There was no denying that it was Eleven, standing across from me in the black expanse as bald as the day we found her in the woods. Rather than an over-sized, bright yellow Benny's Burgers t-shirt though, she was dressed in some kind of strange white jumpsuit with strange box-shaped indents on the front of it.
"El?" I repeated. Her eyes widened further.
"You see me?" She asked. I nodded, taking a small step towards her.
"Is this," I gestured to the space around us, "Are you doing the blindfolded, staticy thing? Is that what you see whenever you look for people."
"Yes," She confirmed, "But how can you see this?"
"Its kind of a long story, and I don't really know how long I can hold this," I replied, "I know this is all fake and in our minds or whatever but...can I..."
I reached out a hand towards her. She came the rest of the way, brushing her fingertips against my palm. I laughed, rushing towards her and throwing gmy arms around her shoulders. She wrapped hers around my waist, hugging me back.
"I miss you." She said tearfully.
"I miss you too! I don't care if its in this weird, mindscape thing, I am so glad to see you!" I pulled back, putting my hands on her face. "You cut your hair again."
"Long Story," She laughed as I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. Her smile faded, "What you're planning...its too dangerous."
"What choice do we have?" I asked. "If we don't do something, he's going to destroy Hawkins."
"You could wait," She said, "I could try to get to you-"
"We don't have time for that," I said, "And you don't have your powers. Even though I'm nothing like you, I have powers of my own now, so distracting him mentaly so the others can kill him physically seems like our best bet at this point."
"I do have..." Her voice wobbled, and I could feel myself losing my connection to her, "...Lab...Dr. Owens-"
"Eleven...Eleven, I'm losing you." I said, my eyes fluttering as I started to feel light-headed. "Eleven?"
"...wait..." I shook my head.
"I'm sorry. We can't wait. I hope you can get here soon, but there's no telling when that will be. We have to act now."
"Riley!"
My eyes flew open to find the others still surrounding me, staring at me intently. Blood dripped from my nose, and a sudden wave of nausea hit me, prompting me to run into Eddie's bathroom and empty my stomach contents into the toilet.
"Whoa, hey," Hands combed my hair out of my face, holding it away from my mouth with one hand while the other rubbed my back, "That's a new side effect."
I groaned, pressing the back of my hand over my mouth as I flushed the toilet before moving to sit back against the tub. My movement allowed me to see that it was, unsurprisingly, Steve, who had come after me.
"Yeah...I hope that's not gonna be a thing because...that sucked." I said, pointing a finger at him.
"But...you saw Eleven?" He questioned. I nodded.
"We didn't really have time to talk about much," I told him, "She said our plan was too dangerous, and she wanted us to wait until she could get to us."
"Yeah, and you said we couldn't?" He questioned. I nodded. "Yeah, that's probably true."
"It is." I agreed, standing up and walking over to the sink so I could wash my mouth out with water. Eddie suddenly appeared in the doorway, opening the drawer to my right and pulling out a still-packaged toothbrush.
"My uncle keeps them so he can take them to work," He explained, handing it to me, "Lot of dust and stuff flying around at the factory. He doesn't like how it feels when it gets on his teeth."
"When we get out of this, you tell your Uncle that I am eternally grateful. Thank you." I groaned, taking the toothbrush from him.
"Are you ok?" He asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, I'm alright. I just got a little lightheaded this time around, so I assume that made me a little sick." I opened the toothbrush, squirting some toothpaste on it and beginning to brush my teeth as Nancy appeared in the doorway beside him.
"But that's all she managed to say?" She asked. I nodded. "No information about where they are or what's going on?"
"I got 'Lab' and 'Dr. Owens'," I reported, "That mixed with the fact that her head is shaved again and she was wearing some weird, laboratory-chic jumpsuit tells me that at least Eleven is probably at a Lab with Dr. Owens, but that's all I've got."
Another wave hit me, and I grabbed Steve, funneling all of them out the door before shutting it in front of them so that they didn't have to watch me puke my guts out yet again.
~~~
Once I finally felt safe to leave the bathroom, I thoroughly brushed my teeth before joining the others in the living room to go over our next steps.
"Check this out," Eddie said, pointing at an add in the Yellow Pages, "The War Zone. I've been there once. Its huge, they got everything you need for uh...well uh...killing thins, basically."
"You think fake Rambo's got enough guns there?" Robin asked, pointing at the guy in the ad. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?"
"Well, lucky for us it is, so...This-this place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we stay clear of the main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and uh...angry hicks."
"If we're trying to avoid angry Hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called The War Zone." Erica pointed out. Dustin pointed at her.
"Normally I'd agree, but, we need the weapons, so I think its worth the risk." Nancy stated.
"Me too." Lucas agreed.
"Yeah, but is it worth the time?" Dustin asked. "It'll take all day to bike there and back."
"Who said anything about bikes?" Eddie questioned.
"What, you got some sort of car we don't know about?" Steve asked him.
"Its not exactly a car,...Steve. And its not exactly mine but uh...it'll do." I sighed, hanging my head.
"We're about to steal your neighbor's RV, aren't we?" I asked.He simply smiled at me in response before turning to look at Max.
"Hey, uh, Red, you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?" Max looked down at the floor, pondering thsi for a moment before looking at him with a shrug.
~~~
A few moments later, Eddie was wearing a rubber Michael Myers mask, and was peering around the corner of one of the other trailers, keeping watch for the neighbors.
