"DUSTIN? CAN you slow down? Dustin?" Eddie calls.

We follow after Dustin's trail and push through bushes in the dead of night.

"Where did he learn how to run this fast?" I say, out of breath.

"I think we're getting close!" Dustin exclaims.

We make it to the edge of the lake and Dustin almost runs out into the water.

"Oh, man." Steve exclaims, "You gotta be shitting me."

"Yeah, I thought these woods were familiar." Eddie says.

"Lover's Lake." Robin adds.

"This is confounding." Dustin says.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asks.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening." Nancy states.

"Maybe Vecna's the same way." I add.

"Yeah, only one way to find out." Steve says.

Eddie suddenly makes his way along the edge of the lake. We follow behind him until he stops in front of a tarp. We all stand around it and Eddie quickly whips the tarp away to reveal a small boat underneath. Steve and Eddie look at each other and then make their way on either sides of the boat. The rest of the group backs up and watches Steve and Eddie try to put the boat into the water.

"Easy. I... I said easy, man." Steve complains.

"Sorry, dude." Eddie says.

"Here you go." Steve says, holding his hand out for Robin to take.

She puts her hands on top of both of their heads instead.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna do that." She says, walking onto the boat, "Thank you."

"Yeah, that works too." Steve says.

Eddie then hopped on the boat and extended his hand out to Nancy, which she took.

"Good, you got her." Eddie says to her as she steps on the boat, "Wheeler."

"Thanks." She says to him.

He then bows down a bit and extends his arm out to me. I smile at him then, as I was about to take his hand, Steve shoots his hand up in front of me for me to take. I give him a funny look and then put my hand on his head like Robin did and make my way onto the boat. I sit down in the boat, then turn and see Dustin try to get on as well. Eddie quickly puts his hand out to stop him.

"Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" Eddie asks him, "This thing holds four people tops, okay? And (Y/N) won't let us leave her here."

"It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble." Nancy reassures Dustin.

"You keep an eye out." Dustin argues, "It's my goddamn theory."

"You heard Nance." Robin says.

"Who put her in charge?" Dustin asks.

"I did." Robin says.

"Compass." Nancy says, sticking her hand out towards Dustin.

Dustin hesitates for a moment and then hands the compass over. Steve then throws a bag at Dustin's chest.

"Hey, there you go." Steve says, then starts to push the boat out onto the water.

Before the boat goes out onto the water, Steve hops in.

"You said four!" Dustin exclaims from the shore.

"Sorry." Steve whispers and then sends Dustin a small wave.

I hit Steve's arm softly to scold him and he pushes me back.

"Hey, you two. No rocking the boat." Robin scolds.

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos!" I yell to the kids back on the shore.

I see Dustin send a middle finger our way and Robin stands up on the boat.

"Miss you already!" She yells, waving back at them.

Eddie and Robin paddle the boat to the middle of the lake while Nancy watches the compass. When we get to a certain spot, I hear the compass start to rattle.

"Woah, woah, slow down. Slow down, guys." Nancy says.

Eddie and Robin stop the boat from going any further and we all look over at the compass in her hands. It was moving and flicking in circles like crazy.

"Woah." Steve exclaims.

"It has to be right under us." I say.

"Guys, what's going on? C'mon guys, talk to me. What's going on?"

"Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital aah!" Robin says into the walkie.

Steve then bends down and starts to take off his shoes and socks.

"Steve, what the hell are you doing?" I ask him.

"Somebody's gotta go down there and check this thing out." Steve says.

"Uh, no. You're not going down there." I say, standing up from my seat.

"Unless one of you can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then..." Steve says.

"I don't care." I argue.

"It's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?" Steve says, standing up from his seat.

I suddenly reach my hands to the bottom of my sweater and begin to pull it upwards.

"Woah, woah!" Eddie exclaims.

"Wow." Robin whispers.

I then feel someone's hands pull my arms down and fix my shirt.

