"Nice shot!"
He smiles smugly. "I told you!"
You find several other kinds of animals along the way, including a pack of hyenas. You slow down so Jerry can feather them with darts before continuing on. After a few more minutes of shooting you say, "Hey, how much ammo do you have?"
There's a pause while Jerry looks. "Uhh."
"What is it?"
"Looks like I only have one dart left."
"Just one? Jerry!"
"Sorry! I was having fun sedating the animals."
"Well, one will have to do. Let's just hope it's enough for that big animal." You glance up at your partner. "And let's hope you don't miss."
"Hey! I haven't missed yet!"
The Observation Tower grows larger as you near.
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The first cat comes within a few feet of you before stopping. It crouches down, about to strike. Its mouth opens, showing rows of sharp teeth.
"HEY!"
A voice cuts the night off to the left. "Jerry?"
"HEY YOU BIG DUMB CATS!" he screams, coming into the field. "YEAH YOU GUYS! SHE'S NOT VERY TASTY! LEAVE HER ALONE!"
He has something in his arms, like a big plastic tray. The cats turn toward him, but are still surrounding you.
Jerry drops the tray into the mud. With a confident flourish he reaches down and removes a thick, red steak. "This is much tastier than officer Rodriguez over there!" He waves it tauntingly.
That got the lions' attention. They paw toward him, abandoning you altogether.
He throws the first steak on the ground. It's immediately scooped up by the closest lion. He throws three more in the area between them and the tray and they pounce, now fighting over the food. He uses the opportunity to slip away from them. You quietly meet him over on the side as they tear into the food, knocking the tray over and splashing in the mud.
"Thank me later," he says, giving you a big grin. "But for now, let's go!"
Something on the back of one of the lions catches your attention. Its fur has been shaved from its hip, up near where it meets its tail. After a few seconds you realize all three lions are that way.
"What do you think..." you begin.
"Rodriguez, COME ON!" He grabs your arm.
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After succeeding once, timing the dive is easy. Just before the hawk's razor-sharp talons come within reach, you throw yourself flat, sliding through the wet, white muck.
The bird zooms past. Jerry dives out of the way even though the bird isn't coming after him. For a moment you laugh.
The hawk begins climbing back toward the ceiling, and you're not going to give it a chance to attack a third time. Scrambling to your feet you sprint for the door, grabbing Jerry's arm and pulling him along with you. The two of you fall through the door into the cool evening air, closing the door behind you.
You sit on the ground for a long while, breathing heavily, reveling in your escape.
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"Lucky we found the code on the way here," you say. "One-three-two."
The keypad makes a low beep of denial.
"Huh." You enter the code again, and it makes the same noise.
"What are you doing wrong?" Jerry asks.
"Nothing. All I'm doing is punching in the code!"
"Let me try." He shoulders you out of the way and thumbs the numbers into the pad. Nothing.
"Told you."
"Well then what are we supposed to do?" he asks. "I told you we should have gone to get the tranquilizer rifles first..."
You look around. "I guess we'll have to figure out another way to turn the power on. Maybe we should explore a different area."
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"Woah woah woah," you say. "The Zoo Announcement back at the Monkey Manor said Dave reversed the circuits."
"Ohh, right."
"See? This is why you need to stop and think more often, Jerry!"
For once he looks sheepish. "Yeah, you're right. That would have been bad."
You approach the panel. Lever 3 has two bars, sort of like how an aircraft accelerator looks.
"Here goes." You grab it with both hands and push it toward the ceiling.
KA-CHUNK.
The mechanical sound echoes in the room for an instant, and then the entire panel lights up. The hum of machinery comes from deep within the wall. Lights blink everywhere, mostly red and yellow. Slowly they start turning green. You take that as a good sign.
"Six, seven, eight..." you count. At ten you throw Lever 2. Another sound like a generator whines and more flashing indicators come to life. Easy as pie.
You count to ten again and throw Lever 1, wincing with anticipation.
The third panels hums to life normally.
"Whew," you say, relaxing. "I wasn't sure that would work."
"Me neither," Jerry admits. "That's why I let you throw them, not me!"
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"We only have one dart," you say, "and we need to make it count. Let's get closer."
"But the Zoo Announcement said not to get within..."
You take your partner by the shoulders. "Jerry, we have to get this thing under control. It's the most important part of the park, whatever it is. If you don't feel comfortable then you can stay down here and I'll take the rifle and go up there by myself."
He steels himself. "No way. We're partners. I'm with you until the end."
