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Then it points behind me toward the three men.

Their seeds glow.

I look at Mercy. “What does that mean?”

She wipes her face. “I don’t know.”

Rhett groans. “Back to that?”

I laugh. I can’t help it. A horrible exhausted laugh.

Mariah runs across the field. “SAGE!”

I turn.

She hits me hard enough to nearly knock me over.

Ali joins.

All three of us collapse.

Dirt. Blood. Ash. Crying. Laughing.

Alive.

“You bitch,” Mariah sobs.

“I know.”

“I hate Halloween.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I fucking do now.”

Ali looks at the dead field. “Are we done?”

Nobody answers.

She points at us. “No. Absolutely not. Somebody answer me.”

I look at the crowned figure and it begins dissolving. Not dying.

Returning.

Branches become leaves. Leaves become ash. Ash becomes soil. Before its face disappears, two eyes open. Green. Bright and ancient.

They look at me.

The corn whispers one final word.

KEEP.

Then it’s gone.

The moon shines over an empty field.

I stare. “Keep what?”