OUT OF (TOUCH) ... eddie munson

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STARCOURT MALL WAS THEIR NEXT DESTINATION.

after doing her little meditation thing, eleven miraculously found out that dustin was, in fact, not at the 'gate', or anywhere near it, but rather watching a movie at the mall. they decided to head to the mall, almost certain that they heard him say gate instead of great. lucas and max had hauled fireworks in a cart to the car, unloading them into the trunk.

just like the grocery store, the mall had been closed when they arrived. eleven got the locks to unlock, and the doors to open. they had walked around the second floor a while, passing lucille's friend, robin's place of work-- scoops ahoy. "would dustin even be here still?"

they got to the railing of the atrium, looking down and seeing a number of men-- 4-- advancing toward the food court in sync, holding firearms and dressed in all black.

"the russians," mike whispered, as the group backed from their view.

"...what?" lucille asked wryly, parting her teeth in disbelief. what the hell was going on? were these guys meant to be like the guys at the hospital?

"dustin mentioned russians, uh... um, infiltrated, and--and opening the gate, they-- they're the ones opening the gate!" he whispered more intent. only lucille and el could have heard him, lucille peaking on her tiptoes to get a look at them. then, eleven moved forward, standing as close to the railing as she could.

she held out her arm lowly and toward the lower level, and, in a matter of seconds, a car alarm began to go off, wailing with great intensity. lucille and the group watched her before they heard a crashing noise. lucille was quick to crawl on the ground and peek from the bottom of the railing. "holy fucking shit!" she whisper shouted. the men were scattered and on the floor. that stupid prize car, that they always had displayed and never seemed to get rid of, was crashed against a food court counter, flipped over from having just been flung telekinetically. lucille squinted before the rest of the group walked up to the railing, all in sync, quietly peering over the handles to see what had happened. it was awkward, and 4 people had come out from behind a counter. she squinted further, tilting her head to the side, "...robin?" she asked to herself.

"guys!" the boy next to her shouted, turning to run out and into the open, in a hurry to greet them. robin and the other two followed suit, jogging after him.

lucille fumbled up, sprinting down the escalator and skipping steps, "robin?" she asked more urgently.

robin's steps stuttered before she cocked her head to the side, "lucie?" she quickened her pace, running graceless and hysterical.

the rest of the group was behind lucille and she made it a few yards beyond the escalator, right by the plant display, before she collided into robin with a thud, hugging her tight and practically jumping into her arms before they fell to the ground. robin guffawed, amazed and in disbelief, holding lucille with tenacity. "what the hell?" she had a slight crease in her brow, blinking a lot and perfectly puzzled.

lucille pulled back from the hug, quickly and gently grabbing at robin's face, moving it as she scanned her features, "fuck, dude, are you okay? what... why were russians trying to-- why were... why were russians trying to kill you," she inquired breathlessly. she looked into her eyes, robin's pupils rather dilated. "what is..." she gestured around them, "what was that about?"

"you flung that thing like a hot wheel!" the boy who wasn't the bruised and bloodied steve harrington laughed with enough vibrance to make lucille and robin giggle after robin couldn't even think of words.

"ummm," she rasped out, raising her brows and almost zoning out, unable to think of what to say.

"where have you been? i called you a couple days ago, where..?"