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

and backed away from the fire. "You'll have to excuse me. I'm
tired."

"Of course." By his smile the man clearly indicated he didn't
believe a word of it. "Perhaps we can talk some other time."

"I hope so." Clutching his rifle, Waller went away, stepping
cautiously across the dark land to the place where his bedroll
was waiting. A few of the other men had also retired but Waller
would have betтАФconsidering what was to occur tomorrowтАФthat
nobody was sleeping yet. He crawled between the blankets,
covering himself from neck to toes. The wind continued to pour
across his exposed face. He uncovered his hands and quickly lit a
cigarette. The smoke failed either to calm or warm him. Maybe
the man was right. Maybe he didn't like the fightingтАФor the
killing. He wasn't afraidтАФhe had never been thatтАФbut he didn't
much like it, either. There were times when he wouldn't have
minded waking up at home in bed.

Not that he had a home. Not unless you wanted to call it
simply the United States of America and get no more specific
than that. He had been born thereтАФyears and years ago. He
remembered nothing of the place, except that it was a long way
from here. Home was a place, when they talked of Africa, you
envisioned Tarzan and his apes, a wet jungle, raging charging
lions, frenzied native dancers. It was nothing like this: a flat,
arid, bleak stretch of savannah waste. Or the dreadful dry heat
that sucked the water whole from your body. Or the tall,
handsome nativesтАФdevout Moslems, all of them. OrтАФ a sight he
would never forgetтАФthe naked, big-bellied, starving children
standing in front of their empty, death-ridden huts. No, home
was a place where some people owned more food than any one
man could eat in a lifetime. Home was a place to be
avoidedтАФand despised. The six months he had spent there last
yearтАФthe first such months in seven yearsтАФhad been plenty
enough to last him a lifetime. He would never go back.

And if he ever did, they would surely jail him. He was a traitor
now.

And he liked it better here. The men respected himтАФ even the
one who had questioned him tonightтАФand he respected them.
What else mattered?

A jagged shadow loomed over him. Instinctively, he reached
for his rifle.

"It's me!" cried a voice.

"Oh." Waller relaxed. "It's you."