Rowen was playing with fire, she knew it.

Getting Billy to go one way or the other was difficult in of itself, even if he wanted to do something. No one told him how things would go. He went by his own terms and if someone didn't understand that right away, then they would eventually; one way or the other. Whether by time or by fist, they would get it.

Over the years it became clear to Rowen that people thought she had it differently. They thought that, in spite of what Billy was so clearly like, she told him what to do as the older sibling and got away with it as easily as he got away with most of that which left him reckless. Those people are idiots, she always told herself.

Billy gave her rides and let her drive his car and they stuck together more than they did with their friends in San Diego and, sure, she may have told him off and attempted at telling him what to do when she felt she had to. But the only difference between her and those who didn't understand right away was that she didn't end up on the floor.

Rowen had the human equivalent of pride for a brother, and if there was one thing she knew she shouldn't do, it was lie to that brother. If Neil Hargrove didn't like being lied to, then the apple did not fall far from the tree when it came to Billy. And Rowen would admit it: she didn't like being lied to either... but that was just it. Where she got defensive and hurt, Billy got angry, using his fists. Rowen yelled, he punched. They were siblings, but they were still different. And if it had been Billy lying to her, she knew the outcome would be different too... but it wasn't. So, she once again found herself looking down the barrel of a gun hoping the trigger wouldn't be pulled.

She thought of this as she stepped out on the porch with one hand on the doorknob, the headlights of his Camaro peering into the window; one which she hoped the kids were not peaking through. The fluorescents flicked off and he stepped out smoothly, but paused where he stood with his fingers wrapped around the cigarette in his mouth as if he was trying to understand what he was seeing.

Billy didn't expect Rowen to be there, and she didn't expect him to expect it. She didn't expect him to be there and she didn't expect herself to do any of this and her words, for once, were not coming to mind so easily.

A "Hey" was all that came out.

"The hell are you doing all the way out here?" he asked, wiggling free of the leather jacket he had wrapped around him.

All Rowen had wrapped around her were her arms, and she was wishing she had her own jacket wrapped around her instead. Her sweater was light and did very little to keep her warm.

The first word that came to mind? "Babysitting."

Billy shut the car door. "Babysitting?" he echoed her cooly, doubtfully. He didn't believe the word. Rowen nodded anyway and he chuckled, muttering through his cigarette, "Our shithead of a stepsister wouldn't happen to be with you, would she?"

Rowen faked confusion, narrowing her eyes at him. "Yeah? She's inside." She gestured to the house behind her. "Why?"

He gave her a look that settled somewhere between doubtful and outright confused. She could see he was thinking, looking from her, to the house, then back at her. Billy's brow raised and he gave a huff of disbelief, almost disgust. "Don't tell me you're babysitting Byers's kid brother."

She shrugged. "So what if I am?"

Originally, Steve had opted to talk to him. He argued that it would be a good idea and Rowen argued that it would be a bad idea and for a moment, she was beginning to wonder if it really was as bad as she thought. Was Steve a good liar or was he worse than she was?... Rowen never gave him the time to say so.

"He can't look after his own brother?"

"Mrs. Byers said he had to work. She stopped by the station and asked if I could keep Will company."

"Then how did Max end up here?"

"She came with me."

"She came with you?" he echoed her again. "When?"

"When do you think? When I came over here. She came by the station before Mrs. Byers did."

He gave her a skeptical look. "Really?"

"Yes, really," she snapped. "What are you doing here anyway? I didn't think you knew where the Byers' lived."

"I didn't," he told her, then cocked a brow as a smirk appeared on his face. "But Karen Wheeler was more than happy to give me directions."

Rowen took a second to take in the grin across his face. She blinked. "You're disgusting."

"I may be disgusting, but you're still bad at lying."

A beat passed, and she smiled in spite of herself. "Why would I be lying?"

"Two reasons," he muttered with the cigarette between his lips. Billy took it between his fingers and pointed it at her. "One, you hate babysitting and two, Mrs. Wheeler told me she hasn't heard anything from the Byers' in a week."

