Chapter Seventy: The Death Of A Hero

(The Mind Flayer, Pt. 2)

***

Rowan hated Hawkins Lab.

That was a sentiment she kept buried deep inside, rarely letting it show above a supposed toleration of the lab and all its dark history and pain, a toleration of Dr. Owens and how he seemed to be one of the decent ones who made good on the promise to never experiment on her and her brother and to leave her family alone if they kept their side of the bargain, but Rowan hated Hawkins Lab. She hated what the building stood for, all the horrors and pain it caused, hated how it had been a source of fear for her, Alistair and her family, hated how it and its former director were the reason why her parents chose to die to protect her and Alistair, hated what it had done to El, hated how it was indirectly responsible for Will disappearing and Barb dying, for enabling monsters to come into their world. She hated it.

And yet, she was now making a beeline straight for the lab, desperate to get inside the insidious building. Beside her was Steve, the two of them staying in the front and protecting the kids stomping behind them. At her side was Alistair; he'd regained consciousness and while he hadn't grown feral again, he was eerily quiet, eyes fixed on the direction of the lab, a hand to his heart, as if to check to see it was still beating. To see he was still alive. Rowan tried to ignore how fast her heart was pounding, the creeping fear of whatever her brother had seen, had him almost half-crazy to go and find Will, had him think he was in danger. And that made her steps increase in speed, her grip shaky on her flashlight as clammy sweat slicked her hands under her gloves, the branches scraping against her hair and face and clothes.

Tried to hide the flinch whenever she, Steve or one of the kids stepped on a branch too loud, or when the wind blew just a little too coldly. Tried to ignore how terrible Alistair looked, dark shadows under his eyes, hair mussed and wild, lips bled of colour, body still shaking so violently he practically vibrated in Rowan's grip as he clung to her, Hugin resting on his shoulder and cawing worriedly.

When they approached the tree line and Rowan could see the road leading to the lab, Rowan frowned as she could hear... voices?

Rowan looked to Steve, whose jaw set. He gave a look at Max, Dustin, Lucas and Cami that all but screamed, Stay behind me, as he walked forward, flashlight piercing the dark. Rowan followed, trying to keep her brother as behind her as possible despite his protests, her own flashlight slicing the thick darkness the woods provided. Behind her, she could hear the gremlins, questions and protests on their lips at staying behind.

As she came closer, Rowan jolted as she realised she recognised the voice shouting into the dark, yelling, "Who's there? Who's there?!"

And yet, Rowan still felt her eyes widen in surprise when she saw Nancy and Jonathan. Behind them, at their car, was Aunt Aco, her eyes similarly wide and her crossbow in hand.

"Steve?" Nancy and Jonathan said in unison, staring at Steve.

"Nancy?" Steve questioned in confusion.

"Jonathan," Dustin said as he came up between Steve and Rowan, Max, Cami and Lucas right behind him.

"Kid?" Aunt Aco said incredulously. Rowan gave an awkward wave as her aunt looked to Alistair and she sucked in a breath as her eyes widened further in concern.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy demanded as she and Jonathan and Aunt Aco came closer.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked back as he, Rowan and the rest of their little group also came closer, meeting in the middle.

"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy answered.

"As well as for you and your brother, kid," Aunt Aco explained, still looking at Alistair, brows drawn together in worry and creating a new pattern of lines on her forehead. "Is he okay?"

Before Rowan could answer, Dustin questioned, "They're not in there, are they?"

"We're not sure," Nancy answered tentatively. 

"Why?" Jonathan questioned.

Before any of them could answer, the relative quiet of the night shattered with a guttural screech. Rowan whipped around, body sparking with lightning, as her eyes landed on the lab, ominously dark in the night—right as another screech came from within its unnaturally darkened walls. And, now that she was closer, she could feel the monsters inside, their dissonant frequencies so overwhelming it made Rowan's head swim and her knees buckle.

Shit.

Rowan looked back to see everyone else's faces in a state of shock and creeping horror—even Aunt Aco, because while her aunt knew Rowan and Alistair were here and safe, that didn't mean Will or anyone else they knew wasn't in mortal danger like Alistair had predicted.

"Rowan, what's Alistair doing?"

