· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙴𝚁  ❱ ˖⋆࿐໋ ⋆ ✰
CHAPTER THIRTEEN ━━
deep down below

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THE SUN WAS SLOWLY SINKING INTO THE HORIZON, LIGHT and sunshine making place for darkness and moonlight. It still gave Zero the creeps to look at Hawkin's in its nightime state. It looked like the Upside Down during the night, his own horror story neatly wrapped and presented to him every day at dusk.

By the time they where anywhere close to their destination it was completely dark outside, only the headlights of the car giving them a source of light.

But there wasn't much to see eitherway. Only abandoned countryside and trees and he wasn't the only one who took notice of the absence of clues of Hopper's whereabouts.

"There's nothing. There's nothing here." Mike sighed from besides Zero glancing the window on Will's side.

"Are... are we close?" Joyce asked Bob who sat in the passenger seat with the map perched on his lap.

"We are in the vicinity." He replied firmly.

"What's that mean, the vicinity?" Joyce turned to look at the man from the corner of her eye.

"It means we're close. I don't know. It's not precise." Bob held the map up for the woman beside him to see as he stuttered out his words.

"But we did all that work." She stated in disbelief, and Zero averted his gaze away from the bickering couple and towards the window on his left, but his attention was quickly drawn to Will who had closed his eyes.

"I told you the scale ratio is not exactly one to one. We need to take-"

"Turn right!" Will exclaimed, interrupting the two as he leaned forward in his seat behind his mother.

"What?"

"I saw him." Will stated as Joyce looked over her shoulder at her son.

"Where?"

"Not here! In my now memories!" He bursted out loudly and now Bob turned around confused. "In your what?"

"Turn right!" Will commanded again, in a stronger voice this time, one that made Zero question his intentions.

In one fluent motion, Joyce did as her son instructed, the car swerved to the right and of the road and into the field. Zero grabbed the seat in front of him tightly as the car wheels screeched loudly and they drove a sign over. Screams filled the car as Joyce started to lose control over the vehicle now that her sight was blocked by a hay bale only for it to clear seconds later and Jim's police cruiser came into view.

The frenzied mother slammed her foot down on the breaks, stopping the car just in time before they crashed into it.

"Are you okay?" She breathed out, turning to look at the kids in the backseat.

"Superspy." Mike breathed out from in between Will and Zero.

"What's Jim doing here?" Bob slowly asked, still breathing heavily from shock. "Joyce?"

Joyce ignored him and instead focused her attention to the three of them. "Boys, I need you to stay here."

Will quickly sprung into protest. "No. Mum, mum, mum. It's not safe."

She was already opening the door, before adressing her boy again. "That's why I need you to stay here."

The three kids sat motionless in the car as they watched Joyce and Bob walked closer to the hole.

Zero could feel it now, Jim's pressence. It was like he felt drawn to him, the same way he felt drawn to Will and Eleven.

He could never explain it, how he always seemed to find everyone, know where they were, where to look. Of course the blonde didn't know that this was exactly what the doctors at Hawkins lab tried to achieve.

He was the foundation of most of the experients going inside. He was the first version of many. Some thing worked out better than others and some even became an upgrade from his powers like Eleven. She could find people too. It was strange to think he was so well connected with people, like he was the line of communications somehow.

Zero suddenly felt the urge to get outside, to follow this dreadful feeling and it was exactly what he did.

He could hear protests erupting from the boys behind them but he paid them no heed until he was in front of the hole where Joyce and Bob went down moments ago.

"You can't go in there." Will grabbed a hold of his shirt sleeve desperately.

"I need to. I can find him." Zero turned around to face Will. "You trust me?"

Will nodded fiercely and slowly released his grip. "Stay here. Safe."

The boy only nodded before stepping back and next to Mike.

Zero then turned around and dropped his body down, falling a little bit before he hit the ground.

The sudden noise startled both Joyce and Bob who turned around and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Zero! What are you doing? It's not safe." Joyce exclaimed but he didn't get a chance to reply.

"Zero? That's not a name." Bob muttered before turning to look at Joyce. "Joyce, what is going on? Where are we? Who is the kid?" His last sentence was directed at the golden blonde who almost stared in a sort like trance ahead of him.

The panicked woman didn't answer and instead turned on her flashlight to look around. "Hopper! Hopper?!"

Zero suddenly felt that familiar click, that feeling when he was connected to someone and like a moth drawn to a flame his feet carried him on their own accord.

"Zero where are you going!" Joyce called out when she noticed the boy walking away from them.

"This way." He only said before he dissapeared around the corner. The two adults quickly followed after him and through the dark and omnious tunnel.

"Is this Will's map? Are we in Will's map?" Bob spoke up as they followed after the boy in front of him.

Zero didn't even look where he was going, there was no hesitation at any point where the tunnels seperated into different directions. He just knew.

"Hopper! Hopper?!" Joyce called out again, shining her flashlight around wildly before focusing on Milo. "Are we close?"

Zero nodded slowly, taking another turned without looking around him and this time, Joyce noticed a cigaret on the ground beween the vines and she felt hope spark in her chest.

They continued to climb through the tunnels until they came in a small clearing and the blonde suddenly stopped moving.

"What is it?" Joyce asked softly shining her flashlight around.

"Here."

"What?"

"He is here." He pointed to the sheriff's hat on the floor next to a burned out torch.

Joyce blinked, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked around the dark place until something caught her eye. "Oh! It's his arm!"

The three rushed to his side, quickly trying to rip the vines away from the man.

The blonde boy leaned over his head, trying to see any sign of life as Bob screamed out. "It's choking him!"

Bob pulled the vines away slightly, giving the man a chance to breath. Hopper's eyes flickered open and for a moment he thought he was dreaming when he saw Milo's face looming over him. "Milo..." he breathed out almost in awe at the sight of his boy until his eyes flickered to Joyce. "Knife."

"Knife?"

"It's over there." Bob pointed his flashlight to the sharp object close to Joyce while Zero tried his best to tear the vines away from the man on the ground.

Finally they managed to get him loose, the vines letting out shrieks as they were cut away. Hopper sat up and Joyce and Bob quickly helped him to his feet.

"Oh, my, god." She breathed out. "Hopper are you okay?" She asked, inspecting his face but his eyes were focused on the blonde boy, smeared with dirt behind her.

"Milo..." he breathed out, taking a step closer but the boy didn't move to come closer to him.

"I don't know Milo. Am Zero." He pointed to himself, oblivious to the heartbreak in Hopper's eyes.

"Right, right. Sorry my mistake." He breathed out before patting Bob on the shoulder. "Hey Bob."

"Hey Jim."

Their attention was turned towards the vines once more when they started screeching again and when Jim turned around to walk away he let out a scream of surprise when men in hazmat suits stood in front of them.

"Go! Go! Go! Clear the area." One spoke and they all were rushed out while the strange men started to burn the place down.

Zero was in between Joyce and Jim when he suddenly he halted in his tracks, his link with Will causing him to stop. "Will."

"What?" Joyce asked with wide eyes.

"He is in pain." Zero stated looking up at the woman. "A lot of pain."

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