Lifeguard On Duty

Chapter 4: Getting Information

By: Lifeguard on Duty

The quiet hum of an engine filled the dimly lit room, casting long shadows over the stacks of equipment and papers scattered across the table. It was a small, nondescript building on the outskirts of town, the kind of place no one would bother looking twice at. But inside, it was a different story.

She sat at the center of the room, her bag tossed on a nearby chair as she leaned over a large map of Hawkins spread across the table. Red lines crisscrossed the map, marking key areas—hot spots they'd been monitoring for weeks. Some of the lines led directly to the Hawkins National Lab. Others, more concerning, veered into the heart of town, toward the homes of its residents.

A tall man stood at the other end of the table, arms crossed as he studied the map. His name was Harris, a senior agent sent in to oversee the operation, and his expression was one of thinly veiled frustration. "We've been here for months," he said, his voice low but sharp. "Still no hard evidence of activity."

"We're getting closer," she replied, her tone steady but focused as she pointed to a series of circled areas on the map. "There's been increased energy readings here, here, and here. The Upside Down's influence is still present. It's subtle, but it's spreading."

Harris didn't seem convinced, his gaze flicking over the notes she'd scrawled next to each point of interest. "We've got whispers. Data fluctuations. But that's not enough. We need confirmation."

She straightened, locking eyes with him. "We've been tracking unusual behavior patterns in some of the residents," she said, her voice calm but with a quiet intensity. "Strange movements, random disappearances, people acting out of character. There's something going on, and it's tied to what happened with the Upside Down."

Another agent, a woman named Callahan, stepped forward from the corner of the room, a file in hand. "We've identified a few key individuals who've had repeated exposure to the Upside Down, either directly or through proximity to known events."

She slid the file across the table, and the cover flipped open to reveal a stack of photographs and documents. She glanced at them, then back at Callahan, her stomach tightening slightly.

"These are the ones we're keeping an eye on," Callahan continued. "The Byers family, Mike Wheeler, and of course, Eleven. But there are others—people who don't even realize they're being affected."

Harris leaned over the file, flipping through the photos with a frown. "And you think they're still in danger?"

"Absolutely," she replied, her voice firm. "Whatever's left of the Upside Down hasn't been eradicated. It's quiet now, but it's evolving, waiting for the right moment to resurface. These people are the key to understanding how it works. If we can track the influence on them, we'll have a better chance of stopping it before it gets out of hand again."

Harris stood up straight, letting out a slow breath. "And what about the locals? The ones outside our target list?"

She hesitated for just a moment, her mind flashing back to Billy Hargrove. He wasn't on their list—not officially—but he was something else. Something she couldn't quite place. She'd noticed how people talked about him, the way they whispered about what had happened last summer. The scars, both physical and emotional, were still fresh, even if Billy didn't show it.

He wasn't directly connected to the Upside Down, but he'd been pulled into its orbit, just like so many others. And now that she'd gotten closer to him, she could see it—the way he carried the weight of something darker, something that had left its mark on him. She wasn't sure how much he knew, or if he even realized what had really happened. But he was part of this town's tangled web, and that made him part of the equation.