Animal Kingdom

by Iain Rob Wright

He grabbed the canister and quickly hobbled to the wolf. It was ripping and tearing at Grace’s arm, oblivious to his presence – even when he began pouring the petrol onto the animal’s hind quarters. When Joe finished, he realised that the petrol would be useless on its own.

  The matches. Where are the matches?

  Joe scanned the pavement, looking for the small square box that Grace had been carrying earlier. He could not see it anywhere.

  Then he heard someone strike a match.

  Joe looked down to see that with her spare arm – the one that wasn’t stuck in the wolf’s mouth – Grace had pulled a match from the box that lay beside her. The phosphorous ignited and the flame immediately caught against the animal’s dry, dusty – petrol-soaked – fur. The wolf went up like a torch, finally releasing its grip on Grace’s arm. It leapt back in agony as the fire consumed it, blackening its skin and melting away any flesh too fatty to burn.

  Joe pulled Grace away from the flames. She was wailing and blood covered her body from head to toe, adding to the caked-on layers of her previous injuries. He held her tight in his arms and rocked her slowly back and forth. Danny ran over and joined them, adding to the hug. Joe loved them both so much, but he was starting to think he would not be able to protect them. Despite that, he couldn’t help but tell them, “It will be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Randall somehow managed to hop himself up the staircase to the warehouse’s upper walkway. He had watched the entire thing play out. He’d seen Shirley get ripped apart by a gang of goddamn chimpanzees. It was enough to send a lesser man insane. He also witnessed Joe’s escape and it pissed him off something rotten.

  That traitor doesn’t deserve to be walking around like a free man.

  Randall looked down at his ankle, twisted and hanging in an unnatural direction. “I hope you get ripped to shreds, you overgrown freak.”

  Randall held onto the safety railing and hopped his way along. If he could make it back to Victor, the two of them could hole up somewhere in the building and re-establish their safety. Then they could think of a new solution to get out of this godforsaken zoo.

  That’s if Victor is even still alive.

  And that he forgives us all for running out on him.

  I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I’m sure I can charm some haggis-eating Scotsman into believing whatever story I choose to provide him.

  Doing his best to ignore the agony of his broken ankle, Randall hopped along the walkway and into the hallway, looking down one last time at Shirley’s bloody corpse and the chimpanzees that surrounded it.

  The corridor was unmoving, devoid of the chaos and noise that existed almost everywhere else. If not for the barricade at the far end, it was just a normal office hallway. Randall felt like he was dreaming.

  Or maybe that’s just shock from all the pain.

  The day had begun with such promise. There had been order and a sense of discipline. He had been in control of things. Since then, however, he had murdered two people, been thrown down a flight of stairs, and had his ankle snapped like a twig by a lumbering fool. Things had gotten away from him, and that was unforgivable.

  But all great leaders face adversity. It is how they recover from it that defines them.

  Randall continued his limping hop down the corridor, heading for the seminar room where he hoped to find Victor. As he got closer, he could hear the battle outside continuing – angry trumpeting of stampeding elephants and the bloodthirsty hoots of an army of monkeys.

  Bloody apes. Dirty, disgusting creatures.

  The door to the seminar room was closed and Randall wasted no time in opening it, balancing on one leg as he pushed. Inside he faced madness. Monkeys leapt about everywhere, tipping over bookcases and tearing the contents to shreds. Tables and chairs were overturned and at the far end of the room the large window was completely broken, cold wind gusting in from outside. Randall watched with terror as more animals flooded in through the gaps, clawing their way inside one after the other.

  Victor was alive, sprawled on his stomach and crawling toward Randall by his fingertips. The Scotsman was covered in his own blood and gashes lined his body like canyons of ruined flesh. The monkeys tore at his back with their nails, biting into him as though he were a fine meal served to them for lunch. Randall could not believe that Victor was not screaming.

  “Help me.”

