"We're at a minute now," Robin stated, mirroring Nancy's nerves. At this point Veronica couldn't concentrate on the situation at hand. All she could think about was the slip of her tongue, however wrong it was that that was the thing on her mind and not her friend at the bottom of the lake. Eddie was still red and hadn't taken his hand off of her leg, in fact it was higher than before, tightly resting on her lower thigh. The adrenaline was rushing through both of their bodies, from both Steve's predicament and Veronica's promise.
Steve resurfaced with a gasp, followed by gasps from the other four. "I found it." He was smiling and looking at Nancy and her look of relief. Nancy opened her mouth to speak but before anything could happen, Steve was yanked back into the water going further and further down. Nancy began to audibly freak out and without hesitation jumped in after him. Robin looked at Veronica and Eddie who were wide eyed and staring back.
"Fuck it," she said and dived in. Eddie and Veronica looked at each other. Veronica wondered if they were really that stupid.
"This is so goddamn stupid!" Eddie yelled, throwing his arms about. Veronica leaned over the edge of the boat, trying to see anything. She could only imagine what she was about to get herself into, and to repeat Robin's thoughts about the situation; "Fuck it."
Veronica stood up to face Eddie, grabbed his jacket and pulled him down to kiss him. He kissed back, scooping her face into his hand and placing the other tightly on her hip. The kiss was passionate, with heavy breathing and the odd moan. They could feel each other's heartbeats. The adrenaline sky rocketed. Veronica's legs were weak. They were both so consumed with the kiss, with each other, they almost forgot what was going on.
Veronica leaned back from the kiss and motioned to the water, "You first." Eddie laughed breathlessly in response.
"Bitch," he stretched and dived in. Veronica dove in immediately after.
≈≈≈
Through the gate, Steve was bleeding. Him, Robin and Nancy were fighting off what could only be described as bats mixed with sting rays. Veronica and Eddie didn't hesitate to begin fighting alongside them. Veronica found a rod of metal, almost a crowbar but not so much. She stabbed a bat that flew at her. With her foot on the bat, she pulled the metal bar from its chest. This continued for many minutes.
"How many of these things are there?" Robin yelled. She was right. There seemed to be a never ending army of those things waiting for the others to die before flying in. Steve was wounded and the other four were heavily winded.
"We need to get out of here," Veronica yelled. She looked around frantically before spotting the wooded area. "The forest!" The others' heads turned to where she was referring to and they took off. Steve was struggling so Eddie put his arm over this shoulders to help support him as he ran.
≈≈≈
Steve was propped up against Skull's Rock, holding his stomach. Nancy ripped off fabric from her shirt and tied it around him as a makeshift tourniquet. The group began to catch their breath and the fight or flight responses began to settle, but they were still on guard.
"What do we do?" Robin asked, kneeling on the ground. "We can't get back out through the gate, it's suicide."
"We could go to the police station for guns," Steve suggested. Nancy bit her nails and looked up at him.
"We don't need to go to the police station for guns," she said quietly. "I have guns in my room."
"What?" Eddie said in shock. He was standing close to Veronica, almost protectively. He made sure to stay close to her while fighting off the bats too. The heavy feeling in Veronica's chest still hadn't gone away. She could still feel his lips. "Nancy Wheeler has guns?" He was laughing.
"Yes, actually." Nancy placed a hand on her hip. "A Russian Makarov and a revolver, to be exact."
"You almost shot me with one of those," Steve laughed, recalling the memory. Nancy laughed too.
"You almost deserved it." She looked up at him and then quickly looked away. "My house isn't far, it won't take long to get there."
The group agreed and began their journey to the Wheeler house.
