the survivors

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Jonathan asked. He and Alina were leaning against the trees while the other members of the group caught up with one another. He'd already gotten the gist of things—about what had gone down with Dart, and he'd decided to have a one-on-one conversation with the girl he lived with. Alina noticed that there were bags etched under his eyes, and the scraps of a mustache at his lips. He looked terrible, there was no other word for it. Alina wondered what had happened to him, if he'd succeeded in his mission to tell Barb's parents the truth.

"To what?" she asked now. The cool night air was making her feel a little better, but she was still unwell, sweat clinging to her forehead and pooling around her shirt. Jonathan looked at her like she was crazy.

"Your leg!" he said. "What, did you think I wouldn't notice? You've been limping around it this entire time, and I can see the blood on that bandage! Seriously, Alina, what happened?"

"Oh," said Alina. "Well, it's kind of a long story." She took a deep breath, hoping that Jonathan wouldn't be angry. "It kind of has to do with those... things in the lab right now. One of them kind of... bit me."

She trained her gaze on the still-dark lab now. This was the place where Eleven had lived for nearly all of her life, only being granted a week of freedom from that horrible place before her life had been cut short. This was her personal version of hell, the fire and skulls replaced by yellowed walls and headpieces, demons with men in lab coats who knew a little too much, who had no qualms with murdering children in order to get their special test subject back.

The lab was the place that her dad had brought Alina, too, where she'd met Eleven for the first time, where Brenner had told her she could work one day. It was the place where she and Will had to go—he more than she did—and where she'd been subjected to injections and headpieces and all sorts of other horror to see if her abilities had returned.

They had now, and that was what made Alina so afraid as she studied the darkened walls. If the lab went up-and-running again, the scientists miraculously managing to survive the attack of dozens of miniature Demogorgons—which she figured they would, given that she, an untrained thirteen-year-old and Steve, a goof with a bat and perfect hair, had managed to—they would figure it out eventually. Hear about the holes burnt into tree trunks and the way Alina's nose always seemed to bleed. What worried her was what they would do to her because of this. Would they take her? Stamp a number on her wrist? Shave her head? Would Alina Fairgrieves become Twelve, cursed to haunt the halls of Hawkins Lab, her abilities exploited?

Everyone said the bad men were gone. Alina didn't believe it. She was afraid. She didn't know what to do. And she was getting sicker.

"Well, as long as you're alright," said Jonathan now, and Alina startled. She'd forgotten he was here. "Just... be more careful, okay? I couldn't stand it if I lost you. You're like my little sister, Alina."

Holy shit. Even though Alina was scared—terrified, really—Jonathan's words made her smile bigger than she had in ages. She grinned up at him. "Thanks, Jonathan. You're... you're like my big brother." They stood there for a second like that, identical grins on their faces, before Alina finally posed the burning question. "So how did it go? With Barb's parents?"

Jonathan sighed. "We... we're trying to get the lab shut down," he said. "We haven't heard anything yet, but if this works, you won't have to ever step foot in there again. And Barb's parents can finally have peace." He shook his head. "I still shouldn't have left you and Will. I didn't know you guys were in danger."

"It's okay," said Alina. "You did what you had to. So you didn't find any sign of them?"

Jonathan shook his head. "Someone else was in our house, though. I found this polaroid film, but I don't use a polaroid camera. And... and whoever had come in had locked Skywalker in your room. I know none of you guys would ever do that. When Nance and I found him, he'd gone half-mad trying to force his way out. He's okay now, though."

Alina breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

Jonathan looked like he wanted to say more—perhaps enquire more about her leg—but before he could say anything, Nancy interrupted him. "The power's back!"

All conversations immediately ceased, and as if they shared a hive mind, all nine of them immediately began running for the entrance to the gate. Alina lagged a little behind, cursing her stupid leg and her stupid courage and the stupid Demogorgons, and arrived around twenty seconds after the others only to find that the gate still wouldn't open. Jonathan was pressing the button, but it hadn't moved an inch.

Dustin pushed past Jonathan. "Let me try."

"Hang on—"

Dustin shoved him out of the way. "Let me try, Jonathan!" Jonathan stepped out of the way, allowing the younger boy to try his hand at opening the gate, but no matter how many times Dustin pressed that red button, the gate didn't move an inch. "Son of a bitch!" he cursed. "You know what—" and then he resumed pressing the button with more ferocity.

Alina stared at him as he did so, trying to remember how the gate system worked. When her dad had taken her on these little field trips to the lab, he'd always been interested in telling her how every little mechanic worked. Eventually, Alina had learned to zone out of these enthusiastic explanations, lest she be subjected to a twenty-minute discussion on how the elevator system worked. This strategy, although seeming clever at the time, was not working out in her favour now, because she had no idea how this stupid goddamn gate worked. She instead watched Dustin press it again and again, as if on the one hundred and forty-seventh time it would somehow magically open.

Finally, she snapped. "It's not working Dustin!" she cried. "Can you just stop, you're giving me a headache."

Dustin ignored her, pressing the button again and again. But after try one hundred and fifty-four, the gate did slide open, leaving the others with their mouths agape.

