Chapter Twenty-Three: The Mind Flayer's Puppet
"Okay, so we wait until the pool closes..." Mike begins to explain, leading Lucas and Will into the Men's locker room. "And we somehow get him to come from here and," He motions around him at the lockers where there are a few men getting changed. He pulls open a blue door that leads to some kind of rec room where guys could lift some weights if they wanted to. Mike marches around the corner with his two friends trailing behind him. "Get him into here." Mike points at a large metal door with a window on it that leads into the sauna. Mike pulls it open to reveal five older men in towels. "Hey, shut the door!" One yells, a hand rubbing his stomach. Mike, Lucas and Will all look on in disgust at the sweating grown-ups. "Hey, come on kid! Shut it!" Mike gladly shuts the door, trying to forget what he just saw. "I think I just threw up in my mouth," Lucas mumbles, a disturbed look on his face. Mike looks around then spots what he's looking for right by the door.
"Hey, look. The controls are right here. It's perfect." He smiles, looking at the tempter gage on the wall. "Will it get hot enough?" Will asked, looking to his friend. "220 degrees." Mike reads, looking over his shoulder to the two boys that were with him then looks back at the door. "We just have to figure out how to get him in here." Mike rests his hands on the door before putting his back against it. "Then we lock him in," Will says, trying to understand the plan. "Heat him up," Lucas adds. "No matter what happens, we'll know." Mike nods. It was a solid proof plain and he knew it would work. "We'll know for sure." All the boys nod in unison, happy they have a good plan set in place. "Okay, now lets head back to the girls and fill them in." The three boys head out of the building and walk across the parking lot towards where they last left the girls.
Kaity had her back towards them, leaning against the random car. Eleven stood in front of her and Max stood next to Kaity. "We have a plan." Mike annoyances, catching the girl's attention. They all turn towards them and Mike notices Kaity rub her hand on the side of her pants, leaving a red smear. "Are you okay?" He asked in a worried tone and the older teen nods. "I'm fine kid." She says reassuringly. "El was just showing me something." Her eyes moved to Eleven and the girl looked back at her. Mike wanted to question them further but decided that maybe it wasn't the best time. "We are going to leade Billy into the locker room if he isn't in there already, then somehow lead him into the sauna."
"Then we can lock him in there and turn the heat up," Will adds on. "We'll be able to tell for sure he's the host." Kaity nods in approval as she looks at the three boys in front of her. "That's a pretty solid plan. Good one." Mike smiles triumphantly. "So how do we get him into the sauna," Max asks and the smile falls from Mike's face. He hasn't gotten that far. They all stand around, racking their brains for an idea. They definitely didn't want live bait in case he really was the host. Kaity's eyes widened, an idea popping into her head. "A CPR dummy." Mike's eyes widen as well and he points at her. "That's perfect!"
"Okay, so we have that down. Now we just need to know how to leade him there." Will says, looking at the group of his friends around him. "Leave that up to me and El." The mention of her name brought her attention to the girl that she looked up to the most. "We can use our powers to open doors, turn things on or off. It should be enough to get his attention."
"-and we can tape a walkie onto the dummy we can talk into it from wherever we'll be hiding. That would definitely be enough to get him to charge into that sauna." Max says and everyone nods in agreement, the plan falling together perfectly. "Okay, we're gonna split into pairs." Mike takes charge since it is his plan. "Me and El will goes to find a dummy," Max rolls her eyes at this but Mike ignores her. "Will and Lucas," He turns towards the two boys that are waiting to be assigned their task. "You guys are in charge of finding the different supplies we need to reinforce the door the make sure he can't get out." Last but not least, Mike turns towards the two girls that have a personal connection to Billy. "You two are going to keep watch on Billy while we gather supplies. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere." Kaity nods, her eyes trailing to Billy who still sat in his stand. "Got it." Max nods, determination on her face.
Kaity and Max stay planted in their spot as the other two pairs split off in different directions. Will and Lucas find a unlocked maintenance shed with different parts to repair things so they figure this would be the best place to look for something that would keep that sauna door shut. They begin to rummage through the tools, their backs towards each other. Lucas opens a small metal toolbox and glances back at his friend, guilt from yesterday still lingering. "Uh, Will?" Lucas asks, rummaging through the toolbox. "Um, you know, about yesterday..." He trails off, trying to find the right words to say, grabbing duct tape out of the toolbox then closing it. They could use this to attach the walkie talkie to the dummy and attach the dummy to something else to make it look like it's standing in the sauna. "It's fine, Lucas." Will sighs, not wanting to talk about it. "You don't have to say anything." Will turns around and his eyes lock onto his friends for a moment before he turns back around, continuing his search. "I know, but it's just..." Lucas grabs some lime green weed wacker line, figuring it could be useful then grabs the metal pile he found behind the bench.
