"Christopher Rowe - The Voluntary State" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowe Christopher)

around his mouth and nose. His wrists were bound before him
with rough hemp twine. Even frightened as he was, Soma
couldn't contain his astonishment. "Smoke rope!" he said.
The squad leader grimaced, shook his head in disgust and
disbelief. "Rope and cigarettes come from two completely


8
 The Voluntary State
by Christopher Rowe


different varieties of plants," he said, his accent barely
decipherable. "Vols are so fucking stupid."
****


Then Soma was struggling through the undergrowth
himself, alternately dragged and pushed and even half-carried
by a succession of Crow Brothers. The boys were running
hard, and if he was a burden to them, then their normal
speed must have been terrifying. Someone finally called a
halt, and Soma collapsed.
The leader approached, pulling his mask up and wiping his
face. Deep red lines angled down from his temples, across his
cheekbones, ending at his snub nose. Soma would have
guessed the man was forty if he'd seen him in the Alley
dressed like a normal person in jersey and shorts.
Even so exhausted, Soma wished he could dig his
notebook and a bit of charcoal out of the daypack he still
wore, so that he could capture some of the savage
countenances around him.
The leader was just staring at Soma, not speaking, so
Soma broke the silence. "Those scars"тАФthe painter brought
up his bound hands, traced angles down either side of his
own faceтАФ"are they ceremonial? Do they indicate your rank?"
The Kentuckians close enough to hear snorted and
laughed. The man before Soma went through a quick,
exaggerated pantomime of disgust. He spread his hands,
why-me-lording, then took the beaked mask off the top of his
head and showed Soma its back. Two leather bands
crisscrossed its interior, supporting the elaborate
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 The Voluntary State
by Christopher Rowe


superstructure of the mask and preventing the full weight of
it, Soma saw, from bearing down on the wearer's nose. He
looked at the leader again, saw him rubbing at the fading