"Gordon Eklund - Falling Toward Forever" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eklund Gordon)

his left, a twig snapped. He sat up with a start and heard the
sound again. Silently, he crawled away, slipping behind the tree
trunk. Holding himself poised, he peered surreptitiously into the
forest, awaiting his first view of whoever was approaching.
 The crackling twigs came nearer. The forest shuddered with
approaching footsteps. They struck slowly now, with caution.
The birds fell silent. The insects ceased humming. Waller was
alone with this unseen stranger. He was close now, very close.

Then the footsteps stopped. They seemed to hesitate, then
waver. The footsteps were going away.

Waller jumped painfully to his feet. He wasn't about to let the
man come this close, then wander away. He hurried to keep the
footsteps behind him. He found a trail and huddled in the bushes
there. The footsteps kept coming. He couldn't see. When the
footsteps were even with where he was hiding, he jumped out.
He grabbed for the man's arm, caught it, jerked it behind his
back, and pulled up.

"Stay right where you areтАФfreeze."

The stranger disobeyed, struggling. "Let go of meтАФ who do
you think you are?"

Waller thought he had passed beyond the point of surprise
but the sight of this woman did succeed in startling him.

She was the same blonde, thin young woman who had shot
him back in the stone hut.

He let her go.

Spinning around, she slapped him solidly on the cheek.

"Haven't you hurt me enough already?" Waller said,
indicating his wounded arm.

"Oh," said the woman. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be. Just tell me this: what did you bring
me here for?"

She frowned and looked hurt. "I was just going to ask you that
myself," she said.
 CHAPTER FOUR
One of the good things about living in a forest was the ease
with which firewood could be gathered before nightfall. Waller
ignited the blaze with a handful of dry grass and one of the
matches he had happily discovered deep in a pocket. The fire