," said Kieran bitterly. "I count seven."

Webber said, "My God, I--"

* * * * *

The people ran. They tried to break back to the river and the trees that
could be climbed to safety, but the hunters turned them. Then they fled
blindly forward, toward the hill. They ran with all their strength,
making no sound. Kieran and Webber ran with them, with Paula between
them. Webber seemed absolutely appalled.

"Where's that gun you had?" Kieran panted.

"It's not a gun, only a short-range shocker," he said. "It wouldn't stop
these things. Look at them!"

They bounded, sporting around them, howling with a sound like laughter.
They were as large as leopards and their eyes glowed in the
cluster-light. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, as though hunting
was the most delightful game in the world. One of them ran up to
within two feet of Kieran and snapped at him with its great jaws,
dodging agilely when he raised his arm. They drove the people, faster
and faster. At first the men had formed around the women and children.
But the formation began to disintegrate as the weaker ones dropped
behind, and no attempt was made to keep it. Panic was stronger than
instinct now. Kieran looked ahead. "If we can make it to that hill--"

[Illustration]

Paula screamed and he stumbled over a child, a girl about five, crawling
on her hands and knees. He picked her up. She bit and thrashed and tore
at him, her bare little body hard as whalebone and slippery with sweat.
He could not hold onto her. She kicked herself free of his hands and
rushed wildly out of reach, and one of the black hunters pounced in and
bore her away, shrieking thinly like a fledgling bird in the jaws of a
cat.

"Oh my God," said Paula, and covered her head with her arms, trying to
shut out sight and sound. He caught her and said harshly, "Don't faint,
because I can't carry you." The child's mother, whichever of the women
it might have been, did not look back.

An old woman who strayed aside was pulled down and dragged off, and then
one of the white-haired men. The hill was closer. Kieran saw now what
was wrong with it. Part of it was a building. He was too tired and too
sick to be interested, except as it offered a refuge. He spoke to
Webber, with great difficulty because he was winded. And then he
realized that Webber wasn't there.

* * * * *

Webber had stumbled and fallen. He had started to get