Chapter 2

chapter two It feels like the entire world explodes. Any moment, I expect my body will break. First, there will be the impaling. Followed by the crushing. And then, finally, the liquefying. But that doesn't happen. I am neither impaled, crushed, or liquefied. Because we're not being run over—not exactly. Instead, we've been vacuumed up, into the darkness of the Mallusk's underside. See, this is why I hate vacuuming.

感觉整个世界都爆炸了。 任何时候，我都觉得我的身体会崩溃。 首先是刺穿。 接着是碾压。最后，是液化。 但这不会发生。我既没有被刺穿，也没有被压碎，也没有液化。 因为我们没有被车碾过，不完全是。 相反，我们被吸走了，进入了Mallusk号底部的黑暗。 看吧，这就是我讨厌吸尘的原因。

I quickly lose track of my friends—it's impossible to see anything but the millions of needle-like hairs that cover the Mallusk's massive pincer legs. I try to call out to them, but the instant I open my mouth, the air is ripped from my lungs. It's like I'm inside a tornado. I faintly hear Alfred groaning. I squint back, just as he's yanked from the BoomKart and pulled into the swirling storm created by the rapid movement of the Mallusk's legs. Glurm and Lefty are snatched next, disappearing amidst the pounding pincers. Then— SNAP! My seat belt pops and I'm hurled from the BoomKart! I'm suddenly like an astronaut, alone in space—only I don't have one of those neato cords tethering me to the ship. There is zero tethering happening here. A tiny flicker of light, high above me, catches my eye. I realize I'm being hurled toward it with the Mallusk's every pulsating movement. This is probably gonna not be great, I think as I'm propelled toward a pulsing hole that looks to be roughly the width of a Pringles can. The vacuum suction increases until— FA-FOOM!

我很快就失去了朋友们的踪迹——除了覆盖在Mallusk巨大钳腿上的数百万根针状毛发外，什么也看不见。 我试着喊他们，但我一张嘴，肺里的空气就被抽走了。 就像我在龙卷风里一样。 我隐约听到阿尔弗雷德在呻吟。 我回头看了看，就在他被从布姆卡特车里拽出来，被拉进了Mallusk的腿快速移动造成的漩涡风暴中。 格鲁姆和阿左也被抓住了，消失在猛烈的钳子中。 然后——提前!我的安全带爆了，我被甩出了BoomKart！我突然就像一个宇航员，独自在太空中——只是我没有那些把我绑在飞船上的绳子。 这里没有发生任何束缚。 一缕微弱的光，在我头顶的高处，吸引了我的目光。 我意识到我正被Mallusk的每一次搏动抛向它。 这可能不会很好，我想，因为我被推进一个脉冲洞，看起来大约是品客薯片罐的宽度。 真空吸力增加，直到- fa - fom ！

I'm shot through the hole, rocketed out of the world of Mallusk legs and pincers—and rocketed into something that looks and feels like lime Jell-O. My eyes are open, but the goo doesn't sting the way the chlorine in a motel swimming pool does. I continue upward, through the Jell-O, blasting past... I manage to twist in the green goo, avoiding a crunched-up, mangled gas pump—probably devoured moments earlier by the Mallusk, an unleaded afternoon snack. Then, finally, one last violent push and— SPLOOSH!

我被射穿了洞，从马鲁斯克腿和钳子的世界里飞了出来，飞进了一个看起来和摸起来都像酸橙果冻的地方。 我睁着眼睛，但这种粘稠物不像汽车旅馆游泳池里的氯那样刺痛我。 我继续向上，穿过果冻，爆炸过去…… 我设法在绿色的粘稠物中扭动，避开了嘎吱嘎吱的、破损的油泵——可能是片刻之前被马鲁斯克（Mallusk）吃掉的无铅下午小吃。 然后，最后，一个最后的暴力推动和-噗！

My head and shoulders burst through the surface. After a quick gasp for air— "JUNE! QUINT! DIRK!" I shout. "Where are you?" The answer comes in the form of three sudden splashes. One by one, my friends erupt through the surface—gasping, coughing, spitting. Well, that was a strange trip through a strange parfait. I was thinking the same thing, but not parfait. I was thinking of the ice cream one with the chocolate crunchies, Carvel Ice cream cake. The greatest of all cakes. Enough with the cakes. I've got a problem, "Dirk..." I start. I'm suddenly feeling sick—and it has nothing to do with the gallon of goo I swallowed. "Where's Drooler?" Dirk's chin trembles as he looks at me. "I... I don't know. We got separated back there."

