14.

"ᵃˡˡ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᴵ ⁿᵉᵉᵈᵉᵈ
ʷᵃˢ ᵗʰᵉ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍ ᴵ ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈⁿ'ᵗ ᶠⁱⁿᵈ."
—ᵇᵘʳⁿ ⁱᵗ ᵈᵒʷⁿ ᵇʸ ˡⁱⁿᵏⁱⁿ ᵖᵃʳᵏ

  The medication had kicked in and it made Amber feel like she was tripping out. But even though she was seeing a lot of things in two, she kept her foot pressed on the gas, determined to make it to where they needed to go. Lucas was giving her directions and she just listened without questioning it. The kids were a little on edge with how much she was swerving and the speed she was going. They were only hoping they would make it there in one piece.

While Amber was swerving away from hitting a car on the street, Steve was slowly coming to. He was all bloody and bruised with a small little bandaid on his forehead and chin that Dustin had placed on there for good measure. Dustin was holding an ice pack to Steve's head as he began to peer around.

"Nancy?" Steve asked, confused, staring at Mike.

"No, don't touch it." Dustin told him, swatting his hand away from touching his face.

"Hey, buddy... you put up a good fight. He beat your ass but you put up a good fight. Amber had your back though." Dustin told him.

"Where's Amber? Is Amber okay?" Steve asked, beginning to panic as he didn't see her.

"Hiya, Stevie Wonder." Amber said with a smile, peering slightly back to lock eyes with him before looking back to the road.

"Keep straight for half a mile and then make a left at Mount Sinai." Lucas told Amber.

"Sinclair, you have to tell me exactly when I have to make the turn because I won't remember." Amber informed him.

"What's going on?" Steve wondered before he realized they were in a car and he had all the kids staring at him. The speed of the car settling on him had enlightened him on Amber driving more worse than usual.

"Oh my god." He let out.

"Relax. She has her license. And it was between her and Max." Dustin tried to calm Steve down.

"Yeah. But at this point Max would probably do better than a drugged Amber." Mike commented.

"Shut your mouth, Michael." Amber snapped, turning to the boy.

"EYES ON THE ROAD!" They yelled which caused her to huff out in annoyance. Amber pressed on the gas more in anger.

"Stop the car. Slow down. Stop the car!" Steve yelled.

"Everybody shut up!" Max shouted.

"Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai. Make a left." Lucas told Amber.

"Now?" She yelled.

"Yes, now!" He shouted as she took a sharp turn, hitting a mailbox in the process, everyone screaming at her driving.

"Oops." She let out as she kept following down the road.

Amber had come to a skidding halt in the car, slamming on the brakes as Steve yelled. She put the car in park, all of them piling out to start putting on some of the goggles and bandanas.

"Amber, they are not going down there. I don't care what you told them, but I said we would keep them safe. They aren't going down there." Steve said, the girl too busy helping the kids make sure their faces are covered.

"Steve, I understand you're upset. I get it. But a member in our party needs assistance and we are helping them. And Amber said so, and she's also already going down into the hole so it's too late to back out now. You want to keep us safe. So keep us safe." Dustin said, shoving some goggles and a bandana into Steve's hands and his backpack with the bat as the older boy began to curse seeing the girl disappear down into the ground.

"Seriously, Hayes." Steve exclaimed, looking down into the hole to see the girl shining her flashlight up into his face.

"Someone had to check if it was clear and you were bitching. Now start helping them down here." Amber told him. He huffed in annoyance but began to do what she said as the kids got lowered down into the tunnels with help from the rope.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this way." Mike said, pointing down the tunnel.

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

"I'm 100% sure. Just follow me and you'll know. " Mike went to walk away but Steve stopped him.

"I don't think so. Any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame.  I'll blame it on Amber first, but then I would get blamed. Got it, dipshit? From here on out, I'm leading the way. Come on, let's go." Steve called out, it echoed throughout the tunnels.

