THE ONE SILVER LINING of Billy's unforeseen appearance at the Byers house was that his Camaro provided the group a method of transportation to Merrill's farm, where Hopper had dug a hole in the midst of investigating crops that had decayed due to the tunnels. The only other options beforehand would have been hot-wiring Bob Newby's Toyota, which none of them knew how to do, or walking all the way there and back, which none of them wanted to do. So they loaded Billy's car with all the gasoline, pesticides, rope, and protective equipment they could find before Amara drove them off.

        Dustin, Steve, Mike, and Max were all crammed into the backseat and every once in a while one of them would complain that another was invading their personal space. They'd patched Steve's face up to the best of their abilities; Max had a four-step, foolproof procedure for healing injuries that she'd developed from all her years of skateboarding, but Mike insisted that they didn't have enough time so they had resorted to emptying Amara's first aid kit of bandaids, cognizant that Steve would despise the patterned ones Dustin had brought along with him.

        "Okay, that's Randolph," Lucas, who was navigating from the passenger seat, told Amara. "Make a right."

        Amara did so, signaling right even though there was no traffic. She also didn't travel above the speed limit; while she had owned her Honda long enough to become comfortable driving it, a car like Billy's that reeked of cigarette smoke and gasoline was uncharted territory for her and the lack of ambient light was unnerving. But even with her anxiety, she was the only person in their group who was both conscious and had a license.

        "Could you pick up the pace a bit?" Mike hollered from the back, oblivious to Amara's apprehension due to driving an unfamiliar car. "We're short on time here!"

        "I'm sorry Mike, do you want me to crash the car?" Amara shot back above the roar of the engine. "We can't help El if we're dead." Even so, she pressed her foot harder on the accelerator until she was going five miles above the speed limit. She was still nervous, but she remained at that speed when it didn't make her more nervous.

        It was odd to Amara how battling Demodogs was natural to her at this point, and yet she freaked out when driving a car that wasn't hers.

        "Amara?" a voice that didn't belong to Mike, Dustin, or Max uttered from the back. Steve was awake, and the agony from Billy's blows was suddenly slamming into him at full force. His arm felt like dead weight as he brought it to the bridge of his nose with a groan, only for the person he had thought to be Amara to pull it back gently.

        "No, don't touch it," Dustin came into Steve's field of view. "Hey, buddy... It's okay. You put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight. You're okay."

        Amara would've thought Dustin's effort to make sure Steve was okay to be endearing, but she was too busy trying not to total the car. Meanwhile, Steve was wondering where they were and why it felt like they were moving.

        "Okay, you're gonna keep straight for half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sinai," Lucas instructed Amara. In hindsight, it was a bad idea because Steve became overcome with a combination of fear and nausea as soon as he realized he was in a moving vehicle. While Amara had refused to leave Steve behind in the event that Billy awakened, she was going to kill him herself if he was the reason she crashed the car.

        "Steve, relax, she's a good driver," Dustin tried to calm down the anything-but-relaxed Steve. He was now attempting to brace himself up by his arms, which were still sore.

        "She could maybe go a little faster, though," Mike persisted – apparently Amara going five miles above the speed limit wasn't enough for him.

        "Maybe you try driving for a change and see if you could do any better," Max retorted from beside Dustin. Their squabbling was affecting Amara, who had the urge to press her palms against her forehead and had to remember to keep a firm grip on the wheel. Steve's presence wasn't helping in the slightest, not with how on edge he was.

        "They were going to leave you behind." Dustin wasn't exactly helping either. "I promised you'd be cool, okay?"

        "Whoa! Stop the car," Steve was now panicking. "Slow down."

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

        "Stop the car!"

        "Everybody shut up!" Amara cut across the commotion, which was clouding her judgment at a time when she desperately needed it. "You're distracting me!"

        "Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai!" Lucas exclaimed above the noise in the back, which Max was doing her best to simmer down. "Make a left! Make – turn left!"

        "Shit!" Amara cursed as she swerved onto Mount Sinai at the last minute, narrowly avoiding uprooting a mailbox. Everyone was screaming as Amara tried her hardest to right her course – nobody in the back had their seatbelts fastened due to there being four of them. Only after she was driving smoothly once more did they fall silent again.

