Animal Kingdom (26 page)

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 beyond 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.”

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 drumbeats 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.