I sit up when I hear Dustin talking. I rub at my eyes. My back and head ache terribly from the metal floor.
Everyone is awake but me. Dustin is screaming into his walky talky from the roof of the elevator.
"Can you hear me? This is a code red. I repeat..." he continues to say it over and over and over.
I look over to see Billy leaning against a few boxes. He pulls at a curl in his face. It bounces back up every time he lets go only to be grabbed and pulled once again.
Robin has her arms around her knees, chin propped on them. She stares blankly at the floor.
Steve is sitting on the ground, hands wrapped in his hair. He glares at the floor.
Erica is sitting in a box. She twists her bracelets around on her wrist. She has a big frown on her face.
We are all utterly miserable.
Finally Steve stands up. We have a couple of boxes stacked under the hatch. He climbs up them to talk to Dustin.
"You gotta take it easy on that thing. You're gonna drain the battery," Steve tells the boy
"The mall just opened," I hear Dustin state. I'm the only one who can hear them because of how close I am to them. The girls are on the other side of the room, and Billy couldn't care less.
"So?" Steve asks. I watch as he switches weight on his feet.
"So, someone could be in range," Dustin says as if it were obvious.
"What do you think? Petey the mall cop is gonna appear down here and save the day?" Steve asks with an attitude.
"All right, why are you such a cranky pants after getting to spend the night with Robin?" Dustin asks.
My eyes widen a little bit. I look at the girl across the room from me. Her head now lays face down on her knees.
"Shh. Jesus Christ!" Steve whisper yells. "Will you just give up your creepy dream already?"
"I heard you guys talking all night," Dustin says.
Then it dawns on me. I was so asleep that I didn't hear shit. I guess I was tired enough to sleep all night in the elevator. It kind of reminds me of the cells in the lab. Time out is what I would call them.
"Yeah we were trying to figure out a way to open up the door while you children were sleeping," Steve gets all the way up to the top now. I can't see him anymore. "After 8 hours, we're still exactly no where, which is, you know, probably just a little bit of the reason why I'm feeling just a tad cranky."
"What are you doing!" Dustin screams.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a leak. Look away," after Steve says that I tune out.
I crawl over to Billy and lay my head on his shoulder.
"Rough night?" I ask him.
"I slept like shit. How about you?" Billy asks me, leaning his head on mine.
"I slept like a baby," I say.
"The hell? How?" Billy asks me.
"It's just like the time out time in the lab. No bed just open empty space," I reminisce. I pick my head up and turn my body to look at him.
Robin stands up and walks over to the buttons, fiddling with them.
That's when I hear it. Liquifying hitting the wall and running down. I crinkle my nose.
"Can you redirect your stream, please!" Robin yells up towards the ceiling. Steve does.
A banging noise comes from across the room. We all whip our heads around. Erica is banging one of the oozes against a metal barrel.
I spring up. "Hey! Erica! Careful, careful, careful!" When I reach her, I rip the container out of her hands. "We don't even know what that is!"
"Exactly. It could be useful," Erica says sassily.
"Useful how?" Robin asks her, standing by my side.
"We can survive down here a long time without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die," Erica says.
"I hate to break it to you, but this is not water," I tell her.
"No, but it's a liquid, and if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst, I drink," Erica sends me a mean little smile before ripping it out of my hands.
I'm too busy at listening to something. It sounds like far away electronic whirring. Robin and I send each other a look before pressing out ears into the wall.
Billy yells up to the boys. "We've got company!"
They hop down quickly.
"Wait this elevator is about to be in use and it isn't like we have hiding spots. We need to get up there," I tell the group. I climb up the boxes and into the hatch.
Everyone follows me. Billy pulls Dustin into him as the elevator opens and Dustin isn't in yet.
My breath catches in my throat as people come inside of it.
We stare through the grate like roof at the men. They're talking in Russian as they move boxes.
Steve holds his finger to his lips, signaling us to make absolutely no noise.
I look around at my friends then frown at Erica. She brought the green ooze with her.
When the men walk out, I hear the door about to close.
I rip the container from Erica's hands and jump onto the boxes. Right before it closes, I lunge forward and jam the container between the door and the floor. The door completely stops. I sit up just as everyone else gets down from the roof.
"Let's go," I say hurriedly. I slide Erica's backpack under and the kids go first. I'm the very last. The second I'm on the other side the containers glass breaks and green liquid is all over the floor. It burns into the ground.
"You still want to drink that?" Robin asks Erica sarcastically.
Dustin turns around. "Holy mother of God."
