"David L. Robbins - Endworld 22 - Green Bay Run" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robbins David L)

He would rather live on his small farm, rather have to contend with the
uncertainties of rural life, than reside in a city where the people were
subservient to technology, where machines mattered more than the
persons running them. On the farm, at least, he enjoyed genuine freedom.

A raspy snarl came from the right.

Leveling the Winchester, he turned and saw two wolves watching him.
They were growing bolder and bolder as the minutes passed. How long
before they tried to bring him down? He realized they were probably as
hungry as he was, other-wise they wouldn't be stalking him. Wolves
seldom went after humans unless empty bellies prompted them to
disregard their customary caution where homo sapiens were concerned.

A yelp sounded to the left.

He looked, and the skin on his back tingled when he saw two more
wolves near a thicket. Incipient panic welled within him, but he swallowed
hard, wheeled, and hastened to the northwest. Maybe the wolves would
leave him alone for a while longer. Maybe they would wait for nightfall.
Maybe he could hold them off if he climbed a tree.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

A narrow stream materialized several dozen yards ahead, a ribbon of
water flowing from north to south.

He increased his pace, licking his dry lips, eager to taste the cool liquid.
If only he hadn't lost his canteen and all of his provisions when that band
of scavengers shot his mare out from under him a week ago! Since then,
he'd subsisted on whatever he could shoot for food, and he had been lucky
enough to find a spring or a creek every other day or so to quench his
thirst. Right at the moment his throat was parched.

A lone wolf appeared on the far side of the stream.

He halted and raised the Winchester to his right shoulder. If the wolves
thought they were going to keep him from the water, they had another
thing coming. He'd use his last bullet, if necessary, to slake his thirst.

The wolf, a huge beast sporting a white streak down its tail, walked to
the water and began lapping greedily, its eyes on the man.

So the heat was getting to them, as well. He grinned and waited until
the wolf finished and retreated into the brush, then he hurried to the
water and dropped on his hands and knees. His craving made him
careless. Without considering his safety, he set the rifle on the grass to his
left and plunged his hands into the stream.