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𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 and started to pull at the roots that were wrapped around Cindy. The more her body was revealed, the more cuts and bruises were revealed. Now on the verge of sobbing, Lily pushed the hair out of Cindy's face, her hands shaking. She had been right all along. Her friend had been in the Upside Down.
"Have any of you got a knife?" Steve called to the others. They immediately came rushing over, Dustin thrusting a small penknife at Steve, which Lily quickly took from him.
She tried to hack away at the roots with the knife, but the bluntness of the blade and the tears blurring her eyes made it difficult. Noticing her struggling, Steve took the knife from her and began to cut away the roots himself.
Once Cindy was free, Lily's hand flew to her wrist. Hardly daring to breathe, she waited for the feeling of a pulse. She took in her friend's appearance while she waited. The girl had cuts and bruises littered all over, and her skin was just as white as the dress she was wearing.
"Is she alive?" She heard Max say from behind her.
After a painful few seconds, Lily began to feel the gentle beat of a pulse against her fingers, "She's alive" She breathed, and she heard Steve let out a long sigh of relief.
Now that the adrenaline of finding Cindy, and finding her alive, was wearing off, Lily remembered that they were still in the Upside Down. Remembering their original plan, she pulled off the scarf covering her mouth and wrapped it around Cindy's, "Let's get her out of here".
"Here" Steve insisted, taking off his own scarf and handing it to Lily, which she gratefully tied around her face. He then pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around Cindy, before carefully lifting her from the ground.
With Lily and Steve preoccupied with Cindy, Mike took the lead. Once everyone was a safe distance from the hub, he pulled out Steve's lighter and tossed it into the clearing, sending a tower of orange flames into the air.
The journey back to solid ground was fast but complicated. For starters, Mike tripped and caught his leg on the roots of the ground, and would have been stuck there if it weren't for Lily taking Steve's bat and quickly slashing the roots away. Then, Dart had somehow found them. Fortunately, Dustin giving him a bar of Nougat had solved this, much to the bewilderment of the others.
Shortly afterwards, the group then found themselves being pursued by at least six demodogs. Lily and Steve had quickly hoisted everyone, included Cindy, back up through the hole onto solid ground, leaving the two of them alone to face the demodogs. The moment the creatures came into view, Steve had thrust Lily behind him and gripped the nailed bat, preparing for a fight.
