Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 But which way should she go? Jess looked around, trying to understand where she was. The trail was gone. Nothing looked familiar. It was as though she'd crash-landed on a distant planet, a smoking, ash-covered land. The only landmarks were the smashed shack and the mountain. Dad had taught her to use the

第十五章她该走哪条路呢? 杰西环顾四周，试图弄清楚自己身在何处。 踪迹消失了。一切看起来都不熟悉。 就好像她迫降在一个遥远的星球上，一个烟雾缭绕、灰蒙蒙的地方。 唯一的标志是被砸碎的小屋和那座山。 爸爸教过她使用

sun as a guide. But the sun was blotted out by the ash and smoke. Jess decided that if she walked with the volcano on her left, she should at least be heading back toward the parking lot. Then maybe she could find Mr. Rowan. If she couldn't, at least she'd be close to the road. It was so hot that her clothes were sticking to her sweat-soaked skin. Jess stripped off her sweatshirt and dropped it over a branch. Then she took a breath and set out. She walked between fallen trees, and when there was no room between the trees, she climbed up and walked along their trunks. Everything was covered with inches of ash, and in some spots it was very hot. The air smelled like rotten eggs and smoke. Her back throbbed with pain. But even worse was the thirst. Her lips were cracked and bleeding, her tongue swollen and sandpaper dry. She hadn't had a sip of water since she'd left home. How long ago was that?

以太阳为向导。但是太阳被灰和烟遮住了。 杰西决定，如果火山在她的左边，她至少应该朝停车场的方向走。 也许她能找到罗文先生。 如果她不能，至少她离路很近。 天气太热了，她的衣服都粘在汗水湿透的皮肤上了。 杰西脱下运动衫，把它扔在一根树枝上。 然后她吸了一口气，出发了。 她走在倒下的树木之间，当树木之间没有空间时，她爬上去，沿着树干走。 所有的东西都被几英寸厚的火山灰覆盖着，有些地方还很热。 空气中弥漫着臭鸡蛋和烟的味道。 她的背疼得直跳。 但更糟糕的是口渴。 她的嘴唇裂了，流着血，舌头肿了，砂纸干了。 自从离开家后，她没有喝过一口水。 那是多久以前的事了?

Just this morning, this forest had been crisscrossed by creeks filled with clear rushing water. On her camping trips with Dad, they'd scooped up water right from streams and gulped it down without a worry. But now every stream she passed was ruined. The ash had turned the sparkling water to thick gray sludge that stank of sulfur. Just the thought of trying to swallow a mouthful was nauseating. The sounds of the volcano pounded in her ears. It roared. It thundered. It boomed. Bolts of lightning shot through the churning cloud above. Her footsteps kicked up clouds of ash that burned her eyes. But Jess ignored the pain and the thirst and the volcano's roar. She fought the swirl of terrifying thoughts that screamed through her mind. Instead she pictured Dad's hopeful eyes. She imagined her great-grandfather Clive Marlowe tramping through these very woods alone when he was just a few years older than Jess.

就在今天早上，这片森林还被清澈奔流的小溪纵横交错。 在她和爸爸的露营旅行中，他们会直接从小溪里舀水，然后毫不担心地大口大口地喝下去。 但现在她经过的每一条小溪都被毁了。 灰烬把波光粼粼的水变成了厚厚的灰色污泥，散发着硫磺的臭味。 一想到要吞下一口食物就令人作呕。 火山喷发的声音在她耳边回响。 它咆哮着。这打雷。它蓬勃发展。 闪电穿过上面翻腾的云层。 她的脚步踢起了一团团灰烬，灼伤了她的眼睛。 但杰茜无视疼痛、口渴和火山的轰鸣声。 她竭力克制在脑海中尖叫的可怕念头。 相反，她想象着爸爸充满希望的眼睛。 她想象着她的曾祖父克莱夫·马洛独自走过这片树林的情景，当时他只比杰西大几岁。

