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THE GUARDS PROPPED THEM BACK UPRIGHT. Zoe's blood had rushed back into the rest of her body, immediately making her feel lightheaded. She closed her eyes, the ringing in her head had become unbearable by that point. She tried focusing on her breathing which seemed to be doing her some good until Steve had let out an ear-piercing scream beside her. Her eyes shot open, trying to find what exactly had made Steve Harrington so scared. And as soon as she did, her heart sank to her stomach. She wasn't necessarily afraid of needles and shots, but as the so-called 'doctor' sank a long sharp thin needle into the boy's neck, she had come up with a new fear.
The doctor moved to Zoe next, amused by the way she wiggled in her chair. As the shot moved closer towards her neck, she let an ear-piercing scream, trying to move her head as far away as she possibly could. Robin twitched in her seat, trying to do anything in her power to help the girl she had come to know and adore even more than before. Sadly, there was nothing she could do, only realizing that once the cries from Zoe had stopped— it would move onto her turn. Robin couldn't even fight it, she was tied up and there was nowhere to run and no one to save her. And as the painful injection inserted her neck, she felt her breath hitch in her throat, letting the guards walk out of the room with no sassy comment in return.
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"HONESTLY, I DON'T REALLY FEEL ANYTHING." Steve was the first to talk after what felt like forever had passed by. He admitted this with drowsiness laced in his words, clearly not thinking as straight as he could. Zoe groaned, wanting nothing more but to touch her neck, comforting the soreness and uncomfortableness that brewed under her jaw. She then came up with the brilliant idea (at the moment) to rub her neck on her shoulders which seemed to be doing something. "Do you guys?"
Zoe thought the injection was supposed to kill her, or at least place her at the brink of death. But except for their pulsating feeling on her neck and the sadness that come with being kidnapped and almost tortured, she felt as fine as could be. As fine as any sane person would be under such circumstances. Robin sighed, "I mean, I... I feel fine. I feel normal."
Zoe nodded along, although it really did no use as the two other teenagers couldn't see her. She decided to confide in them as well, "Yeah– I guess they messed up their one job."
"I kinda feel good!" Steve blurted, which seemed to set off an interlude of abrupt laughter between all three teenagers. Zoe couldn't help it, the laughter had taken over every part of her body, forbidding her from putting on the slightest frown.
"Wanna know a secret?" Robin tilted her head back, the giggles had become a bit disoriented by the second. Zoe and Steve asked what it was that seemed to be on the tip of her tongue, chuckled spewing from them as they did so. "I like it too! I feel good!"
Zoe laughed, the aching on her neck had not been the most important thing at the moment. "That makes three of us!"
"Morons. They messed up the drug." Steve found it all too humorous (but to be fair, so did the two girls). They laughed along with him, yelling to the guards about how idiotic they were for injecting them with something that did not do its job correctly. Zoe and Robin followed Steve's lead— calling the guards morons for anything they could blame them for.
All the yelling had attracted the officer in charge, the same one who continued to threaten the three of them. After him, came the doctor who was ready to inject them again if things came down to it. Doctor Zharkov began placing tools on a metal tray, making Zoe gulp in anticipation. "Would now be a good time to tell you that I don't like doctors?" Robin asked, eyeing the metal saw rather intensely.
"Let's try this again, yes?" Ozerov asked, the three of them nodded, murmuring unintelligible words. "Who do you work for?"
"Scoops." Steve said, causing the three of them to laugh. "Scoops Ahoy." Although Zoe did not work for the ice-cream shop, she was to busy laughing along with Robin to correct his mistake.
"How did you find us?" Ozerov asked sternly.
Steve chuckled airily, "Totally by accident."
The Russian interrogator, Ozerov, turned to Zharkov, "More lies." He stated plainly. The doc picked up a metal clip, and began walking towards Zoe.
Zoe grew nervous as Zharkov walked towards her, mischievously holding up to the shiny metal tool. He grabbed one of her fingers, making her panic. She wiggled her finger, trying to stop the doctor from pulling on her nail with the tool. "Stop! Please! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Zoe cried, feeling her nail begin to pull out of her skin.
Steve began panicking, hating the sound of his friend in pain. However, it was more excruciating for Robin. She had to do something to help Zoe, "There was a code! We heard a code!" She yelled, the doctor immediately stopped prying out Zoe's nail. Her finger pulsated, the after effects being just as painful as the nail pulling itself. She felt a tear slip onto her arm, recognizing it as her own cry.
Ozerov walked towards Robin, "Code. What code?"
Robin began reciting the code that the Scoops Troops team had found. "The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. Blah, blah, blah. You broadcast that stupid spy shirt all over town, and we picked it up on our Cerebro, and we cracked it in a day. A day! You think you're so smart, but a couple of kids who scoop ice cream and sell music for a living cracked your code in a day, and now, people know you're here." She didn't care about the backlash she might receive for letting her mouth run ramped, but she was way to piss at the Russians for hurting Zoe.
