✨CHAPTER 45 ✨
"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Robin says, as the group were on their way towards him with a food delivery.
"It'll be fine." Nancy states, staring at the road as she drove.
"I'm with Robin, I don't think I can handle it, if his eyes are gonna look like he's loosing all hope of ever getting out of this." Hailey says from the back, where she and Steve were seated eating some chips.
"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve says, holding up the six-pack.
"That's what my mom does." Max states sadly.
"Why don't we give it a trial? Hey, Eddie.
Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us,
so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know
you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed." Robin says, very nervous about everything.
"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that." Lucas states.
"We just tell him that we're one step closer to finding Vecna, it's what's most important." Hailey says, grabbing another chip from the bag in Steve's hands.
"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve tells her grinning at his girlfriend.
"Uh-huh."
"Oh shit." Nancy states, making everyone look up ahead to see the police and reporter. The group quickly got out of the car, and went to stand next to a news van to get a closer look at what's happening.
"As many of you know, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. His limbs... His body, it was disfigured... There was an eyewitness on the scene... we have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward." Chief Powell explains to the reporters, holding a picture up of Eddie.
"This is not good. Really not good." Steve mutters, as the group looked at each other, worried for the boy who was on the run, for crimes he didn't actually commit.
"You've got a lot of questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got work to do, and I appreciate your understanding." The chief says, and starting walking back towards the crimes scene, reporters yelling questions after him.
The group's focus got pulled away from all the chaos when Dustin's walkie went off. "Dustin, can you hear me? Hailey?" Eddie's voice came through, Dustin quickly took out his walkie, the group moving away from all the people.
"Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?" Dustin asks.
"Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay." Eddie informs them.
"Where is he?" Hailey worriedly asks.
"Where are you?" Dustin asks.
"Skull Rock. Do you know it?" Eddie asks.
"Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and..." Dustin says, but Steve cut him off. "Garrett, yeah. I know where that is." He says, taking Hailey's hands, he made his way towards the forest.
"Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming." Dustin tells Eddie following the group. Dustin ended up taking the lead, because he was sure his compass and map would lead them in the right direction.
"Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve points out, pretty sure that they were heading the wrong way.
"It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map." Dustin states.
"You do realize Skull Rock, it's a super popular make-out spot?" Steve asks the boy, Hailey staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. So?" Dustin says, not really caring about that piece of information.
"Yeah, well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular. All right? I practically invented it. We're heading in the wrong direction." Steve states, Hailey couldn't help but roll her eyes, when he suddenly turned, and started walking downwards.
"Steve. Where are you going? Steve!" Dustin yells after him, looking at his sister in question.
"Let's just trust him for now, maybe he really does know which way he's going." Hailey states, following Steve, Dustin give out a big sigh, and started following the two, the rest of the group not that far behind them.
"Oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson." Steve says proudly, stepping out from some of the thick trees. "Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face." Steve states proudly.
"Doesn't make sense." Dustin says in confusion, shaking his head, Hailey only shook her head at the two.
"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. Can't admit you're wrong, you butthead." Steve says, acting way too cocky.
"I concur." Eddie says, jumping down from a rock infront of the three, standing up straight. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead." He adds, Dustin walks up to him giving the man a hug.
"Jesus, we thought you were a goner." Dustin says.
"Yeah, me too, man. Me too." Eddie says, the two pulling away from their bro hug.
"I'm glad to see your okay." Hailey says, giving her friend a side hug, Steve was staring at her, she quickly joined his side, smiling up at him, as him and Eddie stared at each other awkwardly.
"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh..." Eddie says, Hailey handed him a flask full of water, of which he took a sip, giving her a thankful look. "
"My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." Eddie says, chuckling at his situation.
"The attack on Patrick, any idea what time it might have happened?" Hailey curiously asks him.
"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie says, taking off his watching throwing it towards the older Henderson.
"9:27." Hailey mutters, staring down at the watch.
"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin points out.
"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asks, confused.
"That surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." Nancy says in realisation.
"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks." Robin states.
"And where he attacks from." Lucas adds.
"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max says.
"That's if he has one." Hailey points out.
"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve asks, looking at everyone, Hailey gave him a pat on the arm. "It was a metaphor." Max informs him.
"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asks.
