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Elsa felt soered, clutched her side

Warm, wet, sticky

I’

She heard Loreda scream, “Mom!” and Elsa wanted to answer, to say, I’m fine, but the pain

The pain

She dropped the h the burning, stinging haze of s, and Ant stu beside her

All Elsa wanted was to let theet to her, stay awake, tell the her, squeezing until she couldn’t breathe … My babies, she thought, reaching out for them

IT SEEMED TO HAPPEN in slowforward, blood turning her dress red Jack throwing men off of him

Loreda screa her way toward the truck, through the panicking crowd She saw Jack hit one of the vigilantes with his own bat and fell another with a punch

“They shot her!” soilantes backed away from the truck

Jack jumped into the back of the truck, took Mom in his arms

“Is she alive?” Loreda screamed

Mom opened her red, teary eyes and looked at Jack “We failed”

Jack lifted Mom into his arms and carried her out of the truck