Half an hour ago, Steve and the others, who had been continuously blasting metal rock into Creel House, clearly observed that the light bulbs thrown in alongside the speakers began to flicker violently after the music intensified.
This was enough to prove their guess was correct: Henry Creel was currently in this location in The Upside Down and was being driven crazy by their actions.
Before they could celebrate for long, they heard several massive explosions. Glass shattered, and all the light bulbs thrown into the old house burst. Following this, the portable generator began to operate erratically and accelerate uncontrollably. Intense electrical sparks flashed from the generator, accompanied by continuous crackling sounds, and black smoke billowed from its casing. The speakers inside the old house, playing music, started emitting distorted sounds due to unstable voltage.
As the generator loudly broke down, the dozen or so speakers inside the old house were also instantly destroyed by the surge of strong current.
Although they couldn't see Vecna's enraged face directly, everyone felt as if they could hear the furious roar of the green vine monster emanating from the dark old house across the spatial barrier.
"Burn the house down!" Nancy was the first to snap back, opening the containers of gasoline prepared in the accompanying vehicles and splashing it around the exterior walls of the mansion.
Robin finished preparing a Molotov cocktail, muttered a curse, and tossed the burning liquor bottle toward the entrance of the old house.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Instantly, large swaths of flame spread across the entrance of the dilapidated old house, burning fiercely and intensely where they met the spilled gasoline.
The high temperature and fiery visual impact of the raging fire roused the terrified group. Everyone immediately grabbed whatever they had on hand and threw flammable and combustion-promoting materials onto the burning house.
Let the great fire consume all evil!
Seeing the raging inferno completely engulf the house, and noting that there was no movement from The Upside Down, everyone finally sighed in relief.
But soon after, just as they were preparing to leave, the group felt a tremor. Dustin looked back and discovered a massive entity surging through the nearby woods. The thing was taller than the average seven or eight-meter-high trees in the forest, and its enormous body pushed aside and toppled the trees along its path. Two headlights swayed in the woods, suggesting the behemoth was chasing the vehicle speeding through the forest.
"Bullshit!" Dustin only caught a glimpse of the monster's body and heard its roar, yet he couldn't help but curse, his lips trembling. "If that giant piece of shit didn't come out of The Upside Down, I promise I'll never touch another snack again!"
"Get in the cars! Hurry and save them!" Steve waved his hand, urging everyone to get into the vehicles immediately.
They had brought two cars, one driven by Steve and one by Jonathan. Carrying different passengers, both men floored the accelerator and sped straight into the woods.
Driving through the dense forest, Steve dared not be distracted, terrified of accidentally hitting a tree, especially since it was the middle of the night. Without turning his head, he asked, "Henderson, what weapons do we have left!?"
"We still have... fireworks!" Dustin looked back and shouted.
"...Is it too late to turn back now?" Steve's mouth twitched.
Lucas replied, "Don't worry, the fireworks in our car are heavy-duty big guys. Even though they're fireworks, their destructive power is no different from gunpowder weapons; they just look pretty."
"Trust the ability of unscrupulous merchants." Will nodded.
Steve felt a chill in his heart upon hearing this and widened his eyes. "That's not what you said when you bought the fireworks! That stuff is actually that powerful!?"
The three boys chuckled. Dustin said cheerfully, "If we didn't say that, you wouldn't have bought them for us."
"I'll settle the score with you later!" Steve said fiercely, feeling helpless inside. Why did he feel like his way of speaking was increasingly parental?
Just like that, Steve and Jonathan drove the entire way, and time slowly rewound to the present moment.
Steve and the others successfully rendezvoused with Carly and Doctor Owens, using the firework weapons Lucas had mentioned to attack the Flesh Mountain Spider Monster, and rescued Carly and the others from its grasp.
The Flesh Mountain Spider Monster instinctively flinched when attacked by the fireworks, especially when Lucas accurately threw a firework explosive that hit its face. The Flesh Mountain Spider Monster let out a shriek, a piece of its face having been blasted away.
