(Ep. 9: The Gate)

As soon as the car came to a halt, everyone took a breath of relief as they managed to survive this fast and furious ride.

All of them, with the exception of Steve, jumped out of the car and started gathering their supplies. It's only a matter of time until the gate closes and they need to hurry if they want to prove to be useful.

Still struggling to get out of the car, Steve tried ignoring the throbbing pain that surrounded his face and body. He leaned beside the car door and tried absorbing what he was witnessing. "Where are you going?" he began, watching as Mike walked past him and ignored him, "What are you, deaf? Hello? We are not going down there right now. I made myself clear."

Gwen walked towards him and handed him some goggles and a face covering, "We're doing this whether you like it or not, so shut up and help us, or just stay here and wait."

Steve refused to grab the supplies and continued contradicting her, "No, there's no chance we're going in that hole, all right?"

"You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

"Gwen, please don't do this. It's too dangerous-" The bruise marks in the shape of handprints around her throat caught his attention and made him forget about everything as he seriously hopes it isn't what he thinks. "Did he do this to you?"

"What?"

"Did that son of a bitch hurt you?"

She covered her neck as soon as she realized what he was referring to. The last thing she wanted was for Steve to try and confront him again when he ended up in worse shape than Billy, so she forced a smile and ignored his question, "Did you forget that I was fighting someone as well?"

Steve knew her well enough to know she was lying. The way she avoided looking directly at his eyes, up to the way she moved her hair back, and how forced her smile was, it was clear that Billy did in fact hurt her.

"I'm going to kill that son of-"

"Calm down, Rambo. You're seriously messed up right now so that would be a terrible mistake."

"I don't care! He hurt you and I'm not going to let him get away with it!" he exclaimed.

She placed the supplies down before saying, "Well I care, and I don't want you to get hurt so please forget about it. If I can, then so can you."

Before he was able to respond, she walked away and helped the others get everything ready. Dustin had heard everything and decided to try and calm him down, "I know you're upset. I get it. I want to get back at him as well, but right now, we need to do this. A party member requires our assistance and it is our duty to provide that assistance."

Steve turned quiet and just listened to the kid knowing he's right, but he was afraid that any of them would get hurt. He can't imagine what he'd do if anything were to happen to them.

"I know you made a promise to keep us safe, so keep us safe," Dustin handed him his backpack that had his trusted bat. Steve sighed and reluctantly agreed, not wanting to leave Gwen alone to take care of the kids as he was their babysitter as well and needed to keep them safe.

The two walked over to the group who were observing the hole with precision. Gwen had dropped a rope down and was about to climb down when Steve stopped her. "If I'm agreeing to this, then I'm going first."

Not wanting to argue like usual, she simply nodded and let him jump first. He turned to look at her one last time before climbing down the rope. They waited until receiving a heads up that the coast is clear and then finally, he called them down.

Gwen grabbed the rope, but was struggling to climb down from her wrist having become inflamed. Not wanting to show just how much it was hurting, she worked through it, only her focus laid too much on her wrist that she nearly lost her balance.

He managed to catch her on time. His arms held tightly around her waist as their faces nearly touched. He tried not to smile, but he remembered his face was covered so he allowed himself to express the intense burning she caused.

She tried ignoring the frenzy his hands around her caused. Knowing she'd no longer be able to ignore her feelings and just kiss him at this instant. But she knew better than to allow such sentiments to consume her and cloud her judgment. There are far more important issues at hand than this.

Now released from his grasp, she wandered down to check the tunnels just in case he missed anything. Dust particles floated all around the air. She stuck her hand out and watched as the particles created a small mountain on her palm. Just being in these tunnels brought back the terrible memories of when she once got stuck under the mirror world.

Once Dustin climbed down, Mike studied the map in hand and began directing the others to follow him, "I'm pretty sure it's this way."

"You're pretty sure or you're certain?" Dustin questioned, worried a misguided direction would lead them to getting lost in this maze.

"I'm one hundred percent sure. Just follow me and you'll know," Mike answered irritably.

Steve blocked him from continuing and snatched the paper from his hands. There was no way he was about to let this kid go off and lead the way when there's probably tons of demo dogs hidden around.

"I don't think so. Any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame. Got it, dipshit?"

"You mean, we're getting the blame," Gwen corrected.

Steve shone the flashlight on the paper, scanning the lines that were perfectly drawn before he felt hands snatch the map from him.

"You have a terrible sense of direction so I'm leading the way. Got it, Steve?"

He smiled at the way she said his name. The name flowed so easily and perfectly that it had been a crime she hadn't said it until now.

