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The man's description of the injured individual as "rabid" triggered a subtle sense of caution in her. She moved closer to get a clearer view, noting the barista's assessment of the fever and Dave's discovery of the exposed bone.

Amid her assessment, a contemplative doubt lingered—a wondering if there might be a deeper layer to this incident than a conventional human clash. However, being the pragmatic that she is, she dismissed the notion of such a possibility.

"Looks like we stumbled upon a whole new level of bizarre," Becker remarked dryly. She exchanged a glance with Dave, acknowledging the seriousness of the situation.

As Dave initiated the call to 911, Becker addressed the growing crowd with a stern expression. "Alright, folks, let's give them some room. This isn't a show." She hopefully gestured toward the onlookers to prompt the curious crowd's dispersal.

As the emergency unfolded in the cafe, Dave couldn't help but voice the unspoken question on most people's mind. Leaning in slightly, his eyes flickering between Becker and the barista, he cautiously asked, "Do you think it's related to that virus they've been talking about?"

Becker, her gaze briefly shifting from the injured man to meet Dave's eyes, considered the question with a thoughtful expression. "Well, if every fever and exposed bone screamed 'virus,' we'd be living in a pretty bleak world, wouldn't we?" Becker remarked, her words carrying a hint of doubt. "Let's deal with the facts we've got and leave the apocalyptic theories to the movies." With a subtle raise of her eyebrow, she refocused her attention on the injured man, emphasizing the need for practicality in the face of the unknown.

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@ArticBeaver The crowd started to appear slightly disappointed that they were basically told to leave or give them some space, the ones that were finished with their food and drinks decided to all leave. "I'll comp all of your drinks and food if you choose to leave." The barista offered, which made some of the others decide to leave taking their free meals and drinks. She turned to the both of them hopefully it was enough to get the rest to leave, but some decided to stay just in case they needed to give a statement of some kind. They didn't have to wait to long when the paramedics finally arrived onto the scene as one of them came up onto the scene. "So what do we got?" One of them asked as the other paramedic came over to take the man's vitals who was now starting to look like he was about to pass out.

@Kirah "Unfortunately not to much really other than the symptoms honestly." Millie signed back as she grabbed one of the cookies and took a bite out of it. "Hopefully it isn't another thing like COVID or whatever they said." Millie signed COVID was bad enough that they shut down just about everything that wasn't essential down which was really horrible. "What about you have you guys heard of anything else from it?" Millie asked.

@Theyra Isaac would be able to get back to his apartment without to much of an issue or anything as he came into the lobby the attendant at the front counter looked up at him and waved. He was a middle aged man he was friendly enough and played more than a few roles in the building, sometimes he acted as security for the building, or sometimes worked as maintenance as well to. "Good morning Isaac how are ya?" The man asked, he was known as Robert by the residences of the apartment building. There were a few other residents getting out and leaving the building to go on about their day as well to.

@PatientBean The board meeting was at the top floor of the building that Verity worked at they all were waiting for her to come into the meeting. "Finally someone decided to show up." One of the board members who looked around to be Verity's age, they had some catering ordered as well for the meeting, there was a little bit of everything from different kinds of cheeses as well as some small finger foods as well as several bowls of salads. "Calm down already." The oldest man at the head of the table said as he mentioned for verity to take a seat. "Grab a plate and we can get this show started." They said.

@Trainerblue192 The officer took his sweet time getting out of his car and started to approach Hermes as he looked at the kid as he explained himself and glared slightly. "You are lucky that the curb wasn't a pedestrian sidewalk, and you were lucky that you didn't hit anyone either. Or you hurting yourself for driving so recklessly like that." He told him as he stared at the kid not accepting that excuse. "Now do you have a license for this thing?" The officer asked.

