After parking the car near the woods, Dustin and Steve led the party through the forrest to search for Skull Rock, which was a very popular location to hormonal teenagers. Where they go to make out or, if they're lucky, to score. It was a long hike towards the area and all the group heard through the peaceful woods was...

"Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve argues.

"It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map." Dustin argues back.

"You do realize Skull Rock, it's a super popular make-out spot?"

"Yeah. So?" Dustin scoffs.

"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 protests and begins to take a completely different path.

Dustin stutters, "Steve. Where are you going? Steve!"

"Stop whining. Let's go. Trust me." Steve argues as he turns and walks backwards, then turns to follow the familiar path.

Dustin scoffs as Theo walks to stand next to him, "I can't believe I'm saying this...but..."

"Follow the hair-boy." "Follow the hair-boy." Theo and Dustin say together and snort while everyone follows them. Theo could hear Max and Lucas behind him. Even smell how disturbed Lucas was ever since they left the Reefer Rick's. Hearing about what happened to his teammate...Theo couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now.

"Okay, so apparently we're going this way now? I swear to God, if they get us lost..." Max scoffs but her voice trails off as she looks over towards Lucas, seeing the shock he was going through, "Hey. You okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just... Thinking about Patrick. You know?" Lucas sighs.

"Yeah. I mean, it's... it's like, why him?" Max sighs as she thinks.

Theo, suddenly, stops and turns towards them, "Why him indeed. That's the $10,000 question. Lucas, do you know anything about Patrick? Any sort of connection he might have?" He asks and resumes to follow Dustin and Steve.

"Well...I remember this one day, he... he came to practice with a black eye. He said he fell, but clearly he was lying. It's like everyone..." Lucas stutters.

"Vecna is targeting those who have experienced trauma in their lives. Either in the past...or in the present. That's how he hunts. Like how Demogorons sense blood. Vecna probably can sense pain. Deep emotional pain." Theo states.

"Something that's..." Lucas looks at him in realization.

"Hurting them." Max answers for him, making both of them look at her, "Haunting them."

"Yeah." Lucas says, swallowing hard. His worry for Max grew at every second. He moves closer to her, "I... I didn't really know Patrick, so it was easy to just look the other way, I guess. But I did know you. And I'm sorry I wasn't there." He apologizes.

Max shakes her head, "It's not your fault. No. I disappeared." She sighs.

"No, no, you didn't. I just didn't look hard enough. Okay? But I see you now. I see you." Lucas says, looking into her eyes. Making sure she knows that he'll always be there for her. No matter what.

Max gives him a soft smile, but frowns as Theo moves closer with a silly grin.

"Oh, please, don't mind me. I love watching you humans be so lovey-doves with each other. It's sweet." Theo says.

Max scoffs and rolls her eyes, walking away and bumps her shoulder against his arm while Lucas gives him a disbelief look, "Really?"

Theo frowns, "What? What did I do?" He shrugs and moves to join the girls, throwing his arms over Nancy and Robin's shoulders. "Cute, aren't they?" He nods at Lucas and Max.

Robin scoffs out a laugh as she was watching Max and Lucas, "Oh my God, they're so adorable. I just wanna squeeze 'em, you know?" She says as she leans on his arm and looks over towards Nancy, "If I'm permitted to see a silver lining in this end-of-the-world doom and gloom, it would be the rekindling of old flames that never should've been snuffed out. I didn't mean that as a hint or anything." She stutters.

"Right." Nancy mutters.

"But if I did mean it as a hint, would that be so terrible? To wish for happiness for my friends?" Robin asks Nancy.

"Nah, Robin, it's never terrible to wish happiness for anyone. I'm wishing for happiness right now for a very specific person." Theo says as he jerks his arm, making Nancy wiggle against him.

Nancy scoffs at him, "You think I'm not happy?"

"Oh, no no no no, not saying that. Are we saying that, Robin?"

"No. I mean, I... I'm sure you are. It's just, the other day, I mentioned Jonathan and you flinched or winced or something like..." Robin stutters as she tries to explain.

"Yeah, what was that? I thought it was a twitch or something. Like..." Theo imitates Nancy's reaction.

"I didn't flinch or wince. Or twitch. Okay. Jonathan and I are fine." Nancy states.

Theo and Robin both nod, "Got it." "Crystal."

"We're good."

Theo sighs loudly , "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy...do you even know who you're talking to? Seriously...do you humans forget so quickly about me? I can smell bullshit a mile away. That and..." He leans in to sniff her. "Hmmm, doubt. I smell doubt...with a hint of...." He sniffs louder. "Ooh, is that what I think it is?"

