Halfway1 across the living room, Amy took her own spill. One of her feet came down on the discarded issue of EQMM and she fell sprawling2 on her side, hurting her hip3 and right breast. She cried out.
Behind her, Shooter ran across to the table and snatched up the screwdriver4 he had used on the cat.
'Stay right there, and be still,' he said as she turned over on her back and stared at him with wide eyes which looked almost drugged. 'If you move around, I'm only goin to hurt you before it's over. I don't want to hurt you, missus, but I will if I have to. I've got to have something, you see. I have come all this way, and I've got to have something for my trouble.'
As he approached, Amy propped5 herself up on her elbows and shoved herself backward with her feet. Her hair hung in her face. Her skin was coated with sweat; she could smell it pouring out of her, hot and stinking6. The face above her was the solemn, judgmental face of insanity7.
'No, Mort! Please! Please, Mort
He flung himself at her, raising the screwdriver over his head and then bringing it down. Amy shrieked8 and rolled to the left. Pain burned a line across her hip as the screwdriver blade tore her dress and grooved9 her flesh. Then she was scrambling10 to her knees, hearing and feeling the dress shred11 out a long unwinding strip as she did it.
'No, ma'am,' Shooter panted. His hand closed upon her ankle. 'No, ma'am.' She looked over her shoulder and through the tangles12 of her hair and saw he was using his other hand to work the screwdriver out of the floor. The round-crowned black hat sat askew13 on his head.
He yanked the screwdriver free and drove it into her right calf14.
The pain was horrid15. The pain was the whole world. She screamed and kicked backward, connecting with his nose, breaking it. Shooter grunted16 and fell on his side, clutching at his face, and Amy got to her feet. She could hear a woman howling. It sounded like a dog howling at the moon. She supposed it wasn't a dog. She supposed it was her.
Shooter was getting to his feet. His lower face was a mask of blood. The mask split open, showing Mort Rainey's crooked17 front teeth. She could remember licking across those teeth with her tongue.
'Feisty one, ain't you?' he said, grinning. 'That's all right, ma'am. You go right on.'
He lunged for her.
Amy staggered backward. The screwdriver fell out of her calf and rolled across the floor. Shooter glanced at it, then lunged at her again, almost playfully. Amy grabbed one of the living-room chairs and dumped it in front of him. For a moment they only stared at each other over it . and then he snatched for the front of her dress. Amy recoiled18.
'I'm about done fussin with you,' he panted.
Amy turned and bolted for the door.
He was after her at once, flailing19 at her back, his fingertips skating skidding20 down the nape of her neck, trying to close on the top of the dress, catching21 it, then just missing the hold which would have coiled her back to him for good.
Amy bolted past the kitchen counter and toward the back door. Her right loafer squelched22 and smooched on her foot. It was full of blood. Shooter was after her, puffing23 and blowing bubbles of blood from his nostrils24, clutching at her.
She struck the screen door with her hands, then tripped and fell full-length on the porch, the breath whooshing25 out of her. She fell exactly where Shooter had left his manuscript. She rolled over and saw him coming. He only had his bare hands now, but they looked like they would be more than enough. His eyes were stern and unflinching and horribly kind beneath the brim of the black hat.
'I am so sorry, missus,' he said.
'Rainey!' a voice cried. 'Stop!'
She tried to look around and could not. She had strained something in her neck. Shooter never even tried. He simply came on toward her.
'Rainey! Stop!'
'There is no Rainey h -' Shooter began, and then a gunshot rapped briskly across the fall air. Shooter stopped where he was, and looked curiously26, almost casually27, down at his chest. There was a small hole there. No blood issued from it - at least, not at first - but the hole was there. He put his hand to it, then brought it away. His index finger was marked by a small dot of blood. It looked like a bit of punctuation28 - the kind which ends a sentence. He looked at this thoughtfully. Then he dropped his hands and looked at Amy.
'Babe?' he asked, and then fell full-length beside her on the porch boards.
She rolled over, managed to get up on her elbows, and crawled to where he lay, beginning to sob29.
'Mort?' she cried. 'Mort? Please, Mort, try to say something!'
But he was not going to say anything, and after a moment she let this realization30 fill her up. She would reject the simple fact of his death again and again over the next few weeks and months, and would then weaken, and the realization would fill her up again. He was dead. He was dead. He had gone crazy down here and he was dead.
He, and whoever had been inside him at the end.
She put her head down on his chest and wept, and when someone came up behind her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, Amy did not look around.
收听单词发音 |
1
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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2
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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screwdriver
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| n.螺丝起子；伏特加橙汁鸡尾酒 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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grooved
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| v.沟( groove的过去式和过去分词 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏 | |
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10
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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shred
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| v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少 | |
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12
tangles
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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16
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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flailing
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| v.鞭打( flail的现在分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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skidding
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| n.曳出，集材v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的现在分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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squelched
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| v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止；压制；遏制 | |
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23
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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24
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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25
whooshing
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| v.（使）飞快移动( whoosh的现在分词 ) | |
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26
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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28
punctuation
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| n.标点符号，标点法 | |
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29
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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