二十七
“一个好的猎人不仅要能打枪。刀是你最可靠的工具。对付魔物，像娘们一样拿小刀捅是不行的。瞄准要害，一招就要让它们失去伤害你的能力。”
幽灵在我的面前挥舞着那把大猎刀。这天他把胳膊上的绑带去掉了。我预感到我的训练终于要结束了。
“你得给自己弄把刀。每个人对手里刀的需要都不一样。你这种个头和臂长，应该给自己找把砍刀用。不过在那之前，先用这个吧。”他在往周围看了一圈，从旁边的树上一刀砍下了一根粗大的树枝，把枝条削掉，扔给我，“一个不会用刀的人，训练时最容易弄伤别人。”
“好，现在叉开双脚，重心放在后脚上。喏，再叉开点！”
我感觉自己像一个木偶一样被随意摆弄。
“正手握刀，握紧刀。你见过反手握砍刀的人吗？就算你用的是匕首，也给我正手握。对付那些怪胎，你要做的不是防御。你要么撒腿就跑，要么进攻，疯狂地进攻，直到你的敌人不再动弹，你也要给它补上两刀。”
“你首先要学会像一个拳击手一样快步后撤，这样那些笨拙的混蛋才不能轻易打到你，省得你的脸上和我一样烙下一条疤。不不不，垫步，不要滑步。树林里不是拳台，滑来滑去的保准有一根树枝把你绊倒。”
“看见这棵树没？砍它！”
我就用树枝打这棵树。
“别像街头流氓一样乱挥你的刀。把右手横过来，在胸前蓄力，然后横着劈过去。这样可以直接削掉那些玩意的脑袋，省得它们再站起来。”
就这样，那棵树在几个小时内承受了几百次重击——来自它自己的树枝。直到我的指甲缝被震得鲜血直流，幽灵才让我收手。
显然我不太擅长用刀。在一个星期的训练后，我换上了一把真正的砍刀。第一天就差点砍到自己。但这把刀的威力让我满意——它一刀就砍断了我之前用来训练的树枝。
在又花了两天折磨那棵树并最终把它砍倒之后，幽灵告诉我我的训练完成了。我终于可以离开那个少了一颗树而且到处是弹痕的墓地了。
第二天，幽灵就没再来到教堂。我路过“微笑鹈鹕”酒吧时看见了他，他独自喝酒，桌子上放着那个灰色的面具，倚着一把我没见过的步枪。显然是杠杆式的，有点像温彻斯特1873，但是有一个锃亮的盒式机匣，短短的护木前方没有伸出弹舱管。
我没有和他打招呼。
第二天，我来到教堂。Tony和我打招呼。
“幽灵告诉我你已经可以出去狩猎了，只是缺乏经验。Brad的搭档上次行动时死了，他同意你来接替。你去找他吧，他在那边的长凳上。”
Brad显然不是本地人，有着典型的欧洲人特征和西班牙口音。不难看出他应该和南边的墨西哥有着一些渊源。他的膝盖上倚着一把陈旧但装饰精美的双管猎枪。左右肩各挎着一条皮子弹带，一条上插满了霰弹，一条上是手枪弹。枪套耷拉在大腿上，里面插着一把和我的一模一样的柯尔特1873转轮手枪。
“你好。”我向他伸手。
“你好。”他握了握我的手，“原来独臂老顽固给我找了个这么年轻的搭档。听说你没有什么狩猎经验？”
“啊......我刚刚学会怎么用好这杆步枪。”
“那我们最好快点开始。后天我准备去静水湾地，听说那里僵尸突然多了起来。”
“我会做好准备。”
（朴实无华大刀片）
二十八
“下马吧，我们到了前哨。再往前走两英里就进入被魔物占据的地区了，我们不能骑马进去。”
前哨是一个很小的建筑，一座小小的平房紧挨着马厩，里面关着两匹马。加上我们的，总共四匹马。
“嘿，Stoner！这两匹宝贝交给你了！”
“Brad？”一个胡子头发都很长的男人打开房门。浓密的毛发掩盖了他的大部分脸部，我无法分辨他的年龄。但他手里的转轮手枪绝对有些年头了，我想是南北战争时期的老古董，说不定还要更老些。
“是我，我和Chris要进去打猎。”
“Chris？我不认识这个名字。”
“新加入的菜鸟猎人，我的新搭档。”
“菜鸟猎人？”叫Stoner的看守瞟了我一眼，“菜鸟想从里面活着出来可要费点功夫。”
“不用担心，我们不会走得很深，我们互相掩护后背。”
“好吧，进来登记一下。”
于是我们在一张羊皮纸上写下自己的名字。
“你们准备什么时候出来？”
“今晚之前，如果出现意外，也不会晚于午夜。”
“好。夜里我会把灯升起来，你们可以在它的指引下回来。”
我们离开了房子，继续往南走。
“那个Stoner，他不是猎人，他是谁？”
“你怎么知道他不是个猎人？”
“呃……”我不知道该不该告诉Brad所有猎人在我眼里都闪着橙红色的光，那听起来太疯狂了，“我就是知道，直觉吧，我想。”
“他是一个普通的猎户，他的家就在南边的村庄里，被魔物彻底毁掉了。他想加入AHA，但是他太老了，没有得到允许。所以他请求为我们看守前哨。我们还有其他几个前哨，都是不能加入协会的人看守。他们甚至比协会的猎人还要可靠，因为他们每个人都仇恨那些东西。”
“你是什么时候加入AHA的？”
“那就说来话长了，集中精力，我们要进入危险区域了。你可以给你的步枪装弹，但保证枪口朝地。”
“听着，不论我向你讲述多少遍这些魔物的特征，都不如你亲自看它们一眼。但还是记住我告诉你的：僵尸，很脆弱但很凶猛，尽量不要开枪，不然就招来一大群。水魔和树魔，我们应该碰不见几只，因为这片区域的特殊魔物一直被猎人们反复清理，数量已经不多了，最多就是一些僵尸游荡到这里。更罕见的‘蜂巢’我们应该更难碰到，如果碰到，偷偷溜走就好，除非你想被蛰出一身的脓包。”
“好的，我听你指挥。”
开阔地在我们面前消失了，路变窄，延伸入看不到头的丛林里。
“看好你脚下和周围的树，如果有什么不像普通树的东西一定要告诉我。”
森林里真的很安静。连一声鸟叫都没有。Brad和我慢慢地迈步，不想发出脚步声。我激动地指了指一百码外的一只僵尸。它站在那里，看起来像一个站着打瞌睡的人，头时不时晃动一下。
“别管它。”Brad低声说，“这种休眠状态下的僵尸对我们不是威胁。你要发出很响的声音，或者与它近在咫尺，才会惊动它。我们没必要制造更多噪音。”
我点点头，放下枪。
“嘿，停，小心！”Brad的眼睛突然瞪大了。
“什么？”我还没反应过来，Brad就举起霰弹枪，朝着我扣动了扳机。
（下面的英文是我自己翻译的第二十八章，没事写着玩的，也顺便发了吧，顺便宣传一下，我B站昵称R6S-XYZ，主要做R6视频，小说是最先更新在B站，话本随缘跟进。现在B站已经更新到三十八章了）
“Dismount, we have arrived at the outpost. We are only two miles away from the monsters’ domains, can’t just ride in there.”
The outpost is just a small cottage built next to a stable, which is already housing two horses. As we brought in ours it was crowded with four.
“Hi, stoner, take care of the two babies!”
