Выбрать главу

- The typical excuses. Do you know where the entrance to the city is?"

"As far as I can remember on the map, it should be there.

I pointed to the West.

"It seems to me that the gate was recently moved from the West to the North. Look at the display!

"Nicholas. Is it on the news?!

"No," I said. But you were planning to go to your aunt's recently.

"Remember when we were attacked by the psychos?"

"I remember.

"All right. What? When?

"Mrs. Ive, we've actually fought people who had the last degree of psychological impairment.

Part 1. Chapter 4.

- Sympathize.

- Shall we go or not?

- Come on.

Wallis took Alex's hand, and Nicholas walked beside them, and I followed them, walking slowly over holes and rocks, looking around. We were walking.

When we were crossing the river, on the bridge, a guy ran past us, dressed in a long black cloak, covering his head with a cap and hood, and it seemed that he knew something unknown to us and was saying something about a bad attitude. We let him pass, went on, and a girl appeared in our path, holding the railing with both hands, her eyes showing that she was glad that the young man had left her.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" I said, walking up to her.

"What do you want?" Any advice you want to give? "what is it?" she asked.

"I'd like to know what happened between you and that man." I said again, pointing in the opposite direction.

"I don't know... It was Marcus. He loves me, but he's always bothering me, and so, to avoid feeling offended, I pushed him away from me. He is tired of his honest courtship. I'm sorry, too. I want to communicate, but respect the boundaries of my personal space is the first rule in any business. You don't want everyone to get attached to you for every reason, do you? "Yes," said the girl.

"What's your name?" I asked.

- My name is Oksana. Oksana Kent...

"I see. Did you know that there are no police in Darling?" Are you aware that the city is contaminated with dangerous chemicals? We're going out of town. Will you come with us?"

"How could this happen?" I thought all the news was meant to be easy to read. So it's true that there aren't many people in the city?

"It's true.

"What about Marcus?"

"You drove him away."

"Poor Marcus! I'm so sorry! We must find him!

"We don't have time, Victor!

"All right, you go!" Oksana is coming with you. I'll find Marcus and go back to the border.

"Be careful!"

“Good! See you later!”

"What a stupid thing to do! I now have to look for some guy who is offended by his girlfriend!” I thought, and started down the stairs.

I had to walk back down to the beach where I had left earlier with my friends, and in an attempt to save time, I had to start looking for Marcus Veit, who had so thoughtlessly left his girlfriend on the bridge, among people leaving the city. It was hard to understand why he was offended by her words, and even if he came back, it would only be my fault.

He wasn't under the bridge, near the garages, and so on, but it was as simple as that - he was sitting in a cafe, at a table, drinking tea and recording music from the radio on an audio player. "Maps of the gaps" found a new song and decided to put it on for listening.

I walked over to an empty couch, sat down, and looked at Marcus intently.

"Hey, kid!

"What do you want?"

"I thought it was unmanly of you to leave your friend out in the cold air when she loves you and is waiting for you."

"She told me to go away and leave her in order.

"She said that because she didn't understand what she was feeling, even though you could have pretended that no quarrel had taken place.

- Well. How, then, to explain all this?

- Don't worry, people make mistakes, sometimes rarely, but more often - they just compromise to continue communicating. She didn't insult you in any way.

- Truth.

"Well, that's good. Let's go before it gets dark and something strange starts.

Markus finished the rest of the Cup of tea, took it to the washbasin, and we left the building, heading toward the river's mouth.

Ten minutes later we arrived.

- Oksana!

- Marcus...

"I'm sorry, but I was offended.

"I'm sorry, too.

"Broken feelings can't be restored because they're not real. Why do I think that? It was because you sent me away when I needed your sympathy... " he told her.

"I can apologize. I didn't want to do this.

"All right, I understand and forgive you, although it will be difficult for me to communicate with you after this.

With that, they embraced and ran to the other side. In the distance, I saw a gate, and how many people were trying to get out of it.

Part 1. Chapter 5.

One day I overheard two people talking.

"Honey, I hope to be back soon.

"All Right, Alyosha. I'll be waiting...

After saying goodbye to his girlfriend, Alexey kulevsky went to the border to fight with liars, but it turned out that they were mutants. Suddenly, there was a chemical fire. He successfully hid in the bunker. I went with him. Later, however, I realized that there was more room for fighting in darling city than there was here, in a clearing near the city's fences. The copper netting on each sheet of iron looked like some kind of camp defense, but it only seemed that way. I made sure that Pavel Rubtsev had led his detachment forward, and had gone back with the volunteers to the place where the anti-movement had begun.

It was clear that it was going to get quieter and darker, but I kept walking and told my friends, "Everything will be fine when we win!" They, in turn, responded approvingly, "We know that!" and walked beside me.

After a uniform silence, my companion, Stefan Wright, noticed a multi-story building in the distance, and at the third floor level, the pale light of a table lamp flickered. We went up the stairs, skirting the wall of ultramarine light, and turned toward the open door. Inside were four small rooms: a living room with an empty green table and two armchairs, on one of which lay things for a Grand gala evening; a bathroom; a kitchen with a cooked but cold dinner; a bedroom where everything was scattered from the sofa to the wardrobe. There were suitcases and bags everywhere, but there had clearly been order and cleanliness there before. You can understand that the owner of this apartment did not have time to dress in time and quickly brought his appearance, without finishing and without combing his hair. But it's a good thing that none of the neighbors decided to come here, especially if you consider how cold and deserted it is here in this part of the city.

An absolutely calm and serene space, and yet somewhere nearby there are evil people who can destroy to the end something that does not even interfere with them.

Later, I realized that the man we had met on the bridge, Marcus Veit, was the owner of the apartment where we were, examining the dusty bathroom floorboards, the unwashed and beginning to rot cream glasses that had been candied for the coffee drink, because the pack had been partially opened and taped over, which had peeled away in the wind coming from the purple-colored wooden and slightly broken window. The panes of glass rattled and rattled against each other, making a shattering rattle and rattle that made an impression rather depressing, but not suitable for the surroundings, and it was noteworthy that flies did not fly, as usual, into a room in which you can see various wonders: from plates with carefully smeared jam slices of toast to cans of canned Russian perch.