by Bobby Akart
Levi had killed one of theirs and they’d smelled the blood of Eddie. Somehow, Levi sensed an eye for an eye, one of yours for one of mine, wasn’t going to satisfy these animals.
As if orchestrated by an unseen conductor, the wolves formed a circle around them. They’d lunge as if to attack, only to immediately retreat. The air filled with the chorus of howls and barks.
“What the hell are they waiting for?” asked Karl.
Levi could feel his friend shaking against his back. “Try to calm down, buddy. They smell your fear.”
Karl’s voice was trembling. “This sucks, man.”
“Yes, it does. But this doesn’t have to be our day to die.”
Karl squeezed the trigger on his gun, and a shot went off in the direction of the rock outcropping. His aim was random, hoping to hit one of the wolves in the crowd that stood between him and perceived safety.
Levi felt the kick of Karl’s rifle against his back. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a burst of blood sail into the air, followed by a whimpering howl.
Karl pulled the trigger again. Another howl, and more blood spray.
A wave of intense agitation began to move through the pack of wolves as they picked up the pace of their circling motion. A fresh swell of howls and crazed barking filled the air.
Levi had no choice. He took aim and fired on the largest wolf in his line of sight. He hoped to take out the leader of the pack. The beautiful white-gray animal exploded in a mess of blood and flesh.
Karl fired again and hit.
Levi did the same.
But more appeared from the woods.
They killed seven more, but Karl had run out of ammunition. He fumbled in his pockets in an attempt to reload, but his nervous fingers wouldn’t function. Then he panicked.
Leaving Levi alone, he raced toward the rocks, grabbing the barrel of his rifle and turning it into a club. The wolves raced after Karl, ignoring Levi and passing around him through the clearing.
The death of Karl Tate took just a fraction of a moment, a sliver of time so short that a blink of an eye wouldn’t quite equate to it.
The wolves broke rank and descended upon Karl like a nest of angry yellow jackets. Their bodies became a whirlwind of fur, throaty howls, gnashing teeth, and ripping jaws—all piling upon their prey, and each other. He considered firing into the swarm of wolves in an effort to save his friend but knew it was useless.
Levi stood mesmerized by the scene. After a few minutes, the clamor died down. The swarming pack broke apart and roamed around the area where Karl’s body used to lie. They sniffed the ground, playfully tumbled and growled at one another, and then gradually strolled off into the woods.
Levi carefully backed away from the feeding frenzy and found a large northern white pine. He glanced back to ensure the wolves hadn’t turned their attention back to him. For some reason, he’d been spared. By the time he got to the tree, the wolves, now covered in Karl’s blood and, well, all of what was once Karl, had disappeared into the forest. There was nothing left of his friend’s body to speak of. Blood was smeared across the pine-needle floor, and bones were scattered about here and there. The feeding frenzy had lasted less than three minutes.
He stared up at the massive pine tree. The branches were evenly spaced and appeared sturdy enough to support his weight. He shouldered his rifle and began to climb until he could barely see the ground below him.
Roughly thirty feet off the ground, he found two branches together and created a seat where he could lean back against the trunk. Cradling his rifle, he closed his eyes, and mourned the loss of his lifelong friends.
Chapter 35
Brookfield Zoo
Chicago, Illinois
Neither Kristi nor Tommy said a word as they exited the auditorium, leaving the building before any of their coworkers. Dr. Boston’s late-called meeting resulted in an uproar of arguing, name-calling, and general disagreement over what should be done in light of the potential unplugging of the nation’s electricity supply.
Many took the occasion to critique the president’s decision, while others simply shrugged and opined that one way or the other, the grid was going down. Therefore, nothing could be done. They were the votes in favor of euthanasia although none of them would actually be tasked with performing the act of killing the animals.
That would be left up to staff members like Kristi and Tommy.
