Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Josh's mouth dropped open, but he was too shocked to make a sound. Holly grabbed his hand. "Don't move," she whispered. Even from twenty feet away, Josh could see muscles bulging under the mountain lion's short golden fur.

第十三章乔希张着嘴，但他太震惊了，说不出话来。 霍莉抓住他的手。“别动，”她小声说。 即使在20英尺外，乔希也能看到美洲狮金色短毛下鼓鼓的肌肉。

She stared at them. Then she let out a bonerattling scream. Yeooooooooowwwwww! Josh's blood turned to ice as the mountain lion exploded off the ground and came charging toward them. Josh grabbed hold of Holly, pushing her out of the lion's path. Or maybe it was Holly who grabbed him and pulled. Still, Josh braced himself for the slashing claws, for the knife-sharp teeth. But the lion raced right past them, a golden blur. Josh met her eyes as she flew by. The animal didn't look ferocious or vengeful. She looked terrified. Just then, a huge flock of birds zoomed overhead. Four squirrels raced by. All the animals were heading in the same direction as the mountain lion. Holly's face lit up at the sight of all the animals. But her expression changed to terror as a new

她盯着他们。然后她发出一声惊叫。 Yeooooooooowwwwww !当那头美洲狮突然离开地面，向他们冲来的时候，乔希的血都变成了冰。 乔希抓住霍莉，把她推到狮子出没的地方。 也可能是霍莉抓住他拉的。 尽管如此，乔希还是做好了准备，迎接它那锋利的爪子和锋利的牙齿。 但狮子从他们身边跑过，像一片金色的模糊。 当她飞过时，乔希与她的目光相遇。 这只动物看起来并不凶猛，也不怀恨在心。 她看上去吓坏了。就在这时，一大群鸟从头顶呼啸而过。 四只松鼠跑过。所有的动物都朝着美洲狮的同一个方向前进。 霍莉一看到所有的动物就喜笑颜开。 但她的表情变成了恐惧

sound—a crackling roar—rose up around them. This time Josh knew it wasn't an animal. They both turned, and Josh saw it—a bloodred glow in the distance, getting bigger by the second. He and Holly both stared, hardly believing what they were seeing. The wildfire. It had found them. The glow got bigger until it looked more like a wall—a wall of flames that was moving right toward them. "Josh! Run!" Holly screamed. She grabbed his hand. They took off. But they had barely taken ten steps when they were hit by a powerful gust of hot wind. And suddenly there were embers everywhere—burning sparks and flaming chunks of bark and wood. They swarmed all around them. Josh let go of Holly's hand and flung his hands wildly, brushing the embers away. The attack went on, though, the embers biting into his skin like the needle-sharp teeth of a flaming monster.

一阵噼里啪啦的吼声在他们周围响起。 这次乔什知道那不是动物。 他们俩都转过身来，乔希看见了——远处有一道血红色的光，一秒比一秒更亮。 他和霍莉都目瞪口呆，简直不敢相信眼前的一切。 野火。它找到了他们。 火光越来越大，最后看起来更像一堵墙——一堵正朝他们移动的火焰墙。 “杰克!快跑!”冬青尖叫。 她抓住他的手。他们起飞了。 但他们刚走了十步，就被一阵强烈的热风击中。 突然，到处都是余烬——燃烧的火花和燃烧的树皮和木头块。 他们把他们团团围住。 乔希放开了霍莉的手，疯狂地挥动双手，把余烬拂去。 然而，攻击仍在继续，余烬咬进他的皮肤，就像一只燃烧着的怪物的尖利牙齿。

But it wasn't his or Holly's flesh that the embers were really after. It was the tinder-dry trees, the fallen branches and piles of dried-up pine needles. The embers showered down, greedily taking hold, setting fires wherever they landed. On treetops. WHOOSH! On branches. WHOOSH! On the forest floor. WHOOSH! Josh and Holly began running down the path again. They zigzagged from one side of the path to the other whenever a new fire whooshed to life in their way. With every gust of wind, that giant wall of flames raced closer to them. And the noise… A nightmare of sounds pummeled Josh's ears. The fire's roar, the moaning wind, the cracking and snapping and hissing of the burning trees. The

但余烬真正想要的不是他或霍莉的肉。 那是干枯的树木、倒下的树枝和成堆的干枯松针。 余烬如雨点般倾泻而下，贪婪地占据着地面，所到之处都燃起了大火。 在树顶。嗖!在树枝上。 嗖!在森林的地面上。 嗖!乔希和霍莉又开始沿着小路跑了起来。 每当有新的火在他们的路上呼啸而起时，他们就从小路的一边拐到另一边。 每刮一阵风，那巨大的火焰墙就越向他们逼近。 一场噩梦般的声音冲击着乔希的耳朵。 大火的咆哮，呻吟的风，燃烧的树木的噼啪声和嘶嘶声。 的

sound was louder than any plane or train. It was as though the air itself were shrieking in agony. Three deer shot by them, diagonally off the trail. Holly grabbed Josh's arm. "Josh! Let's follow them!" Josh remembered what Lucas had said, about animals and wildfires. That lion—she must have sensed the fire coming this way before Holly and Josh had. Those other animals, too. And now these deer… maybe they knew the best route to escape. "They're heading for the river!" Holly said. The river! Josh thought. Smart deer! They took off into the trees. Maybe that wall of flames wouldn't be able to follow them across the river. It was a natural fire line, like Lucas and Eleanor had described. And the cool water would protect Josh and Holly from the embers. They ran faster. And then: Boom!

声音比任何飞机和火车都大。 仿佛空气本身也在痛苦地尖叫。 三头鹿被他们射杀，斜着离开了小路。 霍莉抓住乔什的胳膊。“杰克!我们跟着他们去吧！”乔希想起了卢卡斯说过的话，关于动物和野火。 那头狮子——她一定比霍莉和乔希更早感觉到火朝这边来了。 其他动物也一样。现在这些鹿，也许它们知道最好的逃跑路线。 “他们往河里去了！”霍莉说。 河!杰克的想法。聪明的鹿!他们跑进了树林里。 也许那堵火焰墙没法跟着他们过河。 这是一条天然的火线，正如卢卡斯和埃莉诺所描述的那样。 冷水可以保护乔什和霍莉免受余烬的伤害。 他们跑得更快了。然后：砰！

A tree in front of them exploded. The wood splintered and shards sprayed out. Holly tried to pull him sideways. But his hand slipped out of hers. He looked up just in time to see a flaming limb sailing through the air, taking aim at his skull.

他们面前的一棵树爆炸了。 木头碎了，碎片喷了出来。 霍莉试图把他拉到一边。 但是他的手从她的手里滑了出来。 他抬头一看，正好看见一根燃烧的树枝在空中飞过，瞄准他的头骨。