"William W. Johnstone - Ashes 13 - Fury In The Ashes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

to obey."
"You chicken-shit!" the driver sneered.
"Maybe," the man said, getting out and pulling his
duffel out with him. "But I'll be alive and sittin'
on the front porch with a woman and some kids long
after your bones have been picked clean by the rats.
See you boys." He walked into the timber by the
side of the road.
"He's yeller!" a man sneered.
"Maybe," Laredo said. "And maybe he's smarter
than all of us."
"Huh?"
"We gonna die, Slick. The days of the outlaw
in the lower forty-eight is over. You all heard them
radio transmissions from the Rebels the other day.
They told us we either lay down our guns
now and surrender, or we die. They wasn't
ki.in," boys. Make your minds up now."
"It's a big country, Laredo," he was reminded.
"It ain't big enough for us and Ben Raines. Let's
go if we're goin". We got to find us a spot
and dig in."
Ike and Cecil's troops pushed down
to Crescent City and found it deserted. The troops
under the command of Striganov and West pushed down
to Alturas and found the town in ruins; no signs of
life. Ben and his contingent rolled into Youreka and
stood
down while Ben met with the leader of the survivors in
that area.
The town, once holding a population of six thousand,
showed signs of many fierce battles, some of them quite
recent. But it also had clean streets, neat
homes, and many large, well-tended gardens.
Neatness and cleanliness were almost always a sign of people
who refused to knuckle under to any kind of disaster and
who were not content to sit around and bitch and moan while
waiting for somebody else to help pull them up.
The leader of the group, a middle-aged man named
Chuck, showed Ben the small but well-furnished
clinic, the school, and all the other
improvements, including electricity, sewage
treatment, and water.
"There were other survivors in this area, Chuck,"
Ben said, consulting a clipboard. "George
Williams from Chico. Another George from Red
Bluff. Harris from Redding. Pete Ho from
Ukiah. John Dunning from Santa Rosa."
Chuck shook his head. "Most of them are dead,
General. At least as far as I know, they are.