⸻ ❛𝐖𝐑𝐀𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐈 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒!❜
Rory Hargrove is obsessed to uncover the truth behind Barbara Holland's disappearance, while facing her brother's enemy and buried secrets from...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
RORY COULDN'T HIDE HER SHOCK. A shiver ran down her spine—her theories had been right. She had almost cracked the case. So that was the agonizing truth that was beyond the city. They didn't know exactly what had happened to Barb, but she was still missing. Maybe those monsters caught her, too.
It seemed Steve knew more than she thought. When Steve finished telling her the true story about Will's disappearance, the fake funeral, the girl with telekinetic powers named Eleven, and their current location, Rory went back to finishing the temporary bandage on Steve's exposed abdomen.
"You're pretty smart, I have to admit. You figured that out pretty quick in just a few weeks." Steve spoke something she never thought she'd hear him say.
Hargrove was nervously thinking. "I knew the lab had something to do with this. When I was there I saw that weird portal, those weird rumbles... I really hope there's something in those files that explains it all better and incriminates them."
"Wait, what?" It was Steve's moment of confusion. He tried to sit up, but a groaning pain prevented his muscles from contracting. Rory helped him back to a more comfortable seat.
"Yeah, I went to the lab. Pretended to be an intern to get into the office, but it went badly—I was caught and had to run. I did steal some documents about the MK Ultra project and the kids used for experiments, but I haven't read them yet." Rory absentmindedly bit her thumbnail. "Before I got caught, though, I saw a portal in the basement, made of slime, with a red light pulsing like the Watergate. And the sounds from inside... they were the same."
"Damn, you're crazy," Steve muttered, stunned. He frowned, then nodded slowly. That girl had enviable courage and boundless audacity. "All because of something you read in the papers? You could get in serious trouble."
She shrugged and looked him in the eyes again. Steve looked genuinely concerned. Rory bit her lip, as if to remind herself that there was something she wasn't telling him.
"It wasn't just out of curiosity to know what happened to Barb and all that... It was because I saw my mom in some pictures in the old newspapers from 1972 about the MKUltra project, next to the director of the lab, Dr. Brenner."
She saw the panic rise in the muscles of Steve's face, which, if he hadn't been injured, would have risen in shock.
"What? H-how? Why?"
"Yeah, great questions. That's what I tried to find out by calling my mom, but she refused to give any more details about it. And besides, it's strange that she knew I was moving to Hawkins and never and never said oh, I used to worked there when you were five. So I realized right away that there were secrets that didn't want to be revealed, and I figured I'd deal with it on my own."
