“Years? Why would you need to do that? Just what is really going on here, Abby? What do you mean years?” Scotty banged his fist on the table, making her jump. “I swear, if you don’t come clean with me, I’m not going!”
“Okay, okay.” Speaking slowly, she watched his face closely, praying he wouldn’t freak out. They didn’t have the time for this. “We’re not going to back to Sussex, to our old home, to live there.”
“For Pete’s sake. Where are we going to live?”
She bowed her head, silent and overwhelmed.
“Abby,” Scotty called more loudly.
Understanding, Echo interceded, her aura reaching out to envelop their minds. “Brother Scotty, the Womb has invited us all to survive the coming apocalypse in the safety of the cavern where you met me.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“No, Brother Scotty, I would not do that to you. There is nothing more serious. We will have to live there for many years.”
Scotty looked dumbfounded.
“Guys, we can’t do that. It’s ridiculous. With lions and tigers? And huge hungry bears? You’ve got to have a better plan than that. We can’t all possibly fit in the cave where Echo hid.”
“My Brother, you do not understand. I was not hiding. I lived in contemplation. And my home is not little. It is vast. The Womb will make it vaster. We have been invited. You do not understand the significance of the honor. To refuse is to perish. We must go.” The aura dissipated, leaving Scotty with his mouth hanging open in alarming disbelief. Trying to suppress her fear, Abby commanded his attention. Time to move on.
“Don’t forget. I need you to keep the truckers moving. Make sure they don’t leave any animals behind. Echo and I will take care of implanting them as soon as we get there. We’ll handle any people that we find there. I want you to lead the truckers back to the house and get the animals stashed on the boat. Don’t worry if you lose us. We’ll hitch a ride back with one of the truckers if we have to.”
Putting a thick envelope in his hands, she said, “This is full of hundred dollar bills. Any of the truckers give you a problem, bribe them. If you run out, call me on my cell. I have more. They’re all being paid very well, but you never know. When they see lions and tigers being let out of their cages, they might freak. Just make sure they get the backs of the trucks open and then get out of the way.” She hugged him closely. “Are you with me?” Begrudgingly, he nodded his assent. Turning to include Echo, Abby picked her up, squeezing her tightly. “We can do this, right, Echo?”
“I have no doubt, my Sister.” Echo looked up, making them both laugh, breaking the tension. She had slipped on a gift Scotty had given her. He had obtained a pair of doll’s sunglasses to cover her eyes from the truckers. She now wore shades matching Abby and Scotty’s. Along with her fanny pack, she looked hysterical—you had to be there.
Scotty took Echo to the garage to get the Jeep, while Abby ran next door to Peter’s house. She asked him to wait in Peter’s driveway while she checked on them. She wouldn’t be more than five minutes. Starting the Jeep, he eased out of the garage for the last time. He could feel the late spring sun already turning into an early summer fireball, the heat turning the car into an inferno. Flipping on the air conditioner, he pulled into Peter’s driveway to wait for Abby.
Abby found Peter’s front door unlocked so she let herself in. She spotted three bags sitting in the foyer, just as requested. She felt some of the weight on her shoulders drain away. She wasn’t sure how cooperative Peter and his girlfriend would be after the terror they’d been put through by Armoni. The shock of his death at the unnatural hand of Echo, and her subsequent revelations had only made their already fragile minds more frayed. She didn’t know how reliable they were going to be today.
Entering the kitchen, she saw Ginger Mae sitting at the table, trying to get Daisy to eat, the child still nonresponsive. Ginger Mae looked up at her approach, her demeanor clearly fearful, her swollen face altering the clarity of her voice.
“Sank ou fo or help.”
Abby nodded her head to indicate she understood.
“Don’t try to talk. You need to save your voice and get better for Daisy. Once she’s away from here and we get settled in our new home, she’ll recover. I’ll make sure she gets the attention she needs.”
“Doctor?”
