"02 - Torment" - читать интересную книгу автора (McGough Scott)

Chainer listened for a moment, then started off toward

the largest house on the ruined block. Its immediate

neighbors had been bombed and burned flat. The ruined

mansion with the caved-in roof and exposed frame stood

tall, a broken but defiant veteran of a barely remembered

war.

Chainer paused at the bottom of the front porch steps.

Except for the beckoning sound, the mansion was completely

silent and still. Chainer expertly drew his knuckle dagger,

clenched it blade-down and ready at his hip, and went

carefully up the rickety porch. He doubted there was any

live danger inside the mansion, but then again, he didn't

want the Cabal's equipment to be damaged either.

The interior of the mansion was in worse shape than the

exterior. The main floor was more hole than floor, with the

basement level clearly visible from the front doorway. An

ornate metal banister led up to the second floor, but the

staircase itself was gone, a pile of broken wood and carpet

scraps in the basement below. Chainer looked closer and saw

what appeared to be bones among the wreckage of the

staircase. At least three complete humans, one of whom was

very small.

Chainer took one tentative step onto the threadbare

floor, but before he could put his full weight down the

ancient boards split and fell away. He stepped back onto