ACE OF HEARTS
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE: THE DIVE
WATCHING THE SKY BEGIN to dim into nightfall, Cassie Harrington began to feel her legs grow increasingly numb. The group had been walking through the forest for several hours, and still, they had not yet discovered where the alleged gate was. Of course, this process was much more difficult since they were guided by a boy who didn't know where he was going.
Moving fairly ahead of the others, Dustin Henderson followed his compass and raced through the trees as fast as he could. In fact, the boy was moving so fast, that the others found it extremely difficult to keep up with him.
Trailing a few feet behind the boy, Eddie Munson repeatedly asked, "Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?"
"You can beg him as much as you want, dude," Cassie Harrington told him, pushing through the tree branches. "He's not gonna listen. Trust me, I know."
"Is he always like this?" Eddie asked.
"Yes," the entire group chorused at once, their voices echoing through the trees.
Smiling excitedly, Dustin Henderson ignored the others behind him and focused his gaze on his compass, "Something's happening."
Picking up his pace, Dustin charged forward, breaking through the trees in anticipation. As the others quickly followed, the boy briefly turned back to face them, "I think we're getting close."
But, just as he said that, the boy abruptly fell forward as the ground disappeared beneath his feet. Luckily, Eddie Munson was there to catch his fall, grabbing Dustin's backpack before he lost balance. Letting out a short breath, Eddie warned, "Watch your step, big guy."
As the others caught up to them, they all stared forward, examining the large bed of water sitting directly in front of them.
"Oh man," Steve Harrington sighed in defeat, placing his hands on his hips. "You gotta be shitting me."
"Yeah, I thought these woods were familiar..." Eddie Munson trailed off, letting out a sigh. "Dustin led us right to Lover's Lake."
Furrowing her eyebrows, Max questioned the group, "There's a gate in Lover's Lake? How is that possible?"
"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening..." Nancy Wheeler spoke up, turning to face the group. "Maybe Vecna's the same way."
Meeting her gaze, Steve Harrington replied, "Yeah, only one way to find out."
Conveniently enough, Eddie Munson had stashed away Reefer Rick's boat in the same area, allowing the group to use it to get further out into the lake. Reaching forward, the boy pulled away the large tarp, revealing the boat he had used the previous night to get away from Jason and Patrick.
One by one, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie carefully stepped into the boat, comfortably taking their seats. Smiling excitedly, Dustin Henderson moved towards the boat, only to be abruptly stopped by Eddie Munson.
"Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" Eddie asked, pushing the boy back. "This thing holds three people tops."
"Do you expect us to just sit here and wait?" Mike Wheeler asked, his voice growing in annoyance. "I swear, you do this to us every single time."
"It's better this way, okay?" Nancy Wheeler told the boy, nodding in assurance. "You guys stay here with Cassie. Keep an eye out for trouble."
"No, you keep an eye out," Dustin defended, his eyes widening. "It's my goddamn theory."
"You heard Nance," Robin spoke, nodding up at the girl. "I put her in charge, so, you have to listen to her."
"Compass," Nancy demanded, holding out her hand.
Rolling his eyes, Dustin Henderson let out a deep groan as he reluctantly took his compass out of his pocket and handed it to Nancy Wheeler.
"Here, there you go," Steve Harrington called to the boy, tossing him his backpack before stepping onto the boat himself.
"Woah, woah, woah," Cassie snapped, taking a step forward as she called after her brother. "Where the hell are you going?"
"Yeah!" Dustin agreed, shaking his head in confusion. "You said three!"
Shrugging his shoulders, Steve Harrington silently apologized to the two of them, "Sorry."
"Steve Harrington, brother of the year!" Cassie shouted sarcastically, clapping her hands together as she watched the group float away. "Sister on the verge of death and you decide to go for a boat ride, how nice."
"You'll be fine!" Steve replied to her.
"Bedtime at nine, kiddos!" Robin called, waving her hands. "Miss you already!"
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Standing at the edge of the lake, Lucas Sinclair kept lookout with a pair of binoculars while Dustin Henderson stood closely next to him. As for Mike, Max, and Cassie, the three of them were sitting down on a wooden tree branch, waiting for a signal from the group in the lake.
It took about ten minutes for the four to reach the center of the lake, and once they did, they abruptly came to a stop.
"Whoa," Lucas Sinclair exclaimed, fixating his gaze on the boat. "They're stopping."
"What are they stopping for?" Cassie Harrington asked, standing up from her seated position and walking towards him.
