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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:38 pm
  C.T was up as soon as Mag exited and Esther spoke to her, C.T didn't slow her movements as she reached into her drawer for clothing only nodding and giving a nod. "Yea I heard" she spoke quickly as she got herself fully dressed, wishing she had time to clean herself up a little better, as she ran a brush through her tousled hair, she knew her efforts would be fruitless because Mag probably already knew, she was a lot more perceptive than what people gave her credit for and she had no doubt that her oldest friend was eager to get to teasing her as soon as business was handled. C.T decided it would be best to just get it over with. She walked quickly towards the door where Esther was standing, the girl looked upset, and as her girlfriend that was something C.T was obligated to try and fix. "'I ate her', huh?" C.T said with a smirk, before leaning in and kissing Esther on the lips. "I had assumed we would be keeping that bit of information to ourselves." She joked again, taking Esther by the hand and nodding towards the door. (Short post, I know, but I wanted to get a response to this stuff^ and wanted to see what you want to do, do you want to write out what Jacob is saying on tv or is that up to me?)
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:10 pm
 ● ● ● | esther bradley
(Nah, I've got it. Although if you want me to change it, just let me know. And you are, obviously, more than welcome to add on. Just felt like mixing things up.)
Esther's face turned cherry tomato red and she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly with her free hand, unable to meet C.T.'s gaze. "I guess I set myself up for that one, didn't I," she murmured regretfully, sighing. Dammit, Mag. Just... dammit.
Esther was thankful to have C.T.'s hand in hers, especially when her embarrassment morphed back into nervousness. She walked into the main living space where most of the rest of the warehouse had already gathered and was watching the television screen intently. Sure enough, there was Jacob Bradley in all of his suited, commanding glory. The image from earlier--the one she saw when she shot that dummy--flashed through her head, and with it came a wave of nausea and all of the conflicted feelings she had pushed aside. It looked like he had just gotten through the formalities and was moving onto the real reason he was holding a press conference.
"A few days ago," he said, standing perfectly erect behind a podium and staring into the screen, "my daughter was kidnapped by ill-meaning members of the Supernatural race whom I believe to hold a personal vendetta against me for my efforts to ensure the safety of the human race. They have threatened to kill her if I do not give in to their demands. In doing so, they have proven themselves to be terrorists, and we do not negotiate with terrorists."
Esther felt her stomach drop again and thought she might topple over from the anxiety overwhelming her.
"These terrorists are not just threatening the life of my daughter, but the lives of your daughters, as well--the lives of your sons, your brothers, your sisters, your spouses. They are threatening all of us. We cannot stand for this; we cannot let them believe the human race is easily intimidated. I know that this is what my daughter would want." He paused a moment, his face contorting slightly as if he were on the verge of tears, which Esther highly suspected he wasn't. It was all for show. It always was with him when he was in the public eye. "We must weed out this threat in order to secure our future," he continued. "We must fight back. Rest assured: we will find them. We have an inside informant who has been keeping track of their whereabouts."
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 8:25 am
  C.T watched the screen with a blank expression on her voice, her lips pressed in a thin line, she tried not to show any outward reaction to the words spoken, but inside she was fuming and her jaw was tightening so hard that she could taste blood. Terrorist He had called them terrorist, after what he had done to all of them, he should be the last one making that type of accusation, they were only fighting back. She heard a few chuckles from the groups around her, the younger members finding this funny, and maybe if this wasn't such a personal issue, she would be laughing along side them, but for now she just squeezed Esther's hand lightly and listened on. Now had she known that Jacob was going to employ such a dirty tactic, she might have turned the tv off. He said he had an informant on the inside. Something she doubted highly. When her people had taken Esther, it had been no secret, it was hidden away until morning, everyone in the facility knew, yet when she called Jacob that morning, he seemed surprised, and it had taken him a moment to recognize her voice. If he had an informant, they would have had ample time to tell him about his daughters kidnapping, and who was behind it. But this was just a ploy, she knew he wanted to raise doubt amongst her people, and she could hear a light murmur raising behind around her. Subtly it was working. "Don't believe a word he says, he's a manipulative liar, and the moment you start seeing his words as anything but lies, is the moment you've lost." C.T warned. "To sum up the type of person Jacob Bradley is. He has told the media that "We do not negotiate with terrorists." C.T said now releasing Esther's hand to walk up to the tv turning it off. "But, he's already negotiated."
