he bounded, covering the yards and yards between him and his victims, leaping from one tree after another, passing one small sleeping hillside house after another, until he landed in the clearing just as the young men were entering the house.
The place glowed like a wedding cake beyond them against the night.
A roar came out of Reuben before he willed it, ripping from his chest and his throat. That anything but a beast could roar like that was impossible.
All three of the young men turned in the vestibule of the house, and saw him plainly rush towards them. They were nineteen, maybe twenty years old. Their screams were lost in the sounds of his own growls. One man fell down but the other two - the crafty ones, the exultant ones - turned to run.
He caught the first man easily and ripped his neck open, watching the blood spurt. With all his soul, he wanted to devour the man, to close his jaws on his flesh, but there was no time. He lifted the broken body, squeezing it greedily in his paws, and then relinquished it, heaving it far away from him, out towards the distant road.
Oh, too little, too quick!
With a flying leap, he caught the other two struggling to get out of the back door which was apparently locked. One of them was clawing hysterically at the glass.
The other had a gun. Reuben caught it, clearly breaking the man,s wrist as he wrenched it from the man and cast it aside.
He was going to close his jaws on this one; he couldn,t stop himself, he had to do it. He was so hungry for it! And why not, because he would never never allow this man to live.
He couldn,t stop his ravening growls as his teeth sank into the man,s skull and throat. He clamped down as hard as he could, and felt the bones crack. He heard them crack. A whine came out of the dying man.
It thrilled Reuben to run his tongue over the blood pouring down the man,s face. Killer, filthy killer.
He bit deep into the man,s shoulder, and tore loose both cloth and flesh. The taste of the flesh was rich and overpowering, mixed with the stench of evil, the stench of viciousness, the stench of utter corruption. He wanted to unwrap the man and gorge himself on his naked flesh. This was always what he,d wanted to do; and why didn,t he give in to it?
But where was the other culprit? He could not let that last of the trio escape.
No chance of that. The third man was helpless. He had slipped down into the corner and was shaking violently. He held out his two hands. Water was gushing out of his mouth or was it vomit? He had urinated on himself, and the urine was puddling around him on the tiled floor.
The hideous spectacle of him maddened Reuben. Murdered the children, murdered them. The room is rank with the stench of it. And rank with the stench of cowardice too. He lunged for the man and caught his chest in both paws, crushing it, hearing the bones snap, and staring at the man,s white and shuttering face until the eyes went dim. Oh, you died too soon, you craven animal.
He slammed the jangled body against the floor. Still unsatisfied, his growls as loud as before, he picked up the corpse and threw it against the side window of the room and the glass shattered as the body vanished in the falling rain.
A sudden terrible disappointment gripped him. They were all dead. He moaned aloud. A rough sob came out of his chest. It had been way too fast, and he threw back his head and roared again as he had before. His jaws ached. He clenched and opened and roared again. It was the worst craving he,d ever felt. He could have torn at the frames of the doors with his teeth; he wanted to lock his teeth again on anything that he could find.
The saliva was dripping from his mouth. He wiped at it angrily. His paws were streaked with gouts of blood. But the children, have you forgotten the children? Have you forgotten why you are here?
He staggered through the house back towards the front door. He slammed at the mirrors and the framed pictures that covered the walls. He wanted to smash the furniture. But he had to get to the children.