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the soreness of her back or the tight hot throb of her spasming leg muscles. |
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'Get a towel and wipe me,' she gasped. |
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Kara whipped a towel down from a bar near the tub, hurried over to her, and started to mop her face. 'What're we going to do?' the girl whispered. |
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'I don't know.' She winced into the soft towel as the door hit her back. 'I can't do this much longer.' |
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'What about the window?' Kara asked. |
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'Even if we get out in time, we'd be in the rain. It'd make us like him.' |
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Kara was silent for a moment as she rubbed the towel over Denise's shoulders and chest. 'What if we pretend to go out?' |
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'I don't . . .' Another blow. 'TOM! QUIT IT! THIS IS DENISE. YOU DON'T WANT TO HURT ME!' |
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Even as she yelled, the hammer was tugged from her front pocket and Kara hurried past the bathtub toward the louvered window. She boosted herself onto the counter. With quick blows of the hammer, she smashed the slats. Glass exploded outward, bounced off the screen and clattered down on the counter at her knees. |
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Hissing, spattering sounds of the rain came in. |
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Tom hit the door again. Denise gritted her teeth. |
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Kara struck the frame of the screen with her hammer. Again and again until the screen dropped into the night. |
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She jumped down from the counter. At the sink, she grabbed the flashlight. She raced with it to the |
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