Joe was surprised by his son’s sudden show of emotion and philosophical contemplation. He didn’t know his son possessed such a capacity and instantly felt guilty about it. He put an arm around him. “You okay, Danny?”
Danny turned to him and there were shallow tears in his eyes. “Everything is so horrible. I miss Mom, but I know she probably ended up like the birds.” He wiped at his eyes. “I’m just glad I’ll see her again in Heaven one day, but until then I have to be down here with all of the horribleness.”
“Things are going to get better, son. We’re going to go someplace safe and all this horribleness will go away.”
Danny looked at him. “I don’t believe you, but I don’t want to stay here either.”
“Then let’s go.” Joe held out his hand and Danny took it. The two of them turned around and were faced by Grace. She didn’t look happy. “What is it?” Joe asked her.
Grace pointed back the way they had come. Some of the animals had noticed their escape and were running up to engage them. Leading the pack was a cheetah.
“Run!” Joe shouted.
Everyone did.
Chapter Forty
“Run!”
The three of them sprinted faster than human beings were supposed to move and Joe felt his knees crying out as his strides struck down on the unforgiving pavement. If not for the head start, the animals would already be upon them.
Aren’t cheetahs the fastest goddamn animal on the planet? And here’s me trying to outrun one.
Danny held the lead; his young legs combating fatigue better than the two adults. Grace was falling back, too weak from blood loss to keep up. Joe kept looking back over his shoulder, hoping she would increase her speed, but she never did.
He stopped. “Danny, keep running until you get to the car park. I’ll be right behind you.”
Danny skidded to a stop. “Dad, no!”
Joe shouted at his son and felt awful. “DANNY! GO NOW!”
Danny kept on running and Joe turned around just as Grace came hurtling towards him. “What the hell are you doing,” she cried. “Move it.”
“They’re too quick. They’re going to get you.”
“Then let them. You and Danny need to get out of here.”
“Not without you.”
Grace looked at him. She seemed so sad that it hurt his heart to look at her. She kissed him quickly on the mouth then pulled away, holding up her arm in front of her – the one the wolf had savaged. It was bleeding badly and Joe noticed that it gushed in a slow, pulsing rhythm.
Matching her heartbeat.
“I’m bleeding to death, Joe. I’m barely conscious as it is, and if you don’t get going, right now, you’ll die.”
Joe looked up at the approaching animals. The cheetah was still in the lead, but had slowed down, stalking them like a cat observing a cornered mouse. It would only be moments before it pounced.
“I can’t just leave you,” he said.
Grace was crying and Joe realised he was too. “You never left me, Joe,” she told him. “In fact you were the only person to ever stick by me.” She wiped at her eyes and a thick torrent of blood hit her on the chest, staining her t-shirt. She fell down onto one knee. “But I’m already dead.”
“Grace.”
“Just go!” She was meant to shout it, he could tell, but she was far too weak now. “I’ll be okay,” she said. “I’m happy to die if it means saving you and Danny. Then it will mean something. Not if you don’t move this second though.”
Joe nodded, his tears falling thick and fast. He looked around and saw Danny way up ahead. If he left now there was every chance they would escape. If he stayed here then Danny would end up alone. Or worse.
So he kissed her. And then he ran.
Light droplets of rain began to fall from the saddening grey sky, matching the heavy sorrow that filled his heart. He never looked back once. The sound of Grace screaming in agony as her tender flesh was hooked away by vicious claws and teeth was enough to haunt him forever. He could not have coped with the visual. What made it so much worse was how long the screams lasted. In fact they never stopped. Joe just ran and ran until he couldn’t hear them anymore, trying to ignore the sight of the torn and rotting bodies that littered his path like fleshy paving stones. Joe knew that Grace’s beautiful body would soon be joining them.
Danny was waiting for him at the zoo’s entrance and had seen the whole thing. He was leaning up against a steel gate, trying to catch his breath while wearing the kind of mortified look that was entirely unnatural on such a young face – a grief that was far beyond his years. Joe reached him and took a quick second to catch his own breath, enjoying the sensual feeling of the rain hitting his face, and then wrapped his arms around his quivering son. But they couldn’t stop and enjoy the human contact. The chase was still on. They had to keep moving.
Joe noticed that the gate was fixed to a swinging mechanism on a set of hinges. He grabbed one of the iron bars and pulled, surprised to find that the gate moved towards him easily. It swung shut against the other side of the entranceway and hit against a metal stopper built in a high brick balustrade. Joe looked around for something to lock the gate with and couldn’t believe his luck when he saw a large steel padlock hanging open on the gate’s catch. He ran over and pulled it out, then lined up the metal loop of the gate with the metal loop of the frame.
The padlock clicked shut and the gate was secure. Beyond it, the animals were resuming their pursuit, finished with the succulent flesh of Grace’s body. Joe kicked at the gate and screamed. “We’re done, you fuckers! You hear me? You can rot in this godforsaken hellhole. You’re welcome to it.”
Lightening illuminated the sky, just as the cheetah hit the fence at full speed. It bounced off onto its back, stunned. The gate held firm. Other animals bumped against the fence too, but it was no use. The thick iron was designed to stop animals escaping.