Nancy scoffs and slaps his arm away, "I'm not doubting my relationship with Johnathan,. I'm not."

"Right." Robin nods while Theo snorts.

Nancy sighs, rolling her eyes, "It's just...he was supposed to be here for the break, and then he backed out at the last minute for some vague, mumbly Jonathan reason. And, to be honest, I'm not that surprised because I've been feeling him pulling away. And I don't know if it's because we're 2,000 miles away or if he met someone new or what. And now I can't find out why because apparently he's blown up his family's house phone or something. So, yeah, if... if the mention of his name caused a slight muscle spasm on my face, that's... probably why." She says, feeling a little better venting out her frustrations.

"Seems like a perfectly reasonable reason to flinch or wince." Robin says.

"Or twitch." Theo adds and sighs, "It's perfectly normal to feel all that with being so far away from Johnathan. I may not know the future between you two, but I have seen the past...you two click. You have chemistry. If you feel like this again...if we survive this. This is what Amelia always says with relationships. 'Separate the pros and the cons of something and weigh it on your heart. If the pros are more and they fill your heart with a good feeling...go with it. But if the cons adds pressure, don't hold on to it and let it build....or your heart will be broken'."

Nancy sighs deeply and feels Theo give her a side hug, thinking about his advice. When they get through this, she'll do some serious thinking. Suddenly, she frowns as she thinks about what Robin said earlier.

"You said, 'the happiness of your friends'. So does that make us friends? As in, officially?" Nancy asks, curious.

"Uh, yeah. I... I mean, right?" Robin stutters.

Nancy nods, "Right."

"That includes me, right?" Theo asks.

Robin and Nancy both giggle as Robin throws her arm around his shoulder, "You had me at 'You smell like whipped cream'."

Theo grins and looks at Nancy, "And we're friends...right?"

Nancy laughs and smiles, "Not everyone is lucky enough to be friends with a demon. Why give that up?" She smiles and throws her arm over his shoulder. Both girls ruffle his hair, making him laugh.

Suddenly, Steve exclaims in triumph, making everyone snap their heads towards him.

"Oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom." Steve grins as he pushes branches out of his way, grinning at the sight, "There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face." He smirks and turns towards Dustin who was utterly confused.

Everyone moves to join them, looking at the huge rock before them. Shaped just like a skull. With trash littered everywhere t the bottom.

"Doesn't make sense." Dustin frowns as he looks at his compass.

"Yeah, yeah." Steve scoffs, mocking his talking with his hand, "Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. Can't admit you're wrong, you butthead."

"I concur."

Everyone turns at the sound of Eddie's voice and watches him jump from above, landing on his feet not far from them, "You, Dustin Henderson, are a... Total butthead." He sighs.

Dustin smiles and moves to hug Eddie, "Jesus, we thought you were a goner."

Eddie sighs and pats his back, pushing him gently away, "Yeah, me too, man. Me too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After feeding Eddie with the leftover food they bought from the store, Eddie begins to tell them all what he witnessed last night. With Patrick and Jason.

"The same thing happened to that dude, Patrick. He just...floated into the air and...crumbled right in front of me and Jason. I fell of the boat and just swam away. I didn't want to stick around after that. When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh... My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." Eddie chuckles humorlessly.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Theo steps forwards.

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie scoffs as he takes off his watch and tosses it.

Nancy catches it and reads the time, "9:27."

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin states.

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asks, frowning in confusion.

"That surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick. I was right. And so is Amelia. This Vecna is more powerful than we thought. He's producing a lot of energy whenever he does these attacks. Just like how Demogorgons do when they appear. That night in the school when I saved your asses. The lights were going nuts. It has something do with Upside Down. The energy that place holds." Theo states.

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks. And where he attacks from." Robin states the positive side, hiding the negativity from Eddie.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max says.

"If he has a heart." Robin scoffs.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve frowns in confusion.

"It was a metaphor." Lucas scoffs.

"Besides Vampires don't attack you with invisible force, they'll just go straight for the jugular. But I do know one who likes to play with his food...". Theo mutters and trails off as everyone frowns at him. "What?!" He scoffs and shrugs.

"A bullet should work on him, right?"

"Who, Vecna or Theo here?" Steve scoffs.

Theo flips him off, "Bite me, Hair-boy."

