"i never said i was frightened of dying."

★・・・・・・★

"Not to be a wimp, but can I maybe sit in the car for this visit? Cause this is totally and royally gonna suck," Robin said as everyone drive to Reefer Rick's to give Eddie his food.

"It'll be fine," Nancy replied.

"I just can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't."

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better," Steve said from the back, his mouth full of food.

"That's what my mom does," Max said as she lightly squeezed Amber's hand she was holding.

"Why don't we just give it a trial run? 'Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six pack that you requested. Amber also has her powers back! Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Only the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about, and the gates closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like, he's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know that you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed.'"

"Okay, wait, wait, wait," Lucas said as he sat next to Amber. "Maybe we don't put it like that."

"'We're on step closer to finding Vecna.' That's what we say," Nancy said. "That's what's important."

"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference," Steve smiled.
"Uh-huh."

"Oh shit," Nancy said as she stopped the car and pulled over.

They all got out and looked at everyone crowding around the house.

"Come on," Nancy said as she walked toward where the officers were as everyone else followed.

"... a little after midnight... reporting a homicide out here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first in the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney."

Amber saw Lucas's face fall as he heard Patrick's name fall from Chief Powell's mouth. She knew they both were fairly close from how much he talked about basketball back at home. She put her hand on his shoulder, and it fell down to his hand, holding it and giving it a comforting squeeze.

Amber slightly tuned out Chief Powell until she heard that there was an eyewitness and a person of interest.

"We have also identified a person of interest, Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."

"Oh man," Steve groaned. "This is not good. This is really not good."

Powell continued to say that there was going to be a meeting at the town hall at two o'clock. That would be fun.

"Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?" They heard Eddie's voice from the walkie.

"Eddie. Holy shit," Dustin cursed. "Are you okay?"

"Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay."

"Where is he?"
"Where are you?"

"Skull Rock. Do you know it?"

"Uh, yeah. That's near, uh, Cornwallis and—"
"Garret, yeah. I know where that is."

"Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming."

-

They were walking to Skull Rock in the middle of the woods. Fun, right?

"Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way," Amber heard Steve say.

"It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map."

"You do realize Skull Rock, it's like a super popular make-out spot?"

"Yeah. So?" Lucas spoke.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular. All right? I practically invented it. We're heading in the wrong direction."

"Steve. Where are you going?"

"Stop whining. Let's go. Trust me."
"Steve!"

"They're so loud we can hear them from back here," Amber commented on the three boys. It was the first sentence she said in over an hour.

"Okay, so apparently we're going this way now?" Max questioned. "I swear to God, if they get us lost... Hey. You okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I just... I'm thinking about everything that happened back at Creel House. With my powers. It's... It's like, why me? Why did the Mind Flayer choose me out of all people, you know? But... I have a small theory about Vecna."

"What is it?" Max asked.

"I think... I think he's targeting people with trauma. Chrissy with her mom, Fred with his car crash, you with Billy... and now Patrick. Lucas told me he came to practice one day with a black eye. He said he fell but he was clearly lying. It's like everyone Vecna targets definitely has something in their life. Something that's—"

"Hurting them," she interjected. "Haunting them."

"Yeah. I... I didn't really know Patrick, or Chrissy, or Fred. So it was easy to just look the other way, I guess. But I did know you. And I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"It's not your fault."
"No."

"I disappeared."

"No, no, you didn't. I just didn't look hard enough. Okay? I did an asshole move to protect people but it ended up hurting them. Hurting you. But I see you now. I see you."

"You know, if you're right about the theory of Vecna, you're in danger," Max pointed out.

"Technically, we're all in danger. But I don't want to worry about me. I wanna worry about you. You're the one who's cursed. Not me. You," Amber said as she grabbed Max's hand as they kept walking.

Max lightly smiled as Amber did the same. They kept walking, trailing behind Nancy and Robin as they talked. They eventually got to Skull Rock, only knowing because Steve announced it.

"Oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom," he spoke. "There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face."

"Doesn't make sense," he sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit that you were wrong, you little butthead."

Eddie jumped down from some bushes, lightly startling the three boys that were ahead of everyone else. "I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead."

"Jesus, we thought you were a goner," he said as he hugged him.
"Yeah, me too, man. Me too."

Eddie sat down under the huge rock while the others started talking and listening.

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh... my walkie was busted, man. Drenched," Eddie said as Amber saw Dustin pacing around and looking at his compass. "So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran."

"Do you know what time this was?" Nancy asked. "The attack?"

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked," he said as he took his watch off and threw it at Nancy.

"9:27."

"The same time our flashlights went kablooey and Amber had her weird thing with her powers," Robin observed.

"Uh, what?" Eddie asked.

"Oh, yeah, Amber has her powers back. Surprise," Steve said.

"Which means what, exactly?"

"That that surge of energy and the thing with Amber's powers was Vecna attacking Patrick," Nancy explained as she threw Eddie his watch back.

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks."
"And where he attacks from."

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a steak through his heart," Max said.

"If he even has a heart," Amber commented.