Joe took his son and walked away, pulling his car keys from his pocket – glad to finally be about to use them. “Can you remember where we left the car, Danny?”
Danny slapped a hand against his rain-soaked forehead. “Please tell me we haven’t lost the car.”
Joe laughed and patted his son on the rump. “Cheeky sod! We haven’t lost it. We just need to have a quick look around.”
Joe began to worry slightly that the zoo’s gate would not last forever, or that some of the animals would manage to vault the high walls on either side of it. They were safe for now but it would be tempting fate to hang around longer than necessary.
He started trotting around the car park, somewhere between a walk and a run, trying to think back to last week when he’d parked the car. Things had been so different then. Getting out of the car with Danny about to visit the zoo was a joyful and exciting experience. Getting into the car and finally leaving the zoo would be an experience that would change them both forever. He just hoped Danny was young enough to place it all behind him.
“There it is, Dad!”
Danny was pointing north-west towards CAR PARK D. Joe followed his finger and spotted exactly what he wanted. Lying amongst the blood-stained wrecks of family cars and tour buses was a dark blue Ford Focus that was undoubtedly his.
“Come on!” said Joe.
The two of them, father and son, sprinted through the increasing storm, heading for the car as though it was the saviour of the Earth. To them, perhaps it was. Just to be sure that he wasn’t dreaming, Joe pressed the lock button on the key fob and almost jumped for joy when the car’s brake lights flashed twice. The doors were unlocked.
Danny got there ahead of Joe and flung open the rear door, leaping across the back seats. Joe caught up to him and closed it a moment before he ran around to the driver’s side and got in the front. The smell of the vehicle’s interior was sublime. It reminded Joe of boredom. Commutes to work and trips to the supermarket. Nice, normal boredom. It was so calming, in fact, that he sat there for several moments, just listening to the drumbea
ts of the rain on the bonnet.
After indulging himself for several more seconds, Joe put the key in the ignition and twisted. The engine grumbled momentarily and then roared to life. It was the greatest sound Joe had ever heard. “Time to get out of here, Dan–”
The windscreen shattered, cracks spider-webbing in every direction. Danny screamed in the backseat and Joe found that he was doing exactly the same. The shock hit him hard and fast. Once again his heart was beating like a rapid-fire cannon.
What the hell?
Joe sat still for a moment, listening and trying to sense what was going on. Something had hit the windscreen, but what?
It was less than a minute before he knew.
Nero.
Chapter Forty-One
The silverback gorilla beat on the car’s roof like it was a toy drum, caving it in deeper with each mighty blow. Joe and Danny’s ceiling bowed in on them, eating away at the already-limited space they had inside the car. But it wasn’t until the huge beast hooted and wailed that Joe knew what was attacking them.
“It’s the big monkey,” said Danny, cowering on the back seat.
“I know. Just keep down.” Joe engaged first-gear and pulled up the clutch. When he was sure he had the biting point he released the handbrake.
The engine stalled just as a blow took out the back window.
“Shit!” After the week of chaos he had been through, Joe almost didn’t remember how to drive. He restarted the engine and kept the car in first gear. He lifted the clutch again, but this time stamped down on the accelerator. The car roared like one of the beasts inside the zoo and shot forward as Joe released the handbrake again.
The handling was heavy and Joe realised it was due to the huge weight on the roof and the wet puddles on the road. The silverback was still above them but had ceased its attack, obviously surprised by its platform suddenly being mobile. Joe avoided some nearby cars and shifted into second. The engine went quieter as it began to climb the new gear. The vehicle gained speed, hitting thirty in only a couple of seconds. The silverback remained on the roof.
“He’s still up there, Dad.”
“I know, just keep down.”
Joe pulled into third-gear and steered the vehicle toward the car park’s exit. It was only a few hundred yards away, but Joe struggled to see it through the broken windscreen and the thick sheets of rain beyond it. He picked up more speed despite all of his senses telling him to slow down. By fourth gear he was already doing sixty and weaving between the wrecks of abandoned cars.
The silverback smashed its fists down on the car again, hitting the windscreen dead-centre. The glass fell away in clumps, covering the bonnet and the car’s interior.
With the windscreen suddenly gone, Joe could see the road.
He saw the brick wall coming up at seventy miles an hour.
Joe stamped on the brakes so hard that a sickening tingle went through his entire skeleton as he was thrown forward in his seat. The car’s tires bit at the road, screeching in protest as they skidded ineffectually. Joe closed his eyes and clutched at the steering wheel, hard enough that his knuckles went white.
The car continued its skid.
The wall got closer.
With a violent lurch the rubber tires finally found a grip and brought the car to a sudden, sliding stop. The whole vehicle rocked forward on its suspension. Joe’s face hit the steering wheel and sent stars through his vision. He pulled himself away, dazed and bleeding. It felt as though his already-damaged nose had been pushed to the back of his skull.
