The lake is too quiet. Not calm — wrong.

Steve breaks the surface hard, gasping as he grips the edge of the boat, water streaming from his hair and face. “There’s a gate,” he pants, voice tight, urgent. “Bottom of the lake. It’s real. It’s—”

His body suddenly jerks, once then twice and he’s dragged down before he can finish — disappearing beneath the dark water with a sharp splash.

“STEVE!” Nancy shouts, already moving.

Without hesitation, she dives.

Robin grabs the side of the boat, panic flashing across her face. “Okay, okay, this is insane — this is so insane—” She looks at the water, breath shaking. “But we can’t just leave him.”

She jumps and the lake goes still again.

You step forward next, heart hammering, fear crawling through your chest — but you don’t stop. You grip the edge of the boat, ready to follow but a hand catches your wrist.

“Wait — wait, no, hold on—” Eddie’s voice cracks, tight with panic. “They’re already down there. You don’t even know what’s—”

You turn back to him, steady despite the fear.

“They’re my friends, Eddie. I have to make sure they’re okay.”

For a second, he just stares at you, torn, scared, frozen. Then your hand slips from his, and you dive.

Cold. Dark. Silent.

Eddie is alone on the boat. For a moment, he can’t move.

“What the hell— no, no, no, this is insane,” he mutters, pacing, hands in his hair, staring at the water like it might swallow him too. “You don’t even swim, Munson. You hate water. You hate danger. You hate—”

He stops and looks at the lake. Looks at where you disappeared. Breath shaky. Heart pounding.

“…oh, screw it.”

And he jumps.

—

The Upside Down is colder. Heavier. The air tastes like rot and storm.

You pull yourself up, scrambling just as Nancy pulls Steve upright — blood spreading across his side where the bats had already torn into him. A few dead demobats lie scattered nearby, their shriveled bodies twitching faintly.

Robin grips a broken oar, breathing fast. “Okay — okay — not dead. That’s good. That’s very good—”

Steve winces, barely steady. “There’s more… I heard more—”

The sound cuts through everything. Shrieking. Wings slicing through the red sky.

You look up and off in the distance, too many. A swarm of demobats tears toward you from the darkness.

Nancy tightens her grip on Steve, Robin steps back beside you, and behind you — Eddie stumbles forward, wide-eyed, terrified, breathing hard.

But he doesn’t run. Doesn’t leave he stays.

The creatures close in fast, shadows cutting through the storm-filled sky leaving you and the others with a decision to be made.