"So?"

"So, if the Wheeler's is where the kid normally stays, then how did she miss them and you didn't?"

Rowen shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"

Billy breathed out a chuckle. "I don't know, but it better be a good reason. I'm not out here 'cause I want to be."

Realization washed across her face, and she scowled. "Dad sent you."

"No shit," Billy deadpanned, stalking up to her. He took his time straying away from the car. "Now, I don't know what kind of reason you have to be somewhere like this, but I know it's not babysitting, so you can drop that-"

"I'm not lying, Billy."

"Then why was your bedroom window open, huh? Why didn't she just walk out the door?"

"How do you know she didn't walk out the door? Maybe she just forgot to close the window."

"We've lived in the same house as her for eight years, Ro. I know the difference between what she does when she goes out, and when she sneaks out."

"Really?"

"Is it that hard to believe that I pay attention?"

"Is it that hard for you to believe I'm actually babysitting right now?"

"Yes."

Rowen took in a deep breath, breathing out through her nose in frustration. Billy backtracked to his car, twirling his keys around his finger. "You're coming back," he ordered, back to her. "Now. You and the shitbird."

But Rowen wasn't moving. There he was: her little brother, blatantly demanding her to do something the same way he had with other people. There he was. ordering her around. It rattled an ire in her, and she ran her hands through her hair before she spoke as if the action would brush all the tension away.

"Billy, I can't. I told you-..."

He suddenly rounded on her.

"No. No," he almost laughed through his words, but it was a far cry from humorous. "See, this is not another time when you can just get your way," he hissed, getting close enough to jab the bud of his cigarette in her face. "You're not lying your way out of this just so you don't have to deal with him."

She had seen it before, how the bright blue hue they shared darkened in his eyes like thunder clouds rolling in before a great storm. She always thought it was a warning, that last little deterrent that told whoever had fallen under its presence to stand down. Back off, it said. But Rowen wasn't about to listen to it.

"I'm not. Lying," she muttered lowly. She matched his stare and that only seemed to make the anger in his eyes heavier, made his jaw clench as she took in a breath to steady herself. Her hands had balled into fists, and she was clenching them the same way Billy was. They almost mirrored each other.

"Bullshit," he spat, throwing the stub of his cigarette to the ground with more force than was needed. "Listen, I don't care whatever your reason is for lying to me right now, but if you try to make this hellhole even shittier than it already is just so you can get your way again, I swear to God-"

The door behind her suddenly clicked open.

Billy's gaze was torn away from her, and his eyes quickly filled with something other than angry storm clouds. Dare she say something worse.

"Oh Rowen, Rowen, Rowen..." That tone never gave her a good feeling. Billy clicked his tongue. He had an edge on her now, and he knew it. "Babysitting, huh?"

Rowen dared to turn around and look at whoever had opened the door. She was met with the most obvious guess.

"What're you doing here, Harrington?" His tone was falsely cheery, and Rowen bit her lip so she wouldn't blurt out something stupid, yet so tempting to say.

"I could ask the same of you," Steve replied with a raise in his voice as if he was indifferent to the whole thing, but still curious. It was painfully obvious that he wasn't, but then again Rowen knew the truth of their situation. "Rowen here was trying to corral the ruggrats by herself before I showed up..." He slowed when he came close to the siblings, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "...You wanna give us a hand?"

Billy breathed out the slightest laugh. "Oh, no. Between the two of you, I think you have all the hands you need."

Rowen tried her best not to glare in Steve's direction and Steve tried not to falter under her gaze when he glanced at her for the smallest moment. She had never wanted to claw out someone's eyes so badly, but she swallowed that urge and turned her attention back to her brother, trying to keep herself leveled. "Billy, whatever you're thinking, that's not what-"

"No, no- see, now it makes more sense," he interrupted, hand raising, smile widening. "It makes perfect sense, actually. The extra "shifts" on the weekend, his car sitting in front of our house..."

Rowen visibly paled, and it made him grin.

