After an American soldier is killed in the Viet Nam War, he must find his way to the afterlife — if the ma qui, Vietnamese "angry ghosts", will let him.
The protagonist of this short story is William Anthony Collins, an American soldier who was killed while attempting to rescue his friend from snipers.
Because his body was taken by the Viet Cong before his fellow soldiers could recover it, he is unable to progress to the next stage of the afterlife and wanders about Vietnam as a ghost.
Upon seeing DePaul disappear and the ghost of the boy emerge, Collins realizes why he was able to carry the child: he is in fact a ma qui, an evil spirit who brings death and misfortune.
He visits the spirit house from before, but Phan only seems puzzled, while Chau delights in his evil deeds and calls him "beloved demon", prompting Collins to run away.