The doors to the Playpals Toy Factory opened up at 5:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, but the night shift employees weren't walking out; a teenage girl and her foster brother were the only ones exiting. As the sun hit them in the eyes as they emerged, the boy only had one question for the girl who'd come to his rescue.
"Where are we going?" Andy Barclay asked. "Home." the blonde teenage girl replied. "Where's home?" "Andy, I have no idea." Kyle told him as they headed off, not knowing what lay ahead for either of them. Inside the factory, among the carnage and dead bodies sat a pile of plastic in the shape of a doll's body where the head had been exploded. The body sat motionless, although one of its eyes had landed in a nearby vat of plastic, sinking into the hot mess that would soon produce hundreds of Good Guy dolls. Less than an hour later, the head of the first Good Guy doll from that batch of melted plastic emerged, giving an evil smile before it had even received eyes, or even a body... * Six Months Later "Come on," Andy Barclay said as he tried to get the lock on the basement door open. He'd been trapped down there for two days with no food or water and it felt like his captor wasn't going to return anytime soon. He didn't have too much longer before he would be completely dehydrated so he had to act now. The 9-year-old foster child had found a paper clip, and after bending it out of shape, figured it could be his only means of escape. "Almost got it..." Andy finally got the door open, carefully pushing it open to not alert anyone as he quietly made his way to the kitchen where hopefully the door would be unlocked. His shoes were upstairs, but he had no time to fetch them, so he'd have to leave in just a pair of socks. He just needed to get as far away from the house as possible. Andy grabbed a backpack from the chair and headed to the refrigerator to start pulling in all the food he could that wouldn't spoil immediately. He had to escape into the night and didn't know where he would end up, but at least he'd have something to eat. The boy made his way to the back door when the light came on and Andy froze. He was surely going to suffer now. "Who let you out of the basement?" Andy's foster father said. Andy was only a monthly stipend for him, and as long as Andy continued breathing the old man figured he could do whatever he pleased with the boy, up and including abusing and torturing him within an inch of his life. "This time I'll handcuff your pathetic ass to the radiator. You think you can run away, boy? Where would you go? No one cares about you, not even your own mother." "Shut-up," Andy told him. "Don't talk about my mom." "She's an insane lunatic, and the bitch is probably glad to be rid of you," the man said as he got closer to Andy. "I'll throw your ass down those stairs, maybe I'll get lucky and you'll break your leg." As the man got closer, a knife reached from under the dark shadows of the table and cut his achilles. The man screamed in pain as he fell to the floor as a red-headed Good Guy doll emerged from the darkness, holding a sharp kitchen knife in his hand. "I really like your style, chief, but unfortunately you're fucking with something that belongs to me," Chucky said with an evil grimace as he turned to the boy paralyzed with fear at the front door. "I'll be with you in a moment, Andy, then you can be tortured by a professional." The doll turned toward the man, who screamed as Chucky started stabbing him again and again until he fell back against the wall in a bloody mess while his murderer laughed insanely. "You know, I think of myself as a creative person when it comes to murder, but sometimes you just gotta go with the classics," Chucky said as he saw Andy had already ran out the door and into the night. "Oh, for fuck's sake. You can't run forever, Andy! I've got all the time in the world now, I'll find you. After all, we're friends to the end." "Just have to keep running," Andy said with fear in his voice as he ran down the street as fast as he legs could take him. "Just have to run as far as I can, then start crawling when I can't run anymore. I won't let him get me. I won't let him hurt me anymore." It was then that Andy ran headfirst into the back of a taller man. He slowly turned around and gave Andy the creepiest stare imaginable. "Andy Barclay," the man said in a low tone that indicated that he knew who Andy was, although the boy had never seen this man in his life.. "I guess it is a small city. You never know just who you'll run into." He started to reach for Andy, who just turned around and started running in the opposite direction. He didn't get far as he felt something sting his neck. He reached and felt a dart sticking out, having injected him with something. He started to stumble as he tried to run, but a few seconds more and the boy fell to his knees before collapsing on the street. As Andy's vision started to blur, the man and a few others surrounded him. "This is the one," the man said as Andy's vision started getting darker before he passed