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Flashback - a year before the crash.
"Ben, Ben, listen to me, man!" Chris leaned forward across the counter, his voice filled with excitement despite the burger still stuffed in his mouth, crumbs clinging to the corner of his lips. "I'm serious about this. You need to try my recipe to sell." Outside, the sun had already disappeared, leaving the town wrapped in darkness, with only a few streetlights casting a dull glow onto the empty road.
Inside Benny's diner, the atmosphere was quiet, broken only by the faint hum of the lights and the occasional sound of chewing. Chris was the only customer left for the night, something that wasn't unusual, but even so, his presence brought a certain energy to the place that Benny had grown used to.
Benny sat across from him, a burger in hand, watching Chris in silence as he took another slow bite, his expression calm and unreadable. He wasn't much of a talker, but he wasn't unfriendly either, just the kind of person who said exactly what he thought without sugarcoating it.
"You're recipe is not that good," he said bluntly, and Chris immediately froze mid-bite, lowering his burger as he stared at him in disbelief. "Too much preparation," Benny continued calmly, as if he hadn't just insulted him. "And I'd have to raise the price. This town doesn't have that kind of people."
"My customers are struggling… same as me."
Chris exhaled softly before shrugging, taking another bite as if he wasn't just insulted. "I can see that," he muttered, glancing up with a crooked grin. "I know you're broke." Benny shot him a glare, but Chris only chuckled, completely unfazed. Leaning back slightly, he continued, "So why not leave? Go to a big city. Use my recipe, make real money. You're wasting potential here, Ben."
This time, Benny didn't respond right away. He simply shook his head, his gaze drifting past Chris as if looking at something far away. "This is my hometown, kid," he said quietly. "I grew up here. I watched them build half this place… we used to run around on that land."
Chris snorted, immediately breaking the moment. "Don't get all sentimental on me," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "At least trim that beard first, it's not doing you any favors." Benny didn't hesitate to smack him lightly on the head, earning an annoyed glare from Chris while Benny leaned back again with a faint, satisfied smirk.
Chris looked like he wanted to retaliate, but he held himself back, not because he was scared, but because, as he would claim, he was simply respecting the elderly.
Swallowing the last of his bite, Chris leaned forward again, though this time his tone shifted, quieter and more serious. "Tell me something, Ben." Benny raised an eyebrow, watching him as Chris glanced briefly toward the window before continuing. "What are they doing?" When Benny didn't immediately understand, Chris tilted his head toward the outskirts of town. "That place… The Department of Energy. They say it's just a lab." He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice. "You really believe that?"
Benny stared at him for a moment before scoffing. "Stop being a conspiracy geek…" he said, pausing briefly as a small smirk formed on his face. "…Actually, that suits you."
Chris ignored his comment, leaning forward slightly as his tone turned more serious. "Did they ever tell the town anything? Like what they're actually doing there?"
Benny let out a slow breath, shaking his head as he leaned back in his chair. "No. They don't say much," he replied calmly. "But a lot of people are working there… including locals." He paused for a moment, rubbing his thumb against the edge of the table.
"There's gossip, sure. There's always gossip when something like that shows up out of nowhere. But it's not all bad. They're giving people jobs. Unemployment's going down." His voice softened slightly. "For a town like this… that is what really matters."
Chris nodded as if he understood, finishing the last bite of his burger before wiping his hand lazily against a napkin. "Well… good thing I moved into a nice, quiet, 'safe' town, right?" he said casually, though there was something faintly ironic in his tone.
Benny watched him for a second longer than usual before narrowing his eyes slightly. "Why?" he asked. "You suspecting something?"
Chris's eyes lit up immediately, the shift so sudden it almost made Benny regret asking in the first place. That conspiracy-geek side of his had just been unleashed.
"You ever heard of the MKUltra project?" Chris asked, lowering his voice as if he was about to share something dangerous.
Benny frowned and shook his head, already pushing himself up from his seat as if he didn't want to get dragged into whatever this was. But before he could step away, Chris grabbed his arm with grease-covered fingers, pulling him back slightly.
"Hey-."
"It's a CIA project," Chris continued quickly, not letting him go. "And no, it's not some random conspiracy, Ben. The CIA admitted it."
"…Really?" Benny stopped moving, his expression shifting from annoyance to reluctant curiosity. "Wait… I think I heard something about that. Some kind of messed-up project on the news before."