"I say we chop his head off." Robin suggests and stutters at Theo's frown, "I mean Vecna. Let's chop Vecana's head off."

"All of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside Down. We need El to get her powers back. Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers." Steve explains.

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." Eddie scoffs and frowns as he looks over towards Dustin who was pacing back and forth as he exams his compass with a deep, thinking frown.

"Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie asks.

Steve scoffs, "Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."

Theo frowns and watches Dustin stops pacing and a burst of a triumph aura erupts from him, "Boom!" He yells, his voice echoing throughout the woods, making everyone jump in fright. Dustin grins and points at Steve, "Bada... bada... boom."

Steve frowns in confusion.

"I was right. Skull Rock was north."

Steve rolls his eyes, "Seriously? You're serious?"

Everyone sighs and scoffs, shaking their heads as they try to ignore Dustin, but he continues.

"Mm-hmm." Dustin continues to grin.

"This is Skull Rock. Okay?" Steve states as he gestures at their surroundings.

"Mm-hmm."

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now."

"Yes. And no." Dustin says.

"What're going on about?" Theo asks.

"Oh my God." Steve sighs and rubs his face.

Dustin holds up the compass, "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." He states.

Steve shrugs, "So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong."

Theo frowns at him, "Good lord, Steve...do you even know how a compass works?" He walks over towards him and slaps the back of his head, making him groan and grit his teeth at him, "A compass is never faulty. There's no battery that controls it. The needle is controlled by the..."

"Earth's magnetic field." Lucas answers for him.

"Exactly!" Theo exclaims. "And the needle...it isn't pointing true north, is it?"

"Nope." Dustin shakes his head, still carrying the shit-eating grin. "Only thing that can disrupt a compass is a big electromagnetic field."

"Sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin says sarcastically.

"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 states.

"There's a gate." Theo says.

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy frowns.

Dustin snaps his fingers and points at Theo, "Theo?"

"It's very possible there could be another gate or even gates. Gates we don't even know about. I mean, Nancy...you and Jonathan were out in the woods a few years ago, looking for the Demogorgon. There was a gate." Theo says.

Nancy nods, "Yeah. That's right. But it closed." She frowns.

"And Eleven wasn't out there that night. So...how did it open?" Theo holds up a finger, "Just like the Demogorgon when it was hunting. It managed to open a gate at the school, that closed. It opened a gate in the Byers' living room and that closed."

"Vecna might be opening gates. Who knows how many there are? And it'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful." Dustin says.

"Snack-size gate." Robin says.

"How? Why?" Nancy stutters, confused.

"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." Dustin states.

"And a shot at freeing Max from this curse." Lucas says with hope as he looks over towards Max, who was hugging herself. Worried if it could work or not.

Dustin begins to take off to find the gate with his compass, but Steve calls out, stopping him from going further.

"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 scoffs.

"I actually agree with Hair-boy. It's way too risky for Eddie to go off anywhere, even if it's to find a gate."

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie." Dustin states and turns towards Eddie who was rubbing his face as he thinks about this situation, "What say you, Eddie the Banished?"

Eddie lets out a heavy sigh, "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." He scoffs but stands before them all, "But, uh, the Shire... The Shire is burning. So Mordor it is." He says and moves to walk with Dustin.

"Just gotta avoid Gollum and Sauron. Simple enough." Theo snorts with a shrug.

Steve was completely clueless with the whole metaphor, "What is Mordor?"

Theo drops his head, shaking it in disbelief, "What a simpleton." He mutters and pats Steve's back, "Come on, Hair-boy. Get your stuff, dude. Let's go. I'll explain it all on the way." He says as they head on to follow Dustin. "Mordor is actually from 'Lord of the Rings', your see..." Theo begins to tell everything about what he knows about 'Lord of the Rings'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Traveling far by foot, several miles later, Yuri led Murray, Joyce, Amelia, and Norman towards a small village. But it was empty. Neither of them could see any sign of life.

"I present you... Kyrzran. You see that gray steeple over there? That is Yuri's warehouse." Yuri says with a grin and nods at the building since his hands were bound behind him.

"Looks like a church." Joyce frowns.

Amelia sighs and continues to hold Norman's hand as he helps her walk. Her back was beginning to kill her and her feet were cold. Ankles swelling. And really had to pee. Again. "Please let there be a bathroom."

"Let's see what miracles it holds, yes?" Yuri grins and continues to lead them. Murray opens the door for them and Yuri walks in first. He frowns when he notices that one of his crates were open and a jar of peanut butter has been messed with. "Oh." He tuts. "Someone has been in my peanut butter. Very popular, as I say, eh?"

