☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
°•. ┊ Daylight┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ don't wanna keep secrets, act two
CHAPTER FIVE — the flayed
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"Shit! Shit!" Dustin shouts, as the room continues to drop and everyone's screaming. Henderson makes his way towards the panel of buttons with Erica following, as they start to beat on the buttons. "Why don't these buttons work?!" The pair argue, while Robin and Steve yell about something. Honestly, I have tunnel vision and it sounds like I'm underwater. Their voices are muffled. I mean, after everything we've survived, a god damn elevator invented by Russians, is what's gonna kill us? Everything comes to a halt; the room, the screaming...it all just stops. Until Steve starts complaining.
"My groin." He groans from the floor. "It fell on my groin. Dustin! Get this off of me! I can't move."
"Is everyone okay?" I question, my ears popping as my jaw moves.
"Yeah, I'm great, now that I know that Russians can't design elevators!" Steve's voice echoes throughout the metal box we're trapped in. Steve shoves Dustin out of his way as he goes over to the panel and starts to push all of the buttons.
"I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work." Gen turns toward the slightly older boy.
"They're buttons. They have to do something." He huffs, continuing to tap aggressively on the seemingly pointless buttons. Robin points out that you need a keycard to operate the elevator. So, if we don't have a keycard, we're stuck in here.
"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's, and Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow-"
"Oh for the love of god!" I snap. "Listen, kid. If you don't shut up I swear on everything that this Russian elevator is gonna be the least of your problems. Okay? And just so you know-" A hand covers my mouth and muffles my words. The girl continues to talk.
"And if my mom finds out you five are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat." Erica says, and I swear my eyes changed color for a second.
"I don't care about Tina! Or Uncle Jack's party! Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!" Steve shouts. Gen releases me from her grasp and I take a deep breath.
"Hey." Dustin grabs our attention. "What if we climbed out?" He and Steve make their way out of the vent and onto the top of the box. Steve comes back down and tosses Dustin his walkie, while explaining to us that there's no way to get out. Fucking phenomenal. I slide against the wall and sit down, pulling my knees to my chest and setting my hands on them. I'm so over this town and it's bullshit. Gen comes and sits next to me, taking my hand in hers, and lying her head on my shoulder.
"We're totally gonna die down here." She breathes, causing me to laugh.
"Oh, yeah." I reply, as she starts to laugh as well. "Lamer than how I thought it would happen, but dehydration in a secret Russian elevator doesn't sound too boring. You know, if they find us."
"At least we'll die together." She states.
"Ah, the bright side." I smile, as she hits me on the shoulder. Erica, Dustin, and Gen fall asleep pretty quickly, once we come to the conclusion that we're gonna be stuck here for a while. Robin, Steve and I stay up talking about different ways we could possibly get out, coming up with a whole lot of nothing. I don't remember when exactly I fell asleep, but I do remember waking up with shallow breathing and feeling sweat on my face.
"You okay?" Robin asks, adjusting to face me better.
"Yeah," I breathe, plastering a smile on my face. "Yeah, just very uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable because of the nightmares?" She questions. My facade falls and I run a hand through my hair. "Look, that was an overstep. I'm really sorry-"
"Robin." I cut her off. "It's fine. Truly. It's the same nightmare over and over. I'm not even sure what it means, but it's terrifying. You know how ear infections hurt more when you get older?" She gives me a slight nod. "Well, nightmares are scarier. Probably because they deal with more realistic fears rather than the boogie man or monsters. Granted, with the events of last November, they are so real. That's besides the point. Can we just keep this between us? I've told Steve the bare minimum and he doesn't need to know any more than that. At least not yet."
"You got it." The blonde smiles. "And if you ever want to talk about anything. Nightmares, Russians, the dingus. I'm available." Steve starts to stir, so I mouth a 'thank you' towards the girl and return my head to rest on top of Gen's. Quickly, I'm out like a light.
The next morning I wake up to the sound of Dustin's voice echoing through the elevator. He's calling out a code red, which isn't going anywhere because we're too far out of range. No one's coming to help. Steve climbs up top and tells the boy to save the battery. I stand and stretch my limbs, trying to wake myself up. I hear running water, like a faucet, from my right and turn to find one of the boys relieving their bladders.
