Chapter 16

chapter sixteen We spot Thrull in the back, sitting with Bardle. They're playing some sort of monster game with big bugs—like neon-orange cockroaches. I pull up a seat. "Ahh, don't think I ever learned that one..." "Can we retrieve you and your friends something to swallow then?" Thrull asks., "You mean something to eat?" "Yes. 'EAT.' That is the word. Would you like? I am having ...oe.ě..," Thrull says as he waves something in my direction; it looks like a string of eyeballs on a wooden skewer.

第十六章我们看见瑟鲁在后面，和巴德尔坐在一起。 他们在和大虫子玩某种怪物游戏，比如霓虹橙色的蟑螂。 我拉了个座位过来。“啊，别以为我学过这个……” “我们能给你和你的朋友拿点东西吞下去吗？”Thrull问道。“你是说吃的东西吗？”“是的。 “吃”。就是这个词。你想要吗？ 我有……Thrull边说边朝我的方向挥舞着什么东西。它看起来像一串串在木串上的眼球。

Ah, you got like mozzarella sticks? Thrull gives me a puzzled look. "Y'know what," I say. "I actually ate before I left the house." Thrull shrugs and slurps down an eyeball. I see his throat bulge as it seems to become momentarily lodged in his gullet. Thrull coughs, swallows, and sucks it down. Monsters, man—not sure I'll ever get used to 'em. "We need to talk to you guys," I say, trying to get back to the point of the thing. "We've seen some strange stuff recently—we figure you'd know more than we would about it." Thrull and Bardle exchange glances. Concerned glances, I think—though it's tough to tell with these monster faces. I'm still learning how to read all the

你有马苏里拉奶酪条吗？ Thrull不解地看了我一眼。 “你知道吗，”我说。“实际上我在离开家之前就吃过了。” Thrull耸耸肩，吞下一颗眼球。 我看到他的喉咙隆起，似乎暂时卡在他的食道里。 Thrull咳嗽了一下，吞了下去。 怪物，伙计，我不确定我是否会习惯它们。 “我们需要和你们谈谈，”我说，试图回到正题上。 “我们最近看到了一些奇怪的东西——我们认为你比我们知道得更多。” Thrull和Bardle交换了一下目光。 关心的目光，我想，虽然这张怪物脸很难分辨。 我还在学习怎么读所有的

different expressions. The only expression I definitely recognize is hungry. Quint scoots his chair forward. It makes an obnoxious screeching noise. Excitedly, Quint says, "Yesterday, my friends found a pile of zombies in the street, with their brains sucked out. Totally gone!" Bardle leans forward. He suddenly seems not to care about the game. "You say—with their brains removed?" Dirk nods. "It was gnarly." Bardle's strange eyes blink rapidly. One finger begins to softly tap on the table. I wonder... is he nervous? "And zombies have been disappearing!" Quint says. And then, suddenly seeming very aware that he's being watched, Bardle leans back. Is he attempting to look relaxed? "I have no idea what this could be," he says. I want to state the obvious, but I'm kinda nervous. Thankfully, June isn't so shy. She says, "It seems, well, odd that at roughly the same time you

不同的表情。我唯一能认出的表情就是饿了。 昆特把椅子向前挪了挪。 它发出刺耳的噪音。 昆特兴奋地说：“昨天，我的朋友们在街上发现了一堆僵尸，他们的大脑被吸了出来。 完全不见了!”巴德尔身体前倾。 他突然好像不关心比赛了。 “你是说——他们的脑子被挖掉了？”德克点点头。 “很粗糙。”巴德尔那双奇怪的眼睛快速地眨着。 一只手指开始轻轻地敲击桌子。 我想知道……他紧张吗？ “而且僵尸一直在消失！”五度音说。 然后，巴德尔似乎突然意识到有人在监视他，他向后靠了靠。 他是想表现得很放松吗？ “我不知道这是什么，”他说。 我想说显而易见的，但我有点紧张。 谢天谢地，琼并不那么害羞。 她说，这似乎很奇怪，几乎在同一时间你