Chris immediately grinned, letting go of his arm as if he had just won something. "Exactly. We don't know everything about it because most of the files were destroyed, but some details slipped through. Enough to know it was real." His tone grew more intense as he leaned forward again. "They experimented on people. Messed with their minds. Did things no one should be allowed to do. Things that no human should do to their own kind."
Benny exhaled, dragging a hand down his face as he listened, clearly not thrilled about where this was going, but not interrupting either.
"That's our government, Ben," Chris continued, his voice quieter now, heavier. "They do things like that behind the scenes. We only know that we're a powerful country… but we don't know how we became powerful."
Benny was silent for a moment, processing that, before finally looking back at him. "So you think… the Department of Energy is doing something like that too?"
Chris shrugged, leaning back in his seat again as if the weight of his own words no longer mattered. "I don't know. I'm just a guy who just moved into this town. I just wanna live a happy life."
Benny stared at him, something uneasy flickering in his eyes for a brief second. There was a truth in what Chris said that he couldn't deny, but there was also nothing he could do about it. They were just civilians. A diner owner and a high school kid. If something was happening… people like them wouldn't even stand a chance.
"…It's all in the past anyway," Benny muttered, pushing himself up from the chair. "And we don't really know anything for sure."
As he walked toward the kitchen, Chris's voice followed him, more lighter now but still carrying that same unsettling edge. "Hey, remember this, man. You can't trust people with too much power. They could be listening to us right now."
Benny didn't even turn around.
"They'd kill us if we knew their secrets, Ben."
"They'll kill you first," Benny shouted back from the kitchen, "because you're too damn loud!"
Chris burst out laughing, leaning back in his chair.
"Hahaha! yeah, you're probably right!"
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Benny couldn't help but remember that conversation with Chris from a year ago. The words lingered in his mind as he looked at the girl in front of him, Eleven, who was now licking her fingers with quiet satisfaction, completely absorbed in the simple act.
"Hey… don't lick your fingers like that. Go wash your hands," Benny said gently, offering a small, careful smile. He didn't want to scare her now. Whatever she was… pushing her too far would only make things worse.
Eleven nodded slightly and stood up without protest. Benny followed, picking up the small basket she had used earlier before wiping his own hands and walking toward the diner's phone.
The moment he reached for it, Eleven's head snapped toward him.
"No!"
Her voice was sharp, urgent, and filled with panic as she rushed forward, trying to stop him.
"It's okay, it's okay," Benny said quickly, raising a hand in reassurance. "I have a friend, Eleven."
But she didn't believe him.
Ignoring her protests, Benny dialed the Henderson residence first, waiting as the line rang into nothing. No answer. Behind him, Eleven kept shaking her head, her voice trembling as she repeated the same warning.
"No… don't… bad man!"
That was enough to tighten something in Benny's chest. Chris's words echoed again about the government, about secrets, about things they weren't supposed to know.
Still, he tried again.
This time, he dialed Keith's workshop.
The line connected, {Hello—Szztt!} but only for a moment.
"Ack-.!" Benny shouted in pain as a sharp, piercing sound exploded through the receiver, forcing him to yank it away from his ear. Smoke curled from the phone, the plastic cracking with a faint hiss, and even the receiver in his hand began to burn.
"What the hell…?"
He dropped it instinctively, his heart pounding as he turned back toward Eleven. She was staring at him wide-eyed and unblinking but there's something more weird.
Her nose was bleeding.
A thin line of red ran down to her lip as she trembled slightly, her expression no longer just afraid, but intense and focused.
"What the-...hey! Eleven, stop!" Benny took a step forward, confusion and alarm mixing in his voice, but before he could get another word out, she turned and ran.
Benny instinctively wanted to chase her, to stop her before she disappeared into the night but his movement halted when he glanced back at the phone.
It was completely fried, and the pain still ringing in his ear told him this wasn't some accident.
'This was real.'
Slowly, he looked toward the window. The street outside was empty, quiet as ever, yet it no longer felt safe. Chris's voice echoed in his head again, 'they could be listening to us right now.'
"…Fuck."
He needed to find Chris.
Right now.
Letting Eleven run might have been a mistake, but staying here would be worse. If she remained in the diner, someone would eventually see her, someone who shouldn't. And if that happened…
They would come.
And they wouldn't just take her.
They would silence him too.
Benny clenched his jaw, forcing himself to think clearly. He wasn't an idiot. Acting like one, however… might keep him alive.
The last customer earlier had already seen her. That alone could turn into a problem. So from this moment on, he had to play it right, act like he didn't know anything, like he hadn't seen anything.
Like Eleven… never existed in his diner at all.