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A young man in a black festival volunteer shirt stands outside wearing a baseball cap and plastic badge, breathing hard.

Mercy frowns.

She moves toward the door but does not unlock it.

“What?”

He puts both palms against the glass. “Miss Mercy?”

Her eyes narrow. “What?”

“One of your pregnant ladies went down behind the school.”

Petal straightens behind us.

We all look at her.

The volunteer cannot see through the reflection from where he stands.

Mercy goes very still.

“Which pregnant lady?”

The young man hesitates.

That is all I need.

Crypt draws his gun.

The volunteer’s eyes widen.

Then he runs.

“Fuck.”

Crypt is through the door before I can blink.

Mercy locks it again immediately.

Petal comes beside me. “Well.”

I look at her belly. “You look upright.”

“Mostly.”

Lark peers through the window. “He went toward the vendors.”

Mercy is already calling Hyde. “Crypt chased a fake volunteer toward the vendors. Black shirt, ball cap, event badge. He tried to lure me out with a story about Petal. Send another patched man to the school door. Now.”

Hyde promises someone is coming, but the nearest available brother is still on the far side of the vendor field.

I look through the glass.

There are too many people outside, and the volunteer disappears between tents almost immediately.

Then something crashes near the school-side lane.

Glass shatters.