Corey watched as El slowly sat up.

He kept his distance, but he watched her. She breathed slowly, looking around. Her eyes landed on him when she was fully sat up, staring in disbelief as he tried to apologize through eye contact. She broke it off though, standing up and walking toward the tank. Papa touched Corey's shoulder, encouraging him to move back.

El rose her hand before her body, lifting the tank slowly. Corey inhaled in shock as he watched, the loud clanking the bolts made echoing even more. El brought it twenty feet into the air before lowering her hand, and the tank, back down. She inhaled weakly, turning toward Corey again with a bloody nose.

Papa lead her away after that. Corey waited for them to escape the room, it hadn't taken long before El stormed out and toward a private room. Corey followed, knocking his fist against the metal. "El?"

"Go." her voice rung over the water.

"Can I explain?" he begged her.

"Friends don't lie. You lie." she said back, slightly muffled by the door. "Go, now."

"I had to." he chose to explain, weather she wanted to listen or not. "I had no choice."

The door opened, El was on the other side of the room. Corey walked in, going to shut the door but she used her powers yet again to do it for him. Corey looked over at her. "Long story."

"Lie." she glared.

"Not a lie." he defended himself. "I can explain it all, you just have to be willing to listen."

El leaned against the seat as he sat on the bed. Corey rolled up his sleeve, showing the 016. "I was one of the children. Like you. Only, as I got older, Papa realized I had no power. Nothing was special about me, I was nothing. Useless."

El didn't move, but her shoulders fell just slightly.

"I was hidden from all the ones like you, kept away in hopes of me getting powers just a little late. Nothing ever happened, but Papa could use me. He needed me to be an inside person, that was the closest thing I had to a power. So I did, all the time. And usually, it was okay." Corey looked away for a second as he shook his head. "And then I went to Hawkins, to spy on you. And, I don't know, things were different. I met you, and Jude, and Will, and Dustin, and Max, and Lucas, and Mike, and everything felt different. I didn't want to leave any of you, I wanted to stay right where I was."

"Doesn't explain anything." El shook her head. "You lie!"

"I know!" he agreed with her. "I told Papa I wanted to stay, that I didn't want to be apart of his plans anymore. He said that if I could do this final thing for him, if I could spy on you to do one last mission for him, then I could stay. Things would be normal then. This was suppose to be the end, it will be the end."

"Why'd you take so long? It's been a year." El frowned her eyebrows together, her hands tightening on the sink.

"Because I needed Jude and Mike to go to California, to be with Jonathan and Will." he stood up, El gave a confused look. "They're coming for us, El. I gave them clues, but it had to be the four of them. Trust me."

"Can't." she stared. "How do I know you aren't lying again?"

Corey frowned as he stared at her. "I wasn't suppose to come here. I was suppose to stay with Jude, and that would be it, my life would be free. But, I decided to come because I care about you so much, El. I didn't want you to go through this alone, and I wanted to be with you the whole time. I know I lied, but what I feel for you, and our friends, non of that is a lie. It never was."

The van jolted as Jude woke up, coming off Mikes shoulder. He squinted his eyes as Mike smiled at him. "Finally get the beauty sleep you've been talking about?"

"I can't sleep without my skin cream and silky sleeping mask." Jude sat up with an exhale. "How far are we?"

"How many times you gonna ask?" Jonathan called back to him.

"Take that as a no." he fell back down onto Mikes shoulder with an exhale.

"I'll have you know I think we are here." Jonathan corrected as Jude came off Mikes shoulder again, eyes wide.

"We're here already?" Argyle looked around.

"Already? It's been nine hours." Will gave a look of disbelief from the back.

"I was asleep nine hours?" Jude gapped in disbelief.

"Let's see." Mike grabbed his face. "I think you've got a little more beauty, it must have worked."

"It must have worked." Jude mocked him. "Let me see the map."

"It's gotta be around here somewhere." Mike stated as he leaned against Jude, who was looking down at the map now.

"All i'm seeing is a desert." Jude looked out the window. "This is ridiculous!"

"Oh god, here he goes." Will braced himself.

"What exactly are we looking for, my dudes?" Argyle looked back at the trio.

"Some sort of facility." Will explained.

"A fence. A building." Mike listed on.

"Something that clearly isn't out here." Jude cupped his hands like binoculars and peered out the window. "Unless the facility shrunk in size and is living on a piece of sand."

"Yeah, because that makes a bunch of sense." Mike rolled his eyes.

"Any signs of life would be nice." Jonathan spoke honestly.

"Since when did we decide Nina was a physical building and not a small woman?" Argyle looked around the van with his own face of confusion. "Sounds like a small woman to me."

"Why small? What if she's six foot?" Jude rose his eyebrows.

"It's not a small, or six foot, woman." Mike stated in annoyance as he took the map back.

"Small woman out in this desert would be hard to see." Argyle leaned back in his seat.

"How is he still high?" Will asked in shock.

"You're sure you got your measurements right?" Jonathan looked back at Mike.