"Bet you thought you were real sneaky with that one," he teased venomously, wagging a finger in her face. It made Rowen's skin crawl. She opened her mouth to counter him, but he interrupted her again. "What? Are you gonna tell me he was the one that came up to you? That you 'didn't ask' to get in his car?"

"Listen, I was just giving her a ride home," Steve jutted in. "Alright? That was it."

"And why was that?" Billy inquired, a little too comically.

Rowen curled her lip. She felt her nails dig into her palms.

Billy lifted his hand once more. "You know what? I don't need to know," he told Steve quickly, suddenly backtracking to the driver's side of his car. "You don't need to tell me at all, actually. All I gotta do is tell my old man about your little adventure here and he'll come cruising down here himself."

Rowen's heart jumped at the mention of their dad. "Billy..." she spoke in a warning tone as best she could, but it only came out pleading. Rowen was aware that he had a knack for pulling her leg... but that was the thing. He had a knack for pulling her leg whether he was being honest or not. He could just as easily be completely and totally serious right now.

"Billy, what?" he hissed, rounding on her. "Billy, what? ...Billy, 'I don't want you to tell him'?"

"No-"

"No what?"

"No, I don't want you to tell him-"

His brow raised in an exaggerated fashion. "Oh, you don't? You don't want me to tell him?"

"No, Billy! I don't."

A beat passed and Billy nodded. "Okay." Then his grin fell into a straight line, and he gestured to the Camaro. "Then get in the car."

She glanced between him and the Camaro.

"Billy, I'm not kidding," she told him firmly, trying it one more time. "I promised I'd watch these kids."

"You still wanna play that card? Really?" he snapped. Billy stepped close enough to where he was in her face, and said lowly, "If I were you, I'd stop before I dug myself any deeper."

The siblings fell into a staredown.

Rowen took in a breath, and said it again, "I'm not lying..."

Billy laughed almost menacingly. "Really? You're not lying? You're not lying?!" His voice escalated with every word that came out of his mouth, and Rowen matched it.

"I'm not lying!" she barked.

"Really?!"

"Really!"

Somewhere, in the midst of their yelling, Billy had grabbed at his sister's wrists. He clamped down on her much smaller arms and spun them around so Rowen was backed into the front of the Camaro. They were struggling against each other; Rowen pushing and pulling and Billy only making his grip tighter.

"You're not lying?!" he shouted.

"I'm not lying!" Rowen shouted back, shaking her wrists but having no effect on his grip. "I'm not fucking lying!"

Somehow her last words had reduced Billy to silence, and he faltered back to staring, glaring at her because she wouldn't give it up.

"Get the hell off of me," she muttered, yanking her wrists out of his fists forcefully. The way she pushed at his grip forced him to take a step back, but Billy continued to glare, to give her that intruding look he always gave other people when he was trying to make a decision. Was she in the clear or was she in deep shit; that's what it said.

Billy wiped at his chin where drool had spit out, then pointed beside her. "Get in the car," he muttered, turning on his heel to march towards the Byers' house. Even with foul mouths like theirs, cussing at each other wasn't something they did. Rowen broke that.

She should have moved to stop him, but her heart was pounding and her legs felt numb. Her wrists twitched with a familiar ache that made it hard to snap out of it.

"Hey, woah, woah, woah. Where do you think you're going?"

Despite Steve's reluctance to intervene, he began striding after Billy and caught the teen before he could reach the Byers' front door.

"Getting my stepsister." Billy almost growled out his words, pushing him out of the way.

"And what?" Steve barked, gripping at his shoulder.

The Californian whipped around to face him, brow raised in a challenging manner. "You wanna say that again?"

"And what?" Steve repeated. "What are you gonna do? You're just gonna drag them back like they're your little puppets?"

"Are you gonna stop me?"

Steve snapped, pushing at Billy's chest roughly.

The latter staggered back a little, but it only made him laugh. "Ooh," he cooed. "You got a little fire in you, don't you, Harrington? You gonna fight back?" He pushed at Steve's chest with twice the force. "I wouldn't."