  Randall stood motionless in the doorway. “It’s too late, my friend. I’m sorry.”

  Victor glared at him, but stopped crawling as more monkeys piled onto his back and began ripping at a new patch of flesh. “I’ll see you in Hell, pal. Then it will be you who’s begging for help, I promise ya.”

  Randall watched for a few seconds longer as a particularly vicious little critter tore out Victor’s throat with its needle-like teeth. Then he jumped back and closed the door behind him. Instantly, bodies began to hit the other side of the door. The monkeys were done with Victor.

  And now they want me.

  Randall looked up and down the corridor and tried to rationalise a plan of action. With his ankle the way it was he could not outrun the monkeys if they broke through. He had to hide.

  And I know just where.

  Randall hopped further down the corridor and headed for the office he had made his own, days before. The filing cabinet inside was stocked with supplies and some weapons.

  Not to mention my phone. Maybe I can call for help. The army aren’t that far away.

  Randall flopped against the office door, almost too exhausted to stay upright. He managed to retrieve the key from his pocket and unlock the door, hurrying inside and relocking it behind him. The door would need barricading, perhaps with the room’s desk, but right now Randall needed to rest. His asthma was taking a firm hold on his lungs and he needed to sit and use his inhaler if he had any chance of regaining control of his breathing.

  The swivel chair almost tipped over as he fell into it, but thankfully steadied after rocking back and forth a couple of times. Randall managed to let out a slow, gentle breath and felt a little more in control.

  Just one breath at a time. In out, in out.

  It was several minutes before Randall’s breathing returned to normal. Once it did he could finally think again. He was safe for the time being and had no reason to rush a decision. He would just bunker down until the time was right to act.

  And when I do, there is going to be hell to pay for certain people.

  He stood and walked over to the window. Between the gaps in the barricade, he could see the animals outside. The silverback was amongst them. The giant gorilla was celebrating, waving its arms in the air like a crazed lunatic. Randall’s eyes narrowed at the beast.

  Our war isn’t over yet, my furry friend. The leader of the biggest army isn’t always the one that wins.

  Randall was feeling good. The pain in his ankle was fading to a dreary buzzing and the room was secure enough to give him time to plan. And time was all he needed with an intellect like his.

  I’ll figure something out. I always do. I just need time to think.

  But Randall was distracted from his thoughts only a moment later.

  By the smell of smoke.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  “I don’t think I can go on,” said Grace, her face pale from blood loss. Her arm still wept from the wolf bite and many of her other wounds had torn open and were bleeding again.

  Joe stroked sweat-soaked, brown hair out of her face, but several strands remained matted to her glistening forehead. “We need to get out of here, Grace,” he said. “Before anything else happens. I know that you’re in pain, but I can’t just leave you here to die. Me and Danny need you.”

  She looked into his eyes, but seemed to find it difficult to focus. “You need me?”

  Joe nodded.

  Grace forced a smile. It seemed to hurt her. “I don’t think anyone has ever needed me for anything.”

  “Well Danny
and I do, and right now we need you to keep moving with us. Once we get out of here we can find you a doctor, get you your pills. Please…”

  Grace put an arm around his neck. Joe took it as a signal to lift her up and he did so as carefully as possible. It still caused her a great deal of agony.

  “I…I can’t, Joe.”

  Joe grabbed her, placed both of his hands on either side of her face and forced her to look at him. “You can! You have to!”

  “I can’t. I’m too weak.”

  “You’re not weak. You’ve held it together better than anyone else since this entire fuckfest began. If I didn’t have you to help me with Danny these last few days I would have lost it. You’ve had enough strength for both of us, so don’t tell me you’re too weak.”

  Grace went to answer him, but broke out in sobs. Joe could see how beaten she was. He wasn’t sure if he could to help her. But if she was going to give up on him, then there was something he needed to do first.

  He kissed her – the first woman he’d kissed in years. It was long and passionate. Grace pulled away, but not before kissing him back for several long and delightful seconds. She was out of breath when she spoke. “What was that for?”

