SWORD

twenty

|CHAPTER TWENTY|
TUNNELS

Armani landed harshly on her feet, her arm ached as she moved out of the way of the hole. Her voice drifted as she looked around the darkness, "Holy.."
"Shit." Steve finished once he too was down in the slimy tunnels.

Mike Wheeler held his flashlight in one hand and a messy self-made map in the other. "Uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure it's this way!" His voice echoed through the tunnels.

"You're pretty sure or you're certain?" Dustin asked skeptically.

"I'm one hundred percent certain. Just follow me and you'll know!" Mike yelled back, showing Armani the map as she leaned over him to inspect it.

Steve stepped forward, "woah woah woah. Hey. Hey, hey. I don't think so" he took the map quickly, "any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame, got it dipshit?" He turned to the others, yelling so his voice projected. "From here on out, I'm leading the way! Come on lets go!" He turned quickly, walking in the direction Mike pointed out.

Armani stayed in the back. Partly because she wanted to help incase the dogs came from behind and partly because she didn't feel well. Knowing those monsters killed her dad, and that she might have to face them here made the bile in her stomach rise.

"Hey, a little hustle!" Steve's orders interrupted Armani's thoughts, and she followed swiftly behind Dustin, who seemed to notice Armani's mood but decided to keep quiet.

—

The tunnels seemed to go on forever. The smell was repulsive, and the look of the slime and vines everywhere was even moreso.

"This is gross." Armani gagged, Dustin turned and nodded, "Agreed." He muttered, the two stopped below a small bulb on the top of the tunnels. It looked like a flower, or the head of a demodog. "Hey, come on." Armani attempted to pull Dustin forward, "what the hell," Dustin whispered. The bulb pulsed, and it shot out a mysterious mist. Armani fell back in shock. Dustin hunched over, he let out a high pitched scream as he began gagging.

"Dustin! Hey! Are you okay?" Armani yelled over Dustin, who got up and began running.

"Shit! Help! Help! Help!" He fell over again, in front of Mani as she tried to get up.

"Dustin!" Everyone ran back, Steve burst through the others, "Armani! Hey! Hey! What happened?" He panicked, helping Armani up. Dustin coughed and gagged, slowing down as he seemed to recuperate. "I'm okay." He looked up with a nod. Everyone sighed, Armani rolled her eyes as the rest of them cursed Dustin for scaring them. "Real funny." Steve shook his head as he kept going forward. "Come on, kid." Armani patted Dustin's back and pushed him ahead of her.

"Mani?" Steve turned around and gestured for her to come next to him while they were walking. Armani looked above the heads of the younger teens, she walked to the front of the group.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, not looking up from the ground as she watched for the tripping hazards.

"No, no. I just–thanks. you know, for helping with Billy." Steve nodded as he looked up from the map.

"Oh, don't thank me. I just kicked and punched him. Max knocked him out with that injection." She shrugged off the thanks as she remembered the anger that Billy had radiated during the fight.

"He broke your arm, so he obviously saw you as a threat. It's pretty badass, actually" A light chuckle escaped the boy. "It's not broken, I don't think. But thanks, Steve." Armani smiled up at him. The two kept walking quickly for the sake of staying safe, but Steve's cold hand wanted nothing more than to hold Armani's, who's one working arm was occupied with a flashlight.

"Alright, Wheeler. I think we found your hub." Steve spoke as the two older teens stopped at the entrance. Armani's eyes scanned the place, it had tunnels feeding into it from every direction, and the bottom crunched with bones, making her eyes fill with tears as she swallowed loudly.

"Lets drench it." Mike nodded. Grabbing the gasoline, everyone began pouring the liquid around the whole area. Armani tried her best, but with only one hand functioning, the gasoline all seemed to pour into one place. "Shit." She sighed as she leaned on the wall of the tunnel. The smell of the gas only made her eye's water more, and her father's death was beginning to catch up with her.

"Hey, Mani. Come on." Steve walked towards her, although his tone changed when he realized she was upset. "Hey, woah, hey. What's wrong? Are you okay?" His tone softened as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine." Armani nodded, blinking away the tears as she let out an awkward chuckle. "Sorry. Let's get back to work." She got up from the wall, and started to walk back towards the center when Steve pulled her back. "Stay here, keep watch." He took her bat out of her bag, and handed it to her while taking the jug of gasoline she held. "Don't worry about it." He nodded, and before he could think he quickly pecked her lips before he turned back to drench more gasoline around the hub.

Armani gulped loudly, her grip on the bat tightened as she realized what Steve had done. She shook her head and watched as the rest of the group backed up once they were done.

"Alright, you guys ready?" Armani asked, the younger kids nodding.

"Light her up." Dustin nodded. Steve shook his head, "I am in such deep shit." He muttered as he threw the lighter. Immediately, flames engulfed the hub, everyone backed up. Armani closed her eyes as she felt the heat radiate from the flames.

"Go! Go! Go!" Steve yelled, everyone ran back away from the flames. The dense air only made breathing harder, and running with one arm in a sling while vines moved everywhere wasn't ideal. "Oh my god! oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" Steve muttered as he ran ahead, Armani had again decided to be in the back incase the Demodogs came their way, but Mike Wheeler pushed her ahead of him.

"Come on, Mike!" She urged the kid to keep running. Mike looked up, instead of at his feet, and tripped, bringing Armani down with him. She landed face down, her arm crushed below her as she and the younger teen both let out screams and Mike began to call for help. Quickly, Mani tried to get up, but felt the vine began to wrap itself around her leg. Her arm throbbed from landing on it, and the vine quickly tightened, she let out a painful scream. "Steve!"

✧ ✧ ✧
( note! )

guys!!! We're almost at the end...this is so SAD i don't know how I'm going to spend the rest of the time until season 3. YeaH !!! If you didn't already guess.. there will be another book for this once season 3 comes out :') but in the meantime i'll just make bad edits of steve and armani lmao !!