Lost and Found | Stranger Things Reader Insert

Chapter Ten: The Compasses

"Why would she do that?" Mike looked to El as well.

"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission. Because she's a traitor!" Lucas hissed and threw his compass to the ground in anger. As he stalked closer to El, Doc quickly followed behind.

"Lucas, stop. We don't know if she-"

"Doc, stop it! I get it, okay? She went missing just like you, she reminds you of yourself. But we don't know this girl. And unlike her, you actually want to find Will! So, stop defending her!" Turning back to El, he got close to her face. "You did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will."

El didn't respond, her jaw clenched tight. Mike tried reasoning with Lucas, but the Sinclair boy wasn't hearing it.

"Admit it."

"No."

"Admit it!" He grabbed her arm, instantly smacking it away at the sight of red smeared on the jacket sleeves. "Fresh blood. I knew it."

"Lucas, come on!" Mike yelled.

"I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!"

Doc's heart sank. How could she have been so dense to dismiss something like that? She knew to trust her gut rather than her heart. She just didn't want to admit that her new friend, someone so much like her, was deceiving her.

"Bull! That's old blood. Right, El?" Mike asked the girl, whose lip trembled. "Right, El?"

Shakily inhaling, silver lined her dark eyes. "It's... not..." She swallowed. "It's not safe."

Lucas looked away and shook his head as Mike and Dustin stared at her in shock. Sharply exhaling, Doc grabbed El by the arm and pulled her away. She stopped at an abandoned bus and stared at the girl with teary eyes. "El... you didn't..."

"Doc..."

"Why...? You know how important finding Will is. You think we care about safety right now? If getting to the gate was safe, Will wouldn't be in trouble! Why did you lie?!"

When she didn't respond, Lucas humorlessly chuckled and turned to Mike. "What did I tell you? She's been playing us from the beginning!"

Mike hopefully looked to El and then to Lucas. "That's not true. She helped us find Will!"

"Find Will? Find Will?! Where is he, then?" Lucas turned around, sarcastically looking around for their lost friend. "Huh? I don't see him!"

"Yeah, you know what I mean."

"No, I actually don't. Just think about it, Mike. She could've just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but she didn't. She just made us run around like headless chickens!"

Having enough, Dustin went to break up the fight. "Alright, calm down-"

"No! She used us, all of us! She helped just enough so she could get what she wants. Food and a bed! She's like a stray dog!"

At this, both El and Doc grabbed hands. While Doc knew Lucas had absolutely no intention of hurting her, the comment struck her just as much as it did El. After all, that was her only hope before meeting the Wheelers. Food and shelter. She may have been upset with El, but she also knew what it was like to feel like a charity.

"Screw you, Lucas!" Mike screamed, defending both El and his sister.

"No! Screw you, Mike. You're blind... Blind because you like a girl that's not grossed out by you! But wake up, man! Wake the hell up! She knows where Will is, and now she's just letting him die in the Upside Down."

"Shut up!"

"For all we know, it's her fault."

"Shut up!"

"We're looking for some stupid monster," Doc's eye twitched when Lucas shoved Mike back. "But did you ever stop to think that maybe she's the monster?"

El's hold on Doc tightened significantly as high pitched ringing sang in their ears. Doc knew that El's powers were activated, but she didn't think to calm her down. Not when her own hand was balling into a fist, the backs of her eyes burning within their sockets.

"I said shut up!" Mike screamed and lunged forward, the two grunting as they fell to the ground.

"Stop it!"

"Guys, lay off!"

"Knock it off, you idiots!"

From behind the two girls, the bumper and windshields of the bus fell off, Doc's black veins pulsing through her skin as she tried to keep herself from dismantling the entire thing. But it was hard when her brother and friend were currently harming each other.

"Stop it!"

"Mike, get off!"

"Get off of him!"

Just as Lucas had gained dominance to hit Mike, El's high-pitched screaming broke through everyone's yelling. Lucas was flown back across the entire junkyard. He hit the ground and skid back until he hit a large scrap of a car, the boy going unconscious.

The world seemed to stop as Doc let go of El's hand, rushing towards Lucas with the other two boys right behind her. "Lucas!" She slid to her knees in front of him.

"Lucas! Lucas, are you alright?"

"Lucas, come on!"

Doc felt tears prick her eyes as she tried to check the back of his head. Dustin and Mike desperately shook his body and called out to him. When she felt a bump on the back of his head, she pulled him up the best she could and pressed his forehead to her shoulder. Whipping her blood-shot eyes to El, she hissed, "What the hell was that for?! You see any of us knocking him unconscious?!"

Mike snapped at her as well. "Why would you do that? What's wrong with you?! What is wrong with you?!"

The Wheelers gave up on the crying girl and turned back to their friend, who Dustin was still shaking in Doc's arms. "Come on, man!"

"Lucas, you gotta wake up. Come on." Doc whispered and gently patted his face. After a few more seconds of this, his eyes fluttered open. "Lucas!"

"You okay?" Mike gently asked as the boy pulled away from Doc, in a daze. When he wasn't giving a response or focusing his vision, Dustin held up three fingers in front of his face.

"Lucas... Lucas, how many fingers am I holding up? Lucas, how many fingers?!"

Doc slowly reached behind his head. "You've got a knot back there. I'm sure I've got some cream for-"

"Get off of me!" He swiped her hand away.

"Lucas... Lucas, she's trying to help. We need to see." Mike tried, but he only stood to his feet and shoved him away.

"Get off of me!" He repeated, a fearful tremor in his voice this time. Slowly, Doc rose to her feet and watched him go. Mike went to follow, but Dustin held him back.

"Let him go. Man, let him go..."

Doc heavily exhaled and crossed her arms, turning her head in the direction of El, stuttering in her steps when no one was to be found. "Guys? Where's..." She walked a few steps forward. "Where's El?"

Realizing she was gone as well, Mike's breathing quickened. "El!"

"Eleven!" Dustin called, the three splitting up to look for her.

Doc ran towards the bus, circling the entire thing in search of her. "I shouldn't have yelled... I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry... El! Eleven, where are you?!"