Jailbird || Stranger Things

sixty-four ➵ cat and mouse and dog

When we're in panic mode, or perhaps, emergency mode, with our minds on only one thing, it's difficult to remember that other people are still living full lives, sometimes just as much entangled with our own.Life is a transaction. We interact with each other, a trade off happens, and there are consequences that ripple through to all of us.

What our heroes were forgetting, was that the transaction doesn't just stop there.

El's fights with the mind flayer as well as the possessed Billy wasn't done just because the monster disappeared into the sewers or because Billy had run away. Both of those things had retreated to regain their strength, and were now back in pursuit of the party on their way to the mall.

Similarly, having run into Russians more than once, Joyce and Jim were caught up with looking for their kids and asking after them from their parents, all the while forgetting that the Russian fugitive they were harbouring would catch up with them. There was no world in which they would be allowed to just take a Russian operative and not have somebody chase them down.

Except, in Joyce and Jim's case, their consequences were hurried along by the traitorous Mayor Kline, who had a direct line to the Russians in whose employment Alexei technically remained. His phone call really lit a spark in the man's motorbike, and his was catching up with his prey. Fast.

Murray and Alexei, in the meantime, stayed in the car as told, discussing the plan they had concocted to destroy the gate, chatting in Russian to ensure nobody would overhear the very direct consequences of July fourth of that year.

"And why all this?"

" If I just turn the keys, it's like turning off a car, but then the car still works, does it not?

"Yes," Murray shrugged."

"And do you want the car to still work or do you want it to explode?"

"I want the car to explode," Murray nodded, understanding what Alexei was getting at.

"Then do this," he pointed down at the papers in his lap, the diagram and instructions. "Just make sure you are nowhere near it when it does. It is not pretty. Turns people into dust. And then..."

"It's over," Murray nodded in understanding, letting out a small chuckle at the idea.

"And I become an American citizen and join in the fun, yes?" Alexei nodded to the fairground, smiling as Murray looked between him and the lights.

"Who said you had to be an American to join the fun?"

Walking through the carnival music and the festivities, despite it standing against a lot of his own thoughts and moral, Murray grinned at the sight. "It doesn't get more American than this, my friend. Fatty foods, ugly decadence, rigged games," he went up to the ticket booth, paying for a few to allow them to pay some games.

"They are rigged, these games?" Alexei asked in shock.

"Yes," Murray nodded, all knowing.

"They do not look rigged," Alexei shook his head.

"That's just it, my dear Alexei," Murray patted him on the back, "They have been designed to present the illusion of fairness! But it's all a scam, a trick, to put your money in the rich man's pocket. That, my dear friend, is America," he lowered his voice conspiratorially. "But hey," he offered him the tickets with glee, " knock yourself out."

He looked behind them, spotting a corndog stand. He turned, leaving Alexei behind who was still transfixed by the game before he realised he was left. "Where are you going?" he called after Murray.

"To get us the closest thing to food I can find!" and with that, he left Alexei to roam the stands and pick his poison. Unaware that in just a few minutes, before he wouldd get a real taste of this America Murray was talking about, he would be dead in-between two trailers housing those games.

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Timing their entrance into the crowd leaving the theatre, the group attempted to blend in.

"Well, shit, that worked," Erica looked to Dustin.

"Of course it worked."

Steve reached beside him, taking Teresa's hand as he tried to keep his head down to hide his injuries.

"Hey," he whispered, getting her attention as she glanced at him. "What did you think?" he asked.

"I promise we'll talk about it once we're out of here," she squeezed his hand, ignoring Robin's gaze on them. "But for the record, I think the guy's great," she whispered, seeing his soft smile or barely a second before they had to pay attention to the way.

"Now we just have to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes, and home, sweet home, here we come," Dustin continued.

"Uh, Dustin?" Steve spoke, managing to bare Robin's eyes on him.

"What?"

"Yeah, we might not wanna go to your house."

"Why?"

"Well, I might have told them your full name," Steve admitted.

"What is wrong with you?" Dustin whispered harshly.

"Dude, I was drugged!"

"So?"

"So?"

"So you resist. You tough it out. You tough it out like a man," Dustin continued in the same tone.

"Oh yeah, it's easy for you to say," Steve countered, but Reese felt the need to step in.

"Look, it happened, let's just—"

"Guys?" Robin reached forward to stop them all as she noticed some of the Russians checking IDs at the door.

"Shit," Teresa whispered, just as one of them looked to the group.

"Abort," Dustin immediately spoke. "Abort, abort!" he became slightly more frantic, each of them turning around and rushing to the escalators. As they reached them, they realised they'd been turned off, and without looking back, Teresa threw the cloth over her shoulder and pulled herself between the belts.

"Let's go, don't touch the surface with your bare skin," she told them as she pushed away and slid down the chrome in-between to the lower floor. She waited for each of them, pointing towards one of the stands to hide behind.

Soon the floor was filled with the opposition, patrolling the area in their search while they crouched behind the counter, breathing heavily. Reese reached out to take Dustin's hand trying to calm him as she watched the reflections of the men approach their counter.

Calmly, she reached with her free hand into her sneaker, pulling out the switchblade, Steve reaching to get her attention and shake his head. She could see the worry in his features, but she wasn't about to go down without a fight. She couldn't let them take any of them, especially not the kids. Not again.

Pulling her feet up, she got off the floor, but before she could stand, the car on display suddenly let out a screech as its alarm went off, making Dustin jump. In the next moment, the car flew across the floor, sweeping out all of the Russians in pursuit of the group.

Teresa raised her head, then her gaze found the upper level, a yellow shirt standing out. Her eyes widened, but relief filled her for the moment as El stood by the barrier, breathing heavily. Reese straightened up completely, the other four slowly getting up to take in the damage. The two groups spotted each other, and Reese immediately pulled herself over the counter as they rushed to meet by the escalators.

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