NINE. the end of the world
— THE END OF THE WORLD
season two — episode nine
CHAPTER NINE
OLIVER DIDN'T KNOW WHAT to do as he watched Mike almost run toward the girl that was in front of them, both of them mumbling each other's names before finally wrapping their arms around the other, almost like they were afraid to let go again. His eyes flickered around the room as he tried to ease how awkward he felt while watching two teenagers reunite. It might've been different if he actually knew them well, but he did not. "Is that. . ." Max trailed off, looking over at Lucas for confirmation. He gave her a quick nod and she turned back to them, sort of shocked.
But. . . didn't they say that they had watched her die? So how was she right there at that moment alive and well, breathing with zero problems. Oliver furrowed his eyebrows and awkwardly looked down at his shoes, realizing how dirty they had become over the course of a few hours. One of them was also sadly covered in blood, which would be quite frightening to anyone who didn't know what was going on.
"I never gave up on you," Mike's voice was very quiet, but so was the entire room, so he could hear him very clearly. "I called you every night. Every night for—." He was cut off by the shorter girl in front of him. "353 days." She finished, shaking her head as she did.
"I heard." Her voice was painful to listen to. It was like there were tears keeping her from talking with her chest, her throat closing up because of how emotional she had become. Now confused, Mike looked down at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" He asked, a little disheartened. Hopper perked up from where he stood and began to walk over to the two.
"Because I wouldn't let her." He walked past Mike and stood in front of El, taking in her new look. "The hell is this? Where you been?" She quickly retaliated with a snarky tone. "Where have you been?" He wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her toward him and she just allowed herself to be encased by the hug. Oliver smiled sadly at the interaction before he attention was brought back to Mike.
"You've been hiding her." Mike said as realization washed over him, a look of betrayal finding itself on his face. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike reached over and shoved him by his shoulder, which ended with Hopper grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. "Hey! Let's talk. Alone." With that, Hopper dragged Mike into Will's room and Oliver could practically hear the anger that was protruding from Mike.
Oliver cleared his throat awkwardly, looking back down at his shoes to try and distract himself from the oh so familiar sound of arguing. Eleven walked forward and enveloped both Lucas and Dustin into a hug, both of them extremely relieved and happy to see the girl. "We missed you." Lucas said while smiling, eyes closed as he embraced the warmth he felt. "I missed you, too." Oliver couldn't help but smile at the interaction, happy to see that they were finally being reunited with the girl. "We talked about you pretty much every day." They all pulled away from the hug and El began to study them, eyebrows furrowing when her eyes landed on Dustin.
She reached forward and stuck her thumb into his mouth, touching his front teeth. "Teeth." She said — which caused Dustin to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "What?" She pursed her lips, thinking that he would've understood what she was saying right away. "You have teeth." She repeated and Dustin smiled brightly, looking over at Lucas.
"Oh. You like these pearls?" Oliver almost jumped out of his skin when Dustin purred, staring at him with the most confused and disgusted face he could muster. "The hell was that, Henderson?" Dustin looked over at him and frowned, raising his middle finger in front of him. Oliver placed a hand over his heart with a frown before he reciprocated the action, giving him a taunting look. "Eleven?" Oliver turned toward Max, who was walking over to where the boys and Eleven stood.
"Hey. Um, I'm Max." She stuck her hand out in front of her, waiting for Eleven to do the same thing and shake her hand. "I've heard a lot about you." She smiled sweetly at her. Instead of getting what she hoped for, Eleven only gave her a stink-eye and pushed past her, walking towards Joyce instead. Max looked down at the ground as her hand fell to her side, incredibly hurt by this action. When Joyce and Eleven stepped away, Oliver walked over to where Max stood, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. "It'll be alright. You just gotta show her how awesome you really are." Max smiled sadly and looked up at him, giving him a nod. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."
Steve smiled in admiration, watching as the blonde comforted the teen beside him. There was something about him — something that he couldn't quite explain. All he knew was that it was a good thing. Oliver watched as Joyce and Eleven came back toward the kitchen, walking over to the table. He directed Max over to where they stood and waited as Eleven looked down at the bright red words that were plastered on a cardboard backing. "You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asked her as the group stopped behind them. "Yes."