"Can you redirect your stream please?" Robin calls out to the pair above. The stream moves slightly over, but still in eye shot of us. Robin scoffs and Gen laughs at the girl's disgust. A banging sounds through my ears and I look at the young Sinclair girl, who is slamming one of the green tubes against a metal box. "Hey, hey! Be careful, careful, careful." Robin takes the thing from the girl's hands. Erica states that it could be useful and Gen asks how.
"We can survive down here a long time without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die." Erica states, placing a hand on her hip.
"I hate to break it to you, but this is not water." Robin offers.
"No, but it's a liquid, and if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst, I drink." Erica shrugs.
"Yeah. And you end up dying faster." I combat. "Besides, we can only survive without food for three weeks. Water, a few days. Either way, we're gonna die, so let's not quicken our deaths by ingesting a strange liquid." Silence falls over us and Robin moves towards the door. I follow her actions and we share an 'oh shit' look as we hear the sound of a motor on the other side. I run over and pull myself out of the vent. "Hey, we've got company." I inform the two boys and we get back into the room and hide behind boxes, waiting for the men who just entered to leave. As they exit and the door begins to shut, Steve wedges the tube of green liquid to keep it open for a bit. He ushers us to slide underneath it, I'm the last one before him. He nearly gets sliced in half, as he makes his way under the door. The tube shatters and the liquid melts the ground and a portion of the electric door. Robin asks the young girl if she still wants to drink it. We turn around and see a long ass hallway behind us. My workout for the year is about to be completed. "Holy mother of god." I breathe.
"Well...hope you guys are in good shape." Steve huffs. "Looking at you, roast beef. Let's go, come on." Everyone starts to move forward and as I take a few steps, something in my peripheral catches my attention. I look to my right and find myself staring at the man from my nightmares, only this time, I don't run or scream. I feel drawn to him. I lose focus of my friends and the mission at hand, so I start walking towards him slowly. When I get within ten feet of him, he turns and walks away from me. I get the urge to follow him down a corridor and through a door. I push open the door and find someone tied to a chair with their head hanging down. I step fully into the room and am quickly grabbed by two men. I struggle against their grasp, which gets me nowhere. A third man comes over and injects a needle into my neck. My limbs go numb and I start to lose consciousness, but not before a woman with red hair comes into view. She seems familiar, but her face continues to blur, until I'm out.
No One's Point of View
"I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive." Dustin says, looking over at Steve.
"What are you talking about? It's a total fire hazard. There's no stairs, there's no exit, there's just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell." Steve argues.
"They're Commies. You don't pay people, they cut corners." Erica states.
"To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking." Robin jumps in. "I mean, think about it, they developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo. It all comes into the mall like any old delivery. And then they load it up onto those trucks and nobody's the wiser."
"You think they built this whole mall so they could transport that green poison?" Gen asks from ahead of the four.
"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison. It's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something." Dustin explains.
"What the hell is promethium?" Steve questions.
"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components." Robin informs.
"You're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill." Erica grimaces. A certain brunette gets extremely offended by her statement.
"No, no, no. No, don't lump me in with them. I'm not a nerd, all right?" Steve huffs.
"Why so sensitive, Harrington? Afraid of losing cool points to a ten-year-old child?" Robin mocks.
"No, I'm just saying I don't know jack shit about Prometheus." Steve argues.
"Promethium." Dustin corrects. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something.
"Or power something." Robin adds. Dustin suggests a nuclear weapon. "Totally."
"Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great. That'd be great." Steve says sarcastically.
"But if they're building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins. Seriously. Of all places. At the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland, but maybe that's it. Maybe it's our very..." Robin's voice fades out to Steve and Dustin, as they consider the possibility that the Russians know about the Upside Down. "I'm sorry, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Robin questions, as she and the other two girls turn around. The boys share a look, before looking at the three ahead of them.
"Hey." Gen starts. "Where the hell is Sam?" Everyone starts looking around the hallway, as if the redhead were hiding in the walls. A sound emits from the Henderson boys device, catching the attention of the group. While Dustin and Robin tend to the walkie, Steve and Gen continue spinning around to search for Sam. The pair tune back into the conversation.