Steve pushed at him once more without hesitation. "Or what? What? Are you gonna boss me around too? Huh?" They pushed at each other until one knocked the other off his feet. The bickering stopped, the pushing stopped, but it was far from over.

Steve got up, Billy swung his fist, and she heard a crack.

two:

She wasn't sure how it ended. One minute she was yelling in her brother's face, the next she was trying to peel him off of Steve. Now she was in the Byers' living room, gazing at two knocked out teens; one with cuts and bruises, the other with a syringe resting in his hand.

Rowen was jolted out of her daze when Billy took a swing at Steve's face, knocking him over, lunging at each other until they tumbled into the house in front of four kids. They had yelled at the two to stop, but to no avail. Max had jabbed the syringe in her stepbrother's neck, threatened him with a nailed baseball bat of all things. She told him to stay away, to quit pushing her around, to quit pushing Rowen around. The redhead was especially loud about the last.

Rowen wasn't sure if his delirious state was what pushed him, or if Max's sheer intimidation had gotten through... but she found she didn't really care.

"What happened to your wrists?"

Mike was the one to ask, breaking the unsettling silence that had wrapped itself around the five of them. No one knew what to say. Rowen didn't know how to answer. She looked down at that which he pointed out, seeing the red marks across them and, out of habit, pulled her sleeves down. "It doesn't matter," she told him after a moment, finally moving away from the scene they all stared at. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

Rowen kneeled down next to a completely unconscious Steve... but the kids didn't move. Max approached her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Rowen muttered.

"Are you sure-"

"I said I'm fine."

"Ro, he..." Max threw a glance over her shoulder towards the boys, as if making sure they weren't listening was a priority. She knew it didn't matter, but she did it out of habit. "You were screaming at each other," she said quietly, gazing up at her stepsister with a worry that was reserved for their room when the door was shut and voices rattled the other side. "What did he do?"

Rowen paused in her attempt to get Steve up into a sitting position and gave the redhead a hard stare. "Max, can we drop it?" she muttered through clenched teeth. "Please?"

Max's concern didn't waver, but neither did Rowen. Eventually, the former was the first to look away. Max glanced down at the ground and then at Steve's limp form, then stepped back a few paces before Dustin announced he was going to find some bandaids.

"Help me get him in the backseat first," Rowen told them, her voice suddenly authoritative without any effort. "You can patch him up on the way, okay? We need to go."

Dustin paused in his movements and the boys immediately moved into action, however reluctant to carry a teenager out by his legs, lifting him up by his shoes and failing. Rowen had Lucas come up beside her to help carry his upper body, and Mike and Dustin eventually resorted to lifting his legs. Max gathered bandaids and whatever she could, snatching Billy's keys from his pocket and opening the front door of the Byers'.

Once they reached the car, Steve was hauled into the back first, then the supplies in the trunk, then the kids in the back. The boys had almost sparked an argument between themselves on who got shotgun, but one look from Rowen and they shut their mouths, squishing into the back, squishing an unconscious Steve between them.

The back doors shut and Rowen opened hers, but Max stood at the passenger side, unmoving. That same concern still settled itself in her gaze; a blue gaze that was bright, even in the dark. It was something she and Rowen shared, and when she was little that had been enough for her to call her sister instead of stepsister; it was still enough.

"You sure you wanna do this?" she asked, her voice smaller than she intended it to be. It didn't matter, really. Rowen still heard her and still glanced over the hood with that same, bright blue gaze.

A few beats passed before she nodded. "Yeah," Rowen replied. "I'm sure."

three:

She was beginning to feel a headache creep up.

"Okay, I take it back. This is the worst idea."

Rowen had a full ten minutes of nothing but quiet murmurs and muffled yelps from the backseat to gather herself. It was idle in the slightest, but she appreciated it a little, at least, to have a moment to collect and forcefully push away everything she dealt with not even half an hour ago to the recesses of her mind. She didn't need to dwell on it; she didn't have time to.

