Will to Survive

Chicago

The bus parked at the stop in Chicago, Illinois. Everyone inside the bus exited, including the party, and walked off to their destinations. El was the leader as she and the others all walked together to where 008 was. El had the location in her mind and followed the paths as she walked on. As they were waking, she looked around the city, amazed at how big it was and how there was so much people there.

As she looked up at the buildings while waiting for the motion to cross the street, a man bumped into her shoulder. "Hey watch it kid!" He yelled at her.

El rolled her eyes at the man. "Mouthbreather," she called him before crossing the street. Mike couldn't help but chuckle at the insult, remembering how he taught her that word. 

The party continued to walk around the city until they reached an empty street. "We're close now. Follow me," El said, continuing to walk. She grabbed Mike's hand for comfort, a little nervous to meet another experiment. Mike squeezed her hand in return to assure her that he's right beside her. The kids and teens then entered an area where the homeless people and the bad people hung out. They all tensed up at the sight of them, but walked as fast as they could to get out of the area.

Soon enough, they reached an old building, which El nodded in approval as the place. She quietly opened the door and the group entered. There was a group of people hanging out by a bonfire and they were all dressed like punks. For protection, Nancy and Jonathan pulled out the guns they had brought as Lucas gripped tight to his wristrocket. El, Mike, Max, Reyna, Keelan, and Delilah all prepped up their powers just in case. 

"Look what we have here. Some goody two shoes have arrived here," a man with a mowhawk announced to the rest of his group, standing up and starting to walk towards them.

"Are you guys lost? Do the kids here need to call their mommy?" A woman with crazy punk hair said in a fake sympathetic voice. 

"We're looking for someone," El told them, not showing any fear that she had. "She was an experiment in Hawkins Lab. 008," she added in. She reached into her bag and pulled out the picture she had of the little girl she had stolen from the file.

The man with the mowhawk grabbed the picture out of her hand and looked at it, confused. "Where did you get this?" He snarled at the party.

Another woman looked curious and looked over at the picture. "Wait, is that Kali?" She asked to the others.

"008's name is Kali?" Max asked, stepping forward. 

"We should tell Kali about them. If they know about her tattoo on her wrist, then they might be the people she's after," another man with long braids suggested to the others. 

Reyna shook her head. "We aren't the bad men. Guys, show your tattoos," she told the others as she lifted up her wrist to reveal her 005 tattoo. El showed her 011 tattoo, Max her 012 tattoo, Keelan her 007 tattoo. Delilah was nervous to show her tattoo because of Quinn's orders to not reveal it, but she lifted up her sleeve anyway to show her 003 tattoo.

"Holy shit," the woman with the punk hair muttered.

The man with the mowhawk still wasn't trusting of them. He pulled out his switchblade and held it near El. "How the fuck did you find us?! Who are you?!" He yelled. Mike glared at him, angry that he threatened El. All of a sudden, the man went flying through the air and he landed hard on the floor. Everyone looked over at the man as Mike wiped the blood away from his nose.

As the man started to stand up, he started screaming and dancing around. The other gang members laughed at him while the party looked confused. "You're a terrible dancer, Axel," a voice called out. Everyone looked over to see an Indian girl with a half shaved head that had purple streaks in her hair. El immediately recognized her from the void.