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As Kaitlyn was about to head up the flight of stairs up to the street level she paused for a moment when she heard two people suddenly yelling which caught her attention. She turned to see a hooded kid running off with someone's purse her new acquaintance Kali, and a heavily pregnant woman trying to chase after him. Kaitlyn started to think for a moment whether or not to interfere, she sighed and closed her eyes she had a feeling that she might end up being late or something.

She turned and quickly made her way through the crowd and was lucky that he seemed to be heading her way, she quickly grabbed the boy by the arm and used his momentum against him and did a little judo flip on the poor guy tossing him over her shoulder and onto the floor. The pregnant woman quickly caught up to the scene taking a few deep breaths as she looked at her. "Thank you." She said to Kaitlyn giving her a smile as the woman quickly snatched her purse from the kid.

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Flynn stood at the sidewalk as he waited for his friend to arrive, which wasn't that bad of a wait as his friend and his tow truck came to a stop at the side of the road. "Today ain't your day huh?" He asked teasingly as Flynn rolled his eyes slightly. "Fuck you." Flynn said as his friend went to hook the bike up to the back and quickly secured it to the bed. "C'mon lets get you some food first." His friend offered as Flynn smiled he wasn't going to turn down any free food as he climbed into the cab of his friend's tow truck.

They drove up to a nearby cafe as. "Thanks for the pickup and the meal to." Flynn said as his friend nodded as the two started to head over and noticed that there was an amublance just outside of it and some paramedics were starting to check someone out as they decided to wait outside and watch from where they were.

Both Mandy and her father shook their heads no. They didn't have any other information. Mandy remembered during COVID how hard it was to get information. There had been a few people who posted videos on Youtube explaining the situation in ASL or she had read the CDC website. That gave her an idea.

"That email said its information was from the CDC, maybe they have more information on their website." She signed, mostly to her father. She did not want to deal with masks again, masks blocked people's lips making it so her and basically the rest of the Deaf community couldn't read lips. There had been some masks that had a clear see-through section but not everyone wore those. Her school wouldn't have them, not this time. It wasn't Deaf focused like RIT had been.

He nodded and headed back to his office to his computer where he could look up the CDC site. Mandy grabbed another cookie and waved Millie to join them.

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It seems that waitressing tables did not equate to chasing down a thief. Kali desperately tried to keep up with the kid, but her efforts were to no avail. The headstart he already had seemed to grow larger by the second, and Kali began to think that he was going to get away. Thankfully, for the pregnant woman's sake and her own, her newfound acquaintance Kaitlyn had been nearby, and intervened with a judo flip of her own that left Kali partially stunned by the display. She did not expect someone like Kaitlyn to open a can of whoop ass, after all.

"I-I had him." Kali spoke as she came to a stop near the two women. Of course, she knew full well that she wasn't going to catch up, yet a rush of adrenaline-fueled bravado stood in the way of her admitting it. "But that was, uh, cool—the flip, I mean. Where in the world did you even learn to do that?" She asked as the woman snatched her purse back from the would-be thief.

And speaking of said thief, there was still the matter of what to do with him. They couldn't just let him go, after all, he had just tried to rob someone. However, Kali (and she could only assume the other two women as well) had never been in this sort of situation before, and so she posed the question to the two.

"So, uh, what do we do with him? Take him to the police? Wait for them to come to us?"

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As the crowd began to disperse, some murmurs of disappointment rippled through the cafe. The offer of complimentary food and drinks swayed a few more patrons to make their exit, their expressions a mix of gratitude and lingering curiosity.

Becker acknowledged the barista's hopeful glance, as she silently urged the remaining patrons to follow suit. Yet for the patrons, despite the tempting offer, the handful that opted to stay, Becker thought, should linger in case their presence was needed for statements or assistance.

Before long, the anticipated arrival of the paramedics cut through the tension. One of them approached the scene.

