the snake. A hideous smell suddenly exploded in the air.
The Jeep smacked into a tree. Charlie, still screaming for all she was worth, was thrown forward, hit the side of her head on the dash, and was still seeing stars as she found herself hauled bodily across the seat and out into the cold night air.
“Run, damn it!” Jake yelled as he dragged her upright. Head spinning, gasping now rather than screaming, Charlie needed no further urging. With visions of that hideous black snake slithering after her to spur her on, she ran like the hounds of hell were on her heels. Jake pounded beside her, his hand tight around hers.
Behind them, she could hear the sound of the Jeep’s doors opening and Woz and Denton spilling out.
“There’s a fucking skunk in there!” Woz shouted, coughing and cursing at the same time.
“And a snake! God, I hate snakes!”
“You fucking pussy, Denton! I hate snakes!” Woz mimicked Denton’s voice, all the while coughing his lungs out.
“I’m going to puke! That smell … .” There was a gagging sound.
“What are you, some sort of pansy-ass? Come on, we can’t let them get away.”
“Jesus, I’m gonna be sick.”
The voices faded as Charlie found herself sliding on her backside down a steep, vine-covered embankment. Jake was slightly in front of her, sliding, too, his hand clamped around hers, his weight pulling her down.
“Sadie,” Charlie gasped.
“We’ve got more to worry about than a damned dog,” Jake said as they reached the bottom. He dragged her to her feet. “They’ve got guns, remember. Be as quiet as you can.”
“But they’ll kill her.”
“Why would they? She’s a fucking dog. It’s us they want to kill.”
With this grim reminder, Charlie found herself running again, dragged along in Jake’s wake. The woods were so dark Charlie could barely make out the outlines of trees as they flashed by. The ground underneath was slippery with fallen leaves. The smell of damp was everywhere, and here and there small points of light glowed through the darkness.
Eyes, Charlie thought with a shiver, trying not to think about the kinds of nocturnal creatures they might belong to. The next thought that popped into her head brought faint comfort: nothing, nothing, could be as bad as that snake.
Something was behind them, giving chase. Charlie could sense it more than feel it, sense rather than hear the pant of their pursuer’s breathing, sense rather than feel the weight of their pursuer’s gaze.
It could not be Woz and Denton. They could not have found them so easily in the dark. And they would make more noise, with heavy thundering footsteps and the crashing of their bodies through the undergrowth.
To say nothing of the firing of their guns.
“Jake! Jake!” She tugged on his hand to warn him. Head lowered, he was burning up the ground in front of her, leading the way, either knowing where he was going or giving a good imitation of it.
“What?” It was a growl thrown over his shoulder. His pace never slackened.
“There’s something behind us.”
He glanced over his shoulder again, and his hand tightened on hers, but before he could respond in any other way a bullet smacked into a tree not two feet from Charlie’s head.
“Shit!” Jake altered course, propelling her in a right angle to the shot as another one was squeezed off. This one went thankfully wide, whistling harmlessly through the trees in the same direction as the first.
“Over there!” The voice was Denton’s, and it was still some distance behind them. Whatever she had sensed chasing them had been far closer. The crack of a shot and the whoosh of a bullet passing terrifyingly near Charlie’s ear put all thoughts of a second pursuing party out of her mind. The first was bad—and close—enough.
“Keep your head down, and move your ass.” It was a roar. Jake raced through the trees, leaping over the underbrush and fallen logs that were suddenly underfoot, practically pulling her