羊毛战记 Part 4 The Unraveling 45

　　45,　　These violent delights have violent ends.,　　The countertop in Supply rattled with the implements of war. Guns, freshly milled and whollyforbidden, were lined up like so many sticks of steel. Knox picked one up—could felt the heat in abarrel recently bored and rifled—and hinged the stock to expose the firing chamber. He reached intoone of the buckets of shiny bullets, the casings chopped from thin tubes of pipe and packed withblasting powder, and slotted one into the brand-new gun. The operation of the machine seemedsimple enough: point and pull the lever.,　　“Careful where you aim that,” one of the men of Supply said, leaning out of the way.,　　Knox raised the barrel toward the ceiling and tried to picture what one of these could do. He’donly ever seen a gun once, a smaller one on the hip of that old deputy, a gun he’d always figured wasmore for show. He stuffed a fistful of deadly rounds in his pocket, thinking how each one could endan individual life and understanding why such things were forbidden. Killing a man should be harderthan waving a length of pipe in their direction. It should take long enough for one’s conscience to getin the way.,　　One of the Supply workers emerged from the stacks with a tub in his hands. The bend of his backand sag of his shoulders told Knox the thing was heavy. “Just two dozen of these so far, ” the mansaid, hoisting the bin to the counter.,　　“Slam that end on something hard,
” the man behind the counter said, just as calmly as if he weredoling out an electrical relay to a customer and giving some last-minute installation advice, “like awall, the floor, the butt of your gun—anything like that. And then get rid of it.”,　　“Are they safe to carry? ” Shirly asked as Knox stuffed one into his hip pocket.,　　“Oh yeah, it takes some force.
”,　　Several people reached in the tub and clattered around for one. Knox caught McLain’s eyes as shetook one for herself and slotted it into a pocket on her chest. The look on her face was one of cooldefiance. She must have seen how disappointed he was in her coming, and he could tell at a glancethat there would be no reasoning with her.,　　“All right,” she said, turning her gray-blue eyes toward the men and women gathered around thecounter. “Listen up. We’ve got to get back open for business, so if you’re carrying a gun, grab someammo. There are strips of canvas over there. Wrap these things up as best you can to keep them outof sight. My group is leaving in five minutes, got that? Those of you in the second wave can wait inthe back, out of sight. ”,