"(Y/N), what are you doing?" Steve asks.

"I'm going with you." I state.

"No, you're not." Steve argues.

"Yes. I am." I say.

"(Y/N), just sit down. I'll be back before you know it." Steve reassures.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not wanna go down there." Eddie says.

Eddie then begins to wrap the flashlight in a plastic bag, then hands it to Steve. I then look over and see Steve taking off his shirt. I was pissed at him for going, but I knew I couldn't stop him. I look over and Nancy and notice that she was also staring at Steve.

"Hey. Good luck." Eddie says to Steve.

"Thanks." Steve says.

"Harrington, if you're not back up here in two minutes I will feed you to a Demogorgon." I say to him.

He chuckles at me and shakes his head. He goes to dive in, then Nancy speaks up.

"Steve?" She says.

Steve turns to look at her.

"Be careful." She continues.

He nods his head slightly, then turns back to the water. He quickly jumps off of the boat and sinks into the water.

"God, he's such an idiot." I say.

"He's brave." Nancy says.

I look over at Nancy with a confused look on my face. I go to open my mouth, but I feel Robin nudge my side. I look at her and she shakes he head slightly, so I try and calm myself down. This was nearly impossible because I wanted to kick Nancy's ass, but I was also worried about my boyfriend who just dove towards a gate to an alternate dimension.

"Where we at, Wheeler?" Robin asks.

"Closing in on a minute." Nancy answers.

"Okay." Robin breathes out.

I feel my anxiety start to rise and I find myself getting very quiet. The only sound coming from me was the fast tapping of my foot on the bottom of the boat. I was thinking about every possible outcome of Steve being down in that water, and only one of those outcomes was a good one.

"You all right, Hopper?" I hear Eddie ask.

I look up at him and he tilts his head slightly at me. I am unable to respond, so he just extends his hand out to me. I bring my shaky hand up to his and he holds it, rubbing circles into the back of it with his thumb. Suddenly, the water splashes loudly and a gasp is heard from the water. We all jump back out of fear and I then quickly crawl over to the side of the boat and see Steve put his arms on the side to hold him up.

"I found it." Steve breathes out.

"You found it?" I ask him.

"I found it. Yeah. I found it." Steve pants.

"Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate." Robin says into the walkie.

"It's pretty wild. It's more of a snack-sized gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big." Steve breathes out.

Suddenly, Steve's body gets pulled down into the water. I lean myself over the boat and grab his arm, pulling him back onto the side. We both look at each other in confusion for a moment, then Steve gets pulled fully down into the water. The rest of the group starts to scream, but I go into full on rescue mode. I lean off the boat, ready to fling myself into the water.

"(Y/N), wait, wait! You're not going in there, are you?" Eddie exclaims.

I look back at him for a moment, then without hesitation, I fling myself into the water. The cold water engulfs my body and I open my eyes. I look around, trying to see any sign of light of the gate. I finally catch sight of it, and as Steve said, it was a snack-sized gate. I swim as fast as I can to it, then I push my arm through the slimy film. I pull myself down into it, only to have to pull up as the gravity flips. I pull my body onto the floor and then push myself up to my feet. I look up at my surroundings and see the floor covered in vines and the sky red and black.

I hear screams in the distance. Steve. I quickly run towards the screams, jumping over the vines and dodging things flying at my face when I see Steve on the ground, struggling with these bat-like creatures at his neck and torso. I quickly look around the area, seeing a boat oar on the ground and picking it up. I snap it in half so that there is a sharp edge and start to stab the bat at Steve's torso. I continue to fight with it, eventually killing it so that it was no longer attacking Steve.

Then, another bat is hit off of his torso and flung away, flying off into the distance. I look up and see Nancy holding the other half of the oar that I had broken.

"Hey there." She says.

Eddie and Robin make their way to us, picking up the other oar. I walk over to the bat that was wrapped on Steve's neck and hold it down with my foot.

