022. 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗹.
𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆. Lori didn't want to follow them into the trees, trudge down the line and rush into the clearing. She didn't want to know where the screeching was coming from — because that meant seeing the creatures again. That meant facing everything again, and she didn't know if she could take it after all of that. That was a lot. The bus was a lot. Lori Philbin would be lying if she said that she wasn't waiting for death, in that bus. It sent her insides mushy at the thought of it, at the thought of all the violent shaking and all the squelching and all the thuds— she didn't want to witness it again.
But she found herself standing next to Steve Harrington, in the clearing of the forest as they's just rushed away from the train tracks.
It was now, when Lori thought of this. She could've backed out a while ago. She could've backed out the second that they showed up at her window, but she decided to sneak out with them. She could've backed out on the train tracks, one of the multiple times they reminded her she could. She could've backed out when they were in the bus, when Steve told her he'd cover for her. She could've backed out at any point. But there she was, still going along with them as if she were doing it blindly. Except, she wasn't walking into it blindly. Not at all.
So what was making her stay? Sure, being there for her cousin and, quote un-quote, protecting him was a good reason— but Steve was there for that. But Steve also had himself to protect. And Steve, Steve.
What happened on top of the bus was certainly not one of her reasons to stay, not at all. Quite frankly, it was on her list of reasons to go. But there was something in the pit of her stomach, an emotion so small that even she, herself, couldn't feel it yet— that made her feet keep moving along with them.
And there was also the prospect of, well, it being too late to back out now.
She constantly thought of how she would feel, if she happened to ditch them and go home. She wondered how it would feel to sit at home, biting her nails, wondering if they were even going to make it out alive. Wondering if they were dying. Wondering if Steve never pulled up in his driveway again. She didn't like to be curious. And that, that, was a gaping black hole of endless curiosity that Lori did not want to lose herself in. It would only end in anger and bad decisions.
And what did she have to lose, anyways? Yeah she had her mom, but that was about it on the outside world that held her back. Outside world being: normal life outside of this interdimensional shit. She was with her cousin, she was with Steve— who, she told herself strongly, was not of high value or importance to her as much as the rest— and if they all died, they would die together. She weighed the options while they'd been walking down the train tracks in the dark— she'd lose a lot more if she stayed at home then if she continued on.
So there she was, standing in a clumpy line between her cousin and Steve Harrington. Eyes on the prowl for the creatures.
Collectively, they approached the hill that descended into more forest— stopping where they could see a clear view of Hawkins covered in fog.
"Holy shit," Lori breathed out, her eyes awestruck at the amount of mist.
There was a tremendous amount of fog back in the junkyard, but this was next level. The rows of endless trees were coated with thick mist, grey smears that covered the ground. There were some spots where the ground was completely unrecognizable — obscured by the haze and the complete darkness. It sent a chill down her spine, all the way down each bone of her spine, at the sight of something so grand and yet so unbelievably eerie that seemed to stretch out for miles before them. And somewhere, somewhere in all those trees and hidden behind all that fog, there were the demogorgons. It was uncertain how many there really were, but if there was four, there was probably more to come.
A gust of wind blew past them, ruffled her messy hair and coated any bare skin in goosebumps. Her hands had small bruises on them and so did her wrists, and some parts of her fingers were tinged with a red colour and burned slightly. The air smelled of pine, and held that feeling, the now-familiar feeling of approaching danger from absolutely every angle — and the wind seemed to leave an invisible residue on her cheeks.
There was this roaring, the loud familiar roaring that stretched on for miles down the forest. It seemed to come in waves — like an alarm. The roaring blared through the sky, one long wave of horror, and then it drowned out for a few seconds of stillness. But it came back, it kept coming back.
Lori gulped.
"I don't see him," Dustin said, his voice low.
They shined their flashlights over the view, all eyes searching for something out of place between the lines of trees.
"The binoculars," Dustin nudged Lucas.
Lucas grabbed the binoculars from around his neck and rose them to his eyes. For a moment he was quiet, as he scanned the view of Hawkins, panning his head around in search.
