SKYFALL, stranger things

036. sweeter, bolder, better

"Oh yeah, that's easy for you to say." Steve snapped.

"Guys..." Robin interrupted their bickering, staring straight ahead with wide eyes. We all stopped walking, spotting a man dressed in all black talking to some random lady.

And he was speaking in Russian.

"Abort." Dustin whispered, but somehow the man heard, looking over at us. "Abort!" Dustin cried out this time, turning and running the opposite direction. We all hurried to follow after him, pushing against the crowd as we ran away.

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing that the man was right behind us. "Oh, God." I breathed. Just then, I felt a hand on my waist and I snapped my head to see that it was Steve. "Come on," he whispered to me. He pushed me towards the middle section of the escalators, where Robin and Dustin were already sliding down while I tried to ignore the butterflies erupting in my stomach.

I slid down after Erica, hearing Steve's skin scrape against the makeshift slide right behind me. Once on solid ground, we sprinted into the nearest pop up restaurant in the food court, throwing ourselves behind the counter. I tucked my knees against my chest, trying to quiet my rapid breathing.

Dustin peeked out for a brief moment before reporting back to us, whispering, "We lost him, but we are surrounded."

I pressed my back impossibly further into the counter, making myself as small as possible. Maybe getting back to 'home sweet home' would be a bit more complicated than we had originally planned.

*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*

After we finished bandaging her leg, El made us move her to the freezer section, so she could use the low hum from the machines as white noise. Max found her a bandanna in one of the aisles, so she could block out her vision to enter the void and find Dustin. I took a seat next to Will, feeling bad about lying to him earlier. We leaned against a small refrigerator unit full of fruits and vegetables.

I shot him a sympathetic look, not saying anything, but I felt the tension between us already easing. That was until Mike sat down on the other side of Will. The both of us immediately tensed right back up.

The silence was deafening as we waited for any news from El. At least, it was quiet, until Lucas broke it of course. He snapped the tab on a cold can of Coke open, the caffeinated beverage hissing loudly into the empty store.

"Quiet." Max snapped at him.

"Oh, sorry." He whispered back. He brought the can up to his lips, slurping softly.

"How do you even drink that?" Mike scowled at him.

"Because it's delicious." Lucas defended the sugary drink.

"What?" Mike and Max chorused, looking disgusted.

"It's like Carpenter's The Thing." Lucas explained. "The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake..." he paused for dramatic effect and another sip. He smacked his lips as he took in the flavor. "Sweeter, bolder...better."

"Stupider." I groaned, holding my head in my hands.

"Don't even start." Lucas snapped, raising his voice. "You said I was your favorite."