"It was a really cool campaign." Lucas faces Will who had his back towards him, still searching for what they needed. "And Mike and I, we should've never-"
"I don't care anymore, Lucas." Will cuts him off. "I really don't." He shakes his head, looking back at his friend. "We have bigger things to worry about now." Will turns his attention back to the shelf he was stood in front of and picked up a small box. Lucas looked down at his feet, still feeling really bad for how he and Mike acted during the campaign. They both knew that it was important to Will and they still acted like idiots about two girls, not caring about what made their friend happy. Will reaches into the box, pulling out a heavy chain, looking at Lucas. "This should hold him." He nods confidently.
The lock on the door breaks thanks to Eleven and she pushes the door open. She walks into the room, her eyes scanning the shelves. There were jugs of different chemicals and bags but her eyes fell on the one thing she needed. El picks up the CPR dummy, holding it close to her. "Hey, I found the breakers." Eleven grimmest when she heard Mike's voice behind her. "Whoa," El turns around to face him."That thing is super creepy," Mike grabs ahold of it. "Let me see it." El lets go, allowing Mike to take the dummy. He held it on his side, looking at it. "I think this will work. Right buddy?" He asks the dummy. "Right, Mike." He says in a high pitch tone, moving the dummy's chin. Mike chuckles at himself and looks over at Eleven who staired at him with a blank expression. She rolls her eyes, reaching forward and taking the dummy away from him with a grunt. She begins to walk to the door, th dummy slung over her shoulder.
"Hey, El..." Mike's voice stops her at the door and she turns to face him, annoyed. "I just wanted to say..." He sighs, trying to find the right words to make sure he doesn't piss her off even more then he already has. "You know when I said Nana was sick?" He asks. "She wasn't. I lied." Mike confessed. "I know."
"Right, right, right. No. I just," He was searching for his words because the stare she was giving him was making it hard for him to think. "I just think it was important for you to know the context. " She narrows her eyes at him. "Hopper, he went all crazy on me, telling me I'm spending way too much time with you. He made me lie. I mean, you're the most important thing to me in the world." Mike babbles, spilling his heart out. "What if he's right?" She asks, tossing the dummy to the ground. "What?" He narrows his eyes at her, confused. "Hop." She steps towards him. "No, no, no, no." Mike shakes his head. "He's just some angry old man who hates joy."
"But if I only see you," Eleven roughly pokes his chest. "-and I'm a different species than you," She says, recalling the conversation she saw him having with Lucas. "Then I should be with my own species more." She nods, tired of dealing with his shit. "What are you talking about?" He asks, genuinely confused. Eleven turns away from him and bends down to pick up the dummy and it hits Mike what she was referring to and his gasps with wide eyes. "Did you spy on me?" She didn't answer him, slinging the dummy over her shoulder. "That's totally against the rules!" She turns back to face him, a blank expression on her face. "I make my own rules." With that, she swiftly turns on her heels, leaving Mike there stunned and confused.
"Mike are you there?" Kaity asks through her walkie. "Yeah!" Mike shouts and she glances over at Max who was already looking at her. He sounds upset. "What's taking you guys so long?" She asks, eyes looking out at the pool. She and Max remained at their post, keeping an eye on Billy and they all have been gone longer then she expected them to. "I'm coming. Just hold on a second." He says annoyed and Kaity lets out a breath. "Asshole." She mumbles and Max nods in agreement. Kaity places the walkie down on the hood of the car and Max uses he binoculars to look out at Billy. "God, I hope it's not you." The red-headed girl mumbles to herself but Kaity hears it. Kaity too hoped it wasn't Billy and that this was all some kind of sick coincidence but in her heart she knew everything was lining up for Billy to be this new host for the Mind Flayer and if he was, she just hoped they would be able to get it out of him before it's too late.