"It's the lab." He said, slowly, with darkened concern.
Steve turned his head to look at him.
Slowly, Lucas took the binoculars down from his face. "They were going back home." He said, with a gulp, and his chest breathing heavily.
"You mean, like, the lab lab?" Lori asked, her voice softer than she'd intended. She looked from Dustin, to Steve, to Lucas. "Like, the lab?"
Each of them either nodded, or put on an expression that told her what she wanted to know. Immediately she thought about the stories, about their cover-ups, about the sketchy situations that surrounded it.
And now, the creatures were flocking right to it. Were they going there too?
"Come on," Steve said, his voice quiet and tense. "Let's just keep walking."
"I don't understand why we're heading towards it." Lori said, half-breathless.
Her foot crunched loudly on a stray branch, crackling beneath her sneaker. Her arms were out, shoving branches and leaves away from the path so she could walk straight, and her eyes were squinted into almonds for seeing through the tiny spaces. They were walking through the forest, all five of them, in a jagged line of flashlights, backpacks, and stepping through breaking branches.
About an hour had passed since they were standing in the clearing, in Lori's mind. Or, at least it felt like an hour— although realistically, it was only half of that since they were on the lookout, staring at the lab from a great distance. The forest seemed liked a great journey, from the clearing to the lab— but they walked quick. As they walked through the trees, silent and jittery for any looming threats, Lori couldn't walk straight without looking back to see if anything or anyone was following them. Her mind was scattered with paranoia, but Lori Philbin also hated paranoia, so she tried not to think about it.
A few minutes ago they started talking. Recovering what happened, what was happening now, and what was going to happen. They covered everything without arguing. And a few minutes ago, Steve made it known that they were heading for the lab— which was bewildering to Lori but not anyone else, because it seemed that the whole walk they'd silently expected it. Where else would they go? They needed to find Will, and Mike, and Hopper, and Joyce.
"I mean, what? Are we planning to engage in another fuckin' combat, or something?" Lori said. She was stepping hard onto the stick-covered ground, behind Steve who was at the front of the line. "Look, we could've died back there— why are we gonna march into their 'home' and just wait for death again?"
"Maybe Will and Mike are there." Dustin said, casually, from right behind her. "With Hopper. I mean, Will's been there almost everyday recently, so it would only make sense to why neither of them are answering,"
"And so what if we walk in and the place is gutted." Lori said. "What happens if... if we get there, and, and, those things have taken over — what if there's nobody left."
Steve turned around slightly, wrapping his hand around Lori's elbow as they kept walking. "Would you stop," he scolded lowly, only to her, with concern.
She wiggled her arm from his grasp and grimaced. "It's the truth, Harrington. Everyone knows it."
He rolled his eyes and kept on walking a step in front of her. "Always painfully honest, huh, Lori." he said with a scoff.
"Yeah, Steve, somebody has to be honest," she said with a bitter tone. "I don't see you doing the job,"
"Because you're so good at being honest that nobody else needs to fuckin' try." he said, equally as bitter. The tone of his voice hinted at something else— and she thought about everything she'd said on top of the bus, when she was honest, and her coldness towards him when she cut her head. Was he also bitter about their change of mood?
"I'm just saying that those things destroy everything in their path, right," she continued, trying not to think about him — because there were bigger things to worry about than their childish lover's quarrel.
She sniffed. "So why are we gonna join them? For all we know, they could be everywhere in there— wreaking havoc six ways to Sunday."
"Okay— we don't know if they're heading to the lab for sure," Dustin said, matter of fact-ly. "But either way, we need answers, and we need help."
"Listen, I agree with Lori," Max interjected, speaking with a soft tone but still serious. "It's a bad idea,"
"Thank you." Lori said, with a bitter voice regarding the others.
"It's cause' you guys have never done this before." Lucas said, speaking sternly. "This isn't something you can just walk away from— we have to stop it. We have to stop em'. We're responsible."
"Yeah, well, walking in guns-a-blazing probably isn't the best option when it's regarding a lab full of monsters." Lori put her finger up. "And we don't even have guns, alright. All we have is a bat of nails."
