~ Chapter five ~

Episode five: the flea and the acrobat

Eventually when they pulled up out side of the Wheeler house Ivy practically tumbled on to the floor, looking up at the five kids staring at her.

"This is exactly why you should know how to ride a bike" Dustin Henderson said shaking his head as the three boys helped the girl she didn't know into the house.

Ivy followed them all down into the basement, the three boys and Lou were huddled in the corner discussing something and the blonde girl was laying on the sofa looking depressed so she lifted up her legs and sat down, putting her legs over her lap.

"Hey kid, you don't look so good, what's your name?" Ivy asked her quietly.

The girl tilted her head as she looked at her, "eleven" she said before laying her head back on the arm of the sofa.

"Okay, the party have decided that you can be in the loop" Dustin spoke as they all gathered around the elder teen.

"Okay, go ahead"

The three boys all started talking over eachother and Lou rubbed her palm on her forehead, "guys! One at a time"

"Sorry" Lucas smiled at her.

"Well, this is eleven, El for short, we found her in the woods." Mike spoke first giving Eleven a warm smile.

"She has superpowers" Lucas added.

"She's been channeling this, uhm, other side kind of place. And well- we think Will is alive." Mike nodded.

"She says he's hiding there, because there's a monster that's trying to find him" Dustin chimed in.

Ivy stared at them all with her mouth slightly open, "what the fuck?" She said more a question than a statement.

"I didn't believe them either, but El showed us. That's why we were at the school, she used the av club's new radio to tap in to wherever Will is" Lou told her, "he's alive Ivy, I just know it. I know his voice the same way you know my brothers, it was him." Her eyes started to water.

Ivy stood moving El's legs gently and engulfed Lou in a hug, "I believe you don't worry, if you all say he's alive. Then I believe you" she kissed the top of her head as Lou buried her face in her shoulder.

The group of them were all exhausted and Ivy opted to go upstairs and get them all some refreshments, she wondered up the stairs and smiled to Mrs Wheeler who gave her a confused look.

"Hey Mrs Wheeler" Ivy smiled looking around the kitchen, "I said I'd get everyone some drinks" she gestured to the basement door.

"Your hanging out with twelve year olds?" The woman raised a brow.

"Lou- Laura White, she's like my little sister" Ivy told her, "with everything going on at the minute she's been a mess, so I figured getting her out of the house to see some friends would do her some good." She grinned.

"Oh, well that's kind of you, the glasses are in here" she opened up a cupboard, "and there's juice and soda in the fridge. I usually just take the whole bottle down, they finish it so fast" she nodded and then walked into the living room.

Ivy grabbed six glasses and the bottle of lemonade that was in the fridge and brought it down to them, they were all sprawled around the room. Each of them now looking as depressed as El had before.

"Not to discredit you guys or anything but, what exactly was Will saying?" Ivy asked as she poured soda in the glasses.

"He said, like home... like home... but dark" Mike spoke moving from his spot on the sofa.

"And empty" Lucas clasped his hands together.

Dustin sighed from the bottom of the stair case, "empty and cold." He added but turned to look at Lucas, "wait, did he say cold?"

"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out."

"It's like riddles in the dark" Dustin through his head back letting out another sigh.

"Home? Do you mean home, like his house?" Ivy asked them.

"Maybe, like Hawkins" Lucas pointed his finger at Mike.

"Upside down." El's voice was barely a whisper.

"What'd she say?" Lucas frowned.

"Upside down." Mike repeated.

"What?"

"Upside down" he repeated again this time a little more enthusiastically.

Mike sat down at the table in the middle of the room and flipped over a board that she recognised from watching Eddie play D&D. "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" The two boys and Lou sat around the table, "Upside down. Dark. Empty."

Lucas made a face, "d'you guys understand what he's talking about?"

"No" Dustin and Lou said in unison

"Not a clue" Ivy shrugged.

