"Kate Wilhelm - Day Of The Sharks" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

Suddenly Shar draws her breath in. "Oh, no!" she cries. She is staring out at
the bay. "Sharks!"

Gary sees them, two fins moving through the water almost leisurely, as if they
know there is no need to hurry. Bill turns and runs to the house. He comes
back moments later with a rifle. He puts a handful of shells on the dock and
loads a clip.

"Where are they?" His voice is hoarse, the words slurred. Shar points. He
doesn't raise the rifle. "Too far," he says in his strange voice.

It is excitement, Gary realizes; his own mouth is dry and he feels prickly
with sweat and goose bumps, as if something loathsome has touched him.

"It won't do any good," Veronica says, and her voice is different, too, high
and clear, but steady. "As soon as the baby is born, she'll want to go out to
sea, won't she? They'll be waiting for her."

She is looking out at the channel. There are more fins. A pack then. They must
have followed the trail of blood from out in the gulf. Veronica appears
transfixed, as if in a trance.

"You'd better go inside," he says. She does not give any sign that she heard
him. He touches her arm and she twitches with a convulsive shudder, like the
whale's. She does not look at him. "Get inside, damn it!" His hand falls from
her arm and he turns away. She wants to see the blood fest, he realizes,
sickened. The near rapture on her face makes her look like a transcendent Joan
at the moment when the torch touches the faggots. He takes a few long steps
away from her, but then comes back; he can't leave, neither can he stand still
and watch. He hunches his shoulders and paces back and forth, back and forth.

Suddenly the rifle goes off and the sound is a shock that hurts. It rolls over
the water, echoing.

"You can't kill them from here!" Shar cries.

"Only wanted to nick one," Bill says, aiming again. "They'll turn on one
that's wounded, maybe leave her alone." The sharks move in a great semicircle,
not coming directly toward the dock. They are swimming faster. He fires again.

"The bastards! The bastards!" Bill says over and over, nearly sobbing. "The
bastards!"

Without warning the false killer whale moves away from the dock. She swims for
about ten feet and rolls to her side. A cloud of blood spreads over the water.
The gulls screech in a frenzy. They swoop down on the water, hiding the whale
from view. She jerks and makes a great splash; they rise, screaming.

The baby is being expelled. Gary can see the body, the curled tail already