She tried to hear Mom's voice. "Whatever happens, you and I will make it through." But what really kept her feet moving was Sam and Eddie. Her best friends. For as long as Jess could remember, they'd been right there with her. In those terrible months after Dad died, the twins had hardly ever left her side. They'd even slept on the floor of her room. She pictured their freckled faces, imagined the feel of their hands. Jess stumbled along for hours, for miles she was sure. The parking lot was nowhere in sight. She was afraid she might be walking in circles. And then she came into a big field, a place she'd never seen before. And that's when she realized she was completely lost. She crouched down on the hot, ashy ground, too exhausted to even cry. Every inch of her body ached. Her lungs burned from the ash. She had

她试着听妈妈的声音。 “无论发生什么，你和我都会挺过去的。” 但真正让她走得动的是山姆和埃迪。 她最好的朋友。从杰茜记事起，他们就一直陪在她身边。 在父亲去世后那可怕的几个月里，这对双胞胎几乎没有离开过母亲的身边。 他们甚至睡在她房间的地板上。 她想象着他们脸上的雀斑，想象着他们的手的感觉。 杰西跌跌撞撞地走了几个小时，她确信走了好几英里。 停车场看不见了。 她担心自己可能在原地打转。 然后她来到了一片大田野，一个她从未见过的地方。 这时她才意识到自己完全迷路了。 她蹲在又热又灰的地上，累得连哭都哭不出来。 她身体的每一寸都疼痛。 她的肺被火山灰烧着了。 她

never imagined that she could be so thirsty. If only she could sleep for a little while. Everything would be better when she woke up. The sky would be blue again. The mountain would be quiet. All of this would be over. She let her eyes drift closed. She had the feeling of letting go, of floating away. The pain and thundering noise faded. No! She forced herself to stand up. What was she thinking! She had to keep going. She had to find help for the twins. She could not give up. And that's when she noticed a new sound. Not a roar or a boom or a whoosh. Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack. A helicopter. Jess leaped to her feet and searched the sky. And there it was: a yellow chopper, flying in circles. She jumped up and waved.

从没想过她会这么渴。 要是她能睡一会儿就好了。 等她醒来一切都会好起来的。 天空又变蓝了。 山会很安静。 这一切都结束了。 她慢慢地闭上了眼睛。 她有一种放手的感觉，一种飘走的感觉。 痛苦和雷鸣般的声音渐渐消失了。 不!她强迫自己站起来。 她在想什么呢?她必须继续前进。 她必须为双胞胎寻找帮助。 她不能放弃。就在这时，她注意到了一种新的声音。 没有轰鸣声，没有轰鸣声，也没有呼啸声。 啪啪，啪啪，啪啪，啪啪。 一架直升机。杰西跳了起来，搜索着天空。 就在那里:一架黄色的直升机，在空中盘旋。 她跳起来挥了挥手。

"Hey! Hey! Here I am!" But of course they couldn't hear her. And she was so covered with ash. She was just another speck of gray in the endless ash sea. How would they see her? The helicopter disappeared. And then it circled back a minute later. Jess jumped up and waved, but it flew away again. The pilot couldn't see her. What could Jess do? How could she get their attention before they flew away? And then it came to her. She found a big branch and snapped off a stick covered with leaves. She used it to sweep the ground around her, to create a huge cloud of ash that rose up like a smoke signal. And then she ran out in front of it, waving her arms. The helicopter slowed. It swooped down a bit and hovered over her. A man leaned out and waved. He shouted through a bullhorn.

“嘿!嘿!我在这里!”当然，他们听不见她的声音。 她浑身都是灰。 她只是无尽的灰海中的一粒灰。 他们会怎么看她?直升机消失了。 一分钟后它又绕回来了。 杰西跳起来挥了挥手，但它又飞走了。 飞行员看不见她。 杰茜能怎么办呢?她怎样才能在它们飞走之前引起它们的注意呢? 然后她想起来了。她找到一根大树枝，啪的一声折断了一根覆盖着树叶的树枝。 她用它扫了扫周围的地面，制造了一个巨大的火山灰云，像烟雾信号一样上升。 然后她跑到它前面，挥舞着双臂。 直升机减速了。它向下俯冲了一下，在她的头顶盘旋。 一个男人探出身子挥了挥手。 他通过扩音器大声喊叫。