Rowan's eyes widened and she looked down, only just registering the empty space where her little brother had been.

"Shit!" she hissed as she whirled and saw Alistair at the gates, trying to scale them. "Shit!"

Rowan teleported and grabbed her brother and teleported them back to the group, holding Alistair in a death-grip as he began struggling in her grip, eyes fixed on the lab.

"Al, calm down!" she yelled, gritting her teeth.

"I have to get inside!" Alistair yelled, just as wild as he had been earlier, eyes flickering from brown to white and back again. "Will's in danger, I have to get inside, I have to get to Will, everyone's dead or dying in there, I need to get to Will!"

"Christ, kid, what's wrong with you?" Aunt Aco whispered, concern and panic threading her voice, coming to stand beside Rowan and holding Alistair as he screamed in Rowan's arms, doing everything he could to get free. But Rowan refused to let him go, her heart breaking at how berserk her brother was going, until, finally, he calmed down, chest heaving as he slumped against Rowan's arms, sweat slicking his brow and once again terribly, horribly cold.

"Oh kid..." Aunt Aco murmured as she gently took Alistair from Rowan, holding Alistair as he blinked wildly, flecks of white in his brown eyes, and never leaving the dark lab.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Nancy questioned and Rowan startled, not realising the other girl was behind her. Rowan turned and said, "I... I don't know. He went crazy like this earlier, after his powers had us all went through a scene from fucking Exorcist and he was the main character. All I know is that it's focused on that lab."

Rowan pointed behind her at the lab. Nancy frowned, worry clear on her face.

"If... if Will is in there, then Mike's in there," the brunette said, voce cracking slightly. As much as the Wheeler siblings fought and didn't have as close a relationship as Rowan and Alistair or Will and Jonathan did, Rowan knew they loved each other and that Nancy must be feeling the panic of knowing your little brother was in some sort of danger and being unable to save him.

"He might be," Rowan admitted. "You know him and Will, they're nearly as inseparable as Al and Will are. And... and Al said that Mike was in danger, when he was screaming about Will being in danger, too."

Nancy swallowed, and Rowan put a hand on Nancy's shoulder, adding comfortingly, "But, they're probably together, and with either Hopper or Joyce Byers, if they're also in there, and finding a way out as we speak."

Nancy nodded, shoving down the worry. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just worried."

"Join the club," Rowan muttered as she looked at Alistair, who was still with their aunt, as at the cars, everyone else was talking over each other.

Nancy looked back at the lab, before she frowned.

"Nancy?" Rowan questioned, a minute before she felt it, stumbling back a bit from the force of it—electricity being suddenly switched on, flooding through wires and circuits, crackling back to life, so much of the right electricity after the overpowering frequency of the Upside Down's creatures it made Rowan want to faint from the whiplash of it all, especially as it collided with her natural electricity and sent it haywire.

She didn't need to look at the lab to know where this sudden, overwhelming influx of electricity roaring to life had come from.

"Power's back," Nancy said, summarising the force Rowan had felt in two words that didn't really encompass what the darker-haired girl had felt. 

"Shit," she whispered, pressing a hand to her forehead—she was getting a fucking headache from feeling all these different frequencies and electricities at once. Nancy looked over and gave her a concerned look that Rowan brushed off with a shake of her head as she breathed through rush of frequencies and what felt like her entire body crashing down and coming back to life, until she felt like she'd gotten everything back under some semblance of normal.

Rowan didn't need to look back to know Steve's eyes were on her, catching the way she stumbled, how her body had locked up as it struggled to cope with the many different electricities it was feeling. The concern in them.

Holding in a shaking breath and exhaling slowly, Rowan looked behind her to see Jonathan in the guardhouse, slamming the button to open the gate like his life depended on it. Which, considering his family was in that now powered-up lab with hundreds of flower-faced monsters inside, it did. But no matter how much Jonathan frantically pushed the button, it did nothing. Whatever had turned on the lab apparently didn't extend to the gates.

Leaving them trapped on the other side.

Apparently, Dustin hadn't yet realised it was pointless to open up the gates, because he shoved inside and said, "Let me try."

"Hang on—" Jonathan tried to explain, only to have Dustin exclaim, "Let me try, Jonathan!"

