CARLA GASPED FOR AIR. 

Her figure collapses down onto cold, decayed ground. Her chest heaves as she breathes in air, though it feels bitter going down her throat. Her clothes, heavy with water, feel like weight against her soggy and frail figure. 

Screeches echo in the sky. Thunder rumbles and the sky flickers red as it rumbles. There is a horrible sense of rot and decay in the air, which brings an unbearable chill to Carla's figure, sinking deep in her bones. 

Her scars burn harder than ever, hands practically shaking as they try to bear the pain of the scars engraved above. It's a sickening, pulsating burn—something that Carla has grown so familiar with over the years, yet never failed to react too. 

Carla would be stupid if she didn't take the hint that she was in the Upside Down.

The Wheeler should be scared, being in the home of the creature who'd tried to kill her for years. The creature who claimed he wanted her so badly, who so easily could do so on his own turf. But, the only thing running through her mind—pushing past the burning and the stale and retched air—is determination to find Steve.

If she was led down here, he had to be there too.

Carla pushes herself up, boots sinking into the rotted ground. She looks around her at the dim and dark tint of the world—there's no sun, no source of real light at all. Flaky particles float through the air, just like they had when the Wheeler had entered the Upside Down with her sister back in '83. Circling her boots are vines, crossing in every direction; intertwining. There seemed to be vines everywhere. 

She doesn't get anymore time to see the terrain when she hears it. A strangled yell, raw and desperate. 

"Steve?!" Carla's voice cracks, panic spiked at the sound of her boyfriends screaming. She's never heard him like that, but she knew it was him. Her boots work double time, staggering forward. "Steve—"

"Carla!"

The Wheeler whips her head around at the broken call of her name, eyes widening when she spots Steve in the distance. He's laying on the ground, thrashing and squirming against flying creatures. One of the grotesque beasts has its tail wrapped around his neck, choking him. Two more of them are at his sides, biting at his stomach relentlessly.

For a moment, her mind spins. She doesn't think she's ever seen anything worse—as she's fought monsters that looked like someone's worst nightmare. These Upside Down creatures were attacking Steve, biting him and cutting off his air supply. Killing him. Is this how Steve felt, watching her bleed out of her wrists? Holding her dead body?

The Wheeler's boots are moving forward before her mind can comprehend it, and suddenly she's pacing directly for Steve's thrashing figure. His screams of pain are all the motivation she needs. The Upside Down isn't taking him from her.

A discarded boat oar lays on the ground, and Carla snatches it, knuckles left white as she tightly clasps it. Without much hesitation, she struts up to where her boyfriend is and swings the weapon with as much force as she can, teeth gritted together.

A squelch and screech echoes through the area, the creature on Steve's right getting flung to the side. 

Carla holds the oar, gaining momentum. "Get the fuck off him." 

 The Wheeler swings again with as much force as her body can muster.  The oar flies over Steve's figure and hits the creature on the left of the Harrington getting fling off with a screech, scampering to the sky.

From the ground, Steve's panicked eyes meet with his girlfriends. His vision blurs at the flaring pain in his sides, but he manages to focus in on Carla. Her hair is darkened by water, dripping; her chest is heaving in adrenaline as she stands her ground, but if Steve's honest, she has never looked more beautiful to him than she does now—attacking Upside Down creatures without hesitation, protecting him. Saving his life. 

"Carla!"

 Carla breaks eye contact and looks back to see Nancy, Robin, and Eddie running her way with another oar in hand. They're all drenched too, and their faces where similar expressions to Carla's when they see the creature's tail wrapped around Steve's neck.

"Someone hold it down!" the Wheeler ushers over one of her friends, moving so she's standing a few inches away from the final creature. 

Robin jogs forward, stepping onto the bats tail. "I got it!"

Carla starts whacking down the flat side of the oar against the bat with an anger she didn't even know she had in her. It's like her mind is on autopilot—the only thing she can think about, the only thing running her mind, is protecting Steve.

An ugly squelching follows each hit, but the Wheeler tries to block out the sound. 

"Kill it!" Eddie chants, "Kill it!"

