𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

fourty-one

when sam made her way through the (absolutely horrendous) hole into the upside down, the first thing she heard was steve's helpless screams. when she saw his body, he was on the ground a couple feet away from her, struggling in pain as two creatures ate at his sides, an additional creature's tail coiled around his neck.

nancy, who had stopped for a second to think before joining her, had been smart enough to grab an oar that she immediately tossed to sam. using the oar, she punted one of the bats away. "hey." she breathed to steve, whacking the other bat off of his side.

robin moved over to her, holding the bat that was around steve's neck down as she hit at it.

"kill it!" eddie shouted, but got distracted quickly when more of the bats appeared in the sky.

sam was still continuing to hit at the bat when another landed on her legs, distracting her. "dammit! dammit! dammit" she screamed, as robin grabbed its tail pulling on it. to no avail, the talons on it kept digging into sam's thighs.

"sam!" eddie yelled as he grabbed an oar and shoved the animal off of her, instant relief filling through sam's lower body. eddie leaving nancy to fend off the incoming ones, and steve to whack his against the ground, eventually stomping his foot on it and tearing half of its body off.

"first obstacle concurred." sam panted, looking up at him. "are you okay, jesus." she then immediately moved to him, her hands on his upper arms as his moved to her waist, allowing her to examine the bites in his sides. "damn."

"they took about a pound of flesh.." steve told her, looking at his wounds. "but other than that, yeah, never better."

she let out a long sigh, her forehead resting on his. "please do not do that.. ever.. again."

"it wasn't by choice!" he defended.

"that is the worst thing...i have ever had to endure, what the actual hell." she said, trying to avoid hurting him.

steve then nodded. "okay, next time i'll try not get pulled underwater and then get attacked by demon bat things."

she smiled. "good."

robin examined one of the creatures. "uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?" she asked. "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 dead."

sam shook her head. "i can't imagine why you are so scared all the time."

the conversation was cut short when more bats flew in from the sky, and robin immediately moved to hide behind steve and sam. the creatures all flew towards the gate, sitting down around it. with them surrounding it, and terrifyingly screeching at the group of teens, there was no possible way they could go back through the same way they'd gone in.

"alright, there's not that many." steve reasoned. "we can take em. right?"

he seemed to have spoken too soon, because another flock of bats sounded in the distance. "you were saying?" robin asked.

"the woods." nancy said. "come on, let's go!"

everyone followed nancy as she sprinted towards the woods, where they'd hopefully find cover. "great. more running." robin groaned.