Norman frowns and leans to sniff, "It was a male. 6'2, American." He says.

Amelia gasps, "Jim was here. It had to be him." She turns towards Yuri, "He was suppose to meet you here, right?"

"Well, it's quite possible, but it seems that your friend didn't get far..." Yuri mutters.

"Because you betrayed him. This all could have been avoided if only you did what you were supposed to do." Amelia shoves at him, "Asshole." She sighs and rubs her head.

"Can I eat him now?" Norman asks.

Yuri whimpers and backs away, but Amelia holds a hand up, "No, we still need him to get into the prison. Weapons. Where are the weapons?" She demands.

Yuri leads them towards some crates and Norman yanks the boards off with no trouble, revealing several assault rifles and revolvers. Ammo. Enough to arm a small army.

"Oh Jesus." Murray sighs.

"Hey. Not in a church." Yuri scorns and grins at the women, "You like all this? Wait until you see my flamethrower."

Amelia groans, "Yuri, we don't have time for show-and-tell. We need to get going."

"She's always this bossy?" Yuri asks as he looks at Murray and Norman, but he stutters in fear as he looks up at the creature who glares down at him.

"You heard her." Murray grabs a gun and cocks it, holding it up, "Keys, map. Let's go."

Norman lays the map out for them all, placing cans of food to hold the map down for them. Yuri moves and stands in front of the map, "So, prison is here." Yuri bends over and uses his nose to point at the location of the prison, "Between these two mountains. Approximately two-hour drive." He says.

Murray frowns, "I don't see anything."

Yuri rolls his eyes, "Because it's not on the map, but it is there."

Amelia eyes him, "How do we know you're not leading us into some trap?"

Yuri scoffs, "Because I do not need to. You want to break into deadliest prison in all motherland. It is suicide." He states.

Murray grins as an idea comes to his mind, "Who said anything about breaking in?"

"Oh. You just expect to knock? 'Oh hello, let me in. I'm friendly American with a big beard'." Yuri scoffs with a wheezy laugh.

"Something like that, actually, yes."Amelia grins and looks over towards Murray, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Switcharoo, my dear Amelia. The old switcharoo." Murray chuckles. "You were planning to turn us over to the warden. Today, if I'm not mistaken." He turns to face Yuri.

"Ah, I see now. I bring you in as prisoners and then set you free inside walls. It is risky, crazy, you will still probably die, yet I like it. But for this to work, Yuri cannot be tied. Hey, it's hard to turn over prisoners when I'm a prisoner myself. Hey, I think the warden might find that suspicious." Yuri realizes and grins when this means his freedom.

"Which is why, from here on out, you're gonna be Murray." Amelia pokes Yuri's chest.

"And I'm gonna be Yuri." Murray chuckles as Yuri frowns in confusion.

"I don't follow." Yuri shakes his head.

Murray moves to stand in front of Yuri, yanking the cloth that was around his neck and shoves it into his mouth, "Don't worry. It's a silent role." He chuckles and gives his cheek a love tap.

"If you're going to be Yuri, gotta lose the beard." Amelia says.

Murray sighs and strokes his beard, "It'll be missed. But...for the sake of Jim's rescue."

Amelia digs into her bag and pulls out some shaving cream and a razor and a thermos of warm water, "Want one of us to do it or do you want the honor?" She asks.

Murray sighs and takes the items, "I'll do it." He looks at the bottle of cream, "Ooh, home made?"

"Everything in this bag is made from scratch." Amelia smirks.

"Nice." He moves away and begins to get ready.

Amelia turns to face Norman, "Norman, will you stay close? In case things go south?" She asks.

Norman snorts, "You never have to ask, Amelia. I'll listen out for your whistle."

"Thank you." Amelia sighs heavily and looks over towards Joyce, "I'm ready to bring Jim home."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Racing through the woods, Dustin frantically searches for the gate with his compass. Panting heavily, he skids to a halt and looks down at the compass. It was going nuts. Dustin grins knowingly.

"Something's happening."

He continues to run while the others follow behind him. Theo and Eddie were right behind him.

"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?" Eddie calls out.

Dustin continues to pace and looks over his shoulder, "I think we're getting close."

Theo grabs him fast before he could take another step, "Woah! Watch your step, big guy."

Everyone skids to a halt behind them, seeing the sight before them all. Steve groans in despair, "Oh man. You gotta be shitting me."

