𓆩♡𓆪

"𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐑, 𝐇𝐄𝐘!"

Lizzie looked up from the staring contest she was having with the floor to see that Eddie was talking into the walkie talkie that Dustin had left with them. She had her back propped up against the boat, knees tucked up to her chest, watching him as he paced.

"Uh, we're gonna need a food delivery soon." He went on. "Unless you want us going out into the-"

"No," Nancy Wheeler's voice crackled over the loud speaker. She had just recently met up and joined with the rest of the group. Lizzie knew her because she used to date Steve, and he would never shut up about her. That boy was whipped. "Don't do that."

Eddie sighed. "Hey, uh," he hesitated. "Can you pick me up a six pack? I know, it's stupid as shit to be drinking right now, but I think an ice cold beer would really settle my nerves."

Biting her lip to stop my smiling, Lizzie reminisced about her and Eddie sharing that beer under the bleachers. They were so innocent back then, so blissfully unaware of all the tragedy the world had to offer. Lizzie would do anything to get those snarky comments about her back, that was nothing compared to this.

"I'm gonna have to call you back." Nancy sounded distressed, her end of the walkie talkie going out with a click.

Eddie groaned, feeling frustrated. He set down the pot that he was carrying around, eating, from what Lizzie could see, what appeared to be some sort of canned pasta. He placed it on the top of a workbench.

"Were you gonna share the beer with me?" Lizzie teased him, hoping to lighten the mood.

He immediately loosened up as she joked. "Of course." He smiled at her. "Just like old times."

"Old times." Lizzie returned the friendly smile that Eddie wore, and she watched him intently as he approached her.

He sat down beside her, legs crossed, hands on his thighs. Then he was kissing her, and Lizzie gently held her hand against his cheek, which was a little bit rough with stubble.

The two continued to kiss, getting more and more passionate, and sloppy. Lizzie scooted closer, allowing Eddie to grab onto her waist and hold her to him.

She leaned against him until he was falling onto his back, with her pinning him to the floor. She broke the kiss to giggle at their current position, blushing like mad.

"Oh, you think this is funny, huh?" Eddie grabbed her shoulder and pushed her so she flipped onto her side, then he swung a leg over her waist, now on top of her.

Lizzie covered her reddening face with one hand, the butterflies in her stomach dancing going crazy. Eddie grabbed her hand in his and took it away from her face, interlocking their fingers as he pinned her hands above her head.

He pecked her on the lips, the energy between them shifting from playful to tense. Lizzie felt his hot breath on her lips as their faces were just a few inches apart.

Suddenly, the sound of tires crackling against the gravel drive interrupted the moment. Eddie practically jumped up to run over to the window, hoping it was the beer that he had been dreaming of. Lizzie joined him, setting her hands on the windowsill, their pinky fingers overlapping briefly.

Instead of Steve's friendly red car pulling up and parking on the drive, bringing offerings of food and chatter, there was a large, dark vechile parked off to the side, all of the doors opening and multiple people climbing out.

Eddie ducked out of sight first, with Lizzie lingering for a second longer to catch a glimpse of who these mysterious visitors might be.

She slid down the wall next to Eddie, both of them with their backs tothe window, their heads just below the windowsill.

"It's Jason," Lizzie breathed, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. Her words made Eddie's breath catch and he cursed softly under his breath.

Jason, and the other basketball boys that were with him, approached the house, all of them holding a weapon of some sort. Jason had a crowbar, and the other two had a baseball bats.

Eddie moved across the room silently to the other window, so he could continue to spy on them. He had grabbed Lizzie's hand and gently pulled her with him. They watched the boys enter the back door of the house, disappearing from their sight.

Eddie swiftly stuck out his arm and snatched up the walkie talkie from where he had left it. "Hey Dustin," his voice was frantic. "You there?"

Lizzie continued to stare out the window, digging her nails into her palms as she waited for the group to emerge again.

