"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 14 - Jack of Swords" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

Its size belied its speed. An engine of bone and muscle
weighing half a ton, it jerked from a standstill to the speed of a
running man in a numbing explosion of energy. Fast as it was
Dumarest was faster. He sprang aside, his arm lifting as it drew
level, the knife he had lifted from his boot rising, stabbing, the
edge slicing at the arteries of the throat as he dragged it clear.

Blood fountained to splash on the ground, his body; carmine
smears washed away by the rain but leaving its sickly scent to
hang on the air. As the beast halted close to the fence he struck
again, the point driving deep between the ribs, the hilt jarring
against the hide as the blade dug into the heart.

"Earl!" Cran stared, incredulous. "HowтАФI've never seen a man
move as fast."

"The rope. Quick!"

It came toward him like a snake, a thing of carefully woven
strands of salvaged wire. Looping it over the head Dumarest ran
back toward the fence and, with the aid of others, hauled the
carcass toward the gap. The rain helped as he had known it
would, the mud acting like an oil. He snarled with impatience as
the animal jammed, and setting his feet deep in the slime, threw
the strength of back and shoulders against the wire. It grew taut,
hummed like a plucked string, stretched a little but held. With a
sudden rush the mass passed through the opening and within
seconds was clear.

"Keep pulling," snapped Dumarest. "Hurry!"

They needed no urging, panting as they struggled against the
weight, freezing as the beam of the searchlight swept toward
them. It touched the upper part of the torn fence, hesitated, then
turned away as one of the men, recognizing the danger, jarred
the mesh.

Their luck was holdingтАФbut time was running out.
 Dumarest strained, edged to the right, and found the hollow
he had noted earlier. A final heave and the dead animal rolled
down the slope to come to rest in a pool of watery mud.

"Get the others, Cran. Be careful."

As the man slipped away Dumarest set to work, his knife
plunging, ripping, blood flying as he flensed and dismembered
the carcass. Those watching snatched fragments of meat,
gulping them like dogs, licking the blood from their hands with a
feral hunger.