"Run now!" The fireworks quickly ran out. Although the Flesh Mountain Spider Monster was severely beaten, its shattered flesh was extremely vital; every piece of fragmented meat that fell to the ground re-aggregated onto its broken body, recovering little by little. Steve and the others seized the opportunity to get into the cars and escape without hesitation.
Three cars drove parallel, weaving through the woods.
The Flesh Mountain Spider Monster quickly recovered to its original state, though its size seemed slightly reduced, but not by much. It roared furiously and chased after them with long strides.
The three cars finally drove out of the woods and onto the main road. This was finally the domain of gasoline-powered vehicles. Steve and the others floored the gas pedal, no longer needing to worry about obstacles like they did while driving in the forest, and sped away rapidly.
Even running at its fastest, the Flesh Mountain Spider Monster could only maintain its distance from the three cars, moving at almost the same speed.
"There it is, the gas station!" After several minutes of high-speed driving, Steve and the other drivers were drenched in sweat, as if they had just finished an intense workout.
Doctor Owens glanced at the Flesh Mountain Spider Monster, which had been chasing them the entire way, wondering if this monster could truly be killed by these children.
Carly seemed to sense Doctor Owens's doubt. She sneered and said, "It's best if the military doesn't need to get involved in this kind of matter. You should know that this is better for both you and us."
"...I Will try to trust you." Doctor Owens looked at Doctor Brennan, who was still unconscious, his brows furrowed, his mind trapped in a recurring nightmare. Owens replied in a deep voice, "I'm not simply afraid of dying myself; I'm more afraid of you dying. You are all just children with great prospects and futures ahead of you, while I am just an old man."
He glanced at Doctor Brennan again and said, "I am different from him."
Carly was silent for a moment, neither confirming nor denying.
Upon reaching the gas station, the three cars pulled up next to the fuel pumps. Racing against time, they inserted bills into the machine to start the flow of gasoline from the nozzles.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Oil gurgled from the nozzles. Three of them were jammed into the cars' fuel ports, desperately pumping gas into the vehicles. Afterward, the group stood in front of the gas station, bracing themselves as if facing a great enemy.
"What should we do next?" Doctor Owens asked about their plan.
"No plan. When the monster charges over, we'll all jump down from there," Lucas said, shaking his head and pointing to the high embankment behind the gas station.
Doctor Owens's mind went cold. "What!?"
"Don't overthink it, old man!" Robin said with a smile.
What better option did Doctor Owens have? He was helpless and could only carry Doctor Brennan on his back and move along with the group.
Step by step, the group retreated to the edge of the high embankment behind the gas station. When they saw the monster step on and flatten the hood of Steve's beloved car, they simultaneously jumped backward, leaping off the embankment. At the same time, Nancy assertively tossed a lit lighter.
"Shit!" The group simultaneously flipped off the monstrous, clawing Flesh Mountain Spider Monster. "Die!"
Roar!
The Flesh Mountain Spider Monster seemed to have smashed through the gas station. Just as its head appeared over the edge of the embankment, and mid-roar, a towering pillar of fire engulfed its entire body. The intense explosion swallowed nearly all of it... "Ah—"
The scream faded from high to low, and after several successive thudding sounds, the group splashed into the lake.
Soon after, the survivors surfaced from the lake. Everyone was thoroughly drenched and dishevelled. They looked at each other and then burst into joyous laughter.
"Hey, kids, I never thought you'd actually pull it off," Doctor Owens said emotionally, wiping his head, his eyes full of sincere gratitude.
Hearing Owens's heartfelt exclamation, the young adults and teenagers smiled slightly.
Will, who wasn't a strong swimmer, was clinging to Jonathan. He blinked repeatedly while staring at Doctor Owens, then suddenly gasped in astonishment, "Wait, where's Brennan!?"
Doctor Owens's heart skipped a beat. By now, shouldn't he have sunk to the bottom!?