"Nancy Kress - Evolution" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

long. Deaths.. in New York State alone...passed one million this morning.
Six and a half percent of the...the population...Did you really think you
could hide on your side of...the...river..."
"Randy!"
"Go...home."
I strip off his lab coat and wad it up for a pillow, bring more ice
from the refrigerator, try to get him to drink some water.
"Go...home. Kiss everybody." He smiles to himself, and starts to
shake with fever. His eyes close.
I stand up again. Should I go? Stay? If I could find someone in the
hospital to take care of him --
The phone rings. I seize it. "Hello? Hello?"
"Randy? Excuse me, can I talk to Dr. Satler? This is Cameron Witt."
I try to sound professional. "Dr. Satler can't come to the phone right
now. But if you're calling about Sean Pulaski, Dr. Satler asked me to take
the message."
"I don't...oh, all right. Just tell Randy the Pulaski boy is with
Richard and Sylvia James. He'll understand." The line clicks.
I replace the receiver and stare at Randy, fighting for breath on the
floor, his face as gray as Sean's when Sean realized it was murder he'd gotten
involved with. No, not as gray. Because Sean had been terrified, and Randy
is only sick.
_My work is what matters_.
But how had Sean known to go to Sylvia? Even if he knew from Ceci who
was on the other side, how did he know which people would hide him, would
protect him when I could not, Jack could not? Sylvia-and-Elizabeth. How much
did Sean actually know about the past I'd tried so hard to keep from touching
him?
I reach the elevator, my finger almost touching the button, when the
first explosion rocks the hospital.
It's in the west wing. Through the windows opposite the elevator banks
I see windows in the far end of the building explode outward. Thick greasy
black smoke billows out the holes. Alarms begin to screech.
_Don't touch the elevators._ Instructions remembered from high school,
from grade-school fire drills. I race along the hall to the fire stairs.
What if they put a bomb in the stairwell? What if _who_ put a bomb in the
stairwell? _A lot of people in dark clothing cross the back lawn and quietly
enter Dan and Ceci's house next door, carrying bulky packages wrapped in black
cloth._
A last glimpse through a window by the door to the firestairs. People
are running out of the building, not many, but the ones I see are pushing
guerneys. A nurse staggers outside, three small children in her arms, on her
hip, clinging to her back.
They aren't setting off any more bombs until people have a chance to
get out.
I let the fire door close. Alarms scream. I run back to Pathology and
shove open the heavy door.
Randy lies on the floor, sweating and shivering. His lips move but if
he's muttering aloud, I can't hear it over the alarm. I tug on his arm. He
doesn't resist and he doesn't help, just lies like a heavy dead cow.