Jonathan stepped away, letting Dustin really do try as the cap-wearing boy slammed the button so much Rowan thought it was going to break. But once again, nothing happened. The gate remained resolutely closed.

Dustin's face screwed up in frustration. "Son of a bitch! You know what..."

Dustin slammed the console and hit the button so forcefully it was a surprise it didn't break, which had Steve yell, "Hey, hey, you're gonna break it, Henderson! Stop slamming the button!"

Dustin glared at Steve as he once again slammed the button.

"I think we've established that's not gonna work, Dustin," Cami pointed out, arms crossed.

"Yeah, the gates must be on a different system or something," Lucas reasoned.

Rowan shared a look with Nancy and Jonathan. A different system meant the gates weren't opening anytime soon. Meant they couldn't get to anyone trapped inside.

A sick feeling curdled in Rowan's stomach as she looked back to the lab, then at her brother, still looking at the lab, panic still written over his face at two of his best friends being in danger and unable to help them get free. And while the gate wasn't opening anytime soon and keeping them out here...

That didn't mean they were all trapped out here.

Rowan looked at the lab, zeroing in on where she knew the lobby was, and said, "Screw getting the gates open."

Everyone turned to her, eyes widening at what she meant, but before she could hear their protests, Rowan had already concentrated on the constant whirring of her cells, picturing the Hawkins Lab lobby in her mind, the sterile white walls and entire glass wall and door at the front, the distinctly chemical smell of it, and imagined herself there.

One minute, Rowan was with the group of teens, kids and one adult, then she was blinking out, the air warping around her as she jumped, and the next she was in Hawkins Lab.

And it was a massacre.

Rowan choked on the smell of blood as she looked around her, horror trembling though every aspect of her being as she stared at the bodies littering the normally-pristine lobby—stomachs torn open, intestines laying like slimy ropes, blood spattering the walls and floor, limbs ripped off. Panic and terror drenched the air as much as the thick, coppery smell of blood, and Rowan resisted the urge to cover her mouth as she just stared at the carnage she'd teleported into.

Her mind flashed, picturing Alistair's sobbing, wild face, the words he'd screamed out ringing in her ears.

They're dead! They're all dead or dying and I could feel it! I could feel them—I felt it! It felt like I was being ripped apart!

Holy shit.

Rowan suppressed a gag and tears at the indescribable pain her brother must have felt as she walked across the floor, ignoring the bodies and blood and stench of death as best she could, trying to wrack her brain to think of where Will, Mike, Hopper and Joyce could be, where would be the safest place in a lab that was now not safe and, if Rowan was being brutally honest, never was safe. While trying to avoid the attention of the bloodthirsty monsters prowling the lab's halls.

But the tricky thing was—Rowan had only visited the lobby, the room where Will had his tests, and Dr. Owens' office. She'd refused to go anywhere else, especially the lower levels where El had been experimented on and where the gate to the Upside Down was, but now that was quickly biting her in the ass, because if Rowan wanted to find Will, Mike, Hopper and Joyce or any other survivors, she'd have to teleport.

And Rowan couldn't teleport to places or rooms she'd never been to.

Fuck!

Still, Rowan teleported, but only to move from the lobby into the corridor beyond that she knew would eventually lead to the rooms she was familiar with—she didn't trust opening the door, to attract any attention.

In the corridor, there were more bodies, more blood. Above, the emergency lights flickered and Rowan felt bile lick at the back of her throat, fear turning her blood icy at seeing lights that she knew she hadn't made flicker above her, at what else could make them flicker. It was also eerily quiet, with no chitters or growls echoing off the desolate, bloodstained walls.

Rowan gulped and treaded deeper into the hall, every hair on her body on end, electricity crackling nervously in her veins, heart zipping against her chest like the ball in a pinball machine. Every sense felt dialled to eleven, trying to catch any sound, sight or feel of the Demogorgons and their wrong frequencies, and never before had Rowan felt more like she was in a horror movie—not in the storm cellar, not just now in the junkyard, not even in the Byers house last year. 

No, she felt like she had when she entered the Upside Down, when she dream-walked into it, when she first saw the Demogorgon—nervous, on edge, terrified.

Hunted.

