‘RUN!' the man thought. ‘Move! Faster! I can't stop now.'
Over the man's head the night sky was black and cold, and in front of him were the trees. Tall, dark trees …five hundred metres away.
‘I can hide there,' the man thought. ‘I can hide in those trees. They can't see me in the trees.'
He looked behind him. He could see the lights. There were five or six men. They ran fast, and their lights moved up and down. They were not far away now. He could hear their feet on the ground.
The man ran faster. His legs were tired, his body was tired. There were noises in his head, he could not see. The trees were two hundred metres away. He wanted to stop running. He wanted to lie down and sleep.
Then he heard a new noise. Dogs.
"They've got dogs!' he thought. "Oh no! Not dogs! I can't run faster.
But he did. Faster and faster. The trees were a hundred metres away... fifty... twenty...
And then he was there. The trees opened their dark arms to him. But he did not stop running. It was dark and quiet under the trees. He ran first to the left, and then to the right. He came to a hill and for a second or two he stopped and listened.