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:48 am
 ● ● ● | esther bradley
When C.T. let go of her hand, Esther wrapped her arms around herself and slowly backed up until she hit something she could sit down on. An informant. She had, like C.T., initially thought that this was a tactic to make C.T. and her clan nervous, since he had seemed surprised on the phone when he found out Esther was being held captive and someone he knew quite well was the captor. However, as she continued to toss the idea around in her head, the uncertainty began to set in. Like C.T. had said herself, Jacob Bradley was a manipulative liar, and a damn good one at that. If he had wanted to, how hard would it really have been for him to feign shock at the news that his daughter had been kidnapped. And even if the surprise had been genuine, there was no guarantee someone hadn't betrayed C.T. later on during the con. Maybe someone lost faith in the plan, or was offered better things, or...
Oh, God, and if her father really didn't have an informant--if he knew everything, from their location to her partnership with C.T...
Esther covered her mouth, eyes growing wide. Not only would they lose their leverage--why would Jacob Bradley try to save his "corrupted" daughter when it meant making public something very damaging to him?--but he would know Esther's weak spot. She and C.T. had been more open about their relationship lately, holding hands in public and such. It wasn't a secret anymore. If there really was a traitor in their midst, he or she would know that Esther had feelings for C.T., and Esther knew her father wouldn't be below taking advantage of that if the opportunity arose. In fact, maybe he would even go out of his way to hurt her through C.T., since she had dragged him through the wringer with this whole hostage act. She watched C.T. from across the room, eyes swimming with worry.
Mag, meanwhile, began shooing people away. "Alright, show's over," she said, making waving motions at people as she passed them on her way to C.T. "Get back to your lives." Reaching C.T., she folded her arms across her chest, expression grim. "What should we do, boss?" she asked, voice low.
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:34 pm
  Mag was the best second in command anyone could ask for, without C.T needing to ask, Mag just cleared out the area for her, keeping her men away from the TV where the propaganda could could get them paranoid, she knew they were strong, but all it took was one voiced doubt before things went bad. Mag was approaching her now, and C.T already knew what her question would be before Mag opened her mouth, C.T was just trying to defuse everything. "We need to keep them from getting riled up over this" C.T said stepping in closer to Mag. "This plan tomorrow can't be riddled with mistakes, and any doubt will make this hard to execute, so we need to be very thorough with this.""With what?" Mag asked her brow furrowing, as if she knew what C.T was going to say, but didn't want to hear it. "Nothing is impossible." C.T spoke solemnly and Mag shook her head stepping a few paces away. She looked like she had a few things she wanted to say, but she was silent, only biting her lip and nodding. "Ok, most of us are out of the question seeing as many of you have been here before I arrived, that narrows it down to just those who joined up after I came. It would be Bradley trying to keep up with his favorite toy." Mag nodded "Too my knowledge that would be 5 people" Mag said with a nod that C.T mirrored. "And of those five, how many were out when Esther was brought in, or at least check to see how many of them have been stepping out more often." Mag continued to nod as C.T spoke, her eyes drifting to Esther's face, Mag offered the girl a smile before nodding her head towards C.T "I'll handle this, I think you need to go comfort your beloved." Mag spoke, C.T looked over at Esther, noting the forlorn expression on her face. "Meet me in the cafeteria later, alright, and don't take to long, hate to be the only one doing all the work while you and Esther are up there-" "Lay off Mag." C.T said sighing squeezing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "What? Is it not true, that while we were down here watching good ol CNN, you and Esther were upstair-" "Mag-""Doing it!?!" C.T glared at Mag as she said the last part particularly loud, "And how would you know?" C.T asked thinking it would have probably been better to let the topic die. "Well you weren't exactly quiet, good job by the way for your first time and all I knew you'd-" "Mag!""Alright alright I didn't hear anything, but Esther wasn't very subtle and it smelt like a zoo in there! How could I not know?" "Just get to work Mag." C.T muttered shaking her head, wishing Mag would stop grinning at her. "Roger boss" C.T watched her go, hoping that she wouldn't find anything, she really didn't want to deal with this now of all times. But that could wait for the time being. C.T turned to Esther, approaching Esther where she sat, and kneeling in front of her, trying to catch her eyes. "Hey, are you alright?"[
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 7:55 pm
 ● ● ● | esther bradley
Esther was only half paying attention to the conversation between Mag and C.T. Most of her thoughts were on the fact that C.T.'s life could very well be in danger--well, more danger than it had been before. When C.T. came over to her to check on her, Esther met her girlfriend's gaze with troubled eyes.