  “For being the first person I’ve cared about other than Danny in a long long time.”

  Grace’s face scrunched up and Joe thought he had made her feel uncomfortable. Then she spoke: “Do you smell that?”

  Joe shook his head, confused. “Smell what?”

  “Burning?”

  Joe lifted his nose in the air and tugged in a deep breath of air. He smelt it. Something was on fire.

  “You smell it now?”

  Joe nodded. “I think it’s coming from the building.”

  “Maybe Victor dropped one of the firebombs?”

  “Or maybe he started the fire because he knew he was done for.” Joe put an arm on her back and took Danny’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  Together the three of them crept back along the wall of the building towards the other side. At the end, Joe peeked around the edge. Nero, the silverback was there, still leading his army, but seemed to have taken his furry paw off the accelerator.

  He’s celebrating. The battle is won and the motherfucker’s celebrating.

  “Look,” said Danny, pointing up at something.

  “Danny! Get the hell back!”

  Danny got back behind the wall. “I was just showing you the fire.”

  Joe looked back around the wall and up at the second floor. Sure enough, there were several probing licks of flame coming from one of the windows. Joe couldn’t be sure but he assumed it was the window to the seminar room. It would not be long before the whole building went up.

  “They’re distracted,” Grace said suddenly.

  Joe watched the animals and saw that she was right. “They seem nervous of the fire. Maybe our plan was a good one. Is there any petrol left?”

  Grace nodded. “I left the can back there. It still seemed pretty full, even after you poured it on the wolf.”

  “Okay,” said Joe. “Wait here with Danny. If anything comes then call out and I’ll be right back.”

  Joe sped off back towards the loading bay. He quickly found the petrol can and matches besides the smoking remains of the dead wolf. He picked the canister up, pleased to find it was almost full, and then hurried back inside the warehouse. He eventually settled next to a crate of magazines and brochures for the zoo’s souvenir shop.

  A half-minute later, Joe had soaked the magazines with petrol and had spilled a decent amount on the floor in narrow rivulets, hoping to channel any flames towards other areas of the warehouse. Then he lit a match.

  Then he ran.

  The flames shot up behind him, the heat pulsating against his back as he sped out of the warehouse. The popping sounds of burning plastic filled his ears until he finally made it back to the far corner of the wall. Danny and Grace were looking at him in confusion.

  Joe smiled. “I think I just got us a diversion.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The building took no time at all to burn and within ten minutes the whole structure was ablaze. Joe wondered about Shirley and Victor. If either of them were still alive then they would be trapped. He hoped they made it to a fire exit, but Joe knew, deep down, that no one was alive inside the building. The battle had been lost, well before he’d started the fire in the warehouse. In fact, he had only been helping along the fire that had already ignited on the second floor. Everyone left inside would be dead for sure.

  Except Randall.

  The thought knocked Joe back a step as he realised something that should have been clear to him. Randall had been gone. Despite his broken ankle, the man had escaped somewhere.

  Joe’s eyes went wide. “I have to go back inside.”

  Are you crazy!” Grace shook her head. “No way.”

  “But Randall is still inside. I can’t just leave him to burn.”

  “He’d do the same to you in a heartbeat.”

  “Exactly,” said Joe, already turning and leaving. “That’s the reason why I have to go inside. I’d rather risk death than follow the same path as him.”

  Joe walked towards the loading bay and Grace and Danny followed. When he reached the entranceway he stopped. The flames were everywhere, fierce and consuming. The smell of combusting chemicals filled the air.

  “There’s no way,” said Grace. “You wouldn’t even get inside.”

  She was right, Joe realised. The steel shutter had dropped hallway down and was twisted and molten amidst the flames that licked at its edges. Joe couldn’t go inside to help Randall even if he wanted to.

  Grace pulled him away. “Come on. He made his own bed, let him lie in it.”

