"bat proofing" the trailer. "not bad." eddie said once they'd covered the trailer in the wire of a fence, and had drilled other miscellaneous pieces into the sides of it.

dustin nodded his agreement. "not bad at all."

eddie chuckled. "now for the fun part." he led the henderson siblings into his room, where the other version of his guitar was sitting. "jesus." he breathed. "it's like.. she was destined for an alternate dimension." he grabbed it from the wall. "what do you say, hendersons? are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world?"

meadow crossed her arms over her metallica 'ride the lightning' shirt. "who do you think you're talking to?"

"was that a rhetorical question?" dustin added, looking to eddie with an awed smile.

"let's do it." eddie said before flinging his guitar over his back.

meadow helped dustin carry eddie's amplifier to the roof, using multiple extension chords to keep it plugged into the wall. "what song are you going for, munson?" she asked, looking over at him.

he shrugged. "what do you think?"

"well, i kind of assumed you were going to go for the last in line, or something."

eddie laughed. "oh, meadow. you underestimate me." he swung his guitar around. "you're a metallica fan, aren't you? you heard the new song?"

"master of puppets?" she asked, raising a brow. "that came out a few weeks ago, yeah, i've heard it. but no way do you know to play it already."

"you underestimate me." he repeated, a smile spreading onto his lips.

meanwhile, steve roamed through the upside down with nancy and robin. "uh, i don't mean to freak anyone out," robin said, "but i swear we've seen this tree before."

"that's impossible." nancy assured her.

"that would suck, right?" robin continued. "if vecna destroyed the world because.. cause we got lost in the woods?"

nancy shook her head. "we're not lost, robin." robin made a mocking chuckle before moving to run faster, making nancy call out to her. "robin, hey! watch out for the vines! hive mind, remember?"

"thank you!" robin replied, still moving ahead.

steve shook his head as he watched her leave. "and we say meadow's the pessimistic one."

nancy sighed heavily. "she's going to get herself hurt."

he shook his head again. "don't worry about her, she's just stressed. you know, scared."

"yeah. yeah, i know." nancy nodded, "it's just.."

"she's a super klutz?" steve suggested, hearing nancy chuckle her agreement.

"she did tell me that it took her longer to walk than most babies, so.."

steve laughed, but then shook his head. "i really shouldn't laugh. when i was a baby, i actually crawled backwards."

"crawled backwards?" nancy questioned.

he nodded. "you know, i'd push with my hands like this." he mimicked it. "beep, beep. always in reverse, you know? come on, it makes sense, you push to move, right?"

this must've been the longest conversation he'd had with her since they broke up, he thought, and he was glad that things were going well between them. though steve had, at some point, felt something for nancy, he felt guilty that it had been so overshadowed by how he felt for meadow.

as hurt as he'd been when nancy had called him bullshit, he knew that it was true. he had been full of shit. full of shit for staying with nancy when he loved someone else, just like nancy had been full of shit for doing the exact same thing.

but steve hadn't ever held it against nancy, who was only trying to find love just like he was. and so, he smiled over at her, enjoying getting to spend a moment with her as if everything was normal.

"no, it doesn't make sense." she argued.

"well, it did to my tiny little harrington brain." he said. "that is, of course, until i reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head real good."

nancy laughed. "wow, that explains.. so much."

he chuckled. "you know, meadow said the exact same thing when i told her that story." he nodded for a moment as he thought. "you know, i'm.. right out of the gate, i'm super confident. but, i'm also, like, an idiot. which is just.. i mean, it's a brutal combination. but, i mean, the good news is, i get a big enough thump on my head, i can change, you know? i can learn. i can.. crawl forward." they were both silent for a moment before steve turned back to her. "listen," he said, "i guess what i'm trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way, is, um.. is thank you."

"thank me?" she almost laughed.

"yeah."

"for..?"

"for giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago." steve said. "i needed it. it's changed my life. i mean, you.. you were with me when i.. i wasn't the person i wanted to be." he confessed. "and i'm sorry that.. that our relationship had to go so south for me to become who i wanted to be. but.. but you knocked some real sense into me. some real sense that helped me realize i needed to change. i needed to.. needed to get better. and i did."

"steve.."

he shook his head. "i don't know if there's a rule against thanking your ex for helping you into your current relationship, but thank you, nancy. for.. for helping me become who i needed to be to be good enough for her. and for myself, too. and then when i asked you if it was okay for me to move on, you never.. you never were anything but supportive of that."

nancy looked over at him, slightly tilting her head. "thank you for saying all of that. but where is this coming from?"

steve shrugged. "i don't know. i guess.. things are just seeming.. super bleak right now. and if anything happens, i don't want to go out with words that were left unsaid. and i don't know if it's weird, but i wanted to just.. thank you for unintentionally helping me become who i want to be, and for helping me fully fall in love with the best person in my life."

she smiled. "i'm really happy for you two, steve."

"i'm happy, too." he replied.