Becker stepped forward, her voice steady as she briefed the paramedic on the situation. "Possible rabid individual, fever, and exposed bone," she summarized, her tone conveying a sense of urgency as the injured man's condition appeared to worsen. Her trained eyes caught a subtle shift in the man's condition, noting his increasingly pallid complexion and struggle to keep his posture upright. "And he's not looking too well." she added, her concern evident as she gestured towards the now visibly distressed victim.

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As Isaac entered the apartment building feeling satisfied after finishing his morning jog. He was greeted by a friendly face at the front desk in the lobby and with a smile. "Hello, Robert, and good morning to you too." He stopped at the front desk and turned off his runner tracker. "I am doing fine and better than one person I saw today at Central Park, but how are you? Feeling good, I hope."

Isaac has never had a problem with Robert, and the man seemed like a nice guy in the two months of living at this place. Granted, he has not talked to the man much since living here, but no complaints so far. Hopefully, the bug that is apparently spreading around has not reached here, Isaac does not like the idea of coughing up blood like that poor homeless man at the park.

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Verity walked in like she owned the room. Which she did. She glared at the person who had dared implied she was late. If looks could freeze someone in place, hers did. "I will remind you and everyone else in the room who the person is that called for this meeting. Anyone know? Show of hands?" She raised her own hand. "Oh that's right, it was me! So I decide when we start and if I am late."

She walked over and saw they had gotten catering. She could not be bothered at the moment. She took a seat at the head of the table and set her things down. Once everyone had their own seat she stood back up. "Why did I call you here? While you enjoy your salads and cheeses we have investors breathing down our necks, wondering why our numbers are in flux. And what should I tell them? That I have a team of incompetent baboons who don't know their head from their ass? Or do I assure them we are rock solid? Tell me, because my phone rings day and night and I have so many emails I may as well send them all condolences. What flowers do you send someone when they call you a ho who should be sucking dick and on a pole? Carnations?" She let the rhetorical question hang there, seeing the uncomfortable looks the others, mainly men, were giving her.

"Yeah, when I find out who used those colorful terms, they will be nothing but liquid on the street below this building, so get your affairs in order. I have a show to get ready for. Numbers go up or firings get handed out and I am not sacrificing the lowly janitors or secretaries here because, unlike you sorry lot, they actually get their jobs done. Fix it. Now!"

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Of course, even in the bustling city of New York, even the cops had the chance to take their time as they pleased. He was probably doing it just to get a rise out of Hermes, or perhaps as a bit of irony, killing the time he would've saved had he not been speeding. Either way, time was ticking by and it was making him nervous. He was right however, he was lucky no one was hurt, well not physically anyway. He'd thought about the man and woman he'd accidentally sprayed with water, shoulders slumping as the officer asked him for his license. ”Yeah…” He said with a defeated tone.

” I'm reaching into my pocket to grab it, and honestly officer I'm normally a very safe driver, clean record and all. I'll just have to start leaving earlier for school now to ensure I have to make it before first bell.” Hermes reached into his pocket as he'd announced, pulling out his card for the officer to see. The officer sighed as he took the license and inspected him once over. “I'm writing you a written warning. Keep your record clean and make sure to stay off the sidewalks from here on out. I don't want to have to catch you again. Ok kid?”
”Yes officer, thank you!” With that the officer wrote him a slip and tore it off, handing it over to him before heading back to his car. Hermes put his helmet back on and began to pull away.

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@Kirah Millie followed behind Mandy over towards the office, she remembered the mask mandates pretty well it was so hard to breath through them sometimes. She knew that some people could have some kind of medical exception from it way back then when it was all happening. Luckily for her she didn't go out much at all during that time really either, as Mandy's father tried to bring up the CDC's website it appeared that the site was down or something which was weird to Millie. She turned to Mandy and her father and started to sign to the two of them. "I should actually get going Howard is wanting to get some breakfast this morning. Just text me if you need anything or have anymore information." She said as she went over and gave Mandy a gentle hug. "Enjoy the cookies." She signed giving the girl a friendly smile.