Grunts of effort leave Carla's lips as the creature continues to writhe. God, why wasn't it dead yet? Why wouldn't it let go? "Just die already, you fucker!"

A horrible screeching comes from the sky, and Eddie looks up to see more of the same creature flying through the cloudy sky. One dives down for him, and the Munson is left to swing his oar at it, just as Carla had to those at Steve's sides.

The creature goes flying right over Robin's head at Eddie's swing, but she's too involved in the one around Steve's neck to care. Hunched over, the Buckley's joined into the Wheeler's attempt at killing it, thwacking her flashlight against it's wriggling figure—as if it's doing anything. 

"Come on!" Robin whines, growing panicked for her friend. Steve's hands are wrung tightly around the bat's tail—he's had to be without oxygen for far too long now. She doesn't know who she's pleading with, but she begs, "Please!"

"Get off!" Carla's screaming at the creature like it's going to listen, voice rough and agitated. She sounds like a child upset at not getting what she wants, but she doesn't care. She just wants to save her boyfriend. "Get off!"

Eddie yells, "Carla, behind you! Watch out!"

Carla can't even react before she feels two teeth sink into her shoulder. 

A guttural scream leaves the Wheeler's throat at the flaring pain that bursts through her shoulder, spreading through her body like a wildfire. It's not just the physical pain that's overwhelming her, but the sensation that spreads through her. It feels wrong—like the touch of the Upside Down against her skin is awakening something far darker within her.  

Carla doubles over, falling onto her knees as she seizes and jerks to get the creature off of her, cries falling from her lips. She feels pathetic, but it hurts. It hurts more than anything and she can't even describe why. 

It hurts more than Billy attacking her that summer. More than any injury she's ever received. More than when the Demogorgan tore into her wrists. It's a horrible burning sensation pulsating through her body, making her scream like she's being murdered. She might as well be. 

"Get it off me!" Carla screams, hands fumbling to yank the creature off of her shoulder. Her scars are burning just as horribly as the rest of her body, connection to the Upside Down ignited by the bite. Her voice is hoarse, "Please! Get it off!"

"Oh my God!" Robin's scrambling to rip it off at the Wheeler's screeches, "Carla!"

"Got it, got it, got it!" Eddie swings his oar, another creature going into the sky. However, with the creature goes the flat part of his weapon. "Goddamn it! Shit!"

Nancy's slamming her oar into another bat, "Go to hell!"

Robin tugs at the creature attached to Carla, "Let go!"

"It hurts! Please!" the Wheeler doesn't know who she's begging to but the desperation in her voice is palpable. The darkness inside her burns hotter, the scars on her skin pulsing in time with the gnawing pain. She can't focus, mind overwhelmed. Tears she didn't even know fell stick to her cheeks as she sobs, "Get it off!"

Steve's ears ring with her screams. Something seems to click in his mind as he hears them—he couldn't listen to that. The creature could hurt him, but he couldn't stand listening to Carla scream like that. Couldn't stand to hear her suffer. 

His girlfriend's agony ignites something primal in him, and in mere seconds he manages to tear the loosened tail from around his neck.  As that creature flies off—stopped by Eddie, who stabs it with his now pointed oar—Steve gets onto his feet, forcing himself to ignore the woozy feeling pounding in his head. His only thought is Carla. He sees Robin struggling to fight off the creature still latched onto her shoulder, her frantic swings barely making a dent. 

Without thinking, Steve's hands grab at the creature's tail, pulling it off her in one go with a forceful yank. 

Carla gasps as the teeth are ripped from her skin, the agonizing pressure lifted. Relief floods through her, sharp and overwhelming. The ache in her body isn't fully gone, though. The burning remains—hot and sickening, coursing through her veins. But, it's more bearable than it had been when the creature was connected. 

Her trembling hands instinctively move to her shoulder, pressing against the torn fabric and slick blood. Her eyes catch on the wound—jagged teeth marks etched deep into her skin, the area around it raw and swollen—and her breath hitches at the sight of not only the wound, but what's around it. 

