himself of going a different way.
Hours later and there was no sign of them getting closer to California.
"Jonathan, have you got that map?" Will asked his brother. Mike and El shared a quick look.
"Yeah, it's in my lap. Why?"
"I just think we should have come close to California by now," Will said evenly.
"It's okay, we'll get there."
Will shot the two men in the front seats a quick glance. Ever since Jonathan had met Argyle, he had become increasingly apathetic towards life and the future. Oh, while he still cared and loved Will, the younger Byers had been noticing him becoming more and more unfocused.
"Pass me the map, please Jonathan," Eleven, sensing the emotions, held out her hand so she could see what the older boy had done. In all the time she had known the Byers family, she had never once had problems with Jonathan, so she was shocked when Jonathan threw back over his shoulders, "Lighten up, will you? I know where we're going."
After sharing some worried and concerned looks with Mike and Will, Eleven sniffed. They had seen Jonathan share a quick fag with Argyle before they'd left the pizza parlour earlier, but had he snuck off to have one to relieve the stress and deal with the impending reunion between himself and Nancy?
Seeing what she was trying to do, Mike moved forward, "Jonathan, could you give her the map?"
A low roar sounded in the air, bellowing overheard until they clapped her hands to their ears. Already shocked and disorientated from the sound and jolted after his drug-induced haze, Jonathan jumped and they sped off the road until the van came to a halt.
-8-
A few minutes later, Eleven was levitating the pizza van out of the little slope it had run down, channelling her growing disappointment and fury towards Jonathan for smoking before they'd set off from the gas station, and Argyle for putting him on the stuff in the first place. It had transpired that just when they got out, the annoyed Jonathan, already hysterical about recent events and trying to find her until coming to the NINA lab almost too late, and the impending reunion with Nancy had grabbed one of the few funny fags he still had and he had taken a quick smoke to dull his mind a little bit longer. It was not the wisest thing to do on a long journey, but Jonathan had become addicted to drugs and in his haze, he had made the same blunder Argyle had made, and now they were lost.
Once the van was straightened out, the two men quickly examined it to make sure it was okay. To Eleven's disgusted outrage and fury, they discovered that the van had snapped an axle, and without a replacement in a garage where they'd have to allot time and work to repair the damage, they were trapped here.
While Mike and Will argued with Jonathan, Eleven walked off a little ways from the site and found a rock to sit on. She looked around and sighed. That feeling of unease hadn't gone away, she still felt as if they were being watched, but she decided to ignore it for the time being as she considered their options.
El turned her mind towards Joyce, Murray, and Hopper. All of them were still either in Russia, or they had managed to escape. She wondered how Hopper had found himself there, but then she remembered what Will had said, about it being like hyperspace from Star Wars.
What if…?
Eleven suddenly perked up. She had an idea, although she didn't have a clue if it would work.
-8-
As he peered out of the old binoculars he used to spy on the road, Goggles gaped in astonishment as he saw the small white-clad girl hold out her hand, and something appeared in mid-air. And then she stepped through.