Right in front of them was a large lake. A lake everyone knew.

"Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar."

"Lover's Lake." Robin sighs.

"This is confounding." Dustin says.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Steve frowns.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening." Nancy says.

"It's gotta be the same for Vecna." Theo says.

"Yeah, only one way to find out." Steve sighs.

They managed to find a boat covered with a tarp. Eddie and Steve carries it towards the shore line. Steve grumbles when Eddie was quick to put it down in the water.

"Easy. I... I said easy, man."

"Sorry, dude." Eddie says.

Theo gets into the boat and helps Robin, "Here you go."

"Thank you." Robin says and sits at the bow of the boat.

Eddie was next and turns to help Nancy, "Good, you got her. Wheeler."

"Thanks." Nancy says.

Dustin was about to get on the boat, but Eddie stops him, "Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?" He scoffs.

Theo sighs, "Dude." He scoffs and turns to Dustin, "I hate to say it, but he's right. It might be safer for you guys to stay on the shore, okay? If there's a gate, we need to be ready for anything."

Nancy nods, "He's right. It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble."

"You keep an eye out." Dustin scoffs at her and mocks her frowns, "It's my ***damn theory." He argues.

"You heard Nance." Robin states.

"Who put her in charge?"

"I did." Theo says and glares at Dustin. "Come on, dude." He holds a hand out, "Compass."

Pouting, Dustin reaches into his pocket and pulls out the compass, placing it in his hand.

"Thanks." Theo sighs, "Hey, I'm sorry, Dude. Just trying to protect you. Be safe." He holds up a fist. Dustin sighs and bumps his fist.

Theo turns and gets into the boat. Steve moves fast and throws a bag at Dustin, "Hey, there you go."

"Ow." Dustin grunts and scoffs as Steve jumps into the boat as they take off, "You said four!"

Steve shrugs with a wince, "Sorry." He whispers.

Dustin flips him off, "Miss you already!"

Eddie and Theo took the oars and begins to row the boat as Steve, Robin, and Nancy kept an eye out. Mainly, Nancy kept her eyes on the compass. They go further and further out in the lake and pretty soon, they reached the area where Patrick was attacked. How to tell? The compass begins to go haywire in Nancy's hands.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Slow down, guys." Nancy says, making them stop rowing and everyone turns to look at the compass. They watch the needle flickering rapidly. Spinning round and round.

"Woah." Steve says in shock.

"Guys, what's going on? Come on, talk to me. What's going on?" Dustin's voice erupts from the radio.

Robin grabs the radio and yanks the antenna out, "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah!'" She says.

Suddenly, Steve begins to take his shoes and socks off, making everyone frown at him, "Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy frowns.

"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 for three years, then... It's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?" Steve scoffs as he gets to his feet.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not wanna go down there." Eddie scoffs as he looks down in the dark water. He pulls out a plastic bag and empties it, wrapping the flashlight to protect it from getting wet.

When Steve takes off his shirt, Nancy couldn't help but admire his body. He gained muscle...and hair. Theo and Robin both smirk and shared a knowing look.

*Couldn't leave this out*

Lucas uses his binoculars to see what was happening and, suddenly, exclaims in disgust, "Ugh, when'd Steve get so hairy?"

"Right? I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it." Dustin scoffs.

Max moves and takes the binoculars from Lucas, "Let me see."

Lucas frowns,"What?" He looks back and forth at Steve and Max as she continues to look...for a very long time.

Dustin gives him an awkward look.

*PFFFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHA! Who doesn't like the view? Ok back to the story*

Eddie keeps the bag tight around the flashlight and hands it to Steve, "Hey. Good luck." He says.

Steve looks and takes the flashlight, "Thanks."

Robin frowns when she sees Eddie trying to light a cigarette, she scoffs and yanks it out of his mouth, "Gross." She tosses it away.

Steve takes his time and focuses on his breathing, keeping it steady until Nancy grabs his hand.

"Steve? Be careful."

Steve sighs and nods as he turns and takes a dive into the lake. Swimming deeper and deeper below. He sees several bones of fishes around, littering the ground and stones. Besides trash. He turns fast when he sees a bright red light shinning in the distance. He turns and begins to swim towards it to investigate.

"Where we at, Wheeler?" Robin asks.

Nancy checks her watch, "Closing in on a minute."

Theo sighs and rubs his hands, growing worried for the human. He looks over towards the shore and stiffens in alert, "Shit."

Everyone turns towards him, "What?"

