Array
(
[text] =>
023. 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗯 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝙈𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝘽𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨.
𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐈 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 as clicks emitted from inside of the control booth.
She stopped running, inhaling rapidly to catch her breath from running down the hill. Her mind was a mess, her hair was a mess, and her chest thumped from the sudden rush of adrenaline. She really didn’t know why she’d told them to rush for the gate. If anything, she wanted to be as far away from the lab as possible— luring them to something that would get them in was stupid. But they would’ve figured it out themselves anyways, so Lori was having trouble figuring out why she seemed so eager to open said-gate in the first place.
And trouble figuring out why, suddenly, she was standing next to Steve Harrington, who was standing next to Nancy Wheeler, in front of Jonathan Byers’ beat up car. It was a weird, very weird sight. Almost comical.
Lori would have never, ever in her life, guessed that one day she’d be partnering with Steve Harrington on a babysitting job, and also team up (?) with the Princess— also, notably his ex-girlfriend— her new partner, and a bunch of kids. To open the gate to an interdimensional-slimeball-filled-lab.
What?
Letting out a long sigh, she leant carefully on the hood of Jonathan’s car and crossed her arms, darting her eyes between the booth, the gate, and the lab.
Repeatedly, and urgently, Jonathan slammed his fingers on the “open” button, from inside the booth. But after a series of determined clicks, nothing happened. The gate didn’t even budge in the slightest.
“Let me try,” Dustin huffed, and rushed into the booth.
Lori turned to watch, as he pushed Jonathan out of the way. She tilted her chin in their direction.
“Hang on—” Jonathan stammered, and clicked some more.
Dustin shoved him back with a strong hand, “Let me try, Jonathan!” he shouted.
Dustin, at his own, began clicking the button repeatedly. He cussed under his breath, and didn’t stop clicking.
“Clicking it over and over again isn’t gonna open the damn gate, Hagar.” Lori said from the hood of the car, bitterly. She shut her eyes hard and rolled them.
“Yeah,” Jonathan breathed out, lowly.
“Son of a bitch!” Dustin spat. “You know what—” he slammed his hand on the entire control panel.
After a few hits to the panel with his palm, it seemed as though Lori spoke too soon. Because a few seconds later, something scraped on the pavement.
All heads turned immediately, to see the gate slowly opening. It scratched on the pavement, and clinked the way a steel fence does.
“Hey! I got it!” Dustin chuckled, and a proud smile slid onto his face. “I got it,” he reminded them. “See that, Lor?”
Lori waved her hand in the air, buzzing him off with a roll of her eyes. Slowly, she stood up as Jonathan ran out of the booth, joining at Nancy’s side.
Nobody spoke for a few moments after it fully opened. They stood still, swallowing the lumps in their throats.
“Okay, so, what now?” Lucas asked, his voice wavering.
“I… I don’t know,” Jonathan stammered as response.
“Are you— are we going in?” Lori swallowed, and looked to Steve, then Nancy, then Jonathan. If this were any other day, she wouldn’t even bother talking to Nancy or Jonathan— well, maybe Jonathan. But this wasn’t any normal day, they were in front of a scientific lab, a scientific lab infested with interdimensional monsters.
So she couldn’t care less who the hell she was talking to.
Before they could answer, a loud screech tore through the air. It ruffled the trees.
Nancy mustered up words. “I— shit, we,” she glanced to Jonathan. “We,”
“My family could be in there,” Jonathan said, without looking away from the lab. He sounded bitter, like he had a personal hatred for it.
Steve looked down at Lori then and studied her expression. He was studying it— half for checking if she was alright, and half for trying to figure out if Nancy was causing her discomfort. Not that Nancy was being rude or anything like that. Just the fact that he was standing between his ex-girlfriend and a girl he was about to kiss an hour ago— maybe Lori felt the same uncomfortable feeling he was feeling towards that.
They might’ve been in a rift, or whatever their annoyed feelings for each other were at the moment— but he still had to check if she was okay. Right?
She tilted her head up and caught his eye. She gave him a weary look.
“We’ll stay out here.” Steve said, after a moment of studying the look in her eyes and seeing that she didn’t want to go inside. He turned to Nancy and Jonathan. “We’ll stay here by the gate just in case.”
“Yeah— okay,” Jonathan quickly nodded. “Alright.” he looked to Nancy.
Nervously, she looked up to him, with the same look in her eyes that Lori had just given Steve. She observed this, Lori, trying not to add meaning to it.
