Chapter Twenty-Six: The Walk

(The Flayed, Pt. 4)

***

Valerie had no idea how long she'd been walking.

It could have been minutes or hours—without any way to tell the time, the curly-haired girl had no idea what it actually was. All Valerie knew that the end wasn't any closer than it had been when they first started walking, that her legs burned and the small of her back throbbed with how long they'd been walking. But Valerie knew they must be getting closer to the end. They must be.

"God, how long is this fucking corridor?" Rowan muttered as she glared at the walls like they personally offended her. And maybe they did, given they were the walls of the secret Russian base they were trapped in.

"We must be near the end, it can't go on forever," Valerie reasoned, but she felt the same frustration, too.

"I wouldn't put it past the Russians to have a forever hallway just for shits and giggles," Rowan muttered sourly as she kicked at the floor before she winced. The minute she did, Steve's hand was resting against her back, rubbing it in slow circles as Rowan looked over to him, sending a grateful smile to him, as Valerie fought a smirk at how obliviously couple-y they acted.

"I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive," Dustin commented, which caused Rowan and Steve to give Dustin disbelieving looks. And honestly, Valerie felt the same—what about this place made it such an impressive feat of engineering? Unless it being built without anyone noticing was what Dustin meant, which she had to admit was pretty impressive.

"What are you talking about? It's a total fire hazard. There's no stairs, there's no exit, there's just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell," Steve argued. That had Rowan nod in agreement and add, "Plus, the elevator only works if you have a keycard so you're fucking stuck if you need to get the hell out of here. Not to mention this godforsaken corridor, you'd get a stampede."

"They're Commies. You don't pay people, they cut corners," Erica reasoned sarcastically.

Rowan pointed to the twerp. "See? Our whole point, Henderson."

Normally, Valerie would agree—and she had, in the beginning—but something about how Dustin said it made Valerie think otherwise, to look at it a new light.

And apparently Robin thought the same, as she interjected, "To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking. I mean, think about it. They developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo."

Valerie blinked, realising that Robin was right. While this wasn't optimal for walking, it was perfect for transporting whatever the hell that acid was for whatever they were doing, hidden among the other mall deliveries. Dustin and Robin were right—this was impressive and perfect, in both engineering and deception, and kept whatever the Russians were doing hidden under the noses of both the American government and the general population.

"And it all comes into the mall like any old delivery," Dustin added on to what Robin said, vocalising what Valerie had just thought.

"And they then load it up into those trucks, and nobody's the wiser," Robin continued.

"And all under the noses of both the government and us, free to do whatever they want with that acid. I mean, if he didn't pick up that message, I don't think none of us would realise this was under our feet," Valerie finished as she pointed to Dustin for emphasis.

"You think they built this mall just so they could transport that green poison?" Steve wondered out loud.

"Wouldn't surprise me if it was. I always knew this mall was evil," Rowan muttered.

"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," Dustin said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, would you prefer acid, then? Is that less boring for you?" Rowan questioned sardonically.

Dustin glared at her before he continued, "What I'm saying is that it's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something."

Valerie frowned—as much as she loved science fiction movies and Doctor Who, she'd never gotten into comic books, and she knew that must be a reference to a comic book. Fortunately, she wasn't alone as Steve questioned, "What the hell is promethium?"

"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components," Robin explained, but Steve still looked confused.

"It's something from a comic book," Rowan whispered to Steve, and that cleared up his confusion.

"Oh."

"You're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill," Erica complained, holding her middle as she pretended to be sick.

Valerie glared at the twerp as Rowan retorted, "Says the one with the so-called nerds."

"No, no, no. No, don't lump me in with them. I'm not a nerd, alright?" Steve denied.

Valerie gaped at Steve, not believing he just said that.

"Seriously, Steve?" she asked in disbelief.

"Why so sensitive, Harrington? Afraid of losing cool points to a ten-year-old child?" Robin questioned, in a way that was sarcastic and pointed at once.

"No, I'm just saying I know jack shit about Prometheus," Steve defended.

Rowan rolled her eyes at that. "Oh my God."

"Promethium," Dustin corrected. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something."

