by Haywood, RR
‘SHIT!’ she spins around to a snatched view of a Siberian tiger in the branches of the oak tree. The striped face almost lost in the shadows. The eyes glowing red and bloodshot. It drops as she spins. Landing deftly on the grass amongst its kills. Three and a half metres long. Over three hundred kilos in weight. A perfect killing machine.
Then his brother drops from the tree to land next to him and the world erupts as both Paco and Heather pull the triggers on their rifles. Paco to shoot the wolves. Heather to shoot the tigers, but Blowers said rifles will work if they get wet only if they’re cleaned quickly. And that lake had too much crap in it. Too much silt that now dries and hampers the moving parts, and the dull clicks sound in the air. The misfires from both as Paco shouts out and moves left.
Heather screams. Diving right. The bird cries out and the wolves impact into the first tiger. Heather lands hard, rolling through the grass and remains. Coming to a stop inches from the ruined carcass of a dog. Not a dog. A wolf. Heather realises in that second it’s not dogs the tigers have been eating. It’s wolves. They must have come from the safari park. That’s why there’s only three left. That’s why the wolves were coming towards them. To seek help. To seek people. To seek refuge.
A yelp from behind. The sound of pain. The sound of fear. On her feet and she draws the pistol from her tac-vest as the first tiger launches up onto its rear legs and swipes a huge front paw at a wolf, sending it flying off with a yelp. The other two wolves go at it. Lunging in to bite as the second tiger runs at the one knocked away. She aims and fires the pistol. Nothing. She curses, shakes the gun, slides the top back and tries again. The gun fires. The round hits the tiger. No reaction. Not a thing.
She fires again. Hitting it once more as it veers from going for the wolf and aims at her. Paco shouts out, his rifle not firing. He casts it aside and draws his pistol. No fire. Heather shoots again. Another misfire. She ditches that gun and snatches the one from her hip as the tiger closes in and the bird drops fast. Screeching out with claws aiming at the tiger’s eyes.
A second of time bought for Heather to roll away and come up to fire. She gets another round into it, but the tiger keeps coming. The eyes red and bloodshot. The wolf that got knocked surges up and runs in hard. Slamming into the tiger just before it launches at Heather. The tiger spins. Grabbing the wolf in its mouth. Ragging it side to side. Yelps sound out as Heather tries to aim and find a spot to shoot.
A roar from Paco diving onto the tiger with fists hammering into the sides. Beating so hard it would kill a man within seconds, but the tiger throws him with ease and drops the wolf to turn on the man. Launching at him as Heather fires into the centre of mass.
Still the beast shows no reaction, lunging at Paco as he rolls away. It snags his leg in a claw and yanks him off the ground. Heather fires again until the gun clicks empty.
The third wolf bleeding but getting up to fight on. The other two wolves savaging at the other tiger.
Snarls and growls filling the air as Paco gets launched with ease. The tiger lunges for the bite. The wolf and Heather charge at it. Heather drawing her knife, diving in. The wolf going for the tiger’s tail. Heather lands on the back and stabs into the side. Driving the blade deep. The tiger roars out and bucks. She clings on. Kicking and stabbing and biting into the thing with her own teeth. Savaged and wild. An awful yelp as one of the other wolves gets taken in the other tiger’s mouth and torn apart.
Heather stabs again. Paco lashes out. The wolf on the tail. Tugging and tugging. The tiger detonates into a ball of pure fury. The strength of it as it shakes her free and rags Paco to the side before twisting with impossible speed to swat the wolf away.
Yelps and howls of pain. Blood spraying out. Two wolves dead and two tigers still very much alive. Heather, Paco and the last wolf fighting with everything they have. To make the thing bleed. To make it hurt. To kill at least one of them before they’re all torn apart.
Blood spraying out. Rage and fury. A fight to the death but by fuck they’ll go down fighting. All three of them. Heather. Paco. The wolf. Even the bird does what it can until it too gets swatted hard and sent into the tree.
The second tiger roars out and starts to run. The mouth opening. The teeth so big. The muzzle stained and dripping blood. Heather sees it coming. Paco too. The wolf clings on. He could turn and run. He could leave the people to fight and save himself, but he fights because his pack is dead. Because these things have hunted them down one by one and so he has nothing left to live for. He has nothing but the pain he can give back and to die in the fight.