“You guys don’t have any weapons!” Dustin said, sounding baffled as they hopped on their feet to rush for the car. “How the hell are you gonna march in there with no weapons?”
Jonathan ripped open his car door, and paused. “Maybe they need a getaway car.” he said, and then quickly sat into the driver’s seat.
Nancy rushed into the passenger seat, slamming the door shut. They didn’t bother putting their seatbelts on, as he gripped the wheel.
Steve had his hand around Lori’s elbow for some reason, pulling her with him softly as they quickly moved out of the way and off to the side. Max, Lucas, and Dustin were standing by the booth as they joined them, all five watching the car carefully.
As soon as they were out of the way, Jonathan pressed on the gas, a cloud of smoke evaporated from the exhaust— and they were off. Driving past the gate and up the hill, towards the lab.
Lori let out a breath of air that she didn’t even know she’d been holding. “Okay, so what the fuck was that,” she said, mostly referring to the surprise run-in with Nancy and Jonathan.
“Shit, shit,” Dustin had his hands pressed to the sides of his cap as he left the line of five, and paced into where the car was parked. “What are they gonna do? They have no weapons,”
“Maybe they’re not going in,” Lucas suggested, taking a few steps.
“But what if they do,” Max commented, walking over to the far end of the gate. “They have nothing.”
Lori looked away from the lab, and turned her eyes to Steve. She noticed the tense look on his face.
“I hate to ask the question,” she started, turning to face him. “But you alright, Harrington?”
He looked down, nodding a few times. “Yeah.” he said, simply.
She didn’t want to say that Jonathan showing up with Nancy was the icing on the cake to their breakup, because that would be rude. Lori Philbin holding back from saying something rude? Maybe the talk on top of the bus loosened her up a bit. Or maybe the attack of the demogorgons loosened her up.
But it was quite the icing on the cake.
But she was also supposed to be mad at him? Why couldn’t she just rain on his parade a little more?
“That was, um,” Lori looked away from him, to the lab, “Weird.”
“No shit,” Steve mumbled. He swung his bat over his shoulder, letting it rest there.
A silence seemed to befall them after that, and Lori pressed her lips together in a tight line and turned away, stepping into the booth.
She could tell by his sour expression that he didn’t want her to make a sarcastic comment, or comment at all on Jonathan and Nancy. He was kind of surprised when she didn’t.
“So do we just wait?” Lori asked, generally aiming it to everyone.
Dustin was pacing on the pavement. “I guess so.” he said, sounding like he didn’t particularly enjoy that option.
“If we hear something we’ll go and help,” Steve said lowly. “Alright?” he looked to everyone.
Lori slumped into the seat of the control booth, letting out a huff. Her knees ached from all the walking, and her head still had that tingle— so she carefully leant it back on the glass of the booth, and shut her eyes.
She listened to the sound of Steve flipping his flashlight in his hand, while mentally recounting everything that happened up until then.
She felt her eyes droop with a weight of exhaustion, when Max spoke out over the silence. It had been a mere few minutes since Nancy and Jonathan drove up, but it felt like more.
“Guys.” Max said, with an urgency to her tone. “Guys?”
And only seconds after she spoke, there was the sound of screeching tires and cars veering on pavement. Lori shot her eyes open. A series of panicked honks rang through the air.
Through the foggy glass of the control booth, she could see blaring headlights— two pairs —speeding in their direction. She sat up, and rose to her feet.
“Look out!” Steve instantly shouted to the kids, and lunged forward to grab hold of Max’s arm.
“Shit— guys, look out!” Max shouted.
Lori stepped out of the booth, and grabbed the hood of Dustin’s sweater in a tight fist as Jonathan’s car honked and sped right past them. She kept him close for a moment, as they panicked for what was going on.
Milliseconds later, Lori laid eyes on the Sheriff’s Department vehicle, as it abruptly stopped right before them. And she squinted her eyes to see Jim Hopper behind the wheel— instantly placing his face with the memory of him telling her to go home at the pumpkin patch. She hated Jim Hopper after that day. But right now that didn’t matter— and she knew within a second that it wasn’t going to matter anymore for the time being. At least not as much.
“Let’s go!” he shouted to them through the open window. And there was a break in his voice that made him sound distraught, or sad as if something tragic had just happened.
Steve immediately rushed for the passenger door— his protective instincts clicking in.
“Let’s go, come on!” Steve shouted to them.
Lori didn’t think twice as she shoved Dustin forward, her hand letting go of his sweater so that he could rush behind Lucas into the bus.
“Go, go, go,” Dustin was urging, pushing on Lucas’s backpack.