"You didn't have to come." Mike's uncanny, sassy tone filled her ears and she let out a sad example of a snort.

Rowen couldn't do much of anything else with how drained she felt. They still had so much more to do, and yet she was already so tired. But that didn't mean her common sense was dulled.

"And let you guys walk in the dark when there are monsters on the loose? Hell no."

"We wouldn't have walked," said Lucas. "We would've taken the car."

"Taken the car and what?" she sassed weakly. "None of you are old enough to drive."

"Max does."

"Max moved twenty feet in a parking lot. That's not driving."

"See? I told you," Mike said.

"Shut up, Mike," Lucas snapped.

"Don't tell me to shut up!"

Rowen only had to glare in the rearview mirror to reduce the backseat to silence once more. She mentally nodded in approval at their shut mouths and glanced over to Max. "How far is this hole Hopper dug anyway?"

"We still have a mile to go," she said, ruffling the map so much that it folded in front of her face. Max forced it down, crumpling it loudly, making one unconscious teen in the back stir.

"How can you even tell?" Mike asked.

"Because I can, genius."

"You're not even holding it right," he chided. "It's sideways."

Max was about to retort, but she moved the map around once more and glared at it. After a few seconds, with a huff, she turned it right-side up.

Rowen sideglanced at the map. "Okay, now how much further do we have?" she asked.

"It's still a mile," Max said in a sing-song tone, throwing a look towards Mike, who rolled his eyes behind them. "Okay, so... just keep going for half a mile and then... at the next intersection, you're gonna make a left on Mount Sinai."

"Nancy?" a weary voice piped up.

"No, don't touch it." Dustin's words signaled that Steve was now awaking... or trying to. She heard him murmur and groan, at the pain in his head, no doubt. "Heyyy, buddy," Dustin cooed. "It's okay. You put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight."

"What's going on?"

Rowen didn't have to turn around in her seat to know Steve was still a little scatterbrained. Billy never left a fight without littering those he swung his fists at with cuts and bruises, dizziness and headaches, and Steve was no exception. Billy pounded at his face over and over, leaving him decorated with multi-colored bandaids and a swelled up nose. If anything, Rowen was surprised it wasn't worse... that he came out without a serious head injury or something broken.

Dustin continued to hush him, but it did nothing. Steve only asked louder.

Maybe he did come out with a head injury. He sounded winded. Rowen found it hard to focus on the road with the repetition, Steve's voice cracking, in a state of panic. She didn't know why he was panicking.

"Rowen watch out!"

Not until she was suddenly swerving away from a mailbox. Rowen jerked at the wheel, the car repositioned onto the road, everyone in the backseat yelled.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"What happened?"

"What's going on?!"

"Nothing- nothing. I-... I just got distracted for a second. Sorry."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Max."

"Steve, calm down," Dustin tried. "She just got distracted."

"Stop the car!"

"Can someone make him shut up?!" Rowen snapped. "I'm trying not to crash here!"

"We're trying, okay?!"

"Rowen, make a left!"

"What?"

"Make a left! Now!"

"Shit-..."

The wheel twisted and the car swung hard, down a narrow street, between a thick array of trees which seemed to go on and on as if they were a blue needle in a green and brown haystack. The boys jumped in their seats, Rowen shouted at them to shut up... again.

She drove straight until it cleared, gripped at the wheel until something crunched under the tires, and all the attention focused on her anxiousness was directed towards whatever it was they rolled over. The Camaro drove ontop of new, bumpy ground and she hadn't realized she had just narrowly missed a sign until Max jerked her head to the right and let out a mumbled "Jesus", and they skidded past it into a patch; a patch owned by a farmer who would most likely be very angry to find tire tracks all over his property.

With Billy's unusually bright headlights, Rowen was able to spot the giant dip in the bumpy field they came upon before they could roll right into it, noting Hopper's SUV sitting to the left, all by its lonesome.

The second the car was still, their group began to file out, limbs flailing and swears being thrown at each other as the boys tried climbing out all at once. Max and Rowen took a moment to enjoy it.

