"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

 He looked at me and I saw that he was in no shape for joking around. And he was right, this was no
time for jokes. But when you're going out into the Zone you can either cry or jokeтАФand I never cried,
even as a child. I looked at Kirill. He was holding up under the strain, but was moving his lips, like he
was praying.
"Praying?" I asked. "Pray on, pray. The further into the Zone the nearer to Heaven."
"What?"
"Pray!" I shouted. "Stalkers go to the head of the line into Heaven."
He broke out in a smile and patted me on the back, as if to say don't be afraid, nothing will happen as
long as you're with me, and if it does, well, we only die once. He sure is a funny guy, honest to God.
We turned in our passes to the last sergeant, only this time, for a change of pace, it was a lieutenant. I
know him, his father sells grave borders in Rexopolis. The flying boot was waiting for us, brought by the
fellows from PPS and left at the passageway. Everyone else was waiting, too. The emergency first-aid
team, and firemen, and our valiant guards, our fearless rescuersтАФa bunch of overfed bums with a
helicopter. I wish I had never set eyes on them!
We got up into the boot, and Kirill took the controls and said: "OK, Red, lead on."
Coolly, I lowered the zipper on my chest, pulled out a flask, took a good long tug, and replaced the
flask. I can't do it without that. I've been in the Zone many times, but without itтАФno, I just can't. They
were both looking at me and waiting.
"So," I said. "I'm not offering any to you, because this is the first time we're going in together, and I
don't know how the stuff affects you. This is the way we'll do things. Anything that I say you do
immediately and without question. If someone starts fumbling or asking questions I'll hit whatever I reach
first. I'll apologize now. For example, Mr. Tender, if I order you to start walking on your hands you will
immediately hoist your fat ass into the air and do what I tell you. And if you don't, maybe you'll never see
your sick daughter again. Got it? But I'll make sure that you do get to see her."
"Just don't forget to give me the order," Tender wheezed. He was all red and sweating and chomping
his lips. "I'll walk on my teeth, not just on my hands, if I have to. I'm not a greenhorn."
"You're both greenhorns as far as I'm concerned," I said. "And I won't forget to give the orders, don't
worry. By the way, do you know how to drive a boot?"
"He knows," Kirill said. "He's a good driver."
"All right then," I said. "Then we're off, Godspeed. Lower your visors. Low speed ahead along the
pylons, altitude three yards. Halt at the twenty-seventh pylon."
Kirill raised the boot to three yards and went ahead in low gear. I turned around without being
noticed and spit over my left shoulder. I saw that the rescue squad had climbed into their helicopter, the
firemen were standing at attention out of respect, the lieutenant at the door of the passage was saluting us,
the jerk, and above all of them fluttered the huge, faded banner: "Welcome, Visitors." Tender looked like
he was about to wave to them, but I gave him such a jab in the ribs that he immediately dropped all ideas
of such ceremonious bye-byes. I'll show you how to say good-bye. You'll be saying good-bye yet!
We were off.
The institute was on our right and the Plague Quarter on our left. We were traveling from pylon to
pylon right down the middle of the street. It had been ages since the last time someone had walked or
driven down this street. The asphalt was all cracked, and grass had grown in the cracks. But that was still
our human grass. On the sidewalk on our left there was black bramble growing, and you could tell the
boundaries of the Zone: the black growth ended at the curb as if it had been mown. Yeah, those visitors
were well-behaved. They messed up a lot of things but at least they set themselves clear limits. Even the
burning fluff never came to our side of the ZoneтАФand you would think that a stiff wind would do it.
 The houses in the Plague Quarter were chipped and dead. However, the windows weren't broken.
Only they were so dirty that they looked blind. At night, when you crawl past, you can see the glow
inside, like alcohol burning with blue tongues. That's the witches' jelly breathing in the cellars. Just a quick
glance gives you the impression that it's a neighborhood like any other, the houses are like any others,
only in need of repair, but there's nothing particularly strange about them. Except that there are no people