out, but not before noticing a thorn shaped tattoo on the man's wrist. "He's going to be a great addition to our little family." * My name is John Strode, and this is my story about how The Shape screwed up my life. You're probably thinking 'Strode'? Wasn't your last name 'Tate' two years ago? Yeah, I took my Mom's real last name again after that night, it felt right to call myself a Strode after that. Halloween night two years ago was when I last saw my Mom. She hated that day, and I was never allowed to celebrate it, never truly understanding why we had to be afraid of the Boogeyman one day a year. I thought my Mom was just paranoid, but then the day came when I learned that The Shape existed. He killed my best friend as well as several other people that night, and all to kill my mother and me. His name is Michael Myers and he wants to kill the entire family bloodline. It started with my aunt when Michael was just six years old. Ever since Michael has gone through my entire family, including my half-sister Jamie. The last I'd heard only my nephew Stephen and my cousin Danny were still alive, but had gone off the grid after Danny's mother had been found murdered, presumably by Michael. The only survivors the night Michael found us were me, my Mom, a security guard and my girlfriend Molly. We were instructed to go get help and wait for my Mom... but she never came. The fight with Michael had broken her mentally to the point where she had hallucinated that she'd killed Michael, although they never found the body. They put my Mom into a mental ward and I wasn't allowed contact with her, and only got one phone call. She told us to run, so we did. And I've been running ever since. But I've also been preparing, knowing that one day Michael would find me. And I would be ready for him. I'm going to kill him and drag his body in so they'll have no choice but to let my Mom go and we can be a family again... * California October 18th Molly Cartwell returned to her family home after attending her college courses. She'd moved back home a year and a half ago, not being able to handle life off the grid with her former boyfriend John Strode. She still cared for him, but didn't want to run for the rest of her life from her boyfriend's murderous uncle. As Molly returned to the house after a long day, she noticed the door had been slightly open. "Mom? Dad?" Molly asked as she walked into the living room. "Are you home? Greg?" As Molly stood there, the door quietly closed as Michael Myers stood silently in the background. He calmly walked into the next room before Molly could notice him. "Why was the door open?" Molly asked as she turned around, seeing the door had been closed. A chill ran down her spine as she slowly headed upstairs to her bedroom, but not before getting a stick of pepper spray out of her purse just to be safe. She saw her bedroom door open and the room torn apart, immediately suspecting her younger brother. Papers had been tossed about and everything she owned lay scattered on the floor. "GREG!" Molly shouted as she saw the letters she had received from John under an assumed name laying on the bed. John had been careful not to reveal anything major to her, just that he missed her and hoped that she was safe. The envelopes all had a New Jersey post office marking on them. "Greg, you little monster!" Molly shouted as she charged toward her younger brother's bedroom and kicked open the door, gasping in horror. Her 12-year-old brother had been propped in a chair near the door with his head completely caved in with a bloody baseball bat in his hands. "Oh God..." Molly ran toward the stairs, tripping and tumbling down them. She landed at the bottom of the stairs and sat up to realize her parents were sitting on the couch facing away from her. She got up, finding her ankle had been twisted as she made her way towards them. "Greg's dead!" Molly shouted as she got to the front of the couch to see her parent's throats had been slashed. Their dead stares just facing ahead at nothing as Molly screamed in terror as she backed away before bumping into The Shape who stood right behind her. She slowly turned around and had to tilt her head to get the full view of the towering man. "You..." Michael went to stab her, but Molly got out of striking distance and tried to limp for the door. She reached it, finding it was locked as Michael's knife went through her back, through her body and into the front door. Michael pulled the knife out as Molly's dying body slid to the floor. "You'll... never find him." Molly said as Michael grabbed her by the hair, opening the door and putting her head in it before slamming the door as hard as he could several times until he was sure that John Strode's girlfriend was no more. The killer calmly walked out of the house and began making his way toward his true target... * October 29th It had been a particularly chilly week in late October, and Tommy Jarvis had wished that he'd brought a heavier coat for his errand. But there was a 13-year-old kid waiting for what he had in the brown paper bag and he meant