Chapter Nine

The Bad Men

Ronnie smiled towards Eleven as she wiped the dirt from the girls face before setting the damp rag into the sink. Once she was done Ronnie turned back towards her as she gave her a small and gentle smile. Eleven turned back towards the mirror and gently touched the top of her head, her fingers running over the buzzed cut.

"I was worried about you." Ronnie spoke softly, her gaze still on Eleven. "I thought Papa had gotten you."

Eleven looked towards the older girl, her deep brown eyes holding heavy sadness as she stared back at her. "I thought Papa got you too, I was scared when I lost you."

Ronnie quickly reached forward and grabbed Eleven's hand, "We're ok now. Were you safe?" Eleven nodded her head "Did you hear...from Papa?"

Eleven bit her lower lip slightly "I think Papa is coming...looking for us."

Ronnie felt like her heart had dropped into her stomach. "We stick together. Got it? We don't separate. Not again."

Eleven nodded her head before reaching forward and wrapping her small arms around Ronnie's neck. Ronnie reacted quickly with wrapping her arms around Eleven's body. She could feel the panic racing through her veins as she thought more and more about seeing Papa again. Afraid of what she might have to do in order to keep herself safe and Eleven. When they pulled back away from each other, Ronnie reached up again and wiped the small tear falling down Eleven's pale cheek. She knew that the girl was just as afraid as she was.

A loud bang on the bathroom door caused both girls to jump in surprise and look towards the closed wooden door.

"Guys! Eleven?" Mike's voice sounded from the other side. "We gotta go. Now! Bad men are coming!"

"Bad men?" Eleven questioned

"Papa." Ronnie spoke quickly understanding what Mike was saying.

Ronnie stood up from the kneeling on the bathroom floor and quickly grabbed Eleven's hand. She opened the door quickly, so fast Mike stumbled back from the sudden movement, as they walked out. Dustin was quickly moving along the basement grabbing things and stuffing them into a backpack as Mike placed his walkie inside.

"What are we gonna do?" Eleven asked, her eyes looking up towards Ronnie.

"We gotta get out of here." Ronnie spoke and pulled Eleven's hand and walked towards the door across the large basement, the same door they come through only a few moments ago.

Mike rushed towards the front of the group, leading to where their bikes were sitting and quickly moved to help Eleven onto the back of his. He looked over his shoulder towards Ronnie as she looked around in panic.

"Can you ride a bike?" He asked, his arm reaching forward and pointing towards a larger bike resting on the side of the garage. "It's my sister's...Nancy...she won't care if you use it. She never does."

Ronnie nodded her head and rushed quickly to grab the bike. It had been years since she had been on one, Papa use to her ride in the hallways on the lab when she was little. But eventually that became something that was taken away from her as punishment. She straddled the bike and quickly moved to follow after Dustin and Mike as they moved to head towards the main road. When they came from around the back of the house, they all froze as they saw a group of men standing at the end of the street. Almost instantly both Ronnie and Eleven recognized the men looking back at them, all wearing blue jumpsuits with a false company logo on the front. But what scared them the most was the man standing front and center of the group. Wearing his normal all black suit with a large coat draped over his shoulders. His white hear seeming to glow as the sun began to set behind him. His cold eyes looking towards the both of them.

"Who in the hell is that?" Dustin asked from beside Ronnie.

"Papa." Both Ronnie and Eleven spoke, before quickly they pushed off and began to ride as quickly as they could down the road.

Ronnie knew that they weren't going to just let them get away, and her thoughts were only confirmed as the sound of cars starting and tires burning rubber onto the asphalt. Ronnie was beside Dustin as they rode and Mike right in front with Eleven on the back of his bike. Her arms tightly wrapped around him as he peddled quickly down the road. Eleven's eyes kept moving to look back behind them, watching in fear as Papa and the rest of the technicians raced to catch up with them.

"We need to find Lucas!" Dustin screamed as they cut down a few lawns and driveways, trying to make it possible to lose them.

Ronnie felt like her heart was going to come out of her throat as they peddled harder and faster. Eventually they skidded to a stop on a suburban street.

"Why are we stopping!" Ronnie spoke, her breath hard and labored, she felt like her entire body was shaking as she looked between the two boys.

As if to answer her question another boy, the same age as Dustin and Mike, came from behind a house and towards them. He stopped right beside Dustin, his breath just as labored and hard. But when his brown eyes met Ronnie's, his face quickly held confusion.

"W-Who is this?" He panted.

"Lucas, Seven. Seven, Lucas." Mike spoke pointing between the two of them. "She's from the lab just like Eleven."

"There's more of you?" Lucas spoke with surprise as his eyebrows rose towards his forehead.

"We don't have time for that!" Dustin nearly screeched. "Did we lose them?"

Everyone looked around for any sign of the large white vans that had been chasing after them only short moments ago. Before anyone could open their mouths to speak, or let their bodies relax, the sound of tired broke through the silence. When everyone looked passed either ways of escape, there was a van heading straight towards them.

"Go forward!" Ronnie screamed as she moved back onto Nancy's bike. "Trust me."