"Cops." He whispers. "Hide the light." He says and urges them to turn the light off.

"What about the others?" Robin asks.

Theo points at the hidden light behind the log, "They're hiding. See? They just gotta keep quiet."

"What about us?" Eddie asks worriedly.

"We can row to the other side of the lake and regroup." Theo says.

"Not without Steve." Nancy states.

Suddenly, the water gushes loudly and a figure pops out, splashing water everywhere as they swim towards the boat. It was Steve.

"Oh, Christ!" Eddie exclaims.

Panting heavily, Steve grabs the boat,"I found it."

"You found it?" Nacy gasps.

"I found it. Yeah. I found it." He wipes the water out of his eyes, "It's pretty wild. It's more a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big." He says and grunts when he's yanked back into the water.

Everyone yells for Steve as he's dragged back down into the lake, a tendril was wrapped around his ankle, dragging him back towards the lake.

"Steve! No!" Nancy shouts.

"No! No! What the hell was that, man?"

"Jesus!"

"Oh, shit!"

Nancy shoots to her feet as she watches Steve sink all the way into the darkness. Steve gurgles and screams until he's yanked through the gate. He gasps he was through. No more water. He takes a breath and yells as he's continuously dragged over the ground, hitting several vines in the process.

Nancy move to get ready to jump in, but Eddie grabs her.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're not going in there, are you?" Eddie protests.

"Just wait here." Nancy states and jumps in.

"No, Nancy! Nancy!" Robin protests.

"***damn it!"

Robin moves to sit at the edge and begins to take deep breaths until Eddie shakes his head at her, "No, no, no, no, no, no. What are you doing? She said wait."

"Yeah, I heard her." Robin scoffs.

"She's in charge." Eddie states.

"I made that shit up." Theo snorts, "Robin, go!"

Robin pinches her nose and falls back into the water.

"Don't you go. Don't you... ***damn it... Son of a bitch! Oh, this is so stupid. This is so stupid. This is so stupid." Eddie begins to panic until Theo grabs him.

"Sometimes Eddie, you gotta take a dive." He grabs him by his jacket and throws him in the water. Eddie yells and grunts as he hits the water.

Theo chuckles at the irony, "Years of avoiding this place and it has come down to this." He scoffs and looks at the cloud, "MAMA, I'M COMING HOME!" He yells and dives into the water, sinking deeper and deeper as he follows Nancy, Robin, and Eddie towards the gate.

Steve grunts loudly in pain as he slams into a pile of vines, stopping him from being dragged further. He pants and grunts as he sits up and looks around. His eyes widen in terror as he sees the echo of lover's lake before him. The water was gone. Dried up. Just covered in black vines. The skies rumbled above, flashing red lighting through the black clouds. He turns fast as he hears creatures shrieking behind him. He looks up and sees bat like creatures...flying right towards him. He slowly backs away, but more were coming for him. Flying around him. He rushes towards the vines and grabs a stick. He tries to fight them, but one wraps it's tail around his neck, sending him to the ground while the other creatures attack him. Bitting down on his stomach. Making him yell in pain. He struggles and fights, but he was losing air and strength. For a moment, he believes he was done for.

Nancy grunts loudly as she slams an oar across a creature, sending it flying off him. It whimpers and takes off into the air. Panting heavily, Nancy holds up the oar and glares down at Steve and the creatures.

"Hey there."

She grunts and continues to swipe the oar around, fighting the creatures to get off of Steve. She manages to get another one off and Robin moves to hold down the one that had Steve trapped.

"Quick! Hold it, Robin!"

"I got it. Get it!"

"Kill it! Kill it! Sh¡t!" Eddie shouts and uses the other oar as a bat when one of the creatures fly down at him, "Yeah!"

"Come on! Nancy! Come on! Please!" Nancy and Robin continues to fight the creature that had Steve.

"Nancy, behind you! Watch out!" Eddie shouts.

Nancy falls to the ground as a bat-creature lands on her back, shoving her to the ground. She yelps and screams as it was clawing her.

"Oh,my God, Nance!"

Suddenly, the water begins to bubble violently from the gate. With a loud roar, Theo, now in his demon form explodes from the gate and lands on his feet, growling ferociously. Eddie hits another bat, and it flies directly into Theo's grip. He takes the creature and rips it in half. Roaring loudly with the thunder and lighting. Eddie gasps in shock at the sight of Theo.

"Robin, get it off me!" Nancy yelps as she continues to fight the creature.