"I say we chop his head off." Lucas states.
"All of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy points out.
"We need El to get her powers back." Max says.
"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers." Steve says, clearly forgetting that they already mentioned that before. "Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." Eddie says.
Hailey and Eddie was the only one's who noticed Dustin walking up and down talking to himself, and not paying attention to the conversation.
"Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie asks the group concerned.
"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely." Steve says.
"Boom!" Dustin yells so loudly, his shouts echoed through the trees, making everyone turn to look at him. "Bada... bada... boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north." Dustin informs Steve.
"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve asks in disbelief.
"Mm-hmm."
"This is Skull Rock. Okay?" Steve states, pointing towards the rocks that almost looked like a skull.
"Mm-hmm."
"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now." Steve states, Hailey felt her eyes rolling by themselves, she couldn't believe they were still going at it.
"Yes. And no." Dustin states.
"Oh my God."
"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. Correct when we got in the car on Curly, but it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was." Dustin explains holding up the compass
"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." Steve says.
"Except it isn't faulty. Hailey, Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?" Dustin asks the two.
"An electromagnetic field." Lucas says, realising where Dustin was going with this.
"Yep."
"Sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin states, confusion all over her face.
"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..." Dustin explains as Hailey interrupted him. "There must be a gate around here somewhere."
"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy says, confused.
"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful." Dustin informs her.
"Snack-size gate." Robin states.
"How? Why?" Nancy asks.
"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse." Dustin explains, he turned around and started walking in the opposite direction that they came from.
"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike in the woods." Steve states, making the younger Henderson stop in his tracks.
"Steve, if Dustin's right, that compass could be the key that could save both max and Eddie." Hailey says, joining her brothers side, knowing he's never been wrong about these sort of things before.
"What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin asks, everyone turning towards the man crouched under the rocks. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea." Eddie says, Steve almost looked relieved when he said this.
"But, uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning." Eddie adds, making Dustin jump up and down in excitement. "So Mordor it is." He says, standing up, joining the Henderson siblings.
They started walking, the rest following behind them. "What is Mordor?" Steve mutters in confusion, Eddie quickly went back to grab his stuff. "Get your stuff, dude. Let's go." Steve tells him, making his way towards Hailey's side.
It ended up completely dark, as they moved through the trees, following the youngest Henderson, who started running at something point.
"Something's happening." Dustin says happily, staring down at his compass and moved forward. "Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?" Eddie calls out for the boy, as the group tried to keep up with him.
"I think we're getting close." Dustin states, walking faster, until Eddie placed his hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Watch your step, big guy."
"Oh man." Steve mutters, staring at the lake with wide eyes.
"You gotta be shitting me." Dustin says in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"I thought these woods were familiar." Steve points out.
"Lover's Lake." Hailey mutters softly, slightly confused.
"This is confounding." Dustin says.
"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asks confused as well.
"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way." Nancy says, looking towards Hailey for confirmation.
"And, there's only one way we can find out if that's true." Hailey states, she didn't like the idea, but they didn't have any other choice.
Eddie pointed out the direction he hid the boat, trying to get away from Jason and his group of friends, him and Steve pulled it out, taking the tarp off.
"Easy. I... I said easy, man." Steve tells Eddie as they pushed the boat into the water.
"Sorry, dude." Eddie says.
"Here you go."
"Yeah, I'm just gonna do that." Robin says, climbing on the boat first, Eddie getting on next, who helped Nancy onto the boat as well. "Thanks." She says.
Eddie holds his hand out for Hailey, which she gladly took, getting on as well. "Thank you, Eds." She says with a smile. Eddie immediately stopped Dustin who was about to get onboard. "Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?" He tells him, Dustin quickly look towards his sister for some assistance.
"Dustin, I think it's best if you stay here, to keep an eye out for any sort of trouble, and you guys need to keep an eye on Max." Hailey states, staring him down.
"It's my goddamn theory." Dustin points out, in disbelief.
"You heard Hailey." Robin says.
"Who put my sister in charge?" Dustin questions the group.
"I did." Robin states.
"Give me the compass." Hailey says, holding her hand out towards her brother. He gave it to her, clearly not happy with being left behind.
Steve pushed the boat further into the water, jumping inside aswell. "You said four." Dustin states, not believing what was happening.