"He's wrong a lot of the time, but never when it comes to numbers." Jude shook his head. "I would know, he calls me every morning."

"You're 100%, right?" Jonathan went on.

"Yes." Mike huffed.

"Maybe the latitude and longitude are wrong." the older Byers shrugged from the drivers seat.

"Here we go." Jude braced himself.

"Are you really questioning Suzie?" Mike asked him with pure attitude.

"She's a genius, Jonathan." Will agreed.

"Yeah." Jude leaned back in his seat and pushed his legs out more. "She knows the Internet."

"Even geniuses make mistakes." he turned back to them again.

"Well, she didn't." Mike argued.

"If that small woman is small enough, she could fit behind a small tree." Argyle looked over at Jonathan.

"Stop! Just-" Jonathan began before he hit the breaks, making Jude fly forward some and knock into the seat.

"Jonathan!" he scolded him as Mike pulled him back into the middle chair.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"I am stopping us before we get more lost." he looked back and spoke fast.

"Drama." Jude opened the door.

"Oh, i'm drama?" Jonathan asked. "Says the one that needs a silk sleeping mask to sleep, even though he slept nine hours."

"That's not drama, that's a way of life!" Jude argued with him.

"Don't argue about the way of life. Trust me." Mike shook his head, laying the map out after Argyle pulled the trunk open.

"Alright, give me the coordinates." Jonathan nodded his head quickly.

"Um, okay. Longitude is 116 degrees, five minutes, and 17-" Will began.

"Slow down. Slow down." his brother encouraged as his finger danced across the map. Mike put his finger on the coordinate while Jonathan took the other. "All right. You just go straight down. Like, straight...straight..."

They met right at the X. Jude smiled. "X marks the spot."

"Right on the money, as I said." Mike tossed his hand to Jonathan.

"Right on the money." Jude mimicked his hand motioned.

"Just doesn't make sense." Jonathan huffed.

"Yo, dudes!" Argyle called out for all of them. "My dudes!"

"Jesus Christ." Mike braced himself as they looked up at Argyle on the hill.

"Come check this shit out!" he yelled while motioning them over.

"Should we trust it?" Jude rose an eyebrow up at Mike.

"What is it?" Mike called.

"You gotta see it to believe it, my dudes!" he yelled back, pointing down. Jude sighed, pulling Mike by the wrist as they headed up hill.

"My feet are gonna be so ugly after this." Jude felt blisters forming on his toes. "I just got them scrubbed and moisturized too."

Jonathan looked at Mike. "He's serious?"

"Dead serious." the Wheeler boy inhaled.

"Okay." Argyle spoke as the four made it up to him. "So no small woman named Nina. But you said any signs of life, am I right?"

"Right." Jonathan confirmed.

"Well-" Argyle squatted down. "-these are no regular tire brackets, brochachos. I mean, look at the green on these monsters. They're fatties. And you know what that means."

"Bad men." Jude confirmed.

"Military." Mike turned his head to the rest of them.

"We gotta go." Jonathan spoke fast, Jude held his hand out to Mike to latch onto. Jude jumped in the trunk first. "Jude, what are you doing?"

He came out with a baseball bat.

"I see her! I see her!" Jude yelled as he leaned out the window, shots echoing all around them. "Jonathan, go! Go!"

Mike grabbed Jude and yanked him back into the van. "You're gonna get shot!"

Jonathan blew on the horn. "Where?"

"On the ground!" Mike shouted.

"What are those dudes doing on the ground?" Argyle yelled out when they got sight of the middle of the small war. "Is that blood, man?"

"They're shooting at her! Go!" Jude reached over Jonathan's seat and yanked the wheel harshly. They all screamed as Jonathan gassed it and was going in the direction Jude was steering.

"She's getting up!" Mike called, El rose to her feet and out reached her hand at the helicopter in the sky.

"She's got em!" Jude cheered. El caused the helicopter to rotate, watching as it shook and the gun fire missed her each time.

"Wait, wait." Will looked out. "Where's Corey?"

Jude realized he was no where in sight.

The helicopter shook more and more as El's hand twitched, causing them to began to rotate in a circle, higher and higher. Jude let the wheel go as Jonathan hit his breaks, they all watched as El screamed, yanking her hands as the helicopter fell. Mike quickly wrapped his arms around Jude as the explosion got closer, Jonathan hurried to steer them away.

"She did it." Mike told Jude, it was clear he feared she was hurt. "She did it, she's okay!"

Jude sat up, looking out the window. He sighed in relief at the sight of his cousin, yanking the van open. Jonathan yelled for him to stay put, but Jude ran in her direction, yelling her name. El looked over, panting and nose bloody. Her face lit up in a relieved and sad smile. "Jude!"

"Holy shit, that was the coolest thing you've ever done!" he fell into the sand next to her, wrapping her in a tight hug. His hand pressed onto the back of her, now, short hair. El hugged him back, the tightest she ever had. "I was so scared for you."

"I was scared for you." she repeated, holding him tightly. "What is that?"

