Chapter 25

chapter twenty-five We stop at a gas station outside of town, once we're sure no skeletons are following us. And the first order of business is to get a final road trip photo of all of us in super-cheesy souvenir shirts.

第二十五章我们在镇外的一个加油站停了下来，一旦我们确定没有骷髅跟踪我们。 第一件事就是拍一张我们所有人穿着超俗纪念t恤的公路旅行照片。

After the photo, June tries to get the fuel pump working so we can refill the BoomKarts. "We kinda really kicked butt," June says. "Crushing this road trip thing." "Not gonna argue," I say. She says. "Not only did we get Drooler, but we also figured out a lot of stuff."

拍完照片后，琼试图让燃油泵运转起来，这样我们就可以给布姆卡丁车加满油了。 “我们真的很成功，”琼说。 “彻底毁了自驾游这件事。” “我不想争辩，”我说。她说。 “我们不仅得到了Drooler，而且还发现了很多东西。”

"Indeed," Quint says. "First and foremost: that Thrull views Drooler as a threat." "Good point," I say, nodding. "But we also found out the Tower is WAY bigger than any of us expected." "Not only that," Dirk adds, "but we know Thrull's army is nearly endless." "You guys are being too negative!" June says. "We've got an Ultra-Slime machine now! Not to mention a massive army of zombies at our disposal back home!" "We did achieve some victories," Quint agrees. "But it's important to recognize how far behind we still are. We're going to need more followers, more survivors, if we want to defeat Thrull and .e...c.. It's a simple numbers game." "I bet there are lots of monsters on the Mega Mallusk thing!" June says. "We just need to catch up to it!" "Perhaps," Quint says before an easy silence settles among us. And then I find myself sort of staring off into the distance, back toward the museum. A place

“的确，”昆特说。“首先，Thrull将Drooler视为威胁。” “说得好，”我点点头说。 “但我们也发现，伦敦塔比我们想象的要大得多。” “不仅如此，”德克补充道，“而且我们知道Thrull的军队几乎是无穷无尽的。” “你们太消极了！”6月说。 “我们现在有了一台超级黏液机器！”更不用说在我们家乡还有一大群僵尸在等着我们！”“我们确实取得了一些胜利，”昆特表示赞同。 “但重要的是要认识到我们仍然远远落后。 我们需要更多的追随者，更多的幸存者，如果我们想打败Thrull和… 这是一个简单的数字游戏。” “我敢打赌，Mega Mallusk上一定有很多怪物！”6月说。 “我们只需要赶上它！”“也许吧，”昆特说，然后我们之间平静下来。 然后我发现自己盯着远方，回到博物馆的方向。 一个地方

I very much wish to never visit again. "I can't believe Big Mama's really gone," I eventually say. "So many memories." Quint smiles. "I did manage to save one memento from the wreckage..." He holds up the fuzzy dice that hung from Big Mama's rearview mirror ever since our first end-of-the-world day together. I smile. "Thanks, Quint." We bump fists. But then we're immediately distracted by someone making a squeaky baby voice.

我真希望再也不要来了。 “我不敢相信大妈真的走了，”我终于说。 “太多的回忆了。”五胞胎的笑容。 “我设法从残骸中抢救出一件纪念品……” 他举起了那个从我们第一次一起经历世界末日后挂在“大妈妈”后视镜上的模糊骰子。 我的微笑。“谢谢,五度音”。我们碰拳头。 但我们马上就会被一个婴儿吱吱的声音分散注意力。

Who's a good little Slime-Drooler you are? Yes, you are. You're SO cute. We're gonna take so many pictures together. This trip Yes we are. I'm gonna find you fun outfits and everything. "Uh, should we be worried about this?" I ask. "Worried?" Quint asks. "I'm delighted!" I watch for another moment. Dirk hugs Drooler so hard that slime spurts out, splattering all of us. "Yep," I say. "'Delighted' is the right word."

你到底是谁啊？ 是的，你是。你太可爱了。 我们要一起拍很多照片。 这次旅行是的，我们是。我会给你找些好玩的衣服什么的。 “呃，我们应该担心这个吗？”我问。 “担心?”五度音问道。“我很高兴!”我又看了一会儿。 德克抱得太紧了，黏液喷了出来，溅到了我们所有人身上。 “是的，”我说。“‘高兴’这个词用得很恰当。”

"I'm sorry, Dirk," June calls out. "I didn't mean to totally lose it back there. With Drooler and everything..." Dirk looks up and shrugs, not seeming too worried about it anymore. "No, really," June insists as she fiddles with the gas pump. "I never should have thought about stealing him from his guardian thing, or whatever. I was being selfish. We're all in this together, and I know that." "You're good, June," Dirk says. June finishes filling her BoomKart's tank and wipes her hands on her jeans. She walks over toward Dirk and says, "So... this is Drooler, huh?" Dirk nods. June clumsily pats Drooler on the head and pulls her hand away to find it covered in slime. She laughs, and I think I even see Drooler crack a smile. They are good. And so am I. That's what I tell myself as I look back at the World's Largest Donut Hole. It's only a speck on the horizon now.

“对不起，德克。”琼喊道。 “我并不是说要完全失去理智。 还有流口水什么的……” 德克抬起头，耸了耸肩，似乎不再太担心了。 “不，真的，”琼一边摆弄着汽油泵，一边坚持说。 “我从来没有想过要把他从他的监护人那里偷走，或者别的什么。 我太自私了。我们都在一起，我知道这一点。” “你很好，琼，”德克说。 琼把布姆卡丁车的油箱加满，在牛仔裤上擦了擦手。 她走向德克说：“那么…… 这是流口水，是吧？”德克点点头。 琼笨拙地拍了拍流口水的头，把她的手抽开，发现它沾满了黏液。 她笑了，我想我甚至看到流口水也笑了。 他们很好。我也是。 当我回头看世界上最大的甜甜圈洞时，我这样告诉自己。 现在它只是地平线上的一个小点。