‘FUCK YOU!’ Heather roars out, stabbing and stabbing at the tiger to no heed. To no response. The thing is infected. It feels no pain. The second one impacts. A shot rings out. Deep and solid. Another one. Something embeds next to Heather’s head. Another shot. An arrow hits the tiger she’s attacking in the eye. The tiger roars out and flares up on its back legs. Shots taken. Fast and quick. A glance within the chaos to Dave aiming his assault rifle. Taking shots where he can. Roy on top of the Saxon. Firing arrows and Joan with the sniper rifle braced in her shoulder. Meredith streaking across the grass. A face full of rage. Teeth pulled back because if there’s one thing worse than infected or cats, it’s infected cats.
She hits the one launching up. Slamming into it hard and sinking teeth into the neck, but the fight isn’t over and both tigers lash out. Sending Meredith, the wolf, Paco and Heather all flying off.
‘STAY CLEAR,’ Dave roars but the fight is on. The need to do battle and as one, those four go back in. Diving in with blades and teeth. ‘GPMG THAT ONE.’
The dull roar of the machine gun. The second tiger roars out. Struck by rounds. Assault rifles letting rip. Still it stays up. Still it roars. Arrows poking from its body. Both eyes gone. Joan breathes. Joan aims. Joan fires and the subsonic round finally gets through a ruined eye into the brain. Killing it dead.
‘FUCK YOU!’ Heather screams out. Stabbing into the beast they fight with. Images of the zebra foal in her mind. Images of Subi, Rajesh and Amna. That dark place she goes to when she needs this. When she needs this rage to kill. Stabbing relentlessly. Paco the same. The dog and wolf tearing at it. She screams out as Joan breathes. Joan aims. Joan fires and the subsonic round goes through into the tiger’s brain, killing it dead.
‘IT’S DONE. OVER,’ Dave shouts.
‘FUCK YOU!’ Heather screams out, stabbing at the beast until someone yanks her away, she spins free, dripping with blood, eyes wild with fury. Seeing Howie and the others all looking shocked.
‘We saw you on the drone,’ Howie says. ‘Nick saw the park. The safari park. We were there. Before.’
‘You,’ Heather gasps, staring at him then looking at the remains on the ground. The people killed. The young and old. The dead wolves. The zebra foal. ‘YOU FUCKING CUNT!’ she runs at Howie, ready to fight him. Ready to hurt him. ‘YOU LET THEM OUT!’ she pulls an arm back, thinking to punch him, but Dave wasn’t warned. Marcy always tells him when she’s going to hit Mr Howie, and he moves in fast, taking Heather’s legs out and bringing the pistol up to aim at her head. A roar from Paco. He runs at Dave. Everyone else shouts. Everyone running in.
‘She’s safe, Dave!’ Mo shouts as Paco swings at Dave who dodges back and sends a punch into his side. ‘SAFE DAVE!’ Mo shouts again.
‘HEY!’ Clarence yells, rushing in to block Paco who lashes out and punches him hard in the face. A lightning reaction from Clarence, and he throws a punch back, smacking Paco hard on the nose. An instant eruption of violence. The two huge men going at it with punches slamming into heads and faces as Mo runs in to block Dave. Carmen with him. Howie reeling back then yelling out at Paco hitting Clarence. He runs to pull him back but gets smashed aside and sent spinning off as Clarence and Paco go at each other with punches hard enough to kill most men.
It’s the women that react. An instinct inside that if one of the guys gets between Paco and Clarence they could get killed. Charlie goes first. Pushing between them
. Tappy a split second after. Paula and Marcy with them. All four shouting at the men to stop. Pushing them away. Noses bleeding. Eyes swelling up.
‘You colossal fucking prick,’ Heather says, spitting the words out. ‘You set them free!’
‘Then why the fuck were you there?’ Howie asks as Heather goes to reply but blinks in confusion. Remembering the foal. The baby zebra. The hyena she shot. The whole of it.
‘Fuck you,’ she says, furious at him, at herself, at all of it. Sickened and shaken from running and fighting. ‘Oh god, no,’ she scrabbles up and runs to the two wolves killed by the tigers. ‘They were hunting them. The fucking tigers. They were hunting the wolves down… And there was a baby zebra. The lions got it then I shot a hyena.’
‘Jesus,’ Howie says, the realisation of their actions showing on his face. ‘We were there with Milly. Like two weeks ago. I’m so sorry.’
