𝙂𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙚𝙧 - ᴍᴀx ᴍᴀʏꜰɪᴇʟᴅ

Chapter Thirty-Four: Entering The Gate

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Max says, receiving a weird glance from Dustin. "Who cares? It's unfair." Dustin scoffs, waving his arms around. "Keep an eye out for trouble." Nancy sighs, "You keep an eye out." Dustin responds sassily, "It's my god damn theory!" Dustin scoffs, "You heard Nance." Robin says, "Who put her in charge?" Dustin responds. "I did." Robin says, making Ava smirk at Dustin's defeated face.

"Compass." Robin says, holding her hand out towards Dustin. Dustin scoffs and hands her the compass hesitantly. "Hey, there you go." Steve says, throwing Dustin a backpack. Steve then hopped onto the boat, making Dustin scoff. "You said four!" The boy shouted, "Sorry." Steve responds in a whisper, Ava chuckling from beside him. "Be back soon!" Ava says, waving. Ava noticed Max's worried glance, but didn't think too much of it.

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos!" Robin shouts, making the group giggle. "Miss you already!" She adds.

~~~

They were getting closer to where the gate should supposedly be at, Nancy breaking the silence. "Woah, woah, woah, slow down!" Nancy says, noticing the compass spinning like crazy. Both Robin and Eddie slow the kayak down.

"Woah." Steve says, looking downs the compass. "Um, that's normal, right?" Ava asks hopefully, receiving a shove from her brother. "Guys what's going on?" Dustin asks through the radio. "Come on, talk to me." He says. "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah!'" Robin says, Steve standing up. "Steve, what're you doing?" Nancy asks.

"Somebody's gotta go down and check this out." Steve says, "Unless one of you three can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain, and a certified lifeguard for three years, then.." Steve says, taking off his shoes and socks. "It's gotta be me. No complaints, alright?" Steve says. "I can go with you." Ava suggests, making Steve immediately glare at the girl.

"You're lucky you're even on this boat, don't get any funny ideas like that." Steve scoffs. "Well, i'm not complaining." Eddie says, "I do not wanna go down there." Eddie says. Steve then takes off his shirt, Nancy staring at his toned back, making both Robin and Ava glance at each other with wide grins.

Steve grabs a flashlight, ready to go down into the water. "Hey. Good luck." Eddie says, nodding. "Thanks." Steve says, looking down into the lake. Eddie tried lighting a cigarette, Robin immediately slapping it out of his hand. "Gross." Robin says as she does so. "Steve?" Nancy says, making Steve turn back towards her. "Be careful." She says worriedly.

Steve nods slowly before diving into the lake, his flashlight being visible through the water for only a matter of seconds as he gets deeper and deeper into the water. Ava sat on the kayak, her mind thinking of a lot of stuff, but mainly worried for her brother. I mean, if there really is a gate down there, they don't know much about what happens if you get close to one.

"Where are we at, Nancy?" Robin asks, "Closing in on a minute." Nancy responds. "Okay." Robin says nervously, worried for Steve as well. Ava turned over to look at the three watching them from afar, and see them hide behind something. She was soon distracted by something else, though.

Steve came back up from the water, her worried feeling going away quickly. "Oh, Christ!" Robin shouts, "I found it." Steve says, breathing heavily. "You found it?" Nancy says, " I found it, yeah. I found it." Steve repeats, nodding. "Dustin, you are a god damn Einstein, Steve found the gate, we're coming back soon." Robin says through the radio.

"Here, get back up." Ava says with a smile, reaching her hand out for Steve to grab. Steve takes it, but something pulled both Steve, and Ava down into the water. Ava gurgled as an unexpected cold feeling hit her entire body, the water feeling as though it was colder than anything she's felt. She didn't let go of Steve's hand, looking at his foot to notice something pulling them both down.

Ava tried using her powers against it, but the tentacle looking object grabbed her wrist. She could hear the panicked voices of everyone on the kayak, her and Steve were grunting, trying to break free from the creatures strong grip. Ava noticed that they were both getting closer and closer to the gate, so she started to strain and attempted to push back up to the surface. It was no use.

They both were now going through the gate.

{1407 word count}

Sorry for the small chapter, i'll try and make it up to you all in the next chapter! I've been honestly unmotivated to writing so i'm sorry about that, but i hope you guys enjoyed this. I love you all and your support, have a great rest of your day/night!<33