"Or power something," Robin hypothesised.

"Or to be used as something for something else," Valerie pitched forward.

"Like a nuclear weapon?" Dustin theorised.

"Totally," Robin affirmed.

"Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great. That'd be great," Steve muttered.

While it did seem logical—especially for how it would explain why they had that green acid—Valerie felt confused. Because if they were building a nuclear weapon... why would they do it in Hawkins? Hawkins! It seemed completely crazy that a nuclear weapon should be built here.

She wasn't alone, as Robin wondered out loud. "But if they're building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins. Seriously. Of all places."

Valerie nodded in agreement as she said, "Yeah, this would be, like, the last place the Russians would choose to build something here. No offence."

"No, you have a point. At the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland," Robin said, and Valerie hid a smile at how their position had been slightly reversed, as Robin continued, "But maybe that's it. Maybe it's our very small-town mundaneness that makes them think this is the best place to build something here."

"It could be. This town doesn't really scream that some Russian nuclear weapon or something is being built here," Valerie agreed. "Like, there's the lab and all that, but other than that Hawkins is pretty average."

"Exactly. That could be, like, the perfect cover for this," Robin concurred.

It made sense. But something niggled at Valerie's brain—even if the Russians chose Hawkins because it was so boring, why did they choose it still? There had to be something else to this.

"So then the Commies chose Hawkins because we're boring. Why would they still bother to build anything here and be all secret and shit?" Erica questioned.

"Don't know. But it has to be something important—something that they can use the mall and how we are so painfully normal to hide it," Robin said.

"Like this nuclear weapon?" Valerie questioned.

"Possibly. Or maybe something else—something they don't want anyone finding out, much less the government, especially with the code," Robin answered.

"Okay then. But... why are they still bothering here, like the twerp said? Wouldn't it make more sense for them to build it in Russia, even if they can hide it behind how average Hawkins is?" Valerie pointed out.

"They're Commies. When does anything they do make sense?" Erica snarked, shrugging as she shot a glare at Valerie.

"Yeah, but you have to consider why they're even here," Valerie argued.

"Look, whatever they're doing, whatever they're building, it's definitely something important," Robin pointed out. "Right, Steve. Steve?"

That was when the three girls noticed Steve, Dustin and Rowan weren't with them—right before they said, "Possible."

The trio turned, seeing Rowan, Dustin and Steve huddled in a circle together. Valerie frowned, suspicion growing on her face as Robin called back to them, "I'm sorry, is there something you three like to share with the class?"

That caused Steve, Dustin and Rowan to share a panicked look with each other, which only increased Valerie's suspicion—and suspicion for Robin and Erica, the thought of They know something growing louder in Valerie's head.

But why weren't they telling them anything?

But before either Valerie, Robin or Erica could ask them, something crackled to life in Erica's backpack. Something broadcasting a message Valerie knew almost instantly.

The trio realised it too, as they said, "Walkie," and rushed up to the three girls as they set down Erica's backpack and Robin took out the walkie, which was broadcasting the Russian code Valerie could probably recite in her sleep now.

They crouched in a circle as Robin repeated some of the lines in Russian before saying in English, "It's the code."

"Wherever that broadcast is coming from—" Dustin started.

"It's close," Robin finished. "And if there's one thing we know about that signal..."

"It can reach the surface," Dustin realised with a grin.

Robin grinned as well, looking up as they all did the same, as hope filled Valerie again. If they got to where the Russians were transmitting the code, they could send a message for help and someone could pick it up and they would be rescued.

This might actually work.

"Let's go," Robin said as she got to her feet.

"You don't need to tell me twice," Valerie muttered, but she was moving as well, following after Robin as the others did too, the fresh hope making them go faster, numbing the pain in Valerie's legs, because this could work.

This had to work.

They didn't have any other choice if it didn't.

***

Okay, this was just a bit longer than the last one. But I hope you enjoyed nonetheless

Scoops Troop is literally so fun, the interactions are the best. And yeah, Robin, Valerie and Erica are theorising why the Russians are here and getting suspicious about Steve, Dustin and Rowan (but they'll find out soon...)

Next chapter's back with the Party!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!