NEWS OF the discovery of Will Byers' body monopolized all news media that night, while neighbors met on street-corners to speculate over how such a tragedy could come to pass in their quiet, safe, little town.
Ana had only known the boy for a short time, but his death still caused a grief to settle upon her nonetheless. So, she drank and cried in the privacy of her own home that evening. Feeling more alone than ever before.
The untimely death of anyone is a loss to the world. The demise of someone so young, though, isn't just a loss of life-it's a loss of potential. The things they could have grown to be, what they could have added to the world around them, the mistakes they could have made and learned from, all gone in an instant.
The following day was a shit show. The assembly was a joke, one she skipped witnessing altogether. And, to top it all off, someone had tripped the fire alarm causing all students and staff to evacuate the premises. Ana had ended up back home that night wondering why she'd even bothered with the day to begin with. Her earlier, casual evening of burgers at Benny's and drinks as the pub seemed like a lifetime ago, a different existence entirely.
Having every intention of repeating her previous evenings means of coping, Ana had barely settled into her couch with a drink in hand when a loud knock sounded on her front door.
She wasn't surprised by Hopper's presence at her home, but the frantic look in his eyes gave her pause.
"Are you alone?" He questioned frenziedly, looking around the obviously empty house.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She had asked back, perturbed by his shifty demeanor. No one came here but him. Well, except...
Hopper quickly shut the door behind him, clicking the deadbolt into place and rounded on her then, grabbing onto both Ana's shoulders a bit rougher than intended. "None of it's been real. It's all been a lie." He was leaning down then, so they were eye to eye, hardly a breath separating them.
"Slow down," she said, placing her hands over his in an attempt to loosen the firm grip he held on her shoulders. "Explain what's going on." But, then she felt them, the already forming scabs on his knuckles. Holding his hands in her own, she inspected them further, brushing her thumbs over the red and raw skin she found there. "How did this happen?"
Honestly, Ana could guess how the marks came to be, but there were apparent details that she was missing. Questions with answers that only Hopper could provide, but he wasn't in the right frame of mind to articulate them to her just yet.
"Will Byers' body was a fake. It's all been a setup," he whispered with eyes blazing into her own.
It's not that she didn't believe him, but he needed to help her understand. "How can you know for sure?"
"I cut open the body." Ana's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, becoming the size of dinner plates. She instantly dropped Hopper's hands and backed away from him in shock.
"What?" She couldn't have heard him correctly. That was insanity, even by the newfound standards of the last several days.
"It was filled with stuffing. Someone is going through a lot of trouble to cover up his disappearance," Hopper said with more clarity than anything else that had come out of his mouth that evening.
"Oh, thank god," was how she'd expressed her relief. Then, she punched him in the shoulder, hard. "Lead with that next time, you idiot." It was a brief respite from the seriousness of the conversation, but it didn't last more than a moment. "What're we going to do now?" Her question hung over them like a wet blanket.
Hopper rubbed his hand through his scraggly beard in contemplation. "We're not going to do anything. I'm going to Hawkins Lab to get some answers, and you're going to stay here," he portrayed it like gospel, but Ana had never been particularly religious.
She openly scoffed at his assumption that she'd willfully allow herself to be left behind. "Wrong. I'm coming along," she announced, and crossed her arms in a physical show of defiance to match her words.
Hopper was back in her face in an instant, hands returning to grasp her shoulders with a touch that was anything but gentle. "I need you here, and I need you safe." He'd given her shoulders a shake for good measure, but she wasn't deterred, and he shouldn't have been surprised.
"If you didn't want me to come, then you shouldn't have told me where you were going," she taunted his attempts to keep her sidelined. Damn was she infuriating.
"This is something I have to do alone," he tried to reason with her, tried to make her see sense in the dangerousness of their predicament. "But, if I don't make it back, I need you to know that-"
Ana had no intention of letting him finish whatever sentiment it was that he was trying to express. "I'm going with you to Hawkins Lab, and I'm going to watch your back. That's final."
Ana had proclaimed this as though it were fact, then headed to the closest end table. Opening the top drawer sharply, she produced a revolver from within its depths, which she quickly tucked into the back of her jeans before returning to him.
"You have a gun?" Hopper asked, baffled by this new development.
She had tsked in response to his bewilderment and stated the obvious, "I'm from Texas." 'Come and take it,' wasn't that the adopted state motto or something?
Hopper gave up fighting her after that. It became apparent he had only two options: either let her come, and he'd be able to watch out for her, or she'd go alone and get herself into god only knows what kind of trouble. He chose to settle for the former, albeit begrudgingly.
Breaking into the facility wasn't the hard part, concerningly so, what to do once inside was the challenge.
Hopper led the charge, strategically keeping Ana behind him should they run into any trouble in their pursuit of answers. Trouble was going to be inevitable-they were trespassing in a secure government facility after all. However, he would try his best to minimize any damage caused to her in the process.
