Nicholas, seeing me, came up and told me the horror. A small son, hiding behind a scrap yard, overheard the conversation, came and asked where his grandmother and aunt were. I had to explain that two mutants had trashed the house, and my family had been burned in the car. The boy clenched his fists fiercely, promised revenge, but was surprised and hugged us.

As they walked, the friends talked about the news they'd seen on TV last week. We went to the bus stop, but as there was no one there, we "rented" someone else's car and drove to seventy-ninth street. It was quiet here. They started looking for Wallis Ive. A thirty-year-old American woman, who works in a night restaurant, went to resorts and worked part-time in cafes, refused to be courted by cultured Englishmen and Italians. She Chose Nicholas. Now they are raising their only son together. Such case.

K-Gelsey is five miles from here. It's nice to be friends with someone like a friend. We put our arms around each other. It was fun to live a new life: after losing a few colleagues, walking around the city with a friend and his son, joking as if nothing had happened, hiding behind boxes, afraid of passing cars. However, we quickly got used to such precautions. It was dangerous in darling, even if It was your hometown. Only those who lived closer to the border could know where the exit was, but they still had to be found.

Finally, we arrived at the small K-Gelsey house, went into the lobby after opening the revolving door, went to the counter, waited for five minutes, and when Wallis saw us, she asked the assistant to serve the other customers.

She came up to us and said: "Hello! Hey, Nicholas, who's that man? Your friend?" and then she whispered something in his ear, but I knew she was indignant. "You shouldn't have brought him here now!"

Without any boundaries, the girl could find an approach to any person, talk about everything, while the zealous feeling was spun only after communicating on bad topics. "Are they better?" or "Why? What's the point?"

Wallis and Nicholas chatted in the vicinity, then they went to the dressing room. I stayed in the cafe and started thinking. Alex, their son, came up to me.

"Hey, kid.

"How do you do?"

"How's it going?"

"All right.

"Your dad is telling your mom to leave town. Do you know that?"

"I don't know. What does dad want to do?

"We'll find out the plan later.

"Let's play?" I'll bring the ball, throw it, and you'll catch it.

"That's right.

While we were sitting and playing, I suddenly felt strange vibrations. The radio receiver in my pocket turned on, but I remembered turning it off yesterday because of interference.

I stopped Alex, and we went outside, and we heard voices:

"- Forty-seven, fifty-four, sixty-six, seventy-four-the rebus fragment, and these numbers were coordinates.

"I'm sorry, what?"

I'm asking you to give me the number of that newspaper...

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here, please, take this...

"If there's anything interesting, I'll subscribe to the news.

"We've been flying for two days now.

"Really?"

"Yes," - I said.

- Dear passengers! We ask you to move carefully to your seats, as an unexpected landing of the aircraft is possible.

"So, what's here?" Ah, mysterious occurrences in the African desert. Interesting.

"Hello," I said. Read it?

"Yes," I said. It says here: "The girl is cursed by the inhabitants of the village of Walchs, because she was honest, but she had to serve as a defender of the desert. It has become a Mirage."

- Creepy, but as a matter of right. Who will prevent evil people-robbers, robbers, the same lady, if not her?

"I agree.

"You should read these Newspapers, but I don't recommend flipping through the news often.

"All right, then.

- Dear passengers. Now we are flying into a strange cloud. Everyone put on your oxygen mask".

"Again?" - I asked.

"Uncle Victor, what's going on again?" Alex asked as I switched off the device and put the thing in my jacket.

"The thing is, kid, I heard about air poisoning on TV yesterday. And just recently, I escaped from dangerous territory. Here.

"What happens if we win?"

"You want to purify the air?"

"Why not?"

I was surprised. It seems the boy has decided to become a biochemist.

"Hey, guys!

"Huh?"

"Where are you hiding?"

- Just like that, we stood here, talked, and then listened to the radio.

"The radio won't tell us where to go if we're going somewhere.

"Yes," I said. I forgot a little. Old people forget a lot.

- 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.