"C.T., I've changed my mind," she said, grabbing both of C.T.'s hands and kneading them gently, worriedly with her own. "I want to leave. Right now. Or, at least, I want you to leave and go far from here until all of this is over. Because if my dad really is being fed information, he'll probably know about us. And if he knows about us..." She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying not to panic. By the grace of God, she was able to seem relatively calm on the outside, aside from her eyes and the way her fingers continued to anxiously massage C.T.'s hands. "My dad has enough motivation to kill you because of the history you two have alone. But if he finds out that I've betrayed him, he'll want to hurt me, too, and since he can't physically harm me without getting a bad rap, he'll try to use you to do it. I know he will."
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:25 pm
  Deep breaths, that what C.T needed right now, she had to be calm so Esther could be come, but hearing Esther words was so easily driving her into anger, it was infuriating seeing how afraid of her father Esther was. C.T also had to calm herself down because she had to find a way to answer Esther's request, how could she tell Esther yes, when Connie herself did not want to leave her people alone with no guidance heading into tomorrow's situation, and how could she tell Esther no? Esther would be fine with just Connie leaving? Did she really think that C.T would let them go out there without her? Not likely. So C.T didn't really have much of a choice, she had to put Esther first, even if it meant leaving her family behind, even if it meant letting Jacob go, even if it hurt. "If run. Where do we go? What is your plan?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:52 pm
 ● ● ● | esther bradley
Esther didn't know how to answer C.T.'s questions. Really, she didn't have any clue where they would go or what they would do when they got there. There wasn't a plan. All Esther knew was that she needed to protect C.T, and she was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish this. "Far," she said finally with determination. "That's where. And my plan is to keep you safe."
She could see--and even feel, to some extent--the battle raging in C.T.'s mind. Abandon her comrades, her family, and agree to leave, or stay here and see this through. Esther had grown to care about the other people in the warehouse, especially Mag, and she hated the idea of leaving them behind. Even more than that, she hated to ask C.T. to run when they needed her most. But Esther loved C.T. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice softening. "You said I shouldn't apologize, but I'm sorry. I am, truly. I know what I'm asking you to do is huge, and I know that you don't want to do it. It isn't fair and I don't have the right." She moved one of her hands to C.T.'s face, cupping her cheek. "I'm willing to risk you growing to hate me if it means you make it out of this unscathed. I just found you. I'm not letting him take you away from me."
He had done it before--taken away someone that she loved. For a moment, she could remember exactly how she had felt when she had heard her father make that phone call, and then how she had felt later, as she was watching the soldiers drag Elizabeth away. Elizabeth didn't survive, but she could have; with C.T., on the other hand, her father would be merciless. Esther desparately wished there was another way, and if C.T. had one, she was happy to hear it.