‘They came out for help,’ Heather says, turning away as she remembers the third one. She spins about, seeing it lying down, gasping for air. She runs to the side, dropping low. ‘It needs help!’
‘Roy!’ Paula shouts.
‘I’m a medic, not a vet,’ Roy says, rushing over to peer at the wolf. ‘Is it friendly?’
‘Roy!’ Paula says.
‘Okay okay,’ he says, dropping down to try and examine it. ‘It needs water. Nick!’
‘I’m not the water guy,’ Nick says, flapping his hands as he goes off and runs back with a bottle of water. Working with Roy. Pouring water over the head. Into the mouth.
‘Just a few cuts I think,’ Roy says. ‘Unless it’s hurt inside.’
‘He’s drinking,’ Nick says as the wolf starts lapping at the water. Gently at first. Tentatively almost. Then greedily. Gulping it down as fast as he can. Meredith comes close. Sniffing at the head. The wolf stops drinking, growling softly. ‘Go away,’ Nick says, pushing the dog. She backs up, watching the wolf closely as Paco and Clarence glare at each other. Ready to go again.
‘Heather. I’m sorry,’ Howie says. ‘We couldn’t just leave them.’
‘I know,’ she cuts him off, shaking her head before taking a bottle of water to drink deep. Pouring it over her face. Paco does the same. ‘We don’t know what we’re doing,’ she says after a minute. ‘I’m running around with a fucking list and setting animals free. Look! Those tigers you let out got into this town. These people aren’t infected. They’re people.’
‘I didn’t know,’ Howie says.
‘You were doing the same thing,’ Paula says.
‘That’s my point!’ Heather shouts back. ‘I’ve been going from zoo to zoo just opening cages. Snakes. Spiders. Cats. Wolves. Bears. I don’t know what I’m doing. Neither do you. We’re not experts in this, Howie. We shouldn’t be doing this. We don’t know what we’re doing!’
‘Heather,’ Paula says.
‘No! We shouldn’t be doing this. Any of it. We’re not soldiers. He’s a fucking actor. I was on disability because of my anxiety. Howie worked in a fucking supermarket!’ she shouts the words out, as angry at herself as anyone else. ‘Leave it to him,’ she says, pointing to Henry staring on with almost benign interest. Like he’s viewing another drama in the lives of the misfits.
‘He was a spy,’ Howie says. ‘How would he know what to do with a zoo.’
‘A phased release using different exit points,’ Henry says without hesitation. ‘Or find a vet from the fort and ask them.’
‘Oh, fuck off, Henry,’ Howie snaps.
‘See!’ Heather shouts. ‘He’s right. We shouldn’t be doing this. Any of it. Maybe we should just leave it to the experts…’ She trails off. Confused. Angry, and not quite sure what her point is. Only that she needed to vent the emotion inside. It’s so hot too. A crippling heat pressing down. ‘How’s the wolf?’
‘He’s okay I think,’ Nick replies as the wolf finally stops drinking and slowly gets up as they all see just how big it is. Taller than Meredith. Longer too. Dark grey with shining yellow eyes and he looks about before seeing his fallen pack members. A low whine as he goes closer and sniffs at their bodies. Pawing at them. Whining harder. Whining longer. Pawing and pawing. Faces grow hard. Knowing what it means. Seeing the grief as the wolf lowers down and lifts his head to howl. A long awful sound of pain and loss. It sends a pang through Howie as he remembers the little girl from the square on the eighteenth day. Her screams and howls. That was the day Neal joined them. He died the next day. They failed to protect him too. Maybe Heather is right. That they don’t know what they are doing.
Howie caused this. He told his team to open the cages and enclosures in the safari park. His actions made this happen, and the wolf howls on.
A thing done for thousands of years and as domesticated as Meredith is, she still lifts her head to add her voice to low mournful cry. Filling the air. Filling the park. Those long howls travelling far as the wolf cries for the loss of his pack. Victory has been taken. The tigers are dead, but his pack are gone, and he is alone. He would die right now if he could.
‘Heather,’ Howie says as she sets about collecting her weapons.
‘Please don’t,’ she says.
‘Why didn’t you call us?’ Paula asks. ‘You’ve got a radio.’