Theo stomps towards them and rips the bat off her back, gripping it tail and slamming it into the ground. Steve grunts and growls as he bites down on the bat's tail, taking a chunk out of it's flesh. It squeals in pain and tries to fly away, but he holds on to it. He was pissed! He slams it against the ground a few times.

"Hair-boy!"

Steve turns and watches Theo hold on to the bat by its tail. He grins and both of them swing the bats, making them slam into each other. Steve's was still wiggling. He holds it down with a barefoot and rips it apart. Panting heavily and spits out the black blood out of his mouth.

The thunder continues to boom above them, shining the land with red. The creatures were destroyed, but it still wasn't safe for them to be there.

"Steve!" Nancy rushes to him, checking his wounds.

"Jesus Christ. Jesus H. Christ!" Eddie exclaims and tosses his oar away.

"Are you okay?" Nancy asks gently and gasps at the bite wounds.

"Well, they took about a pound of flesh. But other than that, yeah, never better." Steve says.

Robin kneels next to a dead bat, "Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?"

"What?"

"It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should get you to a doctor soon because once symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already dead." Robin says.

Theo growls and moves towards a bat, sniffing, "No...rabies. I would...smell it. They're...only...annoying. Guards...to Vecna."

Eddie gulps loudly, "Uh...so...you're really....a..." He says as he eyes Theo in terror.

Theo turns and faces Eddie, "This...is my...true form. But...I would never...harm...a friend."

Eddie stammers, "Good. Good. Glad I'm a friend."

Theo grunts and begins to transform back into a human, his body twisting and crunching as he grunts loudly and stretches, "Oof, that was a great battle." He grins and moves towards Steve. He pats his shoulder, making him groan, "Great job...Steve." He gives him a crooked grin.

Steve and Nancy look at him in shock. He finally called him by his name, not that stupid nickname of his.

Suddenly, they hear chittering approaching. They turn fast and see several more bats heading towards them. Robin gasps and hides behind Theo. The bats slow down and land around the gate. Stopping them from escaping.

"Oh, you asshole." Theo growls lowly. "Vecna is stoping us from leaving."

"All right. There's not that many. We can take 'em. Right?" Steve says.

Suddenly, they look up and see a swarm heading their way. Their eyes widen in terror.

"You were saying?" Eddie mutters.

"Uh, Theo?" Steve gasps.

"I'm not that powerful enough to handle that many. We should go. Like now." Theo states.

Nancy looks around and sees they were close to the woods, "The woods. Come on."

"Great. More running." Robin scoffs and takes off to follow them all as they run to hide.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiding under Upside Down Skull Rock, Nancy, Steve, Eddie, Robin and Theo waited for the Bats to fly over them, far away from them. When the last bat faded away, they all sighed in relief and slowly, one by one, they move out from under the rock.

"Oh... okay. That was close." Robin sighs.

"Yeah. Too close." Eddie scoffs.

Steve gets up and begins to walk, but he begins to feel lightheaded, "Oh, sh... shit." He grunts and falls back to lean on the rock, clutching his head.

Nancy frowns in concern and rushes to his side to help him, "Steve? Jesus."

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He waves it off.

"No, no, no. You're not. You're losing blood. Come on, sit. All right?" She scoffs and moves to help him. "All right."

Steve clutches his wound, but moves his hand away. It was pretty bad. The wound was already turning red and chunks of flesh was missing.

Robin looks over in concern, "Oh..." She moves to kneel next to Steve while Nancy was ripping cloth to form a bandaged for him. "Okay. So the good news is I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know." Robin babbles.

"Robin." Steve grunts in pain.

"Yeah?"

"I kinda wanna punch you." Steve grimaces.

Robin laughs, "Sense of humor's still intact. That's a good sign."

"Yeah. Okay."

Nancy holds up the cloth, "Okay. You ready?"

Steve nods, "Yeah. Just do it." As soon as she wraps it, a wet squelch was made and Steve stifles a groan.

"Sorry." Nancy whispers and continues to wrap his abdomen up.

Steve grunts, "It's okay."

"Too tight?"

Steve shakes his head, "No, that's good. Thanks." He sighs as she moves away after tightening the cloth around him.

Nancy couldn't help but blush a little for being so close to him again. Even though they weren't dating, she still cared about him. Like the old days. She could see so much change in him. He wasn't the same guy she knew in high school. This wasn't a boy anymore. He was a man.

"Yeah." Nancy mutters and moves away.