As they walked alone into the zoo, darkness had overtaken Chicago, and an unusual quiet surrounded them. Ordinarily, the steady roar of vehicular traffic, law enforcement sirens, and aircraft overhead filled the air. Tonight, the world around them seemed to be grinding to a halt, an eerie change that didn’t go unnoticed by the twenty-three hundred animals at Brookfield Zoo.
They were clearly agitated, either by the movement of the magnetic field or because their sixth sense warned them their execution was imminent. Unlike a prisoner facing lethal execution, who can vocalize his feelings, the animals’ sad eyes spoke volumes as their fate was decided for them. Every creature had an innate ability to know when their time on Earth was done. It was a moment that Kristi could not bring herself to accept. Yet, as a doctor of veterinary medicine, she must.
“Let’s take the long way.” Kristi spoke in a low voice, clearly distraught over the unfolding events. Tommy gently placed his hand at the small of her back and gestured toward the hoofed-animals habitat. As they walked through the zoo, they paused at each of the habitats and made an assessment.
“Tommy, what are we supposed to do? I can’t kill these beautiful animals. They’re like my kids, for Pete’s sake. Heck, I’ve helped birth some of them. Others I nursed back to health after being brought to us abused.”
Tommy tried to be upbeat, emotionally supporting Kristi as much as he could. “We’ll try to feed them. Seriously, I don’t care if any of those assholes help us or not. This zoo isn’t so big that you and I can’t take care of them all. Besides, without power, what else are we gonna do? The Cubs won’t be playing and the White Sox suck this year.”
This drew a chuckle and a smile from Kristi, followed by a playful shove. “I didn’t know you were a Cubs fan.”
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me because, frankly, we’ve been a little busy since I walked through your door and immediately managed to get fired.”
Kristi laughed again. She was feeling better. Comfortable around a man. Something alien to her over the last five or six years. “You know I was just kidding. You weren’t fired. Just, well, humbled.”
Tommy laughed as they approached the kangaroos. “In the animal kingdom, they call that establishing a hierarchy. I think we both know who will be the boss in this family.”
Tommy had said the words before he realized he’d let his romantic feelings out in the open. His statement didn’t go unnoticed by Kristi, but she didn’t outwardly acknowledge it. She’d been developing feelings for Tommy even though they’d only known each other for a week. She knew there was something more between them when she saw how close to death he was in the big cats’ habitat. The potential for loss went beyond a coworker dying. Tommy was someone she deeply cared for despite knowing very little about him on a personal level.
They stopped as a camel strolled aimlessly through the hoofed animals’ habitat, alongside a zebra. The zebra turned toward a group of three others, which were curled up under a tree, while the camel continued, keeping pace with Kristi and Tommy as they walked along.
“Let’s take these guys, for example,” began Kristi. “Here we have zebras and camels. Across the way, there are kangaroos. In Habitat Africa, the giraffes have been the pride and joy of Brookfield. Who’s gonna volunteer to kill them?”
Tommy shook his head and shrugged. “Nobody.”
“What happens if we let them go? They’ll never stand a chance.”
Tommy spoke from the heart. “They never do. Releasing captive animals back into the wild is not automatically in their best interest, even under optimal c
onditions when they are returned to their natural habitats. Frankly, and I’m saying this as a zoologist who works in a zoo, the damage was done when they were brought from the wild in the first place. Now, I get it. We rescue most of ours and that’s admirable. But ideally, we would’ve had a program in place to return them back to where they belong, in a protected game preserve, so they can be reintegrated back into the wild.”
Kristi nodded in agreement. She stopped to pick up a paper cup and dropped it into a trash receptacle. “And we certainly aren’t equipped to load up a giraffe and take him away from the city. What am I supposed to do, haul all these guys to Riverfront Farms? My father would lose his mind at the thought of these giraffes picking his precious apple trees clean.”