"Who knows we are here, suka?" Ozerov demanded.
"Uh, well, Dustin knows. Yeah, Dustin Henderson, he knows." Steve spilled, laughing it off as if it meant nothing.
"Dustin Henderson." The Officer spoke, a grin in his tone of voice.
Zoe interrupted, clearly not in the right frame of mind. "Don't forget about Erica! Yeah, Erica Sinclair... I think? Yep! She knows too!" Zoe realized her mistake as soon as it made itself known.
"Steve! Zoe!" Robin called out, her feeble attempt to keep them talking.
"Is this your, curly-haired friend? And the one with pigtails?" The guard asked.
"Oh, curly-haired. Great hair. Small. Kind of like a 'fro. Yeah." Steve began recalling Dustin's hair.
"Where are they?"
"They're long gone, you big asshole." The three made their best attempt to keep in their laughs. "And they're probably calling Hopper, and Hopper's calling the US cavalry. They're gonna come in here, commando-style, guns a-blazin', and kick your sorry asses back to Russia. You're gonna be two pieces of toast."
Ozerov snickered, "Is that so?"
Steve shrugged, "Yeah." Robin, Zoe, and Steve began laughing. Ozerov and Zharkov began laughing as well, but, not for the same reason as the teenagers. Suddenly, the alarm began blaring throughout the underground base. Zoe couldn't help the smug look that cleared her face of any sadness. Ozerov left the room and not even a minute had passed before Dustin ran into the room, screaming as he shocked the doctor with the weapon in his hand. Zoe stared as the electricity flowed from the metal machine to the doctor, and she hadn't felt bad one bit. He deserved it. The doctor fell limp on the ground, making her cringe as a loud thump followed.
Erica and Dustin began unraveling the belt tying up the three teenagers. "Hey! Henderson! That's crazy, I was just talking about you." Steve looked confused as to how Dustin suddenly appeared after the older boy had just finished talking about him.
Erica helped Zoe out of her seat, and quickly, Zoe held onto her finger, trying to calm the pain down. The five of them maneuvered their way out of the rooms and hallways, eventually making it to a cart that Dustin and Erica had snatched minutes earlier. Steve, Zoe, and Robin piled into the back where the shipments were usually kept. Dustin decided to drive with Erica in the passenger seat. He was driving very fast causing Zoe to keep her hands pressed against the cage to avoid flying forward. Steve slurred, "Jesus, slow down!"
Robin had slurred her words as well, "Yeah, What is this, like, the Indy 500?"
"It's the Indy 300." Steve corrected her.
Zoe shook her head, clearly out of her mind. "No! The Indy 400!" She shouted.
"No dinguses! It's the Indy 500!"
"Indy 300!"
Robin stopped for a quick moment, "Let's say... a million." It causes the three of them to laugh, because it was to outrageous, and weird, and clearly they had no idea what was happening. Dustin crashed the cart, causing everyone to fly forward. Zoe, Robin, and Steve groaned on impact and even with Dustin checking up on them, they were to in shock to process answering back.
Dustin ushered them out of the car, not in the mood for the shenanigans they were pulling off. He inserted the stolen key card into the slot, and when it had miraculously worked, he and Erica began to drag the teenagers back into the elevator that had started the whole thing in the first place. The drugged teenagers messed around, inevitably making themselves look much more idiotic. Steve had then begun to tell Dustin that the guards took the keys to the car, which meant, there wasn't any fast getaway around.
The elevator came to a jolting stop, making Zoe's headache ten times more worse. She happened to somehow get up, helping Robin up as well. The two girls, plus Steve and the children, got out of the elevator, and for the first time in a long time— Zoe felt a hundred times better. "The air taste so good!" She hummed, sticking her tongue out as if she could inhale more oxygen into her system.
"Steve can you taste the air?" Robin asked, smiling up towards the sky in excitement.
"I taste it! I taste it!" He replied, spinning in circles happily. Zoe grinned, wanting to remember this moment for as long as she could. Suddenly, the gates to the parking lot buzz open, allowing two Russian guards to start running at the group, their gun equipped securely in their hands.
"Shit! Come on! Come on!" Dustin shouted in panic as he and Erica pushed the lot of young-adults back into the elevator. Erica closed the door behind them, allowing a little bit of time for them to think of a plan of escape. "There! There!" Dustin pointed to the door in the room, dragging everyone out the door. Zoe looked around her to find that she was back in the Starcourt mall. "I've got a plan." The younger boy announced. He began running towards the movie theaters, and with no other choice, everyone followed him in.
AUTHORS NOTE!
HOLY CRAP NEXT CHAPTER—