"And the wrist-rocket." Dustin added.
"Mhm." Lori hummed, unamused.
"Look— we'll just see what's happening, alright?" Steve said, talking as if it were a concluding message. "Besides, there's clearly no phone booths out here in the middle of the god damn forest," he said, turning his head to cut a glance at Lori, scowling, "So the best we can do is make calls once we're out. Kay?"
"Who knows, maybe we'll run into em'." Dustin spoke.
Lori didn't say anything else after that, just silently chewed on the inside of her cheek and aggressively shoved more branches out of her way. They scratched at her hands and were probably causing small gashes or red marks on her skin, but she couldn't care less. The bleeding on her head stopped, but the band-aid had absorbed all of it, and was stained red. The back of her head still had a small tingle, but it wasn't any worse than when she'd passed out and slammed her head right on the dirt. She still reached up to feel the gash and the back of her head every few minutes.
When she let out a strong, exasperated, angry huff of air— literally seconds away from professing her new hatred towards forests and fucking branches that poked absolutely everywhere, ready to complain about everything— they neared the end of the tree line. And there was a noise, this time coming from a human (probably?), in the shape of a word.
"Did you hear that?" Dustin whispered, to her.
She narrowed her eyebrows sharply, nodding her head as response but not turning around.
Nobody reacted the first time, but when a voice called out, "Who's there!" only seconds later, in a loud tone— their breaths hitched.
"What the hell?" Steve tensed.
Their feet crackled on the sticks quicker now, and Steve pushed past the last barricade of branches and stepped into the clear air. Lori was close behind him, her body heat radiating onto his.
"Who's there!" the voice called out once more, urgently. One of a man, or a teenage boy.
Through the glare of their four flashlights, it was hard to see anything once they got out of the forest. The five of them were in their clumpy line, finally leaving the trees and stepping onto clear grass under the sky they could finally see.
A few steps out— and with curiosity burning at her chest— Lori let her flashlight lower as her eyes squinted in the dark, to see two silhouettes standing close beside one another. The more she squinted and approached, the more she could see.
First the hair, the curly short hair, the coat, the jeans. And beside, the denim jacket and shaggy hair over a pair of eyes.
"No fuckin' way." Lori whispered, breathless.
Nancy and Jonathan stood at the bottom of the slope. Lori's eyebrows shot up at the sight of them— mostly because she'd never seen them this close, and because right away, right away, she knew that she'd have to stand in front of Nancy Wheeler and pretend like she wasn't the cause of Steve and Lori's entire denouement. Oh, and also be introduced. Like Lori Philbin had ever had interest in being introduced to Nancy Wheeler before. Now she had to be.
And there was also the fact that Lori knew damn well, also right away— even if no one had told her or that it had never been confirmed— that Nancy and Jonathan were involved with one another. In some way, somehow. But even Lori felt the discomfort of Steve when she saw both of them just now, Jonathan's hand clutched around Nancy's arm, and the thick uncomfortable mood that was struck up into the air within a mere second.
"Steve?" They both said in unison, sounding utterly gobsmacked. Bewildered— as if this was an impossible sight.
Steve stood still for a moment, looking at them. "Nancy?" he then said out loud, confusedly.
Lori instantly took a step away from Steve's side— she hadn't even noticed that they'd been standing so close.
"Well this is awkward." Lori stated, her voice dreary.
She swallowed the air in her throat when Steve nudged the side of her arm to shut her up. She shot her eyes to him and widened them, as if she were just pointing out the obvious. He scoffed.
She followed Steve as he started walking, and kept the same, monotone, unbothered expression— that apparently, made her look pissed off and intimidating. And she wasn't unbothered, at all. She was probably the most bothered she'd ever been in her entire life, at everything, and now especially at this.
"Jonathan," Dustin said, not sounding confused. The kids were right behind them.
Lori crossed her arms tightly as they walked down the slope, her eyes trailing around behind Nancy and Jonathan.
"What are you doing here!" Nancy said, strongly, and stomped furiously on the grass towards them.
