Chapter Thirty-Four:
Evil Russians
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
Ramona held her lip in between her teeth as she stood on her tippy toes to see over Steve's shoulder. "Three... two..."
"And," Dustin trailed off, his voice quieting as he looked up and down the mall flooded with people leaving the movie theater. "Blend."
Ramona's back straightened as she slipped out of the door, blending in with the crowd without missing a beat. Erica pursed her lips, nodding her head. "Well, shit. That worked!"
"Of course it worked. Now we just have to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes and home sweet home here we come." Dustin grinned, happy to have this whole experience behind him,
Steve cleared his throat, awkwardly sliding his hand into Ramona's and Dustin gave him a look. "What?"
"Yeah, you might not want to go to your house." Steve said, avoiding Dustin's prying eyes.
Ramona shot Steve a look, raising her eyebrows. "Why?"
"Yeah," Dustin pointed at her, "Why?"
"Well, I might have told them your full name." Steve admitted as Ramona turned to him in shock, pulling her hand from his and smacking him over the head.
"Idiota de mierda." Ramona snapped, rolling her eyes as Steve pulled her hand back into his.
"What?" Dustin hissed, clearly trying to remain calm. "What is wrong with you?"
"Dude, I was drugged!" Steve defended.
"So?"
"So?" Steve repeated, shaking his head as he looked over at him.
"So, you resist. You tough it out, you tough it out like a man." Dustin explained, refusing to look back at Steve.
"Oh, yeah. It's easy for you to say." Steve scoffed, shaking his head and tightening his grip on Ramona's hand.
"Guys?" Robin said, reaching forward and stopping the group from walking.
"Shit." Ramona swore at the sight of the Russian man.
"Abort." Dustin whispered, his heart dropping when the man turned and locked eyes on them. "Abort, abort!"
Ramona muttered swears under her breath as she stumbled behind Steve. He came to an abrupt halt at the escalator, shaking his head as he looked back at the lurking man. "Shit, okay. Uh-"
"Slide." Ramona whispered harshly, gesturing to the gap between the two escalators.
"What?" Ramona shook her head, ignoring his question as she pulled her hand away from his and seating herself down, "Come on."
"Oh." Steve nodded, watching as she slid down, turning to look at the four who stood at the top of the escalators. "Come on!"
~~
Ramona's heart hammered against her chest, her grip tightening on Steve's hand as she turned her head to look at him. His eyes were already on her. He shakily raised their interlocked fingers to his mouth, pressing a kiss against the back of her hand and nodding in an attempt to reassure her that everything would be all right.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins, the pain in her throat a distant memory as her body focused on keeping her energy high enough to keep her fight or flight trigger activated. In fact, nearly all the pain in Ramona's body was dulled because of the adrenaline, and she was not looking forward to when it returned.
Ramona jumped at the sound of a car horn going off, squeezing her eyes shut as she pulled Steve's hand closer to her heart. She muttered prayers under her breath, covering her mouth with her free hand to stop a yelp from coming out when the sound of a car crashing echoed throughout the empty gym.
She shared a look with Steve as she maneuvered so she was turned around. Carefully peeking over the counter, her stomach dropped at the sight of the dead bodies littering the mall's ground. "Oh, fuck."
She turned her head to follow Dustin's gaze, a disbelieving smile forming on her face when her eyes landed on the party. "Oh, thank God!"
She pulled Steve along with her as she stepped out from behind the counter, "It's Nancy!"
"Nancy? Woah-" Steve repeated, stumbling behind Ramona as she roughly yanked him along with her. Dustin, Robin, and Erica's footsteps echoed in her ears as she rushed towards her best friends. "Slow down, Ramona."
"Nope." Ramona shook her head, "I haven't seen Nancy or Will or Lucas or Jonathan or Max or Mike or Eleven in for-fucking-ever."
Steve shook his head with a laugh as she came to a stop, her hand still holding onto his tightly. "Fair enough."
"You flung that thing like a hot wheel!" Dustin laughed, rushing towards Eleven and pulling her into a tight hug.
