He heard a sound to his left. He turned and pointed his flashlight; he saw a great black shadow and the eerie green glow of eyes staring back at him. He waited but the eyes came no closer; he started forward again and the eyes moved with him. He heard another sound on his right—then another behind him. He turned and saw two more pairs of glowing eyes watching his every move. He felt a knot of dread in his stomach but he forced it down.

There’s always something, he reminded himself. Some barrier, some obstacle, something to keep me from getting the job done—but I’ve faced worse than this. She’s crazy if she thinks this will stop me.

He started again with renewed confidence, trying his best to ignore the three sets of eyes that slowly tightened the circle around him—but in less than a minute the three dogs had encircled him completely and blocked him from taking a step in any direction.

He waved the flashlight like a club at one of them. “Get back, dog!”

The dog let out a subterranean growl.

Then he heard another sound—a small, whisking sound, like raking in shallow leaves, coming from somewhere in the darkness ahead. A moment later a tiny dog appeared and planted itself directly in front of him, challenging him, shattering the night with its incessant piercing yap. He pointed the flashlight at it and looked: It was ugly and hairless, with bulging black eyes and a jaw that jutted out to one side. He swung his right foot back and kicked the little dog, sending it tumbling into the darkness with a howling yelp.

The instant he did he felt a searing pain in the back of his left leg; the dog behind him had lunged forward and sunk its teeth into his hamstring, causing the muscle to spasm and the leg to instantly collapse. He threw back his head to scream—but before he could make a sound, the lead dog leaped forward and took him by the throat, sending him crashing to the ground and smothering the sound of his cry. The two dogs pinned him to the earth, one holding his throat and the other his leg, while the third dog took a middle position and fixed its eyes on the man’s soft and unprotected belly.

He grabbed the muzzle of the dog at his throat and tried to pry it off—but when he did, the dog only tightened its grip. He felt himself getting light-headed; he wondered if the animal was crushing his carotids, cutting off the blood supply to his brain. He let his hands drop limply to the ground and lay paralyzed, staring up helplessly at the stars.