The man dropped down, and Re-l, biting her lip, took over shooting. Her gun arm moved without thinking, aiming at one beast after another. She could feel the slow burn creeping up her arm, and she realized how much she'd been relying on the other man without noticing. It would be five minutes if she was lucky.

Hard as she tried to keep them back, the cats were advancing. For every animal she dropped, it seemed, another awoke to take its place. Her breath heaved through her lungs, and she shot again and again, concentrating on the mechanism of the action, letting herself forget what was at stake in the repetitive motions of firing.

There was a shout from behind her and she spun, slightly too late. The huge cat was jumping towards her, and though she hit it at once, its momentum carried it forward. It landed half on top her, and its claws scraped down her arm. She pushed it off with a grunt, too worried to care about her arm, and shot again at the nearest animal.

Her breath was coming faster and faster. How much longer could she keep this up?

"A grenade will be fine," she said, between gasps. "Just do it fast!"

And she raised her arm to shoot again.