❁

dragging her away from her boyfriend. he yelled out as a guard grabbed him as well, and both teens fought against the men holding them in an attempt to get to each other. meadow was the first to give up trying, but steve was still screaming, kicking his legs out as he tried to pry the guard off of him.

the guard who held steve gripped him tighter, dragging him down a hall. "don't you dare hurt her!" steve yelled, continuing to fight against the man. "meadow!" he screamed as he watched her and the guard holding her disappear around a corner.

meadow was immediately tossed onto the floor of a cold and empty room, scrambling towards the door only to see it close. "who do you work for?" a large russian man asked in decently good english.

"i work at the hawkins pool." the girl replied, feeling a man fumble with handcuffs behind her back. once her hands were secured, they shoved her into a chair.

the russian man stepped forward, looking meadow in the eye. "liar." he said simply, reaching out a hand and harshly slapping her cheek. meadow gasped, feeling the sharp sting as the blood rushed to her cheeks. "again, who do you work for?"

meadow looked up at him. "i'm serious, i'm just a kid, i don't know what's going on here, and i'm a lifeguard at a swimming pool." he slapped her again, harder this time. "i won't tell anyone anything i saw i swear!" she cried out, noticing the large tray of knives and needles in the corner.

even though her cheek was beginning to hurt, and her greatest fears of life were needles and knives, she was thankful that dustin wasn't here. despite everything going on, at least she'd managed to protect him. he'd be safe, she thought.

"how did you find us?" the man asked, looking towards his accomplice, who was standing by the tray of weapons.

"my.. my friends and i heard a message on a radio. silver cat?" she spoke the two words that she remembered in russian. "we were just curious, we weren't ever going to do anything but we got stuck in this elevator and-" another slap to the face made her stop, and meadow hunched over, spitting out blood. "i'm telling the truth!" she yelled, looking around in fear at the two men.

the bigger of the two men turned around, picking up a needle. "we'll see if you want to be more honest later." he said, filling it up with an unknown liquid before stabbing it into her neck as she screamed.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

after being knockedout for who knows how long, meadow finally woke up. her body hurt and ached from being hunched over, but, with her chin pressed against her chest, she could almost barely smell the remainder of steve's cologne on his gray jacket. the jacket, though, was the only thing that provided her warmth from the freezing, and goosebumps littered her legs, making her wish she wasn't wearing shorts.

meadow groaned, looking up at the harsh light around her. she was now handcuffed to a small chair, and she looked around the room. it was empty, save for her chair and the cart next to her.

she could now better see the tray full of terrifying objects. knives, doctor supplies, needles, etc., placed on top of the cart. one needle had been set aside from the others, and meadow assumed that that had been the needle used to inject her with whatever it had been.

as meadow took in her surroundings, she suddenly hissed, feeling the strong stinging sensation come back into her cheek. she couldn't remember how many times she'd been slapped or punched, but she could feel the dried blood all over her face and neck. she could only hope that steve was receiving less harsh treatment.

gosh, what she would do to see steve. that boy could brighten up any situation. even now, as she was being held hostage underneath a mall, in a russian base, with no way out, the thought of her happy-go-lucky boyfriend made her smile.

she couldn't help but regret all of the things that she hadn't gotten to say to him. she didn't think she'd ever be able to convey to him how much she loved him, but the thought of not ever getting to try made her sick.

the other boy meadow thought of was her brother. dustin was the other light in her life, and she was glad that he had run away with erica when he had. at least the two younger kids would be away from all of this, and could potentially even get help. and hopefully they'd be back soon, because meadow was losing feeling in her arms.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"that one stung."steve groaned sassily, gasping for air after yet another punch to the face. he was currently in a dark room equally as cold and empty as meadow's, with two russian men in front of him.

the men were unphased by his humor. "who do you work for?"