Tommy laughed at the visual, and then he turned serious. “Sadly, I don’t think that’s a realistic option anyway. If the power is cut tomorrow like they say, gas pumps will be shut off, traffic signals will stop working, and most likely millions of people will be leaving the city because it will be way too dangerous to stay.”
Tommy’s words hung in the air as Kristi wiped a tear from her cheek. She began walking toward the buffalo pen, considering what to do. She felt selfish assuming that Tommy would stay with her to feed and care for the animals. She thought he should have the opportunity to say no.
“You’re right, Tommy. The city is no place to be without electricity. Cops will be overwhelmed. It’ll be lawless. I think you should consider going home and finding a safe—”
Tommy stopped and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her around and looked into her face. “I’m not going anywhere without you. End of story.”
“But—”
“Nope, Dr. Boone. Not another word. It’s you and me. Got it?”
Kristi let out a hearty laugh. She pulled away from his grip and stepped backward. “No sirree, Bob. You’re not gonna reestablish our hierarchy with some kind of me caveman, you cavewoman routine. Not gonna happen.”
“Wait. That’s not what I was—”
“Yes, it was, mister. I know that take-charge tone.”
“But I was just trying to let you know that—”
Kristi laughed even harder, leaving a puzzled Tommy standing alone in front of the ICEE World booth that normally served up delectable frozen drinks. She decided to let him off the hook. “I’m just kidding. Enough groveling. Come on, I wanna show you something.”
Tommy jogged to catch up to her. Once alongside, he studied her face in the low light to get a read on her emotions. She allowed him a smile and then picked up the pace as she half-jogged up the stairs to The Living Coast. She pulled out her security badge and swiped it over the wall-mounted scanner. The doors clicked and she opened one to allow Tommy to enter first.
Once inside, the sound of moving water was almost deafening, giving the visitor the immediate feeling of being underwater. The carpet was a spongy blue material that squished under their feet as Kristi led the way through the building. Deep, gurgling sounds mimicked echoes heard by a deep-sea diver.
Throughout the exhibit, large tanks immersed visitors in ocean life, including sharks that swam through artificial reefs surrounded by perfectly maintained cold water. Jellyfish drifted sideways along shifting currents created by the zoo to emulate the natural motion of the sea. Green sea turtles calmly paddled along the surface of the tanks in the man-made ecosystem resembling the west coast of South America.
“With everything going on, I haven’t been in The Living Coast yet,” said Tommy.
“It’s an incredible accomplishment,” began Kristi. “Its design is based on the Humboldt current ecosystem, one of the richest marine environments in the world, which happens to be adjacent to the driest, most barren desert in the world—the Atacama Desert in Chile. The zoo’s intent was to teach visitors about how sea and land animals are connected.”
“This is truly amazing,” said Tommy as he took in the wonders of the exhibit like a young boy.
“This way,” she said as she made her way down a series of ramps to the open ocean area. A six-by-ten-foot window of pulsating, bell-shaped moon jellies swam in all directions in pursuit of brine shrimp, a big staple of ocean sea life. “We’re headed to Rocky Shores, a forty-four-foot-high geodesic dome that shines natural light inside the exhibit. Then we’re going up. Are you in the mood for a climb?”
Tommy furrowed his brow. “Lead the way, Ranger Kristi, safari guide. I’m game for anything that takes my mind off this screwed-up mess.”
Kristi laughed. “Same here.” She swiped her badge on a security scanner again and passed through a steel door into a concrete and block stairwell. Rising up the middle was a steel spiral staircase. “Ninety steps. Can you handle it?”
“We’ll find out. How do you know there are ninety?”
“I’ve counted nearly every time. The view at the top is worth it, you’ll see.”
Five minutes later, after a lot of huffing and puffing, the two arrived on the skywalk that surrounded the glass geodesic dome of The Living Coast. Kristi motioned for Tommy to walk out into the night air first in order to take it all in.
“Wow! The view is incredible. This has to be the highest point in the zoo.”