“No, not a doctor. That’s not what she needs. Try not to worry.” Kneeling down, Abby looked into the little girl’s face, completely devoid of color, her thin hair hanging lank and limp even though Abby could smell the fresh shampoo. She spoke softly, “Hi, Daisy. It’s me. Your friend, Abby. We’re going to go on a trip on my boat with some fabulous animals. We’re going to go away and live with them in a magic forest near my home where I grew up. Would you like that?” Abby got no response but thought she saw a shift of the light in the child’s eyes. Not much of a sign, but enough to reassure Abby that Daisy still existed in there.
Rising, she informed Ginger Mae, “I’m going to find Peter. Just nod, yes or no. Is he in his office?” Ginger Mae nodded yes. Abby rose, giving Daisy a hug, smoothing down her hair and went to find Peter.
She stood quietly at the entrance to Peter’s office. He sat at his desk, his head down, buried in his arms. He must have sensed her presence because he looked up. He sat there just staring at her, saying nothing. He looked almost normal, his short-sleeved striped Oxford shirt tucked neatly into his crisp khakis. Under the desk, she could see clean leather boat shoes. Looking into his expressionless face, she could see his eyes were doing some strange jerky motions, his blinking frantic. Well, she thought, he’s certainly not back to normal.
“Are you going to be okay, Peter?”
“Why don’t you sit down, Abby?”
“I don’t have time. Scotty’s waiting for me in the car. And Echo.”
“Echo,” he repeated.
“Yes, we’ll be gone for about four hours, then return with the animals. Please try to be in your cabin onboard by then. Take one of the aft cabins for the three of you. We won’t be on the boat for long. Just until we get to Tampa and transfer to the airport. But I think Ginger Mae and Daisy might need to rest. It’ll keep them from getting underfoot. Once we arrive, things will be chaotic until we cast off. Was Cobby able to answer most of your questions?” She tried to sound reassuring.
“For now.” He sounded far from reassured. Impulsively, she went to his side. She pulled up a chair from alongside the hand-painted wall. Sitting, she rested her hands on the desk next to his.
“Please, Peter. Please try to understand. I’m just a young girl who lost her mother barely a year ago. I didn’t even have a chance to mourn her before I had this nightmare thrust on me. I didn’t ask for it. I’m still not over the horror of my body changing, or the realization that something so terrible is going to happen that millions will die. Hundreds of millions. I can’t handle this kind of responsibility, but I have to think of my family. And Jose doesn’t even know about it yet. So I keep putting one foot in front of the other to ensure our safety. I regret your involvement but I needed your help. In time, you’ll learn to be grateful. Ginger and Daisy are your family now.”
“She’s not my family.”
Wow, she thought, finally a reaction. Something must have happened. She wondered if it had anything to do with Armoni.
“She’s a woman you care about with a child who needs your support. One foot in front of the other, Peter. I have to go now. I know you’ll do the right thing.” Giving him a kiss on his sweating cheek, she ran out to meet Scotty.
The Jeep felt nice and cool as she slid inside. A quick glance at her watch spurred her on; already the time relentlessly ran ahead of her. She chose the parking lot at the mall on Tamiami Trail as the staging area for the trucks. Large trucks would blend in at the mall, appearing to belong there to deliver merchandise, drawing no unwanted attention. Leaving Peter’s driveway, they hurried off the key to the highway to find the traffic fairly light, rush ho
ur not yet upon them.
As they pulled into the mall parking lot, it was easy to spot the trucks, their drivers loosely gathered around in a huddle as they anxiously watched cars entering the parking lot, probably looking for their benefactor. That’s good, Abby thought. She hoped some of them had tried to hold onto the jobs they had previously lined up before Peter called them. They knew this gig was a quickie. If they were in a hurry, they would be less likely to ask questions. They would be tempted to keep their heads down, get the job done and skate out fast to salvage their original job.