        "Okay, that was something," Amara muttered, deciding not to drive above the speed limit anymore. "Could you guys please do me a favor and not freak out for the rest of this trip?"

        There was a chorus of "yes" from everyone other than Steve, who Amara couldn't really blame for being startled. The rest of the drive was relatively steady other than his occasional murmurs to stop the car, which Amara was attempting to tune out. Nevertheless, she didn't unclench her jaw until she'd parked the car a few yards away from where the grass met a crater of soil with a pit at the center.

        "Jesus," Amara groaned as she turned the engine off, leaving the keys in the ignition so as not to lose them in the tunnels. "Remind me to never drive you kids anywhere ever again."

        Thankfully for her, none of the kids had heard her for they had unlocked the doors the second she had put the car in park. As Amara joined them in opening the trunk and gathering the supplies they'd packed, Steve practically fell onto the ground as he exited the car. He pushed himself up and braced his body against the door for stability, mumbling protests as the kids attired themselves in swim gear and bandannas.

        "Hey, where do you think you're going?" Steve demanded as Mike secured the rope to the car. "What are you, deaf? Hello?" The kids continued to ignore him, now making their way down the decline of dirt. "We are not going down there right now. I made myself clear! Hey, there's no chance we're going to that hole, alright? This ends right now!"

        "Steve!" Dustin was now the only person left by the car, other than Amara who was unloading the last of the supplies from the trunk, including her crowbar. "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 dug into the trunk and unearthed Steve's backpack and nail-studded bat. " – so keep us safe."

        Steve reluctantly accepted the backpack from Dustin but made no move to follow him or the others. He turned to face Amara, who had fastened a blue bandanna around the circumference of her lower face and was positioning a pair of swim goggles on her forehead with her gloved hands. "Why would you let them do this?" he questioned.

        "Steve, we would've died at the junkyard if it wasn't for the hive mind," Amara reminded him, lowering her bandanna to her chin so he could hear her more clearly. "If we don't do the same for El, there's no winning scenario for any of us, not if the gate stays open. Whatever's down there can't be more dangerous than everything we've already been through, and I promise we can keep the kids safe." When Steve didn't appear convinced, Amara made it personal. "Look, if someone you really cared about, someone like Nancy needed your help, wouldn't you do anything? Even if it put your life at risk?"

        It's not Nancy I'm worried about, Steve wanted to say, but he conceded that there was no use in challenging someone as stubborn as Amara. "Fine," he relented. "Let's go set some shit on fire."

        The two of them were the last to descend into the hole until their feet hit the ground with a squelch. When Amara lifted her head, her vision was met with concaved walls inundated by pulsating vines and growths. The tunnels were saturated with those particles that made her question how different the atmosphere was from the one they were used to, grateful that they had protective gear. She could practically sense the hive mind, the way each vine ticked in motion with all the others. Even if they technically weren't in the Upside Down given that they hadn't crossed through the gate, it matched Nancy's description from the brief period she'd been there.

        "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this way," Mike was illuminating a rough sketch of the tunnels with his flashlight.

        "You're pretty sure or you're certain?" Dustin inquired, careful to guarantee they would be going in the right direction.

        "I'm 100% sure," Mike clarified, pivoting to face the group. "Just follow me and you'll know."

        Mike made to begin guiding them through the tunnels, but Steve stopped him before he could take more than one footstep. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey, hey. I don't think so. Any of you little shits die down here, Amara and I are getting the blame. Got it, dipshit?" He snatched the map from Mike's grasp before announcing, "From here on out, we're leading the way. Come on, let's go."

        Amara was slightly more sympathetic and shrugged her shoulders as if to apologize on behalf of Steve before she jogged to catch up with him. They maneuvered through the tunnels, exercising caution so as not to step on any of the vines and alert the Mind Flayer of their presence before they were ready to do so. Every once in a while one of the kids would linger in position for too long and Steve would have to tell them to keep moving. He was still irritable, but much of that probably had to do with the state Billy had left him in.