"You guys could help us, you know!"

"No, I think we're good," Rowen said, unable to hide the humor in her voice.

Finally, the boys managed to detach themselves and escape the car in a civil manner. The kids moved to the back of the trunk that Rowen had unlocked amidst the short-lived backseat issue, grabbing their gear along with various cans of gasoline. Max handed her a pair of goggles and she stretched them over her head.

Then she heard a thud, turning her attention to the passenger door. Steve all but tumbled out, palms landing flat on the soil.

"Guys..." He barely formed the word, but was able to push himself up, getting a clear view of what was going on. "Oh no," he mumbled. "Hey!... Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Mike passed him first, but ignored the teen almost faithfully.

"What are you, deaf? Helloooo..."

The rest of the kids only followed his lead, and Steve only got louder.

"We are not going down there right now. I make myself clear! There is no chance we're going through that hole, alright? This ends right now!"

"Steve!" Rowen shouted, gaining his attention. "Listen, I'm not saying this is a smart idea, but we're already here. We're doing it."

"Rowen's right, Steve," Dustin chimed in. "I know you're upset, but bottom line: a party member requires assistance and it is our duty to provide that assistance."

Without missing a beat, the thirteen-year-old followed his friends and began helping with the rope now tied to Billy's car.

Rowen went to close the trunk, but paused when Steve leaned against the passenger door. She took in his very disheveled appearance. His hair fell over his eyes, his jacket was dirty, one of the bandaids Dustin stuck to his face was beginning to fall off. He looked like he was tossed into hell and barely managed to crawl out... It wasn't too far from the truth.

She tilted her head. "You believe me now?"

"Believe you now what?" he breathed.

"When I said he would pound you into the floor."

Steve looked like he wanted to roll his eyes, but he could only do so much with the one that was swelling shut.

"I told you he would."

"And what are you gonna tell me now? That I was an idiot?" He huffed, gripping at the car door. "I got my ass kicked, so what?... Someone's gotta stand up to him."

Rowen toyed with the goggles in her hand, but she didn't say anything.

"Or wait, no, I know! You were gonna tell me I should've minded my own business, right? Like those other times when you basically told me to go screw myself and acted like you had a stick up your butt."

Rowen clenched her jaw, but she glanced out at the pasture and shook her head, not even attempting at a retort. For the first time, she actually wanted to do anything but fire back at him. She was tired, agitated, shaken, and a whole plethora of other feelings she didn't want to dive into. She was somewhere between sick and ready to scream and it made arguing with Steve look even less appealing than it had already been. Anything seemed better; even this crazy, life-threatening plan they were going through with.

With a defeated sigh through her mouth and an upward tilt of her head, Rowen glared at the stars, then stepped away from the back of the car, towards him. "Sober up, Sunglasses. We've got a hole to climb into," she told him, shoving a pair of goggles, a bandana, and his backpack into his hands.

She knew he wasn't drunk- in fact, he sounded sharper than he usually was -but she went with those words anyway. He was dazed, and sometimes that felt very close to being buzzed. He was saying things she had a feeling he probably would have been too flustered to say otherwise.

She trailed back to where she previously stood, grabbed her own gear, and prepared to leave it at that... but then Rowen remembered what she had meant to say before he cut her off, and she looked over her shoulder. "And I was gonna say thanks, actually," she told him, shutting the trunk to make her way towards that which the kids were already descending into. "But, hey, who would expect that from a girl with a stick up her butt, right?"

Rowen slipped her goggles over her eyes and tied the bandana around her neck, pulling it over her mouth to rest on the bridge of her nose. Mike and Lucas were already below them, but she adjusted Dustin's before he could slide down the rope, let him go down, then did the same with Max. The rope was secured tightly around the bumper of Billy's car and so far it had held up as the kids gripped at it. She assumed it would be able to hold her weight; she wasn't that much heavier than them. Steve, however, had a few inches on her, and he weighed way more. It was because of this that she made him climb down before her so she could make sure the rope wouldn't snap after all of them were in the tunnels.

