007(ST-Steve Harrington)(On Hold)

29: The Lite-Brite Sequence

March 26th, 1986

It was nearly instantaneous that the vines stopped along with the bats and they all slowly began to retreat. I grinned and glanced around the general area to find Nancy smack one of the bats with an oar and knock it to the ground. Behind her were Robin and Eddie and I gave them all a nod in thanks before running over to Steve.

"Are you okay?" I inquired as I knelt next to him, eyeing his bare chest which was covered in blood.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Are you okay?" Steve asked as I helped him get to his feet.

"Yeah...great actually."

"Why?"

"Cause it worked," I exclaimed and gestured at the clear skies around us, which were still tinged red and dark but at least there were no bats.

"What? You can mind control?" Steve asked and I nodded before glaring at a collection of bats less than ten feet away.

"RETREAT!!" I shouted and held out a hand, the bats immediately turning and flying back into the woods.

"What was that?" Eddie inquired as he and the others wandered over.

"Mind control. It works now. But that won't hold them off and besides, we have bigger things to worry about." I turned to Steve and stared down at his torso which was pocketed with small bite marks. They weren't that big but deep and I could see that he was breathing heavily, clearly in pain. "God...that doesn't look great."

"Yeah, they took about a pound of flesh. You?" Steve inquired and I glanced down at my bloody tank top.

I lifted the bottom up to find a few bites on my torso but not enough to raise any concerns and they seemed to be healing.

"My powers...they're working overtime," I muttered and glanced around the Upside Down, still feeling the energy in the air.

"So is your connection."

I glanced at Steve before looking down at the tattoo to find black vines curling around my wrist and forearm.

"Uh...do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?" Robin asked and kicked one of the dead ones as Steve raised a brow.

"What?"

"It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should probably get you both to a doctor like really soon because once the symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already dead."

Robin started freaking out again just as the bats all began to return, the effect of my mind control having worn off. I curse as Steve got ready, picking up a piece of oar that he dropped.

"All right. There's not that many. We can take 'em. Right?" Steve inquired just as the initial group was joined by hundreds more.

"You were saying?" Robin inquired and Steve cursed.

"The woods. Come on!" Nancy called and we all bolted after her, heading back into the woods and over to the Upside Down Skull Rock.

I huddled underneath it next to Steve as the bats all screeched and flew overhead, annoyed that their prey managed to escape.

"Okay...that was close," Robin muttered and Eddie nodded.

"Yeah. Too close."

Steve moved from beside me and tried to stand but he stumbled, leaning back against the rock.

"Oh...shit..."

"Steve!" I called and ran over as Nancy followed.

Steve's torso that hadn't been bleeding that much had just started and was leaking blood at an alarming rate. Steve was already paler than before and even though we didn't have a connection, I could tell that his mind was fuzzy.