  Joe looked into the fire a moment longer and thought about what it would be like to burn to death. To feel the very skin peel from your bones as the blood in your veins bubbled. Randall was human waste but no man deserved a death like that. Wherever he was, Joe hoped he made it out of the building.

  After that I don’t give a fuck what happens to the bastard.

  Joe allowed Grace to pull him away from the flames and, when she did, he realised that the delicate skin of his cheeks was throbbing and tender. “Let’s get away before this building comes down on top of us.”

  At the far end of the wall, Joe once again looked around at the animals. They were disorganised and anxious. A great white horse began rearing up and kicking out wildly at a grouping of warthogs that blocked its path. Even after several days of this, Joe still could not get used to the sight of so many different animals grouped together. As always, they were accompanied by the silverback gorilla, Nero. The huge human-like beast was furious at the disorganisation and Joe watched with awe as the gorilla swung a huge arm out and struck a male lion in the face. The big cat cowered and backed away fearfully.

  “He’s lost control.”

  “Who has?”

  Joe looked at Grace. “The silverback. He can’t override the animal’s fear of fire. They’re retreating.”

  Grace was excited, but couldn’t completely release the worry from her face. “But we used fire against them before and they came back.”

  “I’m sure they’re just fleeing temporarily like before. The silverback will regain control of them eventually, which is why we need to move now while we still have the chance.”

  Joe looked up at the flames on the second floor. They were not as violent as those in the warehouse, but they had started to take a real hold now and leapt from several windows, arcing several feet into the blackening sky.

  Joe finally left the safety of the wall and crouched down as he moved forward. Grace and Danny did the same and the three of them waddled along like they were playing soldiers. The path led off to the front of the building but that area was still thick with animals. To the right was a landscaped plot of grass that shadowed the public walkway. The area was lined with trees and foliage.

  Joe hustled everyone along. “Get beyo
nd the bushes and keep low. There’s an aviary at the end of this path and I’m pretty sure the car park was past there.”

  The three of them kept low and dragged themselves through the bushes and shrubs that grew out of the ground. Joe kept glimpsing animals through the gaps in the greenery. He hoped they couldn’t see him.

  Or smell me. Don’t most animals have super smell?

  Joe hurried everyone along, fingernails clawing at the moist dirt as he clambered forward. It didn’t take long before they reached the end of the grass bank and the path beside it. Joe checked out his surroundings. Despite the presence of many dead bodies – some of them children – there didn’t seem to be any danger nearby, but of course he couldn’t be sure. Up ahead was the aviary as he had expected. It was a long building, lined on one side by mesh fences that fastened to brickwork at the top. There was no movement inside the cages.

  “Keep going, but be careful,” said Joe.

  Grace moved ahead of Joe, and Danny crouched along between them. Joe left the cover of the bushes and felt rain on his face. Just a drizzle at the moment, but something about the wet smell of the air suggested it would get heavier.

  They approached the aviary’s many bird exhibits and Joe was shocked by what he found inside. The varied collection of exotic birds and other rare specimens had been reduced to feathers and slippery gore. Every single bird had been torn to shreds and partially devoured. Joe saw why. At the back of each of the cages the zookeeper’s entrances were left ajar. Something had entered each enclosure and systematically butchered every bird inside.

  One of those bloody wolves probably. Well least they got what they deserved in the end.

  “What happened, Dad?”

  Joe shook his head at his son and shrugged. “I don’t know. I think the birds are all normal, so they got attacked like we did. They couldn’t protect themselves.”

  Danny moved away from his father and over to the cages. He reached out one of his little arms toward the dead animals and seemed like he was going to cry, but instead he spoke. “Mrs. Shirley told me the other day that animals don’t go to heaven, but I think she’s wrong. If you never done nothing wrong to no one then I think God looks after you, so I think they’re all in a better place now where they can fly around as much as they want and eat lots of worms.”