Chapter 3

chapter three It's dusk and the sun is setting, all orange like a Creamsicle. Rays of late-afternoon light shine through the tree house windows, and the little wind chime from HomeGoods I hung out front is dinging away. I'm huddled over the busted walkie, trying to repair it with my new tiny little screwdriver. Note! It's called a walkie. Not a walkie-talkie. I think my repair job is going pretty well.

第三章黄昏时分，太阳落山了，全是橘色的，像一根奶油棒。 傍晚时分的阳光透过树屋的窗户照进来，我挂在门前的“家好商品”的小风铃正在叮叮作响。 我蜷缩在坏掉的对讲机旁，试着用我的新小螺丝刀修理它。 注意!这叫对讲机。 不是对讲机。我觉得我的修理工作进行得很顺利。

The walkie communicates with only one person: Quint Baker. Quint Baker was—IS—my best friend! My only friend. When I first moved to Wakefield last winter, Quint was the only kid who'd talk to me. When you're a foster kid and you bounce all around the place, you become used to getting by without friends. But Quint and I were like some Legos—we just clicked. Quint gave me the walkie—one half of a pair— for my birthday. Best birthday present I ever got,

对讲机只与一个人通信：昆特·贝克。 昆特·贝克是我最好的朋友！我唯一的朋友。 去年冬天我刚搬到韦克菲尔德的时候，昆特是唯一一个愿意和我说话的孩子。 当你是一个被收养的孩子，你到处蹦蹦跳跳，你会习惯没有朋友的生活。 但昆特和我就像乐高积木一样——我们就是合得来。 昆特送给我一个对讲机——一对的一半——作为我的生日礼物。 我收到过最好的生日礼物

ever. Since my foster parents were no way giving me a cell phone, and Quint's nutso parents were convinced cell phones made your brain melt, the walkies were the only way Quint and I could talk outside of school. But now I'm afraid Quint is gone. The day everything happened, well... we split up. Now he's probably zombified or headed out west, along with everyone else in town. When everything first happened, I heard it was safer out west. But I haven't heard anything about that since, like, day four, so who knows. But still, there's the chance Quint is alive, somewhere, and this walkie could reach him. So I cannot quit! Seven finger burns later, I get the walkie working. I squeeze the button and it lets out a soft hiss that tells me it's transmitting.

永远。因为我的养父母不可能给我手机，而昆特的疯父母相信手机会让人的大脑融化，对讲机是我和昆特在校外唯一能说话的方式。 但现在恐怕昆特走了。 事情发生的那天，嗯…… 我们分开了。现在他可能变成僵尸了，或者和镇上的其他人一起去西部了。 刚出事的时候，我听说西部更安全。 但大概第四天以后我就没听说过了，谁知道呢。 但昆特仍有可能还活着，就在某个地方，而这台对讲机能找到他。 所以我不能放弃！七根手指烧伤后，我修好了对讲机。 我按下按钮，它就会发出柔和的嘶嘶声，告诉我它在发射。

Quint. It's Jack Finally got my walkie working. I have no idea if you're out there, But if you are, ah, well, let me know, buddy. Getting a little lonely over here. I wait a few minutes. No response. A few more minutes. Still no response. I head to bed. My bed is a pile of sweatshirts and socks and towels in the corner of the tree house. I plop down and curl up under my one blanket. It's plenty warm out still, but I just need to be under a blanket when I sleep. I mean, a blanket isn't going to do anything against a Winged Wretch or a Dozer, but still—it just feels safer... Soon I drift off to sleep. And I have nightmares. Nightmares that feel real. Nightmares about that morning, forty-two days

五胞胎。是杰克终于修好我的对讲机了。 我不知道你在不在，如果在的话，告诉我一声，伙计。 我觉得有点孤单。 我等了几分钟。没有回应。 再等几分钟。还是没有回应。 我上床睡觉了。我的床在树屋的角落里堆满了运动衫、袜子和毛巾。 我扑通一声坐下来，蜷缩在我唯一的毯子下面。 外面还是很暖和，但我睡觉的时候需要盖条毯子。 我的意思是，一条毯子对付不了带翅膀的可怜虫或推土机，但它还是让人觉得更安全…… 我很快就睡着了。 我也做噩梦。感觉真实的噩梦。 那个早晨的噩梦，持续了42天

ago, when the monsters came and everything changed... 42 DAYS AGO It was a regular morning. Early June. After school, do you want to use sticks as lightsaber and sword-fight and film it so we can add special effects later and make our own movie. Yes, Quint yes I do School was almost over and everyone had that summer vacay fever feeling—like freedom was just around the corner. I only half had it, because summer vacation for me meant a whole lot more time at home with the Robinsons, which was a recipe for zero fun-having and heavy lawn-mowing duty. I remember, just before it happened, the bus pulling up in front of the school. I remember, too, that Quint was eating this

以前，当怪物来了，一切都变了… 这是一个普通的早晨。 6月初。放学后，你想不想用棍子做光剑和剑斗，然后拍下来，这样我们以后可以添加特效，制作我们自己的电影。 是的，昆特，是的，我知道学校快结束了，每个人都有暑假热，感觉自由就在拐角处。 我只做到了一半，因为暑假对我来说意味着更多的时间呆在家里和罗宾逊一家在一起，这是一个没有乐趣和繁重的割草任务的方法。 我记得，就在那件事发生之前，公共汽车停在了学校门口。 我还记得，昆特在吃这个

rotten-smelling egg salad sandwich. I can still smell it now—like the odor has been tattooed to my nostrils. And I remember Dirk Savage coming toward us. Filling the bus aisle. Thick and towering, casting a long shadow. Dirk Savage was the most formidable bully at Parker Middle School. I think he came out of the womb with facial hair. Legend has it he moved here from Detroit and his parents just left him—they split because he kept bullying them—and he took up in a shack by himself way out in the Wakefield woods. He only showed up at school to steal lunch money from other bullies. Dirk looked down at Quint and growled.

臭鸡蛋沙拉三明治。 我现在还能闻到它的味道，就像那气味已经刺进了我的鼻孔。 我记得德克·萨维奇向我们走来。 挤满了公共汽车的过道。浓浓高耸，投下长长的影子。 德克·萨维奇是帕克中学最可怕的恶霸。 我觉得他一出生就有胡子。 传说他从底特律搬到这里，他的父母离开了他——他们因为他一直欺负他们而分开了——他自己在韦克菲尔德森林里的一个小屋里住了下来。 他来学校只是为了从其他恶霸那里偷午饭钱。 德克低头看着昆特，咆哮起来。