Chapter 1. 7. Souvenir

  Obviously, we were now in foreign territory, the boundaries of which were constantly changing.

  As if obeying an inaudible signal, we began to approach each other. The faces were young, unfamiliar, and this made me a little wary.

  Lagoon rushed at the native, whom he had been staring at with piercing eyes from the very beginning, and with an acrobatic ease that surprised everyone, threw him to the ground.

  Once, twice. The native could not get up right away.

  The guy with the red bandage around his head had high cheekbones that were clenched inexorably.

  We came together. Dodging him, I got closer to him and hit him hard in the jaw.

  In this way, I knocked down the next one.

  Both lay motionless, and then one tried to get up. The blow almost stunned me, but I managed to sharply turn to the next attacking guy and slap him with a counter blow.

  The attacking guy started to fall backwards, waving his arms strangely like a bird, and fell almost flat – this amazed me.

  Vitamin fought valiantly with a distorted face. He got a real giant, and I hurried to help him.

  At that moment, a fish van appeared and rushed towards us.

  The light from the powerful headlights slid along the walls.

  Everyone, like rodents, rushed in different directions, following a long-established tactic.

  I grabbed the doll and jumped into the nearest yard.

  The windows were dark, the owners were asleep. Everything was quiet, like in a dream.

  I moved along a well-kept path, and it seemed to me that I was a night spirit, moving freely between houses and trees.

  Everything seems fine, I thought, and heard a quiet growl.

  A boar was standing ahead.

  He's on his own territory, too, I thought, continuing to walk straight towards him. I don't need battery-powered animals. The beast's stomach growled loudly. At the sight of the doll, he jumped to the side and fell motionless on the grass.

  I got out into the street, away from the gate, where there could well be a trap for guests, which is advertised everywhere, reassuring tourists.

  I stood in an empty place with the old tower Destiny. The moon silvered the dense stonework. I touched the solid, even rows.

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  The feeling that I was a spirit did not leave me - it was so quiet and peaceful around.

  Deserted. The wind blew around me.

  Near the old tower stood the truck of Effect.

  Low stars hung in the sky above the tower. I climbed into the cabin. Effect was dozing, its head lifelessly dropped to one shoulder.

  The machine smelled of warm iron. Effect woke up.

  “What happened?” he asked after a while.

  “Nothing,” I said. “How is the company doing?”

  “Everything is fine,” he said simply. “We completed the event.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “I'm looking for a place.”

  “Was it bad there?”

  “Where?”

  “At the old place.”

  “At the same place...” Effect smiled. “I didn't understand something right away. Bad. Cramped.”

  Effect kept changing locations.

  “You're not mistaken,” I said jokingly. “The season is coming soon.”

  “That's nonsense. It doesn't bother me.”

  Indeed, I thought again, the season is coming soon. Tourists will flock to our town.

  I stretched out my legs. The cabin was spacious and cozy at the same time. Effect had been choosing a unit for a long time, and he had some good options.

  Having seen the final result, everyone began to express their sympathy, and the new owner did not need it, he was completely satisfied.

  No less than the previous owner, who did not cease to be surprised in his own way - getting rid of such a scrap metal is a seemingly hopeless task in the flickering of smooth forms and omnipresent agents.

  The car was excellent - powerful and fast. An excellent all-terrain vehicle.

  I got distracted.

  Someone was running down the street. Someone was straining with all their might.

  It was Vitamin and Lagoon. The hill they had climbed was steep.

  I waited until they were level with the car and opened the door.

  “Are you athletes?” I asked calmly. “You are not hopeless.”

  “Now you will find out how much!” promised Lagoon.

  Without slowing down, they turned sharply and stopped exhausted by the car, looking around, breathing deeply.

  “We can't break away,” said Vitamin.

  The fish van climbed the hill with difficulty.

  I changed places with Effect, which he, the irreplaceable one, did not immediately guess.

  “Forward,” said Vitamin, leaning out at my shoulder. He continued to breathe noisily.

  I drove the car, not braking on the turns. The policemen immediately began to fall behind.

  Vitamin was worried, as if he himself was driving. We exchanged short phrases.

  “To the track,” Vitamin hoarsely prompted.

  I didn't hear Lagoon. Effect shrank into a lump.

  It wasn't the first time he got into such stories against his will, but I always felt sympathy for him.

  The pickup held on tenaciously, as if guessing our progress.

  The headlights disappeared for a long time around the bend and invariably reappeared.

  The slums stretched out. The police, like everyone else, did not like these places. It was here that all sorts of surprises awaited everyone.

  Now they tried to cut us off from the slums, as if from an unknown reserve, believing that we were rushing there, but it was too late.

  A light green shadow sluggishly slid through the ruins.