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"we need to go. now." maddie repeated, helping dustin lift steve into the backseat of the car. her heart thumped against her chest as she watched him collapse against the door lifelessly, still unconscious from the wrath of billy.
"who's driving?" max asked, flipping the keys around in her hand, clearly wanting to take the wheel herself.
maddie sighed to herself before shaking her head at her sister. "not you. nope! no way, max, you're not driving. end of story." she stated, grabbing the keys off her little sister, realising that she was the only one old enough to drive—except she hadn't got her license yet, so she could only hope that she'd get them to the tunnels somewhat safely.
maddie stepped into the front seat, turning the key in the engine before quickly speeding away, towards the farmland where the entrance for the tunnels was located. lucas sat beside her, reading directions off a map that hopper had given them. mike, dustin, steve and max were crammed into the back of the car, with dustin shaking steve, trying to wake him up.
"any luck, dustin?" maddie yelled over her shoulder, resisting the urge to look at steve.
"i think he's waking up—" dustin replied, continuing to practically slap steve in the face, trying to get him awake.
surely enough, steve began to awaken from his temporary slumber;knowing he was awake, maddie fought the urge to stop, to speak to him, to hold him, and continued to speed down the road.
"maddie?" steve mumbled, looking past dustin towards max, who stared at the older boy in utter confusion. slowly, he brought his hand up to his face, trying to understand why he was in so much pain.
"no, no, no, don't touch it—" dustin warned him, grabbing his hand and taking it away from his injuries, "you put up a good fight. he kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight. you're okay."
lucas, ignoring steve's commotion in the backseat, continued to feed directions to maddie," ok, you're gonna keep straight for a half a mile, then take make a left on mount sinai."
steve's face contorted into an expression of confusion as he looked away from lucas towards maddie, who he knew didn't have a license. "what's going on? oh, my god!"
"steve, relax, she's driven before—"
"yeah, with lessons from billy—"
"woah! woah! woah!" steve began to yell, trying to sit up in the back seat before being quickly pushed down by the curly-haired boy.
"they wanted to leave you behind," dustin told steve, pointing to lucas, mike and max before continuing,"but i promised you'd be cool, okay? and maddie wasn't gonna leave you there!"
"what—? whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!" steve yelled as maddie pressed onto the exhaust, wanting the journey to be over as quickly as possible.
"oh my god! stop the car! slow down!" steve continued to scream, attempting to grab maddie somehow.
