"Pike, Christopher - Whisper Of Death.(1991)TXT" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

I strode over to the window and looked out. I
watched for five minutes and not a single car drove by.
My fear deepened as the silence around me seemed to
expand. The only sound was the faint rustling of the
wind on the walls of the house, the desert sand
scratching at the paint, like long nails craving an
invitation inside.

I sat back in my dad's favorite chair and picked up
the phone. The dial tone was reassuring. I dialed
Pepper's number. It rang and rang. I called a friend at
school, Sandy Hankins. There was no answer. I called
the local supermarket. It was open twenty-four hours
a day. Nobody home. I called my best friend, Susan
Duggin, in Florida. I got her parents' answering
machine. I put down the phone and thought of the
deserted gas station. Even before we got into town . . .

"Where is everybody?" I asked out loud.

No one answered me. I almost screamed right then.
I would have but the silence wouldn't allow it. The
silence was too strong. I got up and ran out of the
house.

The block was deserted. I went to my neighbors-
the Hollens. They had two hyperactive kids and a dog
that barked at its own barking. I banged on the door.

"Hello.' Is anyone there? Please answer if you're
there. It's an emergency."

I was talking to a door. I ran to my neighbors on the
other side-the Blaines. No kids or animals but two
loud people who got up early and let the rest of the
world know it. I called to them, too, and injured their
front door with my fists, but they were definitely not
home.

It seemed no one was.

What did I do next? I began to move toward the
center of town-six blocks away. I stopped at other
houses, even peeked my head in a couple, but I quit
doing it very soon. There was no one around. The
sight of a corpse would have been welcome to me right
then. A skeleton, sitting at a kitchen table with a fresh
cup of steaming coffee. Sure, let me meet him, I'm
desperate. Anything, even a goldfish. But I was alone.