Epilogue 2. Blade of Rage

Autumn Bower hides in the trees above a rocky outcrop, observing Lachlan and Lark, the newly engaged Rose and Fionn, Rowan Kane, and Sloane Sutherland Kane as they share quiet jokes and prepare to move toward a secluded farm. Autumn fingers the worn plaid shirt Sloane once gave her, noting Rowan’s lingering green tint from last night’s costume and the tenderness between Rowan and Sloane.

Thinking of the love she lost, Autumn remembers Adam, who was murdered three years earlier by Harvey Mead in a frenzy of chainsaw terror. She has survived by channeling grief into rage and vows that Adam will be the last person Harvey Mead ever kills.

Autumn recalls witnessing Rowan nailing Harvey’s hands to his barn floor and seeing Sloane return, wounded but exultant, carrying a mummified body. Sloane’s indomitable presence convinces Autumn that she, too, could become that kind of survivor—more than a victim, a reckoning.

As the group files down the path—Lark and Lachlan first, then Rose and Fionn, then Rowan—Sloane lingers last and spots Autumn. Recognition flashes as Sloane notes the plaid shirt she once gave Autumn in the dark. They exchange a silent nod before Sloane follows the others toward the farm and their next target. Autumn turns away into the woods, reveals her name—Autumn Bower—and commits to telling her own story.