THE TOWER ━ stranger things

14.

chapter fourteen — "i thought she was with you."

"I don't understand, you've seen this before?" Robin asked, confusion scattered all over her face, as the five of them trudged down the steep stairs.

Steve trailed behind, waiting expectantly for Dustin to sum everything they'd been through up; he sure as hell didn't know how to construct it all into one coherent thought. Beside him stumbled Irene who looked sickly pale – like she had back in the elevator. He was hoping it was just the shock from the fight and what they just uncovered that made her look like she'd just seen a ghost; he prayed it wasn't another fainting spell.

She'd been acting strange and he didn't know how to, or even if he should, bring it up. He liked having her around and he was dreading the thought of her waving the white flag and dropping him because it was all too much for her. It was a lot for him to deal with too the first time around; he could only imagine the toll it was taking on his two co-workers.

"All you need to know is, it's bad." Dustin said, not giving Robin the explanation she was hoping for. It left an even darker mystical cloud of questions hanging over her. She was frustrated Irene wasn't as confused as she was (the situation should have elicited the same response from her, right?) – it seemed like they all knew something she didn't.

"It's really bad." Steve echoed as they finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, looking back at Irene who seemed to be in deep thought. Yet again she was mentally out of the atmosphere and it was starting to worry him; they didn't have time to space out. If what he believed was true, they were all going to have to be on very high alert.

"Like, end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it kind of bad."

"I have to tell you guys something." Irene meekly spoke up as Robin was about to question Dustin again. Her palms were clammy and her heart felt like it was going to leap from out of her chest, but the truth was itching at her and she knew deep down they deserved to know. She'd finally convinced herself to gain some courage and tell them.

The three looked to her with raised brows and eager eyes, but before she could let the cat out of the bag Erica cut her off, voicing her growing concerns, "Uh, guys? Where's your Russian friend?" They looked around the now empty room and before they had time to think, a loud blaring sound boomed throughout the base.

Steve rushed to the door they entered through and peeked his head out. In the main corridor the man he and Irene attacked was being consoled by his comrades who quickly turned and locked their eyes on him. As they yelled for him to "halt," he slammed the door shut before ushering the rest of the group back up the stairs.

"Go! Run!"

The five of them ran through two different doors, soon leading themselves into the room that seemed to oversee the "rift/gate" operation. Robin laced her hand with Irene's, dragging the girl beside her into another door; they were running like chickens without heads, slamming into people, running down stairs, not knowing at all where they were going. Had they not been in such a dire situation they all would've laughed at how ridiculous they looked and were acting, but because they were running for their lives, laughter seemed to escape them. 

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!" Dustin frantically repeated like a mantra as they stopped in front of the laser-like beam that was tearing through the rift. Irene couldn't help but stare in awe and wonder – she was terrified, of course, but something about seeing what she predicted play out so clearly in front of her made it all the more fascinating. She still couldn't believe it was real.

She felt a tug at her arm again and this time it was Dustin that was dragging her with him down the stairs as he followed behind Steve who was shoving one of the hazmat-suit-wearing men out of their way. Even more guards showed up and once again Steve was doing most of the footwork to keep them off of their trail, however they were slowly gaining and none of them had an exit strategy.