"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" El remained silent and just looked forward, as if she was thinking. During that time, Hopper and Mike had returned and Oliver couldn't help but feel sorry for the young teen. His eyes were puffy and his nose was red — he had most definitely been crying. "What's going on?" Mike asked, his voice a little hoarse.
"We're thinking about getting El to close the gate." Nancy spoke up, frowning at her younger brother's appearance. Hopper shook his head while crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs." Dustin perked up at these words and quickly butted in. "Demo-dogs."
Oliver gave him a bewildered look as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, what?" Hopper questioned, turning toward the boy that was sat beside him. "I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put then together, it sound pretty badass—." Hopper looked at him with an unamused look on his face as he explained.
"How is this important right now?" He interrupted, starting to get annoyed with all of the kids in the room. "It's not. I'm sorry." He pursed his lips and turned away, looking at the center of the table. El turned to look at Hopper, a look of determination on her face. "I can do it." Hopper shook his head with a sigh, meeting her gaze.
"You're not hearing me." He said, closing his eyes in slight frustration. He wasn't going to risk losing his, let's be honest, his daughter. "I'm hearing you," El said with a stern voice. "I can do it." Mike pursed his lips as he listened to her, shaking his head ever so slightly. Oliver started thinking. If they close the gate, all connections are cut off and both the Demo-dogs and the Mind Flayer perish. But. . . if that's the case, Will's going to die too. Steve noticed the look of sudden realization on Oliver's face and furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" Steve asked — which caused everyone to look over at the two. "If we close the gate. . . won't that cause another problem? We've determined that if the brain dies, the body dies." They nodded along with him, some of them confused as they thought that was the whole point. "The body is the army. Will's apart of that army. If we close the gate we kill him."
Everyone slowly turned to look at the mother of said boy, a look of distress plastered on her face. Joyce got up from the table and walked out of the room, heading down the hall and into Jonathan's bedroom — where Will was currently residing. Everyone followed after her and stayed a little ways away as she looked down at her son sadly. Her eyes moved over to the open window in the room that was currently covered by a plaid sheet. "He likes it cold." Oliver furrowed his eyebrows and looked over at her before also looking at the sheet-covered window. Suddenly, it clicked. "What?"
Oliver ran forward and slammed the window shut, scaring a few of them. "It's what Will kept saying to ne. He likes it cold." She referred to the now closed window. "We keep giving it what it wants." She said and everyone else finally seemed to understand.
"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then. . ." Nancy trailed off, trying to figure out the best way to say what was on her mind. "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan finished, earning a nod from both Oliver and Joyce. Nancy nodded as well after a few moments of silence. "So if he likes it cold. . ." She trailed off once again.
"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce said with a scarily stern voice. The type of tone that you hear from your mother when she's about to scold you. "We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike added and Hopper had this look on his face as if he was thinking.
"I know a place." He said before walking over to Will and lifting him out of the bed, making sure he was wrapped in a blanket. Oliver walked out of the room, grabbing both of the coms that they had previously used to try and decipher what Will had been saying in morse code. Jonathan immediately started to head for the front door, Hopper following after him as he unlocked his car.
"Take Denfield, then you'll see a large oak tree—." Hopper gave the directions to wherever he was thinking to Jonathan. Oliver handed both of the coms to Joyce and she smiled sweetly at him. Oliver really didn't know how to act in that situation considering his mother had never really payed much attention to him, so he only smiled back, his eyes curving into two crescent moons. The door shut behind Joyce and Oliver turned to look at the rest of the group. "Go find heaters. Lots of them." Mike said from where he stood and Nancy and Steve walked out of the house through the back door, searching through the pile of items they had thrown out of the shed a few hours prior.
Oliver stayed near the front door as he waited for the two to return with the heaters in case he needed to help. Turns out, he only ended up carrying one to the trunk of Jonathan's car. After setting it in the trunk he reunited with the rest of the group that were standing on the porch. Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce, Hopper, Will, and El were all leaving. Hopper and El were going back to the lab in hopes of El closing the gate, and the other four were going someplace to attempt to unpossess Will. "Just be careful, okay? I can't lose you again." Mike said to El from where he stood, the girl standing in front of him with a small smile on her face.
