Zero: A Stranger Things Fanfiction

Chapter 009

Closer inspection soon proved that the Byers' house was even more chaotic than it had first appeared.

Glass crunched underfoot, shredded wallpaper hung loosely in the air, fried phones sat in a jumbled pile in the kitchen sink. It didn't matter, not really.

Jenna, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy sat in a tight line across the couch, eyes gazing out into the frustratingly black night. The walkie was discarded on the floor nearby. After several failed attempts of communication, Jenna had given it up and deemed it useless.

Her knee bounced and bounced, not managing to cut through the anxious, stagnant air of the room. It was as though she was going to lose her mind.

Until headlights shone brightly and directly straight through the room.

Jenna stood, fearing for just a moment that her legs wouldn't hold her. Then she bolted for the door, Joyce right on her heels. Swinging it open, her heart leapt to find Hopper's car in the driveway, unloading the pack of ragtag kids she had been looking for all afternoon. She beamed at the sight of them, covered in dirt and dust.

Dustin made a beeline for her, crashing straight into her with one of his classic bearhugs. She laughed, her heart tugging as Eleven tentatively joined them.

Nancy raced past her straight to her little brother, enveloping a very confused Mike in her arms. Over their shoulders, Jenna found Lucas with her eyes. He seemed a little sheepish, smiling apologetically. Clearly, she had missed something.

She grinned back, beckoning him over. He hurried and attached himself to the growing group. Jenna held them tightly to her, making eye contact with the adorably baffled Mike and chuckling.

Releasing the three kids, but not letting them go very far, she let her gaze drift over each of their faces. A little scraped, but unharmed in the ways that mattered.

"Jesus," she teased, "I leave you alone for a few hours and you have the whole government going after you." She reached forward and knocked the brim of Dustin's hat off, ruffling his hair. As he bent down to retrieve it again, murmuring his protests, Jenna found Nancy staring at Eleven. Her eyes creased in the middle, a sign of confusion that Jenna was beginning to recognize on the other girl's face.

"Is that my dress?"

---

Jenna kneeled on the floor among the kids, pointing a red marker at the crude drawing she had made on the paper Mike was holding up.

Before her, Nancy, Jonathan, and Joyce stared transfixed at the explanation they had never really gotten in full. Jenna had tried with the other teenagers, but her rushed story at the police station hadn't really accomplished anything. Hopper, planted on a chair nearby, watched Jenna's drawing with thoughtful skepticism.

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. Will, Barb, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Their science teacher-"

"Mr. Clarke," Mike clarified.

"Mr. Clarke, he said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space. A gate."

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas added.

"With our compasses." Joyce blinked in astonishment in the wake of Dustin's comment, after which he sighed with exasperation and cleared things up.

"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle."

"This gate," Hopper cut in, "is it underground?"

"Yes."

Jenna turned in surprise as Eleven, formerly sitting in silence by her side, spoke up. Her soft gaze was now trained on Hopper, who returned her attention with his forever inscrutable eyes.