Afterglow. The Justification of Chaos - стр. 33
Time seemed to stop.
I replayed what I had just heard over and over in my head, but it felt more like the ramblings of a madman than anything resembling the truth. Glancing at Sam, I shook my head as if to push away the dark thought or sticky memory. Dort looked completely lost. He stared at a spot somewhere beneath the soldier’s feet, nervously fidgeting his fingers.
“And… what happened next? Were you able to deal with those two?” I asked cautiously, hesitantly lifting my eyes to Robert.
“We were able to. Cracked open their skulls,” Robert said dryly. Sam’s head shot up, and a look of disgust and horror played across his face. “With the mayor, besides me, three other men arrived. Three fighters who would have walked through all the circles of hell unscathed. And one of them was grabbed by the creature – it jumped and tore a chunk of flesh from his collarbone. Again: a minor wound. Our Gorgon’s medic patched him up, but the guy started to deteriorate; we took him to the hospital, where an entire wing was already filled to capacity with the bitten. Another department had been completely taken over by the utterly deranged. My man lost consciousness as soon as he crossed the threshold of the medical room. He passed out from the most harmless wound he had received. I left him at the hospital. And on Wednesday morning, I got a call to say that he had burned up overnight from a high fever. But when they were moving him to the morgue, he woke up. Only, like many, many others, he woke up wild. Woke up after being declared dead.”
A second. Two.
“You’re saying,” I whispered, feeling my fingers turn cold and a chill run down my spine, “that he… came back to life?”
Robert did not answer right away.
“It’s hard to find another name for it,” he said cautiously. “I wouldn’t have believed such a statement myself if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Believe me, it’s hard to explain how a person, riddled with bullets, continues to move. And when they’re clearly dead, suddenly they get up and start attacking. But last night made me doubt many things I thought were impossible.”
“But not to this extent?!” Sam's voice trembled, half nervous laugh, half question. “The dead coming back to life? Those are images from the archaic beliefs of the Departed Gods, fairy tales and myths. It’s impossible. The dead don’t come back to life. It’s unnatural. It… There’s no logical explanation for this.”
“We have just as many questions as you do,” the soldier replied briefly. “Right now, I’m only sure of a few things. First, the past night was really difficult to survive. These creatures, whatever they were, attacked indiscriminately, ruthlessly tearing apart and killing; and there were only a limited number of ways to neutralize them. Universal panic and confusion, the frenzied actions of the special services created chaos and multiplied the casualties,” Robert exhaled loudly. “Thank the Heavens and the Mother Goddess for salvation. Second, we need to leave °22-1-20-21-14 as soon as possible. It’s better to think about our next steps and look for answers in a safer place. Now, if you'll excuse me,” Sbort, who had stood up, pulled out his radio and was about to step aside when I immediately jumped to my feet, raising my hand.