𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ➤ 𝑹. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

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"𝙎𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠, 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙨"

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𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟒𝐭𝐡, 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐇𝐀𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 into the elevator was much more difficult than Valerie had initially foreseen. The tall boy was practically hanging from her small frame, arms wound unforgivingly around her neck while his feet dragged along the ground. Worst of all, he was grinning at her the entire time. Asshole.

"Steve, for the love of God, let go!" Valerie pled as she struggled to untangle herself from his grip. Steve stuck his bottom lip out sulkily but nevertheless released her, "You're so mean!"

Erica was having similar problems next to her. Robin had outranked her usual level of annoying as she swung the girl around the elevator, pointing at ordinary things she deemed interesting.

"Is that mountain dew? Cool!" the girl stumbled towards a neon-green canister sitting atop a cardboard box, one of three the group had left behind more than half a day ago.

"No!" Valerie raced over immediately, pulling her away from the hazardous substance and pushing her down gently to sit with Steve, who was now laying dazedly on the floor.

With all five teens somewhat safely contained in the elevator, Dustin pressed a green button on the wall and the room began to shudder and move, thankfully rising at a much slower speed than what they'd fallen at. Valerie raised a hand to her chin, wiping off the sweat that had accumulated there.

"So what do we do now, nerds?" Erica quizzed, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned tiredly against the wall. Dustin glanced around the room, "We need to alert Valerie's dad, and the others."

Erica furrowed her brows, "Others?"

"You know, El, Max, Mike, Will," Valerie sent her a smug look, "and your brother."

"Drop the bullshit, there's no way Lucas is running around saving Hawkins," the girl dismissed with a roll of her eyes. Dustin shook his head at her.

"Doesn't matter, first we need —"

A loud clang from behind cut him off, and the three teens whirled around to see a rusted trolley banging into the wall of shelves nearby, Steve stood atop it, wobbling unsteadily as he held his arms out in an attempt to balance his weight.

Robin was laughing next to him, clapping her hands, and pointing, "You look like you're surfing!"

"Yeah! Surfing, totally," Steve agreed giddily, as he emphasized his movements, imitating surfer-like movements, though Valerie knew he avoided the ocean like the plague. He'd told her many times how the salt water dried out his hair too much.

"They seem drunk, not drugged," Erica commented, glancing questioningly at Valerie, who only shrugged in reply. Dustin turned his head towards the two girls, "Why would they be drunk?"

"I highly doubt the guards were nice enough to serve them a drink. Either way, it doesn't help us," Valerie replied dully, sighing exasperatedly as Robin pulled out the trolley from underneath Steve, sending him flying into the shelves, a painful groan leaving his lips.