Escape ~ S.Harrington

44} Operation: Child Endangerment

"Hmm..." Erica peered into the vent, assessing the situation, then climbed down from the ladder, "Yeah, I don't know."
"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asked.
"Oh, I can fit," She confirmed, "I just don't know if I want to."
"Are you claustrophobic?" Robin tilted her head.
Erica laughed at her, "I don't have phobias."
"She's right about that one, all right," Jenna sighed.
"Okay, well, what's the problem?" Steve questioned.
"The problem is, I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica."
Next thing you know, Steve, Jenna, Robin, and Dustin were out in a booth with Erica, giving her as much free ice cream as she asked for while Alice went back to her job.
"More fudge, please," Erica slid a boat filled with ice cream back at Steve. He scoffed and got up begrudgingly to add more fudge.

"All right," Robin had picked up the blueprints, "You see this? This is the route you're gonna take. Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door."
"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" Erica asked.
"Exactly," Jenna gave her a tight-lipped smile.
"Mm-hmm," Erica went on, "And you say this guard is armed."
"Yes, but he won't be there," Dustin elaborated.
"And booby traps?"
"Booby traps?" Robin questioned.
"Lasers, spikes in the wall?" Erica rambled.
"What?" Robin chuckled.
"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment."
"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-"
Erica proudly cut Robin off, "Ah, ah, ah! Child endangerment!"

"Erica," Jenna leaned forward towards her, "How about you take my offer of helping us because if you don't, I'll put you in child endangerment, all right."
"Erica?" Dustin cut his sister off, "Hi. Uh... We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?"
"You can't spell 'America' without 'Erica'," She sassed and took a big slurp out of her milkshake.
"Uh, yeah, yeah," Dustin realized that her statement was fully true, "Oddly, that's, uh, totally true. So, so, don't do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America... Erica."
"Ooh! I just got the chills!" She set down her milkshake, "Oh, yeah, from this float, not your speech. You know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"
"Yes, now continue on please," Jenna smiled.
"It means this is a free market system. Which means people get paid for their services, depending on how valuable their contributions are. And it seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want my help? Shoot your offer."

"Okay," Jenna took a deep breath, "How about I offer you free ice cream for the rest of the summer and not telling your mom about what you did with Tina last weekend."
"Hmmm... very tempting. I accept the last part, but I want free ice cream for life."
"Sure," Jenna shrugged, "Not my money."
"Jenna, this is why you're my favorite babysitter."
"And this is why you're my least favorite kid to babysit."

"Hey, Jenna?" Steve gave Erica her boat back, "Can you talk for a second?"
"Sure."
She got up and followed him back to the break room.
"Wanna talk about last night?"
"I, um, don't really know how to explain it. I, uh, had these weird visions blurring my mind. I saw melted flesh... and weird rats and... even Billy for some reason. I don't know what's going on exactly, but I think it's back. Oh, shit! Ow!"
"Jenna!"

Jenna slumped down against the wall, grabbing her head. Everything felt so weirdly hot and all she could hear was squealing echoing through her head. She caught a glimpse of Billy again, but he looked very strange. She was thrown out of her thoughts when Steve set an ice pack on her neck, which cooled her down and shocked her out of her visions.
"That son of a bitch is, like, trying to connect with me in some way."
"What did you see just now?"
"Billy again and everything felt like it was burning. It almost felt like I was in a sauna or hot tub."
"Jenna," Dustin burst through the doors, "Are you alright? I heard something."
"I'm good. Go back to making plans."
"Okay..."
"Dust, don't worry about me. I'm okay."
He looked at Steve for confirmation before leaving to go back to the table.