CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
INTO THE TUNNELS

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     LIZ WAS SQUISHED in between Mike and her brother in the back seat of Billy Hargrove's car. Max was driving with Lucas in the front seat, giving her directions. Mike had a bottle of gasoline in his hands while an unconscious Steve had his head rested on Liz's shoulder, as Dustin held an ice pack to his head. Steve's wounds had started to swell and the kids had decided to stick bandaids all over his face since he was bleeding so much. Liz looked over at her brother and frowns, feeling bad that Steve got beat up for them but proud of him for putting up a good fight before he blacked out.

   "Nancy?" Steve slurs as he's finally awake, moving his head off Liz's shoulder and looking at Mike, who gives him a glare. Steve groans and goes to rub his eyes, but Dustin moves his hands away from his face.

   "No, don't touch it," Dustin instructed making Steve look at him, and Dustin smiles. "Hey, buddy... shush. It's okay. You put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight buddy, okay? You're okay."

   "Okay, you're gonna keep straight for a half a mile... then make a left on Mount Sinai," Lucas tells Max as they drive down a deserted road.

   "What's... What's going on?" Steve questions. Max met his eyes, and he finally realized what was happening. Max was driving them to the hole Hopper had dug into the tunnels. Steve started to panic, "Oh, my God!"

   "Steve, relax," Dustin tells him, rubbing his shoulder to try to calm him down. "She's driven before."

   "Yeah, in a parking lot," Mike argues.

   "That counts," Lucas argues from the passenger seat.

   Liz starts to rub Steve's arm and glares at Mike and Lucas, "Don't talk about Max's driving experience! You're starting to freak him out!"

   "Oh, my God!"

   "They were gonna leave you behind. Liz and I promised that you'd be cool, okay?" Dustin tells him, trying to calm him, but not doing a great job of it.

   Max starts to speed down the abandoned road, making Steve even more freaked out and panicked, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on?"

   "Max, you maybe wanna slow down?" Liz yells at the girl, but she kept going faster.

   "Oh, my God! No! Whoa, stop the car! Slow down!"

   "I told you he'd freak out!" Mike yells to Dustin.

   "Guys, now is not the time!" Liz yells at the boys. The car was accelerating fast and she was now getting nervous. She gripped onto Steve's arm harder as he continued to freak out.

   "STOP THE CAR!"

  Max hit the steering wheel, "EVERYBODY SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO FOCUS!"

   Lucas pointed to a sudden curve, "That's Mount Sinai! Make a left! Turn left!"

   Max didn't have time to notice the mailbox in front of her as she made the sharp turn. It rocked the whole car, making Liz get pressed against Mike who held her waist to stop her from moving too much. Max hit the mailbox as she turned which made them all scream and grip onto each other. They finally hit a dirt road, and rocks were heard hitting the car, definitely ruining the paint job on the car. Max finally drove into a sign which told them that they were at Merrill's Farm, a place everyone in Hawkins went to during the fall time. Max drove across the grass at full speed before coming to an abrupt stop in front of a large hole.

   Steve screamed, "HELLO!"

   "Incredible." Mike breathed as Liz took deep breaths to calm herself and pushed herself off of Mike.

   "Told you," Max said, as she took the keys out of the ignition. "Zoomer."

   All of the kids jumped out of the car quickly, leaving Steve to crawl his way out and land on the dirt with a groan. The kids opened the trunk and all of them started putting on goggles, bandanas, and gloves that they collected from the Byers house to protect them from the toxic substances that may be in the Upside Down.

   "Oh, no. Guys." Steve mumbles as he pulls himself up using the door of the car. Mike walks by him holding a rope and the can of gasoline prompting Steve to try and stop him which fails. "Hey, where do you think you're going? What are you, deaf? Hello! Liz! I am your older brother, you better listen to me!"

   Liz ignores him as she walks by him to help Mike tie the rope to the car as Steve yells, "We are not going down there right now! I made myself clear!" Liz knots the rope, pulling it to make sure it would hold them as they went into the hole. "Hey, there's no chance we're going to that hole, all right? This ends right now!"