"Get it!" I yell to Nancy.

She starts to stab at the bat as Eddie yells, "Kill it! Kill it!" from behind us.

"Shit!" Eddie exclaims.

At that moment, I feel my body be flung backwards. I drop the oar in my hand and hit my head to the ground. I try and sit my body up but I feel a stinging pain on my neck. I bring my hand to it and pull it away, seeing a good amount of blood on my hand, but not enough to kill me. I stand up again.

"Nancy, behind you! Watch out!" I yell as a bat latches onto her shoulder.

Robin runs away from the bat on Steve's neck and starts to pull the other one off of Nancy. I then see another bat fly towards Eddie's head.

"Eddie, duck!" I yell.

I then shoot my hand up and use my powers to hold the bat in place, directly over Eddie's head. I then slam my hand over and towards the ground, slamming the bat on the ground, hard, and holding it down. Eddie then takes his oar and beats the bat to a pulp.

"Come here!" I hear Steve yell.

I look over and see that he had managed to get the bat's tail off from around his neck. I look at Nancy and Robin and see them continue to struggle, so I raise my hand up to the bat on Nancy's shoulder and rip it off. Nancy screams out in pain, but immediately goes to grab her oar. I start to shake my hand, using all of my strength, and ball my hand into a fist like I had done when crushing the soda can. The bat screeches in the air, writhing in pain, and then it explodes. Nancy looks at me in shock, but there's no time to chat.

Steve pulls the bat by it's tail and flings it over his head, smacking it on the ground. Eddie continues to swing at the bats flying over his head and I shoot my hand towards another one that almost hit Robin, flinging it to the ground and letting Robin beat it with the oar.

Then, unexpectedly, one of the bats manage to sink their claws into the side of my torso and drag upwards. I scream out and hold my side in pain, feeling the warm liquid draw out of my side. I look over at Steve and see him beat the same bat that was on his neck onto the floor and then step on it's neck, pulling it's tail to rip the head clean off. He throws the body behind him and then spits out blood onto the ground.

The bat that came at my torso flies back over my head. Before it has the change to escape, I grab it in the air with my powers. I hold it up while the rest of the group stares at me. I scream loudly, then suddenly, the bat bursts into a fleshy mess.

I feel my energy drained and my legs become wobbly. Unable to hold myself up, I fall over sideways onto the floor. I breathe out, heavily, trying to catch my breath as well as control the little bit I had left.

"Jesus Christ." Eddie breathes out.

I feel someone kneel next to me and I look over to see Steve on my side.

"(Y/N)." He says.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Eddie yells.

"Are you guys okay?" I hear Nancy say from behind us.

"I just need a minute." I breathe out.

"They took about a pound of flesh from us." Steve breathes out.

"What a fast way to lose weight." I joke.

Steve chuckles softly and then groans. I sit myself up and he stands up, holding his hand out to me. I take it and pull myself up, then I feel a hand touch the side of my neck. I wince out in pain and look over to see Nancy assessing my wound. She gives me a sympathetic smile and I ty to give her one back.

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

"What?" Steve questions.

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

The group looks at her in disbelief and I can help but laugh.

"Robin, I think I'm gonna die sooner from bleeding out that I would if I had rabies." I say.

A loud screeching is heard from the distance and we all turn in the direction it came from. Hundreds of more bats were circling in the sky, then flying over to the gate. They all stand around the mini-gate, guarding it so that we couldn't leave.

"All right. There's not that many. We can take 'em." Steve says.

"I don't have enough energy to use my powers, Steve." I say.

"We will for sure die without (Y/N)." Eddie says.

More bats start to come out from the sky, making it even more impossible for us five to take that many.

"You were saying?" Robin asks Steve.

"The woods. Come on." Nancy exclaims.

She starts to run off and I quickly try to catch up with her, as does the rest of the group.

"Great. More running." Robin exclaims.