A shriek came and Rowan jolted, whipping around to see a shadow growing on the wall. Heart in her throat, Rowan teleported to the first place she could think of—the room where Will had his tests.

She landed and saw that it was abandoned, with no one familiar in sight. No Demogorgons in sight, either. Heart rate still thundering in her ears, Rowan crept to the door, and laid a shaking hand on the handle.

Slowly, carefully, quietly, she turned the handle and peered out into the corridor beyond.

It was empty, with no sign of life anywhere—either human or monster. Letting loose a breath she didn't know she was holding, Rowan closed the door just as carefully and as quietly as she had opened it, deciding to stay in the room as she tried to think of a new game plan. The only room left to check was Dr. Owens' office, and unlike this room, that one could be swarming with monsters, monsters ready to rip her apart and drench the walls with her blood.

Think, Graveswood. Where else could they be? Think think think think!

But Rowan couldn't think. Her mind was drawing up blank. 

"Fuck!" she hissed quietly, a sob in her throat as she finally realised how utterly stupid this had been. She should leave now, get back to the others and try to wait to see if Will, Mike, Hopper and Joyce were alive and could escape and pray to fucking God or whatever to get the gates open so they could get out, get out with her life before she was found and torn apart, she was so stupid—

A noise came outside the room.

Rowan's body exploded with goosebumps and her heartbeat thundered so wildly she was surprised it didn't erupt out of her ribcage as she crept toward the door, eyes trained on it as she grabbed the handle and opened the door a crack.

Rowan peered out and saw shadows at the end of the hall.

"Shit!" she screeched and slammed the door—loudly. Her eyes bugged open and she heard muffled noise as she backtracked from the door, body trembling, chest heaving up and down, heart barraging her ribs with enough force Rowan believed they were going to be broken or at least bruised, sparks skittering across her arms as panic squeezed her chest, whispering frantically, "Shit shit shit shit fuck fuck shit fuck shit shit shit fuck!"

The muffled noises grew louder. The door remained still.

And the handle turned.

Several things happened at once—

Rowan screamed as she wildly fired a bolt of lightning out of her hand while her mind screamed, When the fuck could Demogorgons open fucking doors?!

"Shit!" a distinctly human, gruff, familiar voice yelled as the figures outside ducked.

The lightning bolt hit the wall instead, scorching it black.

And Rowan met the stunned, wide eyes of Hopper, Joyce and Mike.

"Rowan?!" Mike exclaimed.

Rowan wilted in relief. "Oh thank fucking God! You're alive!"

"Jesus, kid, what the hell are you doing here?! How the hell did you get in here!?" Hopper demanded, shouldering the gun and a body slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Teleportation powers, remember?" Rowan reminded, the fear and relief making her usually sarcastic voice wobbly. "I was gonna find you guys and help you get out. Before I remembered I've only been to a couple rooms here and... didn't really want to explore the place while it's crawling with monsters."

The adults and Mike stared at her while Rowan looked at the body and realised it was Will.

Oh God, please don't tell me that...

Joyce, catching her reaction, said, "It's okay, he's unconscious."

"Why's he unconscious?" Rowan hissed, sounding hysterical.

"He's a spy. He killed the soldiers, he... he's killed everyone else," Mike explained and everything in Rowan froze.

"Oh fuck," she whispered.

Hopper and Joyce gave her reprimanding looks for her language, but Rowan didn't care as she asked, "Do you guys have a way out?"

"We do," Hopper affirmed, giving Rowan a look that told her how very stupid and reckless she'd been to come here.

Rowan breathed out a sigh of relief and immediately joined the group, stepping beside Joyce and Mike, her confusion and fear over what Mike meant by Will being a spy and responsible for nearly everyone dying in this goddamn lab numbed by her adrenaline and want to get herself and everyone with her out to safety, making her hyper-aware of everything around her, fists crackling with lightning as they crept along the hallways of Hawkins Lab, stepping forward and putting herself first to make sure everyone else was safe. Once, Mike had asked if she could teleport them out, but Rowan only shook her head. She couldn't teleport so many people out at once, especially one who was unconscious, and with the precarious state of the lab, it was too risky to do one at a time.

They had to do this the no-powers way.