show up, this would happen. We drove past Joe's a month ago; it was empty. But now..." She doesn't say it accusingly or anything, but she doesn't exactly say it in the friendliest tone, either. "That you should hear this shrieking after we arrive?" Bardle asks. "A simple coincidence, I'm sure." I have to catch my breath. My heart begins slamming in my chest and I suddenly feel very anxious. What did Bardle just say? At last, I speak up. "Um... Mr. Bardle? None of us mentioned The Shrieking...." Bardle's eyes narrow. "No," he says slowly. "No, of course you didn't. I misheard." Behind me, I hear Dirk crack his knuckles. Thrull's moved on from his eyeball entrée and he's now pulling the flesh off some sort of birdlike creature. He sucks it down. The smell of the charred meat is overpowering. Bardle slowly leans back in his chair. There's a creaking sound—not sure if it's the chair or his bones. "Just a simple misunderstanding," he says.

出现，这就会发生。 一个月前我们开车经过乔家；它是空的。 但现在……”她并没有指责或其他什么，但她也没有以友好的语气说出来。 “我们到了以后，你会听到这种尖叫吗？”Bardle问道。 “一个简单的巧合，我敢肯定。” 我得喘口气。 我的心开始砰砰地跳，我突然感到非常焦虑。 巴德尔刚才说了什么？最后，我开口了。 “嗯……Bardle先生吗?我们谁也没有提到尖叫....” 巴德尔眯起眼睛。“不，”他慢慢地说。 “不，你当然不知道。 我听错了。”在我身后，我听到德克掰指关节的声音。 Thrull已经从他的眼球上移开了他现在正在从某种鸟状生物身上扯肉。 他咽下去了。烧焦肉的气味刺鼻。 巴德尔慢慢地向后靠在椅子上。 有一种嘎吱嘎吱的声音——不确定是椅子的声音还是骨头的声音。 “只是一个简单的误解，”他说。

The tension is so thick you could cut it open and cook it for dinner. Thrull throws back a huge gulp of his drink and slams the empty glass down on the table. He grabs his cane—my hockey stick—and struggles to his feet. "I have heard enough!" he barks. "If some foul creature is dining on zombies, then I will meet this creature in battle! It puts me at risk. It puts Jack and his friends at risk. It puts all of us at risk. We are in this together, Bardle, are we not?" "Of course," Bardle says. "Then I will find this enemy," Thrull says matter-of-factly. "And I will destroy it." Thrull takes a step, but his leg quickly gives out. He tumbles forward, tries to brace himself on a table, but the table flips and Thrull wallops into the floor. Every monster in Joe's Pizza turns. Bardle watches Thrull. I study his face, trying to get a read on this strange, old monster. Just as Thrull attempts to stand—and fails—I believe I see Bardle's lip twist into a slight, subtle smile.

张力太大了，你可以把它切开做晚餐。 Thrull猛喝了一大口饮料，把空杯子摔在桌子上。 他抓住他的手杖——我的曲棍球棍——挣扎着站了起来。 “我听够了！” “如果有什么邪恶的生物在吃僵尸，那么我将在战斗中遇到这个生物！”这让我处于危险之中。 这会让杰克和他的朋友们处于危险之中。 这让我们所有人都处于危险之中。 我们是一条船上的，不是吗，巴德尔？”“当然，”巴德尔说。 “那我就会找到这个敌人，”瑟鲁实事求是地说。 “我要摧毁它。”Thrull迈了一步，但他的腿很快就不行了。 他向前翻滚着，试图在桌子上支撑自己，但桌子翻了，Thrull重重地摔在地板上。 Joe's Pizza里的每只怪物都会转身。 巴德尔看着Thrull。我端详着他的脸，试图解读这个奇怪的老怪物。 就在Thrull试图站起来——但失败了——我相信我看到了Bardle的嘴唇扭曲成一个微妙的微笑。