"Hey! I got it!" Dustin chirped, grinning, but Alina shook her head, finally remembering.

"No, you didn't," she said. "The gate can only be opened right now inside the lab itself via a computer. When the power goes out, the lab goes on full lockdown, which means that someone would've had to find a computer and open it manually. Which means that there are survivors inside."

"Way to ruin my victory," said Dustin, but he wasn't really that upset. Jonathan and Nancy immediately got into their car, telling the others to wait out here, and drove through the gate, looking for any survivors who'd managed to escape. Alina was sitting outside, twiddling her thumbs, worried for them, when it happened.

The taste of blood filled her mouth, and her vision split yet again. In one fragment of her vision, all she could see was the red liquid spilling out of a man—a man wearing blue scrubs. She could see—well, it wasn't really seeing, but whatever she was could somehow sense it, she realized—the way his bloodied hand reached out for someone, the way a last scream tore itself from his lips as more of her came to attack him. To rip out his throat, just like they'd done for everyone else. The gunshots ringing out had no effect on her, and she continued piercing her teeth into the man's tender flesh. Over. And over. And over again, until it dripped down her chin and filled up her body.

Then, it stopped, and Alina shot back to her body. Gasping, she let tears fill her eyes as she saw the man get his throat ripped out again and again, claws sinking into his body, just like the Demogorgon had done to her dad last year. And suddenly that was all she could see, her dad propped up against the wall, his lips frothing with blood, the final smile that had graced his face before he died.

Death. So much death.

The worst part was that underneath all of that blood she felt like she could recognize the newly dead man. Which didn't make any sense. He didn't look like any of the scientists that had talked to her, nor did it look like Hopper, so who could it be? Who could possibly be in the lab at this time? Who had she just seen die? Was it even real?

She didn't even notice the flashing headlights coming towards them until Max called it out. "Guys?" Alina turned her head to witness not one but two cars barreling towards them, honking their horns.

"Look out!" Dustin yelled, and they all ran to the side, away from the oncoming vehicles. Gabe let out a yell as one of the side mirrors clipped his shoulder, and he was clutching it as the Hawkins Police car drove up to them. Hopper rolled down the window, wearing identical scrubs to the man Alina had just seen die. Bile rose up in her throat, and heat flashed across her vision, but there was no time to waste.

"Let's go!" Hopper cried, and the six of them piled into the car, squished together like sardines. Before any of them could even put their seatbelts on, Hopper was already driving off, leaving Alina sitting squished in between Lucas and Max, with Gabe pressed into the corner and Dustin and Steve sitting up front. It was an uncomfortable ride, but Alina was past feeling uncomfortable. She kept seeing the life in that man's eyes go dark over and over again. Closing her eyes only made it worse.

They were five minutes into the drive when Gabe finally asked what the hell was happening. Hopper just clenched his jaw. There was blood on his scrubs.

Although Alina was happy to see him alive and well, she couldn't help but be worried. Were Mike and Will and Joyce in the other car? Had they been at the lab, too, when all of those creatures had attacked it? What was wrong with Hopper? Why wouldn't he explain what was happening? What had happened?

Alina thought she might choke on the taste of blood that kept rising to her lips.

When they finally arrived back home, everyone piled out of the car. Alina was trying to do the same, but Hopper stopped her. His eyes were filled with grief and anger, and he stared at Alina with sorrow. "Listen, kid," he said. "Something... something happened in that lab. There really isn't an easy way to say this kid, so I'm sorry. But... Bob is dead."

No. No no no no no. This can't be happening.

"What?" Alina could barely make the word come out. Tears already threatened to spill over, but she had to know if it was true. If Bob was really gone.

"He opened the gate for us. He was trying to get out, but it was too late. They... the sons of bitches killed him." He didn't even seem regretful that he'd just sworn in front of a thirteen-year-old. "I'm so sorry, kid."

The man Alina had seen. The man she'd felt herself tear the throat out of. The man that made her taste blood. The man she'd seen die. Bob. It was Bob. That was where she recognized him from. He'd always acted like she was a part of the family, had dressed up as a vampire during Halloween and made stupid jokes. He'd taken a love to Skywalker, and Skywalker had to him.

And now he was dead. It was a fact, like one might say the sky was blue. The sky is blue, and Bob is dead. And Alina Fairgrieves is sitting in the backseat of a cop car, feeling another part of her break.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: yet another chapter that made me cry. alina was just latching onto bob as a father figure after brandon and now he's also gone. and, because i'm sadistic, she had to watch it. but i mean i had to and i literally burst into full-on sobs when i saw him die for the first time (and i don't usually cry in movies/tv shows),,, so...

i feel like these two chapters have been mostly filler, because not a lot has happened, but next chapter we're gonna get somewhere!! like another gabe pov!!

i hope you enjoyed this chapter!! thank you for everyone who has stuck around this long and will continue to, i really really appreciate it. and thank you for everyone who leaves comments, they're my favourite part of posting a new chapter and honestly brighten my whole day-- especially when i hear theories. so thank you for that. i love you all :)

'till next time!