Hunters Run Page 0,91

opposite bank. Therefore I went where I could go that you could as well. You suggest things that are not the case. This is aubre. You must cease to express aubre ."

The chupacabra emitted a low growl, its body shifting and restless, but constrained. There were scorch marks along the beast's side where Maneck had shot it; the fur had burned away and left wide streaks of reddened, blistered flesh. Maneck had given, it seemed, as good as it got. The sahael pulsed twice, the bruised flesh engorging like a worm's. Ramon felt a passing ghost of sympathy for the chupacabra. At least when he had suffered the thing in his neck, he'd understood what was happening. He wondered how many times Maneck had punished the chupacabra before it had understood that it was no longer its own master. And how many tricks the alien had been able to teach it.

"So," he said, with a bravado he didn't feel. "What've you got planned now? You can't just kill the poor fucker."

Maneck paused again.

"You are not accurate," it said. "The man must not know of us. The illusion of his knowledge will be corrected. You have proved yourself an apt tool. That will be expressed. The man is by the water now? We must approach him quickly."

"They're here," Ramon said. "The eaters-of-the-young. Those are their ships overhead. What if they're watching? What if they see you?"

Maneck seemed to hesitate, but it might only have been Ramon's overwhelming desire that made it seem so. The alien head bobbed.

"They do that, you know," Ramon went on. "They have sensors. Eyes. Last time they came through, the governor asked them to help find a kid that got lost out on the tierra hueso. And they did it. Took them a couple hours, and they told us exactly where the little pendejo was. How do you know they're not watching me right now? Tracking me because of that man I killed? You go out there where they can see you and kill him, they'll see the energy blast. And you think they'll mistake that for a tree falling or something? They'll know ."

It was the purest line of bullshit Ramon had ever spun. Maneck wouldn't need to fire an energy blast to kill the other man, not with a fucking attack chupacabra on a leash, ready to do whatever it was told. For that matter, Maneck was strong enough to wring the man's neck like a chicken's with its bare hands without any other help at all. But he didn't have the leash in his neck to tell Maneck what his intentions were anymore, or help it judge when he was lying. If the alien didn't believe him, the worst it could do was kill him. He waited, chest thrust out like he was spoiling for a fight. Maneck shifted its body from side to side. The chupacabra whined.

"What better course do you recommend?" Maneck asked.

"You let me go back to him," Ramon said. "You stay right here. You get it? Right here. I'll think of a reason for him to come back with me here. Under the trees where they won't see you, get it? Then you can correct whatever fucking illusion you want."

Because, he didn't say, we'll be on that raft again and out of here while you're still standing around like the ugly girl at a dance. Maneck was quiet and still as stone for the length of three slow breaths.

"Why would you do this?" the alien asked at last.

"It's my tatecreude, monster. I'm supposed to help you track him down, right? Well here I am. Helping."

"No," Maneck said, and its voice seemed almost relieved. "Your function was to behave as the man would. You are attempting deceit."

"So what do you think the man would do then?" Ramon demanded, the despair blooming in his chest, expressing itself in rage. "I'm trying to save my own skin. You think he wouldn't give up fucking anyone to help himself out?"

"No," the alien said. "He would not. You have performed your function, I must now - "

The shriek was high and squeaked at the end, like a little girl's cry of alarm or delight. All eyes - Ramon's, Maneck's, the chupacabra's - shifted. The man stood in the path behind Ramon. His face was pale and bloodless as marble.

"This is in accordance," Maneck said. "The flow brings him down the specific path. You are sometimes excellent creatures. I suspect it is your ignorance that ...