"You won't lose me." She said with a shake of the head, reassuring her lover that stood in front of her. Oliver awkwardly shuffled from side-to-side when he saw the two of them, scratching the nape of his neck before he looked down at his shoes, frowning at the blood once again. "El. . . come on, let's go. It's time." Oliver's head shot up at this and he watched as El got into the passenger seat of his car. Jonathan backed out of the driveway first and Hopper followed soon after. The group that remained at the house watched as both cars got smaller and smaller until they were out of their line of vision.
After that, they all walked inside, aside fron Mike. Oliver stood in the doorway as he looked at Mike — who was still looking off sadly into the distance. Oliver sighed and walked forward, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "She's not gonna come back any faster if you wait out here. I'm sure she wouldn't want to come back to a frozen boyfriend." Mike's cheeks lit up at those words as he slowly nodded, allowing Oliver to lead him into the house.
OLIVER WAS SITTING ON the couch, exhaustion finally getting the best of him as he watched Steve and Dustin struggle to shove a demo-dog into the Byers' fridge. How they were going to explain that to Joyce was beyond him. Lucas was now cleaning up the broken glass from the window with the help of Max while Mike paced around the room nervously, a million thoughts in his head. Oliver looked up when he heard the sound of glass hitting glass suddenly cease. Lucas had paused what he was doing and was now looking at Mike with an unamused look on his face. "Mike, would you just stop already?" Mike stopped pacing and looked at him.
"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs." Oliver pulled his feet up to his chest before he fell onto the couch, the right side of his body now laying on the cushions. "Demo-dogs!" Dustin shouted from the kitchen, earning an eye roll from Mike. "The chief will take care of her." Max scoffed and chuckled bitterly, still a little upset by their first interaction.
"Like she needs protection." She muttered. Steve walked into the living room with Dustin not too far behind, a rag resting on his shoulder. Oliver snickered at the sight of him, thinking he looked a little too much like a mother about to scold her kids. "Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Mike furrowed his eyebrows as he scrunched up his face, trying to figure out if Steve had really thought this one through. Spoiler — he hadn't. "Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench."
"Right. So my point is. . ." Steve paused and everyone looked at him expectedly, waiting for him to continue with bored looks on their faces. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do." He slung his rag over his shoulder and Dustin looked over at him, having a 'light bulb' moment. "That's not entirely true."
Oliver focused on him as he propped himself up by his elbows, an eyebrow raised. "I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away." Dustin said and the moment replayed in Oliver's head while he slowly nodded.
"So if we get their attention. . ."
"Maybe we can draw them away from the lab." Max added, turning to Lucas who nodded. Steve looked between all of them while Oliver just nodded along, sort of agreeing with their idea. "Clear a path to the gate." Steve crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at each of them in disbelief. "Yeah, and then we all die." Oliver nodded along, agreeing with that as well. It may seem like a good idea but it would most likely end up with them getting eaten up like a full course meal.
"That's one point of view." Dustin said and Steve turned to look at him, flabbergasted. "No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Mike ran over to one of the areas in the kitchen, pointing at one of the drawings that covered the entire house. "This is where the chief dug his hole. This us our way into the tunnel. So. . ." Oliver sat up from the couch and followed after them, studying the gloomy drawings of the vines. "Here, right here. This is like a hub." He knelt down at the area on the floor where the drawings formed a big area. "So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire. . ."
Steve's eyes widened and he turned to look at them, shaking his head. "Oh, yeah? That's a no." However, the younger teens just ignored him and continued to form a plan with or without his approval. "The mind flayer would call away his army." Dustin said. Oliver didn't pay much mind to Steve either as he listened to what they had to say, actually considering it. "They'd all come to stop us."
"Hey."
"We circle back to the exit."
"Guys."
