The Long Game━ (l. sinclair)

fucked by the bats, fucked by the law

◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦

Auggie wasn't as smart as Sam, but he wasn't stupid. He usually did think these things through. It was just that, the moment he saw Steve get sucked under, it was like Auggie's mind went blank. Into overdrive. There was just the incessant urge to get to Steve, save Steve, make sure Steve was okay.

And yes, if you were wondering, Auggie, aren't you totally unathletic? the answer was yes. It was an absolutely horrible idea for Auggie to jump into that water. He definitely shouldn't have tried swimming down to the depths of Lover's Lake. There wasn't a reason why Auggie should attempt holding his breath for that long, or swimming for that long, or finding an interdimensional Gate for that long.

But he needed to get Steve. He needed to.

Luckily, Nancy was coming up right behind Auggie, only mere inches away. Robin was after them, a little further back, and Eddie was begrudgingly following.

Auggie swam, and he swam, and he swam. His lungs burned and his limbs ached to give up, but he still swam anyways.

The Gate was an insane monstrosity that shouldn't exist in the slightest. It didn't make any logical sense, and Auggie didn't even know how to describe it. It was a large, gaping thing that was purely red. There were black vines that almost seemed alive swarming around it, pushing up against the thin barrier between the "Upside Down" and the real world.

Nancy broke the barrier and swam through the Gate.

Black spots began overtaking Auggie's vision from the lack of oxygen, so he followed right behind Nancy and hoped he would find air from the other side.

Then the breath filled his lungs, and Auggie could breathe again.

It didn't make any sense. It shouldn't make any sense. The Upside Down should not exist.

All Auggie could note, was that it was like someone had taken the real world — their world — and morphed it into something horrendous. It was dark and it was gloomy and everything was decayed. Those black vines squirmed all around, and instead of a midnight or blue sky, it was more like a red and blue storm. Particles floated all around, and although he was breathing better than he was under water, the air quality was not satisfactory. Water must not exist in the Upside Down, either, because he and Nancy were standing in a vast space that was supposed to be Lover's Lake; it was like a drained pool. Despite there being no water, the two teenagers were still drenched from swimming in the lake.

"Jesus," Auggie breathed at the sight of it all.

"What the fu—" Eddie's voice (who just appeared with Robin) was about to say, but was cut off by the sound of screams.

Steve's screams.

"Come on," said Nancy, gesturing for Auggie, Robin, and Eddie to follow her towards the sound.

She didn't have to tell Auggie twice.

The four of them ran, Steve's shouts sounding louder. When he came into view, Auggie noted he was pinned down on the floor of Upside Down-Lover's Lake. There were creatures gnawing into his flesh, and... they weren't humane. It was like the combination of a bat, a living skeleton, and an old pterodactyl, but if the pterodactyl was black and slimy and evil and had two tails. There were three of them hounding Steve, one of them strangulating him with tails around his throat.