@Theyra "I'm doing pretty good thanks for asking, just the usual tending to a few broken or leaky bathroom faucets here and there throughout the building." Robert said as he listened to Isaac giving a description of some homeless guy getting sick apparently, he really didn't want to end up getting sick either or passing the bug around to any of the other residents here within the building. "Just be careful you don't want to get sick." Robert said to Isaac as he reached for a bag of chips he had nearby and started to eat a handful. "Is there anything you need for your room or any problems with it?" Robert asked him.

@PatientBean The rest of the room started to go pretty silent as Verity went on a tangent towards them, some of them looked away while others sat and ate quietly. Once Verity was done speaking the most calm member of the team finally spoke up as he looked at Verity. "We'll get it done, is there anything else you need to inform us about?" He asked her, there was a knock on the door a secretary was seen through the window to the conference room. He was a younger guy looking like he was a college freshmen or something along those lines. "Hey uhm sorry to interrupt the meeting. Some of the other interns are asking to go home early, something to do with some their family members are getting sick or something, and were wondering if they could go home early?" He asked Verity.

@Trainerblue192 The police officer was the last to get into his police cruiser and started to pull out and drove on ahead of Hermes, once he was free to go. It didn't take to long for him to get to his high school, there were still a few busses that were there dropping off the last of their students. Some of them were outside still mingling amongst themselves, there was five minutes left before the start of first period to start. A friend of Hermes by the name of Hannah approached him, she lightly knocked on his helmet and quickly noticed the written warning barely hanging out of his pocket. "You are almost late man what did you do?" She asked as she quickly snatched it out of his pocket and started to read it over. "Oooh man you are so fuckin busted if your mom heard you almost got a ticket. Or your cousin Mandy right? She'd probably kill you to." She said teasingly as she dangled it over his head.

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Kaitlyn still kept a rather firm grip on the kid's arm as a loud groan could be heard, she turned to look up at Kali and gave her a slight smile. "I took some Judo lessens, still do actually in my spare time." She answered as the pregnant woman gave the kid a rather hard kick as she looked down at him and glared at the kid. "Doesn't matter to me, as long as I have my purse back." The woman said as she dug into it, and started to search through it before taking out two fifty dollar bills out and handed one to Kali and Kaitlyn. "Thank you so much." The woman said as Kaitlyn started to think for a moment maybe the kid was down on his luck and was just really desperate for some kind of money.

"We could probably just let him go, the purse is where it belongs anyway." Kaitlyn said she believed in giving people second chances, and the kid was pretty young as well to, and having a criminal record is really bad especially for someone who was really young as well to. "What do you think we should do?" Kaitlyn asked Kali as she accepted the fifty dollar bill that the woman had handed her.

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Flynn looked at his friend for a moment. "I'm gonna see whats going on, i'll be right back." He said as he started to head over towards the cafe and opened the door just in time to see Becker finishing giving her statement to her fellow paramedic. "Thank you for the information we'll get him to the hospital." The said as the other paramedic pulled out his first aide kit and quickly wrapped a compress bandage over the wound to try and stop the bleeding. Then they got him up onto a stretcher and started to head on out, Flynn then approached Becker and gestured to the guy that the other paramedic team who they were wheeling out.

"What happened to that guy?" Flynn asked her, as he heard a few more sirens were able to be heard as a police cruiser approached, one of the officers approached the victim while the other came inside and started to ask some of the other patrons who chose to stay behind to provide some statements. Flynn looked at the officer for a moment and started to tense up slightly he really didn't like cops at all really.

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Becker regarded the new comer with a neutral expression as he approached, his sudden appearance adding a layer of complexity to the already tense situation. As the paramedics wrapped up their assessment and prepared to transport the injured man, Becker watched their departure with a sense of relief. The stranger's inquiry about the victim drew her attention back to him, and she regarded him cautiously, taking a moment to assess his motives.