我的头和肩膀露出水面。 在急促地喘了口气之后——“琼！五胞胎!德克!”我喊。 “你在哪儿？”答案以三次突然飞溅的形式出现。 我的朋友们一个接一个地从水面上冒出来——喘气、咳嗽、吐痰。 那是一次奇怪的旅行，穿过一个奇怪的蛋糕。 我也在想同样的事情，但不完全是这样。 我在想那种有巧克力脆片的冰淇淋，卡维尔冰淇淋蛋糕。 最美味的蛋糕。 别再吃蛋糕了。我遇到麻烦了，“德克……” 我开始。我突然感觉不舒服——这与我吞下的一加仑粘液无关。 “流着口水在哪儿?”德克看着我，下巴在颤抖。 “我……我不知道。我们在那里走散了。”

That's when I realize Drooler isn't the only missing member of our little adventure crew: my Zombie Squad isn't here, either. But I see the aching, awful look on Dirk's face—and I decide not to say anything. Alfred, Lefty, and Glurm are, y'know, undead—they could get pulled through a dozen Mallusks and be OK. They'll turn up. But Drooler? I'm not so sure. "I held on to Drooler as tight as I could, and that's really tight," Dirk says. "But my sword got pulled away, so then he got pulled away, and now... Where is he?!" I'm worried Dirk is going to go into full-on meltdown mode, until he adds, "I will personally punch every dumb pincer on this thing until I get Drooler back!" That sounds more like the Dirk we know and love. "Drooler must be somewhere," June says. Quint nods. "We'll find him." I wipe more goo from my eyes—and see we're in a dimly lit, cavernous chamber. Junk churns around us like we're in a garbage Jacuzzi. A mailbox bobs past us, followed by battered stop signs and deflated pool floaties. "I think we were sucked up into the Mallusk's gastrointestinal tract," Quint explains as he paddles toward me. "Or some variation thereof." "Lovely..." June says, flicking a fleshy gunk wad off her shoulder.

这时我意识到Drooler并不是我们的小冒险团队中唯一失踪的成员：我的僵尸小队也不在这里。 但我看到德克脸上痛苦、可怕的表情，我决定什么也不说。 艾尔弗雷德、阿左和格伦，你知道，是不死的——就算被一打mallusk拉过去，也不会有事。 他们会出现的。但流着口水吗? 我不太确定。德克说：“我紧紧地抱着Drooler，这真的很紧。” “但是我的剑被拉开了，然后他也被拉开了，现在…… 他在哪儿？！”我担心德克会陷入全面崩溃的状态，直到他补充道：“我会亲自在这件事上打每一个愚蠢的钳子，直到我把流口水找回来！”这听起来更像我们熟悉和喜爱的德克。 “流口水一定在什么地方，”琼说。 五胞胎点点头。“我们会找到他的。” 我擦去更多的泪水，看到我们在一个昏暗的洞穴里。 垃圾在我们周围翻来倒去，就像我们在垃圾按摩浴缸里。 一个邮筒从我们身边呼啸而过，后面是破旧的停车标志和瘪了气的泳池浮标。 昆特一边向我游来，一边解释道：“我想我们是被马鹿的胃肠道吸进去了。” “或者是类似的。” “可爱的…”琼说着，拍拍肩上的一团肉乎乎的东西。

"Which means this, here, is the uprooted underside of the Millennium Super Mall," Quint says, pointing to the cracked concrete and jagged pipes that cover the ceiling. "The Mallusk's exoskeleton must have fused with—" YEE-ARRRNK! A monstrous bellow suddenly echoes through the chamber. "Watch out!" June cries. She reels in the goo as a long, thick hose suddenly bursts out of the darkness! "Whoa! Hose thing!" I cry, then— SPLOOSH! The hose stabs into the pool. Two more follow. My friends and I are huddled together, nervously bobbing as the hoses poke around in the goo. Soon, each hose finds a piece of scrap, wraps around it, then pulls it from the pool. "Those aren't hoses..." June says. Our eyes have begun to adjust to the darkness, and it's clear they're actually the trunks of some strange new creature. And now those trunks are coming back, wrapping around us, hauling us away...

“这意味着这里，这里，是千禧年超级购物中心被连根拔起的下面，”昆特指着覆盖天花板的开裂的混凝土和参差的管道说。 “Mallusk的外骨骼一定和——”咦——咦！房间里突然响起一声可怕的怒吼。 “小心!”6月哭。当一根又长又粗的软管突然从黑暗中喷出时，她在粘稠的液体中盘旋！“哇!软管的事情!”我哭了，然后——噗！水管刺入水池。 还有两个跟着。我和我的朋友们挤在一起，当软管在粘稠物中戳来戳去时，我们紧张地上下晃动。 很快，每根软管都找到了一块碎片，把它缠起来，然后把它从水池里拉出来。 “那些不是水管……”6月说。 我们的眼睛已经开始适应黑暗，很明显，它们实际上是某种奇怪的新生物的树干。 现在那些箱子又回来了，把我们团团围住，把我们拖走了……