Stay or Go

Chapter 41

"Ok." I say peering down into the hole in the ground, darkness engulfing it "I'll go first, I'll give you guys the all clear to come down and join me." The kids all nod and I prepare myself to jump down when someone brushes past me. "I'll go first." Steve says holding his bat in one hand and rope in the other, I step forward ready to argue but he doesn't give me a chance, instead he jumps into the hole straight away only leaving one end the rope behind. I shake my head before following after him.

When I jump down, my foot lands awkwardly and I almost fall over. Instead a steady hand clutches my waist and Steve steadies me "woah there Harrington, be careful." Even in the complete darkness I can tell we both blush crimson. Steve coughs and I step away, looking up and calling out "you guys can come down now." I hear some rustling before my brother retort "finally! I thought you two were making out or something gross like that down there."

Once everyone is down Mike starts looking at his little map with a torch "yeah, I'm, pretty sure it's this way." He tells us, his voice echoing in the cavern. Dustin spins his head to look in the direction of his friend "you're sure, or you're certain?" He asks and the Wheeler boy snaps back angrily "I'm 100% sure. Just follow me and you'll know." Steve and I share a look and I lean close before whispering "our lives are in the hands of a bunch of middle schoolers." He snorts and I smile.

Mike starts to walk off but Steve shouts "whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey, hey. I don't think so." I cross my arms and keep my face serious even though it is pretty funny. "What?" Mike asks and I pluck the sheet of paper with the map on it out of his hands "any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame. Got it, dipshit?" Harrington asks squaring up to the younger boy. I then turn to face the others, waving the paper in my hand like a flag "from here on out, Steve and I are leading the way. Come on let's go." And they all follow after us with little complaint.

we walk in silence until we find a fork in the path and we stop "God." Lucas says from behind us. Steve and I look at each other for a moment as Max asks "what is this place?" Everyone is shining their torches around the cave where we stopped. I press on trying to sound confident when even I am spooked right now, "guys come on." I call back "keep moving." We move along down the cavern with little to no issue, Steve walking by my side.

Then we hear a high pitched scream, a scream I would know anywhere. My head snaps back and my blood freezes in my veins as I hear my brother shout 'help! help! help!" I start towards the sound, the others parting to let me through "Dustin!" I shout back, fear curling in my stomach. Just as I reach him, my brother falls over "what happened?" I ask panicked as I help him up. Dustin clutches onto me "it's in my mouth." He whimpers "some got on my mouth! Shit!"

Dustin starts coughing and heaving as though he is going to be sick, I rub his back soothingly before he suddenly stands up straight and announces "I'm fine." The others sigh in relief and I let go of him. "You serious?" Max asks sounding annoyed and I shake my head, pushing back to the front of the group "not funny, Dustin." And we continue on our way through the tunnels.

"Alright Wheeler." Steve says as we stop again "I think we found your hub." There is a dramatic pause as we all look at the big empty space in front of us. "Drench it." Mike says menacingly and so that's what we start doing. Once that is all done we all step back into one of the branches of the maze, the kids crouched on the floor while Steve and I stand over them. "You guys ready?" Steve asks and Mike is the first one to answer "yeah."

Steve takes the lighter out of his pocket and I squeeze his shoulder "light it up." I whisper and we share a gently moment. Then he throws the lighter onto the ground, setting the veins alight. The flames are getting brighter and stronger and I tap Max on the shoulder, eyes stuck on the flames "let's get out of here."

And soon Steve and I are racing behind my brother and his friends out of the cavern and back up the relative safety. Mike falls over and gets tangled in some veins, everyone is screaming as Steve brings his bat down and chops the vine in half freeing the younger boy. We then turn to go when we all freeze in place, there is a demo-dog or whatever my brother is calling them, standing right in front of us, seemingly curious. "You guys go ahead." I say quietly as I slowly push myself to the front of the group "I can take care of this." This snaps Dustin out of his daze as he grabs onto my hand "no, Lori, you'll die." I smile weakly and squeeze his hand.

"Don't worry about me Dust, I'll be fine. You guts just go." I reply, he looks absolutely heartbroken as Steve pulls him away gently. "Hey there, buddy." I say walking towards the creature, it roars and leaps at me. Sucking in a breath I throw my arms out managing to stop the beast before it can land on me, it roars in my face and I cringe back at the smell. I grit my teeth as I push all of my strength into pushing it away and it flies towards the wall with a loud thud. I snap my head back quickly "Steve, the bat." He throws it to me and I catch it smoothly, wuick enough to bring it round and smack the creature in the head. It collapses to the ground. Dead.

I hear some rustling and then Mike say "you're sister is badass." I try to hide my smile as I turn back around to face them, everyone wide eyed. Including Steve Harrington. "Lets keep moving shall we." I say and they all follow after me.

Just when I think we are getting closer to the entrance we made in the ceiling, the ground starts shaking making everyone loose their footing. "Shit." I say clutching the wall as we hear monsters roar above us. "What was that?" Max asks as I help her up, there are more roars and we spin around. "They're coming." Mike says and I realise the noises were coming from inside the tunnel not above, I don't know which one is worse.

"Run!" Lucas shouts "run." And we do, right to the entrance. Steve and I start helping the children up and to safety and then it's my turn. I hesitate and lock eyes with Steve who nods softly "I'll be up in a minute." He reassures me. I sigh and climb back out of the hole and onto the grass. I then lean over the hole and reach down with my hand, Steve takes it and I help him up. As Steve appears I loose my footing and we both fall over, Steve on top of me. "Well hey there." He says with a cocky smirk that is all too familiar, I roll my eyes and push him off of me.

I sit up and notice my brother glaring at Steve. clear my throw and stand up, brushing the mud from my pants "alright, seems like we have done everything. You guys ready to go?" Just as we go to leave the lights on the front of the car start getting brighter and brighter. We all squint and shield our eyes from it and I can only think of one thing. Eleven. When the lights finally dim I chuckle and shake my head "she actually did it."