𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

fourty

the group followed dustin's faulty compass through the woods, and the boy thought that they were nearing the location of the new gate. sam looked down at her feet as she walked, trying her best to avoid tripping over rocks and logs.

"hey, are you okay?" steve asked, looking down at her. the two had slowed down, and now trailed further back from the others.

sam nodded her head. "yeah. yeah. i guess i'm just.. this is getting to all be incredibly...real, you know. and i'm totally okay saving hawkins again, i just.." she looked up at him. "we're lucky. i've almost died three consecutive years. i lost my brother, and i almost just lost my sister the other day-"

"hey, hey, hey." he coaxed. "what you've been through. it's a miracle. what we've all been through. max is going to survive. you are going to survive. we are going to defeat vecna."

she bit her lip, but nodded again. "yeah. i'm just...really scared this time. you know?"

steve looked between her and his flashlight. "yeah, i get what you're saying. it's okay for you to feel scared about this, i'm scared even. but i will not let anything hurt you or max if i can help it."

sam looked over at him, and then smiled. "i absolutely and utterly love you, steve harrington."

a light blush crept into his cheeks. "i love you, samantha mayfield." sam laughed, pulling steve down for a kiss. "you know, this whole creeping into this wizards lair seems.." he began after a moment, slowly trailing off.

"like a terrible idea." she suggested. "no, yeah. absolutely this is probably the worst plan. and i didn't even make it."

"you admit to having a bad ideas now?" sam asked with a raised brow and a smirk.

the boy rolled his eyes. "i just.. you know, i mean, they have good intentions. just poor executions."

"right, yeah, okay." she nodded. "you're only winning this argument one time, you want to know why?"

she nodded her head. "because i am going to start coming up with the best plans that are going to blow you out of the water."

the two laughed, and were standing close together when the group in front of them abruptly stopped.

"something's happening.. i think we're getting close!" dustin then called, only to be held back by eddie.

"watch your step, big guy." he said. dustin was about to walk directly into lover's lake.

"oh, man." steve sighed, looking out at the water. "you've gotta be shitting me. i thought these woods were familiar."

robin nodded. "lover's lake." this was exactly where patrick mckinney had just been murdered.

"this is.. confounding." dustin said.

"there's a gate in lover's lake?" max asked.

"whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening." nancy said. "maybe vecna's the same way."

steve nodded. "yeah, only one way to find out."

they uncovered a small boat from the side of the shore and eased it into the edge of the water. robin and sam walked in first, followed shortly by eddie and nancy. when dustin moved to climb onto the boat as well, eddie stopped him. "hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" he accused. "this thing holds four people tops, okay?"