in Ramon's laugh to bring the wrath of the sahael.
"Turns out I've got morals," Ramon said. "I wouldn't have thought so."
"And this sound. It was an expression of surprise?"
"Yeah," Ramon said. "Something like that."
"And what is the reason for displaying the food in a tree branch? Would it not be better to consume it?"
Ramon frowned his confusion, and Maneck gestured toward the crotch of the tree under which they sat. There, wrapped in leaves that almost obscured the blood, was the skinned body of a flatfur. Ramon shifted the sahael over one shoulder and climbed up to look at the corpse. It was like the one he had found by the lake. Hidden, but hidden poorly. He was a little disconcerted that he hadn't noticed it himself. Scavengers would find it by its scent, the way they had found the jabali rojo that Maneck had killed. Ramon's twin was doing something. But ...
With a feeling of connection that was almost physical, he understood. He remembered Martin Casaus, back in the early days when they'd been friends. The drunken stories he'd told of trapping chupacabras, using fresh meat as bait to lure them into a pit ...
"That cocksucking son of a whore," Ramon said under his breath, and then dropped back down to the ground. "That pendejo's fucking insane!"
"What do these words mean?" Maneck demanded. "The display of the food is aubre?"
"No, it's got a function. That bastard is leading us into a chupacabra's range, and these things are meant to draw it toward us."
"This chupacabra. It is dangerous?"
"Fuck yes. It'll kill him if it finds him."
"This would undermine his function," Maneck said. "His actions lack meaning."
"No, they don't. He knows we lived through the blast. He's seen us, and he knows we're close enough that he won't have time to build a raft. He's tired, he's hurt, and he knows we're going to catch him. So he's trying to put us in the same place as the chupacabra, and hope that it kills us before it kills him. It's a crazy risk to take, but it's better than giving up," Ramon said, and shook his head in admiration. "That's one tough cabron we're up against!"
For a moment, Maneck's shoulders rose in confusion, but then it seemed to understand what Ramon was saying and feeling. Perhaps the sahael had given the alien some insight into human perversity.
"We will find the man before this happens," Maneck said, rising to its full height.
"We'd fucking better," Ramon said.
Chapter Fifteen
For two more days, Ramon and Maneck trekked through the forest, the man leading the way and the alien at his heels. They paused for Ramon to eat and drink, and to piss and shit, but rested only at night. The other Ramon had made perfunctory camps, sleeping in the hollow of a lightning-struck milkpine one night and in a poorly constructed lean-to the next. The fire pit and well-built shelter of the earlier campsites were gone, and Ramon understood why. His twin was truly on the run. They were down to the final sprint.
They found three more flatfurs along the path, and Ramon was fairly sure they had overlooked several others. The path they traveled would reek of blood to the creatures of S?o Paulo. And more and more often, Ramon saw signs of chupacabra: evil-smelling spoor on the path, trees gouged by sharpened claws, and, once, a distant call that was equal parts solitude and murder.
Maneck remained distant and reserved, but more comprehensible than it had been at first. With every night's rest, the alien seemed to gain strength and focus. None of the strange dreams had troubled Ramon again, and the issues of tatecreude and killing, Enye and genocide had come up in their conversation no more often than before. Memories still flooded Ramon from time to time - moments from his childhood, trivial events from his time in the Enye ship, and arriving on S?o Paulo. He found that he was better able to ignore them if he intentionally kept his mind on the path before him.
It was the middle morning of the third day when the game path they had been following reached the river. The great Rio Embudo. The river was almost too wide to see across - what had been a thin ribbon seen from afar had stretched into a clear expanse of glaciercold water, fast and smooth. Trees pressed up to the banks, exposed roots trailing into the flow like thick fingers. No human footprints marred the