She thinks she hears the sound of a claw on a rock, back and to the left of her. She can’t be sure because Rocky is yapping his little head off now. She could dive forward and attack the lead animal. That would disrupt the ambush and bring the rest of the pack out of hiding.

Of course, Rocky would surely get shredded and end up in the stomach of one of those things. And Grace really loves the mutt.

So she runs.

She scoops Rocky up and stuffs him inside her hoodie with one smooth move and begins sprinting down the path the way she came.

A step behind her, she hears jaws click shut on empty air. She hears a howl, and the chase is on.

She puts all her strength into her legs, pumping her arms. She remembers the long runs with her mother before school, when she was still too young to understand that nobody should have been able to cover as much ground as they did, at that speed.

Rocky has shut up. She feels him curled into a ball, snug against her stomach.

She knows they’re right on her heels. They’re made to run over this kind of uneven ground. She can hear them breathing. She doesn’t need to look.

Her feet hit asphalt and she’s in the neighborhood again. She sprints into the warm pool of illumination under one of the streetlights. She expects them to stop as if it will burn them. Things like these always hated the light before.

Then the streetlight blinks out. It might be a timer, or coincidence. But she watches as the rest of the neighborhood’s lights go out in a line, all the way down to the end of the road.

She hears the click of claws on the pavement.

Alana doesn’t panic. She pours on the speed, and opens a dozen yards of distance between the creatures and herself.

Through the picture windows of the houses, she can see people zoned out in front of their plasma screens or bathing in the blue light of their tablets and phones. She knows that she could shout for help, and people would come running. It’s a good neighborhood. People help each other, look out for the kids when they drive, and give away full-size candy bars at Halloween. These people are nice.

She would hate to get any of them killed. That’s why she stays quiet.