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The red ribbon tightens and I gasp.

Rhett catches my other arm. “Sage.”

The ground softens beneath my boots.

“Fuck!”

Malakai pulls while my foot sinks ankle-deep then calf. “KAI!”

He wraps both arms around me. Rhett grabs my waist while Ezra lunges forward.

The Earth pulls harder.

“GET HER OUT!”

“I’M TRYING!”

The Bride watches smiling. “The Bride cannot leave the bed.”

I scream. “What fucking bed?”

She looks at the dirt.

Oh. No.

“The seedbed.”

Fuck every part of this.

Rhett pulls.

Malakai pulls.

My other leg sinks. “STOP!”

The Earth climbs around my thighs. Not swallowing me. Holding me.

Warm. Wet. Alive.

Ezra drops beside me. He starts digging with his hands. “Sage, look at me.”

“I am looking!”

“Stay with me.”

“WHERE THE FUCK WOULD I GO?”

His mouth almost twitches.

Good.

If I’m being buried alive, somebody better appreciate the jokes. Then something touches my leg beneath the dirt.

I scream. “Something’s down there!”

Malakai plunges his arm into the soil. His face changes.

“What?”