After getting no respone over the walkie talkie the first time, Eddie tried again, "Hey, uh, if anybody's there, I really think we might be in a bit of trouble here."

Still nothing. Eddie slapped the wlakie talkie frustratedly. "Anybody?" He raised his voice and Lizzie looked over at him. The two shared a panicked look before Eddie sprung into action.

He went over to the boat in the middle of the room and starting to untie it from the ceiling. Lizzie caught on quickly and started to help him. They got the knots undone and caught the metel boat before it could clatter against the ground. Then, they shuffled it out the back door, onto the dock that was behind the boathouse, overlooking the famous Lover's Lake.

Lizzie let go of the her end so that Eddie could drop it into the water. He held out his hand, which she took, using him to balence as she climbed into the rocky boat. Then, she turned around and let Eddie use both of her arms to help himself in. He moved past her, sitting at the front of the boat.

Grabbing both oars that were laying on the floor of the boat, she handed one to him. The two started to row, as silently as possible, away from the house, further out into the lake.

"Where are we going?" Lizzie whispered.

Eddie didn't even turn around. "The hell away from here."

Lizzie clamped her mouth shut and just kept rowing, using the adrenaline that was pumping through her to power through her already aching muscles.

"Hey, freak!"

Lizzie jumped when Jason yelled at them. She slowly turned around to look at them and she saw Jason's face soften.

"Lizzie Harrington?" He seemed confused, but his voice was calmer this time.

Lizzie thought for a moment that maybe since Jason knew her, she could reason with him to leave them alone. But Eddie didn't give her the chance, instead he stood up, rocking the boat. Lizzie cried out and gripped the sides of the boat so that she wouldn't fall in. Eddie stepped over her and starting to pull on the cord that was attached to the boat's motor.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Jason was back to fuming again.

Lizzie watched Jason take off his shoes and suit jacket, her breathing quickening as the anxiety set in. "He's gonna get in the water." She whispered.

"What?" Eddie glanced up from the motor to look at the bank, and sure enough, Lizzie was right. Now the other boys were also undressing.

Eddie tugged on the motor even harder and Lizzie started praying, to whatever higher power would listen, that some sort of miracle would happen and get them out of there.

Lizzie kept glancing back and forth from Eddie and the boys on the shore as the motor sputtered but still wouldn't start, and Jason was running into the lake.

"Goddamn it!" Eddie yelled. Lizzie could feel the fear start to take over her body as Jason swam closer and closer, one of the other boys diving in after him. She stood up and brushed past Eddie, hiding behind him.

He gave up on get the old engine to work, snatching up the oar and starting to row. Lizzie scrambled to grab his oar, the two of them now having swapped places. They were rowing violently, but the three boys were right behind them now.

Tears started to fill Lizzie's eyes as she wondered what Jason would do to them when he inevitably caught up to them. Lizzie heard Eddie stop rowing but she went on. The boat shifted and Eddie turned to face the swimming boys, swinging his oar at them, using it like a weapon.

"Hey, stay back, man!" He demanded.

"Come on, let's go, we almost have him!" Jason ignored Eddie's attempts to stop him.

Lizzie's arms gave out and she slumped over her oar, unable to row anymore. She felt the hot tears start to roll down her face as she turned around to look at Jason.

One of the other boys had stopped swimming and Jason was treading water with his back to the boat.

"Hey Patrick!" He called out.

Patrick was staring off into the distance, seemingly unable to hear Jason yelling his name repeatedly. Then, with a large splash, Patrick was pulled under the water.

Lizzie held her breath as an eerie silence fell over the whole lake. This was not the kind of miracle that she had been expecting.

"Patrick?" Jason sounded scared.

Eddie had stopped swinging his oar around and he looked over his shoulder at Lizzie. She got to her feet, reaching for his arm to steady herself as the boat rocked with the waves.

Suddenly, Patrick shot out of the water, rising into the sky. He hovered above the lake by a few feet, suspended in mid air.

