"Barry Longyear - Dark Corners" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

He has a good plan, even so. His plan to kill Boyle is very good, but he made me promise not to write it
down. He’s afraid Hicks will read it and tell Boyle. I didn’t write it down, so I don’t remember the plan,
but Danny promised to tell me again right after he kills Boyle. He told me that once he kills Boyle, he’ll go
after Herb Liselli. Once Liselli is dead, Danny doesn’t care what happens. Then I can use the plan.

Boyle swears and his words fade as he moves away from the door. They have decided who the stupid
football players are and now Hicks is looking at me through the peephole. I keep writing down
everything on my palm even though I know it makes him furious. I don’t do it to make him angry,
although I don’t think Hicks believes that.

The door latch clicks.

The smell of the food.

It’s food time and I didn’t even know. The smell. I’m hungry. The smell makes my mouth water.

Hicks pushes open the door with his ass and says, “Lunch time, Nut. Put your imaginary pencil and pad
away and pay attention.”

I don’t.

I keep writing.

He pushes me back, pulls me to my feet, and forces a big spoonful of something into my mouth. I want to
feed myself. I can do it. And I am hungry.

He digs the edge of the spoon into my upper pallet, making me cry out. He did it on purpose. I see the
look in his eyes.

I gag on it. The something that was on the spoon is like a thousand tiny bugs in my mouth. I’m sure it
must be rice. But it isn’t like rice. It’s like bugs. Thousands of tough, crunchy little beetles. I push it out of
my mouth with my tongue.

“Damn you, you stupid pig!” Hicks drops everything, grabs the hair on the back of my head, and brings
back his fist.

The Misty Man asks me, “Now?”

“No,” I answer. “Not just yet.”

Darkness—




I awake to countless aches. They divide, organize, process, and center into several major systems. The
Misty Man explores them with fingers of black fog.

There is a swelling over my left eye. My cheeks are swollen, the bones beneath bruised. My ribs ache all