"What are you doing here?" Steve retorted, his voice remaining somehow leveled.
Within a second, they stopped in front of the pair, separated by a few feet, flashlights pointing at the ground and expressions knitted with serious confusion.
"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy told, tilting her chin up.
Lori had never really heard Nancy's voice, ever. Or seen her this up close. She tried not to stare— rather pinned her attention behind them at their car, then to the closed gate, and then to the monstrous lab that she'd never seen before.
Her stomach shifted with a nauseous feeling, mostly at the lab with its pulsating lights and dead power, but also at the uncomfortable interaction.
"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin motioned to the lab.
Nancy tensed her eyebrows, "We're not sure," she said lightly, and slightly defensively. She glanced to Jonathan, and then looked to Steve.
"Why," Jonathan breathed out, concerned now.
As if on cue, a loud roar emitted from their side— all heads turning towards the lab. Everyone paused as the screeching roared through the air, loud and gut-wrenching.
Lori wanted to look at Steve, share the same expression, but felt that it was inappropriate right then, so she swallowed hard.
It seemed like everyone looked away, except for Lori. Because her attention was only pulled when Nancy spoke out again, this time her eyes on Lori only.
"I'm sorry, who are you," she said. Her voice wasn't harmful, just not exactly give-me-a-hug inviting. "And you," she said, adverting her eyes to Max behind them. "What is going on?"
Dustin cleared his throat, and took a step forward, "This is my cousin, Lori," he said, motioning to her, "She just moved her a few weeks ago,"
Nancy took this in, and so did Jonathan, with a glance to one another. She could tell they were trying to figure out why she was there and if she knew about everything.
Lori didn't know what to do but nod and chew harder on the inside of her lip. Of course Nancy didn't need an introduction, neither did Jonathan.
"And what the hell are you doing here all together?" Nancy asked. She closed her eyes for a second, and winced with confusion.
"It's a really, really, long story," Steve let out a huff.
Dustin stepped forward, "Look— we can explain everything later. All of it, why she's here— why we're all here— soon. Just, for now, I,"
Lori looked over at Steve, trying to spot any hints of discomfort on his face like she was feeling. She noticed his tightly knitted eyebrows, that look of concern he always had.
"What happened." Nancy said, putting her hands out straight, urging for answers.
"They attacked us in the junkyard." Dustin let out. "About four of them— but they ran off, and, and, we think they, uh," he paused and looked to the lab. "Headed here."
"Who attacked you?" Nancy pressed further, her eyebrows tightly narrowed. "What attacked—"
The silence that followed her question was answer enough. She glanced to Steve for clarification, and he slowly nodded— sending some sort of telepathic message.
Jonathan let out a shaky breath. "And you haven't seen Will? Or Mike?" he looked to each of them.
Lori felt slightly out of place, as she breathed in and found no answer. She looked down at the grass and dug the head of her sneaker into the ground.
"Neither of them." Dustin shook his head.
"Not in a while," Lucas added, glumly.
"Shit," Jonathan spat, and rubbed his forehead.
"Wel— we have to find them, right," Nancy said, speaking quickly, "Yeah, we have to find them, do you think..." she left her question open, referring to the lab.
Lori felt like she should say something, say anything, but she couldn't speak. She was looking at the ground when she felt a nudge on the side of her arm, from Steve. She looked up at him but he turned away.
The circle closed in, as more questions were thrown. Quickly, Lori was beside Steve and Dustin, rounded by the kids and Nancy and Jonathan— comments, questions and answers all around, voices speaking over one another. It was a big blend of confusion, with unfinished sentences like, "I haven't seen—", "Yeah but we—", "Have you seen an—", "Last time I saw Will was—"
When Lori noticed Nancy suddenly step into the circle and then out of it, she followed her gaze.
"The power's back," Nancy announced, with relief and confusion mixed together.
"Does that mean," Lori said, leaving her words unfinished. She looked up to Steve beside her. She swallowed and shot her head in the direction of the gate. "The security gate — we can get in," she said, breathless.
There was only a few seconds before this kicked into everyone's minds, and then they were running down the grass.