Chapter 8

How had she ended up here? How had those little shits convinced her this was a good idea? How had she ended up helping them find supplies and then agree to come with them? How and how and how?

"Take a left at the next intersection."

Max was, unfortunately, a better driver at the age of thirteen than Jamie had ever been. It was indeed a strange night, when the least of her worries was having the young teenager drive a sportscar in the middle of the night. One of the bigger problems laid in her lap, still out cold.

The car wasn't build for mass-transport, so the only way they had been able to fit all of them was by having her, Dustin and Mike sit in the backseat with Steve draped over them. At least she got the head, instead of Mike who struggled to place Steve's feet in a way that didn't hit him in the face whenever Max hit a speed bump too hard, which she did frequently.

The next problem was their destination. Mike had this wonderful idea of distracting the Demodogs by setting some of the vines, that were somehow part of Will, on fire. It meant three things: they had to enter the creepy tunnels filled with spore-spouting flowers that would knock them unconscious if they breathed it in, then they had to douse the place with gasoline and light it up while they were still down there, and then they had survive the Demodogs that they were actively trying to attract to their location. Jamie knew her pyronetics well, it was not without reason that the local PD had her name on file, but it was still a risky plan.

Third problem — or was it fourth? — lay in the trunk. Still out cold, as she'd been sure they would hear him trashing about when he woke up. While the guys didn't see the issue in him potentially being devoured by roving Demodogs, Max and Jamie had agreed they couldn't just leave him at the Byers. They had tied him up as best they could and Jamie somehow managed to wrangle him into the trunk. It was, again, not a car meant for mass-transport and he was folded awkwardly into fetal position to make him fit.

Steve groaned from her lap. His one good eye blinked open, but slid shut again.

"Is he waking up?" asked Dustin excitedly, and leaned over Steve to look in his face. At least her brother had better bedside manners than her, as his voice was soft and calm: "Hey, buddy. Shh shh shh. It's okay."

Steve stared wildly at her, her brother, Mike. He began flailing like a stranded fish, and Dustin kept shushing and calming him down. "You put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, but you put up a fight. You're okay. He's in the trunk, he can't hurt you."

"Oh no," whispered Jamie as Steve had caught sight of the driver. She let Dustin do the talking, but worked with Mike to keep Steve lay still.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Steve said over and over again. He looked straight at Jamie. "Why is she driving?!"

"Don't worry, she's driven before," said Dustin, which in no way made Steve worry less. "And Jamie can't drive because she was in a coma and now she's on meds. It's fine."

"Whaaat?" asked Steve, not processing the slightest. "Wait, who's in the trunk?"

"Don't worry about it," Jamie said and tried to imitate her brother's soothing tone. "Just relax. It's gonna be fine."

Steve's head slumped back into her lap. She had been petting his hair, like he was Mews, and continued when it seemed to help him stay calm. Every once in a while, when Max hit a pothole, he whispered: "Oh my God."

Somehow, they made it to the field where Chief Hopper had entered the tunnels earlier, despite Max' sharp turns that she must have learned from her step-brother. All six of them piled out of the car designed to carry four, Steve leaning on the hood to catch his breath. He wasn't agreeing with the plan, but no one was paying him any attention. Jamie and Max stood by the trunk, weighing their options.

"In or out?" Jamie asked with one hand on the handle.

Max hesitated. "He's safer inside."

"He won't suffocate?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"How about if we put him in the backseat?"

"What if he wakes up?"

"He's tied up, isn't he? Take the keys with you, maybe."

"Yeah, let's do it," said Max and Jamie popped the trunk. Steve happened to look inside and dissolved into another fit when he saw the tied-up and unconscious Billy Hargrove squeezed into the small compartment. Jamie wished she had longer arms, but somehow got one arm under his knees and the other under his back.

"Door!" she said to Max, who dutifully opened the passenger-side door and helped tip Billy's body inside. He was heavy, all muscles, but not so heavy Jamie couldn't lift him. When she turned, Dustin gave her two thumbs up and a grin only enhanced by his swollen lip. She rolled her eyes. If they survived this, she was sure there would be extensive tests.

With Billy out of the way, they suited up, ignoring all protests spewing out of Steve's mouth.

"Jamie! How are you agreeing to this?! We're supposed to keep them safe!"

"They won't be safe if El doesn't make it," Jamie explained and tied her hair back to make it easier to put on the mask. Her voice went nasal when the mask covered her nose. "Even if we just buy her a few seconds, it could be worth it."

Steve threw his hands out. "How can you be this calm about going down there with those- those- Demodogs?"