"By the time they realize we're gone—." Mike was cut off by a certain redhead. "El would be at the gate." Max said and Mike nodded, telling her that she was correct. Steve realized that they were ignoring him and started to clap his hands, finally earning their attention. "Hey. Hey! Hey! This is not happening."
"But—."
"No, no, no, no, no. No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everyone understand?" Oliver stood from where he was kneeling on the floor, looking at Steve with a frown. By now, Steve had one hand on his hip while he used to other to exaggerate what he was saying. "This isn't some stupid sports game." Mike said, annoyed by Steve and starting to wonder why he was even there in the first place.
"I said does everybody understand that?" He asked sternly, yanking the rag off of his shoulder as he pointed at them accusingly. "I need a yes." Nobody said a word, Max rolling her eyes as they soon realized that Steve wasn't ever going to cooperate. The silence that filled the room was interrupted by the obnoxious sound of an engine revving. Oliver immediately knew who it was, and so did Max.
Max felt herself pale as she ran over to the couch, peeking out of the window that was displayed behind it, watching as her brother's car pulled into the driveway. "It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us." Oliver and Steve glanced at each other before Oliver turned to the kids.
"Stay away from the window." He instructed as he started to head for the door, yanking it open before stepping out into the cold air, Steve following behind. The car jerked to a stop and immediately after Billy emerged from it, leaning up against his car as he looked at the two teenagers that stood on the porch, a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. "Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?" He asked, not as shocked to see Oliver there — considering he was just as much as a loser as Jonathan Byers.
"Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants." Billy slammed his car door shut as he shrugged off his jacket. Oliver and Steve started to make their way to them. "What are you doing here, amigos?" He asked the two of them as they approached him, placing his cigarette between his lips once more. "I could ask you the same thing. Amigo." Steve copied. Oliver held a cold look on his face that was, truthfully, terrifying.
"Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." Oliver scoffed and shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. "Take your little birdie and shove it up your ass. She's not here." He said and Steve nodded along, agreeing with whatever he said. Billy furrowed his eyebrows in fake confusion and concern. "Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch." Oliver hated the way he described Max but didn't say anything as to not blow their cover. Instead, he rolled his eyes.
"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, asshole." Oliver said, crossing his arms over his chest. Billy nodded his head as he took a large puff of his cigarette. "You know, I don't know, this. . ." He shook his hands a little as to emphasize what he was saying before clicking his tongue. "This whole situation, I don't know." He looked at the two of them, a bad feeling washing over Oliver. "It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Steve asked, wanting this whole conversation to be over so he could continue to tell the kids why their idea was absolutely shit. "My 13-year-old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you two in a stranger's house. And you lie to me about it." Steve chuckled and shook his head, looking at him once more.
"Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what?" Oliver almost laughed but kept his composure, giving Billy his death stare. Billy laughed as he blew out a large cloud of smoke directly into their faces. Oliver crunched his face in disgust and almost smacked the cigarette right out of his grasp. "I don't know what you don't understand about what we just said. She's not here."
Billy used his cigarette to point at the large window that peered into the Byers' living room. "Then who is that?" The two of them both turned around at the same time, watching as four kids ducked down in a panicked way. Oliver mentally cursed as he sighed, turning to look back at Billy. "Oh, shit. Listen—." Steve was cut off by Billy knocking him to the ground. "I told you to plant your feet." He kicked him in his stomach and Oliver frowned, using the back of his shoe to kick him in the shin.
Billy laughed bitterly and pulled him back by the hood of his jacket, causing him to fall to the ground as well, wincing as soon as his back his the concrete. "Shit, Oliver. Are you okay?" Steve asked, a little out of breath from the blow he had received. He nodded and pushed himself off of the concrete just as a loud crash was heard from inside. The two of them shared a look before they rushed inside, disregarding their own wounds in fear that one of them had been hurt. Oliver felt his blood boil when he saw Billy cornering Lucas up against a shelf, threatening him. "You are so dead, Sinclair! You're dead."