        "So, this is the Upside Down?" Steve queried as they approached another junction, journeying left once he glimpsed at the map for confirmation. He thought back to Amara's portrayal of the alternate dimension from a year ago, the point in time when he came to the conclusion that Nancy hadn't cheated on him with Jonathan and that something far bigger was going on.

        "I don't know," Amara answered honestly. "I mean, it does look like what Nancy said she'd seen when she was there last year, but we haven't gone through the gate so we're not actually there. My best guess is this is some... extension of the Upside Down, since Hopper said these tunnels spread from the gate. But if everything in the Upside Down is a copy of our world, then theoretically the tunnels should also exist there." Upon realizing she had been going on a tangent, she turned to look at Steve, who was eyeing her with an unreadable expression. "Sorry, was I rambling?"

        "I don't mind," Steve reassured Amara. "It's just cool how much you know about this," he elucidated.

        "I mean, I don't think any of this – " Amara gestured with her hands to the organic material coating the walls of the tunnels. " – is cool, but I've always loved science," she revealed, tipping her flashlight to further illuminate the path ahead of them.

        "That makes sense," Steve mused, walking in line with the girl who had become an unlikely friend to him in a matter of days. "It would explain why you like sci-fi stuff."

        Amara tilted her head in confusion. "I didn't realize you knew that about me."

        "Well, you're usually reading some sci-fi book during break," Steve mentioned as the group neared the so-called "hub," the kids squabbling over what color they thought the tunnels were (Mike had gone with dark purple, Dustin, Lucas, and Max with black). "And I've never seen Star Wars but even I knew you dressed up as that princess for that party, and then you and Henderson practically begged me to watch the entire trilogy after all this – "

        " – which you were perfectly fine with," Amara reminded him. "Trust me, life is so much easier if you don't care what people think of you."

        Except Amara cared what people thought of her, inexplicably so. Saying it out loud was a memo to herself to not care so much about how people viewed her to the point where she forgot that her own opinion of herself mattered the most. Amara Reid was proof that someone bullied for a long enough period of time will eventually start to believe the lies of their tormentors.

        "All right, Wheeler," Steve piped up, the first to lead the group into a vast enclosure with multiple entrances. "I think we found your hub."

        "Let's drench it," Mike declared.

        They got to work, leaving one canister of gasoline by the entrance from which they came to ensure they left the same way and eventually swapping it with an empty one once they needed to use it. The stench of death and decay lingering in the tunnels was quickly replaced by the scent of gasoline as the group worked as a team to douse every square inch of the hub, ceiling included thanks to the reach of the pesticide sprayer. While neither smell was pleasant, they were each other's antithesis in this case. Amara had been acquainted with the Upside Down long enough to understand that fire was its greatest weakness.

        Once they'd used up every ounce of gasoline, the group retreated to the edge of the hub, preparing to hurry back to the exit the second the flames made contact with the vines. "All right, you guys ready?" Steve asked, extracting the lighter Amara had returned to him following the skirmish at the junkyard. Even though he would have preferred her to have remained inside the bus, he was thankful that her discovery of the hive mind had helped them now.

        There was a mumble of agreement from the others and a "light her up" from Dustin. Steve flicked the lighter open and muttered, "I am in such deep shit," before he activated it and tossed it into the gasoline-drenched hub. The fire caused the vines to spring to life and thrash in pain but Amara could hardly feel any remorse, not when so many people had died. The group shielded their eyes from the abrupt light source provided by the flames, quickly getting to their feet and sprinting back the way they'd come.

        "Let's go! Let's go!" Steve urged them on through the tunnels, keeping an eye on the map to verify that they were heading in the right direction. It was much easier to run when they weren't lugging heavy gallons of gas, but there was no guarantee they could outrun the Demodogs the Mind Flayer had undoubtedly sent their way. Regardless, they'd succeeded in drawing them away from the lab and ensuring that Eleven would be able to close the gate.

        "Help! Help!" Mike had tripped on the uneven ground and a vine had snaked around his leg to restrain him. Dustin and Lucas tried pulling him out, but the vine remained latched onto him. Amara brought her crowbar down onto the vine and struck it until it severed, releasing its hold on Mike. Lucas and Dustin helped him to his feet, checking to confirm that he wasn't injured.