"Guys, come on, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?" Mike said more to his friends than to Ivy who was leaning on the back of Lou's chair.

"Yeah and he wasn't there." Lucas frowned.

"But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?" He flipped the board again, "what if this is Hawkins..." he had the board the right way up, "and this is where Will is?" He flipped the board so it was face down, "The upside down."

"Like the Vale of shadows." Dustin eyes lit up.

"God, not more D&D" Ivy closed her eyes.

"You play D&D?" Dustin looked up at her with hope in his eyes.

"No, no. My friend does and he doesn't shut up about it" she shook her head referring to Eddie.

"My brother used to play too" Lou added talking about Leo.

"I like this one" Dustin pointed to Ivy who laughed a little through her nose.

Dustin grabbed a folder from a shelf in the basement and slammed it onto the table opening it and flipping through, it was a D&D handbook.

When he landed on the page he was looking for he spoke, "the vale of shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters." Everyone looked around at eachother nervously, "it is right next to you and you don't even see it."

"An alternate dimension" mikes voice came out quieter than he meant it.

"But... how... how do we get there?" Lucas added.

"You cast shadow walk, right?" Ivy recalled her knowledge from Eddie as looked over to dustin who nodded with a slight smile.

"Yeah, but In real life?" Lucas gave her a questionable look.

"Well, we can't shadow walk, but... maybe she can." Dustin nodded his head over to El.

"Do you know how we get there? To the upside down?" Mike asked her.

El shook her head no, still looking almost catatonic on the sofa. The boys all sighed and Lucas said "oh, my god" dramaticly earning a smack to the arm from Lou.

"It's not her fault, she's already drained all her energy to try and help us. Give the girl a break." Lou frowned at the boys and Mike nodded agreeing with her.

"If Will's ended up in this alternate dimension... does that mean things can get out?" Ivy asked them.

"Things? What things?" Dustin raised his brows.

"You said it's a plane of monsters, right?"

Dustin nodded.

"Well I think there might be something loose in Hawkins, something that's already took Barb." She sighed and sat down next to El.

"If a monsters out, that means there must be a way in. A way we can find Will." Lou nodded.

The group were silent for a while clearly all contemplating what their plan of action was, Ivy knew she wouldn't be able to stop Lou from joining the boys in there search for Will. She would go to the ends of the earth for her bestfriend and that was something that Ivy understood.

"I'm gonna call Leo to pick us up, okay?" Ivy gave Lou's shoulder a squeeze and the younger girl nodded.

It didn't take Leo long to pick them up and he looked confusingly at the two girls as the got in the car, Lou rested her head on the cold glass of the window and closed her eyes to avoid her brothers questions. So he turned to Ivy.

"Gonna tell me why you and my little sister are hanging out here?" He half laughed.

"I'll tell you later" she said quietly, "can I stay over? I really can't deal with my brother right now"

"Of course, have you still not talked to him after y'know, threatening him with a knife." He twisted his mouth.

"Nope, he's an asshole and I'm not apologising until he does" she shrugged.

When they got into Leo's house Ivy kicked off her shoes and cuddled up to Lou in the couch for an hour while their dad Oscar cooked dinner, Marissa wasn't home yet and Leo was showering. The two girls were watching tv in silence and Lou had her head in Ivy's chest wrapped in her arms, Lou looked up at her and smiled.

"I'm glad you believed us" she spoke quietly.

"I'll always believe you kiddo, your my guy" she held out her hand and Lou ran her own over Ivy's before they switched hand roles and Ivy ran hers over Lou's, something they'd been doing since Lou was five.

"What does that make me? Sliced bread." Leo came into the living room rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

"Mhm, exactly" Ivy smirked.

Marissa got home just as Oscar was plating up the dinner and they all sat in the dining room, halfway through the meal Marissa cleared her throat. "So Will's funeral's tomorrow"

"Oh" Lou looked up at her mother.

"If you want to stay home, you can okay honey" Marisa reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.