Steve ran forward and grabbed him by his shoulder, forcing him to turn around and face him. "No. You are." He said before swinging his fist, hitting Billy square in his face. However, Billy, being the maniac that he is, started laughing as he looked back at Steve, blood dripping from his mouth from how hard Steve had punched him. Oliver used this opportunity to grab Lucas by his forearm and drag him away from the shelf, pushing him into the group of younger kids. "Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?" Steve fixed his hair and Oliver watched from afar, waiting to step in if he had to. "I've been waiting to meet this Kind Steve everybody's been telling me so much about." Steve shoved a harsh finger into Billy's chest, forcing him to stagger back a bit.
"Get out." He said in a dark tone, angry at him for two reasons. One reason was he had hurt Lucas. And the other. . . he had hurt Oliver. That made him upset beyond belief, but he didn't know why it had angered him so much. They were just friends. . . so why had it made him so angry?
Billy didn't like his words very much. He raised his fist and swung it, but Steve had predicted it and ducked just in time, landing another blow on his face. Billy fell back into the table and the younger teens in the room started to cheer for him. Steve was able to land two more blows before Billy threw a plate over his head — which caused him to stumble back in pain. Oliver straightened up at this and clenched his fists, his knuckled turning white. This was the turning point in their fight.
Now, Billy was beating the absolute shit out of Steve. Oliver watched as Steve was thrown onto the floor and Billy climbed on top of him, hitting him repeatedly. He wasn't even giving Steve the chance to get up. He let out a sharp breath and trudged forward, grabbing him by his shoulders, turning him so that they were now face-to-face. Billy looked at him with blood falling from both his nose and his mouth, a sickly sweet smile on his face. Oliver returned the very sarcastic smile before throwing him off of the other teen, landing on his back with a grunt. By now, Steve had blacked out from how many times he had hit him and Oliver was beyond pissed.
"Holy shit!" Someone shouted, but Oliver wasn't sure who it was as in that moment he was too blinded by fury. He walked over to Billy and kicked him in his side right beneath his ribs, causing him to curl up and groan, a sickly smile on his face. "Didn't know you had this in you, Choi." Oliver didn't react to his words and kicked him yet again. He knelt down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, yanking his forward to where their noses were almost touching. "You don't know shit about me." He smiled again, throwing him back to the ground. "If you dare to lay one more fucking hand on Steve or any of these kids, I will murder you." He mumbled in a cold tone.
Billy smirked and started to raise his fist to hit Oliver. However, he had sene it coming from the corner of his eye and backed away just as he was about to hit him, causing Billy to look like a fool as his arm hung from his side. He looked to the side and at the sedative that was placed on the table and turned to Max momentarily, nodding his head over in the direction. She furrowed her eyebrows but turned that way, gaze soon landing on the medication. She turned to look at Oliver and nodded her head, starting to head for it. While he was turned around, Billy elbowed him right in the ribs and Oliver staggered a bit. However, he quickly recovered and punched him in the face once more, his knuckles now bruising and scratched.
As Max went to go grab the sedative, Oliver kept Billy on the ground, throwing punches and kicks or whatever it took. Billy was shocked that the small boy was this strong. Stronger than Steve Harrington — the king of Hawkins High. "Oliver!" Max shouted and he turned just as she tossed the syringe of to him. He caught it with ease and uncapped it, not giving Billy a chance to try and figure out what it was before he swung it into his neck, injecting the medicine into him.
Oliver walked backward as Billy groggily felt his neck, looking at him with a confused look. "The hell is this? What did you do?" He tried to sit up but his body had already stopped functioning. Max stepped forward with Steve's bat in her hands, holding it over her shoulders as she stood above her brother. "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"
"Screw you." Max huffed and slammed the bat down into the flooring between his groin, barely missing him. She tore it back from the ground and held it over her shoulder once more. "Say you understand! Say it! Say it!" Billy swallowed as he looked up at his sister, now realizing that she wasn't kidding with him.
"I understand." He slurred, barely audible. Oliver watched with a smile from the side, letting Max do whatever she pleased to him. "What?" She asked, pretending like she hadn't heard him so that he spoke up and she could use that against him later in life. "I understand." He repeated with a little more volume and she dropped the bat onto the ground beside him. She bent over and dig into his pocket, pulling out the keys to his car. "Let's get out of here." She said as she turned to the group.