"From here on out, I'm leading the way. Come on, let's go!"

The kids followed Gwen immediately, knowing there'd be no use complaining since she always manages to get her way. And quite frankly, she scares them.

They started running towards the hub, trying to be careful not to alert the mind flayer of their plan as they know they won't survive another demo dog attack.

"What is this place?" Max questioned.

"Come on, let's keep moving," Steve ordered.

Nearly reaching the end of the tunnel, the group came to a stop when Dustin's screams echoed throughout the passageway.

All the things that could go wrong filled her mind as she feared one of those monsters managed to get to her little brother. She pushed the kids out of the way and was no longer careful in her steps as she just needed to get to her brother on time.

"Help! Help! Help!"

"Dustin!" Everyone exclaimed.

He was on the floor freaking out and screaming all kinds of nonsense until barely yelling out audible phrases, "It's in my mouth! Some got on my mouth! Shit!"

Gwen reached down and tried calming him down, but nothing she did eased his panic and coughs as he was certain the dust would cause harm at any second. He took a deep breath and turned quiet while waiting for the particles to take effect.

The seconds felt like a blaring eternity as the group just waited for some kind of reassurance from the kid. Until finally, Dustin looked at them and blatantly said, "I'm okay."

"You serious?" Max complained.

"Very funny, man," Steve added.

Now standing up, she was annoyed on his over exaggeration but was grateful it was just another of his theatrics, "You're such an idiot." As soon as he got himself up, she whacked him against the head before pulling him in for a hug, "Don't ever freak me out like that again."

"Sorry, but I seriously thought I was going to die."

"Hurry up! Let's go!" Lucas yelled.

The siblings rejoined the group that was now led by Steve. Only a few minutes later, they finally reached the hub. All the tunnels connected at this very point. Its vast emptiness brought goosebumps down her skin as anything could go wrong at any moment. The mind flayer could learn of their visit and alert the demo dogs to surround them from every point.

"Let's drench it," Mike announced.

For once, everyone followed his orders and started emptying gallons of gasoline all around the area. The clock was ticking and at any time now, El would begin closing the gate and she needed as less complications as possible.

It only took about two minutes for everyone to finish. They walked back to the tunnel they came from and stared at their work. Nodding their heads in approval on how this would definitely be helpful.

"You guys ready?" Steve asked the group, checking to see if they're prepared for the running they're about to do.

She kneeled on his right while Dustin on his left and said, "Burn it."

"Light her up."

Steve reached for his lighter, turning back at the others before giving it a quick and harsh toss. In a split second, the entire area erupted in flames as the heat started reaching their faces. All of them became mesmerized by the intensity of the fire that they were nearly forgetting to run off.

Gwen immediately stood up and grabbed Steve and her brother by the arm, "We have to go now!"

Steve motioned the kids to start running before hurrying to the front to lead them to the exit while Gwen stayed in the back to make sure nothing was following them. Even if anything did, she had her trusty bat that never failed her once.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Dustin panicked, nearly tripping over his feet at the rapid speed they ran.

Gwen took a look back to make sure the coast was clear, but when she turned back around, she tripped over Mike who had his ankle encircled by the vines. He struggled in getting up but it seemed that with every movement, the more the vines tightened around him.

She swung the bat at the creature continuously. Hoping that at any second it would give up and release him, but with every hit given, the more angered it became. She bashed her bat aggressively as Mike screamed in panic. His yells only made her nerves increase so she tried to fade them out as much as she could, until finally, the bat won its round and Mike was released.

"You okay?"

Before receiving an answer, she felt something wrapping itself around her leg. It was tightening itself around her body as she felt it begin to drag her away while Mike screamed at the others for help and ran after her.

"Gwen!" Steve exclaimed while pushing the kids back and swinging profusely at the vines. The kids refused to do nothing and immediately ran towards her and began pulling her away from the creature.

"Let her go, you son of bitch!" Dustin yelled while gathering every ounce of strength to pull his sister back. She kicked her feet and tried freeing herself, but the thing was so adamant on keeping her here that nothing was helping.

It sure didn't help that the familiar shrieks of a demo dog were getting closer. Everyone panicked and feared this was the end of the line for them, but they'd rather die than leave a member of their party behind.

Gwen felt her heart race as she worried that because of her everyone was going to die. She scolded herself for not checking her surroundings better. If she had been extra cautious, they would've made it to the exit by now.

Steve gripped tighter on his bat, fully determined to not lose the girl he loves, and bashed the bat onto the target with even more strength. The vines began to lose their hold, soon freeing her from its grasp.