“It is, which is why I’ve been here so many times. When I need to clear my head, or just get a grasp on what it is I do at Brookfield, I come up here, look around, and chill.”
She joined his side and pointed out a few points of interest so he could get his bearings straight. The sounds of the animals reached their ears, giving them the sense they were sitting on top of a cliff in Africa, looking down upon a savannah teeming with exotic animals.
Tommy chuckled. “It’s a jungle oasis in the midst of a concrete jungle.”
“It is. And I don’t understand why the very people who have devoted their lives to making Brookfield Zoo what it is are so quick to abandon ship and kill the animals in the process. It’s just wrong, Tommy, and I can’t bear the thought of it.”
Tears began to stream down Kristi’s face, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll do it together. Whatever it takes.”
Kristi sniffled and wiped the tears off her cheeks. “And if we fail? Run out of food? Then what?”
Tommy was firm in his convictions. “If we save just one of these magnificent, innocent animals, then it’s worth the effort. I refuse to give up, and there’s no way I’m gonna leave you to deal with this alone.”
Kristi turned in his arms and looked up into his eyes. The sadness was replaced with hope, and newfound love. She closed her eyes as Tommy bent down to kiss her.
Just as their lips were about to touch, a loud, high-pitched sound of metal grinding on metal could be heard.
“What the hell?” asked Tommy, snapping his head up in search of the intrusion.
They broke their embrace and walked in opposite directions along the catwalk, looking for the source of the noise.
Then the sounds of gunshots filled the air.
Kristi shouted and pointed toward the opposite side of the zoo. “Oh, my god! They’re killing the animals! Let’s go!”
Chapter 36
Riverfront Farms
Southeast Indiana
Squire and Sarah had settled on to the sofa in an attempt to relax. They worked together to organize their home and prepared for the return of their children, who were scattered in parts unknown. The inability to communicate via cell phone was frustrating and was causing panic to boil over, as the news reporting indicated.
They were watching the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis to determine how these events were impacting their own state. The weatherman came on to describe an extraordinary event unfolding in the state. He explained.
“Good evening to our viewers, and thank you for joining me this evening. In yet another abnormal event recorded this year, I want you to take a look at our Live Doppler 13 Radar. Now, if you look outside, you’ll see nothing but clear skies in all directions. Yet our radar indicates a massive image, a blob really, slo
wly making its way toward Central Indiana from Ohio.
“To the untrained eye, this might appear to be normal rain showers; however, it is anything but. While we are not biological experts, we’ve determined through input from our viewers across the state that this is a huge swarm of dragonflies possibly mixed in with other insects and birds.
“For some inexplicable reason, the dragonflies began to swarm in this massive grouping in an area just west of Cleveland, Ohio, and began to make its way toward our state. The size of the gathering seemed to double in the last hour as, according to viewers, the dragonflies began to mix with flocks of birds that were beginning their end-of-season migration south.
“Only, they are flying in a westerly path. We have reached out to the National Weather Service in Cleveland as well as an entomologist from Purdue, and we’ll have that report in the next hour.”
Squire paused the weather broadcast and stared at the radar showing the dark shadow moving toward Indianapolis.
“Locusts,” muttered Sarah.
“No, he said dragonflies,” Squire reminded her.
“I know, but the similarities are there.”
“Actually, dragonflies are good for crops. They eat all kinds—”
“I’m not being literal, Squire. I’m just saying there can be a comparison drawn to locusts as a symbol of God’s wrath.”
Squire took a deep breath and switched to the cable news networks. He came across CNN first.
The news anchor was on a split screen with the White House in the background. Squire turned up the volume as a reporter stood on the North Lawn. “Let’s now go to our White House correspondent for more on the leak that came out of a classified briefing held earlier.”
“Thank you. As has been reported, and is now confirmed by two high-ranking administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity but who are close to the president, plans are being implemented to systematically shut down the nation’s power supply.