"hey, guys!" robin called. "we weren't going the wrong way after all!" she led them to the creel house, where erica was already shining her flashlight, signaling the next phase. "she's in." move on to phase three." robin said into her walkie talkie.

"copy that. initiating phase three." dustin replied. "let's hope they hear this." he said, plugging in the amp as it began to whine.

eddie grabbed his guitar. "chrissy, this is for you." he said. "you ready to see some real metal?" he then said, smiling over at meadow, who was sitting next to dustin on the top of the trailer. he jumped up before immediately opening into the guitar part of master of puppets by metallica, which hadn't even been out for a month.

"holy shit." meadow laughed, surprised by how well he knew it already.

dustin, next to her, bobbed his head along to the music, though he didn't know the words like she did.

"end of passion play, crumbling away. i'm your source of self-destruction." she whispered the words along under her breath, smiling up at eddie as he rocked out.

dustin grabbed his binoculars to scan the horizon for any of the demo bats, hoping that their plan would work. he then saw a huge swarm of them, and his eyes widened. "eddie! we gotta lock down in t-minus thirty seconds!" he yelled. eddie nodded, but continued playing. "t-minus twenty!"

eddie put his foot up and held his guitar closer, immediately shredding the guitar solo.

"t-minus ten!" dustin continued, looking over at eddie, who was head banging to his own work. "five.. one!" dustin screamed.

eddie let the solo swell, sticking his tongue out happily before grabbing his guitar and practically leaping off of the top of the trailer.

"move, move, move!" meadow yelled, following after him and dustin. "shit, shit, shit!"

she managed to shut the door just in time, and all three panted for a moment, eddie bent over with his hands on his knees and meadow clutching her stomach for breath.

"dude.." dustin said after a moment. "most. metal. ever!" he yelled. all three of them then began to holler in excitement, screaming and jumping up and down.

"that was fucking insane!" meadow agreed, putting a hand on both of their shoulders. "how long did it take you to learn that riff?"

"fucking weeks, man!" eddie replied. "i've been practicing since the song came out."

she laughed. "i can tell, man, it was so fucking sick!"

they celebrated for a bit longer before heading fully inside the trailer, already planning to have to fight the bats away. they stood with their backs pressed together, each of them holding nailed trash cans and makeshift spears.

"hey, dipshits!" dustin called when the screeching stopped. "give up that easy, huh?"

"shh!" eddie scolded. "is that really necessary?"

meadow ignored them and was focused on the ceiling, but she still jumped as she heard a bat screech. "they're on the roof." she said, moving slightly closer.

dustin followed her gaze. "shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit."

the three all moved closer, listening to the scratching and clattering of the bats. meadow's eyes narrowed as she looked at one of the pipe looking things on the ceiling. "they can't get in through that thing, can they?" she asked. less than a second later, one of them burst through it. "holy shit! nevermind!"

dustin and eddie both yelled, and all three of them began poking at it with their spears. "die! die!" dustin screamed. "die! die! die!"

"get out of the way!" eddie yelled, running between the siblings and slamming his nail-filled trash can lid into the ceiling.

meadow panted, taking a stumbling step back. "that works."

eddie looked between her and dustin, surprised by what had just occurred. "holy shit. holy shit."

"nice." dustin breathed.

eddie nodded. "thanks."

they high fived one another before dustin slowly sat up. "are there any other vents?" he asked, watching as eddie's eyes widened.

"oh, shit." he mumbled before running into his bathroom.

"shit, shit, shit." both henderson siblings repeated, following him. by the time they got there, bats were swarming out of the vent.

"holy shit!" meadow exclaimed, immediately turning on her heel and out of the room. once the three had sprinted out, they closed the door. the swarm of bats were already pushing against it on the other side, trying to open it.

dustin looked at the breaking door. "that's not gonna hold!"

meadow nodded her agreement. "yeah. let's go, let's go!"

dustin grunted as he pulled himself up the rope to get to the right side up, and eddie stood in front of the siblings with his trash can held up like a shield.

meadow immediately followed dustin up the rope, thanking him as he helped her to her feet. "eddie, come on, we don't have all day!" she yelled, looking up at him.

eddie dropped his weapons and began to climb up the rope, but the sound of the door squeaking made him stop.

"come, on, eddie, let's go!" dustin begged.

they both then watched as eddie's feet his the ground again, a somber and thoughtful look coming to his face.

"eddie!" dustin screamed. "what are you doing? eddie, no!"

"eddie, man, what the hell?" meadow added, moving to grab the rope. as she moved to grab it, eddie chopped it off from his end, letting the other end fall into meadow and dustin's hands. "eddie!"

dustin had started crying at this point, his hands on his head. "eddie, stop! eddie, stop!" he begged, watching as eddie moved his mattress out of the way. "eddie what are you doing?"

"i'm buying more time." he said, picking up his spear and his trash can lid.

meadow shook her head. "no, eddie!"

"no!" dustin sobbed. "eddie, please!"

but eddie was already out of sight, and dustin and meadow were staring at absolutely nothing. the only thing they could hear was the sound of the bats, and eddie opening his door and slamming it closed behind him.