by Justin Bell
“What do you think they want with my mom and dad?”
“I think they probably want our help,” Brad said. “The guy just said they don’t have reinforcements. They’re going to try to recruit us.” They walked under the arched overpass and continued on through thick trees mimicking the jungles of Africa, and Max felt a little antsy. This looked like the kind of place where lions and tigers probably roamed while the zoo was open. Brad turned and saw Max’s face.
“Chill out, Max. Didn’t they say all the animals escaped?”
“Yeah, but who knows. You’re the one that doesn’t trust ‘em, right?”
Brad shook his head. They walked around a looping curve and off to their right the trees spread apart into a wide, vacant canvas of shorter grass, where the trees were sparse and a dried pool of water sat near the center of the wide-open area. A short railing ran along next to the path and a marker for African Elephant was attached to it.
“Dang, they had an elephant and everything?” Brad asked.
Max nodded. “Guess so. That’s pretty cool.”
“Where do you think an animal that big disappears to in a city like this?”
“Who knows. Maybe that’s what the mess hall is serving,” Max chortled as he said it.
“So nasty,” Brad said, screwing up his face.
They made another corner and kept walking, the trees running along next to them, and the warm sun baking down on them from above.
Max looked over to his left, his eyes scanning the trees, when he felt a hand clasp against his arm, tightly squeezing. Whirling around he noticed Brad’s wide eyes, looking out toward the elephant area.
“Hold up,” Brad whispered nervously. “Don’t move.”
Max froze, watching the trajectory of his friend’s eyes, then locked on the flat field of grass, low and round. Movement caught in the corner of his eyes, and he twitched involuntarily, following it.
“Whoa,” he whispered, then looked at Brad, who still remained wide eyed and mouth opened. “Chill, dude,” Max continued. “They’re just horses.”
Two tall, narrow horses were slowly trotting along the grass, long manes blowing out wildly behind them. One of them was white with large, brown spots, while the second was brown all over and they charged across the grass straight for them.
“Don’t worry, city boy,” Max whispered, “horses are cool. I used to go to riding camp in the summers.”
Brad stood stock still, his muscles rigid and unmoving as he glared at the creatures who started to slow up as they approached. The two animals showed no sign of fear or hesitation, likely conditioned by human presence to not be afraid. They moved toward the fence and reached their long heads over it, huffing and jerking, baring their teeth.
“What do they want?” Brad asked.
Max shrugged. “They probably haven’t seen people in a while,” he said. “They probably want some food.”
“The heck are we supposed to feed them? Elephant meat?”
Max shook his head. “They usually eat grass, smartie. But when people come along they probably gave them fruit or something. Maybe we can check the mess hall when we get there.”
Brad’s eyes remained locked on the beasts, his gaze shifting from fear and shock to a more gradual appreciation for the beautiful wild creatures. Max grabbed his shoulder and pulled.
“C’mon, man,” he said. “Let’s go. Feed us first, then we’ll see about feeding them.”
Brad nodded and followed his friend away from the fence and toward the winding road, deeper into the zoo.
***
“You sure you don’t want to head to the mess hall?” Tamar asked Winnie as they walked from the military transport, hugging close to a line of thick, overgrown trees.
“And do what?” Winnie asked. “Gobble down gross food because we’re starving?”
“Well, it’s gotta be better than the cold beans and old, stale crackers we had in the van.”
“I haven’t been hungry lately.”
Tamar gripped Winnie’s arm and held her gently, turning her toward him. “Win. What happened in that house was not your fault, okay? The guy had a gun. He was going to kill us.”
“Only because we were in his house, Tamar.”
“And Angel tried to talk our way out of it. We would have returned everything. The guy was nuts, okay? Angel told us what his parents looked like. For all we know, he coulda done that.”
“But we don’t know.”
“If we woke up in the morning and beat ourselves up over everything we don’t know, we’d be dead by lunch. It’s over and done. He made his choice, he got the consequences. We need to move on.”
Winnie nodded softly. “I know. I’m sorry. With everything that’s been happening, you’d think I could let go of this one life. I don’t know why I can’t.”
Tamar put his arm around her and drew her to him. “Because you’re a good person,” he said. “You have a conscience and morals. That’s not a bad thing. Feeling guilt over what you did is normal and okay. Beating yourself to a bloody mental pulp won’t help.”
They stood there in silence for a few moments and then walked along the tree line, the warm afternoon sun coating them in a wash of surprisingly soothing warmth.
“I’m glad we met you, Tamar,” Winnie said softly.
“You and me both, girl,” he replied.
“Hey!” she said suddenly, turning toward him, pointing ahead. A small, square sign sat on a post up by an outcropping of trees. “You see that?”
“Yeah, it’s a sign.”
“The Water’s Edge, it says. They have an aquarium here!”
Before Tamar could even react, Winnie threw herself forward into a run, gently favoring her left leg, which still nagged from time to time, though she’d had eight weeks to heal from the crash in the RV that seemed so long ago. Tamar broke into a sprint after her, chasing her down just as she rounded the corner of the trees. They passed by a small hexagon-shaped gazebo and Winnie’s sprint halted, sending her stumbling slightly forward as she tried to slow her forward progress. She gasped lightly as she approached a fenced off area.
