SUMMERTIME SADNESS | Max Mayfield

CHAPTER TWENTY: the upside down.

When Lexi got to the other side, she looked around. This was probably The Upside Down. It was gross.  She looked for Nancy and found her. The brunette had a paddle in her hand and Lexi took one too. They ran to Steve and tried to get the bats off him.

They kept hitting them and the other two joined them. "Quick! Hold it, Robin!" Lexi yelled. "I got it." Robin held it down with her paddle, while Lexi kept hitting it, until it parted. "Kill it! Kill it!"

More bats arrived and they kept hitting them. "Shit! Yeah! Come on! Come on! Please!" The four kept shouting.  "Nancy, behind you! Watch out! Oh my God, Nance!" Lexi shouted, when a bat tried to attack Nancy from behind. "Lexi, get it off me!" Lexi took the bat by it's tail and ripped it off Nancy and hit it with her paddle. 

Steve eventually got up and took the bat, that kept choking him in his hand. He stepped on it's tail and bit it in half. The bats stopped attacking them and began guarding the gate. "Jesus H. Christ!"

"Are you okay?" Nancy inspected Steve's injuries. "Well, they took about a pound of flesh. But other than that, yeah, never better." He pointed at his stomach and Lexi frowned. "Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?" Robin suddenly asked. "What?"

"It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should get you to a doctor soon because once symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already dead." She explained. I think there are bigger concerns right now, Rob."

"All right. There's not that many. We can take 'em. Right?" Steve said as more bats flew their way. "You were saying?" Lexi asked him as more bats kept flying to them. "The woods. Come on." Nancy ran to the woods and Lexi sighed. "Great. More running."

They ran for a while, until Nancy found a spot for them to hide. "That was close." Robin sighed. "Yeah. Too close." Lexi breathed out. "Oh, sh... shit." Steve stumbled and leaned on some stone. "Steve?" Nancy and Lexi walked over to him and took a look at his stomach. "Jesus."

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He assured them. "No, no, no. You're not." Nancy shook her head. "You're losing blood." Lexi stated. "Come on, sit. All right?" She helped him as he sat down. "All right."

"So the good news is I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know." Robin rambled. "Robin."

"Yeah?" She said in a soft tone. "I kinda wanna punch you." Lexi chuckled. "Sense of humor's still intact. That's a good sign." Nancy ripped the bottom of her shirt. "Okay. You ready?" She prepared the piece of cloth to wrap it around his abdomen. "Yeah. Just do it."

"Sorry. Too tight?" He winced a little. "No, that's good." He smiled through the pain that pulsed through his stomach. "All right." She smiled back. "Thanks."

"So, uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?" Eddie furrowed his brows. "Pretty much." Steve shrugged. "Wait, watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind." He stopped Eddie with his hand. "It's all a what?"

"All the creepy crawlies around here. They're, like, one or something. Step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna." He explained. "Shit. But everything from our world is still here, right? Except people?"

"As far as I understand it, yeah." Lexi nodded. "So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate."

"From what I've seen, the police station doesn't have grenades. But they do have a lot of guns tho." Lexi shook her head. "Well, we don't have to go all the way downtown for guns. I have guns in my bedroom."

"You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" Eddie pointed at her. "Full of surprises, isn't she?" Robin chuckled. "A Russian Makarov and a revolver." 

"Yeah, you almost shot me with that one." Steve looked at the ground. "You almost deserved it." Eddie then suddenly took of his jacket and threw it at Steve. "For your modesty, dude." After Steve putted on that jacket, the ground began to shake. 

Nancy quickly caught Lexi, before she could fall as the two of them and Steve held each other. "Oh my god!" Lexi shouted. "So, guns seem like a pretty good idea to me." 

"Yeah, me too." Lexi nodded. "So what are we waiting for?"

After a little bit of walking, the three girls separated from the boys and had a small talk. "Couldn't we have tried a road, or something just slightly less creepy?" Lexi looked around as she began to recognize her surroundings. 

"I think we're getting close. We're almost out of here. Don't worry." Nancy reassured the taller girl. 

The talked and walked, until the ground began to shake again. "Goddamn it!" Lexi exclaimed as she almost fell again. "Here we go again. Second on my list of least favorite things, earthquakes. Seriously, I'm unsteady enough as it is."

They gained their balance back and Nancy started running. "Oh my fucking god! Nancy!" Lexi shouted at her. "Nancy! Where are you going? Nancy!"

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"Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler." Robin joked as the walked in the house. "Come on. I don't want to stay here longer than we have to." They walked up the stairs and didn't even notice Steve, who walked away from them. 

Lexi walked behind the group as they walked in Nancy's and Lexi's room. "Those aren't guns." Eddie said, while Lexi walked in the room. "These heels are pointy, but I was hoping for a deadly projectile."

Lexi looked around the room in confusion. "I don't understand." Lexi said as she shook her head. "Maybe you left them somewhere else." Robin talked to Nancy. "There's a six-year-old in the house. I know where I keep my guns. And also, I threw these away years ago."

"Jesus. How many did you make? I get that grades are important, but perhaps studying can wait till we get out?" Robin joked. "These are from sophomore chemistry. And this... this wallpaper, this is old wallpaper. And this mirror, this went to a yard sale. And you... You're not supposed to be here. No, I gave you to Cousin Joanna two years ago."

Nancy picked up her diary and Lexi finally pulled herself together. "Nancy?" She turned her head to them. "Where's my stuff?" Nancy looked up at her with a horrified look. "Nancy? Lexi? You're freaking me out."

"I think the reason that my guns aren't here is because they don't exist yet. The same with Lexi's stuff." Lexi furrowed her brows. "They don't... exist?" Robin asked. "This diary should be full of entries. It's not. The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened. We're in the past."

"Dustin! Dustin! Dustin! Can you hear me? Dustin! Du... Hello? Hel... Hello?" They heard Steve shouting, so they ran downstairs. "Maybe he really does have rabies." Lexi chuckled at Robin's sentence. "Hello! Hello?"

"What are you doing?" Lexi asked him and he turned to them. "Hello! He's here. Henderson. That little shit, he's here. He's like... He's in the walls or something. Just listen. Dustin. Dustin! Dustin! Dustin! Dustin! Can you hear me?"

"That brings us to the question you first raised. How and why is there a gate at Lover's Lake? Let's analyze. What do Eleven and Vecna have in common?" They heard after Steve stopped screaming. "Dustin! Dustin? Dustin! All right, either this kid can't hear us or he's being a total douche bag."

"Will found a way." Nancy whispered. "What?" Robin furrowed her brows. "Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights." Nancy spoked again. "Lights?" Eddie asked. "Yeah."

"The switch. Try the switch." Lexi realized. "Okay. It's not working." Steve said after flipping the switch for a few times. "Guys? You seeing this?" Nancy pointed to the lamp. 

Lexi walked forward and raised her hand to touch it. "It...Tickles." She smiled a little. "It kinda feels good." Robin said as they all joined the blonde. "Does anyone know Morse code?" They all shook their head. "No."

"Wait, does SOS count? Is that...Is that good?" Nancy nodded and they walked behind him and waited for a while. "It's working."