"A stake?" Steve asked. "Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?"

"It was just a metaphor," Max rolled her eyes.

"A bullet should work on him, right?"
"I saw we chop his head off."

"Yeah, I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that until we find a way into the Upside Down," Nancy spoke.

"We need El to get her powers back," Max sighed. "No offense, Amber, but you can't face Vecna alone."

"None taken. But who said I was gonna face him anyway?"

"Everything was, like, way easier. We had this girl," Steve explained once more. "She had superpowers."

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her. Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie questioned as he saw Dustin pacing

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."

"Boom!" Dustin then yelled, startling everyone else. "Bada... bada... boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north."

"Seriously? You're serious?"
"Mm-hmm."

"This is Skull Rock. Okay?"
"Mm-hmm."

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now."
"Yes. And no."
"Oh my God."

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was," Dustin explained.

"So you're using faulty equipment," Steve blatantly said. "You're still wrong."

"Except it isn't faulty," he spoke. "Lucas, Amber, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

"An electromagnetic field," they said at the same time.
"Yep."

"I'm sorry," Robin said. "I must've skipped that class."

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..."

"There's a gate," Amber realized.

"But we're nowhere near the lab," Nancy said.

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."

"Snack-sized gate."
"How? Why?"

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse," he finished, walking away.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go for a hike in the woods."

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin said as everyone turned to Eddie.

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning," he said, getting up and seeing Dustin jump up and down like a little kid. "So Mordor it is."

"What is Mordor?" Amber heard Steve mumble as they started following Dustin. "Get your stuff, dude. Let's go."

-

It had become night and they were still walking through the woods.

"Something's happening," Dustin said as he continued to go further.

"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?"

"I think we're getting close," he said right before Eddie caught him so he didn't go in the lake.
"Watch your step, big guy."

"Oh, man," Amber sighed. "You gotta be shitting me."

"Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar."
"Lover's Lake."

"This is confounding."
"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?"

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way."

"Yeah, only one way to find out."
Eddie had removed the tarp, showing everyone the boat with the singular oar.

"Easy. I... I said easy, man," Steve complained.
"Sorry, dude."

"Here you go," Steve offered Robin his hand for her to get on, but she used both of the guy's heads instead.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna do that. Thank you."
"Yeah, that works too."

Eddie got in and then Nancy did. Amber was about to get in, but Steve stopped her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey. What do you think you're doing?"

"Going with you guys," Amber said simply.

"Uh, no you aren't. This boat only holds three people tops, okay? Plus, it's too dangerous."

"Personally, I think we should ask the others, then," Amber said, challenging Steve. "Who here thinks that the super-powered individual whose powers originated from the Upside Down should go with these lunatics to the Upside Down?"

When no one raised their hands, Amber looked around in disbelief.

"Hey," Steve scolded.

"I'm fifteen," Amber snapped.

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

"You keep an eye out," Amber said. "I can protect you guys better than Steve 'The Hair' Harrington can."

"You heard Nance," Robin looked at the younger girl.

"Who put Nance is charge?"
"I did."

"Compass," Nancy said, holding her hand out towards Dustin.

"Hey, there you go," Steve said as he threw Dustin's bag towards Amber, making her stumble a little.

"You said three," Amber said, annoyed at the fact that Steve got in the boat with the other older teens.
"Sorry."

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos," Robin said as Amber flipped her off. "Miss you already!"

-

"Wait, wait, wait," Lucas said after a while as he got the attention of Amber and Dustin. "They're stopping. What are they stopping for?"

"Guys what's going on?" Dustin asked through the walkie. "Come on guys, talk to me. What's going on?"

"Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah!'"

"Ugh. When'd Steve get so hairy?" Lucas observed as Steve took his shirt off.
"Ew."

"Right? I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it."
"Gross."

"Let me see," Max said as she took the binoculars from Lucas and proceeded to stare. Lucas and Amber shared a confused look and then looked at Max with confusion.

From afar, they watched Steve dive in with the flashlight in the plastic bag.

"You guys realize, if there's a gate down there, it's technically a water gate," Dustin spoke.

"Oh my God," Amber sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Watergate," he said as he chuckled.

"Come on, Steve, come on," Amber sighed.

Lucas and Amber shared a look as they heard radios. All four of them looked back and saw flashlights and police.

"Down by the water!"

"Shit. Down!"
"Shit. Shit."

"It was on this shore line," they heard an officer say.

"Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein," they heard Robin's voice boom over the walkie. "Steve found the gate—"

"Cops."
"Shit, shit, shit."

"We can't let them find Eddie."
"Stay with me," Max said as she got up.
"No, Max. Don't."

"Hey, officers!"
"Max!"

"Over here! I found the killer! This way!" Max said as she grabbed Amber's hand and pulled her up. They both started running as the other two started following behind.
"Shit."

"Go!"
"Stop! Get back here, you little rats!"

Dustin eventually tripped and the cops found the three.

"Dustin! Shit."

"Hey there," Chief Powell said.
"Shit."

Shit indeed.