"No. I want to go." She nodded.

"Okay baby, I'll get your dress ready tonight. Ivy, are you staying over" she turned to the elder girl.

"Yeah, having a fight with Steve" she shrugged.

"Well you can borrow one of my old dresses, I'm sure I have one small enough somewhere in my wardrobe"

Ivy cringed at the thought of wearing a dress but she nodded in agreement anyway. Once they'd all finished the food Lou went upstairs to take a bath and Marissa and Ivy went outside to smoke, the woman had always told her and Leo that she didn't mind if they smoked weed or anything as long as they did it safely and didn't lie to her about it. Ivy loved her for that.

At around midnight Leo had just fallen asleep after Ivy had told him about the kids theory on Will being alive and stuck in another dimension, he was a little skeptical but if Ivy believed them then so did he. The girl was lying next to him staring up at the ceiling when she heard the door creek open, Lou walked into the room with a frown making Ivy sit up.

"Could you get in my bed, I'm having trouble getting asleep" she whispered.

Ivy nodded and got out of Leo's bed following the girl back to her bedroom, the comforter and sheets were all ruffled where she'd been tossing and turning. The elder pulled the comforter around the two of them and hugged Lou into her tightly until she felt the youngest body relax into sleep. Suddenly she was hit with a wave of tiredness herself and didn't bother going back to Leo's room, she just let herself fall asleep holding Lou.

Waking up in the White House hold was much more relaxing than her own, Oscar was always cooking something and the scent of bacon was wafting through the air. She sat up and stretched out her arms, Lou was still fast asleep so she quietly left the room and walked down the stairs saying hello to Marissa who was in the laundry room steaming dresses. A mug of coffee was handed to her when she sat at the kitchen table.

"G'morning Ives, how you feeling?" Oscar smiled walking back to the pan on the stove.

"I'm as good as I can be, I hope Lou can get through today" she said sipping the hot coffee.

"She's her mothers daughter, she can do it" he nodded.

"I just want to protect her from the real world, if I could I'd shrink her and keep her in my pocket"

"Your the closest thing to a sister she has" he set a plate of bacon, sausage and hash browns infront of her, "we're so grateful that you love her the way you do"

"I'd do anything for her, and I'll always protect her when you guys can't."

"I'm gonna go and wake Leo, I'll give Lou another half an hour" he gave Ivy a sideways hug as he left the kitchen.

Ivy ate her breakfast and passed by Leo on the way to get a shower, he looked like he'd been asleep for a decade not a few hours. When she stepped in the shower she debated leaving her hair the way it was but she got carried away and washed it. As she was brushing her teeth Marissa knocked on the door, "I've hung up your dress on the back of Leo's door honey, give me a shout when your ready and I'll help you with your hair."

"Thanks Marissa!" She half shouted her mouth full of toothpaste.

Leo was laying on his back with a plate of food on his stomach when Ivy went back in his room, he was lazily raising his hand to grab the food and lifting only his head to eat it.

"Your gonna choke, sit up when you eat" she scolded him.

"Yes mom." He groaned, but sat up. "I can't believe you agreed to wear a dress, this is going down in history for sure" he laughed.

"If I see one camera pointed in my direction today, I will throw a shovel at someone" she said stepping into the black dress, "so I'd warn Jonathan if I was you"

"Got it, I'm gonna go and call him. See if they're still at home or they're at the funeral parlour already" he nodded standing up.

"Wait, can you do the zipper?" She pulled her wet hair to the front and stood with her back to him.

He fastened the dress and grabbed hold of her head kissing the top of it, "I love you Ivy Harrington" he grinned walking out the room.

"I love you too Leo White!" she shouted after him.

Marissa dried and curled Ivy's hair for her and then started on her own whilst Ivy put two braids in Lou's lengthy hair. The children all got in the back of the car and Ivy held Lou's hand the whole way to the cemetery only letting go when they all greeted Jonathan, Joyce and Lonnie to Ivy's surprise.