Abby jumped out of the Jeep to introduce herself. She looked into the faces of the road-worn men and women, the backbone of what kept this country’s faltering commerce functioning. She found it incomprehensible to believe they would all be dead in the very near future, the truth forcing her to evade their eyes, grateful for her sunglasses. One of the truckers held up his hand with a question. An older man with a heavy gut flopping over his pants so much she wondered how his jeans stayed up. Here it comes, Abby thought. If she couldn’t handle the questions, she would be forced to use Echo to implant them, but Echo had told her the implants interfered with the part of the brain that controlled hand-to-eye coordination; a huge drawback if you needed to drive. What’s the point of trying to rescue the animals only to endanger them with a possible driving accident?
“Miss Preston? Clyde Calloway here. I understand we’re here to move some animals? You mind telling us what kind of animals?”
“Well, Mr. Calloway, they’re wild animals. You won’t need to participate in the loading. Just open the trucks and step out of the way. Loading will take a little more than an hour. Then we’ll drive to the coast, about half an hour away. Unloading will be simple. Again, just open the trucks and step out of the way. My attorney will be on site later to see that your bonuses are all paid.”
She got a smattering of applause and hoots on the word bonus. The truckers scrambled to their rigs and fired up the ones that were not already idling. In a matter of minutes, the caravan of a dozen trucks hit the road, heading to the Big Cat Sanctuary, the Jeep in the lead.
As Scotty led the caravan toward the sanctuary, Abby speculated on what it took to create such a beautiful facility for the Earth’s abused, exploited and discarded wildlife. What kind of self-sacrifice did it take to put an animal’s needs before your own or that of your family’s? Did it take a spiritual person to demand the dedication? Was it a thankless journey? She didn’t think so. It was probably reward enough to wake up every day to look into the content innocent eyes of some of God’s most awe-inspiring creatures. They were all victims. Innocent victims of man’s hubris and unlimited capacity to exploit any and all of the planet’s resources to the point of destruction. But not all men. She was always amazed when she read stories of someone risking their own life in the rescue of an animal. Like Scotty and Echo. It gave her hope. She had always thought there might be a chance for man to redeem himself. Unfortunately, and unexpectedly, man was now out of time. She wiped away a lonely tear, shaking off her melancholy thoughts. It no longer mattered with the impending tragedy looming.
Abby wondered what descendants remained of the original circus family who had started the sanctuary. Would they approve of what she planned to do with their precious charges? I think they would. Was it any different than the terrified mother, caught in a raging apartment fire who begs the fireman to save her infant as the fire consumes her home? Well, I’m just the fireman come to rescue their babies before the fire rages at the feet of humanity.
Abby glanced at Scotty, seeing his tight lips and white knuckles on the steering wheel. She reached over to give him a squeeze, and was rewarded with a tentative smile.
“Why us, Abby? Why did it have to be us? Was it because I found the old gold coin when I was a boy?”
“If it hadn’t have been us, I would still be sick. I might not ever have fallen in love with Jose.” Smiling at him, she spoke softly. “You never would have met Chloe.” Sobering, she reminded him, “And worst of all, we would have all been killed anyway. I still don’t know what’s going to happen, but I feel a more desperate sense of urgency. We must get back home to Sussex as quickly as possible. Jose and Mama Diaz will be waiting for us.”
“Is there anything else we can do to convince Chloe to come with us? I asked her, but I couldn’t very well tell her the whole story. Abby, could you give her a call?” He was begging.
“I don’t know what I can say that you left out. You know we can’t tell her the truth. We could give her an implant, but that would be like kidnapping her. She has to come willingly, hon.”
Scotty greeted her words with silence. Abby gave him a quick look. He appeared pensive, not crestfallen or even sulking as she would have expected. Noticing her watching him, he turned his attention to the road. Letting the subject drop, she also faced the road as they made their way to their destination.
It wasn’t long before they pulled up in front of the gate blocking their passage onto the gravel road which would take them up to the enclosures. Reaching into the back of the SUV, Scotty grabbed a pair of bolt cutters he had stashed on the back seat a few days ago at Abby’s request. He hurried up to the gate, snapping the chain before any of the drivers were the wiser. He quickly opened the gates, wedging them open with bricks he found, conveniently left by some absentminded grounds tender.