"Wherever that broadcast is coming from..." Dustin starts.
"It's close. And if there's one thing we know about that signal..." Robin speaks, looking at the younger boy.
"It can reach the surface." They stand and face the worried boyfriend and best friend.
"Listen, I know we should look for Sam. But if there's one thing I know about your girlfriend, Harrington, she is a force to be reckoned with."
"Robin's right." Dustin states. "Sam can handle herself. We both know that. Right, Steve?" The young boy uses his words to hint towards Sam's fire powers without having to spell it out and reveal the secret. Despite his outburst at the Byers household last fall. Hesitantly, the Harrington boy nods slightly, agreeing with the pair and deciding that it's best if they move forward.
"Um, hello!" Genny yells. "Are you all insane? I know my best friend, but we are in uncharted territory here. Russian territory. I think we should go find her."
"We will. Just not yet. We have to get a feel for the environment and choose how best to locate her." Robin says and they all continue to walk quickly forward. Gen huffs and begrudgingly follows, not wanting to be alone.
Sam's Point of View
I wake up with a searing pain in my head and neck. I try to move my hand to rub my temples and feel a force holding it back. My eyes shoot open and I start looking around and pulling on the ties that bind my hands, panic surging through my body. I notice that I'm encased in a clear box of some sort. My entire body rocks back and forth as I fight to free myself from the ties. "Well, look who's awake." A feminine voice sounds from my left. I turn my attention towards the woman, my head spins and not from whatever the hell they injected me with. It's spiraling from the fact that the woman before me is my dead aunt.
"You-you died." I fumble my words.
"That was the point." She states, pulling a chair up and sitting in front of me.
"I went to your funeral. I watched them lower you into the ground."
"Yeah, about that...there wasn't a body in that casket." She starts. "I needed to disappear, so the easiest way to do that was for me to die."
"You needed to disappear?" I question. "For what? To become a Commie?"
"News flash, honey. We're a family of Commie's." She says. "I guess, not all of us are Commies or family, but we'll get there. The Volkov's are of Russian descent. You couldn't tell from the name?"
"Not exactly the thing that goes through a child's mind." I berate. "And I haven't thought about mom's maiden name much." I continue to tug on the ties that entrap my hands, which is getting me nowhere. Anastasia starts speaking in a language that I can't place, it's not Russian. Whatever she's saying it sounds like a chant of some sort. I feel my entire body heat up and quickly I realize my powers have ignited, freeing my hands. I stand and start doing circles around the box, trying to find a way out, meanwhile she continues to repeat her words, my temperature rising. I exert my powers so much that I can feel myself fading. I body slam one of the walls with the little energy I have left and find myself sliding down it, until I'm unconscious.
No One's Point of View
As the group travels through the bunker, they dodge Russians and wait for an all clear. Steve informs them that they're permitted to move and they quietly continue down a small hallway, turning to find the motherload of all Russians. The five kids freeze, in awe at the amount of people in the base, before running and hiding behind a bright red metal cart. "I saw it." Erica says to Steve. "First floor, northwest."
"Saw what?" The older boy asks.
"The comms room." She whispers.
"You saw the comms room?"
"Correct." She states. Dustin asks if she's sure. "Positive. The door was open for a second, and I saw a bunch of lights and machines and shit in there."
"That could be a hundred different things." Henderson argues.
"I'll take those odds." Robin tells Steve. The Harrington boy glances at the Californian, who's crouched beside Dustin. She gives him a slight nod, agreeing with Robin. They all turn and look at the door.
"Alright." Steve breathes, turning to face them. "We're gonna move fast. We're gonna stay low. Okay?" They stay hunched down and move behind a set of metal crates, then move again, watching the door, until it opens. A Russian in a white lab coat exits the room and that's when they run in.
Sam's Point of View
This time when I wake up, my hands aren't bound and I'm being held up by two men. I fight against their grasp, feeling exhausted, but not ready to give up just yet. "I wouldn't do that." Anastasia's voice rings through my ears and I focus on her. She's got a gun leveled at my head. I halt all movements and she smiles. "Good girl." I look around the room, trying to map out an escape plan. It looks like a control room of some sort. There are about twenty Russian comrades in here with us, not including the two that are keeping me from strangling her. "Did you and your little friends really think that you could get away with infiltrating this place? As if we wouldn't find out and take care of the problem."
