"David,.Peter.-.Howling.Mad" - читать интересную книгу автора (David Peter)

"We would communicate through a combination of sounds and body movements, " he
replied.
("Well, how the hell am I supposed to get that across?")
"I don't know. Why don't I just tell you the basics of what we discussed and you
just put it into dialogue form ?''




"What is wrong, my mate?" she asked.
He stepped back and tilted his head slightly. "I have found something very
strange. Something that could affect the entire pack."
"What? What is it?"
"Perhaps, before I tell you, we should call the pack together."
Ayesha was silent a moment and then agreed. The wolf went to the front of the
cave, tilted his head back and howled. The sound cut through the air, the most
forboding and lonely of all the sounds that are heard in the woods. Smaller
creatures who heard it quickly scurried under bushes or inside trees, frightened
that, within moments, they might wind up as someone's lunch.
Sometimes the howls were intended for just such creatures, but this time it was
for the wolves themselves. From near or far, the wolves of the pack were roused
from their slumber or their hunting, were prompted to return to the place of the
pack. Their leader was summoning them, and it was not wise to keep the leader
waiting.
He waited until they were all gathered, looking at him expectantly. Then,
quickly and succinctly, he told them everything that he had encountered that
afternoon. Ayesha gasped slightly when he described his headlong flight from
capture. And when he finally concluded his narrative, he paused, clearly
inviting comments from the others.
It was the youngest member of the pack who made the mental leap and realized
what was happening. "The humans in the human packplace nearby usually keep away
from us, and we from them," he said. "But you say there is a creature with the
scent of self-death in the woods. And this creature killed a human. Perhaps this
creature has killed even more humans, and the humans think we are doing the
killing."
The gray pack leader nodded. "That would make sense. Humans make no use of their
pathetic noses, so they would not be able to detect difference in the smells. To
them, all are same." He paused. "We must be cautious, my pack-mates. If we can
find this creature and kill it, it will solve the humans' problem in addition to
our own. Tonight, when we hunt as a pack, we shall see if we can find the
creature. Even if creature does have self-death smell, pack can kill creature
easily."




Night had fallen, the full moon above giving light to the forest below.
Noiselessly the pack made its way through the forest, pausing only here and
there to try to pick up the scent of the intruder with the smell of self-death.
The gray wolf paused near a bush and found the scent, much stronger than it had