“Brad?” A man with long hair and beard opened the door of the cottage. Thick hair was covering most of his face, making it hard to estimate his age. But the revolver in his hand is probably older than my father: an antique from civil war or even ealier.
“It’s me, I am going hunting with Chris.”
“Chris? Never heard about him.”
“A newbie, my partner now.”
“A newbie?” The Stoner man glanced me and said, “it takes a lot to make it out alive for a rookie.”
“Don’t worry we ain’t going in deep. We got each other’s back.”
“Alright, come in and sign your names, just in case.”
We went in and signed our name on a piece of parchment.
“When will you be back out?” asked Stoner.
“Before nightfall, I think. No later than midnight if anything happens.”
“OK, I shall raise the light at night for you to find your way back.”
We left the house and headed for the south.
“That Stoner man, he is not a hunter. Who is he?”
“How would you know he is not a hunter?” Brad asked in curiosity.
“Eh…” I was not ready to tell him that every hunter was surrounded with weird orange lights in my view, that was too crazy. “I just know, instinct I assume. ” So answered I.
“He is just an ordinary old hunter whose home was wiped out by the demons. He volunteered for AHA but was too old to be admitted. So he asked to secure the outpost for us. We have several outposts out there watched by similar people who hate the monsters even more than we hunters, which make them even more reliable than us.”
“How did you join the organization?”
“That was a long story. Stay focus, we are going into the dark zone.
“Listen, you never know what the monsters are until you see them for yourself. But keep my warnings in mind: Zombies, vulnerable but fierce. Don’t shoot if you don’t want to draw a whole pack of them. Treedems and the water demons are not expected to be seen much, because this area is searched by hunters so many times. The Hives, which are rarer, I don’t expect them either but if we encounter one, just sneak away unless you want yourself covered by pustules.”
“I will follow your lead.”
The open ground vanished in front of us, pathway narrowed down, and stretched into endless forests.
“Keep an eye on the trees and roots around. Tell me if you see anything unusual.” Said Brad.
The woods was even free from bird tweets, making it extremely silent. Brad and I walked as slow as we could to avoid any noise. I pointed at a zombie in excitement, it was around one hundred yards away, standing there, like a weird sleepy man, occasionally waving his head.
“Leave it alone.” Brad told me in a low voice, “A zombie in such dormant state is so numb to its surroundings that only horrible noise or close contact could wake it up. It is not a threat if we stay low.”
I nodded and put down my rifle.
“Hey, you! Stop right there! Watch out!” Brad’s eyes suddenly opened wide at me.
“What?...” Before I even had the chance to react, he pointed his shotgun at me, and pulled the trigger.
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