OLIVER NEVER SHOULD'VE LET Max drive. She barely had any experience and didn't know many rules of the road. But, he was busy keeping Steve propped up as Lucas read off directions to her in the passenger seat. Steve stirred and Oliver felt his stomach do back flips, there was no way that Steve wasn't going to freak out. I mean, come on, there was a child behind the wheel.
Steve turned his head at the sound of gasoline sloshing around in it's container and slowly panned up to whoever was holding the can, furrowing his eyebrows. "Nancy?" Mike turned to him with an offended yet confused face. Steve groaned and went to go rub his face but Dustin stopped him, pushing his arm back down to his lap. "No, don't touch it." Steve furrowed his eyebrows once again and turned to the left this time, peering over at Dustin.
"Hey, buddy. . ." He shushed him with a comforting smile. "It's okay. You put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, but you put up a fight. You're okay." Suddenly, all the pain that he hadn't felt yet came crashing down onto him and he groaned once more, stirring. Oliver wrapped his arms around his waist to keep him from moving too much and looked forward to the two in the front. "Play, you're gonna keep straight for a half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sinai." Steve darted his head over to the driver's seat.
"What's going on?" Max turned for a quick moment and, as Oliver predicted, starting freaking out when he realized that Max was the one who was driving. "Oh, my God!" Steve said through a panicked voice.
"Just relax. She's driven before." Dustin tried to reassure Steve but, of course, Mile had to ruin that like the little shitbag that he is. "Yeah, in a parking lot." Oliver scoffed and smacked him in his arm, getting him to shut up. "Y'know Wheeler, you're not helping right now." He said while placing his hands on Steve's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. "They were gonna leave you behind." Dustin said, trying to convince him that what they were doing was completely fine. "Oh, my God."
"I promised that you'd be cool, okay?" Max's grip around the wheel tightened as she pressed her foot down on the gas, the car going faster. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on?" Oliver reached forward and grabbed the back of the seat, steadying himself while he kept one arm wrapped securely around Steve. "Oh, my God. No! Whoa! Stop the car. Slow down."
"I told you he'd freak out." Mike shouted at Dustin, irritated by the teenager beside of him. "Stop the car!" Steve shouted once more, subconsciously grabbing ahold of Oliver's hand that was wrapped around him. Max, who was now annoyed by the volume in the car, started to shout at them. "Everybody shut up! I'm trying to focus!" Lucas looked down at the map that was on his lap, a panicked look washing over his face. "Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai. Make a left."
Max furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him, not seeing a road. "What?" Lucas looked over and pointed frantically. "Make a left!" She cursed and spun the wheel harshly, crashing into an old wooden pumpkin patch sign. Because of the sudden movement, the others in the car yelled out in surprise, Steve accidentally elbowing Oliver as his arms flailed around.
"Oh, my God! Holy shit!" Steve closed his eyes and let out a sharp breath as Max skidded to a stop "Hello!" Oliver shifted from behind him and pulled himself out of the car after Dustin. "Incredible." Mike muttered, in shock.
"Told you. Zoomer." Oliver smiled from where he stood beside the car before turning on his heel and popping open the trunk. He tossed a pair of gloves to Max as she rounded the corner and stood beside him before he grabbed a pair for himself. He then grabbed a bandana and folded it before wrapped it around his face so that it covered his nose and his mouth. Dustin had told him that this stuff could be toxic so it was better to be safe than sorry. "Guys." Steve slurred, still regaining consciousness as he stumbled out of the car.
"Oh, no. Guys." He muttered when he saw all of them gearing up. Oliver fastened a pair of goggles around his eyes. "Hey," Mike walked past him with a long rope in his hands, tying it to the front of the car. "Where do you think you're going?" Mike ignored him and continued to tie the rope, making sure that it was secure before he started to walk toward the hole that led to the tunnels. "What are you, deaf? Hello?"
"We are not going down there right now. I made myself clear. Hey, there's no chance we're going to that hole, all right?" Oliver grabbed the bag that had Steve's bat and tossed it to Dustin and nodded his head toward Steve before he walked past and started to help the others get down into the hole. It didn't seem like it took much to convince Steve as he was in the tunnels with them within the next five minutes. "Holy shit." He mumbled, looking around the gloomy and disgusting walls that surrounded them.
