[ 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚐𝚜 & 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚝 ] ~ 𝙳𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚡 𝙾𝚌

XXVIII - Echo

Steve was screaming, which only served to panic Lucy further. Erica's voice got louder and louder as they continued dropping, Robin was holding onto the pallet racking behind her, Dustin yelling 'shit' over and over as he moved to bang on the buttons as if that would do a single thing to help. Russell kept a tight hold on Lucy, now sitting on the ground with the younger girl to her chest - it was grounding. 

"We're going down! We're going down!" Steve yelled. 

"Yeah, no shit, Harrington!" Robin yelped back. 

"Why don't these buttons work!?" Dustin screeched, his voice cracking with every word. 

Erica ran over to where Dustin was, pushing on one of the buttons. "Press the button!" She ordered. 

"What do you think I'm doing!?" Dustin screamed back.

"Come on, press something! Just press the button!" Steve called as the room fell faster. The four panicked, screaming at each other while Russell just continued trying to keep Lucy calm. It wasn't working very well. 

"Push it harder!" Erica called as her and Dustin continued slamming their palms into the panel. With a final acceleration, the room crashed into what Lucy could only assume was the ground of the shaft they'd been dropping down. Robin, Dustin, Steve and Erica all hit the ground since they hadn't been previously standing, boxes fell from the shelves, some of them even landing on top of the six. Lucy groaned as the corner of one of the heavy boxes banged into her shin.

"My groin-" Steve grunted, Robin wincing in pain as a box hit her head. "It fell on my groin- Dustin!" Steve yelled as Dustin pushed himself onto his feet. "Get this off of me!" 

Russell pushed the box off her and Lucy's legs, looking down at her. "You okay, Lucy?" She whispered. 

"Yeah- Just a bruise. . .probably." The younger Harrington shrugged, before pulling out of Russell's lap and standing up. She extended her hand out to Russell with a small smile. 

"I can't move-" At that sentence, Russell snapped her attention to Steve. Dustin dropped the heavy box onto the metal table in the center of the room as Steve heaved breaths. 

"Is everyone okay?" Robin questioned. 

"Yeah." Russell called. 

"Yeah, I'm great, now that I know that Russians can't design elevators!" Steve yelled. His little sister flinched at the sudden volume, covering her ears with her hands. Dustin noticed and shot a glare at Steve. Steve responded by shoving Dustin out of the way and pulling the panel to the buttons open again. 

"I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work." Robin huffed. 

"They're buttons. They have to do something!" He shouted in annoyance.

"Steve, come on-" Russell walked up to him, flinching back a second later. 

"Yeah, if we had a keycard-" Lucy grumbled, pointing out the chip activated lock. 

"A what?" Steve snarled. 

"It's an electronic lock." She explained, walking up to her brother. She stepped up just beside him and ran her finger along the card reader.

"Same as the loading dock door." Robin told him. "If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate, meaning-"

"We're stuck in here." Dustin finished. 

"Yeah." 

Steve groaned, throwing the panel back shut as he ran a hand through his hair and stepped away from the wall.

"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's, and Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow, and my mom finds out you five are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat."

"Delightful." Russell mumbled. 

"I don't care about Tina!" Steve screamed, causing his little sister to flinch yet again. "Or Uncle Jack's Party! Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!" 

Lucy found herself against the wall, her right hand digging against her left forearm again. Hopper's words echoed in her head from the first time they ever met, 'Stop scratching your arm like that, you're going to hurt yourself.' 'Take care of yourself, okay?'

But she couldn't help it. It wasn't her fault. She didn't even want to be here. But Dustin and Steve were so invested and they seemed so excited and she was the smartest person they knew. . .she didn't want them to go in blind. Though. . .they were doing that anyway. Lucy couldn't think straight with all her brother's yelling. She couldn't even feel as her fingers grew warm and sticky. A gross, yet all too familiar feeling that had somehow become a form of comfort. 

"Hey." Dustin pointed to the roof. "What if we climbed out?" Steve noticed the hatch on the roof. Lucy didn't register their words or movement as Dustin climbed up onto the table and then a box in order to undo the hatch and lift himself onto the roof. Steve followed shortly after him, their grunts and pants of the expended energy echoed up the vertical tunnel. 

"What were you saying about climbing?" Steve questioned as the two looked up the seemingly endless concrete walls. 

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Word Count - 853

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Published - January 28, 2024

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