We all turn to see a very long hallway. Much longer than the school's halls and definitely much longer than the lab's halls.
"Well, hope you guys are in good shape," Steve says.
We all start our mission down the hallway to hell.
After about 10 minutes of walking, Dustin says, "I mean you have to admit the feat of engineering all of this is impressive."
Billy huffs, annoyed with walking even those he's the most physically fit of us all. "What are you even talking about?"
"This is a total fire hazard," Steve says. "There's no stairs, no exit. Just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell."
"They're Commies," Erica states. "They don't pay people, they cut corners."
"To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking," Robin says. "Think about it they developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo."
"It all comes into the mall like any old delivery," Billy points out.
"And then they load it up onto those trucks and nobody's the wiser," I add, looking over at my boyfriend.
"You think they build the whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?" Steve asks out loud.
"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," Dustin says with an attitude. "It's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something."
"What's that?" Billy asks me in a low whisper.
"I don't know. I grew up secluded in a lab with wires hooked to me 24/7," I respond in a low voice.
"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components," Robin states.
"You're all so nerdy it makes me physically ill," Erica says.
"I'm gonna have to agree with the little girl," Billy agrees.
"I ain't no little girl, you stupid jock," Erica bites back, turning to glare at my boyfriend.
I laugh at what she says along with Robin and Dustin. Billy sends us all a death glare.
"Im not a nerd," Steve states loudly. "Don't group me in with them."
"Why so sensitive, Harrington?" Robin asks playfully. Afraid of losing cool points to a ten year old child? Billy doesn't seem to mind."
"My ego can't be damaged by people under 5 foot," Billy says, still targeting Erica.
Erica whips her head around. Her little braids swish around her shoulders. "Screw you, you blonde bimbo!"
I gasp then burst into laughter. Billy sends me a second dirty look.
"No, I'm just saying I don't know jack shit about Prometheus," Steve says.
"Promethium," Dustin corrects. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably used to make something."
"Or power something," I add, speeding my pace to keep up with the long legged people.
"Like a nuclear weapon?" Billy asks, looking down at me.
"Totally," I reply, looking at the back of my four friends heads. Except Erica, I can see over hers.
"Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great," Steve whines.
"But if they're building something, why here?" Robin questions to all of us. "I mean, Hawkins, seriously?"
"At the very best we're a rest stop on the way to Disneyland," I state, shoving my hands in my pockets.
"But maybe that's it," Robin says. "Maybe it's our very..."
Robin and Erica continue to walk but Steve and Dustin fall back. Billy and I stand by them and listen to their huddled conversation, forcing ourselves into it.
"Do you think the Russians know?" Steve asks. Then it hits. I'm willing to bet we're the only town with a knowing of going into another dimension.
"They could," I state, worried now more than ever.
"So it's connected?" Billy sighs out in exasperation, throwing an arm over my shoulder.
"Maybe," Dustin answers.
Robin spins around. "I'm sorry. Is there something the four of you would like to share with the class?"
Before any of us can make up a bullshit excuse. A voice comes from the walky in Erica's backpack.
We quickly move towards her as she rips her backpack off. Erica takes the walky talky in her hands. She passes it to Robin.
"It's the code," Robin states after listening to it.
"Wherever the broadcast is coming from," Dustin starts.
"It's close," I finish. "And if there's one thing we know about that signal, it can reach the surface."
"Let's go," Robin says. We all rise from our crouch and take off in the direction we were headed.
。。。
Finally, at the end of the hallway, we stand behind a corner. There's movement from the Russians on the other side.
Steve peaks his head around. "Okay, clear," he states, moving forward.
"That was close," I say, walking beside Billy.
"Relax, alright? Nobody saw..." Steve trails off as we round another corner.
There's a big open space that connects a bunch of different paths. Normal looking people walk through it. Men in soldier like uniforms walk around with guns in their hands. There is a Russian woman speaking over the intercom.
"We can't just stand here," I whisper.
We duck down behind a cart in the hallway. We're all crouched down and against the wall. Steve and Billy are side by side, staring past the cart and at the Russians.
"Red Dawn," Dustin says.
"I saw it," Erica adds, tucked back by the wall. "First floor, northwest."
"Saw what?" Billy asks.
"The comms room," Erica snaps in a whisper.
"You saw the comms room?" Steve asks in disbelief. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. The door was open for a second, and I saw a bunch of lights and machines and shit in there," Erica tells us.
"That could be a hundred different things," Dustin says.