The engine petered out and Joe looked out at the road. He saw the silverback lying against the brick wall, only several feet away, a spattering of blood and matted fur mingling with the flowing rainwater of the road. The creature was stunned after being thrown clear of the car, but still conscious. Joe’s vision swirled as he tried to stay awake himself. His hand shook as he reached for the key to the ignition. Shook as they turned on the engine. Shook even harder as he engaged the reverse gear.
Joe stepped down on the accelerator.
The car shot backward.
After twenty metres, he jammed down the brake, tires screeching.
Into first gear and moving forward.
Second gear.
The car reached thirty.
Joe pulled into third.
“Danny, get down on the floor!”
The brakes went on.
Wheels skidded on the wet road.
The car crashed.
Joe was out for several seconds before he managed to open his eyes. At first all he saw was white, until he realised that it was just the airbag deployed from the steering wheel. He pulled and pushed at it until, finally, it began to hiss and deflate. When it was finally out of the way, Joe screamed.
“It’s alright, Dad,” said Danny climbing forward into the passenger seat beside him. “He’s dead.”
Joe looked at the silverback’s face staring back at him from the end of the bonnet and saw that the sparkle of light had indeed left the magnificent beast’s eyes. Crushed between the wall and the vehicle, the mighty Nero, oldest inhabitant of the zoo, had probably died instantly. Somehow Joe was glad about that despite their differences.
“You okay?”
Danny nodded and smiled. “That was cool!”
Joe laughed and threw his head back against the seat rest. “It certainly was something, alright.”
“Can we get out of here now? I haven’t watched wrestling in ages.”
Joe turned the key in the ignition and was astonished when the engine came back to life yet again. After such a collision it was almost a miracle that the vehicle was still willing to go on. He didn’t think about it too much as he reversed away from the wall and pulled out onto the main road, but he was thankful for his blessings. From the look of the chaos all around him, most others were not so lucky. Battered cars lay mangled and twisted against each other in a never-ending pile-up of ruined steel, while torn bodies littered the crimson-stained streets like confetti. The world as they knew it was over now, the natural order forever skewed by the events of the last few days. Joe and Danny were entering a new world, one where they were at the bottom of the food chain and animals, both domesticated and wild, roamed the lands with savage hunger.
But there was one thing that gave Joe hope, a hint that that humanity was not quite ready to go meekly into that good night. For almost every human corpse that lay dead amongst the ruins, there was also that of a dead animal. The mutilated dogs, cats, and various other domesticated animals that littered the sidewalks told Joe one thing was for certain: people were fighting back.
There were still blessings to be found in this world, and Joe’s biggest one was sitting in the seat right beside him. Joe couldn’t help but smile as he and his son started their journey into the unknown, their journey into the Animal Kingdom.
Epilogue
Randall could hardly breathe amidst the cloying, black smoke. It burnt at his eyes and dried out his throat. He didn’t know what had started the fire, but he had a feeling that Victor had rigged some kind of explosive in case of his death.
And I witnessed that he is very much dead, indeed.
Randall placed his fingers against his temples and tried to think. He would have to leave this room soon, but then what? The animals were probably waiting for him, ready to rip him apart as soon as he stepped outside the room, and even if they were not they would most likely be waiting for him outside the building?
But I have to leave, regardless. Either that or stay and burn.
Randall stood up from the desk, and hissed as he accidentally placed his broken ankle down on the floor. He pulled it back up and hopped over to the door. The smoke was hot and blinding, coming from under the door in thick, velvety waves. He closed his eyes and fumbled in his pocket for the key to the room’s lock. When he found it, he wasted no time in unlocking the door.
Outside was a disorientating mixture of bright-orange flame and jet-black smoke. Randall
looked left and right and saw no animals, but also saw no exit. The corridor was aflame at both ends. In front of him was the seminar room. It was no doubt where the fire had started and the books and wooden shelves would have provided all the fuel the fire needed, but now it was simply a smouldering black husk and no longer in flames. Randall hopped through the charred doorway and instantly felt some relief from the heat of the corridor. Wind rushed in from the far side of the room, and where there had once been a wall with a window, there was now only a hole. The entire side of the building had come away. Randall hopped forward again and fell onto his hands and knees as the floor beneath him gave way.
The floor was brittle and blackened. He would have to be careful where he put his weight lest he fall right through it. No plan in his mind other than to remain in this room while the rest of the building burned. Perhaps the fire would finally attract help and bring someone to his aid.
Randall crawled forward and encountered the grizzly sight of Victor’s corpse. The man’s body was crisped right down to the bone and his skeleton was blackened and exposed in several spaces. One of the body’s arms was completely missing, but Randall assumed that it was ripped off by the animals before the fire began.
Over at the far end of the room, Randall reached the floor’s ending. On his chest, he pushed forward until his arms and head were hanging over the edge. The air was fresher here and Randall took the opportunity to take in a series of deep breaths.
Beneath him the animals went wild as they spotted him. Hooting, barking, screeching and making all manner of inhuman noises, they looked up at him with hunger in their eyes. Whilst the army had thinned, it was still approaching a hundred in its number, mostly smaller creatures like warthogs and llamas. They surrounded the building and never once took their eyes off him.
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