Eddie moves and climbs a rock to see beyond. All he could see was dead trees, bare ground and vines covering every corner. Thunder rumbled in the sky as in continues to light up red. Like blood. You couldn't see a sun or a moon anywhere.

"So, uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?" He asks.

Theo sighs deeply as he looks around, "Pretty much." He scoffs, "God, it's been so long since I've been back here."

"Woah, you lived here?" Eddie exclaims.

"Not here in the Hawkins version. In Massachusetts. Now that...that was a shit-hole compared to this." Theo scoffs and shouts when Eddie begins to walk back down the rock, "Wait, watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind." He stops him.

Eddie frowns, "It's all a what?"

"All the creepy crawlies around here. They're, like, one or something. Step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna." Steve explains.

"Shit." Eddie sighs as he looks down at the vines that surrounded him and carefully gets down, avoiding the vines. "But everything from our world is still here, right? Except people?" He asks.

"As far as I understand it, yeah." Nancy shrugs.

"Besides creatures. But...not who are my friends. They tend to stay in other parts of the world. This....is like a whole new discovery. Even to the Underworld." Theo scoffs.

Robin perks up at an idea, "So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate."

"I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin. But guns, yeah, sure." Steve scoffs.

Nancy, suddenly, remembers something, "Well, we don't have to go all the way downtown for guns. I have guns in my bedroom."

Eddie stutters in his step, shocked at the news, "You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?"

"Full of surprises, isn't she?" Robin chuckles.

"A Russian Makarov and a revolver." Nancy says.

"Yeah, you almost shot me with that one." Steve scoffs.

Nancy laughs and smirks at Steve, "You almost deserved it."

The two of them fell into fog, looking at each other with small smiles, you could smell the lust in the air and you didn't have to be a demon to smell it.

Steve grunts when a jean vest is thrown in his face, "For your modesty, dude." Eddie scoffs.

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake violently, making everyone stumble in shock. Theo grunts and holds his ground while everyone was falling back against each other.

"Oh my god!" Robin yelps as she lands in Eddie's arms.

Once the rumbling dies down, it calms a little. Everyone pants heavily and creatures were baying in the distance. Causing their fear to grow. It was growing more dangerous the longer they stayed in one area. They needed to hurry.

"Everyone okay?" Theo asks.

"Yeah. Okay here. Considering." Robin scoffs.

"So guns seem like a pretty good idea to me." Eddie says sarcastically.

"Yeah, me too." Robin scoffs and gets off the ground with Eddie.

"So what are we waiting for?" Theo scoffs and urges everyone to run for it, jumping over vines to avoid getting caught by Venca's creatures. It was a long walk towards the Wheeler's and they didn't have much time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuri wasn't lying about the location of the prison nor was he lying about how long it would take to get there. Two hours of driving, they made it to gate that surrounded the prison and a security booth.

"We're here, but gotta get past these guys. Stick to the plan." Murray says over his shoulder.

Amelia and Joyce were bound next to each other, gagged, but not so tightly. Murray made sure it was easy for both of them to get out of their bounds if things get ugly. Yuri was dressed like Murray. Hat, glasses and scarf wrapped around him to hid his face. His muffled shouting continues.

Murray honks the horn to alert the guards as he slows to a stop at the booth. He rolls down his window and greets the guard.

"Can I help you, comrade?"

"My name is Yuri Ismaylov." Murray says in Russian and hands his ID to the guard. The guard shines his light on the picture and Murray's face as he continues to smile. "Hello." He wheezes in laughter. "The warden is expecting me. I have a very special delivery for him. A rare import from America." He wheezes again and drops his smile when the guard walks to look inside the truck. He shines his light and sees Joyce, Amelia, and Yuri tied up. Yuri was trying to alert the guard, but it was useless.

Murray tries to calm his nerves, "Okay, okay. I'm okay." He whispers to himself and gasps in fright when the guard bangs his light against the truck and goes back to laughing.

The guard gives him back his ID and moves to press the button to open the gates and allow him inside. Murray waste no time and drives on towards the large prison.

"We did it. We're in." Murray says over his shoulder as he follows the path.

Amelia sighs behind her gag and looks out the window. The closer she got to the prison, the more she could feel Jim near by. Her heart filled with warm, but worry at the same time. She could feel he was still alive...but running out of time.

Norman holds on to the bottom of the truck as he hitches a ride with his friends. Ready to help if anything if things go wrong. He promised Amelia's grandmother to always protect her...since she saved his life years ago. He owes her and her family.