"The assholes here" Jonathan said quietly to Ivy peering over to Lonnie who was chatting to Oscar.

"Did he bring the walking std with him?" She asked referring to Cynthia, Lonnie's girlfriend.

Jonathan shook his head no with a small smile on his face as Leo came and hugged him, Ivy found Lou stuck in a conversation with three older ladies so she rescued her and they took their places by Will's grave as the service was about to start.

Lou squeezed on to Ivy's hand so she wrapped her arms around her small shoulders as the pastor was talking, "I know he's not really dead, but this all feels so real" Lou whispered.

When the service was over Lou was staring over at Mike, Dustin and Lucas who were all chatting away, "go on, I'll tell your mom and dad" Ivy told the girl who hurried straight over to them.

She told Marissa and Oscar and then Nancy made her way over to her so she excused herself and walked off with Nancy towards Jonathan and Leo who were sitting on the floor behind a fenced off headstone.

"So where did you disappear too, yesterday I mean?" Nancy asked.

"Oh, sorry about that. Lou needed me and I figured you'd be fine with Jonathan. You were fine right?" She turned and cocked her brow.

"No, yeah I was fine. Jonathan was fine." She said awkwardly as the two boys shuffled a little further away from each other at their presence.

Jonathan showed them marks on a small map he had and Ivy looked at him confused.

"This is where we know for sure that, the monster-thing has been, right?" Jonathan held it out so they could all see.

"That's my house?" Ivy pointed to the familiar spot.

"Mhm, and that's the woods where they found Will's bike and... that's my house." Jonathan pointed to the other two spots.

"It's all so close." Nancy frowned.

"Yeah. Exactly." Jonathan nodded.

"They're all within like a mile of eachother" Leo leaned further into Jonathan as he spoke.

"Whatever this thing is, it's not travelling far."

"So maybe there's a door, or at least someway for it to get here" Ivy shrugged.

"You guys want to go out there." Nancy looked at the three of them.

"We might not even find anything" Jonathan looked over to the girl.

"We found something last time" Nancy gestured to Ivy and Leo. "And if we do see it... then what?" The girl tilted her head.

"We kick that fuckers ass!" Ivy said a little too loud.

They all nodded in agreement and Jonathan got up and started walking toward the spot that all the cars were parked, Leo walked beside him both talking in hushed tones. Nancy's eyes widened as Jonathan hopped in a car and jimmied the glove box.

"What are you doing?" The girl asked him making Leo laugh a little at her lack of delinquent knowledge.

"Just give me a second."

A second later he pulled a gun out, a revolver. He flipped open the barrel and checked for bullets, then he grabbed the box of them from the compartment and shoved them in his inside coat pocket along with the gun. Nancy's jaw was practically on the floor gaping at the boy, "Are you serious?"

"Ah, here goes the goody goody" Leo whispered to Ivy earning a slight elbow to the stomach and a disapproving look.

"What? You wanna find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?" Jonathan told the girl.

"Nance if we wanna show this... thing, that we mean business. Then we're gonna need a little fire power" Ivy raised her brows.

"This is a terrible idea." She folded her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, well, it's the best we've got." Jonathan said stepping out the car and looking around.

"He's right, we could tell someone but they're not gonna believe us. We'll just end up shipped off to Pennhurst." Leo shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Your mom would believe us." Nancy said to Jonathan.

"She's been through enough" he replied with a sigh.

"She deserves to know."

"Yeah, and I'll tell her... when this thing is dead."

The group of four split up and went there own ways, Leo and Ivy both going back to Ivy's house. Leo told her he was going home to change out of his funeral attire and Ivy quickly took of the dress and gave it to him to take home before running upstairs to change. Ivy had just finished getting changed when a knock came on her door, she swung it open and grunted at the sight of her brother.

"Ivy, can we talk?" He followed her back into the room.