Mike and everyone else looked towards her before nodding their heads and following after her. As she peddled Ronnie could heard Dustin screaming behind her as the van began to pick up speed and heading straight towards them. Ronnie took a deep breath and concentrated on the van itself and closed her eyes for a moment, envisioning it moving up and over them. The sound of crunching metal caused her to open her eyes, and when she did, she watched as the van moved up over them before landing on its back and crashing into the others behind them.

"Holy shit!" Dustin screamed as the others watched in silence as the van suddenly flew over them.

Ronnie could feel her body weaken slightly as they continued down the road, the taste of blood on her upper lip. She ignored it as they continued to get as far from Papa as they could, not even looking back to see if they were still being followed.

Mike had lead the five of them towards a clearing that was littered with abandoned car and buses. The moment they stopped, Ronnie nearly through the bike down and collapsed to the grass beneath her with shaky legs. She whimpered as she reached up and gripped her hair tightly, feeling the painful pounding beneath her temples.

"Holy fuck, did you guys see that? She flipped the van! Flipped it with her mind!" Dustin spoke with clear excitement in his voice.

"We saw it." Mike shook his head and looked towards Ronnie.

Eleven rushed towards her side and quickly used the sleeve of the jacket she was wearing to wipe the blood that was dripping down her nose. Ronnie felt like her body was weak and could see her vision fading slowly.

"Seven? Seven..." Eleven spoke with worry in her tone of voice.

Ronnie whimpered softly, Eleven's voice sounding far away and almost like it was underwater, dark spots clouding her vision.

"Seven!" Eleven shouted and began to shake the older girls shoulders. Tears began to well in Eleven's eyes as she stared down towards Ronnie.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked moving to kneel down beside Eleven.

"I-I don't know...I-I don't know." Eleven sniffled

"Uh...guys..." Lucas pointed up towards the sky, the sound of a helicopter now coming to Eleven's attention. When she looked up to where Dustin was pointing, she could see the large black helicopter far in the distance, and heading straight towards them.

"Hide the bikes under the bus!" Mike shouted and rushing to grab the bike beside him. "Lucas help El get Seven onto the bus!"

Lucas nodded his head and moved to grab Ronnie's arm, throwing it over his shoulder, and Eleven mimicking him. Ronnie let out another groan as they used all their strength to hoist the girl up off the ground and move her towards the bus. It was more of a dragging her legs along the grass since they weren't able to fully get her up. Once Dustin and Mike had the bikes under the bus, the moved to help Lucas and Eleven. They gently placed Ronnie to the floor of the bus, the sound of the helicopter moving over them as the rest of the them ducked down behind the benches.

"Holy shit." Dustin spoke. "That was close."

Lucas nodded his head, panting slightly. "What about Seven?"

"Do you think she used too much energy flipping the van?" Mike asked, his question directed towards Eleven.

Eleven nodded her head and bit her lip, praying that, that was exactly what was happening.

They all sat inside the bus listening as the helicopter continued to fly back and forth over the field, knowing that it was the bad men looking for them. They didn't dare to move in fear of being seen by them. The sound of the walkie talkie breaking the long silence that engulfed the bus. Mike rushed quickly to grab the walkie from his bag, the voice coming through clearer.

"Mike...Mike please answer me...it's Nancy...I need you to pick up Mike!" Nancy Wheeler spoke frantically through the walkie talkie.

"Your sister?" Lucas spoke with confusion clear in his voice. "Why is your sister calling out to us?"

"Mike...if you're there I need for you to answer..."

"What i-if its a trap?" Dustin spoke

"Nancy? Working with the bad men?" Lucas shook his head. "Why would she do that?"

"It's Nancy" Dustin rolled his eyes.

Ronnie let out a soft groan and slowly began to open her eyes, the sound of the voices walking her up. Her body still feeling drained and weak from before. When she opened her eyes she was looking up towards the rusted ceiling of a aged bus, till she rolled her head to the side to see the kids huddled together.

"What's going on?" Ronnie spoke, her voice a soft whisper.

"Seven." Eleven smiled and rushed towards Ronnie's side as she slowly sat up and rested back against the bench beside her. "Ok?"

"Y-Yeah...I'm ok." Ronnie sighed and rubbed her eyes, the headache making the sunlight hurt her eyes.

"Mike...this is Chief Hopper. I need for you to answer me...we can keep you safe and we know about the girl...but you have to answer in order for us to help you." Jim Hopper's voice replaced Nancy's on the walkie.

"The chief? Why is he with Nancy? This sounds like a trap man." Lucas shook his head.

"Hopper?" Ronnie spoke and looked towards Mike. "N-No...he's good."

"How would you know?"

"Because I can tell...I can tell if people are bad." Ronnie spoke, her voice becoming clearer with each work. "Like Jonathan is good. Joyce is good. Hopper...Hopper is good."

"Jonathan?" Mike questioned "You know the Byers?"

Ronnie nodded her head. "I stayed with them. They helped...c-cause they are good."

"You're psychic too?" Dustin looked towards her in amazement. "This is what you meant...but like Eleven b-but more?"

Ronnie nodded her head. "Hopper is good."

Mike stared towards Ronnie for a few moment before nodding his head, believing her, and pressing down on the button for the walkie system.

"It's me...it's Mike. We're here. We're all here." Mike spoke clearly into the walkie system.