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Another whistle shrieks through the maze. This one is closer.

He points behind me again.

“Okay. Okay. I’m going.” I take two steps backward.

He stays where he is, watching the corn.

Three steps—four. Then a figure explodes out of the row behind me.

I scream so hard my throat burns.

A skull mask flashes through the fog.

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

The Reaper lunges for me and instinct takes over.

I run.

Laughter bursts out of me before I can help it, the unease from thirty seconds ago obliterated by pure adrenaline as I tear down the path. “Asshole!”

Boots pound the dirt behind me… fast… way too fucking fast.

I glance over my shoulder and immediately regret it.

He’s gaining.

“Oh, fuck you!”

The skull-faced Reaper reaches for me, and I squeal as his fingers barely skim the back of my shirt.

I cut hard between two rows.

The path narrows, corn slapping against my arms as I sprint through it. Red light flashes ahead, disappearing beneath another wave of fog, and somewhere nearby a woman screams before dissolving into hysterical laughter.

Another Reaper steps into my path wearing a burlap hood.

I skid to a stop. “Nope.”

He spreads his arms and I spin around only to see Skull face coming from the other direction.

“You guys are fucking cheaters!”

Burlap starts toward me and I dart sideways through an opening in the corn. I’m pretty sure it isn’t a path. I’m also pretty sure I don’t care.

Stalks scrape my arms as I shove through them, laughing so hard I can barely breathe. Behind me, something crashes through the corn.

“Oh my God.”

They followed me.

I run faster.

The ground dips unexpectedly beneath my boot, and I stumble before catching myself on a stalk.

A hand closes around the back of my shirt.

“No!” I twist free and bolt, hearing a muffled grunt behind me. “Too slow, motherfucker!” That earns me another burst of speed from whomever is chasing me. “Shit.” I tear around the next corner and nearly slam into a couple making out against the corn. “Sorry!”