Trailing around the punctured skin is black. A sickly black, like ink, that seems to be festering under the skin, spreading and festering, crawling out a few inches from the wound—like tentacles, almost. 

Just like the black veins that took over Billy when he was flayed. 

Carla knows she has to tell the others, tell Steve. After all, she didn't know what the fuck was happening. Being bitten by an Upside Down creature, with her connection, could be serious. She knows how horrible of a person she is if she doesn't say anything.

But, instead Carla swallows hard, her throat dry and aching. She tugs her sweater over her shoulder, wincing. They can't know—the words repeat in her head like a mantra. If they know, they'll leave the Upside Down, and they can't do that when Max is in danger. 

There's a loud thud, and the Wheeler whips her head back to see Steve, slamming the creature that had been latched onto her against the ground. Grunts of exertion leave his lips, but he doesn't stop, slamming the Upside Down spawn down twice more. Screeches leave the creature's mouth. 

Slammed down a final time, Steve puts his foot on the creature's chest and pulls on its tail, dismembering it in half. It's blood splattered the ground a horrible black, and he tossed the half he was holding away, spitting out the dark blood that trailed down his lips. 

Carla looks around, making sure all the creatures are out of sight, before getting onto her feet. Her footing is unstable, but she makes quick work to get near her boyfriend. "Steve." 

"Jesus Christ." Eddie croaks, "Jesus H. Christ!"

He throws down his oar, which clatters against the ground. Carla's hands hover in the air, eyes scanning her boyfriend over. It's hard to see much in the dim light of the Upside Down, but she easily takes notice of the injuries on his side, chunks of skin missing from where the creatures had attacked him. 

Her hands land on the sides of his face, her thumb brushing over the blood staining his chin, wiping it away. "Are you okay?" 

Steve's eyes flicker to Carla's face, his expression a mix of exhaustion and exasperation. He leans into her touch for the briefest moment, but his worry quickly overtakes him. "What are you doing here, Carla? You—" He shakes his head, gripping her wrists gently to pull her hands from his face. "You can't be here."

"You think I was just gonna let that thing drag you down here?" Carla retorts, putting her hand on his shoulder so she can examine the wounds left by the creatures. "Are you okay—"

"Carla, baby, this place feeds on you. I'm serious, you can't be here—"

"Steve. I'm fine." the Wheeler clips, growing aggravated. Did Steve seriously think she would have stayed back? He's always willing to put his life on the line for her, why can't she do the same for him. "I wasn't just going to leave you down here. You know me better than that."

He did. Steve decides to stop arguing with the girl before it got worse, instead deciding to answer her question. "Well, they took about a pound of flesh. But other than that.....yeah, never better." 

Carla sends him a pointed expression. "That's convincing."

"Are you okay?" Steve turns on her, looking her over. He wasn't deaf—he'd heard her screams, and they were more than just a small hurt. His eyes narrow in on her shoulder and the torn fabric, where the creature had bit. "I heard your screams—"

"I'm fine." Carla tugs her sweater up again, offering him a weak smile. "It was just unexpected."

From the ground, Robin interrupts their conversation with a weary, "Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?" 

Steve's face scrunches in confusion, "What?" 

"It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear." Robin admits, moving away from one of the dead bats and walking closer to her friends. "And I think we should probably get you a doctor, like, really soon, because once the symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already, like, dead." 

Steve's brows furrow even further. Carla's scrunches into slight disgust at the idea of having rabies because a bat attacked her.

Before anything else can be said or any reprimand can be made to Robin for her rambling, an echo of screeching is heard. The group all looks up to see more of the winged creatures flying their way through the red and thundering sky, shrieking. 

All of the incoming bats land right in front of the gate the group had used to cross into the Upside Down. Their one way out. 

"Alright. There's not that many." Steve mutters, eyes locked on the bats ahead. Robin, Nancy, Eddie, and Carla all group around him as the bats open their mouths and shriek, almost warning the teens not to get closer. "We can take 'em. Right?"

