Together Again

Chapter 7 - The plan (part 7)

"I saw her...in the in-between." Eleven explained. She did not tell anyone that she was going to look for her, she just did not get out of the car with the rest of them. She had remembered a picture beside Hoppers bed of a little girl, she guessed it was Sarah, she had used the memory of that picture to track her down in the in between.

Hoppers face turned to worry again as he raced towards the doors of the hospital. Locked. "**** it!" He yelled, frustrated.

Joyce ran up to him. "Don't you think we need a plan? To get her out?" She asked him.

He looked her in the eye. "My daughter is in there being forced to do God knows what." He was tearing up. " I am not letting her spend another second in that place!" He yelled. He grabbed a large rock from the flowerbed and swiftly walked around to a backdoor. He brought the rock down on the doorknob and they heard a crash as the doorknob fell off, allowing Hopper to reach inside and unlock it.

Hopper made his way in first, quietly. Behind him was Joyce, then the rest of them slowly trailed in. The place was silent. Dead silent. Slowly they climbed the stairwell. A few levels up sat a door labeled staff only. Lucky for them, they did not need a key card for this door. They all walked in to find another silent room.

They all stopped when a voice came from the back. "Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on!" Robin demanded. Everybody shushed her.

They wandered throughout halls, a right here, a left there, right, right, left, right, left, left. They wandered everywhere that they could access until they began to see the same places twice. They made their way upstairs The group had gone through a door that needed a key card, only El had broken it down. They were now in a restricted area.

Hopper stopped and turned back to the group, looking at Joyce. "I-I don't know where to g-go." He stuttered. There were so many floors in this building, he didn't even know where to start.

Eleven stepped forward, dragging Mike with her because they were holding hands. "Wait. I know this hallway." She informed. Memories flooded her mind. This was the hallway that she was marched down thousands of times, it led her to terrifying places, terrifying times. It led her to the closet she was locked in. It led her to the tank she was forced into. It led her down the worst part of her life.

She gripped Mike's hand tighter while the sounds of her shrieks and cries rang in her ears. She turned her head down so no one could see the tears in her eyes.

Eleven thought long and hard about where she was kept and where to go from there. They were standing where two hallways split, and the hallways were symmetrical. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Eleven led the group down the hallway to the right. Her whole body shook in fear as she wandered these halls.

They got to a door near the end of the hallway. Three tiny symbols were in graves in a gold price on the door. The symbols were so small that the group had to squint to be able to read them.

Eleven gasped and jumped backward after reading them. Her hands visibly shaking and her breathing short and quick. What she had just seen scared her to death. Those symbols read 011. That was her room.

Mike rubbed her back but nobody asked her too much, they understood why she was startled.

A thought dawned on Will. "If this is number 011..."

"Then the other hall must be number 12!" Dustin shouted, louder than he should have. While they were sneaking through the halls, Will had told him about Hopper, and how sick he had been, and how it was from the flower. Dustin had been trying to figure out why the flower only made Hopper really sick. He came up with the best explanation he could. It was like chicken pox. For younger people, it was not very harmful and just made you not feel well for a bit, but for adults, it could be very dangerous.

Everyone followed as Hopper took the lead, giving El a break. Billy and Robin were still nervously following along at the back, and Erica and her friend were walking beside Lucas, scared to death. Erica was a brave girl, but she had never experienced breaking in and sneaking around the halls of an empty hospital and army base before. There was something eerie about it. Erica reached up and grabbed her older brothers hand. Normally Lucas would not want to hold his little sisters hand, but he understood that she was scared.

Hopper led them down the other hallway. He came to a door identical to the one labeled 011. Only the symbols on this door read 012.

Eleven stepped forward again, lowering her chin. Not meaning to, Hopper reached for Joyce's hand, she took his hand and gently squeezed. Everyone's hearts were beating so fast. Hopper was extremely anxious to find out if Sarah lay beyond that door.

With a click, the door unlocked and slowly began to swing open. It seemed to take forever as the door creaked open. Finally they could see in the room. There was a bed near the far wall, on that bed lay a tiny little girl with a shaved blonde head. She was curled up in a ball facing the other way, asleep. Sarah.

Hopper stepped back into the front, tears back in his eyes. Joyce stepped begind him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Hopper was about to say something, when a noise made Sarah sit bolt upright, her eyes popping open.

An all-too familiar screech echoed throughout the hallways. In an instant, a dark cloud turned down the hallway where they were. It came to a halt a few feet in front of them. The tip was pointing straight at Eleven.

~End of Chapter 7~