Chapter 26

chapter twenty-six I reach my gloved hand back and draw the Slicer. The dark energy—that ebony ink—begins draining out of the glove and snakes up the Slicer's handle with a SCHLURRRP. It seeps into the Slicer's every splinter, sliver, fracture, and fissure. It's joining with the dark, awful power already contained within it until, at last, the entire blade is the color of midnight.... "Thrull," I say. "These zombies—your army— belong to ME now!" I swing the Slicer around, toward the zombies, and a chalky charcoal arc hangs in the air. My gloved hand throbs as the final bit of energy is absorbed into the bat, and—

第二十六章我伸出戴着手套的手，抽出切片机。 暗能量——黑檀木墨水——开始从手套里流出来，随着一声“SCHLURRRP”的响动，沿着切片机的手柄蜿蜒而上。 它渗透到切片机的每一个碎片、细条、裂缝和裂缝中。 它与黑暗，可怕的力量结合在一起，直到最后，整个刀片都是午夜的颜色.... “激流，”我说。“这些僵尸——你的军队——现在属于我了！”我把切片机转了一圈，对准僵尸，一道白垩炭的弧线悬在空中。 当最后一点能量被球棒吸收时，我戴着手套的手在抽动，然后——

Zombies are yanked toward me with magnetic force. They lean forward at an angle, feet dragging, just barely skimming the ground. They move so fast that I smell burning rubber from the ones still wearing shoes. In half a second, all of them are gathered behind me. Thrull can only watch. The tip of his skeletal arm slowly grazes the ground. The arm lifts, and Thrull softly runs his hand over it.

僵尸被磁力拉向我。 他们以一定的角度向前倾，拖着脚，勉强掠过地面。 他们跑得太快了，我闻到了那些还穿着鞋的人身上的橡胶烧焦的味道。 不到半秒钟，他们都聚集在我身后。 Thrull只能看着。他那骨瘦如柴的手臂的尖端慢慢地擦着地面。 手臂抬起，Thrull轻轻地用手摸了摸。

Thrull looks up, a cryptic smile on his face as his hand continues to trace over the skeletal appendage. And the action figures embedded in it. "This is so very far from over. The Tower will be built—though I may enlist a different kind of army," he says. He taps the skeletal tail, then smiles. "I suggest you get used to the sight of bones, Jack...." He lifts his war hammer, sets it over his shoulder, and makes a medium-dramatic exit. The skeletal arm drags behind him, until he snaps it up. A few tiny bits of remaining Vine- Thingies gather around him, following like gooey little snails....

Thrull抬起头，脸上带着神秘的微笑，他的手继续在骨骼附属物上追踪。 还有里面的人偶。 “这还远远没有结束。 伦敦塔将会建成——尽管我可能会征召一支不同的军队，”他说。 他轻拍着它的骨骼尾巴，然后笑了。 “我建议你习惯看到骨头，杰克....” 他举起他的战锤，把它放在肩膀上，然后做了一个中等戏剧性的退出。 那只骨瘦如柴的手臂拖在他身后，直到他猛地抓住它。 剩下的一些藤蔓小玩意儿聚集在他周围，像黏糊糊的小蜗牛一样跟着....

Excuse us, Excuse us. Close personal friends of the hero Jack. I apologize for saying you have the bootleg version of the force that was not bootleg. My friends come closer, but I take a hesitant step back. "Guys, please," I say, throwing up my hand, all dramatic. "I have changed.... I... I am different now. I am no longer the Jack you know. I am... more." I hoist the blade over my head. "I must go now," I say. My face is somber. "I must learn the limits of these powers. It is my quest—my quest alone. And where I go, you cannot follow." June's mouth hangs open. Quint is frozen. Dirk is quiet. I hang my head for a moment,

借过，借过。英雄杰克亲密的私人朋友。 我很抱歉说你有盗版版本的力不是盗版的。 我的朋友们走近了，但我犹豫地退了一步。 “伙计们，求你们了。”我说着，举起手，非常夸张。 “我已经改变了....我…我现在不一样了。 我不再是你认识的那个杰克了。 我是……更多。”我把刀刃举过头顶。 “我得走了，”我说。我的脸很阴沉。 “我必须了解这些力量的极限。 这是我的探索——我一个人的探索。 我去的地方，你不能跟着我。” 琼张着嘴。昆特被冻住了。 德克很安静。我低下了头，

and when I lift it up again— gotshe. I got you right. I definitely got you. I see it on your faces. Jack cheese, man. Not funny, friend I'm giggling so hard I snort. "Just messing with you! But, yeah, that was legit crazy. I'm still me, though, and if I ever hear anyone say they are 'close personal friends of the hero' again I will FLIP." "Good," June says. "I like regular ol' Jack."

当我再把它举起来时——她就来了。 我说对了。我完全明白你的意思。 我从你们的脸上看出来了。杰克奶酪，伙计。 一点也不好笑，朋友，我笑得都要哼鼻子了。 “逗你玩呢！”但是，没错，那确实很疯狂。 不过，我还是我，如果我再听到有人说他们是‘英雄的亲密朋友’，我会翻脸的。” “很好，”琼说。“我喜欢普通的老杰克。”

Suddenly, Quint points. "Jack! Your hand! The glove!" I hear scattered whispers among the monsters. "Whoa," says Dirk. I lift my hand, twisting it, looking at it from all angles. The Scrapken flesh has smoothed over. It crosses over that weird tight fleshy part between the thumb and the pointer finger, then back around, over my palm, where it fused together. It's tight, but not uncomfortable. Still wet. Still changing.

突然，昆特指了指。“杰克!你的手!手套!”我听到怪兽们的窃窃私语。 “哇，”德克说。我抬起手，扭动着，从各个角度打量着它。 刮破的皮肉已经光滑了。 它穿过拇指和食指之间那个奇怪的紧绷的肉质部分，然后回到我的手掌，在那里它融合在一起。 它很紧，但不舒服。 还是湿的。仍然发生变化。