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:13 pm
 "Esther," C.T started slowly. "No matter where we go, we won't be able to show ourselves in public without risk of being reported, you are all over the news, running isn't much of an option now." C.T really wanted to make Esther happy, she wished she could just up and live now that things had gotten far too out of hand, but she had lost the chance the moment Jacob Bradley had took to the stage. "I'm sorry," C.T said, speaking up as soon as Esther's apology ended. "This is my family. Your family as well. It isn't about just me or just us. They need me." C.T pleaded weakly taking Esther's hands in her own, stopping their nervous kneading and pressing them to her chin. "And I am doing this for you as well, so that he can never hurt you ever again." C.T added an angry glint in her eyes as she pressed a hand to Esther's cheek the contact calming C.T. "And I could never hate you Esther, I know you just want to keep me safe, but if we were to be honest. I am the dominant one of this relationship, which would make me the man, and aren't the men supposed to get in trouble anyway?" C.T asked tilting her head. "But in that same light, as long as you are waiting for me I will always come back safely."
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:44 pm
 ● ● ● | esther bradley
Esther drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, realizing C.T. wouldn't be persuaded to leave. She should have suspected as much. But she had hoped C.T. would be true to her earlier statement--that she would follow Esther wherever, even if it meant leaving here. She should have known better, though. This was C.T.'s family, far more than it was Esther's. The only people Esther really knew in the warehouse were Mag and C.T., but C.T. was connected to everyone. Of course she would stay.
"But in that same light, as long as you are waiting for me, I will always come back safely."
As much as Esther wanted to believe this to be true, it wasn't something that could be guaranteed. Not really. Esther averted her gaze and withdrew from C.T.'s touch, wrapping her arms around herself as she contemplated what to do. Well, she wasn't going to leave C.T. She couldn't. So she would just have to prepare. She would have to be ready for whatever happened. Unable to find any words to say, she stood and left the room in silence. She looked for the gun she and C.T. had been using earlier, then went outside to where the target dummy was. And she began practicing.
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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 12:29 am
  C.T watched Esther go with a heavy sigh, she wanted to follow, but she decided against it, Esther didn't look happy and the subsequent sound of gunshots outside let C.T know that she was coping in her own way, and it would probably be best to avoid her for now, especially since C.T knew her next action would land her neck deep in boiling water with Esther. While her beloved was outside, C.T went up to her room, and jumped into the shower, cleaning herself up for the third time that day, before exiting and quickly changing her clothes. Esther had her gun, but C.T would need it. Exiting her room C.T headed for the cafeteria, finding it rather full, but with Mag nowhere in sight, but C.T knew that she was in the back room, so C.T went to her, finding the woman hunched over her laptop clicking away at the keys, she looked up when C.T approached and frowned, she could see something was amiss, C.T didn't give her a chance to voice her concerns. "Watch her." C.T said and began to turn and walk away, but Mag of course couldn't leave well enough alone, she was up on her feet, placing her laptop down and grabbing C.T by the shoulder before the woman could leave. It was a knee jerk reaction, one neither of them had been expected, C.T wheeling around, grabbing Mag by the arm and wrenching it behind her back before slamming the woman against the wall face first knocking the wind out of her. Realizing quickly what she was doing C.T released Mag and stepped back, breathing deeply her muscles tensed. She watched cautiously like a stalking animal as Mag stepped away from the wall wincing as she rubbed her arm. "C.T....." Mag started but obviously didn't know where to start, she had thought that C.T was getting better, but this thing with Jacob was driving her up a wall, Mag could see it in the way she stood, tensed and ready to spring, and her eyes had darkened considerably their light brown now pitch black. "Watch her, if anything happens to her..." C.T didn't need to finish her statement, she heard the threat in her voice even if it wasn't fully delivered in her words. Without waiting for a response, C.T turned and left, leaving Mag to silently wish her luck, and to hope that when the woman returned, that she would be herself once again, now she just had to figure out, what the hell she was going to tell Esther.
