"Bradley Denton - The Territory (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denton Bradley)

The Territory



Bradley Denton




1993



Sam came awake and sat up choking. His chest was as tight as if wrapped in steel cables, and his heart
was trying to hammer its way out. He gulped a breath and coughed. The air in the abandoned barn was
thick with dust. There was just enough light for him to see the swirling motes.

A few feet away, the skinny form of Fletcher Taylor groaned and rose on one elbow. "What the hell's
wrong?" he asked.

"Shut the hell up," the man on the other side ofTaylor said.

"You go to hell,"Taylor snapped.

"Go to hell yourself."

"Let me sleep, or I'll send you all to hell," another man said.

"The hell you will."

"The hell I won't."

Taylorshook a finger at Sam. "See all the hell you've raised?"

Sam put on the new slouch hat thatTaylor had given him, pulled on his boots, and stood, picking up the
leather saddlebags he'd been using as a pillow. "I'm sorry as hell," he said, and left the barn, trying not to
kick more than four or five of the other men on his way out.

The light was better outside, but the sun had not yet risen. Sam closed his left nostril with a finger and
blew through his right, then closed his right nostril and blew through his left, trying to clear his head of
dust. The ground was dry. The thunderheads that had formed the night before had rolled by without
dropping enough rain to fill a teacup. He could have slept outside, in clean air, and been fine. As it was,
his head ached. This wasn't the first night he had spent in a barn or corn crib since leaving the river, but
he still wasn't used to it. At three months shy of twenty-eight, he feared that he was already too old for
this kind of life.
 Most of the camp was still asleep, but a few men were building fires and boiling chicory. One of them
gestured to Sam to come on over, but Sam shook his head and pointed at the sycamore grove that
served as the camp latrine. The other man nodded.

Sam went into the trees, and within twenty steps the smells of chicory and smoke were overwhelmed by