Max hopped in first, holding Steve’s bat.
“Get in, come on, get in!” Steve was shouting. He stood with his back on the door, making sure each of them got in safely.
Lori stood at the end of the kids, making sure they were getting in too. She just felt that it was necessary.
“In, let’s go!” Steve shouted, his hand on Dustin’s backpack as he shoved him in the car— Lori being next.
Steve pulled her forward with a tight, tight hand clutched on her backpack. She took in a sharp breath when his left hand placed itself on the back of her lower thigh, making sure she made it over the passenger seat. His other hand was on her other hip, guiding tightly, as she rushed in.
She stepped over the center console and quickly settled into the back, as Steve hopped into the passenger seat and slammed the door.
“Okay— let’s go!” he called.
And then Jim Hopper slammed his foot on the gas.
The whole ride to the Byers house, Lori couldn’t stop thinking about what Jonathan and Nancy showing up together meant for her and Steve. It meant, precisely, that the entire necklace plan was off the table— and really, there was no winning Nancy back after that. That revelation was sprung so quickly, and now it lingered in the air mockingly. So, then, what was Lori of importance to, now? She’d been fraternizing with Steve so he could win his girlfriend back, that’s it, that’s all. But now that said-girlfriend evidently seemed to be with someone else, what was she to do?
With a certain pang, Lori realized that it was only her and Steve left. There was no more Nancy, no more planning to win her back. It was just her and Steve. The Princess was out of the picture.
This epiphany stung in her ears the entire ride— mixed in with the thought of what was to come next, involving Casa Byers. Too much was racing through her mind, and she was having trouble trying to decide which of it was more important. Evidently, she landed on the main problem: the demogorgons had attacked the lab, Hopper and company were heading to the Byers’ for god knows what, and Will Byers was unconscious in the car in front of them. All of that was at the forefront of her mind, and she tried to keep reminding herself that Steve Harrington shouldn’t occupy such a place in her mind when all of this crazy shit was happening. But still, she couldn’t get him out of her head.
Nobody talked the whole ride, except for Hopper who asked Steve a few quiet questions— wondering if he knew, if they knew, what was going on. Steve mentioned the junkyard. But those quiet whispers were all that was heard. It seemed like they were all just trying to process what was going on, different versions of it.
In a crazed rush, they were at the Byers house within less than ten minutes. The Byers house was a small little home, on a long and empty road. There was a clothesline out in the front yard, and Lori noticed that there was no driveway when the Chief’s car pulled up on the lawn in record speed— the tires skidding on the grass.
Now, they waited in the car for a minute, as Jonathan carried Will bridal style into his house. Lori watched from the backseat of the police SUV, her eyes focused and concerned.
Hopper didn’t say anything to the kids, he just quickly stepped out of his car and slammed the door, immediately following the family— and Nancy with her brother Mike— into the house behind Jonathan. Words didn’t seem necessary now.
A long minute passed before someone spoke. “Alright, we should go in,” Steve said lowly. He pushed open the passenger door.
Lucas and Max crouched over to the center console, as Steve stepped out of the vehicle and held the door open.
Lori shut her eyes and groaned. “Dustin, you’re sitting on my foot.”
“Sorry.” he said, getting up from the floor.
Slowly, he waddled in crouching position to the front seats, stepping carefully over the passenger seat to reach the door. Steve was standing with his back on the open door, making sure they were all getting out.
Lori heard their feet land on the ground, as she crouched towards the seats behind Dustin. Her foot was asleep, but that didn’t matter as she placed a hand on his backpack and shoved him forward just a little bit— to go faster. She didn’t want to be in the truck any longer, and Dustin was slow. He turned his head and glared at her before hopping out.
She let out a huff as she stepped over the passenger seat, her hands out on both sides. The side of her body brushed against Steve as she stepped out of the vehicle, her feet squishing into the grass. She cut a glance to him, and he gave her a small tight-lipped smile before shutting the door.
The day’s events and the stories about Will Byers should have prepared her for what was inside the house— but they didn’t. So, when they stepped up the porch stairs and through the already open door, her eyes went wide.
“What…” she whispered, her lips departing, “the hell…”
She didn’t even realize she stopped walking, until she felt Steve’s elbow plunge into her side when he shut the door behind him. He stopped beside her when he looked up, and together they looked around the small living room— at the walls, the ceiling, and the floor coated with papers of scribbled crayon.
“Holy shit,” he breathed out, and rubbed a hand over his mouth.
