Triple Trouble - Stranger Things

V Amerikantsy

Kamchatka, Russia

After a long day of working against his will, he was brought back to the Russian prison, alongside his other inmates. After doing the nightly check on his chains he was slowly escorted back to his cell. When getting there he looked up at the door reading the name there, it was a habit he gained over the past few months he spent there, as if it were supposed to be some kind of entertainment of the sort. Of course he wasn't really able to read it, but it said "американцы" but guards pronounced it, "Amerikantsy" which very obviously meant to him, "Americans."

One of the guards unlocked the door and opened it with a hard push, the second guard shoving Hopper into the small space. He hit the floor hard, pain riding up his body as his previous injures were hit once again. He groaned out of pain, slowly helping himself up and turning to the door way, the guards standing there. "tupoy amerikanets" One said. The other chucked then slammed the door, leaving the man. He sighed and rubbed his face out of exhaustion.

"You okay?" Someone asked. He closed his eyes for a minute then turned to her, pursing his lips and nodding.

"Yeah...how you doing kid?" She shrugged.

"The usual." She looked down bringing her bony knees up to her chest, beginning to play with the loose threads on her prison jacket.

It didn't belong to her at first, it was Hoppers before, but seeing she had nothing but a large ragged shirt for clothing in the freezing facility, he gave it to her for warmth. At first it wasn't approved of, but because he was an outdoor worker there was no choice but to give him another one, simply so he didn't die on them from the below zero temperatures.

"Come here, I got something for you." He said.

The girl listened crawling over and taking seat next to Hopper, her blue eyes shining as he dug a slice a bread out from his jacket. He handed it to her practically getting it snatched from his hand. He grimaced and wrapped an arm around her small body as she scarfed down the food knowing she doesn't get fed as much as he does. Those who work indoors like her weren't respected as much as those who worked outdoors, and adding on to that, being an American made things worse. In the prison you were seen as nothing but an enemy, garbage, a plastic bag being kicked in the wind, even the prisoners had this same view, as if they weren't the ones who also got locked up.

Another disadvantage to this prison was being a girl. It was a place where she was surrounded by men who grew up in a world where they were taught that women were lesser than, that they weren't meant for anything but cleaning, cooking, and birthing. That's why she was sent to work inside.

Majority of the times she was seen scrubbing floors or lugging uniforms of dead inmates back down to the pile where the rest of them sat, waiting for a new prisoner to come and take it. But every now and then she'd be put down in the mines, which weren't far from the tracks Hopper worked at, being given nothing but a small pickaxe to mine at the hard gravel until something special was found, it was rare, but over time miners die off leaving the prison in need of more, so in the time being she was left there to work until more inmates rolled in.

When she finished her bread she laid up against Hopper feeling weak and tired. The man swept her red hair away from her face and placed his hand against her forehead feeling a fever coming in. But this wasn't new, it was on and off for the poor girl, getting progressively worse each time it came. This made it harder for her to work, and slow working didn't mean good, it only had you heading back to your cell black and blue. This was common with the red head, leaving marks on her face that had a low chance of ever leaving, scarring her.

She was Hoppers last motivation to get out. To get her out. She had been through too much to spend the rest of her life there, overworking, taking beatings, starving, he didn't want that for her. He was close. He was getting so close. It was only a matter of time before they were up and gone.

"I promise I'll get you out of here Max."