"What do you mean by that?" I ask, panic setting in. If she's not afraid to hurt her own niece, I can't imagine what she'd be willing to do to them. "What the hell do you mean? Where are they?"
"That's not important."
"I swear to god, Ana. If you touch one hair on their heads I will not hesitate to kill you." I threaten. She just laughs at me.
"Oh, please. Sweetheart, you're a lot of things. But you don't have the guts to kill me or anyone for that matter." She smiles, gesturing for the guards to release me. "Me, on the other hand, I've lost count of how many people I've killed. All I know is that while you were out, it increased by five." We hold eye contact and I can't tell whether or not she's lying.
"Bullshit." I huff. "They're still alive."
"Okay." She starts. "Maybe I didn't kill all of them, but a blonde and brunette definitely took the hit after helping their friends escape. Steve, is it? He tried to save the girl, but it was no use."
"You son of a bitch." I charge at her and she completely dodges me, causing my body to hit the ground.
"They died. They died looking for you, Sammy." She says loudly. "It's all your fault."
"Shut up." I mutter, standing to my feet. She repeats herself. "I said, shut up!" When I yell, a sob escapes my lips, and I decide to give into the pain. What's the point in fighting? I can't live knowing that I'm the reason they're gone. I succumb to the exhaustion and fall to my knees, a scream emits from my body, and my powers surge through me. I can't control what happens next. Everything goes dark. All I remember is feeling angry. The surge of power took down or rather killed nearly all of the comrades in the room. I stand and make a beeline for Ana, a guard throwing a punch my way. I grab his fist and send him flying back with another burst of fire. The next three come at me all at once, my body reacting before my mind can process what I'm doing. Ana's trying to slip out quietly and I run after her. She goes through a door, at the backside of the room and I lose her from there. I can finally breathe again and start making my way back towards the main area of the control room. I pause, hearing voices, they're both speaking in Russian, but whatever the woman is saying sounds familiar. I poke my head around the corner and find Steve, Robin, and the rest of our little group, alive. My eyes travel around to all of the people I've hurt and it makes me sick to my stomach. I tune back into the situation, when Steve charges at the man and they begin to fight. Steve takes the mic for the code and hits the guy over the head with it, which sends him slamming into a table and he's out cold. I round the corner fully, now.
"Dude!" Dustin calls out, gaining Steve's attention. "You did it! You won a fight!" Steve looks back at the Russian and then to Dustin with a smile of pure disbelief on his face. I laugh at the pair, mainly because of how genuinely proud Dustin seems of Steve. This causes the attention to turn to me. "Sam!" Henderson runs over and crashes into me. I smile and wrap my arms around the younger boy, securing him in a hug.
"Hey, Henderson." I laugh slightly. Gen is the next one to engulf me in her arms.
"Dude, you scared the shit out of me." She breathes. "I thought you were dead."
"I almost was, but all good now." We pull away and surprisingly enough, Robin not only crushes me in her arms, but lifts my feet off the ground a bit. "Okay. Robin, I love you. But you're crushing my kidneys." She lets me go, quietly apologizing. And I turn to Steve.
"So, I took down that guy, but what happened here?" He motions towards the number of seemingly unconscious men in the room.
"I thought they killed you...just lost my temper a bit." I say cautiously. A smile falls upon his face and he wraps me in his arms, mentioning how he's glad that I'm okay. "I'm glad you guys are okay too." Dustin walks over to the Russian and takes his keycard, while Erica questions his actions. The two begin to argue, while Robin walks up a staircase in the room. She comes back down and tells us that we have to go check out whatever's up there. We all climb the staircase and as discreetly as possible, go through the door. We find ourselves staring at, I'm not even sure what. "Is that?"
"The gate." Dustin breathes, answering my question. I swallow the lump in my throat, realizing that everyone we care about is in danger right now. Will, especially.
[word count: 3705]
lexi's letters; now they know that russians are the least of their problems...