mercy ; peter ballard

9. w a y d o w n w e g o

march 25, 1986

the group reluctantly followed dustin. suddenly, dustin started booking it.

"dustin? can you slow down?" eddie complained. "dustin?"

"i think we're getting close," the boy yells, almost falling into the lake.

"watch your step, big guy," eddie replied, holding him back from falling in the water.

"oh, man," steve sighs. "you gotta be shitting me."

"yeah. i thought these woods were familiar," eddie spoke.

"lovers lake," robin identified.

"this is...confounding," dustin exhaled.

max inquired, "there's a gate in lover's lake?"

"whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening," nancy theorized. "maybe vecna's the same way."

"yeah, only one way to find out," steve replies.

they uncover eddie's boat and push it into the water. eddie and steve helped robin, nancy, and beatrice into the boat. dustin attempts to join but is stopped.

"hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" eddie pushes dustin's head, playfully. "this thing holds four people tops, okay?"

"it's better this way, okay? you guys stay here with max," nancy adds. "keep an eye out for trouble."

"you keep an eye out," dustin exclaims, heightening his voice. the group on the boat gives him a look of utter confusion. "it's my goddamn theory!"

"you heard nance," robin scolded.

"who put her in charge?"

bea raises her hand up. "i did? i am the oldest after all."

"compass," nancy commanded, reaching a hand out to dustin. dustin reluctantly gave up his compass.

"hey, there you go," steve calls, throwing dustin's backpack at him before pushing the boat off. steve jumps onto the boat.

"you said four!"

"sorry," steve says as they begin to row away.

"bedtime at nine kiddos!" robin joked. dustin responded with his middle fingers. "miss you already!"

"woah! woah, woah, woah. slow down guys," nancy exclaims as the compass starts to freak out. steve cast his flashlight over the compass.

"woah," steve gasped.

"guys, what's going on?" dustin called into the walkie. "come on, guys, talk to me. what's going on?"

robin picks up the walkie and answers. "uh, dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'waah!'"

steve begins taking off different pieces of clothes.