"I can't right now I have stuff to do" she said throwing things into her bag.

"Look, I just want to apologise okay. I'm sorry for being an asshole to your friend, and I'm sorry for being a shitty brother" he frowned sitting on her bed.

"Steve it's fine honestly, you just really need some new friends" she stopped to look at him, "or just maybe try being yourself instead of 'the king of Hawkins high'" she said throwing finger quotations around the last part.

"Wait where are you going?" Steve questioned as she put two daggers into her bag, "I thought they were for decoration"

"Uhm, me and Leo are taking Lou out to get her mind off of things. I figured we could practice her knife throwing skills" she waved one around.

Steve stood and shook his head with his hands on his hips, "you really shouldn't be allowed those things" he walked out the room.

"Steve!" She shouted and he popped his head back in the door, "could you drop me off at the Wheelers?"

"Why?" He frowned.

"Lou's hanging with Mike and co, Leo's gonna pick us up from there to save him the trip here"

"Yeah, sure. I have to go and see Nancy anyway" he nodded and left the room again.

When the two Harrington's pulled up at the wheeler house, Nancy was stood in the garage swinging a baseball bat in the air awfully. Ivy laughed a little at the girl and Steve sent her a quick death glare as they approached. Nancy swung again and nearly hit Steve making Ivy burst out laughing.

"Woah, woah, hey, woah, woah." Steve gasped.

"What are you doing here?" She exhaled and quickly turned her eyes to Ivy before landing them back on her boyfriend.

"What are you doing?" Steve looked down at the bat.

"Nothing."

"I hope that's not meant for me."

"What? No" Nancy looked to the bat and then over to Ivy.

Ivy smirked and shook her head, "hate to interrupt this lovers quarrel, but, is Lou here?"

"What- oh, yeah she's down the basement" Nancy smiled and Ivy nodded and walked into the house.

Not wanting to interrupt the group of kids she shouted Lou upstairs, the younger grinned when she saw her.

"Hey, I don't wanna get everyone's hopes up so this stays between us." Ivy said and Lou nodded, "I'm going out into the woods tonight, to try and find that- monster-thing"

"We think there could be a gate!" Lou said the second Ivy had finished, "so look out for it, we also know that somethings messing with the magnetic fields around here, so don't trust your compas" the girl smiled.

"That's a big help, thanks kiddo" she said as Nancy came into the house.

"Stay safe, okay?" Lou's excitement was suddenly hidden by worry.

"Always am" Ivy winked and pulled her into a hug kissing the top of her head before sending her back down to the basement.

"She really admires you, huh?" Nancy smiled softly.

"She's basically my little sister" Ivy chuckled under her breath, "is my oh so lovely big brother gone?"

Nancy nodded, "Where's Leo?"

"He went home to change and then headed straight for Jonathan's, shall we go?"

"Yeah, come on"

The two girls drove to the place they had arranged to meet and as they pulled up Ivy smiled at the two boys whilst Nancy was looking elsewhere. It looked like Leo was trying to help Jonathan with the gun, his arms wrapped around him holding on to his hands as Jonathan fired the gun. But Ivy knew Leo knew jack shit about using a gun and he was definitely just using it as an excuse to be close to him.

Ivy slammed her door loudly to announce their presence to the boys, Nancy widened her eyes at the other girl, "Sorry, I'm used to Leo's car, his doors are a lot heavier" she lied.

Jonathan carried on shooting at the cans he had lined up as Leo walked over to them hugging Ivy.

"you're supposed to hit the cans, right?" Nancy said.

"No, actually, you see the spaces between the cans?" Jonathan smiled to the girl, "I'm aiming for those."

"Ah"

"Great job then" Ivy gave him a thumbs up.

"Either of you ever shot a gun before?" Jonathan asked the two girls.

"Have you met my parents?" Nancy scoffed at the thought.

"I'm fine with these, thanks" Ivy pulled out the daggers, throwing one at the cans and it went straight through the can and knocking it down.

