CHAPTER XXVIII:
facing fears

( March 1986 )

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN CLEO SWAM THROUGH LOVERS LAKE. Her cheeks had been puffed with her gasp of air, her eyes blown wide as she tried to see through the darkness and glaze the water created, her hair wildly moving behind her as she swam her way farther and farther into the lake.

Cleo's mind raced with what she was unable to say underwater. She was actually in the lake, swimming, and she wasn't freaking out or anything. Well, there was a bit of a freak-out at first, but now she was just content with being able to put her fear aside and relish in what she had been missing for the past three years.

      Through the haze, she spotted a bright red light emitting from what she could only assume was the bottom of the lake. Persevering through, she swam farther down.

      Once reaching the opening, she paused for a second, unsure of going through, but then she reminded herself that her friend was in danger and she put her fears aside and put her palms on the textured rims and pulled herself through the bright red opening.

      The sensation was incredulously odd for Cleo, suddenly crawling upright as opposed to swimming down.

      She struggled to pull herself out of the gate, skipping out on P.E really had its downsides, but persevering through, she eventually got her whole body out of the water. She rolled on her back, chest heaving from the lack of air and strain she had endured on her muscles, but then she heard struggling from afar and snapped her head in the direction of the noise.

In the distance, she saw Nancy and Robin running towards something being attacked on the ground, no doubt being Steve.

      Picking herself off of the ground, her zip-up dripping with water and her hair sticking to the back of her neck, she unsteadily rushed over to the group to save Steve.

      Nancy had picked up an oar from a broken boat nearby, standing over Steve who had been in pain by bat-like creatures feasting on his flesh, Robin standing right by her, Cleo caught up with them and stood right by them. Nancy swung the oar at one of the bats and like a golfball, it went hurtling to the side and off of Steve.

"Hi, there," Nancy breathed out. Taking that as their cue, Robin and Cleo split from Nancy, Eddie soon joining them, and began fighting off the bats as best as they could. Eddie had grabbed another oar from the boat, using it as a baseball bat, he swung at the bats swarming around the group who had attempted to help Steve.

      "Duck!" Eddie shouted at Cleo. She did as told and he swung the oar over her head and trapped a bat beneath it. She quickly came over, barely sparing Eddie a glance, and put her dirtied converse at the bat's head while Eddie pulled with the oar to mutilate it.

Huffing, Cleo looked up at Eddie, he too had a disheveled look on him, but all she could muster up was, "hi."

      His chest had been heaving from the adrenaline but he had the energy to say, "Hey," with their kiss still fresh in his mind.

Then the screeching sound in the distance had everyone turn in the direction of the new coming bats that had been out for blood. "Shit," Cleo breathed out at the sight of the danger.

A bat had quickly latched on to Nancy's back, her having to let go of Steve to help herself. Cleo rushed into Nancy's place while Robin helped Nancy with the bat.

Cleo tore at the tentacle that had been wrapped around Steve's throat, bits of its slimy skin getting under her nails enough to make her want to gag. But pushing through, she wriggled her fingers as much as she could, desperate to not see another person die in front of her, and when there was enough room for Steve to put his hands in the same spot as Cleo's and tore it off of his neck, Cleo falling off balance onto the ground in the process.

From there, Steve proceeded to whip the bat back and forth on the ground as harshly as possible to kill it. Cleo, a hand out and about to get off the ground, felt a sharp arduous pain shoot through her hand and looked down to see a bat with its tentacles wrapping around her arm and fingers, cutting off the blood circulation, and sinking its teeth into the back of her hand.

She shrieked falling back on the ground from the sudden pain, the heads of her friends snapping in the direction of her distress. Robin and Nancy quickly ran over to her, Eddie coming close behind. Nancy and Robin put their hands on the bats fluttering wings ready to pull, Eddie wrapped his arms around her waist to help pull. And then came the fun part.

"One, two-" Robin counted down.

"Just do it!" Cleo interjected with her eyes squeezing shut.

And just like that, the four of them pulled against the strength of the bat, Steve had been protecting their surroundings as best as he could with an oar in his injured condition. Cleo screamed as the bat's teeth had trailed from her hand to her wrist with the pulling until the girls rid her of the creature, Eddie and Cleo falling back from the loss of it, and Robin and Nancy mutilating it.

Cleodora breathed heavily in Eddie's grasp he held on her on the ground as she clutched her hand to her chest with her back to him while the bats had finally been slain.

"Oh my God, Dora," Eddie turned her to face him and he sat up with her in between his legs. He brought her hand up to examine it, the flesh had been torn about four inches from her knuckles to the bone at her wrist, blood oozing out from every opening. "That's nasty," Eddie stated.

"Thank you for those oh-so-comforting words, Eds," Cleo said through clenched teeth.

      Now knowing that she was in some way alright, Eddie ducked his head down frustrated. "Jesus H Christ!" he shouted.

      "No need to yell, I'm sitting right here," Cleo winced at his yelling that was right in her ear.

      "Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?" Robin asked crouched in front of a dead bat. Cleo's heart dropped at the word.

      "What?" Steve asked incredulously, Eddie's head whipping in her direction as he carefully helped Cleo up.

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

      "Why in God's name would you ever say that!" Cleo quickly spoke.

      Before Robin could answer, the chittering sounds of more bats flocking to the group could be heard in the distance. Their heads swiveled in the direction of the sound to see about five bats approaching. Quickly, Robin, Eddie, and Cleo rushed behind Nancy and Steve to feel somewhat safer as the bats gathered around the gate.

      "Alright, there's not that many," Steve assured while inching closer. "We can take 'em. Right?" he said while they screeched in the teens' direction. Like he had been heard, the chittering had been heard from a swarm of bats approaching in the hundreds.

      "You were saying?" Robin uneasily said.

      "The woods, come on!" Nancy hastily said while taking off.

      "I hate running," Cleo grumbled before following Nancy into the depths of the Upside Down's version of the forest by Lovers Lake.