They were in. The convoy rolled onto the property. Abby cringed at the noise the trucks made on the gravel driveway, dust swirling up and over the animal enclosures in opaque clouds. Scotty parked the Jeep and directed the trucks to line up back down the dusty drive, facing the gate for a quick and easy getaway. The drivers began to open the back of their trucks. The plan called for Scotty to position himself at the first enclosure. Abby and Echo, from the relative privacy of the Jeep, would send out Echo’s implants–they were trying to shelter Echo’s presence from the truckers. Scotty would then open the enclosures with his bolt cutters, snapping the padlocks. Each animal would be directed by its implant to find a truck and enter, while Abby would spend the time keeping the truckers under control. Echo would stay out of sight in the Jeep unless someone from the sanctuary showed up. Then she would send implants out to subdue them. Abby watched as she saw Echo’s antlers split open, sending the implants on their way to find their wildlife targets.
“Miss Preston, we’re ready for the cargo.” The driver of the truck closest to the Jeep came around the back of the truck to make his announcement. A skinny young fellow with a face like a weasel, a tiny sprout of hair on his chin, trying hard to look like one of the boys. He sported a cigarette between his fingers as he leaned casually against the truck sucking on his cancer stick. Abby noticed Scotty moving on to the second bear enclosure. Lumbering out of the first enclosure appeared a six-hundred-pound brown bear. Oh, boy . . .
“Sir, I have to ask you to remain in your cab until we are completely loaded.” Abby’s voice spiked sharply with anxiety. The trucker lazily tossed his butt to the ground, twisting his foot over it.
“Okay, okay, no need to get your panties in a—what the fuck?” The trucker backed up against the truck as if bitten, freezing as the brown bear calmly walked past him to trudge up the metal incline into the back of the truck, where he pawed at the pile of blankets Abby had ordered for their comfort, making a nice nest for himself, then curling up to placidly watch the rest of the action. Right behind the brown bear lumbered two more large bears. The thunderstruck trucker forgot to move.
Next, a male lion padded his way, his thick, dark mane making him look like the true king of the savanna. Speechless, the trucker’s face caved in, looking as pinched as if he had just finished sucking on a hard green lemon. Carefully he backed up to the door of his cab, clambering up as if goosed by the devil himself.
Abby turned away from the now secured trucker to monitor the animals as Scotty released them from their cages. Scanning the line of trucks, she could see the animals sort themselves into them with no rhyme or
reason.
She peeked into one truck down the line that contained a bear and a tiger sitting placidly with a group of goats and two spider monkeys. She found herself sweating about the combination, hoping nothing would go wrong with the implant control. She held her breath as she felt a Siberian tiger brush past her to the next truck. She noticed he had a piece missing from his left ear, near the tip. Her heart was in her throat as the magnificent beast turned his head and met her gaze. She backed away as he turned, continuing on to the next truck. She put her hand to her tripping heart in an instinctive effort to slow it down. Breathing slowly and deeply, her heart stopped its painful ratcheting. She shook her head, trying to shake off the hypnotic feeling she had received from the tiger. Wow. What was that all about?
Hurrying down the line of trucks, she banged on the cab doors of each truck containing a complete load, instructing the drivers to close up and get ready to roll. Running back to the SUV, she saw the door pop open on the house she assumed would contain sanctuary personnel. Tapping on the side of the Jeep, she noticed Echo’s head pop up.
“Hit anyone that comes out of that house, okay, girl?”
Echo nodded her head as her antlers peeled back, releasing a tiny stream of implants. Two women and a man rushed out of the house shouting, their features suffused in anger. The man carried a rifle at his side. As the implants landed, making their way into their ears, they came to a halt. Abby walked over to them, watching carefully as they adjusted to the implants. The women both stood tall and lean, their hair pulled back in thick black ponytails, similar enough to be a mother-daughter team. The short bald man lacked any resemblance to the women, and his Asian eyes were ready to pop out of his skull.
“My name is Abby. I would like to have that rifle, please.” The man smiled and handed the rifle to her without a peep. “Please go over to the tortoise enclosure and make sure they find a comfortable spot on a truck. If you can’t find any room, let me know. Do you understand?”
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