“What is it?” Tamar asked as he came up behind her.
Her eyes were cast down, and she shook her head softly. “I should have known…”
There was a cavity in the ground ahead, a deep and jagged, manmade hole with artificial rocks sculpted from the sides. Down at the bottom of the vertical cavern was a shallow pool of murky goop, brown and green hued liquid that may have once been a clear pool. There were no animals inside, just the grimy residue along pale blue walls and the fake rocks below. There was a wet, musty, spoiled smell to the air right there next to the makeshift pool, algae and mold, and something that Winnie didn’t want to think about down below the shallow surface.
“Probably better that it’s empty,” said Tamar. “Who knows what the seals and walruses might look like now.”
Winnie nodded. “A few times a year, we’d go into Denver and go to Downtown Aquarium. They even held my birthday there for like three years straight. They had these mermaids and the best shark tank… I thought maybe, just for a minute, that I could remember what life was like back then. Back when there were actual restaurants. And things you did for fun, not because your life depended on them.” She placed her elbows on the railing and bent low, looking down into the pool at nothing in particular. “So stupid.”
Tamar didn’t reply. He turned around and leaned on the railing, crossing his arms over his chest, closing his eyes and letting the sun settle down on him.
“You feel that?” he asked.
Winnie looked up at him from where she was hunched over. “What?”
“The sun,” he replied. “Warm sun. In school whenever we studied about nuclear holocaust or whatever, it was always called nuclear winter. Like, the bombs would go off, and everything would be grayed out. Ash would fall from the sky, life would be over and dead. But the sun’s shining.”
“So what?” Winnie asked,
standing and turning to lean on the railing next to him.
“So? So life ain’t over. Where there’s sun, there’s life. The bombs hit, but nuclear winter didn’t come. That means stuff can be rebuilt, right? Stuff can still grow? Animals can survive.”
“What’s the point of all of that if every other human you meet is trying to kill you?”
Tamar looked at her. “Did I try to kill you?”
Winnie rolled her eyes.
“Are these army guys trying to kill us?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe. Those others did.”
“Fair point.”
“Look,” continued Winnie, “I don’t want to be mistrustful. I want to have faith in other human beings. But I need them to show me first.”
Tamar nodded.
“I miss my cellphone.”
Tamar laughed and shook his head. “Jeez, girl. This here,” he started, waving toward the sun, “this here is real life, not digital life. Right? There’s a difference.”
Winnie shook her head. “You don’t get it. My parents never did either. It’s not about staring at a screen, it’s about sharing experiences with other people. People you’ve never met and probably never will, but you can share a small piece of their life with them. It’s human connections over a digital stream. Everyone thinks the screens are killing the human condition, but you know, I think they were improving the ways we connect with each other.”
“So you form a relationship with someone a thousand miles away and ignore the ones immediately surrounding you?”
“That’s not what it’s about.”
“I’m probably just bitter,” Tamar said. “Me and my brother never really had cellphones. My mom, she worked two jobs just to make sure we got food and drink and a roof over our head. Sometimes she even had to take on a third. Only thing she really let me do outside the house was Tae Kwon-Do, and she only let me do that because she wanted me to be able to defend myself.”
“Jeez, Tamar,” Winnie said quietly. “I’m sorry. I’m here raving about aquariums and cellphones. I didn’t even think—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Tamar replied, chuckling. “That’s not why I said that. It’s just all relative. We’re all people, we all share experiences, we just do it differently.”
“I can be on board with that.”
They stood quietly for a moment, eyes closed, letting the sun bake down on them, warming their skin.
“So, back to these army guys,” Tamar continued. “What’s your take?”
Winnie shrugged. “They seem legit, I guess. I hope they are.”
“Would be a nice change of pace, huh? Meeting someone who’s not actually trying to kill us? Meeting someone who can maybe really help us?”
“That would be nice,” Winnie said, keeping her real thoughts to herself. Those thoughts brewing down low that told her nice things didn’t happen anymore and getting their hopes up about these soldiers was only bound to lead to disappointment. She didn’t want to say those things out loud, but she believed them. She believed them truly and utterly, and the deepening darkness inside her mind both bothered and frightened her, and she wasn’t yet prepared to let anyone else in on it.
***
Rebecca stepped back and looked at the two-and-a-half-ton military personnel carrier, a flat-nosed truck with a canvas top and a bench along each side. The outer metal shell was painted in rudimentary camouflage and the canvas top stretched taught over the rear of the transport held that same pattern. It seemed like a vehicle wholly out of place in this environment, with zoo buildings scattered about, mixed with trees and vacant seating areas. She could almost picture families here six months ago, sitting at these picnic benches, eating expensive lunches with ample trans fats, wondering when the next elephant show would be.
Now she and the others stood in the empty zoo, the animals gone, most of them likely dead, with plenty of people to go along with them. The bright sun seemed like it was mocking them, reminding them that it still stood its place in the galaxy, still stable, right where it was while their little blue rock tumbled toward decimation. It carried a vibrant, yellow mocking smile that made Rebecca Fields unreasonably angry.