Once he was sure it was clear, he waved us forward and we all silently crept around the side of one of the other trailers, sneaking up towards the parked Winnebago RV. The owners were sitting outside, smoking and watching TV, so we snuck around the back and climbed through the back window, Eddie leading the way.
"That was suffocating." He said, ripping the mask off as I landed on the couch directly behind him.
"You're a trooper, Munson." I said, grabbing his shoulders as Steve climbed in behind me and he moved to the door, twisting the lock. He plopped down in the driver's seat, grabbing a pair of pilers and holding them in his mouth as he pulled wires out of the dashboard. I moved behind him, looking over his shoulder, and Steve looked over mine as the others continued filtering inside.
"Where'd you learn how to do this?" Steve asked, as he clipped the wires so that he could hot-wire it.
"Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot-wire," He explained, "Now, I swore to myself I wouldn't wind up like he did, but now, I'm wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto, so uh yeah, I'm really living up to that Munson name."
"A murder that you didn't commit," I pointed out, "And trust me, these things have a way of 'going away' if you know what I mean, so I really don't think you have to worry about that. I don't know your Dad, but I'm fairly certain that you are nothing like him." He smiled at me.
"You goin' for an award or something, Riley Hopper-Harrington. Geez, that's a mouthful, and yet it sounds so freakin' cool."
"Right?" I agreed.
"Um Eddie," Robin said, coming up behind us, "I'm not sure I love the idea of you driving."
"Oh, I'm just starting the sucker," He said, smiling back at Steve, "Harrington's got her. Don't cha big boy."
I laughed, shaking my head as he touched the wires together, causing the RV to roar to life.
"WHAT THE HECK?! HEY, OPEN THIS DOOR!"
"Hey! They locked the door."
"Shoot, go!" Eddie leapt out of the driver's seat, and Steve quickly replaced him, jumping over the back of the seat while I fell into the passenger seat.
"Its just a car," He muttered, "Everybody, hang on to something!"
"Oh my gosh, let's go, let's go, let's go!"
"Drive, Steve Drive!" Dustin screamed.
"Go, go, go, go, go!"
"Shoot, they look ticked."
"Its not every day you lose your house and car in one fell swoop!" Robin called.
"HOLD ON! HOLD ON!" Steve shouted, wiping around the corner and taking out several trash cans as he did so. "Ok."
I laughed, reaching over and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Good driving, HAIRington!" I complimented, leaning back in my seat and peering over at him. He smiled, glancing quickly between me and the road.
~~~
Once we got far enough away, Steve was able to slow down and drive normally, and the rest of us could stop hanging on for dear life.
"How's it handle?" I questioned, propping my foot up on the dash as James Taylor played over the radio.
"Not half bad, considering that this is a...house." I smiled, leaning my elbow against the window and resting my head in my hand. "Yeah, its...its silly, but I...I've actually uh...I always had this dream that I'd have this really...really big family. I'm talking like, a full brood of Harringtons. Like five, six kids?"
"Six?" I asked, glancing in the back of the RV, where four of our usual six kids were sitting.
"Yeah, six little nuggets," He said, causing me to laugh again, "Three girls, three boys. And-and every summer, I figured all of us Harringtons, we would pack into something like this and...just see the country. You know, the Rockies, Grand Canyon...maybe Yellowstone. End up in some beachside town in California. Spend a week parked in the sand...learn how to surf, or somethin'."
"That sounds...perfect." I said, smiling at him as I pictured it in my head.
"Yeah?" He questioned.
"Yeah." I chuckled, nodding, "Maybe we could even like...take a trip to New York, I could show you, and the nuggets of course,"
"Of course," He agreed.
"All the places my parents used to take Sara and I as kids." He smiled at this and I shrugged. "I don't know...maybe that's what we should save up for, instead of a wedding."
"Wait seriously?" He asked. "Because its just a silly dream, I mean I know how important that is to you, getting married with El there and everything." I shook my head.
"Yeah...I wish El could've been at my wedding," I admitted, "But I don't know...it might make me more sad than anything, having a wedding and knowing my Dad won't be there. Plus...I don't think its a silly dream."
"Really?" He asked. I nodded.
"I mean, six kids, three boys, three girls...sounds familiar, does it not?" I asked, nodding towards the back of the RV.
"Yeah, if only I had some practice." He said. I nodded, looking through the windshield.
"I don't know...after Sara died, and my Dad shut down on me," I continued, "I remember feeling so...lonely when I was a kid. I always kind of had the same thought that I'd like to have a big family when I grew up so that I, or my kids...would never have to feel that way again."
"Yeah...I think that's where mine comes from too, I'm sure," He agreed, "No parents, big house."
"So yeah, I'd say Hopper-Harrington family vacation sounds like...a dream come true." He smiled, looking over at me.
"I'm crazy, about you, you know that?" He asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, well...the feeling is more than mutual," I agreed, "And you know, for the record? I think you would make a great Dad."
"Oh, are you kidding?" He inquired. "The two of us, together, we'd be like super parents."
"We'd make sure our kids watched all the best movies," I theorized.
"And all the worst ones, of course." I chuckled.
"They'd all have perfectly quaffed hair." He laughed, throwing his head back.
"Oh they'd be gorgeous," He agreed, "And they'd take after you mentally, so they'd be little geniuses." I rolled my eyes.
"They'd probably be dorks is what they'd be," I laughed, "But um...they'd be happy," My smile fell as I turned serious again, "And...they would never, ever have to question whether or not their parents loved them." He nodded.
"Or each other." I nodded in agreement.
"Definitely not each other."