The gloves on her hands made it easier for her to go slowly, and she was glad she went slowly. The tunnels went farther down than she had assumed, and when she dropped, she had to brace herself. She should have braced herself for what she was about to see, too, but instead, she found herself gaping behind her bandana.

"What the hell..."

She didn't expect the tunnels to look so much like... well, actual tunnels. With everything she saw before and everything Dustin described to her, she expected it to be less familiar. The vines were new, and the floating specks definitely weren't something you would see in normal tunnels- or at least she assumed, considering she had never been in one -but other than that, it looked totally and completely familiar. Blue... but, you know, familiar.

She didn't expect them to be so intricate, either. They looked like a well-planned system thought through and dug carefully... and it made her nervous. If the Demogorgon and the demodogs and the shadow monster had been simple, dumb beasts, she assumed she would have felt safer, but these things weren't stupid. They were intelligent... dare she say clever.

The kids waved around their lights and Rowen was able to catch glimpses of wiggly, blue tendrils across the walls and along the floor... or the bottom... the ground? Or was it all just vines? She couldn't tell.

"Uh... yeah. I'm pretty sure it's this way," Mike said in front of them, pointing his flashlight forward.

"You're pretty sure, or you're sure-"

"I'm a hundred percent sure! Just follow me and you'll know!"

He began trekking up and over a large cluster of vines, intending to go down the path before them, but then Steve waved his light at his back.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I don't think so," he called out, taking a large step and plopping next to the thirteen-year-old. Goggles covered his eyes, but she knew he was glaring behind them. "Any of you little shits die down here and I'm getting the blame. Got it, dipshit?"

Rowen placed a hand on her hip. "You realize if you die down here, then I'm getting the blame, right?" she asked.

"Then don't let me die!" Steve called from the front, waving his flashlight in the air.

Rowen shook her head and rolled her eyes for the second time in the past five minutes, grumbling under her breath about how she would do the exact opposite of not letting him die, or at least let him trip over a vine, wailing and flailing, to see what happens.

A weird squish of blue vines under tennis shoes emitted from her side and she was brought out of her mumbling and grumbling, turning her attention to a near-still redhead who looked at her through her orange goggles. Max was staring at her.

"What?"

The girl abruptly shook her head and turned away. "Nothing." Max's voice was unusually high-pitched, but Rowen didn't push it. Excluding Mike, she urged the kids to go in front of her so she could act is the caboose, watching their backs, while Steve stood upfront, keeping an eye on what they approached. They weaved through and climbed over the vines as if they were hiking a slippery, squishy trail, and at some put along the way, Rowen began to wonder if that one tunnel would ever end. They had gone in a straight line for many minutes until they reached a fork.

They turned right, then left, and she was beginning to feel anxious about the distance between them and the rope. What if one of those demodog things found it and bit at it? What if they yanked it off of the car above and tore it to pieces so they couldn't climb up?

She didn't even know if any of them were in the tunnels, nevermind if they found their means of escape.

"AHHH, SHIT! SHIT! HELP!" Dustin suddenly screamed and it made them all spin on their feet, heading back to where he had stopped. Somehow she hadn't realized he had fallen behind, and now they were stumbling as he stumbled. Dustin tripped over his feet and it made them gasp at different levels, extending out hands that were pulled back just as quickly.

"What happened?!"

Rowen squatted down beside him to make sure he hadn't gotten cut or scratched up, but his gloves and goggles were still intact, and none of his clothing was torn. All he did was rip the bandana away from his mouth and press his hands onto the tunnel floor to brace himself. He coughed, then eventually began to heave.

"It's in my mouth- it's in my mouth! SHIIIT!"

They waited until his heaving calmed down to small wheezes and his breathing returned to normal, keeping the flashlights on him even as he lifted his head. Dustin glanced between the five of them, then took in a breath and nodded. "I'm okay."

They all groaned through their masks.

"Are you serious?"

"Nice, man. Very funny."