        "Guys, we gotta go! We gotta go now!" Dustin shrieked, but the first growl from a Demodog prompted them to back up. They should have been thankful that it was only one monster, which was easier to kill than a horde, but it also happened to be the one Dustin had once been so fond of, only recognizable by the yellow pattern etched into its skin. Amara and Steve raised their weapons, a silent promise to the Demodog that they would attack if it took another step forward, and Steve grasped Dustin's shoulder as if to warn him not to repeat his mistake of trusting the creature that had devoured his cat. However, he stepped forward, hoping his pet of three days would recognize him.

        "Dart?" Dustin tried. His companions clamored at him to get back but he pleaded for them to trust him. Dart approached him but made no move to attack, though that might have been because the two older teens kept their weapons handy.

        "Hey. It's me, it's me," Dustin removed his bandanna and snorkeling mask, kneeling down in front of Dart. "It's just your friend, it's Dustin. It's Dustin, all right? You remember me? Will you let us pass?" Dart snarled in response, but Dustin somehow remained unfazed. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the storm cellar. That was a pretty douchey thing to do. You hungry? Yeah?"

        "He's insane," Lucas whispered, careful not to draw Dart's attention. The rest of the group whispered at him to keep quiet. As outlandish as Dustin was, whatever he was doing seemed to be working.

        Dustin had removed his backpack and held up a Three Musketeers bar. Amara remembered Dustin's defense for naming him Dart, about how he liked nougat. "I've got our favorite. See? Nougat." Apparently, he had been right, for Dart eagerly approached the chocolate Dustin was holding out for him. He proceeded to unwrap the candy bar and break it into pieces for Dart to eat. "Look at that. Yummy. Here, all right? Eat up, buddy. Come on. Come on."

        While Dart was preoccupied, Dustin motioned for the others to pass as he offered the rest of the nougat in his backpack to him. It was odd how Dustin still cared for Dart after he had eaten his cat, but love was strange like that. Amara's parents could get mad at her for invading a personal conversation of theirs or lose trust in her when she lied to them, but nothing would ever stop them from loving her. Because love was supposed to be unconditional.

        Even if Dustin's bond with Dart had cost him his cat, it had saved their lives. Perhaps if Dart didn't trust Dustin, they would've had to fight him.

        After that, the group only had a few more twists and turns left to go before they reached the exit. Dart's appearance had been a warning that the other Demodogs were not far behind, as evidenced by the rumbling of the tunnels that caused them all to lose their footing. The roars of the monsters were quick to follow, monsters Amara knew wouldn't be as sympathetic as Dart.

        "What was that?" Max panicked, getting to her feet.

        "They're coming," Mike realized, whipping around to where the screeching was echoing from. "Run! Run!"

        They only needed to round one more corner until they located the hole, where Steve and Amara were quick to hoist Max up the rope to safety. Lucas was next, then Mike, and then Dustin. Amara and Steve were the only ones left in the tunnels, with far too little time for them both to reach the surface. Steve gestured for Amara to grab the rope so he could help her up, but she instead drew her crowbar and planted her feet as firmly as she could on the slippery ground.

        "What the hell are you doing?" Steve bellowed over the noise of the rapidly approaching stampede. The kids were crouched above the pit, yelling at the two of them to hurry up. "Get up there now! They're going to kill you!"

        "And they're not going to kill you?" Amara shouted back, tightening her grip on her crowbar as the shadows of the Demogorgons emerged on the wall in front of them. "You're no more invincible than I am, Steve. We do this together, okay?"

        Steve could only nod and lift up his bat in line with Amara's crowbar, aware that he had a limited amount of time to challenge her. When he had left the bus at the junkyard it was to protect her and the kids, but it had nearly cost him his life. Now he was in another scenario where he could die and Amara was refusing to let him make the same mistake of going it alone. They stood a better chance of surviving if they fought together – they only needed to hold off the Demogorgons long enough for Eleven to finish closing the gate.

