Steve pushed Dustin out of the way as he let go of Christine, his face red and stressed as he started pressing the buttons.

"I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work." Robin said, gesturing towards the panel that Steve was pressing on.

"They're buttons. They have to do something!" He yelled, Christine starting to hyperventilate again as she held herself.

"Yeah if we had a keycard!"

"A what?" Steve asked,  turning to look at Robin.

"It's an electronic lock. Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate meaning—"

"We're stuck in here." Dustin finished her sentence, Christines entire body tensing up as they confirmed her worst fear with words.

"Yeah." Christine  pushed into the middle of all of them, her eyes wild and making her look absolutely crazy.

"No! No. No. No. guys I don't think you understand.  This is a decent sized room but not decent sized enough, and if I stay in a con fiend space for too long I'm gonna go insane. I'm claustrophobic. Haha yeah let's laugh about it but it's not funny!"  She yelled, looking between all of them as she rambled. Erica was the next to speak, Christine closing her eyes and trying to calm down as she felt her heart hammering against her rib cage.

"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tinas, and Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jacks party tomorrow and my mom finds out you four are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat."

"I don't care about Tina! Or Uncle Jacks party!  Your moms not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!" Steve yelled, shaking his head in disbelief that they were really stuck down here, wherever down here even was.

"What if we get hungry? What are we gonna do?" Christine asked, trying to rationalize a plan or come up with something.  Steve turned to her quickly, his reply flying out of his mouth.

"Well somebody ate a three hour lunch today! So you shouldn't get hungry too fast!" He said, gesturing to her stomach.  Christine took a warning step towards him, hoping he knew this was the wrong time to start with her.

"Speak about the lunch one more time and I'm gonna go ahead and slit your fucking throat right now!"  Christine said, making Robin stand up straighter now that she might have to break up a fight.

"Three hours!" He yelled in her face, the girls teeth gritting as she pushed her shirt sleeve up.

"That's it! Let me at him!"  She yelled, jumping towards her but being stopped by Robin. She pushed against Robin, trying to get to Steve who was giving her a mocking look but also cowering away, the boy having never seen her act like a lunatic before.

"Hey! What if we climbed out?" Dustin interrupted the almost fight, his fist pointing towards the grate on the ceiling.  Christine huffed and backed up from Robin, giving Steve a serious glare as he looked up at the  latch door on the ceiling. He moved  forwards, pushing Christine back by the shoulder and reaching for the table.  Dustin helped him slide it towards the door, the younger boy climbing up first and turning the latch. Before Steve could get on the table Christine  smacked him in the side of the head,  Steve groaning a bit before reaching back and hitting her back. Before she could throw some kind of punch he climbed out of the door, the girl rubbing at her temple as she watched him disappear through the top.

"Yeah I was seriously not kidding about the claustrophobic thing. I tend to get violent when I feel trapped. So...if that's any indication of anything." Christine said, sitting on the table and trying to calm her nerves by closing her eyes and taking deep breaths.

"Yeah. We could tell." Erica quipped, Christine slightly smiling at that. Steve peeked his head back into the hole, Christine looking directly up at him as he spoke.

"Theres no way we're climbing up there. It's like a mile up."

"Great." Robin said, all of them groaning as Steve dropped back into the room. He landed, his ass going in Christines face as he did so, the girl gagging and then punching him in the ass cheek.

"Get your ass out of my face! I'm trying not to throw up." Christine said, pushing him off the table. He landed in his feet, a sheepish and condescending smile on his lips as he looked at her. She flipped him off, the girl standing up on the elevator and pulling herself through the top.

She figured there was probably more room up there, more air. The longer she sat in the elevator the more she felt like the air was escaping her, so getting out of there was not such a bad idea.

"So now what?" Christine asked as she looked up at the endless tunnel upwards. Dustin shrugged, his eyes closing as he gave a defeated sigh. A thought occurred to Christine, the girls eyes widening as she looked at him. "The radio! Try the radio."

"Good idea."

:::

Christine assumed it was probably 3 or 4 am when she decided enough was enough, the girl laying down on the floor of the elevator and trying to sleep a little, considering there was nothing better to do. However she was unable to get comfortable, the girl not being able to lay with her head on the metal floor.

She sat up from her laying position, the girl searching the room for everyone's locations. Everyone was seated against the wall in different spots, nobody talking to each other as they tried to accept their fate, Erica and Dustin passed out in respective corners. Christine took a moment to remember what exactly was happening, her breath starting to pick up as she began to panic. There was an undeniable air change as she focused on the heat in the room, the way it was getting way to hot for her to be in there. She couldn't focus on anything else but all the little things that were shaping up to be very big terrible things in her mind, Christines hand flying to her chest as she tried not to have a panic attack.

"Christine? Are you alright?" Robin asked from where she was sitting, catching the attention of the other as they watched her beginning to have a breakdown. She nodded frantically, Steve's eyes widening as he saw her hand gripping her chest in an attempt to ease the pain.

"Yeah I'm...I'm fine. It's fine. Are you guys hot? I cant breathe. It's so hot I can't breathe. Like I really can't breathe it's so hot. I gotta-" Christine reached for the hem of her shirt, the girl pulling it up and off as she tried to ease the feelings that she couldn't control. Everyone's eyes widened as they watched her hyperventilate in her bra, Robins eyes especially as she tried to avert them, Steve's mouth dropping open as he looked over at Robin."Okay it's not working. No, guys I'm about to flip the fuck out."

"Hey! Hey what do you need? What do you need me to do?" Steve asked, pushing himself up very quickly from the floor. He touched her side, the boy noticing the sweat that was covering her as he tried to figure out how to calm her.

"I don't know! I don't know." Christine panted out, the girls breaths quick and scared. She was shaking terribly by the time that Robin stood to help, the girl recognizing this as a panic attack for sure. She looked back at the kids, hoping they weren't awake before looking back at Steve and Christine.

"What do I do?" Steve asked, looking at Robin for help.

"I don't know but she needs to slow her breathing or she's gonna pass out!" Robin said frantically , remembering a time when she had witnessed a kid in her band class having an episode like this.

"Steve I'm scared. I don't know what to do. I cant be down here much longer. I need- we need to get out of here." She rambled, the girl reaching out for Steve. He was quick to finally fully grab her, the boy gripping her hand in his as he looked at her with wide eyes. He didn't know what to do, he felt completely helpless.

"Alright just...close your eyes okay? Close your eyes and breath with me." Steve said, the boy holding her at arms length. She warily followed his directions, the girl closing her eyes and listening to his voice as he soothed her. They took deep breaths together, the girl calming down within about 3 minutes, her heart rate slowing and her ability to breath coming back. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm sorry. I don't-that's never happened to me before." Christine said, the girl shaking her head as she looked at them. Robin was holding extreme eye contact with Christine, due to the fact that's eh didn't want her eyes to wander, and Steve was doing the same thing, trying to make sure he didn't look at her, not matter how much both of them really wanted to.

"It's okay." Steve said, looking down at her and making sure she knew that it was actually okay. Christine nodded, taking deep breaths as she pushed herself into Steve's arms. He hugged her back, Christine feeling all of her tension and stress melt away. For a moment she didn't feel like she was trapped in a Russian elevator, she felt safe and okay, and all she needed was a moment of that for her nerves to fully calm.

Steve looked over her shoulder as Dustin gave him a nod and a thumbs up, the older boy mouthing for him to shut up. He flipped Dustin off, pulling back and giving Christine a nod of reassurance.

"We're gonna get out of here. I'm sure we will. We have to."