They'd slinked through the building as quiet as mice, hiding behind doorways and around corners any time a worker came into view. Then, they'd reached an area blocked off with a biohazard marker, attempting to warn people away. The worst was what they were searching for, right? The pair exchanged a poignant glance before Hopper unzipped the plastic barrier and they both stepped inside.
The first door they approached was locked, and it looked like they'd need a key card to proceed any further. This wasn't the worst of their problems, though.
The sound of a gun cocking interrupted the heavy silence. "Hands up. Hands up," was the following command resonating through the no longer empty hallway. Two men now stood behind the couple with weapons raised towards them.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," had come Hopper's response. In a duel move, he raised his hands in the air as a show of submission while also maneuvering Ana behind him, so she was now pressed against the locked doors. He was effectively placing himself between her and the armed men.
"Forget all the cameras, bub," mocked the shorter man in a suit.
"Look, Dr. Brenner asked for me specifically. Okay? How else do you think I got in here?" He lied with such fluency that Ana would have been impressed had she not been willing herself to disappear. Hopper could try and justify why the local police chief was in the building this late at night, but there was no reasoning he could provide to validate the school teacher's presence too.
Suit guy didn't seem to be having it, and aggressively pulled a walkie from his belt. Neither men lowered their guns while all four stood at a standstill.
This was the first time Ana had ever had a gun drawn on her, and she found herself strangely nonplussed by the circumstance. Maybe she'd watched too many movies, she figured it was best to reflect on it at a later time. You know, when shit wasn't going sideways.
"What's your name again?" Security questioned skeptically.
"It's Jim Hopper. Chief Jim Hopper," he announced in a show of confidence, gesturing casually with his still raised hands.
The man started to say into the walkie, "yeah, I've got Jim Hopper-" but didn't get to finish the sentence before being pistol-whipped in the face.
"Come again?" Rang a voice on the other end of the walkie, but there was no one to respond to the call then. The first man had fallen to the floor, where he stayed, and Jim had the other pressed against the wall with a gun to the face.
Taking the second man's firearm, Hopper had blindly passed it off to Ana behind him, who held it at the ready. Hopper's gun never wavered from the man's head, his hand steady and unshaking. "Hey, mind if I borrow this one?" He quipped, and took the man's key card off his shirt.
He'd tossed the card to Ana who swiped it while Hopper kept his gun trained on the two men who were now incapacitated. There was a beep followed by a buzz indicating that they had been granted access. Ana pulled open the door and hurried inside with Hopper following closely behind. The door closed and audibly locked behind them. Then, Hopper shot the key card access for security, it crackled and sparked as the wires connecting it were fried and exposed.
The pair were plunged into darkness.
Ana and Hopper shuffled through the many chambers as quickly as possible, looking for anything that would be helpful in their search for Will. Hopper's flashlight guided them through the surrounding blackness, but every room they came upon appeared to be emptier than the last, until they found one of particular interest.
It almost looked like a kid's room, a stuffed animal was sitting on the sheets, and an elementary drawing hung on the wall over the bed. What kind of kid could possibly live in these conditions? That question would go unanswered in the meantime.
The building's alarms were sounding then. Ana and Hopper knew they didn't have much time left and took off running until they reached an elevator. Hopper pressed the button hastily as the sound of footsteps approached them rapidly.
"Hopper..." Ana called warningly while he continued jabbing the button with his finger furiously.
The elevator doors opened just as security rounded the corner, and Hopper unceremoniously pushed Ana inside before stepping in himself.
"Hey! Stop," the approaching men yelled, but it was too late, the metal doors closed with a snap before they could reach the pair.
"We're so fucked, aren't we?" Ana observed while breathing heavily. Her question garnered no response, though, both knowing they were in the homestretch now.
When finally the doors opened again, they were deposited into an eerie wasteland. It was cold and dark, flakes of something were floating all around them, and a stale smell lingered in the air. The lights ahead flickered and cracked ominously.
They ventured forward into the gloom regardless, needing to find Will Byers and quickly.
Then, they saw it, this giant...thing that had taken over the entire rear wall. "What the hell?" Hopper voiced in confusion for the both of them.
It was a black web of sorts that appeared to be oozing and pulsating. Ana thought it looked like some demonic vine that was wrapping itself steadily around the entire room. Hopper approached the spindly center and reached out his hand.
"Don't," Ana had tried to stop him, but he was already groping the sticky substance in both wonder and horror.
Movement from behind the duo shook them out of their momentary stupor. Lest they forget, they were still in Hawkins Lab, and still being pursued by armed guards. Both lifted their guns in search of the source of movement and quickly found it.
Men in hazmat suits were surrounding them from all directions. They'd reached Ana first, plunging a syringe into her neck before she could even get a shot off.
"Hey! Hey! Hey," was the last thing she heard from Hopper before being encased by nothingness.