Chapter One-Hundred-And-Seven: Communications Derailed

(The Flayed, Pt. 3)

***

If there was one plus about the corridor, it had been empty.

But, once the six of them came to the end, that emptiness was thrown out the window when, oh yeah, Rowan was reminded this was a functioning secret Russian base under Starcourt and they were all six American kids who could have endured gruesome fates if caught by the Soviets. So they had to do a game of hide-and-seek where being found meant grisly torture and death.

Like now, as they hunkered behind a crate as two Russians walked past and a cart driven by two uniformed Soviets whirred past, wheels almost gliding across the concrete floor. Rowan was almost envious—her legs wouldn't be aching as bad as they were if they'd gotten their grubby hands on a cart. But it was not to be, so Rowan's legs had to suffer the pain of walking for what felt like hours and now crouching down behind a crate with five other people.

Steve peered around the corner, serving as lookout for them all. When it appeared that it was empty, he whispered, "Okay, clear, clear. Come on, let's go."

One by one, they crawled out from behind the cramped space of the crate, tiptoeing across as Robin muttered, "Okay, that was close."

"Too close," Dustin agreed.

"Any closer, and they could have spotted us," Valerie murmured, Rowan nodding in agreement.

"Relax, all right? Relax, nobody saw..." Steve started off, but the words trailed off when he rounded the corner. When Rowan rounded the corner along with Valerie, Robin, Dustin and Erica, she saw why.

Before them was what seemed to be the hub of the facility, with a woman speaking Russian over speakers as men and women in lab coats walked about, people in HAZMAT suits, and uniformed soldiers marched along the floor or scanned from above railed balconies, as a red cart-car whirred across. There was something against the far wall Rowan couldn't fathom its use for but it had a lot of blinking lights and a door leading into a room that closed right after she'd caught that glimpse.

Shit, this was bigger than she thought, than any of them thought.

What the hell are they doing? she thought, but that evaporated when she saw one of the soldiers looking down—right at them.

"Fuck!" Rowan hissed. 

"Shit!" Steve cursed a second after.

"Quick, get to cover! Hide!" Valerie whispered urgently as they all scrambled behind a red box, Rowan ducking behind Steve as she watched Valerie push Erica behind her—for someone who was annoyed by Erica, Valerie had grown quickly protective of her—as they all crouched behind it, Rowan's heart ratcheting in her chest in a frantic beat.

"Fuck," she whispered again.

"Oh God. Jesus!" Steve exclaimed lowly

"You think he saw us?" Valerie whispered nervously as Rowan looked back to her friend, unable to answer.

"Red Dawn," Dustin said.

"I saw it," Erica hissed, making them all look at her. "First floor, northwest."

"Saw what?" Steve asked.

"What are you talking about?" Rowan whispered.

"The comms room," Erica revealed.

"You saw the comms room?" Steve questioned disbelievingly.

"Correct!"

"Are you sure?" Dustin asked.

"Positive. The door was open for a second, and I saw a bunch of lights and machines and shit in there," Erica elaborated.

"That could be a hundred different things," Dustin argued.

"It could also be that," Rowan countered. She wasn't really confident it could be the comms room, but what other choice did they have? It was a matter of time until they were found, and Rowan rather take her chances with the supposed comms room than being found like rats in a hole.

Dustin gave her a skeptical look and Steve turned to her and opened his mouth to argue, but Robin cut in before he could.

"I'll take those odds," she said.

"We don't really have any other choice other than staying and being discovered," Valerie argued, receiving nods of agreement.

Steve huffed, shaking his head, before he looked back to the hub, all of them following his lead and peering out. When he turned back, he murmured, "Alright. We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?"

"Okay," was the unanimous response.

Steve looked back and carefully crept out from behind the cart, motioning for them to fellow. Rowan was the first to move, and one by one Robin, Valerie, Erica and Dustin followed, hurriedly creeping across the hub to the apparent comms room, and hiding when they could. Rowan's heart pounded with each frantic step she took, her ears filled with the hurried rush of her pulse as her eyes darted around, the panicked thought of a Russian coming in and seeing them sneak over to the comms room like they were in a Scooby Doo cartoon filling her mind. 

"Shh! Move it," Steve whispered as they waited behind a box, the apparent comms room right in front of them. Rowan felt like she could breathe when she saw it, as the door opened and a Russian scientist stepped out.

When he walked away, Steve turned to the rest of their little group and hissed, "Let's go!", beckoning as he moved to the comms room, the rest of them right behind him.

When they arrived, Steve kept the door open before it closed and walked through, waving them through and hissing, "Sh, sh. Come on!"

They all headed through, Steve closing the door quietly once Dustin got inside. After he did, the six of them all turned—

And froze at seeing the uniformed Soviet sitting in the chair.

"Oh shit," Rowan said.

The Soviet looked just as confused to see them as the six of them were to see him. Rowan had no idea what to do, her mind running blank as she shared a panicked look with Steve. When she looked back, her eyes widened and she stepped in front of Dustin protectively while Valerie did the same for Erica after seeing the Russian reach for his gun.

