Chapter Forty-Two

I gasped as I entered the Upside Down. It looked like our world, but a lot darker and scarier. My heart was racing as I didn't know what to do. Or where to find Steve.

Suddenly, Robin, Eddie, and Nancy popped up beside me, holding an ore. "I told you guys to stay," I told them, glaring at them.

"We thought you'd need help." Robin holds up an ore, and I take it from her. We looked around for a minute before I saw Steve being strangled in the distance by some bats. My heart was thumping with adrenaline as I run over with Nancy, Robin, and Eddie.

Using the ore, I smacked the bat with an ore that was clawing at Steve's stomach. "Hey there." I greeted, and I smacked the other bat away from him. Robin stands on the tail of the bat choking Steve and I smashed my ore into them repeatedly.

"Shit!" Eddie cursed, and I looked over seeing the many devil bats coming our way. A singular bat comes Eddie's way, and he hits it with an ore. "Juno, behind you! Watch out!" A bat latches onto me, and I let out a small squeal, Robin grabs onto its tail and pulls.

"Get it off!" I cried out, Nancy going to help Robin, tugging and pulling. Robin yanks the bat off me and I gasped out in pain. Robin flings it down, and Nancy grabs the ore and kills it. Steve was whipping him into the ground by its tail, he had managed to get it off him.

The pain was throbbing in my right shoulder, and I knew it was bleeding. Eddie stabs the broken end of his ore into a bat and then pushes it into the ground.

We all turned to Steve, who continued to thrash his bat against the ground, then stepped on its head and yanked its tail, ripping the creature in half. Blood drips from Steve's mouth, which hangs open exhaustedly.

"Steve!" I run over to Steve as Steve bends over.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Eddie snapped, throwing his ore to the ground.

"Are you okay?" I asked Steve quickly, my heart still thumping. He turned to me, and his entire stomach was bleeding out.

"Well, they took about a pound of flesh," Steve spoke. "But other than that, yeah, never better."

"Uh, do you guys think these bats have like, rabies?" Robin asked.

"What?" Steve questioned her.

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

A screech was in the distance, and a couple more of the devil bats come flying our way. We gathered around each other, the creatures pearch around the gate. "All right. There's not that many." Steve informed us. There were about 5. They turned to us and screeched. "We can take 'em. Right?"

"I'm not liking the chances." I gulped. And then, another dozen more come flying our way in the distance.

"You were saying?" Robin asked. Nancy turns to a tree line behind us.

"The woods. Come on." Nancy insisted, and I didn't think about it twice before following down the dark path and towards the woods, red lighting above us.

"Great," Robin spoke behind us. "More running."

︾

We had found Skull Rock, and I was peeking up at the sky, the devil bats were above, yet I had no idea where we were lucky. There were more than a dozen, my guess was like, 50.

White particles were floating through the air as we finally ventured out from underneath the Skull Rock.

"Oh... Okay." Robin breathes. "That was close." The swam had past us.

"Yeah. Too close." Eddie agreed. I noticed Steve slumping against the rock, and my eyes widened.

"Steve?" I questioned, going towards him. "Jesus."

"I'm... I'm fine. I'm fine." Steve stammered, and I shook my head.

"No, no. You're not fine. You're losing blood." I tell him. "Come on, sit." I guided him down to sit on the ground, and I followed. Steve pulled a hand away from one of his wounds, which oozed blood. I ripped off some of my shirts, Robin kneeling beside me.

"Okay." Robin quickly said. "The good news is I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or if you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know."

"Robin." Steve wheezes out.

"Yeah?" Robin looked at Steve.

"I kinda wanna punch you," Steve tells her.

Robin chuckled. "Sense of humour's still intact. That's a good sign. Okay..." Robin leaves me to fix up Steve.

I take some of my shirts off, and Steve straightens as I hold the clothing. "You ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," Steve replied. "Just do it." He winces as I wrap the clothing around his waist. "It's okay."

"Too tight?" I asked as I tightened it a little more.

"No, that's good," Steve informed me, and I tied it together. He grunts in pain and I felt bad. I briefly met his gaze, before glancing down shyly. "Thanks." He whispered.

"You're welcome," I whispered, feeling the tension. God, I want to kiss him. I made eye contact with him, our faces were extremely close. "Um, anyti..." I could feel him leaning in a little more, our foreheads pressed against each other.

"So, uh..." At the sound of Eddie's voice, we broke out of our trance, glancing over at him as he was on the rock, looking at Hawkins. "This place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?"

"Pretty much," Nancy replied as I helped Steve get up. "Wait, watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind."

"It's all a what?" Eddie questioned as he paused.

"All the creepy crawlies around here, dude," Steve spoke up. "They're, like, one or something. You step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna."

"Shit," Eddie replied as he steps carefully over all the vines.

"But everything from our world is still here, right?" Robin asked. "Expect people, obviously?"

"As far as I understand, yes," Nancy responded.

"So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate," Robin suggested, and I liked the idea.

"I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin." Steve rolled his eyes. "But, guns, yeah, sure."

"They don't have grenades, but they definitely have deadly weapons." I nodded. "I know that station like the back of my hand. I can get us the guns. I even know where the key is kept for it."

"Well, we don't have to go all the way downtown to get guns," Nancy said. "I have guns in my bedroom."

"You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" Eddie questioned.

"Well, one of them is Juno's. She gave them to me before she left to Cali." Nancy pointed to me, and I nodded. 

"Yeah, yeah. That's right, I did." I smiled.

"Full of surprises, isn't she?" Robin chuckled.

"A Russian Makarov and a revolver," Nancy remembered.

"Yeah, the Russian Makarov is mine." I pointed to myself. Eddie gave me a look. "What? My Dad was Chief of police, he gave it to me as a gift."

"Yeah, Jun almost shot me with it. Twice." Steve held up to fingers, going to stand next to it.

"First time, I was practising. Second time, you almost deserved it." I flirted, giving him a smile. Eddie throws his denim jacket at Steve.

"For your modesty, dude," Eddie tells him, and suddenly, the floor under us shook, making all of us stumble to the ground. I stumbled into Steve, who was holding me tightly. We were clinging to each other as we held onto the rock.

The shaking subsides. Creatures in the distance shriek.

"Yeah, so guns seem like a pretty good idea to me," Eddie spoke; he was on the ground with Robin.

"Yeah, me too." Robin agreed. I finally let go of Steve, having the courage to.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Eddie asked. Steve puts on the vest, making him a little hotter. How is that possible? Steve turns on his flashlight, and we moved towards Nancy's household.

Thank God she's got guns.