The chittering of the bats increases, and as the sky turns red with thunder, the group is able to see the swarm of hundreds swooping in at a rapid speed. A few bats was one thing, but hundreds? Carla knew the five of them were too weak and too unprepared to try that with creatures they barely knew about.

"You were saying?" Robin sarcastically asks.

"The woods." Nancy pipes up, jogging off in the opposite direction. If they couldn't get out the way they came, they'd have to find another way. Or hide until the gate was left unguarded. Either way, they had to run. "Come on!"

Carla doesn't need to be told twice before she's running after her sister and towards the woods.

Leaning against Skull Rock, Carla feels like shit. 

The group had run for a solid fifteen minutes, searching for shelter from the bats that ruled the skies. It's ironic that Steve manages to spot out Skull Rock, even in an alternate dimension. He helps lead them there, the group all filing underneath the rock as the bats flew overhead in the red sky.

As the adrenaline wore off Carla, all that was left was a sick feeling. Her body feels heavy, yet simultaneously weak. Her head is pounding, a constant and throbbing pressure against her skull that makes it hard to focus on anything. Her stomach is a mess of nausea. It's a lingering sickness, that seems to run deep in her body.

The burn in her shoulder has spread like wildfire, the initial sting of the bite long gone, replaced by an ache that seeps into her very bones. It's not a sharp pain, but a constant, gnawing sensation—deeper, darker. The further they ran, the worse it got. The burn isn't localized anymore; it feels like it's spreading, radiating through her muscles and veins, infecting her body like poison.

Her stomach churns, a constant nausea twisting inside her, making it hard to stand straight. It's as if something inside her is wrong, like her body is trying to reject itself. She can feel the warmth of sweat on her skin, but it doesn't help to cool the feverish heat rising in her chest. It's an unbearable, hollow kind of sick, like everything inside her is turning against her.

The worst part about it? Carla can't even say anything about it. She just has to act like she's okay, and wait it out—hope that the pain disappears when they get back to their world. All she can do is lean against Steve a little more than usual and hope he doesn't realize. 

The bats fly over their hiding spot for God knows how long. Their screeches and chittering ring around in Carla's head as she watches them swarm. The sky rumbles red, and the group can do nothing but watch in horror and pray that they ultimately go away.

Eventually, the sound of the bats gets quieter and quieter until the group is left to presume they've been left alone for the moment. Robin gets onto her feet, stumbling outwards, "Oh...okay. That was close." 

"Yeah," Eddie reluctantly chimes in. He looks horrified of what he's just witnessed, more than the others given they've seen things crazier than flying demonic bats before. "Too close."

Carla rises to her feet, eyes scrunching closed as she tries to ignore the wave of lightheaded-ness that tries to overcome her mind. Her hand grapples to her side for Steve, searching for support, but her brows furrow as she's not met with the feeling of his hands steadying.

Feeling his absence, the Wheeler looks to her side to see Steve stumbling to the side, slumping over against a rock. His eyes flutter, as if he's on the verge of passing out. "Oh sh....shit." 

"Steve?" Carla murmurs, feeling her heart sink when she sees him supporting himself on the rock, clearly weak. Ignoring her own pain, she crosses over to him, eyeing up the wounds on his sides. "Hey, baby, look at me."

"I'm fine." Steve tries to peel himself off the rocks, voice strained. Carla was cursed, and she was trapped in Vecna's world, where he could so easily claim her. He was fine, compared to her.  "Baby, I'm fine—"

Carla knows she can't judge his words—it's the same lie she's told him hundreds of times the last few months—but Steve isn't her. Only she did that bullshit in their relationship. "No, you're not." She eyes up the side wounds again, taking in the loss of skin and blood. "You're losing a lot of blood. Sit down." 

"Baby—"

"Sit down and let me take care of you." Carla repeats herself, more demanding than before as she sends him a stern like concerned look all at once. 

Steve listens to her demand this time, lowering himself down against the rock with a strained grunt. He removes a shaking hand from his side, revealing a wound with gaping indents, practically screaming for infection to claim it. Blood pools at the edges. It's not pretty in the slightest.