"We're not entirely sure," Becker replied, her tone guarded yet cooperative. "Seems he got into some sort of altercation, ended up with a nasty bite. Could be anything, really." She gestured towards the departing stretcher, her gaze briefly flickering towards the arriving police officers.

As the officers began their inquiries, Becker noted the man's reaction with a subtle raise of her eyebrow. She refrained from commenting on his unease, opting instead for a diplomatic response. "Looks like the police are here to gather statements. Just routine procedure," she explained, offering a polite yet cautious smile.

"I suppose by any chance, you happen to catch anything that could explain what happened?" gesturing towards the departing stretcher with a subtle tilt of her head. "A bite like that doesn't just happen every day."

"Thank you for the cookies. Tell Howard we said hi, and both of you be safe." Mandy smiled and waved letting Millie go. She was frustrated with the CDC website, but figured because of the press release a lot of people were probably flocking to the site. There had been no mention of how the new sickness spread. That was concerning.

She tapped her father on the shoulder. "Maybe I should just wear a mask in case. We don't know how it spreads. I have some anyway still because of school." Working in the medical industry, even removed from people as she was a Vet student, Mandy still had to wear masks for certain situations. "I'll leave a box with you." She offered.

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Judo, huh. It was certainly impressive. Kali had never considered learning martial arts before in her life, but after seeing it displayed in action, she began to reconsider the idea. Being able to defend herself from the creeps in NYC sounded appealing, especially since she didn't have any pepper spray on hand. Still, as she pondered the thought, the realization that she likely had no time (and money!) to learn crossed her thoughts. After all, she was barely making it day-to-day, having to rely on her roommate for most things. There was no way "Kali the Judoka" was ever in the realm of possibility, at least for now.

"Well, I'm probably running late to work as it is." She replied to Kaitlyn, taking the bill from the woman with thanks. The hard kick was a little overboard, Kali felt, given that the kid had already had his ass whooped seconds ago. Nonetheless, she decided to not comment on it, being more focused on the fact that she had derailed her trip to work over this whole mess. "I'm have a feeling that Mr. Kamaal will understand if I show up late, but I'd rather not be too late getting there."

Having said that, Kali then turned to the youngster. "So, kid. If we let you go, are you going to scram on home and not cause any more trouble?"

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"That is good to hear, and it is nice to have a handyman around." Though Isaac knew Robert was not a true handyman, he still helped out and repaired what he could around the building. Which is still a nice thing and certainly a person Isaac would have liked to had in his old apartment building back in Pennsylvania.

After telling Robert about the sick homeless man and hearing his response, Isaac spoke. "Yeah, I will try, and the last thing I want is to get and spread whatever that homeless man had." In hindsight, he probably should not have gotten that close to the homeless man if he did not wish to get sick, but he did seem to need help after seeing those teens make fun of it. He had to do something than just watch and forget.

"No, there is nothing wrong with my room right now, and I do not need anything right now. Thanks for asking and I will let you know if I do."

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Before Verity could tell the sorry sacks that unless they could pull a magical unicorn that grants wishes from nowhere that she didn't need anything else, they were interrupted. She felt a small migraine coming on. She wasn't naive, she heard about the illnesses sweeping the country. She paid little attention though because it was probably some new wave of sickness that was little more than a flu but whiny babies needed something to latch on to to justify not working and staying home to watch Netflix and eat ice cream while the powerhouses of the world went on even if they had the sniffles.

"Fine. Send them home. But tell them that when they get back into the office I expect all paperwork done end of day in duplicate. Also send their families some flowers. Charge it to the company account, I'll sign off on it." She sighed and returned back to the meeting. "No, there is nothing else. I expect to see changes soon. Now if anyone needs me, I have a show to prepare for."

With that, she strolled out of the room, grabbing a piece of cheese to munch on to tide her over.

