The man in the black T-shirt came up out of his crouch and launched himself toward the thing. He seemed to chase his balance for a few strides, and then he simply ran—about as fast as any grownup could move. He crossed the distance to the utility box and attacked it, slamming his hands and knees into it, caving in its sides, tearing off its top panel and pulling out cables and wires like the entrails of some prey animal.

All at once the man dropped to a crouch again, clutching at a ripped-out tangle of wire, and screamed.

It was like no sound Sam had ever heard a human make. It was animalistic. It was high-pitched and loud, and raw.

And it was enough to wake the two unconscious men near the crash site.

Their bodies jerked, responding to the sound. They squirmed in the dirt, pushing themselves up and looking for the source of the scream. In a matter of seconds both men were sitting up, their arms braced on the ground, their gazes fixed on the shrieking man at the edge of the subdivision.

Dani reacted in unison with Sam; she flinched and looked around for any visual cover, anything to hide behind before the men turned and saw them.

The only thing big enough, close by, was a long section of the chopper’s tail; it rested in the corn shoots ten feet to their left. Sam pointed to it, and Dani nodded, and together they got Lauren moving. They covered the distance and dropped flat behind the tail section, and heard the two men clamber to their feet a moment later.

Already the men were talking—clipped little phrases Sam couldn’t quite make out. Then one of them called out a name—Gorman or Borman, something like that—and Sam heard them shoving aside pieces of the wreckage near the chopper.

“They’re looking for their buddies,” Dani whispered.

Sam nodded, the implication dropping on him like a weight.

“They’re going to find us here,” he said.

Dani nodded, her eyes huge. She looked at Lauren, lying between them. The girl was still oblivious, holding her head in pain.

“They’ll kill her,” Dani whispered. “Or they’ll take her again. They’ll take all of us.”

Sam nodded. No denying it.

The sound of the searching came closer—metal fuselage panels being heaved aside, flipped over.

Sam stared out into the darkness they’d planned to escape into. The notion of simply running for it seemed laughable now—they wouldn’t get ten feet without the men seeing them, and giving chase.

And with Lauren in tow, he and Dani could not possibly outrun grown men. He doubted whether he could even outrun them by himself, unhindered. Maybe, maybe not. He narrowed his eyes, thinking about that, as the voices and the sounds got closer.

“Shit…” Dani whispered. She was pulling Lauren against herself, protective.