suıʞʍɐɥ oʇ ǝɯoɔlǝʍ sƃuıɥʇ ɹǝƃuɐɹʇs

Chapter Twenty-Three: E Pluribus Unum

ɯnun snqıɹnld ǝ
ɹnoɟ-ʎʇuǝʍʇ ɹǝʇdɐɥɔ

July 4, 1985

So, when we set fire to the hub, we drew the Demodogs away so El could close the gate. But now, for some insane reason, the Russians appear to be trying to reopen it, which just destroys everything we risked our lives for," Dustin said. Erica looked at him like he was lying, "By "we," you're including Lucas?" She asked not believing a thing he was saying. "Yes, of course."

"So, all that shit you told me, Lucas was there?" She asked. Dustin and I both nodded our heads. "My brother, Lucas Charles Sinclair?" She asked. "Yes!" We said in unison. "I don't believe you," she said. I groaned, "Wait, so you believe everything about El and the gate and the Demodogs and the Mind Flayer, but you question your brother's involvement?" She looked at me and nodded, "That's correct."

"Makes total sense," Dustin said, still working on getting the panel open. "Um, you need help with that?" Erica aske. "No," he said. "Well, I mean, it's taking a while, so..." He cut her off, "Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," he said, looking at her. "All right, so if we don't find a more efficient method to stop these fans, we're never gonna find help and your ice cream buddies are screwed," she told him. "Yeah, with that attitude, they are. Jee-zus!" I scoffed. So much negativity and bickering. "I'm just being realistic. I mean, we've made it about point-three miles in nine hours. Then we had to walk three hours down that tunnel, so I'd estimate ten miles back to the elevator, which should take us approximately twelve-and-a-half days."

Dustin and I looked at her in shock. "Did you just do all of that in your head?" I asked. "I'm good with numbers," she shrugged like it was nothing. "Holy shit. You're a nerd," Dustin laughed. "Come again?" She asked him in that sassy attitude of hers. "You... are... a... nerd," he repeated, still grinning. "Okay, you better take that back, nerd," she told him. "Can't put the truth back in the box," I said. "But it's not the truth," she argued. "Let's examine the facts, shall we? Fact one: you're a math whiz, apparently."

"That was a pretty straightforward equation," she argued. "Fact number two: you're a political junkie," Dustin kept going. "Just because I don't agree with Communism as an ideology..." he cut her off. "Fact number three: you love My Little Pony." He held her backpack up. "And what does My Little Pony have to do with this?" She asked. "Ah, let's recall the ponies' latest adventure, shall we? The evil centaur team and Tirek turns Applejack into a dragon at Midnight Castle, and then Megan and the other ponies have to use Moochick's magic to defeat his rainbow of darkness, saving them from a lifetime of enslavement. All the pink in the world can't disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and dragons and magic are all standard nerd tropes. Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy. Ergo, you, Erica, are a nerd."

"And how do you know so much about My Little Pony?" She asked. "Because I'm... a nerd." I laughed, "he watches it." Dustin glared at me and the fan stopped moving. "Let's go... nerd." Erica glared at me, making me laugh. Dustin crawled under then Erica and I followed after them.

When we found where Robin and Steve were, we found them tied together in the middle of some room. Steve's face was pretty beat up. His one eye is all swollen and starting to bruise. They were also both acting very strange.

The Bite

We were able to get them into the back of the little cart thing they used to get the boxes from the elevator. Erica and Dustin were up front with Dustin driving it and I was in the back with them.

Steve looked at me, getting really close to my face. "You're so beautiful. Isn't she beautiful?" His hand came up to hold my face, bring it closer to his. "I'm so in love with you." He smiled. I chuckled, "I love you too, Steve," I said. His smile grew wider before he kissed me. He tried to deepen the kiss but I gently pushed him away causing him to whine. A cute little pout on his lips. Dustin then slammed on the breaks causing me, Steve, and Robin to slam forward. "Ow! Fuck, Dustin!" Steve had landed on top of me. His arms immediately wrapped around my waist. "Sorry!" Dustin said. We soon got to the elevator, getting Steve and Robin inside and closing the door. The button was hit and we shot upwards.

Steve was on the cart they used to push boxes until he fell off causing Robin to laugh. "Oh, my god, Steve!" I went over to him to see him laughing. "What's wrong with them? Are they drunk?" Erica asked. Dustin knelt down and looked into Steve's eyes. "Are you drugged?" He asked. "So you think they drugged them?" I asked Dustin. "How many times dad I don't do drugs. It's only marijuana," Steve laughed and bopped Dustin's nose.

"He's definitely high," I mumbled. When the elevator stopped we pushed the doors open and stepped outside. But we quickly had to turn right back around when we saw more Russians. Having to drag Robin and Steve with us. While in the elevator Steve told us his keys had been taken away luckily we still had my car.

We snuck into the movie theater, ducking into Back To The Future. The only seats available were ones all the way in the front. We sat Steve and Robin in the two end seats telling them to be quiet and stop complaining before we went to the other end. "I'm never having kids," Dustin said and I chuckled. Then he went off to go try and get in contact with the others. Erica wasn't paying attention to Steve and Robin but I was. "I'll be back," I said, getting up when I saw they were gone.

When I found them they were in the bathroom talking. Steve had been talking about how he thought he was in love with Nancy at first but turned out he actually wasn't. But he was sure he was in love with me. Then Robin started talking and it was no surprise to me that she was confessing she was into girls. I slowly walked into the bathroom and found them in one stall, sitting on the nasty floor. "Do you guys feel better?" I asked. The both nodded then the Dustin burst in. "We gotta go!"