Carla feels her nausea act up at the sight, but she swallows down any urges. She has to help him. In sickness and health. 

The others don't hesitate to hide their gasps and sounds of disgust as the wound is revealed. Steve just grunts in pain, putting his entire weight against the rock. 

The Wheeler stares at the injury, figuring out what she can do. Without any supplies, there's no way she can clean it out or bandage it. However, she could try and stop the bleeding—that would do Steve good. 

Without thinking, Carla starts ripping into her sweater, using as much force as she can to tear it all the way around. It's the best she can think of to create a makeshift bandage of sorts, even if it'll leave her abdomen exposed. 

Robin crouches down beside the Wheeler, keeping Steve company as his girlfriend works to tear her sweater. "Okay. So, the good news, uh, here is that I'm pretty sure that wooziness is not a common symptom of rabies. But, um, if you start having hallucinations or—or muscle spasms, or you start feeling really aggressive like—like you wanna punch me or something, then you should totally let me know, okay?"

Her words jumble together towards the end, falling out in a mad rush—as they normally do when Robin gets worked up.

"Robin?" Steve interrupts, weakly.

Innocently, Robin perks up, "Yeah?"

"I kinda want to punch you."

A nervous laugh makes its way past the Buckley's lips, "Sense of humor's still intact. That's a good sign." 

"Yeah." 

Carla finishes ripping her sweater, holding out a long amount of material. She lowers herself down so she's on her knees—which is a struggle in itself, her body aching at the shift—and holds out the piece of her top. Steve sees that she's ready and stands straighter so his wound is closer to her hands.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch." Carla warns, already knowing the pressure would bring another wave of pain through her boyfriend.

Steve grunts. "Yeah. Just do it, baby." 

Carla presses the section of sweater she'd ripped against his wound, almost gagging as it squelches. Steve tries to keep as quiet as he can, stifling a groan as his wound burns at the contact of the cloth. 

"I'm sorry." Carla apologizes, leaning against her boyfriend so she can tighten the bandage as much as possible. 

Steve throws his head back with a strained grunt, hands running through his hair as he tried to ignore the pain. Through his discomfort, he manages an, "It's okay."

Once she has it wrapped, Carla takes the remaining material and cinches it as tight as she can, eliciting another light groan. At the sound, she briefly glances up, "Too tight?"

"No, that's good." Steve lets out, lowering himself back against the wall as a small amount of relief pools in him. Panting, he leans against the rock again, looking down at his girlfriends hands as they made quick work to tie a knot.

"Does that feel okay?" Carla asks, finishing off the knot. Her hands hover right over his sweatpants, where the bandage lies, waiting for confirmation.

Steve doesn't answer at first, eyes stuck on the way her hands hover right over his sweatpants. His breathing slows as his gaze lingers there.

"Steve?" Carla asks, looking up. Her breath shallows as she sees that Steve was already staring dead at her. His eyes, wide and filled with something unspoken, lock onto hers, and the world around them seems to fade into a quiet hum.

For a moment, the couple just stares at one another, the only sound being their baited breaths. They've been in this position before—her on her knees, his hands tangled in his hair, their breaths mingling. Only then, it wasn't about bandages or blood. It was in his bed, her hair a mess from his fingers, or in the backseat of his car, the heat fogging up the windows.

This moment is just as raw, as wrong as it feels. All Steve and Carla can do is stare.

"Steve." Carla whispers again, her voice softer, her throat tight. Her eyes search his, trying to understand what's going on in his head.

"Yeah. It feels okay." Steve finally replies, as if returning from a day. His voice is still rough from the moment of pain. "Thanks."

"Always." the Wheeler softly replies, standing back to her full height. 

The Harrington lifts a hand, his fingers brushing against her cheek—soft and warm, like a silent invitation, and it's all the encouragement Carla needs. The gap between them disappears in a rush. Her lips find his, soft and gentle. A thank you. 

"So, uh, this place is like Hawkins but with monsters and nasty shit?" Eddie calls out, standing atop of a nearby rock.

Nancy nods, "Pretty much."