to deliver what he'd promised. Tommy and his young charge had holed up in an abandoned tenement building for a while so they could plan their next move. The last six months had been primarily about getting Jacob ready for the road ahead. Jacob Johnson had come from a comfortable home with a loving mother and no real stress in his life. Then a dark force named Freddy Krueger took all of that away, forcing Jacob to flee his home town of Springwood with a vow to return when he got old enough to fight Freddy on equal footing. But what should have been an easy goal to turn Jacob into a strong confidant young Dream Master soon became a nightmare when Jacob refused to sleep, causing exhaustion and mood swings. Fearing the worst, Tommy sought out a solution to help the boy, resulting in him committing a few acts of felony. Well, a few more acts of felony. Tommy entered the apartment with a heater plugged into the wall to keep the place from getting too cold. There was no furniture in the place, only what few belongings they had as well as empty food containers and soda cans sitting all over. The duo had been on the road constantly as Tommy, having committed earlier said acts of felony (all in the name of keeping the world safe from monsters like Jason), had become a wanted man. Jacob, who'd grown about two inches since he left Springwood, sat on the couch with a laptop when Tommy came through the door. Not saying a word, Tommy tossed the bag to Jacob. Over the last six months, the two had moved from place to place to keep ahead of the police while they tried to find new members for their party. While some had shown interest, but were still unsure, others had flat out refused to follow Tommy on what was obviously a suicide mission. "You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get this," Tommy said as he took his coat off. "Don't OD on this shit like you did the caffeine pills, we can't afford another hospital visit, not after the last time you passed out. Someone reported you missing, so you're on the law's radar too, now." "My grandparents on my Dad's side. Always trying to take custody away from my mom, saying she's an unfit parent. This is probably the ammo they need to get guardianship," Jacob said as he took the pill bottle out and smiled a little. "Modafinil? You actually got it. I didn't think this stuff actually existed. How'd you get it? I mean, Hypnocil might have worked too, but this stuff? Holy shit!" "A lot of wheeling and dealing is how I got it," Tommy said as he sat down on the couch. "You find our guy?" "Took a while to find the bread crumbs, but I got him," Jacob said. "This guy didn't just go off the grid, he took a flying leap. Whoever taught him to cover his tracks was good. He didn't want anyone to find him." "How soon can we get to him?" "If we leave now we can be there on Halloween morning." Jacob said as he swallowed two of the pills along with a can of soda. "You know, maybe you can start using those powers of yours to help locate some of these guys," Tommy suggested. "You do need to start practicing." "That means sleeping," Jacob told him. "I never want to sleep again. With these pills i can stay up a solid two days at a time, a quick nap, just enough to reset myself and then I'll be back in business." "What about fighting Freddy?" Tommy asked. "I'll find my Mom and give her the powers back, she's the only one who can do this. I can't fight him, Tommy, I'm not the hero she is. We need her." * October 30th John Strode, now under the assumed name of Brandon Farmer, had just finished a long day of construction to keep food on the table. John had taken to working odd jobs where he'd been paid under the table so as to not create any paper trails that could be traced back to him. Between construction jobs, John hustled pool in town, fleecing out-of-towners at the local bar. That night before he headed home, John stopped at the range for a quick round of target practice. It couldn't hurt to fire off a few rounds to let out his frustration against the world of solitude he now lived in. Returning home to a secluded house in the woods that was virtually impossible to find as it been far off from the main roads, John unlocked the several locks on the door and entered his home before making sure all of the locks were resecured. After getting a shower in, John grabbed a beer from the fridge and the shotgun from the armory in the closet and took a seat on the front porch swing and waited. This was John's nightly routine for the last year and a half. He had no friends; he had no social life; his high school girlfriend Molly had left him after six months of living underground, not wanting to live her life in hiding. But they'd had no choice. The Shape was now aware of John's existence and he'd do everything in his power to kill John and anyone connected to him. * "John, you can't contact me ever again," Laurie Strode said as John talked to her on the phone weeks after she'd been admitted to the asylum. After The Shape had crashed the ambulance he'd been in and vanished, Laurie had to be restrained