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shouts.
    But maybe Dr. Youngman had heard them. Maybe he just wasn’t turning on any lights. Maybe right now he was heading for his front door. Maybe he would swing it open wide just in the nick of time and say, “Hurry inside, kids. Quick!”
    Oh God, if only.
    “Forget it!” Jody gasped. “They’ll kill us on the porch!”
    Andy didn’t hesitate. Maybe he’d already reached the same conclusion. “Porch” was coming out of Jody’s mouth when Andy broke to the left.
    Jody made her turn away from the porch as fast as she could, and yelped as her feet skated out from under her.
    She seemed to take a long time going down.
    An endless sideways glide, her body sinking closer and closer to the ground, finally touching down with her left hip, then a smooth slide over the soft wet grass.
    Sliding in .
    Stealing second.
    Jesus! They’re gonna get me now!

Chapter Four
    The slide through the grass shoved Jody’s nightshirt halfway up her back.
    She sat up fast.
    The guy came in grinning. He dropped and skidded on his knees. He didn’t smell like the others, didn’t stink of rot.
    “Gotcha now, babe,” he whispered. Grabbing the short hair on the back of her head, he jerked her backward. His face came down at her. “You’re a real beaut.”
    She pounded the top of his head with the Louisville Slugger.
    An upward swing from the ground, one-armed and without much power behind it.
    She didn’t wait to see its effect, but rolled hard to the left. She felt a tug at her hair. Then she was free, scuttling over the grass on knuckles and knees, hanging on to the bat.
    The guy with the saber was running straight at her.
    He was only a few strides away when Jody burst to her feet and took off. He twisted and slashed. The saber made a quick whewww as it whipped past her back.
    Then he gasped.
    Jody glanced around in time to see him slip and tangle his legs and land on his rump. The guy who’d caught her on the ground was on one knee, ready to stand. One hand was clamped to the top of his hairless head, the other pulling a knife from the sheath at his hip.
    The man with the ax had done a lot of catching up.
    Can’t forget about him, Jody warned herself.
    He was tall and broad and muscular. And he had that ax.
    He looked unstoppable.
    He’ll just keep coming, no matter what.
    But he sure wasn’t fast. He was still in the middle of the lawn, jogging toward her, when Jody dashed onto the warm, dry pavement of the driveway.
    Andy waited for her, bouncing, shaking his arms and legs like a relay runner anxious for the pass of the baton. The instant Jody reached his side, he pivoted and ran.
    Side by side, they sprinted across the driveway.
    They ran for the hedge. It stretched the length of the driveway, a wall of green squared off at the top. Higher than Jody’s head.
    “Under,” Andy gasped.
    A cinch we can’t go through—or over.
    Jody saw what he meant. Though the bushes appeared to be a solid mass, there were open spaces near the ground, gaps between the trunks.
    She took a glimpse back. The guy who’d caught her after the slide had again taken the lead. He was almost to the edge of the driveway.
    She and Andy dropped to their knees.
    She thrust her bat through the gap, flung herself flat and squirmed into the bushes. Squirmed in fast and frantic. Ready to feel a hand grab her ankle and drag her out.
    Or maybe the guy with the ax would chop ...
    It’s taking forever!
    The bushes and the ground itself seemed to be alive, clutching at her, clawing her, pushing her back.
    And then she scampered free.
    Andy was beside her, pushing himself up. He was whimpering and gasping.
    “It’ll be all right,” Jody whispered. On elbows and knees, she turned herself around and peeked under the bushes.
    She searched for feet and legs.
    She saw only the driveway and the lawn beyond it. Pulling back, she snatched up the bat and got to her feet. “Let’s go.”
    “Where are they?”
    “I don’t know.”
    She guessed that the men must