You smile. "Glad to hear it!"
Jerry looks around. "Are we sure we have everything we need? Once we go inside we won't have time to come back out before the Animal Control guys arrive."
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You follow the path to the Bear Abode, a cement-walled building with a single door entrance. You thumb the code into the keypad and the door beeps and opens, allowing you inside.
A viewing area opens in front of you, with the animal pit beyond. The employee office is to the right though, so you slip inside there.
It's just like all the other offices you've seen so far. A quick search turns up nothing except another message from the Warden:
ZOO ANNOUNCEMENT.
After the incident with Marlene, Project Fusion is hereby closed to all personnel except myself. All feeding will be administered by me, under the strictest of security settings. And don't worry about Marlene--the hospital says the claw marks were not very deep and she is expected to make a full recovery. Please sign the 'Get Well' card for her in my office.
-Warden Oxford
"Claw marks?" Jerry licks his lips nervously. "Are we sure we want to do this?"
You ignore his question, because you're trying to ignore the rising sense of dread in your chest. "There's nothing in here. Let's check the main area."
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You grip the heavy stone in your hand, taking a few breaths to harden your courage. The booming sound of the animal's footsteps is like something out of Jurassic Park.
"On the count of three," you whisper. "One. Two."
"Three!"
You lean out from under the tree and heave the stone into the woods behind you. Not waiting to see what happened, you turn and sprint in the direction of the Warden's Hut.
It gives you a ten second head start. Between the heavy raindrops and the sound of your breathing you can't even hear the beast. For a few, precious, moments you begin to think you'll escape.
Something crashes into your back, throwing you forward. You slide across the path, scraping the buttons on your uniform. A moment later Jerry flies past you too, tumbling to the ground.
"What the..."
You roll over just in time to see a huge shape loom over you.
It blocks the rain, but from this angle it's too dark to make much out. For a strange moment the way it sits there reminds you of your sister's cat.
Jerry screams in terror, but a resigned peacefulness comes over you. You think about Captain Beckett and the promotion you were hoping to receive. That's all you wanted, but it looks like you failed.
The animal lifts a massive paw. You wish you had learned more about him, too. Maybe another time, you think, since this is...
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Jerry finally opens his mouth, but you cut him off.
"Don't even think about making fun of my dirty uniform," you say. "I don't want to hear it right now."
He closes his mouth.
There's a loud crash high in the sky. You both whip your heads to stare up at the top of the dome, near the scaffolding. A giant animal has smashed through the glass, creating a huge hole in the dome. It's the size of a school bus! The winged beast flies away to the north, in the direction of the Observation Tower. It disappears over the treetops.
"What was that?" you both ask at the same time.
You laugh, because you're too afraid to do anything else.
The paper with the riddle on it is still clutched in your hands. "We were lucky to get out of there," you say. "But I don't think we should stretch our luck any further. Let's go turn the power on, and then I want to get those tranquilizers."
Jerry grins. "Rodriguez, you're finally starting to make sense."
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You grab your rifle and aim at the fence, just in case the hyenas find a way through. Enraged, they throw themselves at the fence over and over. It heaves and shakes but holds strong.
Jerry picks up his gun and fires, catching one in the thigh and causing it to wobble and slump to the ground. You fire at another but miss.
The other hyenas, confused, quickly flee back into the woods.
You sigh. "That was... intense."
"Yeah." He looks around. "The Observation Tower is that way. Let's follow the fence in that direction. Maybe there will be an exit."
You walk along in silence, wondering what kind of enclosure you're in. It's awfully quiet in this area, minus the hyenas. Maybe they've scared everything off. Or maybe they've had many of the other zoo animals for lunch. You hope that's not the case or Captain Beckett will not be happy.
Either way, you enjoy the silence as you walk along.
Until there's another noise ahead, behind some bushes.
You raise your rifle and load another dart, but your fingers are so frantic that the needle breaks off inside. "Oh no!" you yell.
Jerry is quickly trying to load his own. The bushes shake violently. "It's coming!"
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With a whoosh of air the animal leaps from the Tower. For an agonizing moment you're afraid it's going to dive down on you and Jerry. You tense, ready to sprint to safety.
But instead it flaps its wings and takes to the sky. It's now obvious that it has some type of injury, flapping uncoordinated and lopsided. It even sounds like it's in pain as it shrieks one final time.
As it disappears over the trees to the west you feel strangely sad. Like you've missed out on something special.
"I'm sorry," Jerry says, looking down at his feet. "I failed. I had one job and I messed it up."