as she was insistent of tracking down her brother to finish him. Laurie's mental state after learning that her brother had escaped didn't help. "He's going to try to find you. You have to run. You have to hide. You can't contact me here, you can't contact anyone you knew. Friends, family, he'll go through them all to find you. If you want to keep everyone safe you'll disappear." "But Mom, I can't leave you," John told her as he stood at the bus station. "I love you." "I know, baby, I love you, too," Laurie told him. "Don't worry, I'll find you someday when this is over. But for now, we have to say goodbye. Stay safe, baby. We'll meet again." * "Don't worry, Mom, I'll kill him myself and get you out of that place," John said as he took a drink. "I'll get him for you." * "Why are we stopping at a motel?" Jacob asked as the duo walked through the door. "I'm going to be awake for at least 40 hours once I take the pills after a quick ten minute nap." "You might not need sleep, but I do," Tommy said as he fell onto his bed face first. "Go watch some... porn or something. Just keep it down." "Great role model I have here," Jacob said as he kicked off his shoes and sat on his bed, grabbing the t.v. remote. "And for the record, I'm not interested in watching 'porn'. Let's see what this motel has to offer for entertainment, maybe some cartoons or something. 'The Jizzer of Oz', 'Bill & Ted's Anal Adventure', 'Ghostfisters', 'Backdoor Sluts to the Future'... aaaand it's nothing but porn. Tommy, I'm going for a walk." Tommy had already fallen asleep as Jacob left the room to walk around. * A few blocks away at the construction site where John had been working for the last few weeks, the foreman's office trailer had been broken into. The filing cabinet had been torn apart and the desk rummaged to find certain information. Just as a folder with 'Brandon's' information had been found, the door opened and a heavy set man entered wearing a hard hat. The foreman had worked late that night on some light construction and was getting ready to head home when he headed to the trailer to retrieve his jacket. "What the hell happened in here?" the man asked as a tall shadowy figure slowly emerged from behind the door. * Jacob had wandered pretty far from the motel. With the pills he'd taken minutes earlier taking full effect, he wasn't the least bit tired and wanted to check out the town to see if there were any restaurants open for a quick bite before he returned to Tommy. As Jacob passed by the construction site, the foreman fell at his feet, having been stabbed several times in the back. At this point he was coughing up blood and near death as the teenager tried to help him. "Oh my God," Jacob said, wishing he had a cell phone right now. "What happened?" "Attacked...in trailer," the man said as he died on the sidewalk. A panicked Jacob stood up and stared at the trailer, wondering what was in there. He slowly approached it, not knowing what to expect. It could just be a thief, or it could one of the monsters that Tommy was telling him that he'd have to face. The answer came walking out of the door as Jacob swallowed hard. "... Fuck." As Jacob realized who it was, Michael stared directly at the boy, who could feel his soul freezing from the eye contact. It was at that moment that Jacob could feel what true evil was, like a psychic exchange. Snapping himself out of it, Jacob started running back to the motel. * Tommy was finally having a nice dream that didn't involve Jason as Jacob ran through the door, slamming it as he hid under the bed. "Where have you been?" Tommy asked as he bolted up his bed. "You okay?" "You know the guy we came here to find?" Jacob asked. "Yeah?" "You know the monster that's been after him?" "... Yeah." "I saw him, and I think he knows where John is." Tommy jumped off the bed and dropped to his knees to look under the bed. "Are you sure it was The Shape?" "I've never felt so cold in my life," Jacob told him. "I think my powers could sense him. It's like he's... pure evil. I could feel how cold he was. It was like he didn't have a soul, but was trying to take part of mine." "Then we have to find John Strode before he does," Tommy said. "I know you don't want to, but you have no choice, kid. You need to find this guy with your powers before The Shape gets to him." "But I took those pills, it'll be at least a few days before I can even think about sleeping." Jacob told him. "Well, there is one way," Tommy said as he sucker punched Jacob as hard as he could to knock him out. "Sorry, kid." * 12-year-old John Strode looked out the window at the other kids in the neighborhood who had dressed up in costumes to have fun on Halloween. His ever vigilant mother had a shotgun by her side as she sat in the living room as if she expected someone to drop by. "This is more normal than what I was expecting," Jacob said as he saw John. "John? I know this is going to sound weird, but you're in danger." "I know," John whispered. "I never believed it until I saw him for myself. Mom was right the entire time and I always thought it was