Chapter 18

chapter eighteen It's past midnight. The moon is big in the sky—a blood moon, I think they call it—and rays of blue

第十八章已经过了午夜。 天上的月亮很大——我想他们叫它血月——还有蓝色的光芒

light shine through the windows. Dirk and June are fast asleep, but I can't snooze, so Quint and I are playing Mario Kart. I'm coming out of a power slide when I hear something. At least, I think I hear it. I click START. "Hey, you paused it!" Quint exclaims. "Just as I was going over the big jump! Not fair, friend! I'm going to come out of the jump into the turn and—" "Shh!" I say. "Dude, you hear that?" "The only thing I heard was you robbing me of a red shell," Quint says. I shut off the TV. I could have sworn I heard something. But all I hear now is the rumbling of the generator. I step out to the deck and switch it off. The generator chokes and coughs and burps smoke —and then goes quiet. Quint peeks out the door. "What is it?" "Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me..." I start, but I'm interrupted by a banging and clanging sound, followed by a loud, choked moaning. Quint and I look at each other, confused, and then both at the same time realize— "Alfred!"

光线透过窗户照进来。 德克和琼都睡得很熟，但我睡不着，所以我和昆特在玩马里奥赛车。 我刚从幻灯片里出来就听到了什么。 至少，我觉得我听到了。 我点击开始。“嘿，你暂停了！”昆特惊呼道。 “就在我跳过那个大跳台的时候！”不公平，朋友！我要跳出跳跃，进入转弯，然后——”“嘘！”我说。 “老兄，你听到了吗？”“我唯一听到的就是你抢了我一个红色的贝壳，”昆特说。 我关掉了电视。我发誓我听到了什么。 但我现在只听到发电机的隆隆声。 我走到甲板上，把它关掉。 发电机呛人、咳嗽、打嗝，然后安静下来。 昆特向门外偷看。“什么事？”“也许是我的脑子在捉弄我……” 我开始说话，但我被一声撞击声和叮当声打断了，接着是一声响亮的、哽咽的呻吟。 昆特和我面面相觑，迷惑不解，然后两人同时意识到——“阿尔弗雷德！”

We hurry down to the garage... Our brainless butler tries to walk forward but simply bangs his head against the cage. "It's like he's in a trance," Quint says. "I wonder if he hears The Shrieking?" "Well, I don't hear it. Do you hear it?" "No—" But then it comes. The angry, ferocious scream fills the air once again. It's time to release Alfred and get to the bottom of this mystery. But what if we let him go and we

我们匆匆赶到车库…… 我们的无脑管家试图向前走，但只是把他的头撞在笼子上。 昆特说：“他就像在出神。” “不知道他是否听到了尖叫？”“嗯，我没听到。 你听到了吗？”“没有——”但是它来了。 空气中再次充满了愤怒、凶猛的尖叫声。 是时候释放阿尔弗雷德，揭开谜底了。 但如果我们放了他，我们

lose him? I know he's just a zombie, but he's our zombie. I look to Quint—he's smiling like he's reading my mind. He holds up a bike helmet. On the back is a bright flashing light. "No way we'll lose him in the crowd with this," Quint says. I nod. "Good thinking." "You get the helmet on Alfred," Quint says as he rushes out of the room. "We need to hurry before The Shrieking ends. I'll wake Dirk and June." "No, no," I quickly say. "Don't get June and Dirk. I don't—I don't want to risk them." Quint eyes me. Looking to the floor, trying to dodge his guilt- tripping gaze, I remember how June and Dirk saved me from the insect monster. How I'd be done-zo without them. And I remember, trying to go it alone —that's a good way to end up, well, not alive anymore.... "Right, good idea, Quint," I finally say. "Grab 'em." Quint gives me a big thumbs-up, then turns— leaving me alone with Alfred. OK... Um. Sure.

失去他吗?我知道他只是个僵尸，但他是我们的僵尸。 我看了看昆特——他在微笑，好像他读懂了我的心思。 他举起一个自行车头盔。 背面是一个明亮的闪光灯。 “我们不可能在人群中失去他，”昆特说。 我点头。“好主意。”“你给阿尔弗雷德戴上头盔，”昆特说着冲出了房间。 “我们得在《尖叫》结束前抓紧时间。 我去叫醒德克和琼。”“不，不，”我赶紧说。 “别惹琼和德克。我不想——我不想拿他们冒险。” 昆特看着我。我望着地板，试图避开他那让我感到内疚的目光，想起了琼和德克是如何把我从昆虫怪物手中救出来的。 如果没有他们，我该怎么办。 我记得，试图单枪匹马——这是一种很好的结局，嗯，不再活着.... “好，好主意，昆特，”我终于说。 “抓住他们。”昆特对我竖起大拇指，然后转身——让我和阿尔弗雷德单独在一起。 好吧……嗯。确定。

No problem. Just need to put a helmet on a zombie. I step close to his cage. "Hey, Alfred! You're going to help us save the day. I just need to let you out without you eating me, OK...?" I trail off as I try to figure out how to go about this. When Quint returns with Dirk and June, the three of them all burst out laughing. I'm perched on top of the cage, gripping the helmet, trying to figure out how to simultaneously open the door and drop the helmet on Alfred's head. "June, I could use your help here," I say. "Distract him." "How do you expect me to distract him?"

没有问题。只需要给僵尸戴上头盔。 我走近他的笼子。“嗨,阿尔弗雷德!你要帮我们扭转局面。 我只需要在你不吃我的情况下放你出去，好吗……”当我试图弄清楚如何做这件事时，我迷失了方向。 当昆特带着德克和琼回来时，他们三个都笑了起来。 我坐在笼子顶上，抓着头盔，想办法在打开门的同时把头盔扔到阿尔弗雷德的头上。 “琼，我这里需要你的帮助，”我说。 “分散他的注意力。”“你要我怎么分散他的注意力？”

Stick out your arm, Do a dance or something. He's a zombie. He wants to eat. You get his attention. I will not be dancing for this zombie. Me neither. No dancing. Not that anyone asked, but just So we're clear, "Fine, fine," I say. "Everyone—behind the cage. I'll open it and drop the helmet." That works. The door swings open with a clang. Quickly I yank my hand away and drop the helmet on Alfred's rotten noggin. The light on the back of the helmet flashes as Alfred shuffles toward the front gate. I jump off the cage, race up to the tree house, slip on a pair of Quint-designed chain-metal action

伸出你的手臂，跳个舞什么的。 他是僵尸。他想吃东西。 你引起了他的注意。我不会为这个僵尸跳舞的。 我也不。没有跳舞。虽然没人问过，但我们得说清楚，“好吧，好吧”我说。 “每个人——躲到笼子后面去。 我会打开它，把头盔扔下去。” 这工作。门砰的一声开了。 我赶紧把手抽开，把头盔砸在阿尔弗雷德的烂脑袋上。 头盔后面的灯闪烁着，阿尔弗雷德慢慢走向前门。 我从笼子里跳下来，跑到树屋，套上一双由昆特设计的金属链