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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 11:57 am
 ● ● ● | esther bradley
An hour or so of practicing later, Esther had improved her aim, but she was still more inconsistent than she wanted to be. She blamed her wandering mind, which was currently clouded with thoughts of C.T. and what would need to be done if Jacob Bradley threatened her. In this moment, Esther felt like she could step up to the task and protect C.T., even if it meant shooting her father; but she knew that when it actually happened--assuming that it eventually would--things would be different. After the way she had freaked out earlier, Esther wasn't confident she would be able to make the right choice in time when the pressure really started to mount. So she needed to work on clearing her head and thinking rationally under stress.
Her intense focus eventually began to wear down and she knew she needed to move on. She took the gun back to C.T.'s room, then returned to the yard immediately after. This time she worked on some of the moves C.T. had shown her. If there wasn't a gun available to her and she was under attack, she would need to rely on her limited physical strength.
Physically exhausted, Esther decided it was time to go inside and find C.T. again. Although she still didn't like that C.T. was staying here, Esther had come to terms with the choice. Hmm, but C.T. wasn't in her room. She wasn't in the living area, either, or the cafeteria. Frowning, Esther sought out Mag instead, wandering into the back room. "Hey, have you seen C.T.?" she asked. "I can't find her anywhere."
(I was getting the sense from your post that Esther wouldn't be able to find C.T.... Or maybe I misunderstood?)
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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 4:48 pm
  Waiting for the fall of night to strike was overrated, sure less people are awake, meaning less people to notice that something was amiss, however in the silence of the night, all it took was one unfamiliar bang and the cover was blown, nosy neighbors and alerted occupants, that was C.T found herself outside of a rather familiar residence, she had been here once or twice, in her younger years, though she had mostly been confined to one room, the study upstairs, where she would sit in the corner and watch Jacob work, an obedient child. Yes, in the laps, she was a subject, a tool, a monster. But around here she was a child in public he was to be referred to as father, and although C.T never had to call him as such, just the sheer thought of his intentions made her sick. ___________________________________________________________ Mag had never thought she would ever be nervous about a conversation she would have to have with Esther, but here she was shaking in her boots. She wasn't afraid that Esther would hurt her, seeing as C.T had nearly ripped her arm off, Mag didn't think Esther could do much to her. But she knew that Esther could have a bit of a temper, and now she had to be the one to tell Esther that her girlfriend had gone awol. Welp, I only know how to be blunt soooo..."She left," Mag started cautiously before further elaborating. "To go see your father"______________________________________________________________ He had tightened security, obviously after the press release, the police would be hanging around, but they were still untrained and foolish, she had gotten past them easily, to the study that C.T knew Jacob would be occupying, she also knew that he would be alone, no one dared to bother Jacob when he was in his study. So C.T entered, stepping through the door, and there he was, she was almost caught off guard by the resemblance, but that only served to make her more angry, that this monster had the capabilities of creating someone as beautiful as Esther. But it was only DNA. Jacob looked up to see who it was that had barged into his study and their eyes met, neither of them moved, just sizing each other up, C.T was the first to break the stalemate however when she raised a single finger to her lips, letting him know that if he made any noise, she end him in an instant, and he was the one that had her trained, he knew she could silence him and escape without breaking a sweat.
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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 9:59 pm
 ● ● ● | esther bradley
Esther's breath caught in her throat and she stared at Mag, shocked into silence. "Sh-she what?" C.T. had gone to see her father. Esther had to run that sentence through her head a few times before it finally sunk in and she was able to react. She had only been gone for, what? An hour and a half? And this was what she had returned to: a scared looking Mag and an MIA C.T.. Esther felt physically ill as the worry and dread and panic began to eat her alive. Judging by the way nothing else in the warehouse had changed, Esther could only assume C.T. had gone alone, which meant that she was facing Jacob Bradley without reinforcements, without support, without anything. Maybe if it had been any other man they were talking about, Esther would have been able to find comfort in the fact that C.T. was a trained assassin; but this was Jacob Bradley, the one person who could, from what Esther had seen, make C.T. feel small and vulnerable.