Heather stops and shakes her head. ‘I didn’t think about it,’ she admits with a bitter snort. ‘We’re not soldiers, Paula. We’re just fucking idiots. Paco, we’re going.’
‘We’ll drive you back to your car,’ Marcy says.
‘We’ll walk,’ Heather says, cutting over her.
‘Heather. It’s over forty degrees,’ Paula says.
She doesn’t reply but holsters her pistols then stops and frowns before rushing over to the base of the tree. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Who the hell is that?’ Paula asks as Heather bends down to pick a bundle of brightly coloured rags up.
‘They need food!’ The macaw says quietly, mimicking Heather as it shakes its wings out, making everyone else gasp.
‘You’re a dumb shit,’ Heather tells it. ‘But thank you, go on then. Fly away,’ she throws it up, expecting a dramatic flurry of wings, but it just drops with a squawk and a thud.
‘Haha,’ the bird says weakly as Heather picks it back up and walks over to Nick. ‘Look after it, please.’
‘Why you giving it to me? I’m not the bird guy!’
She walks off with Paco at her side. Leaving a heart-broken wolf crying over his lost pack, and Nick holding a macaw while Howie spots the look on Henry’s face. The one that suggests that maybe Heather is right, and he should be leaving it to the professionals.
19
Diary of Paula
That was incredibly upsetting! We do some horrific things sometimes, but that was right up there.
We were in Sturbridge having a coffee. Nick started making it then Henry took over. (Henry does make very good coffee btw.)
Anyway. So then the lads went outside to have a smoke, and Henry told Howie we cannot keep stopping like this and perhaps some better planning might be in order.
Howie was starting to bite (Howie wears his emotions on his sleeve – it’s actually one of the most endearing things about him.) But I could see it was really starting to get to him. Clarence was the same. I think it’s more personal to Clarence because he was in the same army regiment as Frank and Henry.
Either way. We only had a few sips when Nick put the shout up. Apparently, the lads were outside and one of them realised we weren’t far from the safari park they’d been through with Howie a few weeks ago. So they put the drone up to find it – and ended up seeing Heather and Paco almost being eaten by a hippo.
I could see Henry was annoyed at another diversion, but what could we do? We couldn’t leave poor Heather on her own!
And thank god we didn’t. God it was horrible. Just really horrible. We got there and the two infected tigers had already killed two wolves and we’re trying to tear Heather, Paco and another wolf to pieces. And the noise! Those snarls and the whimper from o
ne of the wolves just before it died. You could hear the thumps too from Paco giving one of the tigers a bloody good beating. Not that it noticed. And those three were mincemeat. Let me tell you that. If we’d been thirty seconds later, they would be dead.
Then after that Heather went for Howie, then Dave went for Heather and Paco steamed in and him and Clarence started slugging it out. The whole thing was a bloody mess.
Dead tigers. Dead wolves. And that heat and humidity. I know the tigers were infected, but still. They were so majestic. What an awful rotten thing to do. Not one of us took pleasure in killing them. Not one of us.
Anyway. Then Heather and Paco left and there was this awful silence until the poor wolf started crying. The thing was pawing at the other two dead wolves. It was heartbreaking. I had tears in my eyes, and I know a few more did. Then I caught sight of Howie’s face – like I said, he can’t hide his emotions. He looked heartbroken too. Staring from Heather and Paco to the wolf then over to the tigers.
I could see what he was thinking. I know he would have been connecting his actions from a few weeks ago to what happened now and assuming responsibility for it.
Truthfully though. I didn’t have the energy to get into it. Not right then after all of that. ‘I think Heather was more upset than anything,’ I said to Howie. It didn’t help much but it was all I had.
‘I would suggest the tigers killed a host and became infected,’ Reginald said, looking at the remains. ‘Which then sparked this feeding frenzy. They’ve certainly killed more than they need to eat.’
I said that was bad. I mean, there’s a lot of big cats in this country. What if they all get infected? We wouldn’t stand a chance.
‘There’s about thirty lions just in that safari park,’ Nick said.
‘Can lions even get infected?’ Blowers asked.
‘They share 95% DNA with tigers,’ Carmen said. ‘If a tiger can get it then it’s most likely a lion can.’
‘Not at all,’ Reginald said. ‘Mr Doku and I share 99.9% of the same DNA, yet he has natural immunity and I do not. The virus is not species specific, or even sub-species specific.’