November 7th, 1984

In The Underground Tunnels

The further we trekked down the tunnel, the worse the condition seemed to get. It was colder, darker, and the air grew thicker as the particles in the air increased. The place seemed utterly lifeless.

"God," Lucas called out as he almost tripped over an overgrown vine. "What is this place?" Max asked as she and Lucas caught up with me, while Mike and Dustin walked ahead with Steve. "Guys, come on. Keep moving." Steve called out over his shoulder, bouncing his flashlight from between the map and the tunnel ahead of him.

Walking past Dustin, he stayed glued in his spot staring up at the ceiling. "Dustin, you okay?" I called out from just a few steps ahead of him.

"What the hell?" He whispered as he slowly raised a finger to point just above his head before a sudden gust of air hissed out from above us, and a cloud of particles consumed him.

"Shit!" Dustin screamed, collapsing to the floor, rolling around to escape the particles surrounding him. Quickly standing onto his feet, Dustin continued to scream as he ran towards me until he knocked both of us onto the ground.

"Help! Help!" He yelled at me, sitting upon his knees before pulling his facial covering down as the party rejoined us. "What happened?" Steve yelled while Dustin stayed hunched over. "There was some sort of trap," I stated, patting Dustin on the back.

"It's in my mouth!" He yelled, continuing to spit out whatever the particles were made of.

Recomposing himself, Dustin slowly sat up, looking between the five of us. "I'm okay." He stated simply, his false teeth now missing from his mouth. "Jesus," I muttered, standing up from my place on the floor.

"You serious?" Max asked with a roll of her eyes while Steve and Mike turned back to continue leading the group. "Very funny, man." Steve stated. "Nice. Very nice." He muttered as the rest of the group followed him. "What an idiot," Max stated as I helped the boy up.

"Come on, and no more lingering, yeah?" I asked, pulling him towards the rest of the group by his arm. "Yes ma'am.."

After a few more minutes of walking, Steve came to a halt, holding his arm out to stop Mike from walking any further. "All right, Wheeler. I think we found your hub." He stated, sweeping his flashlight around the space in front of us.

If Mike was wrong, I would hate to see the real hub point for these things. The space in front of us luckily was empty, with multiple open tunnels leading in each direction around us. "Let's drench it." Mike stated, his grip tightening around the oil canister that he held.

Splitting up the group, we each took a different sector of the tunnel. Drenching the floor, the walls, everything and anything in sight.

Throwing our empty bins and tins of gasoline into the center of the hub, we regrouped in the tunnel that we had come from, "You guys ready?" Steve asked, pulling his lighter out of his jacket pocket.

Murmurs of approval erupted around the group before he flipped the cap of the lighter off. "Light 'er up," Dustin stated, kneeling next to Steve. "We are in such deep shit," I muttered more to myself than the group as Steve ignited the flame.

Throwing the lighter into a puddle of lighter fluid, the hub almost immediately went up into flames.

As the flames grew, the vines littering the walls and ground detached themselves, flailing around in the fire as if they were trying to protect themselves and extinguish the flames. "Let's go." I stated, grabbing onto Max and Lucas' shoulders and pulling the two down the tunnel while Steve did the same with Mike and Dustin.

"Go, go, go!" Steve yelled out, running ahead of the rest of us. A loud chittering sound erupted from one of the opposite tunnels as we ran. "Come on, let's go!"

A grunt sounded from behind me in the midst of the chaos happening around us. "Help! Help!" Mike's screaming echoed through the tunnel as we turned back to help him.

"Hold on!" I yelled as we found him laying on the ground, a vine latched onto his ankle, seeming to try and pull him down into the earth. "Pull up!" Lucas yelled as he and Dustin grabbed onto both of Mike's arms and tried to pull him away from the vine.

That only seemed to tighten the vine's grasp on him. "Everybody back!" Steve yelled, raising his bat into the air before swinging it down onto the vine, narrowly missing Mike's leg. "Are you crazy!" I yelled, stopping him from swinging again.

Pulling my pocket knife from the pocket of my jeans, I quickly cut through the vine before helping Mike off of the floor as the vine shrank away from us. "Come on, we gotta get out of here," Steve called out, ready to continue leading us towards the way out before a growl stopped him in his tracks.

Slowly turning around, we were greeted by a Demo-dog that peeked its head up at us. Steve began to approach the creature, bat raised high in the air again only to be stopped by Dustin who blocked his path with his arm.

"Dart," Dustin stated, slightly commandingly at the creature. Slowly, Dustin stepped one foot closer to the creature that bent its head down, Steve quickly grabbed onto his arm while the rest of the party begged him to stop.

