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After the meal, Louis figured, maybe they’d jump in the hot tub, have a glass of wine or two, and get naked.

These were the things going through Louis’ mind in a happy rhythm as he turned the Dodge onto Tessler Avenue, saw a couple walking hand in hand down the sidewalk beneath the spreading oak branches. It was a warm, muggy day as late August always was in those parts and he had his window open, his arm hanging out. He could smell the thick green odor of clotted vegetation on the riverbank. In the powder blue sky he saw a couple gulls winging past, a kite skimming against the fluffy white clouds. It was just the sort of day to be alive and to be happy. The sort of day you wanted to wave and smile at people.

He saw Angie Preen pass on the walk pushing a baby carriage. Her sapphire eyes sparkled in the sunlight, long autumn chestnut hair swept back in a ponytail. It swished from shoulder to shoulder, keeping time with the admirable jiggle of her bosom. She waved. Louis waved. Angie. Single-mother, but proudly so. Independent, strong, reliable. Came from good stock, as they liked to say in Greenlawn at baked bean suppers and church socials when the lives of anyone and everyone were examined like rare old pottery, checked fastidiously for inconsistencies and flaws.

Ah, Angie. Louis had always thought that if he hadn’t hooked up with Michelle, then Angie and he might Then reality as he remembered the envelope sitting on the seat next to him.

The check for the car insurance. Michelle had given it to him two days before to mail and as was his way, he’d simply forgotten. Forgotten the way he sometimes forgot things.

He spotted a blue iron mailbox up Tessler and pulled to a stop. He got out, whistling under his breath, and dropped the letter in.

Then he glanced down the street.

A primer gray sedan pulled to a stop and two men with baseball bats hopped out. There was a teenage boy standing there, a paperboy, his sack dangling limply over his shoulder by a neon orange strap. The men spoke with him, laughed, and the boy followed suit. A perfectly ordinary exchange, it seemed, but Louis was suddenly disturbed. The sky suddenly seemed not blue but iron gray and there was a chill on the breeze. He could still smell the freshly-cut grass and river bottoms, but now they did not smell of life and growing things, but of rank sun-washed death.

Blood.

He smelled it again.

Louis stood there, something expanding in his chest.

The two men laughed again and swung their bats at the kid.

He went down with a strangled moaning sound. They’d caught him in the belly and the hip. For one split second they stood over him and then they started swinging again. Suddenly, the air was split with the meaty sounds of wood impacting flesh and the kid’s wavering screams. The bats kept coming down and Louis plainly heard the splintering of bones.

It all happened in the span of ten seconds.

And like anyone faced with random, extreme violence, Louis’ initial reaction was one of disbelief and even skepticism. This was not happening. These two guys- perfectly ordinary-looking guys-were not beating the shit out of a paperboy with Louisville Sluggers. It was a gag, a joke. Surely there was a camera rolling nearby. Some director would shout, “CUT!” and the two guys would help the kid up, all of them laughing about it.

But that did not happen and the screams coming from the kid’s mouth were surely not play-acting. The men stood there looking at the kid, the ends of their bats stained red. They were laughing.

They just beat the fuck out of that kid and now they’re laughing.

Laughing.

It was at this impossible juncture that something shattered inside Louis because he realized that this was the real thing. Then he was running, running as fast as he could towards the kid and the two men. He had no idea what it was he thought he was going to do when faced with two psychos with baseball bats, but something inside compelled him to intervene.

By the time he got near enough to see the kid and the red pool expanding around him, the two men had already hopped into their car. It passed Louis at a casual speed-a primer gray sedan with a wired-up front bumper and a shattered rear window, a UNION YES! sticker on the trunk-and the two men smiled at him and waved, kept on driving like they were just on their way to the store to grab a six-pack and had not just viciously beaten a paperboy with baseball bats.

Louis thought of chasing the car, but instead he memorized the plate number, and went to the kid.

“Oh Christ,” he said when he got a good look at him.

He was curled up like a dying snake, the femur of his right leg poking through his pant leg. His left knee was shattered, the leg twisted off at a crazy angle. His right arm was like some lumpy purple contusion and his face was swelling to the point that it was nearly impossible to make out his features. His head looked like some garish, knobby Halloween pumpkin capped by spiky tufts of blonde hair.

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Лихим 90-м посвящается...Фантастический роман-эпопея в пяти томах «Звёздная месть» (1990—1995), написанный в жанре «патриотической фантастики» — грандиозное эпическое полотно (полный текст 2500 страниц, общий тираж — свыше 10 миллионов экземпляров). События разворачиваются в ХХV-ХХХ веках будущего. Вместе с апогеем развития цивилизации наступает апогей её вырождения. Могущество Земной Цивилизации неизмеримо. Степень её духовной деградации ещё выше. Сверхкрутой сюжет, нетрадиционные повороты событий, десятки измерений, сотни пространств, три Вселенные, всепланетные и всепространственные войны. Герой романа, космодесантник, прошедший через все круги ада, после мучительных размышлений приходит к выводу – для спасения цивилизации необходимо свержение правящего на Земле режима. Он свергает его, захватывает власть во всей Звездной Федерации. А когда приходит победа в нашу Вселенную вторгаются полчища из иных миров (правители Земной Федерации готовили их вторжение). По необычности сюжета (фактически запретного для других авторов), накалу страстей, фантазии, философичности и психологизму "Звёздная Месть" не имеет ничего равного в отечественной и мировой литературе. Роман-эпопея состоит из пяти самостоятельных романов: "Ангел Возмездия", "Бунт Вурдалаков" ("вурдалаки" – биохимеры, которыми земляне населили "закрытые" миры), "Погружение во Мрак", "Вторжение из Ада" ("ад" – Иная Вселенная), "Меч Вседержителя". Также представлены популярные в среде читателей романы «Бойня» и «Сатанинское зелье».

Юрий Дмитриевич Петухов

Фантастика / Боевая фантастика / Научная Фантастика / Ужасы / Ужасы и мистика