Robin, apparently, was their saviour as she stepped forward and confidently spouted off Russian Rowan assumed was the code. Rowan sucked in a breath, wondering if that could help save them.

But if anything, the Soviet looked confused as he spoke in Russian.

Shit, Rowan thought as Robin tried again, but apparently the Russian didn't know the code, because his confusion—and suspicion—was growing. Subtly, Rowan reached out to her electricity, sparks sizzling in her bloodstream as Robin tried one last final time, only for it to fail again as the Russian once more reached for his gun and Rowan prepared to fire off a blast of lightning—

And Steve unleashed a yell and charged the Russian, tackling him into the console. The Russian recovered quickly, twisting around and throwing Steve at another part of the console and swung at Steve, but he ducked the punch. But the Russian only grabbed Steve and slammed him into the console, making Rowan's heartbeat spike in panic for Steve, remembering the fight in the Byers house and how close Steve came to dying, but as he grabbed the back of Steve's uniform, Steve elbowed the Russian in the gut before snatching up a radio microphone or whatever and slammed it into the Russian's head.

The Russian's body spun before collapsing to the ground, out cold.

Steve panted and pushed his hair back as Rowan gaped, not believing she actually saw it.

"Dude!" Dustin yelled, making Steve look at the younger boy as he grinned and exclaimed, "You did it! You won a fight!"

At realising that, after two years, Steve had actually won a fight this time instead of losing, he grinned. And that broke the spell Rowan had fallen under as she moved to Steve while Dustin headed over to the Russian, murmuring, "Are you okay?'

"I'm fine, Rowan," he answered, the light of victory still on his face.

Rowan allowed herself to smile. "I can't believe it. You actually won a fight."

"It had to happen sometime," Steve said with a shrug. Something mischievous sparked and he asked, "What, you thought I wouldn't?"

"WIth your track record, I had my doubts."

Steve couldn't really argue against that.

"But seriously, are you okay?" Rowan asked again.

"I'm fine. Didn't get beat up this time," Steve answered, rapping against his head.

Rowan rolled her eyes, before her face showed her worry. "I can't believe you charged that Russian. What if he fired that gun at you? What if—"

"Rowan, I'm okay. And you're okay, too," Steve assured, holding her by the arms, letting Rowan know why he fought the Russian—to protect her, Valerie, Robin. Dustin and Erica. Rowan stared at him, before murmuring, "As long as you're okay."

"I am. I won a fight," Steve assured, and they shared a smile.

"Have a picnic? We came here for the radio," Erica exclaimed, making Rowan and Steve turn to see Erica and Dustin apparently arguing, the Russian's keycard in Dustin's hand and Valerie looking exasperated.

"Well, this plan is way better. If I know Steve could knock out a Russian, that would've been our plan in the first place," Dustin said and Rowan finally caught on to what the argument was about—Dustin was planning on having them walk back to the elevator and using the keycard to escape.

"We didn't know until he charged the Russian, Dustin," Rowan reminded him sharply, before she noticed the sixth member of their group was gone. Where's Robin?

She looked over to Valerie, about to ask as she tried to ignore the spike of panic when she felt everything in her shriek in pain.

Rowan let out a choked gasp as the feeling she felt nearly a week ago—that scraping, discordant screech of a frequency—slam into her, intensified to a hundred. Her head pulsed with pain as her frequency screamed at the shrieking electricity grating against her, distorting out of frequency as it crashed against her over and over again, warping in a way that it shouldn't be warped and fuck it was so painful she wanted to scream—

"Rowan! Rowan, Jesus, are you okay?!" Steve yelled, gripping her arms as he stared at her, eyes wide and panicked. Rowan looked back at him, her head filled with stabbing pain, her frequency being sliced apart and having that screeching, dissonant electricity tear hers apart and fill it with needling, invisible agony. 

"I... I-I don't know," she gasped out, wincing as that horrifically out-of-tune frequency scraped against her. "Fuck."

Worry and panic warred on Steve's face, and he pulled her into his arms, holding her as she trembled, as Rowan felt her nose throb with pain and something wet trickle down from it, as Valerie's stare pinned into her, as the frequency clashed into hers over and over and over.

Dustin, not noticing, continued on to Erica, "But I guess you're—"

"Guys."

They all turned, seeing Robin at steps Rowan hadn't noticed, as her friend continued, "There's something up there."

They all looked at each other before Valerie, Erica and Dustin followed after Robin. Steve looked at Rowan, concern in his face. "Rowan—"

"I'm fine," Rowan muttered, gritting out the lie from behind her teeth. "Let's go."

Steve frowned, but he didn't argue, and they headed up the steps together, Steve keeping an arm looped around her, which Rowan was incredibly thankful for. 

Neither was prepared for what they would see.

***

Heheheh

Not much to say, except that moment where the Scoops Troop and the Russian saw each other and just... stood there is comedic gold and meme potential XD And that Steve was a badass for finally winning a fight (against a human—do fights against monsters count?) And yeah, Rowan's not gonna have a good time for these next few chapters >:)

Next chapter will be soon!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!