"He's such an idiot. Does he want us to get found already?" Amber grumbled.

"What's up with this dude always wanting to be in charge and in control?" Max asked as Lucas shrugged but Amber's eyes went wide as her mind went somewhere completely different.

"Walk. Just walk." She ushered them further into the tunnels.

The group kept following Steve through the tunnels as he navigated his best with the drawn out map. Amber had been at the back of the group to make sure none of them fell behind on their quest to find the main source and light it up. There was a moment where Dustin had freaked out falling all over the place because of some of the particles getting shot at him and fell into his mouth. All of them were unamused by the boy who was acting like he had been attacked and was dying. But they all continued back to their walking which caused the boy to scurry back to his feet to keep up.

"Alright, Wheeler. I think we found your hub." Steve told Mike as they shined their flashlights all around the big open space in the tunnel.

"Let's drench it." Mike said with no hesitation. All of them began to get to work spreading the gasoline around the hub. Not wanting to leave any part of it dry.

"Alright. Are you guys ready?" Steve asked as a chorus of 'yes' filled the air.

"Light her up." Dustin said.

"I am in such deep shit." Steve muttered as he flicked the lighter open.

"Correction, we will be in such deep shit." Amber told him before she took the lighter from him. The flame lit up and the girl threw the lighter across the tunnel. And then the entire hub was illuminated by the flame.

"Go. Go." Steve and Amber rushed the kids, all of them running through the tunnels to make it back to where they came in from.

While they were rushing through the tunnels, Mike had tripped over one of the vines. Instantly he began to freak out as it began to pull him in. He shouted for help and Amber without thinking gripped onto the vine that circled around his ankle and squeezed it almost as if it was nothing. It made a squishing sound as the vine screeched in pain. With it squished and broken, Mike was free as he jumped up towards the other kids.

"What the hell was that?" Dustin asked Amber.

"I don't know. I was helping Mike." Amber said casually.

"You just crushed that vine connected to the hive mind." Dustin told her.

"Okay? We have bigger things to worry about right now, Dustin." Amber snapped a little annoyed, pushing for all of them to move until a loud snarl startled them. Their eyes settling on Dart who growled at them.

"Dart." Dustin let out, taking a step closer trying to hush all of them. Amber was having none of it as she stepped near Dustin, causing the demodog to back up slightly at her nearing it.

"Amber, I got this. Trust me." He told her. Amber stayed in her spot as Dustin moved closer to Dart and Dart slowly walked towards him.

"It's your friend. It's Dustin. You remember me? Will you let us pass?" Dustin asked.

"Oh, he'll let us pass." Amber stated as Dustin waved her off but the monster opened its face up wide to Dustin and roared.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry about the storm cellar. Amber is too."

"No I'm not."

"It was a pretty douchey thing to do. You hungry, yeah." Dustin began to dig into his bag.

"He's insane." Lucas commented.

"Shut up." Steve told Lucas.

"I got our favorite. See? Nougat." Dustin placed the three musketeers on the grounds before he motioned for everyone to sneak by. Dustin said his goodbyes before they kept heading back through the tunnels.

Rushing through the tunnels, they all began to shake before they heard the growling in the distance. And the echo of multiple feet charging their way.

"They're coming. Run. Run!" Mike told them as they picked up their speed. Seeing the rope coming into view. Amber and Steve began to help the kids up as quickly as they could.

"Amber, your turn." Steve told her once the younger kids were up. But she caught sight of the shadow coming around the corner. Steve gripped on his bat, trying to be ready for the demodogs as the kids called out to the older teenagers frantically. To their surprise though, the demodogs had run right by the two as Steve grabbed onto Amber to pull her closer to him. The two watched in shock as they were disregarded by the monsters. When the tunnel emptied Amber looked at Steve before she sighed and rested her head tiredly against his chest for a moment.

Once they had gotten up the hole back to the kids, Billy's car lights blinded them by how bright they got before they dimmed back to normal. The rest of them took the gear from their faces off. Realizing that Eleven had closed the gate again. Everything would be able to go back to normal or so they thought.