some big lie to keep me from having a life with my friends. But he exists and he wants me dead." "He knows where you are," Jacob told him. "But me and my friend can help, you just have to tell me where you are so we can get to you." "What's the point? Maybe he should just kill me," John told him. "I'm tired of hiding. I'm tired of being scared. I've already lost the woman I loved and my mother. I don't have anything left." "John, you need to snap out of this," Jacob told him. "You can put an end to this guy once and for all. It can end tonight, but we need to know where you are." John just looked over at him, taking a deep breath. * Tommy dropped Jacob into a bathtub of ice cold water to wake him up. Jacob jumped up, breathing heavily as Tommy grabbed him a towel. "So?" "I need some dry clothes, I know where he is," Jacob told him. "It's not a far drive from here." * Tommy drove his truck as fast as he could, not realizing that he was being followed as he drove according to Jacob's directions. After an hour of driving, the duo finally arrived at John's hidden cabin in the woods. The truck came to a stop as the two headed toward the front door, where John waited with a shotgun to greet them. "It's cool!" Jacob shouted as he threw his hands up. "We're friends!" "You're the kid from my dream," John said, still keeping the gun aimed. "Who the hell are you?" "We'll explain everything," Tommy told him. "But The Shape knows where you are. He raided the construction site and killed your foreman for your address." "Bullshit, they don't have my address," John told them. "No one does except you two apparently. I've gone totally, completely and utterly off the grid. I haven't even written any useful information down about myself in two years," the sound of a car heading toward the house was heard in the distance. "No. You two fucking idiots led him right to me!" "How is that possible?" Jacob asked. "How did he know we were looking for you?" "Maybe the psychic thing works both ways," Tommy suggested. "You sensed his evil and he sensed your goodness. He knew to trail you back to the motel, that's why he didn't try to kill you there. If we hadn't come to town..." "He'd have never found John here," Jacob whispered. "John, I--" "Shutup and get in the house!" John shouted. "He can't get in, the doors are reinforced! It'd take a tank to get in here." The trio ran into the house where John closed and locked the door. He opened a closet and revealed an arsenal of guns. "Take your pick," John told them. "I hope your aim's good." "I can hold my own," Tommy said as he grabbed a sawed-off shotgun. "I've had my own boogeyman to practice for." Jacob grabbed a .38 and loaded it. "I'm still learning, but I can hit a target if it gets close enough." "Good," John told them. "Shoot to kill the fucker, and if he goes down, you keep shooting until the barrel's empty. Then reload and do it again. Lather, rinse and repeat until we've gone through every bullet in this place. I want him so full of lead that we can use him as a pencil afterward." "Alright, I guess this is it," Tommy said as he stared out the window. "Think he'll just walk up to the door and try to get in?" "Good luck," John laughed. "I've spent every dime my mom left me fortifying this place. Every entrance is sealed and I have alarms in place in case someone does get in. No one's getting in here unless they have a bulldozer." "How about a speeding Porsche?" Jacob asked as he saw a car not too away picking up speed. "Uh... why isn't he slowing down?" "He isn't." Tommy said. "He is." John told him. "Where did he even get a license?" Jacob asked. "I take it the walls aren't reinforced like the doors are?" "It was my to do list!" John shouted. "Run!" Tommy shouted as he grabbed Jacob and got him out of the way just as the stolen car rammed through the wall and plowed into the living room, coming to a stop halfway between the front room and kitchen. Tommy, Jacob and John were spread out of the floor, covered in dust in debris. John looked up as the door opened and Michael Myers stepped out, not even scratched by the car's collision. He immediately spotted John and stood there for a moment as he started walking toward him. "Guys?" John asked as he realized his leg had been pinned down by the debris. "Now would be a good time to do that thing you came here to do!" As the Shape got closer, a shotgun blast to the leg sent him to the ground as Tommy stood up. "Good to see that he's vulnerable to bullets. Let's test that pencil theory." As Tommy was about to fire again, he noticed a pool of blood under Jacob, who had been impaled on a piece of wood. "Oh, God. Jacob!" Michael was starting to get up as Tommy rammed the butt of the gun into his face to put him back down. "What are you doing?" John asked. "Finish him!" "Jacob's hurt!" Tommy shouted. "We have to get him to a hospital!" "But we have him!" John shouted. "We can finish him!" "If we don't help Jacob, then he's finished!" Tommy shouted as he picked Jacob up. "I know you want to kill this bastard, but we need this kid more!" Tommy put Jacob