It started to grow dark out and closing time for the pool was getting close. The group all hustle into the men's locker room, setting up the dummy in the sauna then hiding in a closet. They were all crammed close together but it was the best hiding spot they had. There was a slit in the door so Kaity could just barely see out of it. "Ow! You're on my foot!" Mike whisper yells, trying to back himself into a corner. "It's not my fault big feet!" Lucas insults his friend. "Can you guys just shut up?" Max asks annoyed and Kaity rolls her eyes as she pushes herself closer to the door. Faintly in the distance, Kaity can hear a shower turn on and she knows it has to be Billy. "Shhh!" She shushes the kids bickering and they all fall silent. "He's in the shower," Kaity whispers. "How do you know it's him?" Mike asks. "He's the only male that works here today. I know his work schedule." Kaity bites her lip, trying to fight the sadness that wanted to invade her. An old memory popped into her mind, taking her hostage for a while.
"Are you sure we can do this?" Kaity asks as Billy leads her out to the pool. It was past closing time and the sky was black with stars littering it. "Well, we can do whatever we want. I work here so I don't see the big issue." He shrugs, as he walks towards the pool, his girlfriend trailing behind him. He was wearing his red swimming trunks and she wore her black one piece. Billy jumps into the water, it splashing up on the concrete by Kaity's red painted toes. Billy reemerges from the water's surface, slinging his head back. His wet hair moves back out of his face and Kaity could see just how curly his hair was. Billy wipes the water from his eyes and he looks up at Kaity, smiling at her. God, his smile was killer. "Come join me." Billy winked at her and she smirked. Kaity runs forward, jumping into the warm water. Kaity laughs when she comes back up and Billy wraps his arm around her waist, holding her up.
Once she wipes the water away from her face, her eyes lock onto his and it seemed like time was moving slower. His blue eyes were so captivating, almost hypnotic. "Can I ask you a serious question?" Billy asked as he back-peddled with one arm, bringing them to the edge of the pool while his other arm was still wrapped around her waist. "Sure," She nods, looking at his smoking skull tattoo. "How are you always this goddamn beautiful?" Her eyes flicker back to his face, blinking at him. Kaity laughs shaking her head. "I'm serious, Kat! No matter what you do you always look so beautiful and I need to know how that's even possible." Billy Hargrove was definitely quite the charmer. He knew exactly what to do or say to make Kaity blush. "I had to do something to match your handsome face." She smiles and Billy laughs. "That was so cheesy." He chuckles. Kaity leans closer to him, if that was even possible, and he looks her dead in the eyes. "But you love it." She whispers with a smirk and he grins. "And I love you." Kaity splashes him, causing him to laugh and she laughs when he splashes her back.
Their laughs fade away with the memories as Kaity comes back to her reality. The one where she's crammed inside a small closet with five pre-teens, waiting to lead her possibly Mind Flayer infected boyfriend into a sauna. Kaity can hear the water from the shower turn off and the curtain open. She waits a few seconds and her ears pick up the noise of a locker opening. Kaity shuts her eyes, focusing on slamming the gate that's outside the men's locker room. "The pools closed!" Billy shouts and she slams it again and again. "Hey! Did you hear me!" He shouts and she could hear his foot steps and can hear him beat against the locked locker door. Eleven's eyes close and she slams a locker door catching Billy's attention. "Do it." Kaity whispers and Mike brings the walkie to his mouth. "Billy..." He calls into it, it loud in the sauna where it was coming from the dummy it was strapped to. "Billy..." Mike repeats in a sing-song voice. "Who's there?" Billy calls back, mocking the same tone Mike had. Mike keeps calling for him and Kaity can hear Billy opening and closing shower curtains. Mike laughs. "Billy, come and find me."
"I find you, it's your funeral." Kaity opens the door that will lead him into the room they are in. "Come on! Come and get me." Kaity lets the door slowly shut but not too long after Billy is bursting through the door, the door hitting against the wall harshly. Kaity could barely see him through the crack in the door. "I got you." He smirked then began to laugh, clapping his hands together. He spotted their dummy. "Come and get me!" Mike taunts and Billy flings the sauna door open and Kaity could see him go in. "Hey," Mike started and El quickly got up and moved out of the closet before Kaity could. "Behind you." Kaity stood from her crouched position and watched. "Hi." El says before lifting her head up and she could hear Billy yell out and hit the wall behind him. Kaity rushes to the girl's side and flings her hand up, the door to the sauna slamming shut and all the kids rush out of their hiding place and quickly tried to barcade the door while Kaity and Eleven held it shut. Billy was yelling and grunting, bashing against the door.
Once they got it locked they all rushed to hide behind Eleven and Kaity who staired at her boyfriend with wide eyes as he continued to bash against the door. He was angry. Very angry. He slowly stopped banging and he looked up, his eyes landing on Kaity. He seemed so distant as he looked at her and a different expression changed on his face. "Kaity," He whispers and she swallows the lump in her throat. "Do it," She whispers, not breaking eye contact with Billy, who was looking at her from behind the glass.
