Chapter 17

chapter seventeen Dirk and I tumble through cracked concrete and dirt and down into darkness and then— WHOMP! Hard ground. There's a heavy, wet smell in the air, like soil. I rise, take a step, then pitch forward into something. Something alive. My mouth is open, ready to shriek, but it's Dirk. He throws a big, dirty palm over my face. "Shh..." he says, lifting a finger to his mouth. "These walls have ears—" "WHAT? Ears?!" I scream as I spin, eyes darting, imagining the most horrific thing my mind can conjure: the fabled, long-lost...

第十七章德克和我滚过开裂的混凝土和泥土，跌入黑暗之中，然后——砰！硬地面。 空气中有一股浓重的潮湿气味，像泥土一样。 我站起来，迈出一步，然后向前倾。 活着的东西。我张着嘴，准备尖叫，但那是德克。 他把又大又脏的手掌放在我脸上。 “嘘……”他说，把一根手指举到嘴边。 “墙墙有耳——”“什么？ 耳朵? !”我一边尖叫一边旋转，眼睛飞快地转动，想象着我脑海中最可怕的东西：传说中久违的……

WALL OF EARS "No, dingus, not real ears," Dirk says, nodding ahead. "Those...." I see Vine-Thingies, swaying, bobbing, moving curiously. One snakes toward us, like it's curious. "I think they're listening to us," Dirk whispers.

“不，笨蛋，不是真的耳朵。”德克说着，朝前面点了点头。 “那些……”我看见藤蔓的东西，摇摆着，摇摆着，好奇地移动着。 其中一个向我们蜿蜒而来，好像很好奇。 “我想他们在听我们说话。”德克小声说。

"They must know how cool our conversations are." Dirk jabs me with a quick elbow and nods ahead. Beyond the next cluster of vines, I see endless tunnels. The only reason we can see at all is because the Vine-Thingies glow. They crawl along the tunnel walls, and their flowers hum with purple and green. "All this neon reminds me of the laser tag joint," I say. "Hey! Idea! After we get outta here, we should—" "Not now!" Dirk growls, and he steps forward, brushing through a large, pulsating leaf. I follow closely behind. We turn a corner and it's like someone cranked up the lights on Space Mountain. This isn't just one tunnel—it's many tunnels that split and shoot off into forks and branches. "Whatever carved these tunnels must've been real big," Dirk says as we continue our trek.

“他们一定知道我们的谈话有多酷。” 德克迅速用手肘打了我一下，点了点头。 在下一丛藤蔓后面，我看到了无尽的隧道。 我们能看见东西的唯一原因是藤物发光。 它们沿着隧道的墙壁爬行，它们的花朵发出紫色和绿色的嗡嗡声。 “这些霓虹灯让我想起了激光枪战，”我说。 “嘿!主意!等我们离开这里，我们应该——”“现在不行！”德克吼了一声，向前迈了几步，擦过一片跳动的大叶子。 我紧跟在后面。我们拐了个弯，就像有人打开了太空山的灯。 这不仅仅是一条隧道，而是许多隧道，它们分裂成分叉和分支。 当我们继续跋涉时，德克说：“不管是什么雕刻了这些隧道，一定非常大。”

Cool air rushes through the tunnel. I pull my hoodie tight. "Must've done it recently, too," Dirk adds, poking at the wall. "The soil's wet." Every step on the soft earth squishes beneath our feet. It's quiet, eerily quiet, until— A spine-chilling SCREAM erupts! I draw the Slicer. Dirk readies his fists. We burst around the next corner, ready for anything—

冷空气穿过隧道。 我把连帽衫拉紧。“肯定也是最近干的，”德克戳着墙补充道。 “土壤是湿的。”每一步踩在松软的土地上，脚下都会咯吱作响。 安静，出奇的安静，直到一声令人毛骨悚然的尖叫爆发！我画出了切片器。 德克准备好了拳头。我们冲过了下一个拐角，准备迎接一切

I'm taking you to Jack town June fist, right to your nose! "STOP!" Quint says. June holds up her armored hand. "Whoa, it's us! Y'know—your friends!" Fists and Slicer are lowered. "That could have been messy," June says. "I almost blasted you." "I'm just happy you're enjoying the Gift," I say with a grin.

我要带你去杰克镇，六月初，直接打到你鼻子上！“住手!”五度音说。 琼举起她那只戴着盔甲的手。 “哇，是我们！”Y 'know-your朋友!”拳头和切片机降低。 “那可能会很混乱，”琼说。 “我差点揍你。”“我很高兴你喜欢这份礼物，”我笑着说。

Quint points at my arm. "Jack," he says. "You're bleeding." He's right—a small cut on my arm. Something scraped me as we came around the corner. My eye catches on a spike jutting from the wall. "Hmm," Dirk says as he plucks it out like a giant splinter. Quint eyes it. "It's a quill from the Hairy Eyeball Monster." He gives the tunnel a once- over, then adds, "And there are lots of them." The spikey quills fill this section of the tunnel. Some are broken. Others have bits of monster flesh on the end, like they were ripped from the creature's body. "It's like after the Vine-Thingies captured it, they didn't just beat it up or eat it up," June says. Quint nods. "They dragged it through here." "But dragged to where?" I ask. Dirk extends his arm, drops the quill, and it hits the dirt floor with a muffled thud. Then it rolls down the path like a runaway pencil.

昆特指着我的手臂。“杰克，”他说。 “你流血了。”他说得对，我手臂上有个小伤口。 我们拐过拐角时，有什么东西刮了我一下。 我的目光抓住了从墙上伸出来的一根钉子。 “嗯，”德克一边说，一边把它像一个巨大的碎片一样拔了出来。 Quint的眼睛。“这是毛眼球怪的羽毛笔。” 他把隧道看了一遍，然后补充说：“而且有很多隧道。” 尖刺填满了这段隧道。 有些是坏的。还有一些末端有怪物的肉块，就像从怪物身上撕下来的一样。 “就像Vine-Thingies抓住它之后，他们不只是殴打或吃掉它，”June说。 五胞胎点点头。“他们把它拖到了这里。” “可是拖到哪儿去呢？”我问。 德克伸出手臂，把羽毛笔掉在地上，羽毛笔扑通一声落在泥土地上。 然后它像一支失控的铅笔一样滚下小路。