OUT OF (TOUCH) ... eddie munson

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LUCILLE CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT SHE WASN'T GOING HOME THAT NIGHT.

malcolm had wanted to do fireworks, or sparklers, or something with his daughter that night. he was planning to bring buddy snyder with so that they could all celebrate independence day together. and lucille knew that it would mean a lot to him. she knew he needed a break, they only came once in a blue moon for him. she knew buddy would let him vent and listen and give him the support and attention that he needed, though. lucille really admired their relationship, and she was happy that malcolm had trusted someone to confide in. he was a lot of baggage, and she couldn't even imagine how much of a burden her father must feel like. but, as much as she loved her father, there was a girl bleeding out in the grocery store.

it had been 10 o'clock. roughly 5 hours ago, they had all been bickering at eleven's home in the woods. and just short of 5 hours later, they were attacked by the largest living thing lucille had seen in person. it was some sort of gargantuan being, with a number of limbs and appendages that made lucille feel queasy when she thought about it. lucille had been exposed to 2 gnarly, vicious, mucoid creatures in the span of some 24 hours. she had been personally sought out by one-half of the first one, and then the morphed, gunky version of it later. and she'd had to chop off a limb of the second one that came in from the ceiling and latched itself onto eleven, nearly pulling her form the house and killing her. she had been subconsciously biting her nails down to the skin, her fingertips red and raw, and her teeth chattering anxiously.

the group had fled to the grocery store-- which was closed, and whose door was shattered by a rather large rock. eleven was carried to the aisle including first aid and health products by max and mike. lucille moved to a different aisle frantically, scanning its midsection for the natural water. she grabbed washcloths and baby soap on her way back to them, and her eyes grew wide with concern as she watched nancy advance toward eleven with rubbing alcohol, "okay, get her down."

max and mike gently set eleven against the shelves as she groaned and took deep, shallow breaths. nancy tried to prepare herself for something lucille could tell she didn't know how to do. it surprised her, though-- the two had health together, and nancy was always one of the top students. she was going to speak up in protest, but thought to herself, 'am i remembering it wrong?' she could feel herself beginning to space out as she tried to remember the safest way to treat deep wounds. 'i probably am.'

"whoa, what--hey, what are you doing?" max asked the older brunette as she placed gauze on eleven with hesitance.

"i'm cleaning the wound."

max moved to stop nancy as she tried to dismiss max's concern, "no, first we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage," she pointed at nancy, whose face shifted into that of shock.

"that's what i thought," lucille murmured to herself, moving between lucas and will.

max looked between the two teens across from her, "i skateboard, trust me." lucille came up to sit beside max, who grabbed mike's hand, "hold this," she directed, pressing his hand into the gauze on the girl's leg. she was in the zone and hadn't known lucille was ready to go next to her. "keep the pressure on it nice and firm, okay? we're gonna need water. soap," she said toward nancy and jonathan before lucille held them out in between all of them. max breathed out, full of relief, nodding, "thank you, lucille."

from behind them, there was a ruckus, the clattering of lucas' supplies as he emptied his backpack. the girls looked over at him. he looked between them, "does any of this help?"

"no," max said directly. "go get me a bowl."

"a bowl?"

"lucas," she was reprimanding him, a slight threatening tone in her voice before will motioned him to follow him impatiently.