"Kaity!" Billy yelled, banging a hand against the door, making her flinch. The boys had turned the heat on and she could see that he was sweating. "Let me out of here!" Kaity swallowed as she watched him. "Max, open the damn door!" Max stared on at her big brother. Her and Kaity both hoped that it wasn't Billy and that they could soon let him out and everything could be fine. "Let me out." His voice was beginning to grow softer and he began to shake slightly. "You," He breathes out. "You all think this is funny..." He began to breathe heavy, his chest heaving as fog coated the window due to his breath. "Just a sick fucking prank, huh?" He asks, spitting on the glass and Kaity narrowed her eyes. "You little shits think this is funny?" He yells and Kaity glances over at Max who turns to look at her. "What is this?" He closes his eyes for a moment. "Open, the door." He says calmly. "Open the door!"He shouts, slamming his hand on the door causing everyone to jump back by the sudden noise. "Open the door!" He repeats, slamming his hands against the metal door. "Open the goddamn door." He slams his hands down with every word.
Billy slowly backs away from the door and gets down out of their view, screaming. Will rushes forward to look at the temperature gauge. "We're at 220." He tells his friends, pointing at the gauge. He slowly backs away from it and stands with the rest of the group. Kaity hears Billy grunt and cries. "It's not my fault." Kaity can hear him say and before she knew what she was doing, she moved forward slowly. She stops when she's able to see Billy in the window. "It's not my fault, Kat. I promise you it's not my fault." Tears welled in Kaity's eyes as she watched him. He was sweaty and tears were streaming down his face. He looked so afraid and helpless in that moment, so vulnerable. Kaity had never seen Billy like this before and it scared her and made her feel incredibly sad. "What's not your fault, Billy?" Kaity's eyes drift to Max that appeared by her side. "Max..." Billy mumbles softly, more tears flowing out of his eyes at the sght of his little sister. "I've done things. Really bad things." He sobbed and a tear slide down Kaity's cheek. Max's hand found Kaity's and she squeezed it tightly. "I didn't mean to." His voice cracked as he spoke. He looked so broken there as he sat on the floor, it broke Kaity's heart.
"He made me do it." Kaity bit the inside of her cheek, trying to distract herself from crying but the look on his face made it damn near impossible for her. "Who made you do it?" Kaity asked softly, directing his attention onto her. She already knew the answer but she needed to hear it. It hear it out loud from him. "The Mind Flayer. Like the one from the drawing." His lip quivered and tears instantly fell from Kaity's eyes. "What did he make you do?" Max asked and Billy became frantic. "It's not my fault, okay? Max, please." He scooted towards the bench, leaning against it, sobbing. Kaity's lip began to quiver as more tears pooled in her eyes and Max began to cry beside Kaity too. "It's not my fault!" He repeats. "I tried to stop him, okay. I did!" Tears fall from Kaity's eyes. "I didn't mean to push you away. I didn't want to but it was to protect you, Kat. Please, believe me." He practically begged and Kaity's head dropped slightly. "I believe you, Billy. I believe you, okay?" Kaity says softly as she looks at him through her tears. Max places her free hand on the glass, tears sliding down her red cheeks. "Billy, it's gonna be okay." She says softly, her heart hurting. Seeing Billy like this was hard for her too. She was so used to seeing Billy strong and confident and now he seemed so fragile in this moment. "We want to help you."
The hair on Kaity's arm began to rise as Max continued to talk to Billy and Kaity looked back at Will, whose eyes were wide and his hand reached up to touch the back of his neck. "I feel him." Will mumbles, his eyes connecting with Kaity before he looks at Mike whos standing beside him. "He's activated," he said with a trembling voice and Kaity was momentarily stunned by the fear that coarced through her body. "Guys, get away from the door." Max narrowed her eyes. "What?" As Mike began to yell for them to move, Kaity shoved Max to the side and quickly step back in time for Billy's arm to come crashing through the window on the door, glass shattering. "Let me out, you bitch!" Billy yells at Kaity, swinging at her with a sharp piece of the brick wall that was crumbled on the floor but she was out of reach. "I'll fucking gut you!" He screams, slamming his hand down on the door. Kaity knew that this wasn't Billy. He pulls the pipe out of the door and tosses it to the side. "Let me out!" Lucas shoots Billy with his slingshot, knocking him back and giving the girls an opportunity to get to the rest of the group safely.