on the couch as he pulled John out from under the debris, just as Michael was starting to pick himself up. John fired more rounds into him until the gun was empty as he looked at Tommy, who'd picked up Jacob again and was carrying him out of the door. "Next time, Uncle Michael," John told him. "Next time we end this for good." * Hours later, Jacob lay in a hospital bed with his chest bandaged while hooked to an IV. "He's going to need rest, Tommy," John told him. "We can still track down The Shape and finish him while he's safe here." "No," Tommy said. "We're getting Jacob and getting out of here before the cops come. Like you, we're not exactly on the grid. I'm pretty sure Jacob's already been reported missing by his grandfather, and I'm not exactly beloved by law enforcement. We need to sneak him out of here. The second the hospital finds out we used a fake name and identification, we're screwed." "Sneak him out of here?" John asked. "Michael Myers is already gunning for me, what if Jacob slows us down or gets worse?" "He needs the rest," Tommy said. "He'll heal in his own time as long as we stay out of Springwood. I can take care of him, I know how to score meds and stuff to keep him going. Meanwhile, you need a place to hide, so I suggest you stick with me. You help us kill monsters like Michael Myers and we'll help you kill your monster when we're strong enough to face him." "On one condition," John told him. "That you help me contact my mom so she knows what's going on. She said I can't contact her because Michael Myers might be watching, but she didn't say anything about a friend." "Yeah, okay, I can do that. But meanwhile, we need to tend to Jacob. We need a place to take him so he can recover." "We'll head north," John suggested. "My girlfriend's family has a small cabin in Canada. We can lay low there for a while so the kid can heal and you can fill me in on just what the hell your deal is." "Okay," Tommy told him. "Create a distraction while I get Jacob out of here and we'll be on our way." * Fifteen minutes later, Tommy's truck raced out of the hospital parking lot. John held Jacob tight in the passenger seat as Tommy focused on the road. "With all those rounds you unloaded into him, he should be down for a while, right?" Tommy asked. "You'd think so, but he shrugs off bullets like they were nothing," John said. "I don't think he feels pain. He might even get off on it. He was probably up minutes after we bolted." "Well, he won't be able to find us in Canada," Tommy said. "But... what about your mom?" "He doesn't know where to find her," John said. "And even if he does, she can hold her own. In fact, she might even be ready for him. So, how long do you figure we'll be staying in Canada?" "Until Jacob's on his feet again," Tommy told him as he stared at the boy, who was desperately trying to stay awake with the meds he'd been given coursing through his body. "However long that takes." "Jacob, buddy, get some rest," John said. "You need to sleep this off." "Can't sleep," Jacob told him in a groggy voice. "Need to stay awake. Where are my pills?" "God dammit, Jacob, just get some rest," Tommy ordered. "I should have never gotten you those pills. You're going to die if you don't sleep. Hell, you might die if you mix those pills with the medication you need to get better." "If I sleep, I'll dream," Jacob begged him as his voice trembled. "Don't make me dream." "... Fuck," Tommy said with a defeated sigh, knowing what he had to do now. "John, give him the pills. It's the red bottle in the glovebox." John gave Jacob two pills and a sip of soda. "Wait, the Modafinil is the orange-- What did you give me?" Jacob asked as he started getting even more drowsy. "Sleeping pills," Tommy said. "Sorry, kid, but you need to sleep to get better. See you when you wake up." "You mother fu--" Jacob started to say as he passed out. * Springwood Alice Johnson carried her lunch tray to the table and sat down inbetween two women. "There's no sign of Andy," Alice whispered. "Or Tommy or Jacob. If they're out there, they're all staying off the grid, but we'll find them and make sure they're safe. Unfortunately we can't stop taking Hypnocil or else Freddy will realize what's going on, otherwise I could reach Jacob through his dreams." "Our boys are in trouble, I can sense it. We need to help them. Andy's been missing for six months. What if Chucky got him?" "Then Lakeshore Strangler copycat murders would be all over the news," Alice reminded her. "It's like Chucky's been laying low as well. He's waiting for something." "Trouble's coming for us," Laurie Strode said as she looked at Karen Barclay and Alice Johnson as they sat at the table. "The monsters are trying to hurt our boys. Maybe it's time we showed these bastards that you don't fuck with our babies." TO BE CONTINUED...
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Ed's Note - Be sure to read Mighty Max before you carve into The Gathering!
A Special Seriesfrom the mind of Tobias Christopher! Archives
October 2019
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