Jamie swung back so Steve had to dodge the baseball bat she had over her shoulder. "I'm not, Steve! I'm not calm! I'm piss-my-pants-and-pass-out scared right now and I have been since Dart turned out to be a baby Demogorgon!" She wrenched the mask off again to wipe angrily at her eyes. "I'm terrified! And I was terrified the last time, and last time I almost died, and I would still go back and do it all over again because what else are we supposed to do?!"

The kids were carefully avoiding looking at the pair. Jamie shoved a mask and the bat into Steve's hands.

"Suit up or shut up, Harrington! These little shits won't make it without us!"

A few minutes later, they dropped into the tunnels. With handkerchiefs to cover their mouths and diver's masks in front of their eyes and nose, they should be safe enough from the spores that hung in the air like gravity-defying snowflakes. Steve insisted on taking the lead. He had both hands on his bat, the only one not carrying a gasoline can.

Dustin, Lucas and Mike had spent a few minutes before they left to draw out a miniature-version of Will's map over the tunnels. Now Steve tried to make sense of it all, to lead them to this so-called hub, where Mike thought they could hurt the Mindflayer the most. Jamie grimaced at every step. The vines that covered every inch of the tunnels were soft and squishy, and they looked to be moving when she saw them in the corner of her eye. They stopped as soon as she turned to get a good look.

"Can you hear anything?" Dustin asked from beside her and Jamie nearly pissed her pants.

She shoved him ahead of her and took up the rear. "No. Now shush."

It was quiet down here. The only sound was of their footsteps and labored breathing. They all carried flashlights, and the beams of light swept around them, revealing the empty shadows one after another. Jamie touched her throat underneath the handkerchief. It had stopped hurting. Even when she prodded it, it wasn't sore to the touch like a bruise would be. So either Billy had been gentle with her, somehow only inflicting instant pain instead of prolonging it into next week, or something more was up with her body that she wasn't sure about.

Of all the stupid superpowers in the world, enhanced hearing and mild superstrength (because she wasn't able to lift, like, a car or something) were probably the stupidest. They weren't useful like El's. They were just...annoying. She'd rather not have superhearing and have her life go completely back to normal. But there was no normal, not anymore. And she didn't think there ever would be.

"All right, Wheeler," Steve said as they entered a larger chamber in the maze. The trek had been uneventful, apart from a small scare where Dustin almost gave Jamie a heart attack. "I think we found your hub."

"Remember, flame wants to go upwards." Jamie held her weed-sprayer downwards, dousing the knee-level vines in gasoline. "Keep your stream pointing down, physics are gonna handle the rest." The others were following her lead and tried to thoroughly soak the bone riddled ground. "Try to keep your nozzle close to its target, gasoline evaporates in the air."

"You're full of surprises, Henderson." Steve swung his bat lazily from his position by the cave entrance where he kept watch. "Who knew you were a pyro in disguise?"

"Dude, trust me, she can turn any super-soaker into a 20-yard range flamethrower," Dustin said in the same tone of voice a mother declares her son has won the Nobel prize. "We had a whole arsenal until Chief Hopper confiscated them, which is such bullshit, because flamethrowers aren't illegal in Indiana."

"We burnt down the neighbor's garage, Dustin." Jamie had been Dustin's age back then and stupidly allowed her little brother to try the homemade flamethrower. "That's kinda illegal."

"We didn't do it on purpose!" Dustin exclaimed as if that should make them exempt from common law.

"All right, I'm out!" Jamie exclaimed after shaking her can and finding it empty. The others soon announced the same and they retreated back to where they had come, standing behind Steve who finally was going to find use for his Zippo-lighter.

"Ready?" Steve asked and did a headcount to make sure they were all present.

Dustin nodded and adjusted his handkerchief. "Light her up!"

Steve looked at Jamie, as if she was a voice of reason in this group, and she just nodded. He nodded back and muttered: "I am in such deep shit."

With a throw a basketball-player could be proud of, the lighter sailed in slow motion down to the gasoline-covered ground. The place lit up like dry leaves and the heat hit their faces like a jackhammer. All of them raised their hands to shield their exposed skin from the intense fire.

"We gotta go!" Jamie yelled after watching the vines write and squeal pitifully as they burned. This place was alive and now it was angry. They ran, but it was harder now, as if the ground was trying to trip them over. Mike did and immediately a branch coiled itself around his leg, like an Amazonian boa that squeezed its victims to death.

Jamie grabbed his torso and yanked the younger Wheeler loose after Steve hacked the vine-like appendix off. She and Steve took one arm each and dragged him along until he found his footing.

