You can support me on www.patr eon.com/SnickerDoodle99 and get early access to upcoming chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or settings, only my original ideas.
--------------
A few moments before the Lab agents arrived, a small barefoot girl was already running toward the sound that had startled her. She pushed through thick bushes and towering trees, the darkness swallowing her slight figure as her breath came out in sharp, uneven gasps.
She was the girl they had been searching for.
The tattoo on her arm marked her as one of the lab's subjects.
011.
It was etched into her left wrist, impossible to hide, impossible to forget. She had tried once. Tried to cover it, to make it disappear. But she couldn't. It clung to her like a curse… a mark left behind by bad people from a worse place.
She kept running, stumbling through branches and thorns, her bare feet scraping against the rough forest floor. The thin gown clinging to her body did little to protect her. It was white, patterned with something that looked like flowers at first glance, but wasn't. The shapes twisted unnaturally, more like spreading infection than anything alive.
Her clothes were already stained with dirt, smeared brown and damp, proof of how far she had come running, crawling, doing whatever it took to escape.
When she finally reached the edge of the road, she didn't step out immediately.
She stopped.
She watched and listened.
….And it saved her.
A screech tore through the air with sharp, guttural, something unnatural that made her chest tighten. Instinctively, she held her breath and pressed herself against the rough bark of a tree, her small body trembling uncontrollably.
She had seen that monster before.
Closer than anyone should ever see it.
She had touched it.
And she never wanted to feel that again. Not its skin, not its presence… not its attention.
Her eyes squeezed shut as fear tightened around her chest, her body shaking harder with every passing second. She refused to look at the monster again. Even the thought of peeking felt like a mistake she couldn't afford.
The creature's screech echoed again, but this time, there was something different.
The Monster in pain.
She could hear it.
The monster thrashed violently on the road for a few seconds, its movements erratic, almost desperate. Then thankfully it finally stopped.
It didn't continue hunting.
After a few moments that felt far too long, the girl, Eleven, slowly gathered her courage. Carefully, she leaned just enough to peek from behind the tree.
And she saw it.
The creature darted across the road, disappearing into the forest on the opposite side, before vanishing completely into the darkness.
She waited for a full five seconds before finally stepping out of the cover of the trees, her bare feet touching the cold surface of the road as she cautiously took in the scene before her.
Her eyes moved first to the left, toward something lying there.
She knew immediately it wasn't human.
But she didn't know what it was.
Curiosity pulled at her, quiet but persistent. Slowly, she took a few careful steps closer, her breathing still shallow as she approached the twisted shape. It looked like a bent, broken mass of metal, its frame warped unnaturally, thin trails of smoke still rising into the night air. Something had crushed it… or thrown it.
She stared at it for a moment, silent, trying to understand.
But whatever it was, it didn't matter. Not compared to what she had seen before.
She turned away.
Her attention shifted to something else, something that made her pause.
A foot of human beings.
Her steps became slower now, more hesitant, as she approached. And then she saw them.
Two people lying on the ground.
Her gaze settled first on the man beneath, the one pinned under the weight of a child. His face was covered in blood, dark and glistening even in the dim light, his body unmoving except for the faint, almost imperceptible rise and fall of his chest.
She didn't know what to do, but she understood one thing.
He was still alive.
He had fought that monster.
Then her eyes moved to the boy lying on top of him.
The boy looked… different, cleaner than the teenager.
There was only little blood on his face, but his clothes were torn in several places, the fabric ripped open to reveal small cuts and scratches beneath. He looked fragile, like something that could break at any moment.
For a second, she just stood there.
Watching and thinking about what she should do.
She wanted to help.
She really did. Maybe she could wake him up. Maybe she could-.
There's headlights. Her head snapped toward the distance.
A car.
Coming this way.
Her body reacted before her thoughts could catch up. Fear surged through her chest, sharp and immediate.
She didn't take the chance.
Without another second of hesitation, she turned and ran, disappearing back into the darkness of the forest, leaving the two of them behind as if she had never been there at all.
------
After the Lab people investigate, the police cars and the ambulance arrive almost at the same time, their flashing lights cutting through the darkness of the quiet road. The sharp wail of sirens slowly died down as the vehicles came to a stop, replacing the chaos with a tense, controlled urgency.
Paramedics rushed forward immediately.
They didn't hesitate when they saw Chris.
He was in far worse condition.
"Get him in first, now!" one of them shouted, already moving to lift him carefully onto a stretcher. His body was handled with urgency but precision, as if one wrong move could make things worse. Within seconds, they had him inside the ambulance, securing him in place while another paramedic fitted an oxygen mask over his face.
"Pulse is weak… keep the oxygen steady."
"Check for internal bleeding."
Their voices overlapped, focused with years of experience and working against time.
Will, on the other hand, was guided toward one of the police cars. The ambulance only had room for one critical patient, and Chris had clearly taken priority. A police officer gently helped Will into the back seat, trying to keep his voice calm despite the situation.
"You're okay, kid. We're taking you to the hospital too, alright?" He said even though Will is still unconscious.
Meanwhile, other officers remained at the scene, securing the area and calling for additional support.
"Dispatch, we've got multiple victims, possibly another violent encounter. Requesting backup and scene analysis," one officer spoke into his walkie-talkie, his eyes scanning the surroundings carefully.
Not far from him, Connie stood beside her car, arms slightly wrapped around herself, as if the night had suddenly turned colder.