"Sorry." Steve whispers to him, sitting down next to Hailey.
"Bedtime at nine, kiddos." Robin shouts to the three left at the shore.
"Miss you guys already!" Hailey yells, as the went further onto the lake.
"Okay, slow down, slow down." Hailey says, quickly when she noticed the compass going totally berserk. The stopped rowing turning towards the compass that was going bonkers.
"Guys, what's going on? Come on, talk to me. What's going on?" Dustin's voice came from the walkie, Robin took it out to answer him. "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah'!" Robin tells him.
Hailey's attention went to Steve, who started taking his shoes off. "Uhm, what do your think your doing, Steve?" She asks him sternly.
"Somebody's gotta go down and check this out. Unless one of you three can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard gor three years, then... It's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?" Steve states, as he was staring at Hailey especially.
"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not wanna go down there." Eddie says, taking out a plastic bag from his pocket throwing out everything that was inside of it. Steve on the other hand, took of his shirt, making Nancy look away quickly. Hailey on the other hand couldn't stop staring at him, it was like her eyes were glued to his body, flashes of their intimate night, she just wanted to run her hands all over his body, and for a second she forgot where they were.
"Hey. Good luck." Eddie says, handing him a flashlight wrapped in the plastic bag, so that it won't get wet.
"Thanks." Steve says, getting ready to jump, when he felt a hand on his arm, he turned around to see Hailey looking straight at him. "Please, be careful down there." She mutters softly, worried for his safety.
Steve leans down, catching her lips in a quick kiss, before jumping into the water. He swam to the depths of the lake, looking around all he found was fish bones, but when he turned around he saw a red glow coming from the ground.
Hailey was nervously bouncing her leg, and biting her thumb. "How long has it been?" She asks the girl sitting next to her nervously. "Closing in on a minute." Nancy tells her.
"Okay."
Steve swam closer to the red glow, to find himself actually staring at a minuture gate towards the upside town, he reached down to touch it, but something moved, scaring him, he didn't hesitate to start swimming back towards the surface in a hurry.
Hailey didn't stop staring at the water, until he suddenly came out from under the water scaring the shit out of Eddie, who yelled, "Oh Christ!"
"I found it." Steve says, swimming closer to the boat, holding onto the edge.
"You actually found it?" Hailey questions, grabbing his hand, just happy to see he was okay.
"I found it. Yeah. I found it." Steve pants out, trying to catch his breath.
"Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate..." Robin tries telling Dustin, but the signal suddenly got cut off.
"It's pretty wild. It's more a snack-size gate
than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big." Steve explains, when something suddenly jerked on Steve leg, making the boat rock. He looked confused for a second, until something suddenly pulled him back underwater, making everyone scream out in fear.
"Steve! Steve! Steve!" Hailey yells out, fear creeping up on her, as she was fearing the worse.
"No! No! What the hell was that, man?" Eddie yells in question.
"Hailey, really, what happened?" Robin asks, just as terrified as her friend was, Nancy was completely frozen, not sure what to think, about what just happened.
"Jesus!"
Hailey couldn't just sit in that boat, and wait, so she made up her mind, standing up, getting ready to jump into the water.
"Wait, wait, wait." Eddie yells to her.
"You're not going in there, are you?" Robin ask, not believing that she would be that crazy.
"I'm sorry Robin, but I have to, Steve needs me, you guys just wait here." Hailey states, jumping into the water.
"No, Hailey!"
"Hailey!"
The older Henderson started swimming down towards the gate, as fast as she was able too.
Steve ended up getting dragged through the gate, into the upside down, the vine threw him onto a pile of veins. Steve heared creatures snarling in the distance, making him quickly get up onto his feet.
He looked around, that's when he saw them, creatures flying towards him. He quickly looked around, grabbing an oar that was just laying inbetween all the vines, hitting the first one that came close to him, breaking the oar in half.
Before he could react, one of the creatures wrapped it's tail around his neck, pulling him towards the ground. Steve tried to get it loose, but he wasn't strong enough, as two of those same creatures, bit into his side's.
All he could think about, is that he didn't wanna die just yet, there was so much he still had to do and say, the creatures bit into his side harder, as a scream left his mouth, echoing all around him.
°•Unedited•°