"Jacquelyn Hooper - Home On The Range" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hooper Jacquelyn)

Chris took the rifle in his hands, marked a target with the sight, put his
finger on the trigger. He had used the rifle only when helping Rae test it after
it had been cleaned. He had not liked the feel of it then. He hated the feel of
it now.

It was not that he hated guns. He had bought himself a Portland Pocket Laser .64
with his first paycheck. Laser fire was quick, effortless. You did not have to
think to use it.

The rifle required thought. Chris had worked with Paladin long enough to know
what happened when you thought wrong. A native would be wounded, but it would
not be dead. Once it healed, it would come back stronger, wiser.

Emphasis on wiser. The longer the attack, the quicker they learned, the more
they knew about you, about New River. About everything.

Paladin's shotgun brought the sound of thunder to the field. Part of a native's'
wing was torn clean away.

"Now!" Paladin said.

Chris pulled the trigger. The rifle had been aimed at the smallest of the
natives. It turned its head as the bullet left the chamber. He watched the
native's reaction as the bullet flew past its head.

It put a hand to its ear, and screamed. It turned in Chris's direction, its fiat
eyes searching.

The one with the torn wing pulled the small one down into the field. The rest
flew into the air, shedding feathers in their wake.

Paladin fired at the flock. He killed one with his first shot, the bullet going
through its chest. It fell to the ground, disappearing in the sea of grain. He
grazed another in the leg. It continued to fly.

"Chris," Paladin said, hissing into the earplug.

He raised the rifle, aimed. The sound of shifting grass made him pause. He
lowered the rifle, and listened.

"Kill it."

"The other two," Chris asked. "Where are they?"

"Get the straggler!"

Chris did. He shot it clean in the chest. It lingered in the air, casting a
tortured shadow across the grain field. It beat its wings once, then tumbled
from the sky.