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“Fuck.”

Rhett catches up beside me.

“We have to break it,” I say.

“We will.”

I turn toward him. “They can’t get out.”

“I know.”

A scream cuts through the smoke.

My mind fractures in a dozen directions at once.

Ezra.

The guests.

Mariah.

Ali.

My head snaps toward Rhett. “My friends.”

“They’re near the house with the others.”

“Are they safe?”

His hesitation lasts less than a second.

It’s enough.

“As safe as anyone can be right now.”

It isn’t an answer.

It’s the only one I’m getting.

I nod once. “Take me to Ezra.”

We run.

The farther we get from the main farm, the quieter everything becomes.

Not actually quiet.

Wrong quiet.

The screaming fades behind us. The music is gone. Even the roar of the fire seems to dull until all I can hear is my breathing and our feet pounding against the dirt.

Then the smoke ahead of us glows orange.

Rhett slows.

I don’t.

I push through the last row of corn and stumble into the old Communion ground.