Dustin only waved the group off, "Trust me, please." He stated, stepping closer to the creature that slowly began to approach him. "Hey, it's me. It's me, your friend, it's Dustin." He said soothingly, lifting his goggles off of his eyes and pulling his mask down.

"You remember me?" Dustin asked, kneeling in front of Dart as he continued to slowly walk towards him. "Will you let us pass?" Dustin asked, the creature quickly cowered away before his petal-like face peeled back to release a distressed shriek.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Dustin whispered, raising his hand in the air slightly while Steve began to raise the bat again, "Trust him." I whispered, lightly pushing the bat back down.

"I'm sorry about the storm cellar. That was a pretty douchey thing to do." Dustin slowly eased the creature back down. "Are you hungry?" He asked, slowly reaching into his bookbag, this seemed to make Dart's head perk up slightly. "Yeah?" Dustin asked, a grin sounding very evident in his tone.

"He's insane," Mike whispered to us, causing Max to lightly slap his shoulder and shush him. "Shut up." Steve whispered, bat still slightly at the ready in his grip.

"I've got our favorite. See?" Dustin carefully showed the creature a still wrapped Three Musketeer candy bar. "Nougat." Dart released a grunt before stepping closer to Dustin as he unwrapped the candy. "Look at that, here you go." He whispered, placing the bar onto the ground.

Slowly, Dart leaned down to eat the candy, while Dustin reached his arm back towards us to wave us past. "I've got more." He stated with a grin as Dart finished the bar, half of the group now behind the creature as Dustin handed him another.

Slowly rising into a standing position, Dustin carefully walked around Dart, whose head seemed to follow his every move, "Goodbye, buddy." He whispered, pulling his coverings back on before turning away from Dart. "Let's go."

"This way!" Steve called out, the rope in clear sight ahead of us before the ground began to shake from beneath us.

Falling over, the earth continued to rumble as we tried to regain our footing. "Come on, let's go!" Steve yelled, pulling Lucas up as multiple growls echoed through the tunnel. "Run!" I yelled, ushering Max and Mike in front of me before running towards the exit.

"All right, come on!" Steve yelled, stopping in front of the rope, lifting Max as high as he could so she could climb out. "Come on, come on." Steve seemed to mutter to himself as he helped Lucas, then Mike as the growls grew closer to us.

As Steve helped Dustin onto the rope, a growl halted his final push.

Gazing down the tunnel, multiple silhouettes of the Demo-dogs came into sight. "Dustin, grab my hand!" Lucas yelled from the top as he quickly climbed up the rope, barely halfway there. "Nellie, go!" Steve yelled, readying his bat as the first of many Demo-dogs turned the corner.

"Not without you!" I yelled, pulling on the back of his jacket and towards the rope. "Guys, come on!" Mike yelled from above us as he and Lucas pulled Dustin up the rest of the way. "Please." Steve whispered, turning his head toward me, but it was too late.

Even if I had tried to climb the rope, the amount of Demo-dogs rushing towards us would have stopped me anyway. "Shit," Steve whispered, pulling me into his arms as the dogs surrounded us.

Darting past us, the Demo-dogs seemed to be targeting something that wasn't us. "Where are they going?" Steve whispered, still clinging onto me as the last of the dogs turned down a corner behind us. "Eleven." Mike stated from above us.

"As lovely as this is, Steve. Can we get out of here now?" I whispered, Steve's hands only seemed to slip down onto my waist. "Stop being gross!" Dustin's voice carried through the tunnel, causing the two of us to snap our heads up towards the opening, only to find four pairs of eyes staring down at us.

"Thanks for ruining the moment, Dustin. Really, thanks." Steve called out, throwing his hands into the air and towards the boy. "Just save it for our date," I stated with a grin. "Right, our date." He agreed, before helping me onto the rope.

Helping Steve out of the hole, he quickly turned towards me as the party made their way towards the car, holding his hand out. "What?" I asked looking down at his hand. "Keys. Did you think I forgot about that nightmare-inducing ride? Keys." He stated, pushing his hand closer to me.

Letting out a scoff, I dug into my pocket before passing them over. "I'm still learning alright." "From who? Will?" Mike asked, standing in front of us with his arms crossed over his chest. "Shut up-" I began to say to the boy, only for the headlights of the car to quickly turn on, staying that way for a few moments before slowly dimming back down.

"I think I should go home now," Max whispered before looking up at Steve and me. "Sounds like a plan." Steve agreed as we all continued to stare at the car in confusion.