Eddie was so shocked at this that he fell backwards, tipping the boat. Lizzie went down with him, feeling water go into her mouth and nose as she was fully submerged.

She quickly swam up to the surface, coughing and sputtering once she reached the air. She thrashed around violently, trying to stay afloat.

As she blinked away the stinging water from her eyes, she could see Patrick, still levitating in the air. She watched one of his arms shoot out and then snap in the complete opposite direction. Lizzie gasped when she realized that this is exactly what had happened to Chrissy. And it was happening again, right in front of her, again.

She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the sight as the rest of Patrick's limps snapped. Lizzie felt like she couldn't breathe as his jaw dislocated and his eyes popped with a wet gush.

Plummeting out of the air, Patrick's limp body hit the water. Lizzie jumped backwards, going back under the water, struggling to make her way back to the surface for the second time.

She felt the air leaving her lungs, kicking desperately against the current so she could reach the air again.

When she finally did, Jason was halfway back to the shore already, dragging Patrick's body along with him. Lizzie frantically looked around for Eddie, who had just resurfaced as well. She could see from the look on his face that he had seen what had just gone down.

"We have to go!" She yelled at him, and he could only nod as a response.

They swam the rest of the way, away from the house and from Jason, until they reached the bank on the other side of the lake. Eddie helped Lizzie climb out, not staying around for too long before they ran off into the woods.

𓆩♡𓆪

They had been wandering through the woods all night long, none of them daring to speak a word to the other. The sun was coming up now, and they still hadn't come out of the thick forest. Lizzie tucked a still damp piece of blond hair behind her ear.

"Do you see that?" Eddie's voice wobbled.

Lizzie looked up at where he was pointing, seeing a break in the tree-line. They exchanged a look before hurrying in that direction. Reaching the opening, the two hid behind a tree to see if the coast was clear. Before them was a construction site, bustling with men in their work uniforms.

Without warning, Eddie moved out from behind the tree and, crouching, he treaded lightly towards the site. Lizzie hurried to tiptoe after him.

They came up to some orange porta-potties, and Lizzie hung back, hiding herself behind one of them, but Eddie kept going. He approached a stack of wood planks, with, from what Lizzie could see from where she was standing, one of the worker's tool belts resting on top.

Eddie squatted down so that he was behind the wood and out of sight from the rest of the men. Then, he reached his arm up and dug through the belt until he found what he wanted and removed his hand.

He went back over to Lizzie, showing her that what he had grabbed was a walkie talkie. Her eyes widened, impressed with his quick thinking. She didn't have much time to admire him however, because the next thing she knew, he was wrapping his fingers around her wrist and dragging her back into the woods.

She pulled her arm away once they were deep enough in the forest. "I'm impressed." She told him.

"I'm smarter than you thought, huh?" Eddie answered her while messing with the knobs on the walkie.

"No!" Lizzie defended herself. "Well, maybe, yeah."

"I would be offended by that, but I have bigger things to worry about then you thinking I was dumb." Eddie finally adjusted the knobs in a way that he liked and moved on to pulling at the antenna.

"Not dumb." Lizzie shook her head. "Just, academically challenged."

"That's just a nicer way of saying dumb." Eddie smiled playfully at her.

The two had come up to this big rock, which was well known in Hawkins. It was called Skull Rock, a popular teenage hang out spot to make out or do drugs. It was where they just got away to be teenagers for a little bit, escape their realities.

Luckily, there was nobody there today, so Eddie and Lizzie could stake out here until they knew what to do next. Eddie took a seat on the ground right under the rock, but Lizzie remained standing.

"Dustin, can you hear me?" Eddie spoke into the walkie. "Wheeler?"

This time, the other end crackled to life with Dustin's voice. "Eddie! Holy shit! Are you okay? Is Lizzie with you?"

"I'm here." Lizzie replied.

Eddie added, "We're pretty goddamn far from okay."

