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“Why are they doing that?”
No one answers.
Then the first kernel twitches.
My blood turns cold.
A hair-thin crack splits its red shell.
Then the second.
The third.
Something pale pushes through the openings.
Roots.
Tiny at first.
Delicate.
Then they plunge into the soil.
The ground beneath my hand pulses.
Once.
Every kernel answers.
They split completely open.
Roots tear downward while green shoots punch upward, growing inches in seconds.
“No.”
I scramble backward.
The shoots follow.
Stalks thicken before my eyes, leaves ripping free and unfurling as they climb past my knees.
My waist.
My chest.
“Ezra…”
He drags me farther back.
They keep growing.
Tassels burst from their tops.
Three ears swell beneath the leaves.
Then everything stops.
Three fully grown stalks stand where three kernels landed only seconds ago.