"LEFT! LEFT!" Steve shouted to the trio up ahead. They had to go back out the way they come in, they would die if they were trapped in here. Everyone took the left tunnel and kept going. Jamie nearly tumbled over Dustin when he'd stopped dead in his tracks and the hair on her arms rose at the low growl.

"Dart," said Dustin slowly and tried to hold the others back so they wouldn't crash right into the Demodog. Jamie wanted to strangle her brother, but was frozen in place, because the Demodog hadn't attacked yet. The pattern on its rear matched with the one tiny Dart had exhibited, so this might just be the very baby Demogorgon Dustin had adopted.

Her brother swatted off any hands trying to hold him back and asked them to: "Just trust me, okay?"

"I swear if you die I will kill you," Jamie muttered and settled for holding Lucas and Max close to her instead, in lieu of Dustin. He was actually going to feed it nougat, she thought. Her actual brother was going to actually feed the actual Demodog some actual goddamn nougat! And it worked! How had that worked!

The Demodog - Dart - smacked its lips, if you could call them that, and slurped happily at the pieces of 3 Musketeers Dustin had left him, while he gestured for the others to move past while he was still eating. Jamie grabbed the back of Dustin's hoodie and dragged him along with her, just in case he was going to do anything stupid again.

They were getting close to the exit, they had to be. Problem was, so were the Demodogs. The tunnels echoed with screeches and growls, distorting the noise, making it impossible to pinpoint how close they were or where they were coming for.

"There!" Max said and pointed to the ceiling. Weak, blue moonlight streamed down to highlight the rope they had tied to the Camaro. Steve and Jamie rushed up and began lifting the kids up. Max went first, squeezing her legs around the rope and inching her way upwards until she reached the grass-tufts outside. Her squirming legs suddenly disappeared from the hole and she was up.

"Lucas, come on!" Jamie said and they sent Lucas the same way. He was taller, and managed to gain hold on the ground outside right away. He disappeared from sight and Jamie figured Max had helped him get up the last few feet. "Mike, come on!"

A new round of shrieks permeated the tunnels. They were coming.

"COME ON!" Steve roared and the second Mike was up, he bent and lifted her bodily at the legs.

"No, wait, Dustin first!" she cried, but was already halfway up the hole when hands grabbed at her t-shirt and belt and heaved her up and onto the ground with surprising strength for a bunch of middle-schoolers. She landed on her back, the constant darkness now replaced with the starry sky, and flipped onto her stomach to reach down into the hole.

"Dustin!" she said and could see the top of Dustin's hat beneath her. He and Steve weren't moving, but were frozen solid, staring at the tunnel ahead. Her fingers flexed around air and she leaned further down."DUSTIN!"

The kids grabbed hold of her belt again, to keep her from sliding back down, and she was inches away from Dustin's head when the Demodogs came. Steve tried to swing at them, but there were too many. Unable to breathe, she could only watch the Demodogs bound past Steve and Dustin, going around them, not attacking.

The growls faded in the distance and Jamie sobbed in fear and panic and relief. Dustin finally reached for her hand and with the aid of the kids, she pulled him out of the hole and onto solid ground again. Without getting up, she tackled him in a bearhug, squeezing until she felt his ribcage groan and even then only letting go so he could breathe. He mumbled something that sounded like 'Steve' and Jamie remembered he was still down the hole

She let go off Dustin to help the kids get Steve up, but he was already halfway up, using both arms to push himself out of the hole, glaring at...

Glaring at Billy Hargrove who was pulling him out by the neck of his shirt. Max, Lucas and Mike all sat panting around the hole, unsure where to look. It was obvious Billy had been the one to pull them out of the tunnels, like he had done with Jamie and Dustin and now Steve.

When Steve was up, he jerked violently to release Billy's hold on him and threw himself backwards to achieve maximal distance between them. He was up right away, walking without direction into the field and running his hands through his hair. The rope that had been used to tie up Billy lay discarded by the car door. Jamie made a mental note to go through some better knots with Mike and Lucas, who had been in charge of that task.

Billy said nothing, just met Jamie's wild stare evenly. No fire in his eyes, no smile on his lip, just something soft and almost...vulnerable? Sorry? It was a good chance he was still affected by the sedative. He glanced briefly at Dustin, but didn't say anything. Billy just brushed off his jeans and got up from the ground.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked with a shaky voice. All nodded, except Steve who was still ways off and Billy who was making a big show of checking out his car. Jamie nodded and flopped down on her back, not caring about the cold soil seeping in through her jeans and t-shirt. She jerked back up at the sound of roaring, echoing through the night.