“What’s your problem?” Angel asked from beside her, sensing her growing unease.
Fields turned away from the transport, her eyes locking on a cluster of three buildings pressed together, buildings promising to be the Worlds of Discovery, while they stood baking in the sun and disallowing entry. A few minutes previously, Sergeant Crowner had gone inside with Phil and Rhonda while the kids had dispersed, leaving Angel and Rebecca standing there by the transport, wallowing in the unknown.
“What do you think they’re talking about in there?” she asked.
Angel shrugged. “I imagine Rhonda is giving them the run down about her parents. About what we’ve been through over the past three months or so.”
“And that’s privileged information or something?”
“I don’t follow you,” Angel said, narrowing his eyes.
“I don’t like that we’re left out here stranded in the dark, while they’re in there making these decisions that could impact everyone.”
“How do you know that’s what they’re doing? They wanted us out here to help keep an eye on things.” A few hundred meters away, a small group of camouflage clad soldiers wandered from a cluster of trees, paused for a minute, glancing at the transport, then continued on their way. As she scanned the surrounding area, she saw a few more of them hidden within the trees, then over to her right, another one strode determinedly past them, an M4 carbine clutched in his hand. She wasn’t sure how many of them were milling around in the zoo, though she suspected there was a decent team of Army operatives from the area all converged in this one location.
“So you’re okay with this?” Rebecca asked, looking at Angel. “You’re okay with them dictating what we do next, while we stand out here surrounded by dozens of soldiers we don’t know we can trust?”
“No I’m not okay with it, Becky,” Angel replied. “You know my history with law enforcement and government. Me and them, we don’t get along so good. But I think Rhonda and Phil will look out for our best interests.”
“Phil can barely shoot a gun,” Rebecca said, shaking her head.
“Sometimes, we need more than guns, right?”
“Not lately.”
Angel shook his head, but his mouth twisted into a narrow smirk. “You crack me up.”
“So tell me, then,” Rebecca, said, turning toward Angel. “What do you think they want us for? These soldiers?”
“I don’t know. They probably need us like we need them.”
“Riiight. They probably want to slap guns in our hands and put us on the front lines. They’re looking for free recruits or something. Help them fight this new civil war that’s brewing.”
“Can you blame them if that’s what they want? You saw Toledo. If we can help avoid that from happening again, shouldn’t we?”
“Not if it means an end to our freedom. Not if it means abandoning this mission. Last I looked there was still this huge conspiracy we’re investigating. Who knows, maybe these clowns are in on it.”
“I think we give them the benefit of the doubt,” Angel whispered. “Let’s see what they say first, then decide.”
“I’d love to, except they don’t want to tell us. They only want to tell Rhonda and Phil.”
“Do you trust Rhonda and Phil?” Angel looked Rebecca straight in the eyes. She firmed her lips together, but eventually nodded.
“Yeah. I do. They haven’t done us wrong yet.”
“So let’s give them a chance, huh?”
Fields crossed her arms over her chest, eyes still locked on the three buildings, and stood there rigid as a board, wondering, deep down, if she actually did trust Rhonda and Phil as much as she thought she did. The revelations of Rhonda’s family ties to this potential conflict had been a shock, and a shock Rebecca was still struggling to look beyond.
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***
Crowner sat in the chair, pushed up tight to the table, arms crossed, and leaning back slightly, his blue eyes shifting from Rhonda to Phil and back again. They sat in a wide-open area, the inside of a building that looked as if it were once an informational hub before all the fixtures and furniture were cleared out. Ratty, threadbare carpet covered the floor, and instead of an information desk and various stations, there were several card tables and folding chairs covering the majority of the empty space. The walls were a pale mix of off-white and yellow, a calming color that the two did not find all that calming presently.
Along with Sergeant Crowner there were at least a half dozen other soldiers inside the building, all of them armed with automatic rifles and all of them regarding Rhonda and Phil with borderline suspicion and hostility, an attitude engrained within them after three long months of constant struggle. Rhonda couldn’t imagine what the men in this room had seen and what they had done, but suspected it was similar to her own experiences, only likely at a larger scale. Looking at the faces of the soldiers surrounding them, she wondered how men a little more than two decades old could manage these things without completely breaking down.
Had they? Or were they now caught in some sinister web? Were they now fully entangled in the conspiracy they’d been working to unravel? She didn’t think so. Crowner had an honest face and he was someone she felt she could trust in spite of herself, someone who seemed as if he had the best interests of humanity at heart.
She couldn’t know that, of course, not for certain, and maybe she just wanted to believe a little too much.
“So tell me again,” Crowner said, his eyes landing on Rhonda. “Where are you headed?”
“Philadelphia,” Rhonda replied.
“You said you had family there, right? Parents? Daughter?”
Rhonda nodded. “Yes.”
“Now, we couldn’t help but notice your little group is… well… armed to the teeth.”
“We’ve run into quite a bit of trouble along the way,” Phil replied, stepping up for his wife. “You need to be able to defend yourself.”