Steve wraps an arm around Carla's shoulders to balance himself,  not noticing the way the girl seethed when he put pressure on her wound. 

Eddie nods at Nancy's words and begins climbing back down, but he's quickly  stopped by the Wheeler before he can make any real step, "Wait, watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind."

"It's all a what?" The Munson glances at his surroundings.

"Everything is connected when it comes to the Upside Down." Carla explains, letting go of her boyfriend as he finds his own footing. "One brain works everything down here. So, you step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, which basically means you're stepping on Vecna. The last thing he needs to know right now is that we're down here, so, just be careful." 

Eddie blinks. "...Shit." 

The mullet-headed boy starts to climb down the rock, almost idiotically with how careful he's being. 

"But everything from our world is still here, right?" Robin inquires, second to Eddie when it came to Upside Down knowledge, given everything at Starcourt happened in their world. "Except people, obviously?"

"As far as I understand it, yeah." Nancy replies.

"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." 

Carla doesn't think it's a horrible idea. Then again, they don't have much of a better idea, and they need to get back to their own world sooner than later. 

"Yeah, I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin." Steve tells the blonde, denying some of her idea. "But,  I mean, guns, yeah, sure."

"Well, we don't have to go all the way downtown for guns." Nancy reveals, earning looks from three of the teens, Carla already knowing where she was going with this. "I have guns in my bedroom."

Eddie's face is that of bewilderment and judgement as he hops off the rock, surprised that Nancy 'The Priss' Wheeler of all teenagers would have guns in her pretty pink bedroom. He stares at her hard. "You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" 

"Don't fuck with the Wheeler sisters." Carla shrugs off Eddie's shocked expression. 

"What, you have them in your closet, too?" 

"God, no." The Wheeler's lips upturn as she fucks around with Eddie, "I keep mine in the garage."

Eddie guffaws and Robin smiles brightly, "Full of surprises, aren't they?"

Nancy describes her guns, "A Russian Makarov and a revolver." 

"Yeah, you almost shot me with that one." Steve steps forward, thinking back to the fateful night in '83 when he got intertwined in the whole Upside Down mess. When he went to apologize to Jonathan and ended up with a gun to his face.

Nancy sends him a teasing look, "You almost deserved it."

A vest goes flying through the air, Carla slightly flinching at the sound of it whipping through the air before it lands abruptly in Steve's face. 

"For your modesty, dude." Eddie states with a shrug.

Steve looks five seconds away from sending the Munson the finger but doesn't get a chance to say shit as the world starts to shake.

Carla's entire sense of balance is thrown away as the ground under her begins to quake. There's a loud rumble that echos throughout the Upside Down, and the Wheeler is quick to lose her footing, unstable as she already was.

Steve practically scoops Carla right into his arms, pressing her flat against his chest as he stumbles back to grab on to part of Skull Rock. One arm locks around his girlfriend while the other clenches as tight as it can to the rock. Carla latches onto the Harrington's arm for dear life. 

Robin goes sideways and slams right into Eddie, both teens collapsing down onto the shaking ground—the Munson's arm hovers over the Buckley, who's pressed against him.  Nancy's small figure is quick to start to fall, but Carla grabs ahold of her before she can fall too and holds her sister close, nails digging into the girls pale flesh.

Carla's stomach churns in time with the quakes, but it's not just the shaking that makes her dizzy. It's the relentless wave of nausea building in her gut, intensifying with every tremor. God, she feels horrible. 

Just as soon as the quaking started, it stopped.

Suddenly, the ground is back to being still and the teens are left with their heaving chests and a distant roar.

Eddie looks humbled by what just happened, admitting, "Yeah, so, guns sound like a pretty good idea to me." 

"Yeah, me too." Robin agrees.

Carla lets go of her sister's hand quickly, her own clammy as she sets it on her hip. She peels herself off of Steve, shutting her eyes for a moment as she tries to regain her sense. You're fine. Ignore it. Just keep following after the group. 

Steve glances at his girlfriend, brows furrowing at her heaving chest, her labored and shallow breaths, and the way she was staring at the ground, face scrunched up as she seemed to be fighting something. "Carla?"

