••••• "Don't don't you want me? / You know I can't believe it when you say that you don't need me" •••••
"This might be the stupidest thing I've ever gotten myself involved in, but I'm in."
In which Steve Harrington and Kimberly Henderson go from be...
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Dustin paced around the top of the elevator the next morning, talking into his walky talky in hopes of making contact with someone. "Code red, I repeat, code red. Does anyone copy? This is a code red, I repeat, a code red. We are innocent children and we are trapped under Starcourt Mall. The Red Army has infiltrated Hawkins, and if we are found, they will tortue and kill us."
"Dustin just shut up," Kim groaned, already having a massive headache.
"You gotta take it easy on that thing," Steve warned the younger teen. "You're gonna drain the battery."
"The mall just opened," Dustin said.
"So?" Kim asked, running a hand through her dark hair as she looked at her brother.
"So someone could be in range," Dustin replied.
"What do you think, Petey the Mall Cop is gonna rappel down here and save the day?" Steve asked, standing up from his place next to Kim.
"Alright, why are you such a cranky pants after getting to spend the night with Kim?" Dustin asked.
"Sorry to break it to you, bud," Kim laughed. "But it's not the first night we've spent together."
Dustin wrinkled his nose at her. "You're gonna make me puke, you know that?"
"We were just trying to figure out how to open the door while the rest of you were sleeping," Steve said. "After eight hours, we're still exactly nowhere, which is, you know, probably just a little bit of the reason why I'm feeling just a tad cranky."
"What are you doing?" Dustin asked in disgust as Steve walked over to the walk and undid his belt.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a leak. Look away," Steve said.
"Dude!" Dustin yelled, turning around. "My sister's here."
"Well it's not like she hasn't seen it be-" Steve started to say.
"Steve!" Kim yelled while Dustin's hands flew to cover his ears.
"What, it's the truth," Steve shrugged, zipping up his shorts again.
Down in the elevator, Robin was working on the control panel again when Erica started banging the green vial on a metal container. "Hey, hey! Be careful, careful, careful! We don't even know what that is," Robin exclaimed, wrenching the thing from the little girls hands.
"Exactly. It could be useful," Erica retorted.
Robin looked down at the green sludge and then back at Erica. "Useful how?"
"We can survive down here a long time without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die."
"I hate to break it to you, but this," Robin held the vial up to the little girl's face. "Is not water."
"No, but it's a liquid," Erica shrugged. "And if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst, I drink."
Robin scoffed, reluctantly handing the vial back to Erica. The sound of mechanical whirring from outside the elevator made Robin press her ear to the solid metal door. Her eyes widened and she quickly climbed up to the roof of the elevator. "We've got company," she told Dustin, Steve and Kim.
Kim nodded, helping Robin the rest of the way through the hole and then reaching her hand down to pull Erica up. She managed to hoist the little girl up just as the door slid open and two Russian men walked in. Steve reached for her hand and held it tightly as they watched the men load the boxes onto their cart. Kim looked over at the green vial that Erica was still holding and got an idea. As the Russian's started to close the door, Kim jumped down, vial in hand, and slid the green thing under the door. She let out a breath, thankful that her plan had actually worked. Erica wiggled under the gap first, then Dustin, then Robin. As Kim stood up on the other side of the door, the glass vial started to crack. Her eyes widened as Steve tried to get under the door. She pulled him over to the other side and into her arms just as the door crashed down. It would have definitely crushed Steve if Kim hadn't stepped in to help him.
"Thanks," he panted, still holding on to her.
The green sludge sizzled on the ground, burning a hole straight through the floor.
Robin turned to Erica while she tried to catch her breath. "You still wanna drink that?"
Dustin turned around and groaned. "Holy mother of God."
"Wh-?" Kim started to ask. Her voice cut off as she saw the long hallway that lay ahead of them. It seemed almost as endless as the elevator shaft had been. Kim sighed, taking Steve's hand and starting to walk down the hallway that was probably as long as a marathon.
