𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐄 || 𝘔𝘈𝘟 𝘔𝘈𝘠𝘍𝘐𝘌𝘓𝘋

45. snack sized

SNACK SIZED

March 26th, 1986
⏰ 1:00 pm, 📍Hawkins, Indiana

༺♥༻ As the group makes it to Skull Rock, Eddie starts to explain what happened at the lake.

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh..." He takes a sip out of a flask. "My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran."

"Do you know what time this was?" Nancy starts, putting a hand up. "The attack?"

Eddie starts to fumble with his watch. "Yeah, no, I...I know exactly what time it was." He throws the watch over to Nancy with a nod. "My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked."

Nancy catches the wristwatch. "9:27."

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin nods along.

Stephanie starts to zone out listening to all the theories about what had happened and starts to try and concoct her own idea.

Interrupting Stephanie's thoughts, Dustin yells loud enough to clear a whole flock of birds out of a nearby tree.

"Boom!"

Stephanie jumps back, looking at Dustin who is pointing an accusatory finger at Steve.

"Bada...bada...boom."

"Jesus Christ, kid." Stephanie mutters to herself.

"I was right." Dustin continues. "Skull Rock was north."

"Seriously?" Steve looks incredulous. "You're serious?" He points to the big boulders behind him. "This is Skull Rock, okay? You're totally, absolutely, one hundred percent wrong!"

"Yes." Dustin leans forward. "And no."

"Oh, my God." Steve covers his face with his hands.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'." Dustin points to the compass. "It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong." He focuses in on Steve. "The compass was."

"So you're using faulty equipment, dude." Steve argues, shocked that they're even having this conversation. "You're still wrong."

"Except it isn't faulty." Dustin adds.

Stephanie finally realizes what Dustin was talking about. "The gate." She looks up to Dustin, who's nodding with wide eyes. "The electromagnetic field. The needle will deflect to the strongest magnetic field. Meaning since the compass wasn't facing north, there's a gate somewhere that's throwing off the electromagnetic field. It's the super magnet."

"I'm sorry I must've skipped that class." Robin comments.

"Nerd." Max whispers to Stephanie, making Stephanie swat her away.

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy shakes her head, not believing the fact that there could be a gate here in Hawkins.

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate?" Dustin offers. "A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."