"Lucas?" Erica said in shock, raising her eyebrows.
"What are you doing here?" Lucas shook his head in disbelief.
"Ask them!" Erica gestured to Steve, Dustin, Ramona, and Robin, "It's their fault!"
"You were an easy bribe." Ramona teased as Steve nodded in agreement.
"True, yeah, totally true. It's absolutely our fault." Steve nodded with a shrug.
Nancy grinned at Ramona, her eyebrows knitting together when her eyes landed on Ramona and Steve's interlocked fingers. Her eyes flickered back up to Ramona's as she tilted her head. "Ra-"
"I don't understand what happened to that car." Robin said, looking towards the car in confusion.
"It motherfucking flew." Ramona said, "Like a plane."
"El has superpowers." Dustin explained briefly.
Robin blinked, shaking her head in shock. "I'm sorry?"
"Superpowers." Steve repeated, "She threw it with her mind. Keep up. Come on, catch up."
"That's El?" Erica asked, pointing to her.
"Who's El?" Robin asked, clearly still confused on the situation.
"I'm sorrry," Nancy started, looking away from Steve and Ramona's interlocked fingers, "Who are you?"
"I'm Robin." She introduced herself, "I work with Steve."
"She cracked the secret code." Dustin said proudly.
"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians-"
"The Spanish speaking Russians."
"Russians?" Jonathan asked, "Wait, what Russians?"
"The evil ones." Ramona said, sending a small smile Jonathan's way.
"The Russians!" Steve shouted, gesturing to the bodies.
"Ramona," Mike said, his eyebrows furrowed together as he took in her battered appearance. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Evil Russians, little man." Ramona laughed in disbelief, shaking her head. "Evil Russians."
"Those were Russians?" Max asked in shock.
"Oh, my God!" Ramona groaned. "Yes!"
"Some of them." Erica shrugged.
"What are you talking about?"
"Jesus Christ." Ramona shook her head.
"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin deadpanned.
"Yeah." Mike nodded his head, "But I couldn't understand half of what you were saying."
"Dammit! Low battery!"
"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?" Steve scolded, gesturing wildly with his free hand.
"Okay, well, everything worked out, didn't it?" Dustin huffed.
"Worked out?" Erica repeated in annoyance, "We almost died!"
"Yeah, but we didn't, did we?"
"It was pretty damn close!" Steve shouted, pointing to Ramona. "Look at her! Do you see this, Dustin? She almost died!"
"But she didn't!" Dustin argued.
"She shouldn't have been at risk in the first place." Steve snapped, shaking his head.
"Okay, wait," Lucas piped up, stopping the upcoming fight. "So, Russians, as in, they're working for the Russian government Russians?"
"Duh." Ramona rolled her eyes.
"What is it that you're not comprehending?" Dustin taunted, "Am I not speaking English? We have a full-blown Red Dawn situation!"
"So this has nothing to do with the gate?" Max asked.
Dustin took a double-take in shock, "This has everything to do with the gate!"
"Honestly, red." Ramona shook her head, "Haven't you ever seen-"
Her sentence was cut short by the sound of Eleven's body crashing to the floor, "Oh, fuck. That isn't good."
"El!" Mike shouted, rushing over to her and carefully rolling her onto her back. "El!"
"What's wrong with her?" Erica asked as Ramona kneeled down beside Steve.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked gently.
"My leg." El answered, tears beginning to stream down her face. "My leg!"
"Her leg, her leg. Okay." Jonathan nodded to himself. "Get that off."
Ramona grimaced, looking away as Jonathan carefully peeled the bandage off of Eleven's leg. "Oh, ew. Gross!"
"El, El! El, El. El, are you okay?" Mike shook her, trying to get a response. "El!"
Ramona squeezed her eyes shut, sliding her hand back into Steve's as Eleven's pained scream echoed around the empty mall. "Shit."
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
{ A/n: 1312 }
{ Translations: fucking idiot }
{ Edited: No }