        Amara had brushed death multiple times throughout her involvement in the fight against the Upside Down, both a year ago and tonight. But this time, she decided, if she died it was for the greater good because the supernatural world would finally be cut off from Hawkins. Eleven would finally get the life she deserved where she was treated as a human being rather than a lab rat, Will would be freed from the entity that had taken over his body and used him as a vessel to murder dozens, and Barb would be avenged. Most importantly, Amara had finally discovered her answer to the question of whether to remain unseen and unjudged or attempt to make friends only to face the same treatment she had faced growing up in Cleveland. Like Robin had said, if there was just one person who bothered getting to know her, it didn't matter that most people wouldn't spare her a second glance. It was only fitting that if she perished it was alongside the first person other than Robin to see her as someone of worth.

        I'm sorry, Kevin, Amara thought as the drove of Demodogs rounded the corner, looks like you might actually have to tell Mom and Dad I got trampled to death by a crowd of Freddie Mercury fans.

        But the hive mind operated in mysterious ways. Those two pesky humans would've provided an exceptional meal if it wasn't for the fact that the bridge between the real world and the Upside Down was closing at a rapid pace. It had all been a trap, a ploy to set the collective consciousness off course and distract it from the real threat in the form of a telekinetic girl named Eleven. So the Demodogs settled for abandoning the fresh meat awaiting them and scampered back to where the Mind Flayer was ordering them to go.

        What the hell? Amara silently wondered as Steve gripped her shoulder to keep her upright before the answer hit her: the hive mind. The Mind Flayer must have discovered that their setting the hub on fire wasn't their method of defeating him, but rather their method of diverting his army away from who was defeating him. It had to mean that Eleven was closing the gate.

        Amara could only hope that Eleven would be able to close the gate before the Demodogs made it back to the lab.

        The horde disappeared completely and only then did Steve loosen his hold on Amara. His first instinct was to ask if she was alright but he decided it was a better idea for them to escape the tunnels first, so he lifted her up enough for her to climb through the pit. The crisp autumn air was a wonderful juxtaposition to the murky atmosphere within the tunnels; Amara hadn't recognized how difficult it had been to transfer air in and out of her lungs until she was back on solid earth, and Will had breathed in that air for a week.

        "Holy shit!" Dustin exclaimed once Amara finished ascending from the tunnels. "Are you okay?"

        "I'm fine, just help me with Steve," Amara panted, extending her hand so Steve could grasp it. He had no one to give him a boost so he was completely reliant on those already at the top to help him up. Either way, he was able to clamber up to the surface, huffing as he joined the others where the grass bled into the soil. There was a beat of silence, until –

        "I can't believe you shitheads dragged me into this," Steve respired, yanking off his bandanna and goggles. "We almost died again."

        "But we didn't," Mike pointed out, removing his own gear. Despite the fact that Steve had dated Nancy for a year he and Mike appeared to get along the least. "And more importantly, El didn't."

        "We don't know that!" Steve shouted, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Those things are headed back to the lab right now, this whole thing could've been for nothing – "

        "No, look," Amara drew their attention to the headlights of Billy's Camaro, which were glowing brighter than normal. She recognized that surge of electricity amid the presence of anything supernatural, whether it was from the Demogorgon rupturing the fabric of space and time or Eleven exerting her powers to a great extent. She pinpointed the latter to be the reason behind the brightening of the car's headlights, and it wasn't just the headlights: their flashlights were also affected.

        After a few moments, the lights returned to normal and the group removed their hands from in front of their eyes. It had to have meant that the Mind Flayer had either overpowered Eleven or she had been able to close the gate, but they all had a feeling she had succeeded.

        "What now?" Lucas was the first to speak. They had come up with a plan to bait themselves and ensure Eleven was able to close the gate without trepidation of being killed, but none of them had thought of what to do in the event that they actually won.

        Steve was the first to reach Billy's car, where he got into the driver's seat before Amara could. She made no move to stop him, not liking the idea of driving his car again even if they were no longer in a hurry. Amara might have just helped set a hub on fire and contributed to the downfall of the Upside Down, but she still couldn't handle driving a foreign car. And that was okay.

        "We go home."

published to quotev: 9/18/22
published to wattpad: 8/24/24

dedicated to anyone else who has a nervous breakdown while driving, failed their first road test, and can't fathom living anywhere that isn't walkable. amara you are so much braver than i could ever be