Pulling out his walkie-talkie, Dustin Henderson began to speak to the group from afar, "Guys, what's going on? Come on, talk to me. What's going on?"
From the other end of the line, Robin Buckley's voice suddenly rang through, "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky, to wonky with a capital ahh!"
"Maybe they found the gate," Cassie suggested, tilting her head.
Setting down his radio, Dustin Henderson fixated his gaze on the boat floating in the center of the lake. One by one, the others stood next to him, desperately trying to find out what was going on. However, Lucas Sinclair was the only one that could see that far out; for he was the one holding the binoculars. For this reason, he was also the only one who was able to clearly see Steve Harrington suddenly take his shirt off.
"Ugh," Lucas grimaced, his face contorting as he watched through the binoculars. "When'd Steve get so hairy?"
"Right?" Dustin agreed, shaking his head. "I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it."
"Ew," Cassie spoke, turning away from the sight and facing Mike. "There, much better."
Letting out a light chuckle, Mike Wheeler lifted an eyebrow and spoke to the girl, "What do you think, could I pull off that look?"
"I'd rather not think about that right now," Cassie replied to the boy, shaking her head as she tried to get the shirtless image of her brother out of her head. "Has he gone into the water yet?"
"Let me check," Max Mayfield suggested, walking over to Lucas and taking the binoculars from him.
Standing in silence, Max Mayfield stared at Steve Harrington for a solid fifteen seconds without saying a word. Beside her, Dustin and Lucas glanced at each other wide-eyed.
"Max!" Cassie shouted, her mouth falling open as she playfully pushed the girl.
Letting out a giggle, Max broke her gaze and looked over at Cassie with red cheeks, "What, I'm just looking."
Finally, after several minutes, Steve Harrington pushed off the boat and dove into the water. Since he was Hawkins High's Swim Team co-captain, it was obvious why Steve was the one to go see if the gate was real. Observing from afar, the group of kids watched as he submerged under the surface, swimming down to the bottom of the lake.
"Come on, Steve," Cassie muttered, nervously bouncing in place as she waited for her brother to reappear. "Come on."
Although she wasn't planning on taking her eyes off the lake, Cassie Harrington was taken aback by the sound of voices echoing from not too far away. Turning around, the girl gasped as she noticed the several flashlights illuminating behind the group, growing closer and closer by the second. She didn't need to see their faces to know who they were.
"Holy shit!" Cassie cursed, catching the rest of the groups attention. "Guys, it's the cops!"
"Look, over there!" a police officer shouted, pointing in their direction. "Down by the water!"
"Get down, get down," Mike Wheeler frantically spoke, grabbing Cassie's arm and pulling her down as they crouched behind a large tree branch.
"Shit, shit, shit," Dustin repeated, glancing over at the approaching officers. "We can't let them find Eddie."
"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Cassie asked, her heart racing in her chest.
"Dustin, you're a goddamn Einstein!" Robin's voice suddenly boomed through Dustin's walkie. "Steve found the gate!"
Frantically turning to switch the radio off, Dustin Henderson cursed once more as the sound drew the attention of the officers. At this point, they had two options. A, they could run away and potentially make it out without getting caught. Or B, they could surrender.
Of course, Max Mayfield came up with her own plan, which involved both options A and B.
Abruptly standing up, the girl confidently spoke down to her friends, "Stay with me."
"Wait, Max," Cassie whispered to the girl, furrowing her eyebrows. "What the hell are you-"
"Hey officers!" Max shouted on the top of her lungs, waving her arms in the air as her friends continuously tried to shush her. "Over here! I found the killer! This way!"
The girl then broke out into a sprint, running away as soon as the officers began to approach her. Without hesitating, the rest of the group cursed several times as they quickly stood up and followed the girl. Of course, running away from the police wasn't exactly a smart decision, but they needed to do whatever it took to draw their attention away from Eddie Munson.
As much as they hoped they wouldn't get caught, running through the forest at night made it extremely hard for them to escape. It was nearly impossible to see through the tree branches, bushes, slanted hills, and ditches. For this reason, Dustin Henderson was the first one to get caught, tripping over a tree branch as Officer Powell held the boy in his grasp. Trailing behind him, Officer Callaghan held out his flashlight, breathing heavily as he spoke to the kids, "Hey there."
"Goddamnit," Cassie groaned, throwing her head back as the officers began to approach her and the others. "Here we go again."