"for the millionth time, i work at scoops ahoy!" steve cried, looking up at them. "scoops ahoy." he repeated, finding breath hard to come by. the man to his side punched him hard in the gut, making him groan. "what the hell?!" he said through his pain. "look at my outfit! look at my outfit! you think i just wear this?! you think i'm a spy in a sailor's uniform?"

the man punched him again and steve screamed, grunting as he fell over. "how did you get in?"

"i already told you." steve gasped, his head hung low. "i told you before." he looked up, still struggling to get air. "my delivery didn't come, and my friends and i, we thought that it was left at the loading dock, so we went in the room, and then it turned into an elevator, and then.. and then we dropped and then, next thing we know, i open my eyes, and we're in this.. wonderful facility." he had blood all over his neck, both from punches and from blood he had spit out. "but, i swear to god, nobody knows about us, nobody saw us, you could just let us go, all right?" he pleaded. "and i'm not gonna tell anybody about this, okay? shit happens, life goes on! just let meadow go, okay?"

steve had been screaming for meadow for a half hour when he'd first arrived in the room by himself. he didn't know where she'd been taken to; all he knew was that she wasn't with him, and that she could potentially be hurt more than he was. she had done nothing wrong, and steve felt guilty. it was his job to protect her. all he'd done in the past two years was protect meadow. from the demogorgon, from the demodogs, and now she was hurt and in danger and he was helpless.

he felt like he'd failed, somehow, and the ache of not knowing where she was or what was happening to her made him struggle to fight back his tears.

"please," steve said, looking up through his mess of hair, "please just let her go. don't hurt her, she won't tell anyone. just let her go, please." he looked up at them. "ice cream." he thought suddenly. "ice cream, okay? you guys know what ice cream is. everybody loves ice cream. i don't know if you have russian ice cream or if that's considered gelato. i don't know what's what, but whatever you guys want, seriously, uss butterscotch, i mean, you gotta try it. it is out of this world, i'm telling ya! if i give you icecream will you let her go?"

after listening to his salesman speech, the two soldiers turned to each other and began to laugh. steve looked up at them, beginning to nervously laugh along, hoping that he may have convinced them.

"i like this guy!" the leader of them said. "uss butterscotch." he chuckled, his voice holding a twinge of mockery. the laughing quickly thinned out into silence as he leaned over to look steve directly in the eye, his face deadpanned and serious. "who do you work for?"

steve's eyes bang to cloud with tears as he looked over at the soldier who delivered all the punches. "come on," he let out a cry, "no, no, seriously!" the man punched him hard in the jaw, knocking him out.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

at the sound ofrobin's distant screaming, meadow looked up. "robin?" she yelled, looking around her, hearing her voice get nearer to the room she was in. "robin!!" she could still hear her friend screaming down the halls, but she could tell it was more distant now, and she let out a sigh of defeat. the sound of silence filled the halls again, and robin's screams slowly died out.

meadow could almost feel herself going insane from the deafening silence. she was left with only her thoughts, which was extremely dangerous, since she was an over thinker. suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a scream of pain. "steve?!" meadow yelled, recognizing the unmistakable voice, feeling an intense adrenaline rush at the sound of him being hurt. "steve!" she screamed, hearing him cry out in pain.

the same russian man as before opened the door, and meadow could barely see steve's adidas through the opening. "what did you do to him?" she yelled, seeing his shoes disappear from view. what terrified her was that his body was clearly limp. "steve!!" she called out his name, tears clouding her vision. "where are you taking him? what did you do? steve!"

meadow had never felt so powerless. every minute she had seemed to take for granted. every second she was with steve was precious, every second she was away from him was one wasted. she felt her head start spinning as her chest heaved with a sob. she didn't know what she'd do if he was dead.

"your friend needs a doctor. and, lucky for him, we have the best."

looking up at him through tears, meadow spit in his face. "what did you do to him?" she repeated, feeling the man harshly slap her already bleeding cheek.

"you are going to regret that, little bitch." he said simply, turning on his heel and walking out.

"steve!" meadow yelled as soon as the door was opened. "steve!!"