Loss - Lucas Sinclair

The Gate (Part 4)

Nikki let out a shaky breath as Hopper pulled into the parking lot of the lab. She had so many bad memories of this place. So many horrible things had happened to her and El in the lab. She swore to herself last year when she ran away that she would do everything in her power to stay away from the place, but here she was, about to step in it willingly.

Hopper parked the truck and everyone got out, wondering what they were about to face. Nikki walked up to El's side and grabbed her hand as both of them looked at the place they used to call their home.

"How are you feeling?" El asked quietly as Hopper grabbed a gun from the back of the truck.

Nikki took a second to think about the answer. She didn't feel the pit in her stomach like she normally did when something bad was about to happen. She would take that as a good sign. "Not bad."

El squeezed her hand as Hopper came up from behind them and stood at El's side. "All right. You two let me do the heavy lifting up front, all right? You guys need to save your strength till we're below. You okay?" He asked El, seeing as though she was more nervous of the two girls. Little did he know Nikki was fighting with her nerves and bad emotions deep down.

Nikki looked over at El as her eyes hardened with determination and began leading the way to the lab, making her and Hopper walk quickly to catch up to her.

Now or never, Nikki told herself as memories of the place began to flash through her mind.

***

"This is so awesome!" Dustin cheered from the backseat of Billy's car, getting a weird look from Mike who sat other side of the car so they could have a still passed out Steve in between them.

"Take a right up here," Lucas read off the map as Max followed the directions turning right on the road Lucas pointed out.

"Nancy?" Steve muttered, starting to wake up. Lucas looked back quickly to see Steve looking at Mike with a questioning look.

Lucas shook his head, biting back his laughter at the situation Mike was in and turned back to the map. He tried listening to the one-sided conversation Dustin had with Steve but sadly he only heard a few lines of what he was saying.

"Hey, buddy...he kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight."

"Okay," Lucas looked over the route he had drawn on the map to make sure he got it right before telling Max what to do, "you're gonna keep straight for a half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sinai."

"What's going on?" Steve asked, sounding kinda out of it, making Max turning to look at him quickly. "Oh my god."

"Just relax. She's driven before," Dustin tried to calm him down before he really started to freak out.

"Yeah, in a parking lot," Mike argued with him, not helping Dustin complete his mission.

"That counts," Lucas shrugged as he turned back to his map.

"They were gonna leave you behind," Dustin explained. "But I promised that you'd be cool, okay?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Steve started to raise his voice as Max pressed more on the accelerator. "What's going on? Oh, my god. No! Whoa! Stop the car. Slow down."

"I told you he'd freak out," Mike snapped at Dustin.

"Stop the car!"

"Everybody shut up! I'm trying to focus!" Max yelled at everyone in the backseat.

Lucas's eyes widened as the street they needed started coming up very quickly. "Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai. Make a left."

"What?"

"Make a left," Lucas repeated, pointing at the street sign.

Max quietly swore under her breath as she firmly grabbed the wheel, turning the car so sharply it made the tire screech along with everyone else in the car.

Lucas sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves as he turned back to the map. "Okay, now we just have to keep going straight until we see the hole."

"What?" Max asked, trying to get a quick look at the map as the car raced down the street.

"Don't you guys hear me? Stop the car!" Steve continued to yelled at them.

"Up there!" Mike pointed towards the field in front of them. "The hole is up there!"

"Okay," Max nodded as the car went off the road to the hole in the middle of the field. She stopped the car quickly making everyone jerk forward.

"Hello!" Steve yelled as he stopped himself from flying to the front seat.

"Incredible," Mike commented as Max put the car in park.

"I told you. Zoomer." Max replied, getting out of the car.

The boys followed her actions, getting out of the car and heading towards the back to grab their supplies. They passed out bandannas and goggles to either as Steve slowly got out of the car and used the car door to keep himself up.

"Guys," he tried to get their attention, but as always, they weren't listening. "Oh, no. Guys."

He watched as Mike passed him to get to the hole. "Hey, where do you think you're going? What are you, deaf? Hello?"

He pushed himself off the car and made his way to the truck where everyone else was still getting ready. "We are not going down there right now. I made myself clear," Max passed by him without giving him a second glance. "Hey, there's no chance we're going to that hole, all right? This ends right now!"

He grabbed some of the supplies as Lucas passed by him and threw it back in the truck, making Dustin break the kids' silence. "Steve, you're upset, I get it. But the bottom line is two party members require assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now, I know you promised Nance that you would keep us safe. So, keep us safe," Dustin concluded with giving Steve a backpack and his bat before joining the others who were waiting for them.

"All right," Lucas smiled, but no one could see it through the bandanna, "let's do this."

Authors note
So if you guys haven't noticed, I haven't updated in a while and I want to apologize for that. Hopefully, now that my schedule is starting to clear up, I can write more and put out more chapters faster than I have. We'll see how it goes. Until then...

Love ya!!❤️❤️❤️