"What the hell is that?" Billy asked hoarsely, as expected after being sedated and stuffed in the trunk of his own car.

Mike visibly paled when he realized the roars were coming from Hawkins Lab. "Eleven."

Billy looked at the boy in confusion. "What?"

No one bothered about him. Lesser evil and all. They rose to their feet and stared in the direction of Hawkins Lab. That had to be where the Demodogs were going. Eleven was closing the gate.

"Fingers crossed," lisped Dustin and Jamie took his hand and squeezed. They had done what they could.

An electric sensation filled the air, like before a storm, when the electrical charge in the atmosphere changes along with the barometric pressure. It squeezed in on their sinuses and made their hair rise. The headlights of the Camaro suddenly turned on and the light increased so it was painful to look at. All shielded their eyes, from the light and in case the glass would crack. Their flashlights, forgotten on the ground, also burned brightly, shaking from the tremors in the bedrock itself.

The pressure rose and rose along with the intensity of the lights.

Just as it was becoming painful, like your heart was about to stop, the pressure dropped back down. Lights dwindled. The air was normal.

No one said anything. No one wanted to break the silence. Little by little, Jamie felt her shoulders relax and her grip on Dustin loosened. She finally noticed how heavy her arms were, how her legs ached, how she could probably fall asleep standing up if she closed her eyes.

"She did it," Mike said, quietly, still in a hushed awe. He repeated it, louder, for the world to hear, punching the sky with his tiny fist. "She did it!"

Jamie began to laugh, covered her mouth in embarrassment, and let it drop again. Dustin let out a loud whoop, and Steve laughed too, and so did Max, the kind of laughter that was right between hysterics and happiness, and Max cracked first, her laughing turning into sobs, the adrenaline finally leaving their system, replaced with pure exhausted exhilaration of survival. Max sought solace with Jamie, hugging her around the waist, and Jamie let her, now sobbing herself, but smiling, and they had made it. It was over.

In the middle of this stood Billy Hargrove, watching them like they were insane, and this made Jamie laugh harder — or cry harder, it was difficult to tell.

He finally asked for his car keys back and all seven of them somehow piled into the Camaro. No one questioned his ability to drive, no one had the balls or the energy. Especially not after he had ripped out the cardboard Max had used to reach the pedals, making it apparent that it hadn't been Steve or Jamie behind the wheel on their trip here.

"Is no one gonna tell me what the hell happened back there?" Billy asked the car in general. No answer. Jamie turned in her front seat where she sat squashed under Max. Dustin sat halfway on Steve's lap - who was passed out - and halfway on Mike's lap. Lucas was hard to see, tucked in the corner behind Billy's seat, but he looked awake and not inclined to tell Billy Hargrove a damn thing.

"The Mindflayer possessed our friend Will and tried to use him to break through a portal to this world, building an army of interdimensional reptile monsters and vines," Dustin said matter-of-factly and Jamie willed herself to not react, though she felt Max stiffen atop of her. "Then our friend Eleven, who is basically a superhero, closed the gate and killed the Mindflayer's army."

"Right," said Billy and focused on his driving without further comment. He hadn't believed him. Or thought it was just an elaborate game. It didn't matter. Not really.

Billy took them all back to the Byers' house and barked at them to get out, except for Max, who he was taking home now. Max and Jamie both had to move to allow the boys a passage out, Billy sure as hell wasn't getting up, and Jamie grabbed the girl before she got back in the car.

"Are you gonna be okay?" she asked, without any plan what she would do if Max said no.

Max shrugged, but looked a little smug. She glanced at her step-brother waiting irritably in the car. Irritably, not violently. "I think I'll be fine." She looked beyond Jamie, at Lucas in particular, and smiled. "Good bye, guys."

Billy revved the engine and Max got in. They left in a trail of dust and gravel. The ones left behind trudged to the porch and slumped down. It was so late it was early and Jamie idly wondered what she could possibly tell her mom that would be somewhat believable.

"So, if anyone asks," said Steve as he came back out, clutching a bag of frozen peas to his face. "We stayed here the whole time and nothing happened."

"Your face happened," Jamie and Dustin said in unison. Both grinned.

"Apart from that. No one is going to tell anyone — especially Nancy or Chief Hopper — that we took a tour down in the tunnels and played with gasoline, all right? I said, all right?"

They chorused: "All right."

Dawn came to the driveway and the world looked just a little more normal.

For now.

Small tweaks can mean big changes...thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it! We're getting closer to the season finale and there's a lot of time I'm going to exploit between this and the next season. It may seem like there's no hope for Billy and Jamie, but there's a lot left of the story to be told.