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Thankfully the rest of the ride to school was uneventful. Music still blaring in his helmet as he rode down the streets, a slight paranoia to him now as his eyes danced across the sides for any hidden cops that may risk pulling him over again. Once he'd arrived he leaned slightly against the handles of his Vespa, a sigh escaping him as he saw the time. He wasn't late, but he was cutting it close. A gentle knock interrupted the music, turning off his vehicle before he slid the helmet off and looked at his friend Hannah. ”Psh. I'm not late, and it wasn't my fault. Some dumbest caused a back up all the way down the Brooklyn Bridge can you believe it? Fender Bender with some prissy looking woman who's nails probably cost more than that guy's bike. I tried to take a short cut but a cop caught me once I passed the action. It was a real drag.”

He snatched the warning from her hand and shoved it into his backpack. ”Ma's got enough to worry about than me having to bring home a written warning. So she isn't going to know. Besides, Nanna isn't getting better So I really don't need to add more on to her plate than I already do. Aaaand.” Hermes flicked her arm as he began to walk making his way towards class. ”If ya keep yapping my ear off we'll both be late to class. I'm not about to get two lectures in one day so let's get a move on already will ya?”

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@Kirah Mandy's father smiled and waved goodbye to Millie as she had gone off to tend to her husband, his attention turned towards his daughter and nodded signing back. "A box of masks would be nice, and you might as well stock up on a bunch of toilet paper as well to." He signed the last bit was a little bit of a joke since everyone for whatever reason during the COVID 19 pandemic flocked to the stores and bought a bunch of toilet paper in bulk. "I'll stock up on some other stuff later today while you are gone and send some your way if you need them to." He offered his daughter.

@Theyra Robert smiled and nodded. "I'll be around for another hour or so if you need anything just give me a call." Robert said, he didn't live in the apartment complex himself and owned a place of his own just down the street. "Anyway i'll leave you to it, I got some other paperwork that I need to do anyway. Enjoy the rest of your day." Robert told Isaac as he started to head back to doing some other work that he needed to do before going home for the day.

@PatientBean "Thank you i'll let the ones who asked what they need to do." The intern said as they headed off to tell some of the others that they were free to go. Trudy came up to Verity and looked at her as soon as the meeting was over and done with and handed her some paperwork that Verity needed to sign. "Here are some papers that you need to sign off on, for contract renewals and what not. I also put in a call for someone to take your car into the shop and get it patched up for you, they'll send you a rental within the hour for you until then, I told them to also fax you the invoice once they have the estimate for you to." She said.

@Trainerblue192 "Your no fun, it's kinda funny to see your mom lecture you all day though." Hannah said sarcastically as she followed him into the building, she pulled out her school schedule and looked at him. "After homeroom we have gym class for first period so that will be fun, unless you want to skip that class." She said, Hannah was always a little bit of a rebel and did occasionally skip class every now and then. "Though I know that your crush is in that class to and I know you have the hots for him, and you want to stare at his bod all class to." She said teasingly.

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"I learned my lesson I won't do it again I promise." The kid said to Kali, as Kaitlyn then finally released him the kid quickly got up to his feet and rubbed his ribs and sides slightly where he had been kicked by the pregnant woman. He stared at the three of them before quickly running off and out of the subway. She turned to look at Kali she remembered the name she had been meaning to check out the new restaurant over by Central Park making a note to go there at some point. "I'm pretty late myself as well to. I hope you do enjoy the rest of your day." Kaitlyn said to Kali as she started to head off.

Luckily it wasn't that far of a walk from where she needed to go, she needed to get in before first period started as Kaitlyn made her way down the sidewalk. She eventually made it to the school seeing a girl and a boy just getting off of a vespa and into the school itself, Kaitlyn headed down towards the school's office to see where she was needed. She looked at Hermes and gave him a friendly smile and nod as she passed him and Hannah.

