"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter One-Hundred-And-Five: Quick Escape
(The Flayed, Pt. 2)
***
Rowan crouched on the roof of the elevator, hardly daring to breathe. Below her, she could hear movement echoing, voices speaking in a language she knew must be Russian, and it made her panic of them all being caught spike higher and higher.
Around her, everyone else was crouched on the roof, also not making a sound and attract the Russians to them. The only noise Rowan could hear aside from the Russians below them was her own heartbeat, pounding a frantic rhythm in her ears.
If the Russians looked up, if they checked the panel or saw the box Steve had opened...
They'd all be dead.
Sweat beaded on Rowan's forehead and dripped down, and Rowan gulped as she heard what sounded like footsteps heading out. She risked a glance to Robin and Valerie, who looked just as terrified as she felt, then to Dustin and Erica, the latter still holding the canister full of unidentifiable green sludge. Then, she looked at Steve, their gazes connecting. She saw Steve swallow as he looked around at their little group, a finger pressed to his lips—as if Rowan needed the reminder to remain quiet—before his eyes landed on Erica.
Rowan looked over to Erica, crouched on the roof, who looked at Steve in confusion. Rowan glanced back over to Steve, and saw an idea forming—a chance of escape.
One that would be their only shot.
When the footsteps stopped and the whirring noise began, Rowan released the breath she'd been holding—right before her body tensed up as she sensed the spark of electricity as the doors began to close.
They had to do this. Right now.
Steve snatched the canister from Erica and went down first, Rowan watching as he fell to his stomach and skidded the canister over to the doors. And by the way Rowan couldn't hear it slam close, it worked in stopping the doors.
"Let's go!" Steve hissed to them, and Rowan didn't hesitate, shoving Erica and Dustin forward—they should go first—as she, Robin and Valerie scrambled behind them, watching as first Steve shoved Erica's backpack through then motioned for the girl to go, hissing, "Go. Go, go, go, go!"
"I'm going!" Erica snapped as she crawled through the gap and out. And as Rowan lowered herself onto the elevator floor, she found her eyes tracking to the canister, and feeling her heart in her throat at seeing thin cracks forming.
That isn't going to hold, she realised with a spike of fear as Steve motioned for Dustin to go next, the kids going before the older teens, whispering, "Henderson. Go, go!"
Dustin didn't hesitate, army-crawling through the narrow space and shimmying out on the other side. Next was Robin, wriggling through as Valerie was right on her heels. The cracks grew larger and groaning noise of the glass of the canister giving way from the force of the door grew louder and the minute Robin had lowered herself to the ground Rowan thrust her hand out, forcing the door up and buying extra time.
"Graveswood, come on!" Steve exclaimed when it was just them,, and Rowan shook her head.
"No! You go first, I'll keep it up," she hissed back.
"You can do that on the other side, now come on!" Steve argued, but Rowan could see the panic in Steve's eyes, the urge to get everyone out—to get her out—before him. And fuck, she wasn't immune to it.
"God damn it, Steve," she hissed as she dropped her hand and crawled through the narrow gap, scrambling up and refocusing on keeping that door from closing with her mind as Steve now began crawling through, gritting her teeth as gravity and the cracks growing larger and larger on the canister battled against her.
"Come on, Steve, let's go!" Dustin shouted, and Rowan wanted to shout, wanted to drag Steve through to safety, but she had to focus on keeping that door up.
But she wasn't El, and while her telekinesis was far from weak, it didn't stand up to gravity and her own limits, and those came out on top as exhaustion stabbed at Rowan and her telekinetic hold on the door snapped and it resumed crashing down on the canister as it finally cracked—just as Steve scooted out and away, narrowly avoiding being crushed.
Rowan's relief that Steve was okay evaporated when she saw what exactly that green liquid was.
Her mouth gaped open as she stared at the dark green sludge eating away at the concrete underneath, smoke steaming up and leaving an acrid, bitter stench that seared Rowan's nostrils. Everyone crowding around her shared similar looks of shock.
"Jesus Christ," Steve said.
"Holy fuck," Rowan breathed.
"Mierda," Valerie cursed under her breath.
Robin looked over to Erica, and asked, "You still wanna drink that?"
Erica didn't answer, apparently stunned the liquid she'd seen as an alternative to dying of thirst was, in fact, dangerous after all.
"What are the Russians doing with that?" Valerie whispered.
"I don't know," Rowan muttered, eyeing the acidic sludge warily. Fuck, what were the Russians doing with that acid shit?
Whatever it was, it was nothing good. And it made Rowan's dread worse.
"Holy mother of God."
As one, the five others turned at Dustin's uttered shock, and Rowan's eyes bugged out of her skull at seeing a long, apparently endless tunnel.
Fuck, what was with Russians and endless corridors and elevator shafts?
"Well, I hope you guys are in good shape," Steve commented after five seconds of shell-shocked silence. "Looking at you, roast beef."
He patted Dustin's stomach as Dustin shot Steve an annoyed and stunned look as Steve walked forward, Rowan rolling her eyes.
When he noticed that they weren't following, Steve turned around and said, "Let's go, come on."
"All right, we're coming, asshole," Rowan called back, glaring at Steve as he turned around to keep walking, looking to Valerie as she said, "We better follow him and make sure he doesn't get killed by a goddamned Russian or something."
"Yeah, definitely," Valerie concurred, and though they smiled, a kernel of fear pricked at Rowan at the thought of that coming true.
"Why me?" Dustin muttered, obviously still focused on Steve singling him out.
"Come on, menace, we better start walking," Rowan said as she followed after Steve, the other four a step behind her, as they headed further into the secret Russian base apparently underneath Starcourt Mall.
And Rowan tried to ignore the dread following her with every step she took further and further down the corridor.
***
Short, I know. But next chapter will be much longer!
Yeah, this was just the Scoops Troop escape feat. Rowan keeping the door from closing with her powers. But now that we are more than halfway through the season, you don't know what I have planned for the rest of the Russian base arc—or for the rest of s3 >:)