Carla barely hears her boyfriend call her name, the pressure on her head overwhelming. Her chest tightens painfully, and she brings a hand against her stomach. You're fine. You're fine. You're—

A gag escapes from the back of her throat and the Wheeler doubles over, stomach rebelling her attempts at staying okay. With a thick cough, a small pool of red liquid splatters right out of her mouth and onto the ground. Blood. She's coughing up blood.

"Oh God!" Eddie's face scrunches up as he watches the sight in disgust. 

Carla barely processes the blood on the ground before her legs buckle, her body stumbling back as the strength drains from her.

"Shit—Carla, hey, hey!" Steve's voice is sharp with panic, and in an instant, he's at her side, catching her before she collapses completely. His arms wrap around her trembling frame, keeping her upright as he guides her toward Skull Rock.

He eases her down gently, pressing her back against the cool surface. Carla slides weakly, her head lolling to rest against the jagged rock. Her chest rises and falls in shallow, uneven breaths, her face pale and glistening with sweat.

Steve kneels in front of her, his hands shaking as he brushes damp strands of hair away from her clammy face. "Carla, what's happening?"

The others rush over, alarmed by the sight of Carla coughing and spitting up blood.

"Throwing up is a symptom of rabies—oh my God!" Robin's voice cracks as she looks down at Carla and the blood remnant around her lips. "Carla, I didn't even think about that bat attacking you—"

Steve throws a glare at his best friend. "Robin."

"I'm sorry!" 

"What's wrong, baby?" Steve's tone turns softer in an instant when he looks back at Carla. Her hand presses feebly against her stomach, and a soft whimper escapes her lips. "Carla, I need you to tell me what hurts."

Don't tell them. Her body rebels against her brain. The ache in her shoulder pulses, spreading heat through her veins. It's unbearable, suffocating. She can feel it, deep in her bones, the burn that seems to reach everywhere. She groans softly, "It burns." 

"Her shoulder." Nancy pipes up suddenly, crouching down next to Steve. "She got bit by one of those bats. It's her shoulder, Steve."

The Harrington doesn't argue, gently reaching for her shoulder. Surprisingly, Carla doesn't even try to stop him. 

Steve pulls her sweater away from her shoulder. The sight of what's underneath is enough to make Nancy, Robin, Eddie, and the Harrington's eyes widen and their faces scrunch in shock and disgust. 

There's a puncture wound, just like Steve's. It doesn't look good on its own, but Steve isn't focused on that. He's focused on the black festering around it, dark inky veins reaching up to her collarbone and creeping down her arm.

Steve isn't even sure what he's looking at. "Jesus Christ." 

"Fuck," Eddie lets out. He is pretty sick of all this Upside Down shit—it's all so goddamn weird. "That's....that's not normal."

Robin shakes her head in agreement. "Not rabies."

"This is what happened to Billy. To all the flayed when the Mind Flayer was in control." Nancy recalls, staring hard at the black veins around her sister's wound. "They all got black veins that spread." 

"Are you saying she's......infected by Vecna?"

"I don't know." Nancy's lips pressed into a thin line. "I mean, with her Upside Down connection, I wouldn't say it's so wrong of us to assume. She's in his place."

"God, I knew you couldn't be down here!" Steve roughly exclaims. Why did he let Carla stay? Why didn't he push her right back through the gate in the chance he had?

Carla's barely listening to anything her friends have to say. She doesn't want to know what's on her shoulder—she doesn't even care. All she cares about is pushing through for the sake of Max, even if she's killing herself by doing it.

"No, I'm—I'm fine." the Wheeler tries to sit up, pushing past the pain. She had to keep going. "I can keep going."

"No, you can't." the Harrington shakes his head, denying her. "You're coughing up blood, Carla—this place is killing you. We need to get you out of here before that gets any worse." 

Eddie reminds, "We don't have a way out."

"Well, we need to find one." Steve demands, looking back at the wound. "Before it keeps spreading." 

He doesn't want to know what'll happen if it does. 