"Is there anything, ma'am?" the officer asked, turning toward her while still holding the radio near his mouth.
"No… I just got here not long ago," Connie replied softly, her voice controlled but laced with unease. "I didn't know what else to do, so… I just gave them my coat."
The officer studied her briefly, then glanced toward her car. It was parked neatly at the side of the road with no scratches, no dents, no signs of impact. No indication that she had been involved in any kind of collision. Or any of this accident.
Connie noticed the look.
Without hesitation, she reached into her pocket and showed him her badge.
"I work at the Department of Energy of Hawkins," she said, her tone calm but firm just enough authority to settle any doubt.
The officer blinked, then gave a small nod. "Oh… alright. Thank you."
A government employee. That was enough for now.
There was nothing suspicious about her vehicle, and clearly, this wasn't a traffic accident.
"Officer…" Connie spoke again, her expression shifting into something more concerned. "Can I go to the hospital now? I can't just leave them like this. After all, I was the first one here… maybe I can help organize the paperwork there."
The officer exhaled quietly, the fatigue of his shift still lingering in his bones, though the adrenaline had long since pushed it aside.
"That's very kind of you, ma'am," he said, nodding in appreciation. "We'll handle the investigation here and figure out who they are. I'm sorry for the trouble tonight."
"It's alright," Connie replied, giving a small nod.
She didn't say anything more. She simply turned, walked back to her car, and got inside. As the engine started, her expression changed immediately. Any softness she had shown before vanished, replaced by something far more serious.
Then she drove off, heading toward the hospital.
Back at the scene, the officer let out a slow breath before turning his attention elsewhere. He lifted his flashlight and aimed it toward the wrecked motorcycle lying off to the side.
What the hell happened here…?
He walked closer, boots crunching lightly against gravel, the beam of light from his car tracing over the damaged frame. The bike was heavily wrecked, twisted in ways that didn't make sense for a normal crash.
He crouched slightly, inspecting it more carefully.
Then he noticed the bag. "…Let's see what you've got."
He reached out and checked it.
Guns.
And broken glass bottles, shards still wet with what looked like fuel.
His expression hardened instantly. "This just got serious…" His mind started piecing things together, though none of it quite fit.
A biker kid… armed… carrying Molotovs?
"…Some kind of gang situation?" he muttered under his breath.
But then he glanced back toward where Will had been.
A kid.
That boy didn't look anything like a gangster.
Which made it worse.
"…No," he corrected himself quietly. "This isn't that simple."
Maybe it was an attack.
Maybe someone targeted them.
Or maybe something else entirely happened out here tonight.
He straightened up, gripping his radio tighter.
"I need backup," he said firmly. "And get the Chief down here. This isn't a normal case."
"…What kind of accident is this?" he muttered under his breath, his gaze lingering on the weapons and the shattered bottles. While he was still looking at the bike, he heard something else there.
Screech… Scrape…
The sound froze him in place.
"…Who's there?!" he barked, his voice sharper now as he turned toward the forest across the road. His flashlight snapped in that direction, the beam cutting through the darkness but revealing nothing.
Just trees and darkness in his line of sight.
Silence still lingering there like he is just being hallucinated.
The light flickered for a moment, unstable, before steadying again.
His grip tightened.
Slowly, he reached for his handgun and pulled it free, raising both the weapon and the flashlight toward the woods.
Screech… Scrape…
The sound came again, now he's sure that he heard that.
"Show yourself!" he shouted again, louder this time.
He swallowed, his instincts screaming at him but his feet refused to move forward. Every part of him told him not to step into that forest.
So he stayed where he was.
Standing his ground.
His flashlight swept left… then right… then back again.
Nothing.
No movement, no figure showing up.
No eyes staring back at him from the dark.
After a few tense seconds, his breathing slowly steadied. Maybe it was just the wind. Or some animal moving through the underbrush.
'Yeah. That had to be it.'
Just as he lowered the beam slightly, the distant sound of another police car broke through the silence.
Headlights approached and relief washed over him.
He exhaled, long and quiet, before lowering his weapon and sliding it back into its holster. He remained in place, waiting for his partner to arrive.
He had already made up his mind.
This wasn't something they could handle alone.
He was going to Chief Hopper's cabin.
Because this, whatever this was felt bigger than a simple accident.
The patrol car pulled up beside him, tires crunching against the roadside gravel.
"What's wrong?" his partner asked, leaning slightly out of the window.
Before he could even turn off the engine, the officer standing in the middle of the road stopped him.
"We need to find Chief Hopper. Now."
There was no hesitation in his voice.
Only urgency.
He moved quickly, circling to the passenger side and opening the door.
"I found guns and Molotovs in the saddlebag," he continued as he got in, holding up the weapons he had already wrapped in cloth. "This is more serious than it looks."
His partner's expression shifted as he glanced out the window toward the wrecked motorcycle lying abandoned in the dark.
"…Put the evidence in a bag first," he said, reaching over to hand him an evidence bag. "We'll do this properly."
The officer nodded, taking it without argument.
Then the car pulled away, heading toward Chief Hopper's cabin.
Neither of them noticed.
Neither of them realized just how lucky he had been.
Because deep within the darkness of the forest, something had been watching him.
A predator that had already noticed his presence… and chosen, for reasons unknown, not to strike.
For a man standing alone in the dark, that kind of mercy was nothing short of a miracle.