"Oh!" Jude looked back as everyone got out of the van. "Byers, Mike, and Argyle."

"Corey." El's face fell in realization as she gripped his arms. "I couldn't find him."

"Hes still inside?" Jude held her tightly, staring into her eyes as she nodded. "Where'd you see him last?"

"He left the room near the big tank, couldn't find him after." El shook her head. Jude looked toward the door, the military tanks indicating they had multiple soldiers inside. Jude rose to his feet, El looked up at him from where she still held his hands. "Jude."

He grabbed his bat, and took off.

"Jude!" Mike ran after him. "Jude, no!"

El caught him, not letting him go. "Trust him."

"He's gonna get himself killed!" Mike tried to pull away from her.

"No." El shook her head. "Not happening."

"Corey!" Jude ran into the door, down the steps. "Corey!"

"Woah." a voice caught his attention, looking over to see one of the soldiers. "Easy, little f-"

Jude quickly smacked him with his bat and ran down the hallway he was guarding. "Corey!"

"Jude?" it was faint, but it echoed within each air vent.

"Corey!" Jude yelled around, panting as he looked around. "Where are you!"

"Jude!" Corey yelled. "I'm here!"

"Where?" he yelled, trying to follow the echo.

"Up here!" Jude looked up, he was standing right under an air vent. It took a moment, but he made out Corey waving. "Jude!"

"Oh my god, what are you doing u-" Jude started, stopping as a large man in a military uniform was staring at him at the end of the hallway. "Stay there for a second."

Corey couldn't see what was happening, but he stayed still.

The man stared.

Jude stared back.

His heart rate picked up. Neither of them were moving, Jude didn't know what to do. His hands tightened on his baseball bat, looking up when he heard the air vents start to pop. He no longer saw Corey. Jude looked back at the many in the hallway, his eyes going wide as he held his gun toward the Mackenzie boy.

Corey fell from the air vent, taking the man down.

Jude dodge the one shot that flew his way, wincing as it just grazed his shoulder, cutting through flesh but just barely. He began to run as fast as he could. He remembered how fast he ran when he scored the winning pointed, getting that home run. This was his home run. He needed to do it again.

As soon as Corey rolled off the man, Jude smacked him three times with his baseball bat.

"Let's go!" Jude grabbed Corey's arm.

"I'm sorry." Corey stopped him, staring with sad eyes. "I lied. Im a bad friend, i'm so sorry."

Jude shook his head, trying to catch his breath. "It doesn't matter."

"It does." he stopped him. "You're my family. I sleep at your house, I eat your Dads diner food, I wear your old clothes, we share shoes, you teach me to ride a bike, you talk to me about Mike, and I talk about El, you buy me plane tickets even when you don't have the money. You aren't just my friend, you're my family, and I lied."

Jude's eyes watered in return. "Corey-"

"I wanted that forever, that's why I did it." Corey cut him off. "It wasn't suppose to be like this. He promised she'd be safe."

"She is safe. Because of you." Jude grabbed his wrist with a nod of his head. "And you and I? We're still family. I trust you, and if you say there's a reason, I believe you."

"I'll explain everything." Corey promised.

"Maybe when there isn't a bunch of military staring at us?" Jude suggested, Corey turned back to see them all coming their way. "Yeah, we gotta go! We gotta go!"

"You know the door?" Corey yelled as he ran behind Jude, being ignored but saw the opening. "You do!"

"El!" Jude yelled as they went up the stairs. "Close it! Close the door!"

"Jude!" Mike yelled. "Jude, come on!"

El held her hand out, panicking as they hadn't made it yet. "I'm not gonna make it!"

"Do it now!" Jude yelled, grabbing Corey's body and diving through the door. El slammed it, blowing it up.

Mike held his breath as he lost sight of Jude, the fire growing. He took a step forward. "Where'd they go?"

It was quiet, it was too quiet.

"There! Brochachos!" Argyle cheered, seeing Corey and Jude helping each other walk through an opening of the fire.

"Jude!" Mike ran his way, El too weak to follow so Will did. "Jude!"

"Mike." he smiled, coughing from the smoke. His face bleed from how he fell, letting Corey go as he threw his arms around him. "Did you think I was dead?"

"Sorta." Mike held him tightly.

"You okay?" Will put his arm around Corey.

"Yeah." he inhaled. "Can you take me to her?"

"Yeah." Will helped him walk with a little limp in his foot.

"I'm gonna kill you if you ever do that again." Mike held onto him tighter, just for a moment longer. "Even better, i'll break up with you."

"What a nightmare." Jude pulled back to smile at him. Mike inhaled, his eyes were watery as Jude cupped his face. "You love me too much to ever break up with me."

"You're right, you asshole." Mike gave a sad, teary laugh as Jude pulled him into a kiss.

•

kylie speaks

a boy came into my work
the other day and he looked
just like jude but with blonde
hair and he was in athlete
clothes and looked around
5'8 and everything. i
almost fell over.