Thankfully, no monsters appeared, but Rowan still stayed at the front, ready to use her powers at the first sign of danger, casting worried looks back to Will, at what Mike had meant, her heart cracking at how distraught Alistair would be, after he'd been so desperate to get inside and save Will.

Finally, the corridor appeared, Rowan teleporting to the other side and opening the doors, whispering, "Go, go, go."

Hopper, Joyce and Mike didn't need to be told twice, hurrying out of the corridor and down the lobby, right to the doors. Rowan kept watch, looking and sensing for any Demogorgons as first Mike, then Hopper with Will, exited the lab, until it was only her and Joyce left.

Closing the door, Rowan ran up to Joyce, stunned the woman hadn't left, not when her son was more or less still in danger.

"Mrs. Byers—" Rowan began, but Joyce only shook her head and said, "Go outside, Rowan. I need to wait for Bob."

Rowan's eyes widened. Oh. Oh shit.

Bob was here. And if by the look on Joyce's face, he'd put himself right in the fire to make sure they all escaped—was probably the reason the power was back. A mission he may not come back alive from.

And yet, Joyce was still going to wait, just in case he did.

Rowan bit her lip, and stood beside the woman, eyes trained on the entrances leading to the lab proper. If any Demogorgons came before Bob, Rowan would rather be here to fry them instead of waiting outside and put Joyce in even greater danger. Joyce looked at Rowan in surprise, but didn't ask her to leave, instead watching the entrances just like Rowan did, with just as much fear—except it wasn't for herself.

Minutes ticked agonisingly by, with no sound or sight of anything. The silence felt suffocating and deadly, like if Rowan dropped her guard that would be the moment a monster would attack. Her entire body was coiled tight, crackling with energy that simmered uneasily in her cells. Sparks skittered over her bloodstained brass knuckles, startlingly blue against the black. A part of Rowan wanted to teleport herself and Joyce out of the lab and get as far from it as possible, but she knew she couldn't.

So she stayed, and waited with Joyce for a man, a hero, who might never come.

It was that moment when the chittering sounded.

Rowan's body locked up and her veins flared blue, lightning sizzling to life. The noise was in the corridor, but still worryingly, alarmingly close. Her breath was short in her lungs and her chest was tight, her entire body shaking so much Rowan was surprised she wasn't about to teleport—or maybe she was.

A hand rested on her shoulder, warm and gentle, and Rowan looked to see Joyce looking at her, offering her comfort despite the fear in her face. It relaxed the tension slightly, but not much as Rowan looked back at those doors, her heartbeat pounding an uneasy tattoo against her ribs.

A few tense seconds, the chitters getting further and further away...

Then a grating growl.

"Shit!" Rowan whispered as lightning skittered over her body, coalescing around her hands, sparking before fizzing out. Joyce looked at the doors, her body tense with fear for her boyfriend as the growls increased and—

The doors banged open and Bob Newby appeared, running into the lobby as the doors closed, the angry screech coming from the Demogorgon at having its prey denied to it. He doubled over, panting for breath, but he was alive.

"Bob," Joyce breathed, a look of pure relief and joy on her face. Bob looked up, a delirious smile on his face at seeing the woman he loved standing there, a brief moment of confusion seeing Rowan there before his eyes widened at seeing her lightning-wreathed hands as Rowan smiled, relieved to see Bob had survived, he made it, he fucking made it and now they just had to leave—

A screech came and Bob was tackled to the floor by a Demogorgon.

Joyce's horrified, wailing screams ripped out of the woman as Rowan stared in horror at the still dog-like Demogorgon atop Bob as he yelled, trying to fight the Demogorgon off, but it had too much of a iron grip as it raised its arm, claws shining in the dull light, primed to kill.

Adrenaline shocked through Rowan and she raised a hand and let out a burst of lightning, striking the Demogorgon just as it plunged its claws in Bob's side. It shrieked and shuddered from the lightning ripping through it, shuddering into Bob as he cried out in pain from both the claws and the aftereffects of the electricity running through his system. Horror shuddered in Rowan at what she had done, her legs threatening to give out from under her as she stared at the Demogorgon who's face-petals were open and quivering over Bob's neck, locked between wanting to fry the Demogorgon and being unable to without also electrocuting Bob, and Joyce was still screaming.

