Shared Trauma

Prologue

June 19th, 1982

Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sullivan had high expectations for this test. And it had been. The newest nuclear warhead that the United States Government was testing had worked to near perfection. The explosion had been so bright that, even though he'd been covering his sunglasses-clad face, the colonel had been nearly blinded by the flash of light. Unfortunately, it seemed the blast (or more specifically, the fallout caused by it) was a little too impressive.

"Sir, while testing the area for radiation, we found something you should see," one of Lt. Col. Sullivan's underlings walked up to his boss, clutching her hands nervously, "It seems a car was caught near the edge of the blast, where the fallout is at it's worst."

"And?" the soldier raised an eyebrow questioningly, "How were they anywhere near the test. Shouldn't any nearby roads be blocked off?"

"Well, yes, sir," the orderly answered, "It seems that we missed one, however, and the unfortunate family suffered the consequences."

"Family?"

"Yes, sir," the woman confirmed, "It seems a family of five was on a road trip across the country, judging by the amount of luggage in their trunk, and took a road we should've blocked off days before the test started."

"And who was in charge of blocking off all available roads through the testing area?"

"Sergeant Finley, sir."

"I'll have a talk with him later," the man grumbled, beginning to walk towards the door of the bunker he was currently in, "For now, I want a team to accompany me to the site of the family. This will be an excellent chance to study the effects of the warhead."

"Sir?" the orderly asked, looking slightly taken aback and disgusted, "A family just died, and you want to study their corpses?"

"They will be supporting our great country, even in their final act," the colonel argued, "That is what we do here? What good citizens do, correct?"

"Y-yes, sir," the woman agreed, obviously frightened by the imposing man. Lt. Col. Sullivan snorted angrily, "I thought so. So, get that team together, and get a helicopter ready to take us to the site. Is that clear?"

Now too scared to even speak, the orderly just nodded. She stood in place, shaking, as the large African American man turned around and continued on his way out the door, barely daring to breathe. As soon as the colonel was out of sight, the orderly let out a long breath, trying not to go into cardiac arrest, before walking away to do as her superior had asked as quickly as was humanly possible.

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The force of the blast had blown the car surprisingly far away from the road, shattering all of the car's windows (and several of the occupants bones in the process). That, however, wasn't even the most fatal part. No, that honor went to the insanely potent amount of radiation that would have instantly killed anyone not inside a lead-lined radiation suit. Thankfully for him and his men, Lt. Col. Sullivan and his team had more than enough of them.

The group of ten soldiers and scientists hopped out of the belly of the large helicopter, then, once the commanding officer had exited, made their way over to the toppled vehicle. Glass shards were scattered across the ground in every direction, the few remains of the car's windows. All the scientists had to do was follow them to their source.

The station wagon was lying on it's side, half buried in sand. Through the shattered windows, the onlookers could see the corpses of the five people, still "safely" buckled into their seats. Well, they were assumed to be corpses. The colonel thought that one of the bodies was shifting slightly in the back seat, although that might have been something as simple as the slight wind that was picking up around them, whipping sand into the air.

The group neared the overturned car, and the scientists began doing their techy stuff, taking readings of the radiation, and freeing the bodies from their seats for further study back at the lab. All of this would be necessary information so that this nuclear warhead (and others like it) could be used to maximum efficiency during any possible war.

After almost a minute of things going perfectly, one of the scientists let out a shout of surprise, backing away so fast he fell on his behind. The colonel's head snapped over to the fallen man, "What's wrong, soldier?"

"Sir!" the man yelled excitedly, "It's one of the occupants! He's still alive!"

"What!?" In a flash, Lt. Col. Sullivan was at the man's side, staring at the body. Sure enough, the body of the boy he'd thought was moving earlier actually was moving, his chest rising and falling in a rhythm as he breathed.

"Well, I'll be damned," the colonel's eyes widened as he saw something pulsing in the boy's body, "He survived..." the military man trailed off, lost in thought, until the movement of one of his soldiers snapped him back to reality, "Bring him to the lab, we have some tests to run."

"O-of course, sir," the scientist who'd found this magnificent discovery agreed, looking from the unconscious teen to his superior officer, "And then what?"

"What else?" the lieutenant colonel asked rhetorically, eyes fixed on the green light exuding from the boy's body, "We take him to Brenner."

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I've been Stranger Things-obsessed ever since a friend showed me it two months ago. Now, here I am, writing a fanfic about it (probably not the best idea when I have five other ones running at the same time). Ah, well, I've started it already, so I've got to finish it. However, updates are going to be sporadic as heck, since it's summer and I'm working a job (sadly, it's neither a newspaper, an ice cream shop, nor a video store). However, I do plan on finishing Season One before school starts up again, and might even update a few other stories as well (expect an anniversary chapter for DCT and a Homecoming update for GUIA).

Until then, have a great one!

Adios,

GameknightJ14