"I'm adding that to the list of reasons I'm scared of you" Jonathan said his eyes wide.

"Hot, right?" Ivy winked at Nancy.

"I haven't shot a gun since I was ten. My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit." Jonathan told them.

"Damn, Lonnie's always been a grade a shit head then?" Ivy shook her head.

"A rabbit?" Nancy furrowed her brows.

"Yeah. I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something." He shrugged, "I cried for a week."

"Jesus" Nancy said under her breath.

"Yeah, 'cause we all know killing rabbit's makes you a man" Leo laughed out his nose, resting an arm on Ivy's shoulder.

"Well I'm a fan of thumper." Jonathan smiled.

"Thanks for that, I now wanna watch Bambi" Ivy shook her head and threw it backwards.

"I guess my mom and dad loved eachother at some point, but... I wasn't around for that part." Jonathan said sadly.

Nancy held out her hand for the gun and he gave it too her, Ivy felt Leo tense up so she lit a cigarette and took a drag before holding her hand up to his mouth so he could have one before Jonathan saw him, He'd been scolded on several occasions by him.

"I don't think my parents ever loved each other." Nancy spoke.

"They must've married for some reason."

"My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac... and started their nuclear family."

"Same here." Ivy laughed at the similarities.

"Screw that." Jonathan said.

"Yeah. Screw that." Nancy aimed the gun and pulled the trigger hitting the can first try making everyone chuckle in shock.

After a few more practice runs with the gun the foursome set out into the woods, armed with there weapons, preparing for the worst. They wondered round in silence for a while until Nancy broke it.

"You never said what I was saying." She said to Jonathan.

"What?" His brows furrowed.

"Yesterday. You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture."

Once again Ivy felt Leo's body tense up next to her and she linked arms with him.

"Oh, uhm... I don't know. My guess, I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But for that moment it was like you were alone, or you thought you were. And, you know, you could just be yourself."

"That is such bullshit." The girl snapped.

"What?" Jonathan stopped in his tracks for a second.

"I'm not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him-"

Jonathan cut her off, "you know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture"

"He's actually a good guy." Nancy carried on defending him.

"Okay." Jonathan said wanting to be done with the topic.

"Yesterday with the camera... he's not like that at all. He was just being protective."

"Yeah, that's one word for it." Jonathan scoffed.

"Nance no offence but my brother... he's an egotistical douchebag, I know how he really is and I'm pretty sure you've seen glimpses of it too. But at the end of the day, no one is gonna believe he's a good guy until he proves it." Ivy said truthfully.

"I'm just saying he had every right to be pissed off at Jonathan" Nancy turned to the girl.

"Nothing excuses what he did. He could have just taken the photo off him, he didn't need to smash up his camera"

"And just because he has the right to be pissed off, does that mean I have to like him?" Jonathan spoke angrily.

"No" Nancy's voice came out sternly.

"Listen, don't take it so personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority. Ivy doesn't take it personal and he's her brother." He gestured to Ivy.

"Steve's responsible for his own actions" Ivy shrugged and Leo hurried after Jonathan who had walked off.

The two boys were talking out of earshot and Nancy sighed as Ivy fell into step next to her.

"I was actually starting to think he was okay." She said glaring at the two ahead of them.

"He is, I promise. It's just hard for him to let people in" Ivy told her.

"I was actually starting to think, that maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is." She frowned.

"Hey, watch it" Ivy looked over to her, "he may be a little y'know, but he's still one of my bestfriend's and I will kick your ass" she said it with a smile.

Nancy's eyes widened, Ivy laughed and threw her arm over the girls shoulder, "you know we're all starting to think you're okay, I mean, you've always been Nancy Wheeler, goody goody, suburban girl, who's trying to rebel by dating an older guy and going to parties."

"Everyone thinks that?" She looked sad.

