"William W. Johnstone - Ashes 05 - Alone in the Ashes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

closed for any other reason except the whim of a
local warlord or some religious nut who wanted a
closed society to practice his or her mumblings
upon.
On impulse, Ben jerked his Thompson
submachine gun free of the clamps that held it
upright, and laid the old weapon on the seat beside him.
"You and me, old boy," he said with a smile,
"are outdated." He patted the smooth stock. "But
we can still spit and snarl, can't we?"
Ben wore a .45 semiautomatic pistol
belted around his waist and a long bladed Bowie
knife on his left hip. In the rear of the
camper-covered bed of the pickup,
Ben carried a myriad of survival gear.
Tent and sleeping bag, extra clothing, a
case of grenades, and two cases of
.45-caliber ammunition. A rocket launcher
and a case of rockets for the tube. Cases of food
and jugs of water. He had a Weatherby 30-06 with
scope, and a Remington model 1100 S.
W.a.t. shotgun with an extended tube that held
enough three-inch magnums to stop a rampaging Cape
buffalo. Strapped to both sides of the Chevy
pickup, and on a special framework built on
top, he carried five-gallon cans of extra
gas. He had enough radio equipment in the truck
to transmit anywhere within what used to be known as the
United States of America.
After more than a decade of leading his people, constantly
searching for a place to put down roots and live and
work and grow and rebuild from out of the ashes, Ben
Raines was pulling out, heading out by himself.
He would be alone. In the ashes.
BOOK ONE
Chapter 1
Ben pulled off the highway just outside of what
remained of Woodbury, Tennessee. Tucking his
truck behind a farmhouse on the east side of the
highway, Ben sat for several minutes, his eyes
searching for signs of life. Falling back
on years of experience, Ben knew after only a
moment that he was alone.
He inspected the house, cautiously going from
room to room. The house was, of course,
ankle-deep with the litter left behind by rats and
mice. When the rodents had eaten everything they could
find to eat, they had left. But once they had done
that, the roaches had followed.
The house was crawling with living waves of brown