"Richard Kadrey - Butcher Bird" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kadrey Richard)

It wasnтАЩt SpyderтАЩs habit to urinate in public, but at the best of times the LoungeтАЩs toilets were
questionable. Sometime during the day, Rubi told him, they had committed hara-kiri. тАЬOne
summer during college I was trekking in Nepal,тАЭ Rubi said. тАЬFirst night out we came to this little
village and I asked this lady who ran the local teahouse where the toilets were. In Nepali she said,
essentially, тАШAnywhere but here,тАЩ and pointed to an open field.тАЭ
As Spyder unzipped in the alley, he considered the clubтАЩs name and wondered if the real afterlife
would be at all like this. A tab at your favorite bar. Pretty girls to chat up. The occasional piss in an
alley next to GodтАЩs own dumpster. It didnтАЩt seem like the afterlife would be too bad a place. Spyder
wondered who the bouncer in the Bardo Realm would be. The Black Bhairab, he decided. ShivaтАЩs
most wrathful form. The six-armed, crown-of-skulls-wearing Mad Max of the afterlife.
Spyder zipped up and turned to reenter the club. Like a bad dream, the Black Bhairab was right
there beside him. Something big enough, strong enough and wild enough to be the Black Bhairab,
though Spyder knew that these qualities were also present in many of your dedicated crackheads.
This particular crackhead grabbed Spyder by the front of his shirt and lifted him off him feet,
tossing him into the trashcans and empty liquor boxes at the back of the alley.
Stunned, Spyder reached for his cash, hoping this would get the guy to back off. The mugger
came up and slammed his boot into SpyderтАЩs midsection, then kept kicking, even after heтАЩd
snatched the money from SpyderтАЩs hand. Spyder didnтАЩt even get a decent look at the guy and that
really bothered him. He wanted to see the face of the man who was about to kill him.
As if the mugger had heard SpyderтАЩs thoughts, he felt himself being pulled up by his collar until
he was standing upright. Then SpyderтАЩs feet lifted from the dirty alley floor and he hung limp in the
air at the end of the muggerтАЩs arm. тАЬYou know how to whistle donтАЩt you? Just put your lips together
and blow,тАЭ Spyder croaked as he hung there. He punched the crackhead as hard as he could.
The guyтАЩs face gave as if there were no bones in there, just a lot of flesh-colored pudding.
The muggerтАЩs face began to change. His skin crawled in the jittery sodium light from a
streetlamp. The muggerтАЩs eyes swelled and burst from their sockets, black and glittering with
facets. His lips seemed to melt, drawing down into a long, twitching tube. Cracked, curved horns
burst from the sides of his head. The mugger exhaled a fetid cloud of steaming breath. SpyderтАЩs
brain was on overload. The adrenaline rush and oxygen deprivation had him flashing on a frantic
stream of schizophrenic data. Snakes. Insects. Wolves. Angels. The mugger had a smell.
Overwhelmingly sweet. Vanilla roses. Rotting fish. The perfume of dead schoolgirls. Spyder
thought of his room in high school. HeтАЩd had a poster on the wall, a parody of the kind of
out-of-date Civil Defense instructions they used to give kids in case of nuclear attack. The last line
had read: Put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.
Spyder vomited on the muggerтАЩs arm. The puke seemed to have some kind of mysterious juju
power because at that moment the muggerтАЩs head sheered off and rolled to the alley floor. His
body, which still had a solid grip on SpyderтАЩs collar, followed a second or two later.
When he could open his eyes, Spyder saw a pair of shiny vinyl boots in front of his face. He
closed his eyes again, ready for this new intruder to finish him off.
тАЬGet up,тАЭ came a womanтАЩs voice.
Spyder looked up and saw the blind dancer he and Lulu had spoken to in the bar earlier that
night. She was holding a long and bloody sword in her hands.
тАЬIтАЩm tapped out. The dead guy got all my money,тАЭ said Spyder.
тАЬIтАЩm not mugging you, fool. IтАЩm saving you. Not that you deserve it.тАЭ The blind woman reached
down for SpyderтАЩs arm and helped him to his feet.
тАЬThanks. What the fuck just happened?тАЭ
тАЬA Bitru demon attacked you. I killed it.тАЭ
тАЬI donтАЩt believe in demons.тАЭ
The woman nodded. тАЬAll right. It was a junkie with the head of an insect and possessing
superhuman strength.тАЭ