Abnegate [Stranger Things]

Chapter 7

"It's not just the fight, Chief," a dorky-looking brunette cop shuffled quickly by Hopper's side. "You need to see what we found in his car."

Another officer came up behind Hopper, dropping a massive box on the table in front of freshly-uncuffed Jonathan Byers. Elizah and Joyce stood on their toes from behind Hopper to stare into the massive amounts of bullets, hammers, bear traps, gasoline, lighters, a baseball bat, and heavy-duty nails. 

"What is all this stuff?" Hopper crossed his arms.

"Why'd you go through my car?" The older teenager spat.

Hopper leaned his hands on the table, pushing his face a little closer to Jonathan's. "Is that really what you want to be asking right now? What is this for?"

Jonathan pursed his lips and began chewing on the inside of his cheek. "You wouldn't believe me."

Hopper scoffed, then crossed his arms again. "Try me."

The chief finally brought Jonathan Byers in with his friend, Mike's sister Nancy, into his office with the others. Joyce sat next to her oldest son, with Nancy on the other side. Elizah was sat on the floor, knees to her chest as she chewed on her fingernails. That's when Jonathan finally started explaining his and Nancy's plan to find the upside-down monster, the demogorgon, then kill it.

"So, blood lures this thing?" Hopper nodded his head at Jonathan and Nancy.

"It's just a theory," the young man shrugged. "But we think so."

"Hopper," Elizah mumbled a little. The chief didn't hear her, and continued.

"Okay, but this," the chief made a wide hand gesture at Jonathan and Nancy. "Was an awful idea. You two can't go off on your own and risk your lives without us knowing."

"Hopper," Elizah's voice cracked.

"Hang on," he put up a finger, lowering his voice for Elizah before he continued scolding the older teenagers. "This thing that took Will can take you guys, too. It's bad enough we have these people from the lab-"

"Hopper!"

The chief stared over with wide eyes at the girl on the ground. She had blood running down her nose, and her face looked terrified. "What?"

"Papa," she mumbled. "I think they found Sister."

Hopper's brows lowered, and he stood up. "Come on."

The chief led out the group out of his office, nearly breaking into a run. "We're taking the department car," he shouted. 

Hopper unlocked the doors, climbing into a black car significantly smaller than his truck. Joyce sat in the passenger seat, with Elizah crammed between the two older teenagers in the back. 

"Do you know where they are Elizah?" Hopper quickly began backing out of the parking lot.

The girl shook her head frantically. Hopper just barely saw the movement in the rearview mirror. 

"How do you know the men found... your sister?" Jonathan questioned.

"She's talking about Eleven," the chief nearly shouted. "Elizah's one of the other kids like Eleven from the lab. She can sense the different energies, like some kind of telekinetic-child ability. But right now, we need to find Mike and Dustin and Lucas. When we find them, we find Eleven."

"Where are we going?" Nancy's voice was high, and almost squeaky.

"First, your house. I know Mike's been hiding the girl in there, so that's our best shot first."

"Papa knows I'm here," Elizah mumbled. Her voice was almost as shaky as her hands, and she stared down at the pink-white blotchy palms in her lap. "He knows."

"How do you know he knows?" Joyce was the next to ask.

"He has machine. Machine that he used to hit me with magnetic energy. Electricity. Like a radiator. He would turn it on when I was bad. I can feel it now." 

"Hop, is she gonna have another seizure?" Joyce's eyes went wide at the driving sheriff.

Hopper sighed, gripping his steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. "Okay, everybody just calm down and breathe," he instructed loudly. "Nobody's getting hurt or having seizures or getting kidnapped."

"Who said anything about getting kidnapped?" Nancy shouted. 

Hopper shook his head with a little groan. "Okay, everybody quiet, just calm down. We need to find the boys, first." 

There was a wave of silence. Everybody else in the car took quick glances at Elizah as they rode. Hopper pulled up to the edge of an empty cul-de sac on top of a hill that stared down to the Wheelers' home. He climbed out, with the rest of the group following. 

"Oh my God," the chief mumbled under his breath. Vans and cars surrounded the Wheelers' house, with men and women flooding in and out. 

"Mike's in there," Nancy began stepping away. "Oh my God."

"No," Hopper grabbed Nancy's arm. She stopped walking, then glared at the chief.

"My brother is in there with some super-girl that they're looking for. They're gonna get him and my parents."

"Your parents will be fine," Hopper assured. "They might not have found Mike yet."

"They haven't," Elizah's voice squeaked out. 

Hopper and Nancy turned to the younger teenager. They shot questioning looks at her, shaking their heads. Elizah nodded at the people down the hill.

"Papa. If they found Mike, he'd be with Papa."

Hopper's head whipped back around to the men. He saw massive groups of men- all these men and women just for four kids- and in the center was the man Eleven and Elizah called 'Papa,' Doctor Brenner. His jaw tightened and he nodded. Without another word, the chief climbed back into his car.

"Do you have any idea where they might go?" Hopper turned to the teenagers in the back as the got seated. "Any place Mike might hide?"

Nancy shook her head, her hands shaking and her eyes watering. "I-I don't know, we don't really talk much... Now. Lately, I mean."

"Please, Nancy," Joyce begged. "Any place that Mike might have ever told you about, any place he hangs out."

Nancy shook her head more frantically. "I don't know!"

"Elizah, can you locate Eleven based on the energies?" Hopper shook her head at the youngest teen.

Elizah swallowed hard as she shook her head back. "She's close. But I can never tell where."

"I might know," Jonathan piped up. "I-I don't know where he is, but I know how to find him."

"How?" Joyce's voice squeaked at her eldest son. 

"Will's old walkie-talkie."