"Where are you?" Dustin asked.

"Skull Rock. Do you know it?" Eddie replied, voice trembling.

Lizzie went over to him, getting down on her knees. She sat back on her heels, putting a hand on his back to reassure him.

"Uh, yeah!" Dustin thought for a moment. "That's near Cornwallis and Garrett-"

He was interrupted by Steve, who simply said, "Yeah, I know where that is."

"Hold tight, we're coming." Dustin told them. "We are coming!"

The other end was shut off and Eddie dropped the walkie talkie onto the ground to hold his head in his hands. Lizzie used this as an opportunity to move even closer and lean against him in a side hug.

They just sat and hugged each other, waiting for the group to come to their rescue.

𓆩♡𓆪

While they waited, Lizzie and Eddie had moved to the top if the rock, leaning against each other and looking out over the forest, having a great view from up there.

It had been around twenty minutes, but finally, footsteps crunching against leaves were heard and Steve pushed through some bushes, coming into sight.

"Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson." He said, not seeing Lizzie and Eddie yet.

Eddie moved away from Lizzie and started to climb down the rock, but Lizzie stayed where she was. Dustin, Robin, Nancy, Lucas and Max also came into view after Steve.

"In your face, man." Steve continued on. "In your stupid, cocky little face."

"It doesn't make sense." Dustin replied, glancing down at the compass that he was holding.

"Yeah, yeah." Steve rolled his eyes. "Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit that you're wrong, you little butthead."

Eddie made it down to a height that he felt safe to jump down from, causing Dustin and Steve to whip around when his feet hit the ground.

"I concur." He said. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead."

Dustin's face lit up and he went in to hug Eddie. "Jesus, we thought you were a goner."

"Where's Liz?" Steve asked, looking around, still unable to see her.

Lizzie giggled before peering down from the edge. "I'm up here!"

Everybody looked up at her, all with differing reactions. Nancy and Lucas had wide eyes, Robin was laughing, Max had a straight face, Dustin looked confused and Eddie was smirking. And Steve? Oh, he was panicking.

"What the hell? Are you crazy? Get down from there!" He called up to her. "That is not safe!" He pointed an accusatory finger at her.

Lizzie pretended to go to fling herself over the edge, bursting into laughter at how loud Steve gasped.

"You are so not funny, you know that right?" Steve put his hands on his hips. "Now get down here so I can hug you."

Lizzie slid down the large rounded top of the skull, landing on the smaller ledge below. Then she just pushed off and jumped straight to the ground from there, the drop about five feet.

Steve took her into his arms, and she buried her face in his soft sweatshirt, allowing herself to feel a bit of her stress melt away from this embrace.

"So, what happened, exactly?" Robin interrupted the moment.

Lizzie pulled out of the hug, looking over at Eddie, hoping that he'd take this one. "Jason and his friends showed up." Eddie sighed. "And we tried to get out of there, we really did. We put the boat in the water and started to row away but they must've spotted us. Jason jumped in after us and Patrick followed him. Then..."

Eddie's voice trailed off and Lizzie could see the heartbreak in his eyes. She felt her chest ache for him and she went over to rub his arm.

"Then, Patrick got pulled under the water, by something. I don't know. He shot up into the sky and that's when his bones started cracking, just like Chrissy's."

While he spoke, the others started to set down and unpack the food delivery that they had brought for the two.

"We didn't stick around much after that." He finished up the story, taking a flask filled with water that Steve had handed him.

"I tried calling you guys, but my walkie was busted by the water." He explained. "And so, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently." He sat back down on the ground and smiled sarcastically. "I ran. And take Lizzie down with me, which is something else that I seem to do a lot."

Lizzie frowned at this. She didn't want Eddie to feel this way, she had made her own decisions that had led her to this point, it wasn't his fault, not even close. But before she could speak up and call him out, Nancy was talking.

