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ground, the head lolling free.
 It's getting better, Josh. I can feel the muscles loosening up and I'm
starting to get some feeling back.
He removed his arm and let her walk by herself. By the time they reached the
top of the low bluff she was jogging a little.
 They grow  em tough in the North Woods, Oak said as he smiled encouragingly
at her. She grinned weakly at him through the grime and trailing hair that
covered her face. She was exhausted and hurting, but she didn't ask to stop
and rest. Not with hell only a few yards behind.
The woods closed in around them, muffling the circus of carnage that was
taking place back in the depression. Both men kept their eyes open for any
stray lionesses whose fury hadn't been sufficiently sated by the taste of
gargoyle flesh. With each step away from her tormentors Merry gained
confidence and strength. Eventually she'd recovered enough to explain what had
happened to her as they jogged back toward the river.
 About ten years ago I got stuck in a small town south of Tacoma. I was just
out of high school. I was having breakfast in this little coffee shop when a
whole gang of real bikers pulled up outside. Not movie types; the kind who
trade runaway girls around and sell dope outside junior highs. They were all
laughing and joking when they came in. The one old waitress and I were the
only women in the place. They ordered coffee and rolls and stuff and kept
looking at me and whispering. I was too scared to get up and leave because I
would have to walk right past them.
 But nothing happened. Just a lot of leers and comments. Nobody spoke to me
and nobody tried to touch me. Aren't nightmares always worse than the
realities they're based on?
Oak recalled his own.  Not always.
It had been a while since they'd heard a distant shriek or muted roar.
Goddamn, he thought excitedly, we may actually get out of this.
Sure. Out of it into what? They were still trapped in the Out Of.
Olkeloki had better be about finished making his magic, Oak mused, because he
was ready to take the car and burn rubber racing back the way they'd come. At
that moment he'd have traded his whole pension for a glimpse of pure blue sky.
Merry was still rambling.  I thought I'd forgotten that. I guess there are
things the mind stores away in secret places and only drags out when you're
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least expecting them.
 Yeah. Did we get there in time? It looked like we got there in time.
 Just in time, I think, though I was so out of it when you two showed up I
don't know if I would have felt anything. I'm sure it would have been worse
than the airplane, though. God, I feel like I'll never be clean
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again!
If it hadn't been for Kakombe they would have burst tired and sweaty out into
the clearing where they'd left the four-wheeler parked. And if they'd done
that, everything they'd accomplished up to that point, everything they'd
battled and overcome to reach Ruaha penetrating into the Out Of, fighting off
nightmares all would have been lost, and the rest of the world with them.
Maasai senses were functioning at peak efficiently. Kakombe heard in time and
ordered them to drop where they were standing. They lay motionless for a long
moment. Then he gestured for them to continue crawling forward.
The little Suzuki rested where they'd left it. Mbatian Olkeloki stood nearby,
looking calm and composed.
A dozen gleeful shetani were dancing a circle around him.
28
While Oak and Kakombe had been occupied trying to rescue Merry, the shetani
had found and trapped the one person in all the world who represented a threat
to their plans. They formed the circle with their bodies and linked arms. From
time to time two of them would drop those attenuated limbs and mockingly
invite Olkeloki to walk out of the circle. He stood motionless among the
celebrating horrors, ignoring their taunts.
Fifteen feet in front of the four-wheeler Olkeloki had built a rock cairn.
Atop it rested a single clay pot.
Indecipherable inscriptions decorated its sides and within the singular vessel
a small fire burned steadily.
The cairn stood in the center of the inscribed circle the old man had been
working on when Oak and
Kakombe had gone after Merry.
At first Oak was surprised they hadn't destroyed the cairn, scattering the
carefully placed stones and shattering the firepot. Then he saw that from
their point of view this was better, this taunting and teasing of the human
who dared pursue them to their sanctuary.
Kakombe gestured for them to rise and attack, but Oak shook his head no. The
senior warrior whispered excitedly.  Remember how it was on the slopes of Ol
Doinyo Lengai. We will charge them again and they will flee.
 Maybe they will and maybe they'll turn and tear us to shreds. This is their
world, not ours, and there's no platoon of laibon to back you up this time.
There are only two of us. Kakombe stared back at him, then nodded ruefully. A
wild charge was the last resort of the tactically ignorant.
Most of the shetani were human-sized or smaller, but there was one giant that
stood a good ten feet high standing off to the side watching the rancid dance.
Its knuckles dragged the ground and its lower jaw flapped loosely beneath the
upper. Vacant, bulging eyes looked down on the ring of its prancing, cavorting
cousins. Oak did not envision it fleeing in panic from a couple of puny,
spear-wielding humans.
 This time we use a little ilmeet strategy. You know what a diversion is for?
Kakombe sneered at him.  Ilmeet think they invented everything.
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 I stand corrected. See if you can slip around behind them, and stay away from
that big one. Merry and
I will try to get to the car. As soon as you've found a spot you like, start
trying to draw their attention.
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Maybe you can get them after you.
The Alaunoni considered this.  I have a better idea. Why do you not sneak
around to draw their attention while Merry and I run to the car?
 Because you're better in the woods than I am and I'm better behind a wheel
than you are.
Kakombe reluctantly agreed.  I see what you have in mind. It is a good plan,
but one that must work the first time because we will not live to try it a
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