Hunters Run Page 0,64
whirling tangle that was alien clashing with alien. His mind was empty with fear, his own high voice squeaking out the Paternoster without realizing it.
Through the sahael, he could feel Maneck's body grappling with the chupacabra, exerting every last bit of strength it possessed. It was not as hopelessly uneven a struggle as it would have been had Maneck been human - the chupacabra was stronger and heavier, but not so much so that Maneck was completely without a chance. Both Maneck and Ramon screamed in agony when the thing raked its claws down Maneck's side. But then Maneck's long arms found some purchase. The chupacabra's battle calls shifted, becoming at first alarmed and then agonized as Maneck hugged it close, its cablelike arms squeezing the air from the predator's lungs. Ramon could hear the chupacabra's ribs crack, hear it gasp in pain, and, for a moment, he felt a surge of amazed hope that they would win.
But then the chupacabra writhed and twisted, its legs flailing. A claw pierced Maneck's wounded eye, and unbearable pain radiated down the sahael into Ramon's flesh. He and the alien cried out as one. The chupacabra bounded back and landed on all fours, already bunched to spring again. Ramon felt Maneck's distress echoing his own. The chupacabra leaped, and Maneck fired another blast of energy. The bolt went wide, and the impact of the chupacabra's hurtling body knocked Maneck back. Now it was the chupacabra with its arms locked around Maneck, its thick hind legs digging at the alien's legs and belly with long, saber-sharp claws. Ramon screamed in agony, pulling at the flesh of the sahael, as if he could rip the leash free.
And, to his astonishment, Ramon felt movement in his throat - a loosening, like tendrils of metal withdrawing from his bones and nerves. His experience of Maneck's pain lessened, his doubled consciousness faded. With a disturbing slithering sound, the sahael pulled away from him and turned, snakelike, to whip at the chupacabra. The flickering exposed wires at the sahael's end arced with energy as it struck at the chupacabra, and the beast screamed in pain, but Maneck seemed to be weakening, and nothing that had happened so far had significantly slowed the chupacabra's relentless attack. Ramon, standing thigh-deep in the icy river water, bent to find some stones to throw at the beast - then came to his senses.
He was free, and once the chupacabra had killed Maneck, he would be next. This was no time to fight. This was the time to flee.
He took a great breath and dove, kicking as hard as he ever had, moving with the current. The sounds of battle vanished as his ears filled with water. Beneath the river's glittering surface, bright green fish swam, unconcerned with the violence on the shore. Fine golden filaments rose from the muck at the bottom and were bent by the water as if they pointed the way to the sea. Ramon was careful to swim well above the golden threads; they could sting as bad as jellyfish. When he came up for air, he had already covered at least a hundred meters, and the howls of the chupacabra were fading behind him. He took a fresh lungful and dove again.
His first impulse was to set out for the opposite bank, but seconds after he'd had the thought, he abandoned it. The water was hardly warmer than the ice that had spawned it, and adrenaline would do little to stave off hypothermia. Crossing the river would be suicide. Ramon angled back for the near shore and realized as his arms flailed and clawed at the current that he was in trouble. The fast river flow had pulled him around the bend, but it had also taken him farther from the bank than his own efforts could have. He rose again, treading water and borne along like a cork. He could hear no sound of the struggle. Either the fight had ended or he was far enough away that the sound of it was drowned out by his splashing. He turned his head, blinking hard to clear his eyes, and found the shore. His heart sank.
Come on, Ramon, he told himself. You're a tough pendejo. You can do this thing.
He turned himself toward the riverbank and started swimming as hard as he could perpendicular to the flow. The river plants and streamers of moss below him were his guides as he pushed himself toward the uncertain safety of