"Well, the people I know do." She shook her head, "but you didn't let me finish, now, I think your pretty badass. Your putting your life on the line here for the sake of finding your best friend, and not to mention the way you handled that gun earlier. That was hot" she said and Nancy's face turned into a smile.

"I get the feeling, Leo, doesn't share the same opinion." She gestured ahead where Leo and Jonathan were walking together with their shoulders pressed together.

"Leo? He's just, uhm, a little possessive of his friends." She nodded thinking the reason for Leo's passive aggressive jealousy would be believable.

"Is he- I mean are him and Jonathan, like... y'know, dating or something?" She said her eyes narrowed at the two, like she was figuring something out.

Ivy's mouth fell open at the question and she stuttered, "that's not for me to say"

"I don't- I don't mind, I know most people have a backwards mindset but I think people should be able to love whoever they want" she shrugged.

Ivy laughed, "You sound like Leo's dad. He said that exact thing to me when I came out to him and Leo's mom when I was fourteen"

"Wait, your-" The girl started.

"A lesbian, yes. Don't worry I don't hit on my brothers girlfriends, not while he's with them anyway" she winked and Nancy's cheeks turned pink as she started laughing.

When the sun had set and it was pitch black in the woods besides the dim light of their flashlights, the group of four stayed close together, the tension having died down. They'd been walking around for what felt like forever, until the two girls both heard the same sort of whimpering noise.

"You two tired?" Leo asked.

"Shhhh."

"Shut up."

Nancy and Ivy both said, looking out into the tree's.

"What?" Jonathan tried to see what they were looking at.

"I heard something" Nancy whispered.

"Same here" Ivy followed Nancy's tone of voice.

The four of them tried to be as light footed as they could as Nancy lead the way through the trees, Ivy turned to look at Leo and Jonathan and smirked at the fact their hands were intertwined. They approached a dying deer what was obviously in a lot of pain.

"Oh, god" Nancy said crouching down next to it. "It's been hit by a car. We can't just leave it." Her eyes filled with tears.

"Well, I don't think the four of us can carry a dying deer to the nearest vet, probably weighs more than all of us put together" Leo said walking round the deer and kneeling to stroke its head.

Nancy looked at the gun in her hand and suddenly it clicked what they had to do, Leo was an avid animal lover and his frown deepened ten fold, "don't even fucking think about it" he shook his head.

"Leo, it's in pain and dying there's nothing else we can do." Ivy tried to reason, "it's better that it'll be out of pain"

Leo scoffed and walked off behind the trees, Jonathan said sorry to the girls and walked off after him. Nancy's eyes were flicking between the deer and the gun, Ivy sighed and held out her hand.

"Give it here, I'll do it"

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm, my dad used to take me and Steve hunting all the time, when we were at our cabin. I can detach easily, Steve used to start crying and he'd run back to the cabin to hide under his bed" she took the gun and stood up.

Nancy moved back so she was slightly behind the other girl as she cocked the gun, before she could pull the trigger something dragged the deer backwards away from them making them scream and grab hold of each other. Immediately the two boys sprinted towards them from where they were a few paces away.

"What was that?" Nancy panted.

"I have no fucking clue" Ivy ran her hand though her hair, leaning on Leo to steady her breathing.

Silently they followed the trail of blood through the trees, all of them pivoting as they walked because they were on edge. Leo and Nancy were on one side of the tree line and Ivy and Jonathan on the other.

"Hey, Jonathan, stay still." She said and he did, "do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" He scrunched his brows together.

"Exactly... why can't we hear Nancy and Leo" he heart dropped.

"Shit." Jonathan looked around them, nothing in sight.

"Leo! Nancy!" Ivy shouted as she hurried through the trees.

Jonathan followed her lead shouting out their names as they searched for any sight of the two. Then they heard a scream and the two of them bolted towards it, Nancy's bag and baseball bat were laying on the floor by the trunk of a tree. No sign of Leo or Nancy. They had disappeared, just like Barb had.