   "Steve!" Dustin yells, getting Steve's attention as he tries to stop them. "You're upset, I get it. But the bottom line is, a party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now, I know you promised Nance that you would keep us safe." He hands Steve a backpack with his bat in it. "So, keep us safe."

   Steve met the rest of the group at the entrance to the hole, and one by one they lowered themselves down on the rope that was surprisingly very sturdy. Steve was the last one down, and Liz's eyes widened at the sight in front of her. The Upside Down was pretty much under Hawkins due to the tunnels. There were clouds of ashes and dust floating around them and vines snaked around the walls and floor. Steve breathed out, "Holy shit."

   "This place is like a maze," Liz comments as she looks over Mike's shoulder at the poorly drawn map he had drawn up before they left.

   "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this way!" Mike yelled to the rest of them.

   "You're pretty sure, or you're certain?" Dustin asked.

   Mike turned around and exclaimed, "I'm one-hundred percent sure! Just follow me and you'll know!"

   "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey, hey I don't think so." Steve calls out. He stepped forward and pushed Liz back slightly so she was standing behind Mike. "Any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame. Got it, dipshit?" Steve grabbed the map from Mike's hand, and called out to the rest of the group, "From here on out, I'm leading the way! Come on, let's go!"

   The group hustled after Steve as they made their way through the tunnels. Liz knew that they went on for miles, but knowing and actually seeing were two very different things. The tunnels were covered in smile and black dirt. They had only been walking for a short amount of time, but she almost felt like she couldn't breathe, because of the strange dust.

   They finally reached an area that separated into four other tunnels. Liz looked at the ceiling above her and noticed that it was pulsating like it was alive, like it had a heartbeat. It was made of a slimy substance and was glowing a bright red. "God." Lucas gasped as he looked around.

   "What is this place?" Max asks.

   "Hell," Liz replies.

   As they made their way through the tunnels, they heard a burst of air and a scream, followed by a string of curse words. The group turned around and started sprinting to the noise as soon as they realized it was Dustin. They saw him on the floor shrieking and struggling to take off his bandana. Everyone was yelling Dustin's name until Steve arrived and took control of the situation.

   "What happened! What happened!" Steve yelled, shining the light on Dustin who was still shrieking.

  "IT'S IN MY MOUTH! SOME GOT IN MY MOUTH." Dustin yelled until he let out a high pitched, "SHIT!"

   Dustin started coughing and finally pulled his bandana from his mouth, before spitting on the ground. A moment of silence went by before he looked up at the group, "I'm okay."

   Liz sighed and rolled her eyes, "Jesus Christ, really Dustin?"

   Steve sighed, "Very funny, man. Nice. Very nice."

   "Jesus, what an idiot," Max mumbles as they walk away from Dustin, leaving him to run after them.

   Another few minutes passed, and they finally arrived at another square area that lead to other tunnels. A large boulder-like structure sat in the center of the circle, and slime oozed from the walls. Steve looked at that map once more and back at the area they were in before nodding, "Alright, Wheeler. I think we found your hub."

   "Let's drench it," Mike states.

   They grabbed all the cans of gasoline that they brought and started covering as much of the hub as they could in the flammable substance. Each of them poured into different areas, but Lucas sprayed the ceiling with his can which had a hose attached to it. Once all the gasoline was around them, they corned into one of the entrances of the tunnels. Steve held the lighter in his hand as all the kids gathered behind him, "Alright. You guys ready?"

   "Ready." They all said in unison.

   "Light her up," Dustin tells him.

   Steve pops open the lighter, and sighs, "I'm in such deep shit."

   Steve flicked on the lighter and threw it. As he threw it, Max's hand found Liz's and both girls gripped on tight to each other. The lighter hit the ground, and the whole place lit up in flames of orange and yellow. The vines started to move and scream as the fire engulfed them and the group covered their faces from the size and heat of the flames.

   "Let's go!" Steve yells, pushing the kids to run before running as well. Max was still tightly gripping Liz's hand as they sprinted through the tunnels together. Dustin started going into an 'Oh my God' rant as they ran, as Steve continuously kept looking behind him to make sure the kids were still there.

