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CHAPTER TWENTY THE GATE
"I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive," Dustin comments. His voice bounces off of the walls of the hallway as the five make their way down the impossibly long hallway. Every time Abby thinks that they're finally coming to the end, it only seems to stretch farther. It's like something from a dream, the more you run from the monster that you've manifested in your mind, the longer the hallway gets. It's a never ending cycle of torment.
Abby's pretty sure she feels her heart stop in her chest when her thoughts travel to her parents. She knows that ever since they had picked her up from the hospital that night in November that they worry for her far more than they had before. She has noticed the way they visibly relax every time she tosses the keys onto the nearest surface of their house seemingly unscathed. It's not that they don't trust her, she knows this, one incident isn't always enough to sever trust completely, but it had been enough for her parents to fill what little space they had left with concerns for her safety. She knows that when they don't find her in her bedroom that the perturbing thought that she's in danger will only strengthen.
"It's nice to see that you've found your silver lining, Curly-cue," Abby says with a smile that does not reach her eyes. Not even close. She's too plagued with the thoughts of her parents and the people who do not know that they dwell several miles underground to keep the calm facade. Steve takes notice of this, as he always does, and nudges her with his shoulder. She only returns his gaze with a half-smile before she turns her attention to her beaten and worn Converse.
"What do you mean?" Steve asks as if he has just registered what Dustin had said. "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."
"To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking," Robin interjects. "Think about it, they developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo."
"It all comes to the mall like any old delivery ..." Dustin adds.
"And they load it up onto one of those trucks and nobody's the wiser," Robin finishes.
"You think they build this whole mall just so they can transport that green poison?" Steve wonders.
"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," Dusting responds.
"Well, then for the love of god, let's hope it stays as boring as poison for us," Abby says with a sigh.
While she knew that poison wasn't exactly a good prospect, she knows that there are worse things that they could be facing. At least green poison isn't armed with rows upon rows of teeth (though she knows that the poison could devour just as much as the Demogorgons). At least the poison is not an organism of its own violation. At least the poison was something that they could run from.
