"Applegate, Katherine A - Animorphs - 23 - The Pretender" - читать интересную книгу автора (Applegate Katherine A)

of other padded rooms full of nuts who think they're Napoleon or George
Washington or a red-tailed hawk.

How would I know? Does a madman know he's mad? Does he realize that the
delusion isn't real?

I left the rabbit to the other hawk. But that indelible memory of being
the prey instead of the predator hung over me, shadowed my mind. Even
with the bright early-morning sun baking up thermals off the roads and
parking lots, I felt like I was flying in shadow.

But there was a stronger need than the need for sanity. I was hungry.
Hungry in that desperate, all-consuming way a predator has. It's a mean
hunger. A dangerous hunger.

It was early still. The housing development below me was quiet. Parents
were getting into their cars and driving off to work. Kids were waiting
for buses. Some were talking or playing around. Most were standing
glumly, wiping the sleep out of their eyes.

I floated above it all, ignored by the humans below me. And then I saw it.

It was fresh, I could see that right away. A raccoon, its back quarter
smashed flat by a tire.

Roadkill. Carrion.

10 But it was fresh. It hadn't been dead more than an hour. The flesh
would still be warm, especially on this warm day. But the maggots would
not have started growing. Not yet.

I circled above it.

If only it had still been breathing. Stupid, isn't it? Drawing a line
between prey that's alive, that you have to kill, and somehow pretending
that's okay, that's right. And on the other hand, acting like something
already dead is off-limits.

The truth is, I'd seen hawks eat roadkill. Older, weaker hawks. Unlucky
hawks. It happens.

It just hadn't happened to me.

I circled lower. So fresh. I was so hungry. Such a stupid, meaningless
distinction. My hunger argued with me. My hunger was convincing.

I dropped down, as suddenly as if I were going in for the kill. Maybe I
wanted to pretend that's what I was doing.

I dropped down and landed on cracked blacktop. I looked around for cars.