"I'll take those odds," I say. Robin agrees with me.
We all peak out from behind the cart and look at the door.
Billy sighs. "We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?"
"Okay," the kids reply. Robin and I nod firmly. Steve just frowns.
We all move one at a time to different hiding spots, Billy in the lead.
A scientist looking man comes through the door we're headed to. Billy moves towards it before it can close, so we all follow quickly.
My breath catches in my throat when I turn to see a Russian man in a chair. He moves away from the buttons and stands up. His facial expression looks almost as terrified as ours. He starts to reach for his gun.
Robin moves forward with her hand out. She then starts speaking Russian. Whatever she's saying doesn't help.
All of a sudden, Steve rushes forward with a battle cry, tackling the Russian man to the ground. The man stands with Steve and shoved him into a counter.
"Hey!" I shout. The man turns to look at me. This gives Steve enough time to grab a phone off of the counter and bash it into the guys head. When the guy falls, his head hits the counter and he is out like a light.
"Dude!" Dustin says suddenly. "You did it! You won a fight!"
Steve smiles, breathing heavily from the adrenaline.
Dustin moves forward and messes with the guards belt.
"What are you doing?" I ask him.
"Getting us our ticket out of here," Dustin replies. That's when I see that in Dustin's fingers are the man's key card.
"You want to walk all the way back?" Erica asks with her signature attitude.
"Well, we can hang out for a bit, relax, have a picnic maybe," Dustin says sarcastically, approaching the girl.
As the kids argue, I follow Robin up the stairs next to us. Billy is trying to mediate the kids, and Steve is still on an adrenaline high in the corner.
At the top of the stairs, a blue light shines through the door's window. We peak into it.
I don't even know how to explain what it is.
"Guys," I say, traveling halfway down the stairs. "There's something up there."
We all quietly move through the door one by one.
We're in a separate room. We still aren't close to the strange thing emitting blue light. There are to vertical windows. We crowd around them and stare.
If you look past the little glass hub of scientists, there is a huge machine. The people near it wear gas masks and big hazmat suits. They put the green tubes into it. It sizzles with electricity.
My heart stops as I look where all the concentrated energy is being shot. It's a portal. The gate to the Upside Down.
"No," I whisper aloud. I feel a large hand place itself onto my back. It's Billy's.
"What is that?" Steve asks.
"It's the gate," I start. "To the Upside Down."
"You closed it last winter," Dustin says.
"And they just opened it," I whisper, staring numbly at the portal.
"I'm sorry what?" Erica asks. Robin looks over, questions dancing in her head.
I shake my head and move away. "It's bigger. I won't be able to do it." Dread and numbness spread though my body.
I move away from the glass and out of the door we came through.
"I don't understand," Robin starts, following me. "You've seen this before?"
"Not exactly," I say blankly, tightening my half up ponytail.
"Then what, exactly?" Robin asks.
"All you need to know is it's bad," Billy says to her.
"It's really bad," Steve backs up.
"Like end of the human race as we know it kind of bad," Dustin adds as we all get off the stairs.
"And you know about this how?" Robin asks him.
"Um, Steve, where's your Russian friend?" Erica asks. I look around the room. He's gone.
Alarms start blaring. I drop my shoulders and yell through my teeth.
Steve opens the door slightly then slams it closed. I can hear the Russians running towards us.
"Go, go, go, go," Billy shouts to us all. We take off through a door, which leads to more doors.
I shove them as I lead everyone through. One of them, I open it and scientists turn in there swivel chairs to stare at us.
I run through the room anyways as Billy yells at me to keep going. We run down some stairs. I shove a guard with my mind and continue to run.
I've come too far. We're by the machine and the portal. There isn't anywhere else to go and the guards are still coming for us.
"This way!" I shout, pushing a guard as hard as I can. We circle down a flight of stairs.
There is a couple of guards coming through a hallway. Billy pushes a bunch of metal cylinder tubs into them and they fall.
I lead the group into a room. Billy and Steve slam the door shut. The kids keep going as the four of us lean against the door.
"Come on," Dustin yells at the top of some stairs with Erica.
"Just go, Dustin," I say. "Keep going."
"No," he argues. "Guys come on."
"Dustie, I need you to go get help," I tell him, trying to keep the growing panic out of my voice.
"I won't forget you," Dustin says following Erica through a hatch in the floor.
"Go!" Billy shouts.
Suddenly, we're all thrown forward against a wall. The Russians pile in with guns pointed at us.
My lip quivers slightly as I hold my hands up.