into the street. The siren
was near now--and tardily, he realized that the siren might herald the
coming of the real monsters. It was as easy to look like a cop as any
other human!
He jerked open the door of the nearest car, pulled Ellen in, and
kicked the motor to life. He gunned away from the curb, tossed it into
second, and twisted around the corner, straight toward the siren that
was nearest. At the last minute, he jerked to the side of the street,
to let the police car shoot by. "Never run from a tiger--run toward
it. It sometimes works, and it's no worse."
The car was a big one, and the motor purred smoothly. He glanced down
at the dash, and frowned. There was no key in the switch. For a
second, he stared at it, and then grinned. He'd picked a monster's
car, apparently--they'd done a neat job of duplicating, but they
didn't need all the safeguards that humans used, and the switch had
obviously been a dummy.
He looked at the buttons on the dash, wondering which would make it
levitate. But he had no desire to test it, nor to stay in an auto
which could probably be traced so easily.
He braked to a halt outside the subway and led Ellen down.
"We're down to the last hole," he told her as the train pulled out of
the station. "How much money do you have?"
She shook her head, and held up her arm. "I left it, Will."
They were beyond the last hole, then. He realized now that as long as
they'd been in a crowded apartment house, filled with other humans, it
had proved a tough nut to crack for the aliens. But on the move....
"Maybe we have a chance," he told her. "If humans were after me, it'd
be tough--but these things have to avoid the police."
She looked at him, misery on her face. "There are no aliens, Will.
Those men you saw were F. B. I. men. That's where I reported you."
"You...."
He stared at her, but she was serious.
"But there was nothing about me in the papers, Ellen."
She pointed across the aisle. Spread over two columns on the front
page, an older picture of him showed plainly. And even at the
distance, the heading was boldly legible.
$100,000 REWARD FOR
THIS MAN!
He stared at the figure twice, unbelieving. He was no longer alone
against a small group of humans or aliens. Now every living human on
the face of the planet would be looking for him!
* * * * *
He could feel their hot breath on his neck, feel eyes staring at him
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