"Do you know what time this was?" She asked. "The attack?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what time it was." Eddie answered. He started to undo his watch that was around his wrist, saying, "My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." He tossed the watch over to Nancy, who caught it smoothly and looked at the clock face.

"9:27." She read.

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

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." Nancy explained.

Robin sighed. "Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks."

"And where he attacks from." Lucas added.

"So," Max spoke up. "Now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart."

"If he even has a heart." Robin scoffed.

"A stake?" Steve was confused yet again. "Is he like a vamp- is he a vampire?" His eyes were wide.

"It was a metaphor." Max was annoyed.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asked.

"I say we chop his head off." Lucas said.

"I'd say all of the above," Nancy cut the discussion off. "But we can't do any of that until we find a way into the Upside Down."

"We need El to get her powers back." Max groaned.

"Everything was like way easier." Steve nodded. He laid eyes on Lizzie and Eddie and explained to them, "We had this girl. She had superpowers-"

"Superpowers, yeah." Eddie nodded.

"You mentioned her already." Lizzie said. "Multiple times actually."

His sister's comment made Steve shut his mouth and Eddie pointed past the group, towards the trees. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?"

Everybody turned to look, seeing that Dustin was pacing back and forth, not paying any attention to the rest of them.

"Cursed?" Steve shook his head. "No, no, no, no, he's fine. Mental? Absolutely."

"Boom!" Dustin's exclamation made everybody jump a little. His voice echoed through the forest as they all stared at him concerned but expectedly.

"Bada...bada...boom." He pointed at Steve and crept closer. "I was right."

Steve rolled his eyes as Dustin went on, "Skull Rock was north."

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve snapped, and Dustin nodded, humming.

"This is skull rock!" Steve yelled. "Okay?"

"Mm-hmm." Dustin hummed once again.

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

"Yes." Dustin replied calmly. "And no."

"Oh my God." Steve dropped his head into his hands.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheeler's." Dustin explained. "It was correct when we got into the car, but it started to slip the further east we when. Now, it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."

"So you're using fault equipment," Steve threw his hands into the air. "You're still wrong!"

"Except it isn't faulty." Dustin countered. "Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

Realization was in Lucas' eyes. "An electromagnetic field."

"I'm sorry," Robin furrowed her brow. "I must've skipped that class."

"In the presence of a strong electromagnetic field," Dustin explained. "The needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or-"

"There's a gate." Lucas finished the sentence.

A chill went down Lizzie's spine despite the warm, spring air. A gate...to the other dimension? Lizzie made a mental note to stay far, far away from that.

"But, we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy pointed out.

"But, what if, somehow, there's another gate." Dustin offered. "A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller, way less powerful."

"Snack sized gate." Robin said.

"How? Why?" Steve questioned.

"No idea." Dustin shrugged. "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 from freeing Max from this curse."

Lizzie's eyes shot over to the red head, feeling a pang in her chest. Now Max was cursed too? The very picture of all of Max's bones snapping and her floating made Lizzie want to cry.

Without another word, Dustin turned on his heel and started to walk away, further into the woods.

"Where are you going?" Steve demanded, but Dustin kept walking. Steve raised his voice, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Finally, this made Dustin stop walking to face the group again.

"Eddie and Lizzie are still wanted by police." Steve pointed out. "We can't just go for a hike in the woods."

"This little steel capsule-" Dustin held up the compass. "-might be the key to saving Max, Eddie and Lizzie. What say you, Eddie the banished?"

Lizzie looked to Eddie, who was staring at the ground, appearing to be deep in thought.

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor," Eddie said. "Which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea. But uh, the Shire...the Shire is burning."

Dustin started to bounce up and down with excitement as Eddie came around to the idea. Eddie pushed himself to his feet, making eye contact with Lizzie. They exchanged a nod and he turned back to Dustin. "So Mordor it is."

He pushed past the group to follow Dustin into the woods. Lizzie hurried after the two, the rest of them following shortly after.

𓆩♡𓆪

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞!
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