"Michael Z. Williamson - The Humans Call it Duty" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williamson Michael Z)

“Phil! Guys!” the other yelled. “It’s an animal! It got Lisa!”

Two.

Cap shot away under the weeds, found a tree and raced aloft. He could barely
see through the tangle of leaves, and was worried about their Goggles. He was hot
now, and they had seen him. Did they know what he was?

They were distressed. He knew it from the increasing loudness, the shakes in
the voices, the reek of fear from them and their indecision. He would win this yet. He
didn’t know all of what he heard, but he knew the harness was recording it, and he
caught some words he did know.

“—call for evac!” said one.

“We can’t!” said Sergeant. “The rebels know we are out here, that’s why we
walked all this way. We are supposed to find those roving missile teams.”

“I know why we’re here, goddammit! But that thing killed Lisa and Misha!”
one argued.

Sergeant replied, “You’re going to call in and abort because of an animal?
Any idea how that will sound? And evac is for the wounded.”

“It’s still out there!”

“So now we know. We shoot it when it comes back, add it to the count,”
Sergeant said.
 “I don’t think—”

“I don’t care what you think!” Sergeant interrupted. “We’ll bivouac here, take
a look in daylight if we can, and continue from there. Shoot anything that isn’t
human. Var, you and Jaime take first watch.”

“S-sure, Phil,” “Uh-huh,” the two replied, not sounding happy. In a short
while, the other four tucked cloaks around themselves and leaned against trees. Var
and Jaime walked around the clearing, eyeing each other and the blackness. Cap
dropped to the ground and crouched. He meant to kill Jaime if he could, then drag
him off.

Jaime had the Comm.

It was halfway until dawn before the chance came. Cap didn’t sleep, simply
watched and waited, though the day had been draining and disturbing. Patience was
a tool of the hunter. The Enemies tossed restlessly before slipping into disturbed
slumber. At the darkest, coolest time of night, Var muttered something to Jaime, then
sat against a tree, took off his Goggles and rubbed his eyes. That made him almost
blind. Cap moved without hesitation.

He leaped over a log, dropped into a slight dip, and exploded out of it. Here is