Chapter 5

No sign of the others. I get to my feet and weave my way toward Sears. The entire front of the store has been destroyed. I didn't stop the Wormungulous. And my friends? Have I lost them? Wreckage and debris litter the tiled floor. Water rains down from the sprinkler system. Rubble from the ceiling is scattered through the store. What I spot next makes me go light-headed. June's sneakers. The boy sneakers she wears that I love so much. One juts out from beneath a pile of wreckage. No. No, no, no.

没有其他人的踪迹。我站起身来，迂回着向西尔斯百货走去。 商店的整个正面都被毁了。 我没有阻止虫人。 我的朋友们呢？我失去他们了吗？ 飞机残骸散落在铺着瓷砖的地板上。 雨水从喷水灭火系统中倾泻而下。 天花板上的碎石散落在商店里。 接下来看到的东西让我头晕目眩。 6月的运动鞋。我非常喜欢她穿的那双男生运动鞋。 一个从一堆残骸下面伸出来。 否。不，不，不。

My friends are buried beneath there. A pile of rubble as big as a February snowbank. I begin clawing and tearing at the debris. But it's all too big. Too heavy. My fingernail snaps as I struggle to lift the massive metal gate that blankets them. My breath becomes ragged. I feel my eyes well up with tears. And I smell—I smell— I smell that pungent cologne. I spin around to see it. Gigantic and towering. The man-monster...

我的朋友们都埋在下面了。 一堆碎石像二月的雪堆一样大。 我开始抓着碎片撕扯。 但它太大了。太重了。 当我挣扎着抬起包裹着他们的巨大金属门时，我的指甲折断了。 我的呼吸变得急促。我觉得我的眼睛里充满了泪水。 我闻到了，我闻到了刺鼻的古龙水。 我转过身去看它。巨大而高耸。 man-monster……

The man-monster, Generally humanoid face. I haven't seen THAT before. Compasses, gizmos, and beastly thingaofbobs, Cologne, stench, Opposable thumbs, bone and skull jewelry. Probably not a good sign.

人兽，一般是人形脸。 我以前没见过。 指南针，小玩意儿，还有讨厌的东西，比如珠子，科隆香水，臭气，对生拇指，骨头和头骨首饰。 这可能不是一个好兆头。

I don't draw my blade. I don't run. I just stand there. And then, still having said nothing, I turn around and continue trying to pry my friends free. A warm hand grips the back of my neck. The man-monster's fingers close around my collar and I'm lifted into the air. He gently sets me down a few feet away. The man-monster begins digging through the rubble, carefully pulling away huge chunks of ceiling. He removes bent and twisted pieces of gate. With one tremendous pull, he lifts the final piece away. And I see them. My friends. Alive. A little bloody, a lot dirty—but very much OK.

我没有拔出我的剑。我不跑步。 我只是站在那里。然后，我仍然什么也没说，转身继续试图撬开我的朋友。 一只温暖的手抓着我的后颈。 怪物的手指掐住了我的衣领，我被举到了空中。 他轻轻地把我放在几英尺远的地方。 人形怪物开始在瓦砾中挖掘，小心翼翼地挖开天花板上的大块东西。 他移走弯曲和扭曲的门。 他使劲一拉，把最后一块扯了起来。 我看到了他们。我的朋友。 活着。有点血腥，很脏，但还好。

Relief floods through me. "You're OK!" June grins as she crawls from the pile and gets to her feet. "You're OK! Why did you just stand out there and try to stare the monster down? What is wrong with you?" "I was trying to do a samurai thing." "No more samurai things, Jack." Quint stumbles from the rubble and throws his arms around me. My friends and I are not big huggers. But Quint squeezes me and slaps my back. "I thought we were all done for!" he exclaims. I smile. "We're good, buddy. We're good."

我感到如释重负。“你没事!”琼笑着从堆里爬出来，站了起来。 “你是好的!你为什么站在外面，想把怪物打倒？ 你怎么了？”“我想做一件武士的事情。” “不要再做武士的事了，杰克。” 昆特从废墟中跌跌撞撞地走出来，伸出双臂搂住了我。 我和我的朋友们不太喜欢拥抱。 但昆特挤我，拍我的背。 “我以为我们都完了！”他惊呼道。 我的微笑。“我们很好，伙计。 我们很好。"

"Yes, we are," June says, waving toward the man-monster. "Thanks to him." Dirk nods. "He punched through the gate. Pushed us inside. He took the brunt of the blow from the Wormungulous." So this... this man-monster, he not only freed my friends—he took the hit that saved their lives. And in a way, saved me—because without my friends, I might as well not exist. This terrifying, wicked-looking thing is our savior. Just goes to show—never judge a monster by its cover. Or its bone jewelry. The creature suddenly gasps for breath and drops to one knee. I see that his right leg is injured. Probably battered while blocking my friends. Pulling them free has taken everything out of him. The man-monster braces himself on a rack of clothing and manages to stand again. And then he opens his mouth.

“是的，我们是，”琼说，向那个人-怪物挥手。 “多亏了他。”德克点点头。 他冲进了大门。 把我们推了进去。他首当其冲地受到了虫人的打击。” 这……这个人兽，他不仅解救了我的朋友，他还承受了打击，救了他们的命。 在某种程度上，也救了我——因为没有我的朋友，我可能就不存在了。 这个可怕邪恶的东西是我们的救世主。 这只是个例子——永远不要以貌取人。 或者它的骨饰品。这只生物突然喘了口气，单膝跪地。 我看到他的右腿受伤了。 可能是在屏蔽朋友的时候被打晕了。 把他们救出来让他失去了一切。 这个人-怪物在衣架上支撑着自己，并成功地站了起来。 然后他张开嘴。