"Are you okay?" he asked while pulling her into a tight embrace.

"I am, but we have to go now-"

Her words faded when a loud growl came from behind. Not even surprised at their terrible luck, she sharply turned in its direction with nothing but an irritated expression.

"Of course," she mumbled.

Dustin stared intently at the creature from feeling a strong sense of familiarity. He searched for the yellow line his once beloved pet had and found himself happy to see that it was him.

"Dart," he called out.

The demo dog tilted its head like it understood what he said.

"Dustin, come back here!"

"Get back!"

He waved them off and shushed them as he began walking closer, "Trust me, please." He slowly removed his face covering and gently smiled at it, "Hey. It's me. It's just your friend, it's Dustin." Now kneeling in front of him, he asked, "Will you let us pass?"

Dart let out a loud screech and showed his pointy teeth that made everyone flinch back, except for Dustin who dismissed him like it was just a child snapping back.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry about the storm cellar. That was a pretty douchey thing to do. You hungry?"

Everyone stared in disbelief at how calm he was and especially that the monster seemed to understand and remember him. They watched as Dustin reached into his backpack and pulled out a three musketeer's bar.

"I've got our favorite. See? Nougat," he unwrapped it and placed it in front of Dart, who began sniffing it before taking a bite, "Eat up, buddy." Now addressing the others, he waved at them to walk past them.

They waited for Dustin to say his goodbyes and actually felt for him since Dart had become important and he had to let him go. Once Dustin returned to them, they started running back to the exit. Nearly a minute into running, the ground beneath them started shaking, which could only mean that El was closing the gate now.

Gwen towered over Dustin to prevent any rocks from hitting him. Only she was surprised that Steve thought the same thing and had towered over them as well.

Once the ground stopped shaking, the demo dogs' screeches were heard from a distance. Now tons instead of one.

"What was that?" Max questioned.

Silence fell upon the tunnels as they listened for any sign of danger. In the split second of resting and catching their breaths, the loud screeches echoed throughout the tunnels once more.

"Run! Let's go!"

Everyone continued running despite how tired they were, but it was the adrenaline and fear that kept them going. It sure didn't help having Bob's death in mind as they really didn't want to have to go down like that.

The rope soon came into sight and Steve immediately raised Max as high as he could so she'd be able to climb out faster. Next was Mike and then Lucas, but when it was Dustin's turn, the demo dogs decided to change direction and head straight at them.

Steve raised his bat, ready to strike as many creatures as possible, but even he knew it wouldn't be of much use. Now that Gwen's bat had become lost in the tunnels, it was up to him to protect them and make sure no harm came their way.

He pushed Gwen and Dustin behind him to shield them from the attack. She held her brother tightly against her and covered his eyes as if such action would protect him from the danger heading their way. This was definitely not the way she envisioned this plan ending.

But something surprising happened. Instead of the demo dogs heading straight at them, they went around them to escape the tunnels. They watched in confusion as the creatures squirmed past them in the tight space, not once accidentally bumping into any of them.

Steve looked over at the siblings and grabbed their arms together to hold them in a tight embrace. Holding her head against his chest while she did the same to her brother, he was thanking their mage on having intervened just in time.

The tunnels turned silent a few seconds later. No one dared move an inch fearing the smallest sound would bring them back. They stood very still, just listening to their racing hearts from having survived this unscathed.

Above them, Lucas shouted, "Are you guys okay?"

Now releasing each other, they couldn't help but laugh at their escape from death. From thinking their end was coming, surviving tons of demo dogs never once crossed their minds, yet here they were.

"We're okay!" Dustin yelled back and started climbing up the rope.

Steve stepped forward and placed his hands around her waist to help her up, which made her even more nervous than before. Her hands held onto the rope, but she was left frozen at the sight of his beautiful brown eyes. The ones that managed to catch her attention back in 7th grade and still have a hold on her even now. He gave a faint smile before his eyes traced down to her lips and soon to those perfect eyes of hers.

Maybe it was the fact they escaped death again, but at this moment, they decided to go for it. Their lips were just centimeters from touching when they were once again interrupted by a flashlight dropping from above. Frowning at being interrupted again, they looked up with annoyance to see that it had been Mike's.

"Umm... sorry," he awkwardly said.

Now back to reality, she started climbing up and tried ignoring the kids' accusing eyes when reaching the top.

Once Steve got out, they walked back to the car when the headlights suddenly started growing brighter and brighter. Squinting their eyes, they could hear Mike saying, "It must be Eleven! She's still closing it!"

Not even a second later, the lights began to dim and returned to normal, signifying that El had succeeded and finally, this was over.