Time After Time (a Stranger Things fanfiction)

Goodbye Girl

"Goodbye Girl"

Goodbye doesn't mean forever

Let me tell you goodbye doesn't mean we'll never be together again

If you wake up and I'm not there, I won't be long away

- David Gates

 The waiting seemed to take forever, while Mike and Joyce and the doc and Hopper were all silent, no one wanting to be the first to wonder if Bob the Brain was still alive ... but then at last, with a startling suddenness, the lights came back on. On the monitor, they could see Bob, kneeling by a bank of computers.

"He made it," Mike whispered.

"How do we get him back?" Joyce asked. "We need to get him back."

Hopper put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't know if he meant to reassure her, promising Bob would make it back, or to remind her to be strong in case he didn't. "Let him finish," he said. "We're all getting out of here."

Owens sat down in front of the monitors, pulling a mike toward him. "Bob. Bob! Okay, Bob—can you hear us?"

"Loud and clear, Doc," came Bob's voice back through the walkie. "Can you hear me back?"

"Yeah, we hear you all right."

There was a silence while Bob worked at his computer, then his voice crackled through the walkie again. "Open sesame."

There was a buzzing sound, and Owens' face lit up. "It's open."

"Son of a bitch did it," Hopper muttered. He owed Bob an apology. A few apologies. And definitely a case of beer. Or whatever it is guys like Bob drank.

Bob's voice came through again. "All right, I'll meet you outside."

They could see him through the monitor getting up from the computer and getting ready to leave the room. "Nice job," Owens told him. Hopper was moving to collect Will and get Joyce and the boys the hell out of this nightmare when Owens' voice stopped him. "Hold on a second, Chief."

"What's wrong?"

Owens pointed at a monitor. "West stairwell's not clear anymore."

"What's goin' on?" Bob asked through the walkie.

"You've got some company."

"Where?"

"The west stairwell."

"I got an idea."

There was a silence while Bob worked.

"What the hell's he doing?" Owens asked. Then they saw, as the sprinkler system went on, distracting the creature in the stairwell. "Okay! Okay, that worked. Now get out of there! Go, go!"

As soon as they saw Bob on the move, Hopper threw Will's limp body over his shoulder.

"Wait a second, Chief." Owens stopped him again, handing him another walkie. "Take this."

"What are you doing?"

"Any more surprises, I'll let you know. Go."

It took more guts than Hopper had imagined the doc had to volunteer to stay here, in the middle of a building where he was the only living human.

"Go!" Owens shouted when Hopper didn't move.

Without waiting another second, Hopper lifted the gun, holding it with the flashlight so he could shoot as soon as he saw anything moving, and left the room, moving carefully but quickly, and trusting Mike and Joyce to stay with him.

Sooner than he had hoped, and with less interference than he'd feared, they were at the front doors. Mike ran outside and Hopper followed him, laying Will down, but Joyce stopped in the doorway, waiting.

"Come on," she whispered. "Come on."

At last Bob came bursting through the doors, running harder than he'd ever run in his life before, Hopper would have bet.

Joyce moved toward him, calling his name, and Bob turned to her, forcing a smile even as Hopper was sure the adrenaline of fear was still pumping through his veins.

And then, out of nowhere, one of the creatures burst through the door, landing on Bob's shoulder. Man and ... thing slid across the floor.

Joyce screamed in terror. Bob screamed in agony as the thing's claws sank into him.

Hopper ran in, gun at the ready. He started pumping bullets into the thing, but it was already too late. And even as he stood there shooting, two more came through, tearing down what remained of the doors. He turned and began shooting them, but they barely even noticed the impact of the bullets. They turned toward him, and toward Joyce, and Hopper realized that they had seconds, if that, to get out of there before they all ended up like Bob.

"Go!" he shouted to Joyce. But she couldn't move, frozen in place staring at Bob and screaming in denial and rage and grief.

Hopper wasn't about to lose her. Not now, not like this. He grabbed her around the waist and dragged her with him even as she struggled to get free. Probably she wanted to go to Bob, too shocked to realize he was already gone.

The other two creatures had joined the first, all of them making a feast of Bob, a sight Hopper was sure he would never forget, even as he reached the door and shoved his way through, dragging Joyce behind him.

"Bob!" she screamed, still reaching for him even as Hopper carried her out of the building. "Bob!"

Once through, Hopper slammed the glass doors closed behind them. The creatures were drawn away from Bob's body by the sound and hurled themselves against the glass.

Mike, sitting with the unconscious Will, looked up. "What happened?"

Joyce was still wailing, beyond speech.

"He's gone," Hopper told her.

"No!"

"He's gone." He had to get through to her, to wake her up enough for them to get out of here, or those things would come through the glass, and there was nowhere left to run.

Then he saw headlights, and heard a car horn, and to his complete shock, Jonathan pulled up to a screeching halt in front of them. "Come on!" he shouted. "Get in!"

Hopper picked up Will and shoved Joyce in front of him, and got them into the car before he ran for his own. They were going to get out of here, all of them, and find a way to end this.

And all because of Bob the Brain.