Her body able to move again, Esther took a step toward Mag, her face contorting with anger. "C.T. went to go see my father--alone--and you just ******** let her?!" she asked furiously, stepping closer and closer to Mag as her disbelief and rage grew. "How could you do that, Mag? How the hell could you let her do something so ******** stupid?" Her hands rolled into fists, aching to connect with Mag's jaw, and Esther might have very well punched the woman; in fact, elbow elevated slightly, she looked like she was about to. But all she could think about was how she was already wasting time. "When did she leave?" Esther demanded. Turning toward the door, she started to exit. "We're going to find her. Find us a vehicle, now."
--
Yes, Jacob knew CT105 could silence him and escape without breaking a sweat. Hell, she could silence him without him even knowing. So why, then, did she decide to show her face? Why hadn't she killed him yet? What he did next, he did with great caution: slowly, so slowly his arm barely moved, he began inching his hand toward the button under his desk. It had been installed after CT105 was already gone as a safety measure. All he had to do was press it and the silent alarm would go off, alerting and summoning a small army of guards. All he had to do was press it. Easier said then done, but, again, he was moving at an agonizingly slow pace. To the untrained eye--and, hopefully, to the trained eye as well--it would look like he was merely waiting for the trespasser to make the first move.
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Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:12 am
  Maybe Mag should of just took her chances and tried to stop C.T, she could have fought C.T, yea maybe C.T woulda broke her arm, but that could be fixed, and during the process of them fighting, the others would have came in and broke them up, that way C.T would still be here, and she wouldn't have to deal with the look of pure anger that Esther was giving her right now. "Listen, I couldn't stop her Esther, once she gets an idea in her head it's best to just keep out of her way." Mag defended weakly, she didn't know why she was bothering with trying to defend herself, she knew that there was nothing she could say that would calm Esther down, and Mag couldn't blame her, she'd do the same thing for the woman she loved. Mag sighed. "She's only been gone about 30 minutes, if you give me directions I'll drive you, come on let's get to the garage." Mag stood, closing her laptop and holding it under her arm, as she followed after Esther. She shook her head letting out another sigh. "Well I am technically still watching her." ______________________________________________________________ C.T noted that she had the floor, so she took a step closer to Jacob, crossing her arms as she worked over her words carefully. She decided to get straight to the point. "I want the list, now.""Now? What happened to the meeting tomorrow?" He was trying to stall, and she would have to entertain this idle chatter, she stepped up to his desk, looking him over. "That all changed when you made that announcement earlier, I can't trust you to not have cops or the media on stand by. We do this now.""So you just want the list? You don't even care to know who my informant is?" He asked stalling some more, C.T narrowed her eyes at him, noticing for the first time that he was at a bit of a slant, one of his arms seeming to be held at a length away from his body. "You don't have one.""Clever girl, you've always been sharp," Jacob taunted as he pressed the button. "But not sharp enough." They both heard it, C.T a little earlier than Jacob, the sound of footsteps approaching them rapidly, C.T spared one glance at the door, before turning back to Jacob, noting that he now had a gun in his hand and it was pointed right at her. No hesitation on his end, he fired and at this range, C.T couldn't dodge a bullet, so she took the hit right through her stomach, it knocked the wing from her, but she was moving before he could fire again, using the blood from her now open wound to skewer him right through the shoulder of his gun hand and pinning him to the wall, he dropped his weapon and that was all the signal C.T needed to turn and reinforce the door, placing her blood around the frame as sort of an adhesive, before she turned back to Bradley. "I want, that list." She spoke, her voice was strong, but her vision had darkened a bit, she looked down at the wound, the bullet was still inside, and it seemed to had split inside of her, causing more damage. Must of been a hallow tip. It'd take a while to heal, and by the sounds of the footsteps outside, she didn't have that much time.
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