You pat him on the shoulder. "Still a better shot than I would have made."
"You may not be mad," he says, "but it doesn't make me feel any better. It got away because of me."
A sound drifts from the woods, from the road leading toward the park entrance. It almost sounds like cars...
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"I guess we have everything we need," you say. "It'd be great to go back to the Warden Hut and get more darts, but there's just no time. We have to make this one dart count."
"Good thing I'm the best," Jerry says, hefting his rifle. "Let's go."
You approach the door at the base of the Tower. There's no keypad, and it already stands open. "Finally, we don't need a stupid code."
"Agreed."
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"So the power is on," you say, walking around the perimeter of the big Power Station room. "That should keep the rest of the animals contained, if they haven't already broken free."
"We still have that Project Fusion thing to worry about," Jerry notes.
You approach a computer desk in the corner. "That's why I want to get those tranquilizer rifles next." A grid of security screens are stacked on the desk, showing video feeds scattered throughout the park. "Speaking of which..."
Jerry steps up next to you and you point to one of the screens. It shows the outside of the Insect Enclosure on the other side of the park. A gaping hole has been ripped in the roof of the two-story building.
Something moves inside, obscured by the shadow. Something big.
"I think that's it," you said. "It's the same thing that flew out of the Bird Bastion."
Jerry crosses his arms and begins tapping his foot nervously.
There's a card on the desk, in front of the video screens. Printed on it are the words:
SNAKE SANCTUARY CODE: 119
"Hey, we could always go to the Snake Sanctuary instead," you say. "Up to you."
"No way," Jerry says. "I'll take my chances with Project Fusion."
You nod. "Then let's go get those tranquilizers."
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"You're right," you say. "I've been so focused on that big thing because it would be a grand gesture, really impress the Captain."
Jerry grips your shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Let's go get these animals under control!"
You drive the jeep down the path while Jerry stands in his seat, upper half through the sunroof, aiming his rifle ahead. A gazelle appears around a bend, eating some grass next to the road. You slow down enough for Jerry to aim and fire a dart. It catches the animal in the neck. The gazelle wavers and slowly falls to the grass.
"Nice shot!"
It's a safari hunt after that, Jerry shooting while you drive. A striped tiger appears along the path and Jerry takes it down before it can even react. Two giraffes are next, their long necks laying flat on the grass. Jerry is a surprisingly good marksman, hitting every single target. It's practically a game.
You must have subdued half the park by the time you reach the entrance. You skid to a stop and look up at your partner. "How many darts you got left?"
He checks the rack. "Just two. Huh. Didn't realize I had churned through that many."
You look around. The park seems much quieter now. There's still the other half that you haven't investigated, though. "Maybe we should go check out the Insect Enclosure," you say. "Or the Penguin Palace. You know, make sure they're all safe and closed up."
"Uhh," Jerry says. "What's that?"
There's a light coming in the distance. From the direction of the park entrance.
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The bushes part and a dark shape leaps out. You recoil in fear...
"Baaaah."
A goat stands in front of you, staring with round, innocent eyes. It cocks its head as if wondering why you're so scared.
"Baaaah!"
Two more goats wander into the clearing to say hello. They're completely unafraid.
Jerry gives you an embarrassed smirk.
"I broke my last dart," you say. "How many you got?"
"Just the one." He sighs. "We'd better make it count."
You pass a sign that says "Petting Zoo," which explains the goats. They follow you for the next ten minutes until you come to a gate, this one without a big padlock.
"Perfect." Jerry nods. "I can see the base of the Observation Tower just ahead."
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You walk up to
the rack of rifles. They stand almost as tall as you, with a carbon composite body and shiny barrel. Expensive. Why would a zoo need such fancy equipment?
Jerry reads your mind. "How often do the animals escape? I don't know why else they would be stocked like this..."
"Whatever the reason, we're glad they have them now." You grab the first rifle and sling it over your shoulder. "Do you see any ammo around here?"
Jerry opens a drawer and finds a box of darts. They're as long as your pointer finger, with a shiny steel needle on one end and colorful pink feathering on the other. "There are slots on the side of the gun to hold extra darts," Jerry explains. "One in the chamber, and three more on the side."
"So four each. You think that will be enough?"
"I don't see any other way to carry extra darts without accidentally poking ourselves."
Eight darts. It will have to be enough. "Now we just need to find Project Fusion, whatever it is. We'd better start looking."
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Enigma at the Greensboro Zoo (Ultimate Ending Book 4) Page 10