Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Oooomph! Jackson landed on his side on soft, wet sand. The stench made him gag. But his backpack had broken his fall. There was no boiling lava. No flames. He was not inside the mouth of a slobbering beast. He was at the bottom of a narrow pit.

第十三章呜！杰克逊侧身落在柔软潮湿的沙滩上。 恶臭使他作呕。但他的背包阻止了他的坠落。 没有沸腾的熔岩。 没有火焰。他不是在一只流着口水的野兽的嘴里。 他在一个狭窄的坑底。

It was very dark and everything was still shaking. But peering up, Jackson could see the street. He guessed he'd only fallen about six feet. Might as well be a hundred feet, Jackson thought. Because there was no way to get out. He stretched out his arms, feeling the jagged sides. If a fissure could open up, could it also slam shut? Could he be crushed? He had to get out of here! But how? He started to take off his backpack. Maybe he could signal with his flashlight. Or use his rope to somehow pull himself up. Except before he could get it off, freezing water started to seep up from the ground, soaking his boots. And then… Whooooooooosh! Jackson screamed as a blast of freezing water exploded underneath him, a spray so powerful it rocketed him up out of the pit. It was like being shot through the blowhole of a huge whale! The

天很黑，一切都还在摇晃。 但杰克逊抬头一看，可以看到街道。 他猜他只从六英尺高的地方摔了下来。 也许还有一百英尺，杰克逊想。 因为根本没办法出去。 他伸出双臂，摸着参差不齐的两边。 如果一个裂缝可以打开，它是否也可以关闭？ 他会被压垮吗？他必须离开这里！但如何? 他开始脱下背包。 也许他可以用手电筒打个信号。 或者用绳子把自己拉上来。 可是还没等他把靴子脱下来，冰冷的水就开始从地上渗出来，浸湿了他的靴子。 然后……呜呜呜！杰克逊尖叫起来，一股冰冷的水柱在他身下爆炸，这股水柱威力巨大，把他从坑里喷了出来。 那感觉就像从一条大鲸鱼的喷水孔里被射出去一样！的

water knocked the air from his lungs. It gushed into his mouth and up his nose. And then, with a sickening crunch of his ankle, his body landed on the hard, wet street. Pain exploded from the tips of his toes to the top of his leg. He lay there, too dazed to think. It took him a long moment to realize that the roaring had stopped. The ground was still. Finally, the earthquake was over. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg, Jackson managed to sit himself up. He was on the side of the street. Hunks of icy snow mixed with giant rocks had been coughed up from under the ground. Towers of water blasted up from some of the cracks. The water was brown and smelled rotten, like an outhouse on a hot day. Jackson tried not to think of what was in the water that he'd swallowed.

水把他肺里的空气冲走了。 它涌进了他的嘴巴和鼻子。 然后，随着脚踝令人作呕的嘎吱声，他的身体落在又硬又湿的街道上。 疼痛从脚趾尖蔓延到腿上。 他躺在那里，头昏眼花，无法思考。 过了好一会儿，他才意识到咆哮声已经停止了。 地面一片寂静。最后，地震结束了。 杰克逊忍着腿上的疼痛，咬紧牙关坐了起来。 他在街道的一边。 大块的冰雪和巨大的岩石从地下咳了出来。 水塔从一些裂缝中喷了出来。 水是棕色的，散发着腐臭的气味，就像大热天的户外厕所。 杰克逊尽量不去想他吞下的水里有什么。

A man rushed by him carrying a crying little boy in his arms. A woman limped past. He didn't see Leonor or Chris or Nora or Mary. Had they made it off the bridge in time? Were they safe? Jackson turned and stared in horror at the harbor, blinking in disbelief. Everything that had been there minutes before was gone. All the docks and buildings. All the people who hadn't made it over the bridge in time. The Chena had broken free of its ropes and was drifting in the harbor. Except it wasn't a harbor anymore. It was a swirling sea of wreckage. Everything that had been on the docks was now part of a wild whirlpool. Everything—and everyone. Panic tore at Jackson's insides. Where were Mom and Dad and Uncle Solly? He had to find them, now! They were at the house they were building. But where was that? Jackson didn't know, and even if he did, he couldn't get there. His ankle was broken, he was sure. The pain was

一个男人从他身边冲过去，怀里抱着一个哭泣的小男孩。 一个女人一瘸一拐地走过。他没看到利奥诺，克里斯，诺拉和玛丽。 他们及时从桥上下来了吗？ 他们安全吗？杰克逊转过身，惊恐地盯着港口，难以置信地眨着眼睛。 几分钟前还在那里的一切都消失了。 所有的码头和建筑。 所有没能及时过桥的人。 “切纳”号已挣脱了绳索，在港中漂流。 只不过它不再是港口了。 那是一片残骸的海洋。 曾经在码头上的一切，现在都成了一个狂暴漩涡的一部分。 一切——每个人都一样。 恐慌撕裂了杰克逊的五脏六腑。 爸爸妈妈和萨利叔叔去哪了？ 他必须找到他们，现在！他们在他们正在盖的房子里。 但那在哪里呢？杰克逊不知道，即使他知道，他也无法到达那里。 他确信自己的脚踝骨折了。 痛苦是

sickening. He could feel it swelling up inside his boot. There was no way he could walk, or even stand. A hopeless feeling came over Jackson. His mind started to swirl. Big, hot tears hung in the corners of Jackson's eyes. He tried to brush them away. Be tough! he scolded himself. Get to work! But his panic only grew. Get to work. He said the words over and over to himself. But they just spun around in his mind like the wreckage churning in the harbor. Because what could he do? Mom and Dad had never prepared him for anything like this. He dragged himself out of the icy puddle where he'd landed. Sucking in his breath and fighting tears, he crawled slowly off the street and into a building that was somehow still standing. He sat there, shivering, his soaked backpack next to him.

令人作呕。他能感觉到它在靴子里膨胀起来。 他无法行走，甚至无法站立。 一种绝望的感觉笼罩着杰克逊。 他的脑子开始乱转。 杰克逊的眼眶里噙满了热泪。 他想把它们刷掉。 是艰难的!他责备自己。 开始工作吧！但他的恐慌只增不减。 开始工作吧。他一遍又一遍地对自己说着这句话。 但它们只是在他的脑海里旋转，就像在港口里翻腾的残骸。 因为他能做什么呢？爸爸妈妈从来没有为他做过这样的准备。 他从落脚的冰冷水坑里爬了出来。 他吸着气，强忍着泪水，慢慢地爬出街道，走进一座不知怎么还屹立着的建筑物。 他坐在那里，瑟瑟发抖，湿透的背包就在他身边。

A strange sound came out of his mouth. Not a scream. Not a sob. It was a weak, rasping cry. It reminded him of a sound he'd heard before. On the night of the cabin fire. The winter bear had made that sound. The winter bear. Now Jackson understood how that bear had felt when it let loose that horrible cry. Lost. Terrified. Totally alone.

他嘴里发出一种奇怪的声音。 不是尖叫。没有哭泣。那是一声微弱而刺耳的叫声。 这让他想起了以前听到过的一个声音。 在小屋失火的那晚。 那是冬熊发出的声音。 冬熊。现在杰克逊明白了那只熊发出可怕的叫声时的感受。 丢失。吓坏了。完全孤独。