They had returned back to the Byers house to see that Billy was gone which they were all relieved by. But Amber knew they were going to have to return his car when Max was brought home so Steve had offered to bring her home if they stopped to grab his car from the woods. She had agreed with him on that plan but first wanted to wait till everyone got back to the house.

The kids' happiness filled the house as Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy returned with Will who was happy to be surrounded by his friends again. It was a nice reunion for them knowing that their friend was no longer a spy for the other side. Mike waited in anticipation for Eleven to get back so once he saw the truck pulling into the driveway, he had rushed outside along with Amber not too far behind him.

The truck doors opened, Eleven running to Mike instantly. Amber smiled as she watched Hopper slowly step out. Her eyes wandered to see where her mom was but she didn't see the woman at all. She was confused looking around as her eyes landed onto Hoppers. He gave her that look which caused her stomach to drop.

"No." She breathed out. Mike and Eleven turned to see the girl shaking her head. Eleven instantly started to cry knowing what had happened, Mike had hugged her more to try and calm her down.

"No. Hop. Please... please tell me it's not true. What happened? What happened? You were supposed to protect her. No." She cried out as Hopper held onto the girl as she banged onto his chest. The group inside had poured outside to see the heartbreaking scene of the girl crying out for her mother.

*

Steve had turned his car off as he and Amber made their way up to her house. The girl hadn't really said anything since she had calmed down. Hopper had asked Steve to stay with the girl and he would swing by in the morning to talk. Steve had already known he wasn't leaving the girl's side regardless. And now that she needed him even if she wouldn't say it, he wasn't going anywhere.

Amber had gone upstairs to change, cleaning herself up a bit. When she was done, she let Steve use the shower as the girl sat in her window, looking out into the night. She didn't know how exactly to process everything. Now she was parentless and she didn't know what she was supposed to do. She felt lost. But she didn't feel alone. She knew she wasn't by the sound of the boy humming in the bathroom. But thinking of her mom, she just felt numb. Realizing that the way her mom was talking to her before, it was like she was setting her up for a goodbye and she didn't pick up on that. She just felt a bit numb now.

She was spacing out when she saw headlights in the driveway. Causing the girl to get up and head down the stairs. A knock echoed off the door as the teenager walked over to the door, unlocking it and opening it to see Billy Hargrove standing there. She kept a monotone look on her tear stained face, looking at him. He shifted uncomfortably under her stare.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"I'm not here to apologize about what happened tonight." Billy told her.

"Then why else are you here?"

"I wanted to apologize to you about everything else. I'm sorry for treating you the way I did. And acting like an asshole when you left and when I moved into town. I'm sorry for not telling you I loved you on that beach, when I knew I did. If I could do it all over, I would." Billy apologized. Amber stared at him with more hurt in her eyes.

"You don't love me. I don't think that's possible for you. You broke my heart on that beach and after that I never wanted to see you again. You turned into a complete asshole and I don't recognize you at all. Maybe it was because I never really knew you and I don't want to. The Amber you have been looking for, I left her on that beach, buried in the sand." Amber told him, Billy's eyes watering slightly.

"I don't want to see you. I don't want anything to do with you. You're a stranger and that's all you are." Amber said to him as he nodded his head. That's what the girl wanted, so he would be just that. A stranger. His father had been right. She didn't want him anymore. He backed away before he turned around to head down the stairs. Once he made his way to his car to leave, Amber shut the door behind her and locked it. Her eyes fell onto Steve who stood on the stairs looking at her.

She instantly rushed into his arms with tears rolling down her face. He hushed her, rubbing her back. She was in some much pain and all he wanted to do was make her feel better. He kissed her forehead before he led her back upstairs. Both of them laid down in the bed without saying a thing as she wrapped her arms around him. Letting the exhaustion of the day take her out and then Steve soon followed in suit.