The lights began to flicker through the room and the hair on Kaity's arms stood straight up. Kaity placed her self in front of the kids, even Eleven, blocking them from the sauna door. "-but Kaity you're pregnant!" Max yells but Kaity shushes her. Billy beings yelling and that turns more into a roar that had this unearthly sound that echoed behind it making Kaity's skin crawl. Billy ramed into the door causing Kaity to put her arms out like a barrier, backing the kids up a step. He slams into the door again and it opens a little more, the chain still holding it close. "He can't get out, can he?" Max asked, fear in her voice. "No way." Lucas shook his head, not wanting to believe that he would be able to get out and be in the same room as they are. He slams against the door, the metal pipe that the chains are attached two bends and Kaity's eyes widen. "Shit." She mumbles, swallowing hard. Billy screams as he slams against the door one last time, bursting through it and landing on the ground. Kaity back up forcing the kids to back up with her, and Max screams.
Billy pushes himself to his feet and Kaity's eyes widened in horror as she looks at the man that no longer looked like the boy she fell in love with. His skin was littered with snake-like, black veins that danced across his wet skin. Billy and Kaity stared off at each other. The veins even slithered in the whites of his eyes, making the blue stand out but they were no longer the beautiful blue that captivated her. They were dark. Kaity's grey eyes faded into red and she lifted her hand that matched the color, lifting a barbell with weights on it. She yells as she sends it flying towards him. The hit connects with his chest and slams him into the wall, leaving him pinned between the barbell and the wall. Kaity lifted her other hand and the weights dug into the wall behind Billy and he gripped at the bar, gasping. Kaity's eyes widen as she watches him begin to push against it and it started to move. She tried to push it back but he was strong. Billy tosses it towards her but she ducks under it before it could connect with her. He lunges for her, backhanding her across the face, causing her to stumble. Billy wraps his hands around her neck, squeezing tightly and lifting her off the ground. Kaity gripped at his hands, eyes pleading as she feels the air leaving her body, her vision getting blurry. Before he could do anything else to her he was flung into the wall and Kaity dropped to the floor, gasping for breath. She looked over to see blood falling from El's nose.
The kids helped Kaity over to where they were standing while Eleven fought off Billy. Kaity was seeing black around the edges of her vision and Max kneels down beside her, wrapping her arms around the older teen. Kaity felt weak as she coughed and rubbed her neck. Tears sprung to her eyes at the thought that Billy has his hands wrapped around her throat, trying to kill her. She shook her head. No, it wasn't Billy, she reminded herself. Billy would never want to hurt the kids or her, especially her. This was the Mind Flayer. The Mind Flayer loves to inflict pain onto people, it has no remorse nor regret. Billy Hargrove does.
Kaity looks up and her eyes widen when she sees Billy holding El over his head by her throat. Her face was beat red, slowly turning purple. Through Kaity's blurry vision she lifts her hand, it glowing red. Billy's hands began to glow red and they slowly started to loosen their grip around Eleven's neck. He grunted, trying to fight against Kaity's grip but she stayed strong even though her head screamed for her to stop. She was able to force his hands off of El. Eleven falls to the ground, coughing and gasping for air and Mike rushes to the fallen girls side, pulling her to the side. Kaity slowly staggers to her feet, her hand outstretched towards Billy. She held him in his place, tears formed in her eyes a she lifted him off the ground, him hovering in the air.
"I know this isn't you, Billy. Just know I forgive you." She searched his eyes and face, hoping she would find just a sliver of the neighborhood bad boy that she had fallen head over heels for last fall but there was nothing. He was trapped inside his own body, a prisoner of his own mind. "I'm sorry." She whispers, a tear falling down her cheek as she flings him across the room, his body crashing into the brick wall, the sheer force breaking the wall, sending him outside. Everyone looks on with wide eyes at the hole Billy's body created in the brick and she leaned against the wall that's close to her. She felt terrible. She slowly moves towards the opening, the kids trailing beside her. In the distance across the field, they can see Billy running away in pain. Kaity knew that she probably hurt Billy really bad by doing that and she felt like the worst human being every at that moment but she knew she had to get him away from them for their safety. More tears well up in her eyes as her stomach twists with sorrow and dread.
Billy Hargrove was no longer just the boy that braved the world with confidence and stride. He is now the Mind Flayer's personal puppet and he couldn't cut the strings no matter how hard he tried.