Then a scream tears through the trees.
The sound is short and wet and cut off halfway through.
Something heavy crashes through branches higher up the ridge.
A deep, savage snarl follows.
Krueger.
My head snaps up toward the slope.
Leaves shake violently while branches crack under the weight of struggling bodies. A man’s voice breaks into a choking sound that hovers somewhere between a scream and a gargle.
Then the snarling grows vicious.
I scramble to my feet.
Seth appears between two pines at the same moment, moving fast toward the ridge. Beau comes from the opposite direction with his gun already raised.
“Stay behind me,” Seth says.
I climb the slope with them.
We find them about twenty yards up the ridge.
The sniper lies on his back against a fallen log with his rifle twisted beside him in the leaves.
Krueger stands over him.
The dog’s jaws are buried deep in the man’s throat.
Blood sprays across the forest floor as Krueger wrenches his head sideways and tears deeper into the wound. The sound of tearing flesh carries through the trees.
The man’s hands claw weakly at Krueger’s neck while his body kicks against the ground in fading panic. His arms tremble without enough strength to push the dog away.
Blood pumps through the shredded opening in his throat in thick bursts while he tries to drag air into ruined lungs.
Krueger only releases him when Seth gives a sharp command.
“Krueger.”
The dog steps back reluctantly while his chest heaves and dark blood drips from his muzzle.
The sniper tries to breathe.
The sound comes out as a wet bubbling choke.
His eyes are wide with panic while blood fills his throat and floods into his lungs.
I step closer and look down at him.
His throat has been torn open into mangled muscle and shredded skin. Every attempt to inhale forces more blood through the ruined tissue while his chest struggles uselessly for air.
He is drowning in it.
Beau steps beside me and raises his pistol.
The shot cracks once.