“What is all this?” she asked, her voice low as her eyes trailed around the room.
The papers seemed to continue on throughout the entire house— stretching out over the cased openings and over all the thresholds as her eyes followed the trails.
“The tunnels,” she heard Mike say quickly, as he made his way past them to the dining room. He’d been sitting next to Will, and was now heading away as Jonathan took his place beside the couch.
“Tunnels?” Steve repeated, but his voice was too quiet for anyone but her to hear.
“Dans quoi suis-je entré,” Lori whispered, her voice barely audible.
Lori took a step forward, into the living room. She trailed her eyes around the papers, scribbled with rushed crayon coloring. Blues and blacks coated every page, and drew the outlines of said-tunnels. She stepped around the living room, walking close to the baseboards around the entire perimeter of it— very slowly as she observed each drawing. She reached a hand up and extended her finger, her skin just barely grazing the parchments.
She’d made it to the other side of the living room when she turned to look over at Steve. He was standing in the middle of the room, his hands on his hips, looking around at the maze that surrounded them.
Swallowing hard, Lori flicked her eyes back to the tunnels, letting their course guide her into the kitchen, where the kids sat around the small dining table. They didn’t pay no mind to her as she passed them, her neck tilted back to look at the ones on the ceiling. Her lips were parted, breathing out deeply.
When she made it to the kitchen sink, she placed her hands along the edges of it and leant her body weight on them. She exhaled, closed her eyes and let her neck fall down for a moment.
She drew in a tight breath of air as she tilted her head back up to stare out the kitchen window, her eyes fluttering open to look into the darkness. She paused when she saw her reflection in the glass. Her hair was in a mess, the band-aid was deep red on her forehead, and there was a scratch on her cheek— probably from one of the branches in the forest— and her shirt had a few small dirt stains.
She didn’t know how long she observed herself in the window, but it must’ve been a while, because she hadn’t even noticed Steve watching Nancy and Jonathan— as they stood over Will on the couch.
“Dr. Sam Owens,” Hopper spoke into the phone a few feet away, aggravated. “I don’t know how many people are there— I don’t know how many people are left alive!”
This rang in Lori’s ears, and she swallowed just thinking about it. She looked at her reflection in the window, noticing Steve approaching slowly with a grave look on his face.
“You wanna go see if there’s more band-aids in the bathroom?” Steve asked carefully, his voice suddenly near. His voice was low enough to where only she could hear him. “You should probably change the one on your forehead.”
She swallowed, and tightened her grip on the edge of the sink. “This is crazy,” she said, looking down at her hands.
“Yeah.” he exhaled sharply. He turned around and leaned on the counter close beside her, facing the opposite direction.
“Did you hear that? What Hopper just said.” she said, breathless. “There’s nobody left alive in the lab.” she turned to look up at him.
“You were right,” he said, somberly. “What you said back in the forest about the lab. Place is gutted.”
She didn’t feel any satisfaction from being right. She always felt satisfied when someone admitted she was right, and especially if it was Steve Harrington. But this time it only made her throat close up more.
“What do these tunnels mean?” she asked, her voice quiet. She looked up at the drawings pinned above the cupboards and sighed— hopeless.
He shrugged, gently.
Lori inhaled, kept the air in her lungs for a moment, and slowly exhaled it. She gripped the sink hard. “I should call my mom.” she whispered, avoiding his eyes, and avoiding her own eyes in the window.
Steve shifted a little bit beside her. “Go now while he’s off the phone,” he said lightly, referring to Hopper.
Lori loosened her grip on the sink. “What do I tell her.” she said.
Steve looked down at her. She slowly rose her eyes to meet his. He gave her that look, the same one he’d given her before he and Dustin told her the truth about Hawkins.
“Sorry, I meant what do I not tell her.” Lori said. She didn’t have the energy to roll her eyes. “She’s probably worried sick right now, probably at Aunt Claudia’s throwing a fucking fit.”
“And that you’re with Dustin.” Steve suggested, still looking at the side of her face. “Tell her that you’re safe, at least.”
“Am I, though?” she whispered.
Steve took a chance and rose his hand to place it on her upper back as he slowly stepped past her, patting twice lightly. Lori nearly shivered from the contact, but tried not to.
He was on her other side now, but away from the counter and closer to the table where he could keep an eye on the kids for now— as Hopper and Mike argued.
Lori pushed herself away from the counter and turned on her heel, heading for the nearest phone where she could speak and not draw any attention from the others.
Sighing, she turned down the hall.
[text_hash] => 50e63ed5
)