Mike looked down at a homemade map — that was made in under three minutes — before pointing his flashlight in the direction he believed they were supposed to go. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this way. . ." Oliver racked his brain for anything, trying to remember the pattern of the vines that covered the Byers' house from head to toe. He shook his head and tore the map away from the younger Wheeler. "Definitely not. Just follow me." He said as he folded up the piece of paper, stuffing it into one of the back pockets of his jeans. "Oh, and how are you so sure?" Steve asked him, still unsure about this whole thing as he carefully looked around, flashlight gripped tightly in his hand.
"You're talking to someone who has an IQ of 186 and eidetic memory. I know where I'm going." He said plainly, staring up at him with an annoyed look. Steve turned to look at Dustin, who shrugged and made a gesture, basically telling him to trust Oliver. "Alright fine. If any of you little shits die down here, that includes you, Ollie," Oliver rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm getting the blame. Got it? So help me god, if you're wrong about this, Choi, I will haunt your ass."
Oliver mocked him with a taunt before he spun on his heel and began walking, his mind now preoccupied with a photo memory of a map of Hawkins. He didn't hear anyone following him at first and turned around, raising an eyebrow. "Are you guys coming, or what?" They glanced at each other before they raced after him, gasoline cans and flashlight in their hands.
He didn't let any of them distract him and instead ignored anything they said as he directed them, wanting to get this done and over with as soon as possible. This place gave him chills. However, he did stop when he heard a high pitched scream. He furrowed his eyebrows and immediately turned around to run after whoever had possibly gotten hurt. When he reached whoever it was — which turned out to be Dustin — he was lying on the floor with his mask off as he tried to spit something out of his mouth. "It's in my mouth! Some got in my mouth! Shit!"
"Dustin, what happened? You okay?" Oliver asked as he knelt down, trying to see if the boy was alright or not. He coughed harshly and wiped his mouth, perking up on his knees. He glanced at each of them as he started to fixed his mask. "I'm okay." Oliver huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose, turning around once again. "You serious?"
"Very funny, man. Nice. Very nice."
"Jesus, what an idiot."
And their adventure continued. Oliver was still leading the way, but the farther they got, the more uneasy he felt. He pursed his lips as he looked around, emerging into a large area that the tunnels fed in to. "All right, Wheeler. I think we found your hub." The others were actually kind of shocked that Oliver was able to find it without a map, but they were starting to understand that he was full of surprises.
"Drench it." And so they did. Each of them grabbed a can full of gasoline and started to pour it out onto the ground, splash it on the walls, and Lucas even had one that made it possible to spray the ceilings. The smell of gasoline was the only thing they could smell by the time they were done. Not even their own sweat or the disgusting stench of the tunnels. Just gasoline.
Oliver dug Steve's lighter from his pocket — he had stolen it a wile back without Steve even noticing — and tossed it to him, nodding his head. Steve looked at the lighter in confusion for a quick moment, but he completely disregarded his questions when he looked back at the hub. "Alright, you guys ready?" Steve asked the others were were crowded around him, ready to run.
"Yeah." Mike said, swallowing thickly as he looked at the gasoline-covered hub. Oliver gave Steve a thumbs up when he looked at him, the others mumbled a quiet 'Ready.' Steve nodded and turned back, opening the metal casing that covered his lighter. "I am in such deep shit." He muttered before he flicked it, a small flame erupting from it. He chucked it into the hub and immediately the whole thing went up in flames. "Go!" Oliver shouted, lifting Max off of her feet while shoving the others lightly, waiting for Steve to stand before he started to run himself.
This time, Steve was in the front leading them while Oliver stayed in the back, determined the guard them with his life. Mike — who was in front of him — tripped over a loose vine and fell to the ground, the vine instinctively wrapping around his leg. Oliver cursed and dug his knife from his pocket, trying to cut the vine off of the boy. However, he wasn't having much luck. "Help!" Mike shouted and the others came running back. Steve slammed his bat down onto the vine two or three times and it finally retreated.
