Hopper heard the racket of someone banging around and coming toward him before he actually saw the kid. He blinked at Steve, almost as if he didn't recognise him but it was more a case of shock that he was here. Was Steve dead too? Had the mind flayer gotten to him before Joyce shut the gate?
Did that mean...No. El wasn't with Steve. She'd been with Nancy and Jonathan and Max and the boys. Steve had gone with Dustin and Erica and Robin to Dustin's radio tower. But they'd made it. Dustin had been in contact with them. Hopper frowned and scrubbed a hand over his face. God damn, he needed a cigarette.
"Harrington?" he questions, as if he needed confirmation. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. It wouldn't be the first time. Probably not the last either. "Harrington, what are you doing here?"
It was possible, he supposed, that the mind flayer got to them after the last radio broadcast Hopper heard. God, those kids deserved so much better. They'd all fought so hard, against near impossible odds. He hated to think of them being monster food. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair.