{The Sauna Test, Part II}

"More fudge, please."

The teenagers showed Erica the vent in the back room, and she agreed that she could fit—for a price. Now, Robin, Dustin, Steve, and Alice were sitting around her in a booth, trying to bribe her with copious amounts of sugar and dairy.

Steve, mouth in a tight, thin line, picked up the sundae he prepared and brought it to the back to add the desired fudge.

"Go on," Erica said, taking a sip of her milkshake and prompting Robin to explain.

"All right," Robin said, showing Erica the blueprints of the mall's air ducts. "This is the route you're going to take. Then, we just wait until the last delivery goes out tonight. You knock out the grate, jump down, and open the door."

"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" Erica asked, eyebrow raised.

"Exactly."

"Mm-hmm," Erica said. "And you say this guard is armed?"

"Yes," Dustin said, "but he won't be there."

"And booby traps?" Erica said.

"Booby traps?" Alice asked with a squint.

"Lasers?" Erica said. "Spikes in the wall?"

"I don't think you have to worry about traps," Alice said. "That's a little too cinematic, even for potential spies."

Erica sniffed.

"You know what this half-baked plan sounds like to me?" she snapped. "Child endangerment."

"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time!" Dustin said.

"Child endangerment," Erica repeated, stretching out the phrase.

Dustin knew they had to sway Erica a different way. A patriotic way.

"We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm," Dustin said. He spoke like he was Uncle Sam, trying to get Erica to sign up for a draft. "Don't you love your country?"

Erica nodded and smugly said, "You can't spell America without Erica."

She took a long sip of her milkshake, and Dustin said, "Uh, yeah. Oddly, that's true. So don't do this for us—do it for your country, and for your fellow man."

"Do this for America, Erica," Alice added. She wasn't totally on board with this plan, but the curiosity was killing her. They needed to get into that room to get solid answers.

"Ooh, I just got chills!" Erica said. She noticed Alice's hopeful expression, and shook her head. "From this float, not your speech."

She took another long sip, prompting Alice pinch the bridge of her nose and say, "Aren't you sick of that float by now?!"

Erica wrinkled her nose.

"No, I'm not," she shot back. Crossing her arms, she added, "You know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"

"Obviously," Alice said. "It's why we have millionaires."

"Capitalism means a free market system," Erica continued. "People get paid for their services depending on how valuable their contributions are."

Alice resisted the urge to groan. It was obvious where this was going.

"It seems to me," Erica said, "my ability to fit in that tiny little vent is very valuable to you all. You want my help?"

Alice and Robin nodded.

"This U.S.S. Butterscotch better be the first of many." Erica grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "And I'm talking free ice cream for life."

"Done," Dustin said, ignoring the withering look Robin was giving him. "It's a deal."

Erica smiled, all her teeth showing like a shark.

"Good," she said. "Steve! Get over here with that sundae!"

🍧🍧🍧

After the last Scoops customer had been served, Erica geared up for her excursion in the air ducts.

"Are you ready?" Alice asked, helping Erica adjust her helmet with attached flashlights.

"Ready to eat another U.S.S. Butterscotch," Erica said. "I can't wait until this is done, and I start getting my free ice cream."

"Haven't you been getting free ice cream all summer anyway?" Alice said with a bemused smirk.

Erica's eyes drifted to the Scoops freezer.

"When this is said and done," she said, "I'll get more than just stupid free samples."

"Erica, I've got to be honest," Alice said, eyebrow raised. "I don't know if I approve of your methods, but I respect the hustle."

Erica beamed.

"Take a page from my book," Erica said, climbing the ladder toward the vent. "You've got to take what you want with no hesitation to survive in this dog-eat-dog world."

Alice shook her head, unsure if she was really going to take advice from a ten-year-old. However, Erica's mindset was definitely inspiring.

When Erica was situated in the vent, she saluted Alice and began to shimmy through the air ducts. Alice shouldered her backpack and rushed to the hiding place on the roof, where Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Willie waited.

"Finally!" Steve hissed when Alice crouched next to him. "What took so long?"

"I had to make sure Erica was ready!" Alice said. "Now, let's get in contact."

Dustin slipped Robin his walkie-talkie. 

"Erica," Robin whispered, "do you copy?"

"I copy," Erica said, voice sounding garbled over the radio. "You nerds in position or what?"

"Yeah, we're in position," Robin said. "It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light."

"Green light," Erica repeated. "Roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment."

Steve winced. Alice patted his shoulder and said into the radio, "Can we maybe not call it that?"

"See you on the other side, nerds!" Erica said.

The teens waited for a couple of minutes while Erica worked. 

Willie, fidgeting with the hem of his sailor's shorts, asked, "Why are we doing this again?"

"We have to see what the Russians are up to," Dustin said.

Willie gulped.

"If they're as dangerous as you think," he said, "should we really be sending Erica Sinclair in after them?"

"She won't run into trouble," Robin said. "It'll be fine."

"All right, nerds!" Erica said over the radio. "I'm there."

"Do you see anything?" Alice asked, leaning over Robin's shoulder.

"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about."

"Any guards?"

"Negative."

"Booby traps?" Alice offered, a small smirk on her lips.

Erica snorted. 

"If I could see them," she said, "they'd be pretty shit traps."

The teenagers on the roof heard a clank and the sound of scuffling feet.

"I'm in!" Erica said proudly.

"Oh, God," Steve said, putting his head in his hands.

"It's going to be okay, Steve," Alice said. "Once we open those boxes and figure some shit out, we'll have evidence and can go to Hopper."

The doors to the secret room slowly opened outward. Erica Sinclair, reigning victorious, stood with her hands on her hips and loudly said, "Free ice cream for life."

Robin, Dustin, Steve, and Alice quickly stood from their positions and went down to join her. Willie dragged his feet but dutifully followed.

When the group made it into the room, Erica closed the door behind them.

"Just in case those commies come back," she said. 

Steve's eyes flitted around the room, inspecting each box until they landed on one of Imperial Panda's. He unsheathed a pocketknife and sliced through the seal. 

Handing the knife to Dustin, Steve pulled the sides of the box's lid apart. The teens peered inside, surprised to see a silver handle waiting to be turned.

"Want me to open it?" Alice asked.

"No, I got it," Steve said. Although he looked confident, his voice wavered.

He turned the handle and pulled off the lid. All six of the Scoops Troop peered inside, where four more metal handles stuck out of the box.

"That's definitely not Chinese food," Steve muttered.

"Good thing I prefer pizza," Alice quipped. "Pizza never tries to deceive us."

Steve reached in to pull out one of the four devices, prompting his friends to, "Stand back."

Robin, Willie, and Erica didn't need to be told twice. They stepped away, giving Steve plenty of space. Dustin and Alice stood right next to him.

"Dude, let me do it," Alice said.

Steve shook his head.

"Absolutely not," he said firmly.

"Steve, I'm serious," Alice said. She held out her hand, where a faint jagged scar could still be seen in the fluorescent light. "In case you've forgotten, I'm pretty much indestructible."

Erica and Willie took this line as some kind of joke, but Robin narrowed her eyes. Something in Alice's body language made her think she was telling the truth.

Steve almost resisted, but stopped when he saw the determined look in Alice's eyes. Steve treated Alice like she was fragile, when in reality, she was the strongest out of all of them. She was probably the most capable of handling strange devices in mysterious rooms. 

"Be my guest," he said, "but I'm staying right here."

Alice smiled despite the circumstances.

"Wouldn't want it any other way," she said cheekily.

Before she could back out, Alice turned the handle and revealed the device underneath it: a vial of bubbly green liquid. It almost looked alive.

"What the hell?" Steve asked, leaning in over Alice's shoulder for a closer look.

"What is that?" Robin asked, mesmerized.

The room seemed to groan around them, like an old house settling.

"Was that just me," Dustin said, looking upward, "or did the room move?"

"Booby traps," Erica whispered.

The room whirred once more, and Robin sprang into action.

"Let's just grab that and go," she said, plucking the vial out of Alice's hands and inspecting the panel of buttons near the exit.

Steve and Alice put the box back together while Dustin hit the "Door Open" button. 

Nothing happened.

"Which one do I press, Erica?" Dustin said, voice strained.

"Just press the damn button, man!" Willie yelled.

"I'm pressing the button, okay!" Dustin said.

"Just press 'Open Door,'" Erica shouted.

"I'm pressing 'Open Door!'" Dustin snapped.

"Just press the other button!" Steve said, slamming his hand against 'Open Door,' 'Close Door,' and about every other button on the console.

"Careful, Steve!" Alice said.

"Out of the way so she can press the button!" Robin added.

Frustrated, Steve smacked his hand against the green button. A dark red panel fell from the ceiling and hit the floor, blocking their only exit.

"Fuck," Alice said. She walked over and placed her palm on the panel, wondering how long it would take to melt themselves free.

Before she had a chance to even attempt to use her powers, the lights flickered. The room shuddered and shook like it was being tossed through choppy waves. 

And then, down they went.  

Alice screamed and stumbled into Steve as the elevator shot through the ground.

"Oh, shit," Steve said, holding Alice for dear life as they descended into the depths of Starcourt Mall.

🐰🐰🐰

Across town, Quincy left the Hawkins Pool after another long shift. Billy showed up for once, but griped all day long. He stalked around the pool glassy-eyed, practically growling when he spoke. Anytime Quincy tried to make conversation, Billy seemed disinterested and pissed.

Quincy knew Billy wasn't the most open-minded in Hawkins and decided it was best to keep his distance. Why try to be anything more than Billy's coworker if he still held on to old-fashioned prejudices?

Quincy started to open his car door, but realized he left his car keys in his employee locker.

"Idiot!" he mumbled to himself, smacking his forehead. 

The only car left in the parking lot was Billy's Camaro.

Quincy slipped back into the pool, hoping Billy was preoccupied and wouldn't notice him coming back in.

Quincy, keys now in hand, closed his locker and started to leave again. He froze when he heard a hair-curling shriek.

Horrible screams emanated from the pool's sauna. It sounded like someone was being tortured. 

"Hello?" Quincy shouted, following the maze of the locker room to the sauna in the back. "Is someone hurt?"

When he emerged into the sauna room, he gasped.

Billy was inside the sauna, screaming bloody murder and demanding to be let out. A silver padlock and a metal pipe around the sauna's handle kept him trapped, and the temperature was turned all the way up.

Max and El were watching Billy through the window of the sauna, and they were joined by three boys—more of Dustin's friends.

"What the hell!" Quincy yelled. "Why is Billy in there!"

The teens whipped around.

"Quincy!" Max said. "Why are you still here?"

"Never mind that!" Quincy said, eyes bulging. "Let Billy out!"

Quincy didn't like the guy, but watching him be tortured by a squad of rising freshman was unsettling.

"Let me out of here!" Billy shouted. "Let me out!"

Quincy pushed through the teenagers to release Billy, thinking this was some terrible prank. One of the boys—Quincy knew he was Jonathan's brother, Will—grabbed Quincy's arm to stop him.

"No!" Will said. "Leave him."

"Dude, no!" Quincy said. "You can't just leave him in there—"

"We have to!" Max said. "If you let him out, he'll kill us."

Quincy didn't doubt that. The rage on Billy's face was visible, even through the steamed sauna window.

He hung back while Billy ranted.

"You think this is funny?" he crowed. "You kids think this is some kind of sick prank, huh? You little shits think this is funny?"

The teens shared an uneasy look.

"Open the door," Billy said, voice eerily calm. When no one reacted, he smacked the window, causing everyone to jump.

"Open the door! Open the goddamn door!"

Billy shrunk out of sight, but the sounds of his screams could still be heard.

Will checked the temperature gauge.

"We're at 220," he said.

"We need to let him out before he gets really hurt," Quincy said, turning to face the kids. "I don't know why you guys are doing this—"

"We think Billy is possessed by a creature from another dimension and we need to sweat it out of him!" Nancy's brother Mike Wheeler said. "Now, shut up and let us work!"

Quincy was appalled—both by Mike's bad attitude and by what he just said. Possession? Multiple dimensions? That all sounded like one of Alice's stupid comic books.

Billy quieted down. He stopped screaming and began to sob.

"It's not my fault!" he whined. 

Max slowly walked over to the sauna, watching him beg.

"It's not my fault, Max. I promise you, it's not my fault!" Billy cried. "I've done things, Max. Really bad things. I didn't mean to...He made me do it!"

Quincy's curiosity was peaked.

"Who made you do it?" Max asked.

"I don't know," Billy said, face scrunched up as he sobbed. "It's like a shadow. Like a giant shadow. Please, Max!"

"Is he going into shock?" Quincy asked. "Is this because he's too hot?"

"No," Lucas Sinclair said. "He's telling the truth."

"What did he make you do?" Max said, voice wavering.

"It's not my fault, okay?" Billy sobbed. "Max, please!"

He continued to cry and laid his head against the bench in the sauna.

Max put her hand against the window.

"It's going to be okay," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "We want to help you. You just have to talk to us, okay? You have to talk to us."

Everything about this was strange to Quincy. Adrenaline fired his veins, but he was too slow to notice whatever Will and Mike did that made Mike screech—

"Max! Get away from the door!"

Sure enough, Billy burst through the sauna window, looking a lot like Jack Torrance. Max gasped and stumbled back, shocked at the state of her brother.

"Oh, shit!" Quincy yelped.

"Let me out!" Billy screamed. "I'll gut you! Let me out!"

He yanked the metal pipe out of the sauna door's handle, startling Quincy into grabbing Max and pulling her and the rest of the kids behind him.

Lucas used a slingshot to hit Billy on the forehead, knocking him back into the sauna.

El shoved past the others, standing side-by-side with Quincy. She didn't know him well at all, but saw the way he was quick to protect the others; she trusted him.

The lights of the sauna flickered as Billy rose from the floor, screaming.

"He's still trapped," Quincy said, attempting to think rationally. "We can go get backup—Billy's obviously on drugs or something and needs medical attention—"

"We tried to get backup!" Will said. "Alice didn't answer our radio call!"

"Alice?!" Quincy asked. "What?!"

The sauna door squeaked, and Lucas muttered "No way" as the pipe it was chained to shot off the wall, the door clean off its hinges.

El and Billy were face to face once again. Quincy tried shouting things at Billy, nonsense to get him to snap out of whatever trance he was in, but Billy paid him no mind.

Something even weirder happened, if such a thing were possible: Eleven lifted her hand, and the barbell on the wall levitated into the air. Using the powers of her mind, she pulled it toward Billy, pinning him to the wall.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Quincy screamed, feeling sick. This wasn't happening...it couldn't be.

Billy fought back, the barbell flying off of him. Eleven ducked just in time, but then Billy was back again, pulling her hair.

He eyed the teens while lifting her in the air, choking her Vader-style.

Quincy gasped. Before he registered what he was doing, he channeled all his middle school wrestling team muscle memory. Quincy raced across the room and threw himself onto Billy's back, yanking on the psycho's very own hair.

Billy screamed, but didn't let go of Eleven—until Quincy poked his now-acquired car keys into Billy's neck.

Billy howled, dropping El. He threw Quincy off his back, and the boy tumbled into the brick wall, hitting his head. Mike smacked Billy with a metal pipe and called him a piece of shit, but Billy caught the pipe in his hand.

Quincy tried to keep his eyes open, but the trauma to his head made it hard to stay awake. He watched as Billy Hargrove soared through the opposite wall and landed in a pile of rubble before he blacked out.

{Posted Feb. 6th, 2020}

{Edited July 17, 2020; Republished February 24, 2025}

A/N [from 2019] I had to knock Quincy out cause I was sick of that fight scene. It took me way too long to write it, damn.

QOTD: Favorite 80s fashion trend? I like scrunchies and chokers, but chokers might be more of a 90s thing.