Oliver grabbed Mike by his upper arms and yanked him off of the ground, urging him to continue running as he looked back, hearing the sound of faint growling. When he did, he saw a demo-dog staring him straight at him. He jumped and backed up a bit, not having any good experiences with them. "Dart." Dustin said and Oliver's eyes moved down to the yellow pattern that covered his backside. Yup. Definitely Dart.
Slowly, Dustin walked forward despite the many protests he had received and knelt down in front of Dart, taking off both his mask and his goggles. "Hey. It's me, it's me. It's just your friend, it's Dustin. It's Dustin, alright? You remember me? Will you let us pass?" At that, Dart's mouth opened up, showcasing it many rows of deadly teeth as he growled at Dustin.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the storm cellar. That was a pretty douchey thing to do. You hungry?" Dart seemed to perk up at that as he looked at Dustin. . . hopefully? Oliver was kind of shocked that he could see his emotions. "Yeah? I've got our favorite. See? Nougat." He showed Dart a 3 Musketeers bar with a smile, unwrapping it before breaking off half, setting it in front of the Demo-dog.
"Look at that. Yummy. Here, all right? Eat up, buddy," He didn't look back as he called the others over with a simple movement. They wasted no time walking past him and Dart, quickly, and quietly, stepping over vines. "Come on. Come on. There's plenty. I've got more." He set the other half of the chocolate bar down before he got up, fixing his goggles and mask so he didn't have to breath in the toxic air anymore. "Goodbye, buddy." Oliver wrapped an arm around his shoulder and started to walk, forcing him to walk with him.
A loud growl tore through the air and Oliver felt his stomach drop. He looked at the younger teens and hustled them, knowing that they were nearing the exit. "Go, go!" The ground rumbled and shook and a few of them lost their footing, Oliver included. He winced when he felt right onto his injured leg but quickly disregarded it, helping the others up. "They're coming. Run! Run!" Mike shouted.
"Let's go! Let's go!" Steve shouted, making sure that the younger ones got to the rope before he did. Oliver watched as Max climbed up the rope, panic coursing through his blood. Max knelt down and stuck her arm through the hole, reaching for Lucas. He grabbed her hand and they both worked together to pull him up. Then it was Mike. Oliver heard another growl except this time it was a lot closer. "Come on, Dustin! Go!" He cupped his hands and set them in front of him, waiting for the boy to use him as a step stool. Dustin swallowed thickly and quickly climbed up, the three others pulling him up.
"Oliver! Steve!" He turned around and looked at the shadows that were displayed on a tunnel wall in front of him. A lot of Demo-dogs were coming their way. "Shit." He grabbed Steve's bat from his hand and pushed Steve behind him, despite the fact that he was trying to take his bat back. As one of them rounded the corner, he felt an arm wrap around his waist before he was pulled back into Steve's chest, another arm wrapping around his head protectively. Oliver squinted his eyes and waited for an impact, a stinging pain, or anything! But. . . nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He pried his eyes open and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw all of them going past them. He looked at Steve — who held the same confused look ok his face — but let out a huge sigh of relief, waiting for all of them to go past before he even thought about climbing up. "Eleven." Mike mumbled. And that was all that needed to be said. He knew that they were running past them because El had made it to the gate and they were going to try and stop her from closing it now.
When they finally stopped coming, Steve insisted that Oliver climbed up first. Oliver was too tried to argue, so he just did as he was told, collapsing onto the ground as soon as he was out if there, tearing the mask off of his face as he heaved in fresh air. Steve followed soon after and laid down beside him, the pain from getting the absolute shit beat out of him combined with the adventure they had just been on was enough for him to feel completely and utterly exhausted.
Oliver turned his head and looked at him, Steve doing the same. Oliver inaudibly laughed and gave him a soft smile. And that alone was enough to make Steve realize. . . everything was going to be okay.
I PROMISED YOU GUYS A NEW CHAPTER AND YOU GOT IT!!! writers block has been kicking my ass so im sorry for the late upload!! <3
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