The One || Steve Harrington

The Bathtub

The whole car ride consisted of Joyce and Hopper filling the three teens in on the actions of the laboratory and its connection to the Upside Down.

"Wait, a little girl?" Georgia asked.

Georgia met her that night. The night they found the body, the lab planted, in the quarry.

"Yes," Joyce said. "She has these types of powers, and the lab is after her-"

"Which is why we need to find the boys before they do," Hopper finished. "Do you have any idea where they might have gone?"

Nancy and Georgia shared a look.

"No, I don't," Nancy said, her leg bouncing in the back seat. "We haven't talked a lot. I mean, lately...."

"Georgia?"

She racked her mind.

"I don't know," Georgia exclaimed. "They have a dozen meeting places all around Hawkins for when no one's house is available."

And by a dozen, she meant at least twenty, most likely more.

"Okay, so list them," Hopper said.

"Any place that the parents don't know about? That they might go," Joyce offered.

"They have made up names for, like, each location," Georgia said.

Even though she knew their made-up names, she didn't know how it translated to real life.

"I might know," Jonathan said. "Not where they are, but I know how to reach them."

Hopper booked it to the Byers' residence, where they all filed out of the car in search of Will's radio. The living room was decked out in Christmas lights, furniture was askew and torn apart, and the alphabet was written in paint on the wallpaper.

"Whoa," Nancy breathed next to the girl.

That was definitely one reaction to the state of the house.

Joyce and Hopper had clearly been busy.

They followed Jonathan and Joyce into Will's room, grabbing the walkie from under the bed before passing it to Nancy.

"Mike, are you there? Mike?" she called over the radio. "Mike, it's me, Nancy. Georgie's here too."

There was no response.

"Keep trying," Hopper urged.

"Mike, are you there? We need you to answer. This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy?" Nancy continued. "Mike, do you copy?"

There was no reply.

"Are you going to make me check every made-up spot you guys have ever been to? Lucas, Dustin, I know you're with him. Stop letting Mike tell you what to do. Can you please pick up?" Georgia asked, grabbing the walkie before passing it back to Nancy when none of the boys spoke.

"Please, I need you to answer," Nancy said. "We need to know that you're there, Mike."

Hooper snatched the walkie from Nancy's hands. His patience was wearing thin.

"Listen, kid; this is the chief. If you're there, pick up. We know you're in trouble, and we know about the girl...We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over."

They waited a few more seconds before Hopper put the walkie onto the table.

"Georgia, do any of the places possibly stick out to you?" Hopper asked. "Somewhere no one would think to check."

They named locations after fantasy books she'd never read and D&D locations. Every intersection where a street met had a name, sometimes real, but most of them were made up.