The Girl With The Flamethrower

I.II.II

Kimberly is sitting at the kitchen table, picking at her breakfast, lost in thought about everything going on. She jumped when there's a knocking on the door.

She sighs, "Coming!" The brunette furrows her brows, "Oh hey Hopper is everything ok?" She gently moves to the side so he can enter the house.

He does, and sighs, "Listen kid, do you still spend as much time in the woods as you used to?"

"Of course," she stopped and scratched the back of her neck, "Sorry for mom always calling you to look for me when I wasn't home by dark. I think she's just given up on making me get home at a reasonable time." She gently chuckled.

"That or I told her unless you were gone for more than 24 hours I wasn't going out to look for you, after the what was it the thirtieth time?"

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize, you're smart and know what you are doing. But that's not why I'm here-"

"You're here about Will aren't you?"

He nodded.

She sighed, "I haven't seen any tracks nor any signs of well anything really. Well anything that can be human-related, because there's this weird mold or rot maybe that I'm still trying to identify, but nothing that can help find him."

"What about any caves or places that you could hide?"

"I can go take a look at some of the bigger oaks that you could climb and hide in but Will's never been much to climb trees, at least he never has with me. And as for caves, there aren't any even remotely close to where he was and there's no way he would have walked that far out on his own in the dark. Not many people even know about the caves, most people just know about the bigger rock formations, not caves."

Hopper sighed, "So there's a chance he was never in the woods is what you are saying."

"Maybe, possibly."

"Thanks, kid. Worth a shot. Let me know if you see anything different ok?"

"Of course. Oh, and if you have another search party remind them to watch where they step, they could be ruining nests, or growing flowers, or even tracks. So just remind them to be respectful of the woods ok? I hate when people trample homes of innocent creatures."

He gently chuckles, "Sure I'll remind them. Now get to school, wouldn't want you to be late."

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Jonathan parks his car next to Kimberly's.

"Hey, how many have you got for me?" She asks, having offered to help put up posters which he gladly took her up on.

"A couple hundred." He stopped in the middle of grabbing her stack, "You know you don't have to do this right?"

She gently grabbed them, "I know. But I want to. I care about Will too, and I want to see him get home safe, so I am going to help out wherever I can."

"Thank you, Kimmy."

"Come on, let's put a few on the board by the door."

They both walk into the school, and Kimberly glances up seeing Steve and his group. She quickly looks down and pretends to be glancing at the posters. Jonathan hands her his stack so he can staple a few to the board.

She does her best to pretend the others aren't watching them, but looks up when Nancy walks up to them.

"Um, I'll see you later Jonathan. I'll make sure to put these up wherever I can." She turns to Nancy and smiles, "See you later Nancy."

"Bye Kimberly," Nancy watches her walk further into the school before talking to Jonathan.

Kimberly clutches the posters a little tighter, having to go past the other teenagers.

"Oh has the Snitch found herself a boyfriend? Makes sense that freaks would like freaks," Carol laughs.

Kimberly sighs, and hands Barabra a flyer, "Since I know you actually have a heart and at least will keep an eye out if you see him."

The bell rings.

Barbara gently takes it, glancing back at Nancy who was walking back over to them.

"I'll take one," Steve watches Kimberly closely.

She just nods, avoiding eye contact, and hands him one as Nancy joins them again. She scurries off before anyone else has the chance to say anything.

The PA system cuts on, "Attention, faculty and students. At eight PM tonight, there will be an assembly on the football field in support of Will Byers and his family. All are encouraged to attend. Volunteer sign-ups for search parties are still available in the office."

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Kimberly sighs and places down her bag, "Dustin! Dustin!"

No answer. She groans and goes to her room, picking up her radio and cutting it on, "Dustin, you there? Over."

It took him a few moments to respond, "What is it Kimmy? Over."

"Are you at Mike's?"

"Yes."

"Was Mrs.Karen able to help the girl?"

"Her name is Eleven-" the radio went silent for a few minutes, but Kimmy knew not to speak until he said 'over', "And uh, ya-ya we were able to help her. Over."

"That's good, I'm glad she's home and safe. Are all of you ok? Are you going back out tonight? Over."

"Ya we are all good. Uh no, we are just going to stay at Mike's."

"You aren't going back out to look for Will?"

"No, no we are staying inside. Don't worry about us. We are trying to figure out what to do... and don't come by, I'll radio you if we need you. Over."

She sighed, knowing they were going back out no matter what, "Just be careful. Bring extra flashlights and batteries. And make sure you all get something to eat. Ok? Over."

"Yeah, we'll be ok. Over and out."

"Love you guys. Stay safe. Over and out."

When she didn't get a response she knew he had turned his radio off. "Well there's no stopping them so I just have to trust they'll be ok."

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