"David L. Robbins - Endworld 08 - Denver Run" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robbins David L)

Telford grunted, reaching for the good tire lying on the road next to his
left leg. "I didn't mean anything by it," he said in justification of his
griping.

"No," the third soldier cracked, "you never do."

"Let's just get it changed, Mitchell," Brandon remarked, "and get the
hell out of here."

"I'm with you," Telford chimed in. "I don't like being left out here in the
middle of the boonies."

Mitchell, the youngest of the trio, took the spare tire from Telford and
positioned it on the hub.

"I still don't see why the captain had to go and leave us here," Telford
went on while Mitchell worked at replacing the lug nuts.

"You know the answer to that one as well as we do," Brandon
commented while watching a stand of trees on the other side of Highway
81. "Speed and surprise are essential to our mission. He couldn't afford to
wait while we fixed the flat."

"I wish I was an officer," Telford said longingly.

Brandon chuckled. "You? An officer? Don't make me laugh. You'll
always be a private, lunkhead, just like the rest of us."

Mitchell was working on the last of the lug nuts. "It won't take us long
to catch up with the others."
 Telford snickered, his expression slightly sinister. "Won't the Family be
in for a big surprise!"

Brandon cocked his head to one side, listening. "Do you guys hear
something?"

"I don't hear anything," Telford responded.

Mitchell slowly stood, the lug wrench clasped in his right hand. He
stared to the west, back the way they had come, and focused on the
distant horizon. Highway 81 stretched for as far as the eye could see in a
westerly direction, sections of the road buckling or cracked from age and
neglect, a rarely traveled reminder of the technological status of
civilization before World War III. "I hear it," he confirmed.

"Sounds like a truck to me," Brandon commented, clutching his M-16 a
bit tighter.

"I hear it too," Telford finally affirmed. "What do you think we should