   At some point in the running, a yell was heard from Mike, "HELP! HELP!"

   The whole group turned around and found Mike laying on the ground with vines snaking around him, holding him hostage to the ground. Everyone tries to remove the vines from his body but they don't budge and instead get tighter until Steve runs over with his bat, "Stand back! Stand back!"

   He quickly lifts the bat above his head before hitting the vines trapping Mike. He continued hitting them several times until the vines finally let go of him. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but there was too little time to celebrate. They turned around to go run but were all stopped by the sight of a Demodog in front of them. Dustin moved in front of them, pushing them all behind him. They slowly back away from the monster, and that was Max started stepping closer to Liz so their bodies were touching. Steve put his hand on Dustin's shoulder, but Dustin wasn't scared, because this Demodog was his, "Dart."

   The Demodog released a low growl. Dustin began to move forward, towards it, despite the numerous protests behind him to stay back. "Shush, stop. Trust me, please." Dart walked closer to Dustin as Dustin greeted him and pulled off his goggles, and bandana to show his face, "Hey. It's me, it's me. It's just your friend. It's Dustin."

   Dustin kneeled before Dart, "You remember me?"

   The Demodog began to coo, which surprised everyone, "Then will you let us pass?"

   Dart immediately opened his whole face, bearing his many rows of teeth for them to see, and growled loudly, making the whole group jump slightly, "Okay. Sorry. I'm sorry about the storm cellar. That was a pretty douchey thing to do." Dustin then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a candy bar, "You hungry? Yeah?"

   "He's insane." Lucas says, prompting the group to tell him to 'shut up'.

   "I've got our favorite. See?" Dustin opens the Three Musketeers and places some in front of Dart carefully. "Nougat!"

   The monster moved closer to the chocolate and sniffed it, before beginning to eat. As Dustin kept his eyes on Dart, he used his hand to motion his friends to go ahead while Dart was distracted. Mike passed first, then Lucas, then Max and Liz who's hands were still together, and finally Steve.

   "Goodbye, buddy," Dustin says before he was quickly shuffled away.

   They started sprinting once more out of the tunnels with Steve leading the way. As they ran, the ground began to rumble, shaking the whole structure of the tunnels, and making the dirt fall from the ceiling, "What was that?"

   Roars were heard coming from one side of the tunnels. They all spun around, pointing their flashlights at the echoing sounds. Mike's eyes were wide, "They're coming. Run! Run!"

   Everyone obeyed and they began running once more. Thankfully, they only had to turn one more corner until they saw the rope that they came down with. Despite Steve's panicking, he was able to help each and every one of them out of the tunnels, and up into the fresh air once more. First, Max, then Lucas, Mike, and finally Liz. Liz was halfway up the rope when the Demodogs started running towards the three that still hadn't gotten out yet. Liz's eyes widened as she locked eyes with her brother, praying to anyone that the Demodogs didn't eat him, "Steve!"

   "Liz, hurry!" Max yells as Liz hears the Demodogs approaching.

   Liz looked into Max's eyes which were filled with fear and worry for her and she grabbed Max's hand as the girl helped pull her out. Liz collapsed into Max's arms and her eyes widened as she saw the Demodogs running past Steve and Dustin, "Steve! Dustin!"

   She breathed a sigh of relief, however, when she saw that the Demodogs didn't care about Steve and Dustin. They were running past them like they weren't even there and that's when Mike said exactly what everyone was thinking, "Eleven."

   Liz finally noticed that she was basically sitting in Max's lap and both girls looked at each other. Their faces were inches apart and Liz could've sworn that she saw Max's eyes flicker down to Liz's lips but both girls let go of each other to quick to think too much about it.

   Finally, Dustin and Steve got out of the tunnels, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. As they stood, the headlights of the car shone brightly. They kept getting brighter, and brighter until the group had to shield their eyes from it. The lights then went back down to their usual state, and that's when everyone knew. Eleven closed the gate.

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[ 2474 WORDS ]

literally only one chapter left & then i won't
update this until season 3 premiers.