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Flynn would occasionally look at the officers as they did their usual thing and questioned the other guests who stayed behind his attention turned back to Becker getting his attention. "Nah I didn't see anything honestly my friend and I were planning on getting something to eat honestly." He said as he gestured towards the tow truck with the motorcycle strapped to the bed of the truck he wasn't sure what to make of the random person biting the victim and shrugged slightly.

"Maybe they were a druggie and they were unhinged or something while they were high or whatever." Flynn suggested having seen a few people acting weird and crazy sometimes while they were high. A few seconds later one of the officers approached the two of them turning towards Becker. "Mind giving your statement and we can figure out what happened?" He asked the two of them, as Flynn looked at the officer. "I just got here myself and didn't see anything honestly." He answered as the officer wrote it down as he looked at Becker.

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"Could be," Becker replied thoughtfully to Flynn's suggestion, acknowledging the possibility of drug-induced behavior contributing to the incident. She had encountered similar scenarios in her line of work, though each situation presented its own unique challenges.

As one of the officers approached and directed his attention towards her, Becker turned her focus to the task at hand. "Of course," she replied, her tone cooperative as she prepared to provide her statement. "I'll do my best to recount what I saw." With a nod to Flynn, she turned her attention back to the officer.

Becker's thoughts raced, her mind already piecing together the details of the chaotic scene. With her EMT training kicking in, she remained focused on providing an accurate account of what had transpired, determined to assist the authorities in their investigation.

"My colleague and I had just finished our shift and decided to grab a bite to eat. That's when we heard the commotion near the entrance." Her words measured and precise as she recalled the moments leading up to the arrival of the paramedics. "The man had a severe bite wound on his arm, and he looked pale and disoriented. My first instinct was to assess his condition and offer assistance."

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Watching the kid scram off, Kali returned her attention to the pregnant woman and Kaitlyn. She, too, was now running late to work. In Kaitlyn's case, however, she had already been at her stop when the attempted robbery had happened while Kali still had some length to go before arriving at her destination. Trying to play the hero was already eating into her upcoming paycheck, and if Kali didn't want to lose any more potential money (and tips), then she had to get going as well. "You too. Maybe we'll see each other again if you ever happen to stop by the restaurant." Kali replied, flashing a quick smile as Kaitlyn proceeded to leave.

Turning back towards the train platform, Kali glanced momentarily at the pregnant woman. "It shouldn't be too long before the next train gets here." She had no idea where the woman was going, but it was likely they would be travel buddies for awhile if she was still planning on going the same way. "I'm going to head back now if you're coming. Hopefully, the kid is long gone now and won't be causing you or anyone else any more trouble."

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With the meeting being done, Verity met Trudy in the hall as she handed her a stack of documents. Truly, Trudy was the main character. "Literally would die without you Trudes. I'll get it squared away in my office. And thanks for the car fix." Her mind flashed back to the accident and the man on the bike. Probably some schmo not worth the headache she continued to nurse.

After bidding Trudy farewell, Verity made it inside her office, tossing the stacks of paper on her desk. She'll sign them in a minute. She took a seat and closed her eyes. If it wasn't one thing it was another lately. Her phone chimed. She glanced and saw his name with a knife emoji next to it. What the hell did he want?

She ignored it and started signing the contracts. He probably wanted money. It was usually about money. Well he wouldn't get another dime off of her.

Mandy laughed at her dad's joke. She got it. "I'll go to the store." She also thought she'd probably email her school counselor to see if there was any news from Cornell. If they were going to be paranoid and shut down the school before it even started she couldn't really blame them. It just meant she'd have to deal with Zoom classes. She had labs this semester, she was not dissecting a frog on the porch via Zoom again if she could help it.

Mandy got up and headed for her room to get her keys and wallet. She planned to go to the store and get some extra supplies. She didn't want her parents to be worried about stuff if she could help it. Once she had that gathered up she went outside, via the kitchen and grabbing another cookie, to her car. The store wasn't too far from their place.