The door behind her banged open just as the Demogorgon latched its petals around Bob's neck. He screamed as blood erupted in a fountain of red as the Demogorgon shrieked, tearing flesh open. Gunshots sounded and Rowan realised Hopper was back, firing that rifle into the Demogorgon's side.

Splintering wood came and Rowan whirled to see more Demogorgons pouring out through another door. Raising her hands, Rowan fired lightning at them, and they shrieked in pain as Rowan's hands dropped and exhaustion swam in her panicked mind, blood dripping from her nose, her electricity dim and weak, still drained from the junkyard fight. She looked to Bob and tried to summon that whirring feeling, to teleport to his side and throw the Demogorgon off with telekinesis, but she only blurred a little before remaining stuck in place, her powers too depleted.

Leaving her unable to do anything but watch in helpless horror as Bob was eaten alive.

"KID!" Rowan heard and she jumped, whirling to see Hopper there, an arm around Joyce as he began dragging her away, to the doors. To escape the hell-show in front them.

"NO!" Joyce screamed, raw and guttural, like her heart was shattering, like her entire soul was being caved open. She fought against Hopper, but he got her to the doors and Rowan was behind them, looking back to see the Demogorgons charging for her, to see Bob swarmed by Demogorgons, silent now.

Tears blurring her vision, Rowan slammed the doors open and shut them behind her just as Demogorgons barrelled into them, glass cracking.

"What happened?!" Mike yelled from where he was leaning against the wall, Will in his arms, as Hopper gripped an inconsolable Joyce, yelling, "He's gone! He's gone." The younger boy whirled to Rowan, standing still and silent, her mind a mess.

"Rowan, what happened?!" he yelled, voice cracking.

Rowan looked to Mike and could only say, "Bob, he..."

Mike's eyes widened, before his face crumpled.

Breaking glass fractured in Rowan's hearing and she looked to see the Demogorgons still barreling against the glass, the splinters spiderwebbing the glass doors.

"W-we have to go," she croaked out. "We have to go now!"

Before anyone could move, a horn honked and Jonathan's car barrelled into view as the elder Byers yelled, "Come on! Get in!"

Rowan stared in shock—the gate must have opened—as Hopper corralled Joyce, Mike and a still-unconscious Will into the back of the car—Nancy was sitting in the front—before he turned to his car and yelled, "Get in kid!"

Rowan didn't need to be told twice, climbing into the front as Hopper pressed down on the gas and he sped out of the parking lot right behind Jonathan.

They ripped down the road, where everyone else was standing around. Max was the first to see them before they all moved out of the way, thanks in part to Hopper's honking horn.

He stuck his head out and yelled, "Let's go!"

The kids reacted, piling into the car as Steve shouted, "Come on, let's go! Get in, let's go!" Any kids who couldn't—which were Cami and Alistair—went with Aunt Aco as she got into her car as well.

The minute everyone was in a car, Hopper pressed on the gas again and they screeched away into the night, Jonathan and Aunt Aco following as Rowan looked back at Hawkins Lab, a sob caught in her throat as Bob as she last saw him, bloodied and covered in Demogorgons ripping him apart, played in her memory, that she once again couldn't save someone from the Upside Down and the monsters it created.

And now, as they were racing down the road, away from the lab and its horror show, Rowan could only think of Will's small, unconscious body, of what Mike said, of Alistair's frantic screams.

And could only pray that they wouldn't lose anyone else to the Upside Down tonight.

***

I'm sorry *ducks and hides*

I really liked writing this chapter! I loved the chaos at the gates—and Alistair once more being desperate to get to Will but is stopped—and then Rowan going into Hawkins Lab with her powers to find Mike, Will, Joyce and Hopper!

... Which turns out to be a bad idea (also, yes, a limitation to Rowan's teleportation is that she can't teleport to rooms/places she's never been) And yeah, writing the scenes where Rowan's in the lab before reuniting with Hopper, Joyce, Mike and conked-out Will made me feel tense, too (but that scene was really fun to write!)

And Bob 😭 His death hurts me so much every single time (and he's yet another person Rowan didn't really know, but was still desperate to save and couldn't...)

And yeah, next chapter is gonna be a long one... brace yourselves

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!