Rowen let out her own deeply aggravated sigh and let the light in her hand plop down into her lap. "C'mon, Mr. Over-dramatic," she told him, helping Dustin up by the arm.

They resumed their trek through the tunnels, going in a straight line once more until they turned again, and again, and again. Every tunnel looked exactly the same, so how they were able to march through them with a makeshift map and avoid getting lost, she wasn't sure. For a moment she was positive they had gotten lost, but then Steve took one large step, wavered, then halted once he regained his balance. The kids gathered up beside him, Rowen behind him, and six flashlights trailed around one large, open space with twice the paths circling it and double the vines on the floor.

"Alright, Wheeler," he announced. "I think we found your hub."

If they didn't,

Mike nodded with a newfound determination. "Let's drench it."

And so they did. Every one of them had carried a tank of gasoline down into the tunnels, and every one of them doused the hub from top to bottom; every last vine, speck, foreign and not so foreign item that squished between the tendrils. Seeing objects that looked earthly- a stuffed animal, gum wrappers, cigarettes -made Rowen wonder just how many people had come down here... or had been dragged here. She hadn't really thought of it until then and it made her shiver just the slightest.

They continued to douse anything and everything until the tanks were bone dry, making sure every square inch of this 'hub' was covered. Once they were satisfied, the kids climbed up to a safe distance, then Rowen, then Steve. He pulled out his lighter, hesitated... "I'm in such deep shit."

The minute the piece came in contact with the floor, the vines caught flame. They wriggled up in what seemed to be pain, twitching and thrashing and emitting a shriek so inhuman that she covered her ears. The vines were alive, just like the demodogs, just like the shadow monster... Mike was right. It was one huge hivemind.

Steve immediately began ushering them back into the tunnel, urging them to hurry and run and rush back the way they came. She had no idea where they were going, no idea which path to take. Steve fought to keep himself calm enough to read the map, making sure they didn't take a wrong turn.

They paused just for a moment before he told them to go one way. Rowen didn't think to reposition herself at the back. Everyone was running as fast as they could over the bumpy floor of the tunnels, and she failed to notice how Mike had fallen until he started screaming for help.

It didn't take long to free him from the vine that had wrapped itself around his leg. Steve whacked at it with all his might and the kids immediately rushed to help their friend; even Max.

"Mike, are you okay?" Rowen asked him urgently. "Are you okay?"

She didn't have to take off his goggles to know he had been shaken, which is exactly why she gave him a once over and asked him so quickly. He managed a nod between the huddle of his friends.

Now that Mike was on his feet, they prepared to make a run for it once more.

"Guys we gotta go. We gotta go now!"

A sudden roar silenced them. Rowen jumped as the rest of them did, and the group turned around to face the very thing they were trying to get away from. The very thing she hoped wouldn't find them while they were down there. She tensed, and the kids huddled closer together... all except for Dustin.

He stood in front of them, gaze pinned on the demodog before him, and said, "Dart?"

NOTE: i have absolutely no excuse for taking this long to update other than the fact that my muse just decided to plummet. you guys have every right to hunt me down and make me pay for it.

but heyyy, long time no see! my return came with quite the overwhelming chapter. apologies if it made you sad BUT, it had to be done. rowen and billy's relationship was headed down the wrong path long before she got involved with the upside down and i think the tension of having to keep an enormous secret was very much needed. it brought out billy's true colors . . or at least brought out things rowen didn't realize he was thinking.

sorry i stopped on a cliffhanger . . again . . it was necessary . . also i didn't want this chapter to be longer than it needed to be. the next chapter will be a "part 2", i suppose, to this one. also sorry x2 for any grammar mistakes. this chapter was kind of rushed because im currently trying to balance writing and a public speaking class im taking for the summer. i will make sure to give this chapter a critical once over after my week's work is done.

i would love to hear from you guys! please go spam the review section and let me in on your thoughts! is there anything you want to know? might be hoping for? . . also please, if you don't have an account, make one ! i just figured out i can reply to reviews ( i'm slow , i know i know ) i wanna be able to answer if you have questions!