"We need to keep going, regardless." Nancy states, beginning to rip the bottom of her shirt off, just as Carla had done for her own boyfriend. "It's not safe for any of us if we stay here. I'll wrap her shoulder, and then we're heading to my house for guns."

"Aye aye, Captain Wheeler," Eddie quips, though his tone lacks its usual humor. He pivots and heads outside Skull Rock. Robin lingers for a moment, her expression soft as she looks at Carla, offering a small, sympathetic smile before following after Eddie.

Nancy puts a hand on Steve's shoulder, "I got her, Steve." 

The Harrington looks back at his girlfriend, who doesn't meet his gaze. With a sigh, he gets up and joins Robin and Eddie outside to wait.

Carla moves so she's sitting with her back to Nancy, taking off her sweater so her sister can get a full view of her wound. In silence, Nancy tries to ignore the black veins twisting around Carla's back and wraps the cloth around the main puncture, muttering apologies as she hears her sister seethe.

Nancy doesn't know what to say, but regret settles deep in her chest. Not for not noticing Carla's injury, but for how little she's noticed about her sister the past few months. She knows Carla well—knows how easy it is for her twin to fall down the hole of thinking that she has to keep everything inside, that she has to hide her pain to care for others. The hole of thinking no one really cares enough for her. 

 She knows how bad it got in the summer, too. Saw how bad it got. 

She doesn't know why she didn't check in. Did she just think Steve was just doing it? Was she just making up excuses that she didn't see her sister enough—that should be more of a reason to check in on her. Carla had been practically living with Steve now, but Nancy still saw her at school. Or when she did come home, which was often enough. 

Carla had been struggling for months and Nancy didn't even bother to ask. She feels like a shitty sister.

"I should have talked to you." Nancy breaks the silence between her and her sister, hands working to wrap her wound.

"Talked about what?" Carla asks.

"You've been struggling. And I haven't been there." Nancy admits, lips twisting as she feels guilty. "I just thought that Steve would take care of you, I guess? But I'm your sister—we used to talk to each other about everything, and now that we don't see each other all the time, I should have checked in on you. I should have realized you weren't okay."

"Nance, that's not your fault. I didn't want people to know." Carla replies, not wanting her sister to feel bad. Carla had been keeping her problems to herself for a reason. "Besides, you've been busy with Jonathan and the newspaper. You're not obliged to check on me. I didn't want to talk about what was happening—I didn't want anybody to worry over something I thought was some stupid headache." Lowly, she adds. "I still don't." 

"You can always talk to me, Carla." 

"I know." Carla nods. She knows that she can talk to any of her friends, to any of the kids. She has people, but she chooses not to use them. It's a problem—it's always been. "I guess I'm just sick of being the person everyone is always worrying over? Every year, shit revolves around me to some degree. I'm sick of being the burden people are almost dying to protect. If I stay quiet, I'm not that person."

Nancy ties the knot off. She wishes her sister wasn't like that—wishes she saw the same girl that the kids, that Jonathan and herself, that Steve saw. The girl who people cared for, loved. 

The girl who deserved a future.

mara's misc!

this chapter was so different to write???

so for starters, i worked long and hard and got this written in two days so a round of applause for me please?? currently, i'm supposed to be watching the ohio state vs michigan game BUT i instead chose to finish writing this chapter so be happy.

happy late thanksgiving to anyone who celebrates. i didn't make a mb post, but i'm very thankful for all the followers and readers i've gained in the last three years. especially thankful for everyone who's been with carla since book one and have stayed this long (idk how ya'll do it)

yes, carla's upside down connection is back!!! i have 0 creativity but creating this small moment with the black veins was super fun (it was like a 12am thought turned real, just hear me out). vecna wouldn't just let carla walk around his home without fucking her up a little more. will it get worse??? you tell me :)

my favorite thing to write so far has been eddie in the upside down. dude is SO lost and he's so over this shit. saw carla throw up and was like "oh hell NO."

anywho what do ya'll think is gonna be happening in the upcoming chapters??? i'm already on e7 which is so crazy but that also means i'm getting into the crazy finale territory

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 15!!