Maggie Fulmer was in complete shock as she entered into the Upside Down for the first time. It was strange. Everything looked like Hawkins, yet smelled different and felt different. The very atmosphere had shifted entirely. She could hear Steve's screams, somewhere off to her right, his body writhing in pain as two batlike creatures bit at his sides and neck, yet she was frozen in shock. 

Nancy had followed quickly behind, grabbing an oar from the boat as she entered the Upside Down. "Maggie, come on!" She shouted, pulling Maggie back to reality as she accepted the oar that was tossed her way, immediately moving to swat the bats away from Steve. At some point both Robin and Eddie had joined the girls, Robin working with Maggie to get rid of the bat wound around Steve's neck, holding it in place as Maggie hit at it constantly. 

"Kill it! Kill it!" Eddie shouted in encouragement, before noticing the swarm of bats flying their way. "Shit, Maggie watch out!" 

Maggie turned in his direction just as one of the creatures attached itself to her shoulder, a small cry leaving her lips at the pain radiating from her shoulder. "Robin, get it off me!" Maggie shouted, tossing her the oar. Robin was easily able to rip the creature off her shoulder with Nancy helping to stab it alongside her.

She turned to see that Steve and Eddie had fended off all the incoming ones allowing the group to pause briefly and catch their breath. "Are you okay?" Maggie asked, immediately moving to Steve's side, feeling slightly guilty that she hadn't snapped out of her daze sooner. 

"Well, they took about a pound of flesh." He said, looking down at his roughly torn abdomen. "But other than that, yeah, never better."

 "Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?" Robin questioned, examining one of the creatures as everyone looked over at her.  "It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should get you to a doctor soon because once symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already dead." She finished, Maggie opening her mouth to respond when another swarm of creatures flew in and settled next to the gate, making it impossible for them to go the same way that they had initially gone. 

"Alright. There's not that many." Steve reasoned, gesturing to the creatures. "We can take 'em. Right?"

Just as he had finished his sentence, another flock of creatures appeared in the distance. "You were saying?" 

 "The woods," Nancy called, pointing towards the nearby woods. "Come on." 

Everyone sprinted after Nancy, hoping to find some cover away from the creatures. "Great. More running." Robin groaned, keeping up with them nonetheless. Eventually, the group made it back to Skull Rock, taking cover underneath it as the sounds of the bats screeched above them until their noise faded out. 

Robin exhaled. "Okay, that was close." 

 "Yeah," Eddie agreed. "Too close." 

Maggie had just moved further away from Skull Rock, looking up to the sky when Steve fell onto the rocks, clutching at his sides with a wince. "Steve?" She questioned, moving back to his side immediately. 

Steve shook his head at her concerned question, insisting that he was fine despite everyone clearly seeing that he was anything but fine. 

"No, no, no. You're not. You're losing blood." She said, encouraging him to lean more against the rocks so she could examine his wounds. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, the torn-up flesh incredibly ragged in places, yet it was still weeping like an ordinary wound. 

"Okay, um...." She trailed off, looking around at the group before her attention was brought back to the overshirt she was wearing, immediately ripping a horizontal section of it along the hem. 

 Robin crouched down beside Maggie examining Steve's wounds as well. "Okay. So the good news is I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know."

"Robin," Steve said through gritted teeth, his eyes following Maggie's movements as he tried to brace himself for what was ahead. 

 "Yeah?"

"I kinda wanna punch you." 

 Robin laughed. "Sense of humor's still intact. That's a good sign."

Maggie smiled slightly at the exchange, attempting to brush off as much dirt and grime as she could off the strip of fabric before turning back to Steve, her eyes deliberately focusing on his face. "Okay, you ready?"

Steve nodded. "Just do it."

Maggie quickly wrapped the makeshift bandage around his torso, wincing at Steve's groans of pain. "Sorry." She whispered. 

"It's okay." He reassured her as she finished tying it securely in place. 

 "Too tight?"

"No, that's good. Thank you." Steve said earnestly, the two locking eyes unable to look away.

"So, uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?" Eddie called, interrupting their exchange as he voiced Maggie's exact thoughts. 

She still had a lot of thoughts about the Upside Down and how it had been around for so long without her knowing it. Yet she knew very well that they didn't have enough time for her to sort it all out as they needed to find a way out of there as soon as possible. 

"Pretty much," Nancy concluded, her eyes falling on where Eddie was walking. "Wait, watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind."

"It's all a what?"

"All the creepy crawlies around here. They're, like, one or something." Steve explained, leaning heavily against Maggie. "Step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna."

"Well, shit," Maggie muttered, sending Eddie a look as she observed the amount of vines that lingered everywhere. "That's just great."

"But everything from our world is still here, right? Except people?" Robin asked, looking towards Nancy and Steve who were the most knowledgable about the Upside Down. 

Nancy nodded. "As far as I understand it, yeah."

"So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate."

 Steve rolled his eyes slightly. "I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin. But guns, yeah, sure."

"Well, we don't have to go all the way downtown for guns." Nancy realised. "I have guns in my bedroom."

"You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" Eddie asked incredulously, turning to Maggie in surprise.

She shrugged. "It's news to me too."

Nancy nodded, looking between the pair. "A Russian Makarov and a revolver." 

Eddie paused for a second, taking the information in before taking off his denim vest throwing it in Steve's direction. "For your modesty, dude."

Steve opened his mouth to respond before the ground started to shake violently. Maggie wobbled on her feet, steadied slightly when Steve wrapped his arms around her, helping to keep both of them upright. The ground settled, creatures roaring in the distance in response. 

"So guns seem like a pretty good idea to me." Eddie said, everyone immediately nodding in agreement.