Zoo (13 page)

If this is an enclosure, it’s not like the
one we occupied this morning. In fact, it’s not like the zoo we
were in at all. There are no walkways or refreshment stands or
people hanging around on the other side of the glass. This dome is
so large that I only see the glass wall next to us, because the
rest of it soars into the sky and disappears from view.

We have been released in a grassless
clearing surrounded by a dense forest. My bare feet get covered in
the dusty dirt within seconds of walking in it. There are pine
needles that have fallen from high-reaching pine trees mixed in
with the dirt. The trees that rise up before us are so thick that
we can’t see past them. Surely, this can’t be everything. Dirt and
pine trees…

Everyone is standing outside the containers,
stunned and dazed. Upon first glancing at them, I think that none
of us have anything in common. Cowboys, geishas, crusaders, African
tribal peoples, housewives, old, young, and so many more crowd the
flat area. But, of course, we do share this experience. We are all
allies at this moment.

I have a feeling it won’t last long.

To the right of us, the crowd starts to
become agitated. It spreads out in places and converges in others.
I struggle to see what they are seeing. A woman shrieks as three
large men dressed like Vikings surge out of the woods, each
carrying a sword. Kale pushes me behind him as the men head toward
all of us newcomers. They appear to be searching for women. One of
them yanks the Geisha woman by the arm and she screams. She
struggles against him, but she’s so tiny and frail that the leather
and fur covered Viking doesn’t even waver from her jerking and
kicking.

The cowboy that was sitting next to her in
the transporter, comes to her defense. He charges the brute that
has her by the arm. I clutch Kale’s shirt and smash my face between
his shoulder blades as the Viking runs his sword clean through the
would-have-been hero’s stomach. Kale is backing me away from the
group so that we are as far from the barbaric men as possible.

Another woman screams as she’s been chosen
by the largest of the men. I don’t look to see who she is because I
don’t want them to catch sight of me. I hold my breath as they
finish gathering their prizes, one woman for each of them. And just
as quickly as they came, they disappear back into the tree
line.

Behind me, someone is laughing hysterically
from within the dark forest. I look up from Kale’s shirt and see a
skeletal man hobbling out from behind the thick trunk of a tree.
His eyes are amused and crazed. He heckles us while jabbing his
gnarled finger at random people within the crowd.

“
Shouldn’t waste time on
such things,” he scolds a middle-aged, priestly looking man who is
dragging the dead man’s body into one of the transporters. Then he
sniffs the air. “Mmm. Fresh meat,” he says with a thick English
accent. His raspy laugh makes my stomach turn.

“
Won’t last long, that
one.” The man lets out another cackle as he points his cruel,
knotted finger at me. “Such a scrawny thing, but pretty. You would
have been better off if those men had taken you.”

Kale grips my hand tight.
He makes me feel stronger than I am, and I’m once again able to
hold my head up high and face the unknown. But I still find myself
wondering if I
can
survive this. Although, I don’t even know what
this
is yet.

Most of the people standing around ignore
the crippled man and form small groups, strategizing and voicing
their concerns. Some drift off alone into the forest. Kale and I
wait and watch.

Behind us, the transporters’ doors start to
rattle and close. I glance inside the empty vessels, where I was
restrained minutes ago, and see the long light cord running the
length of the floor. Perhaps that could come in handy later on—not
the lights of course since they won’t have electricity to power
them, but the cord itself. Who knows what we will face when we
leave this place.

I break my hold on Kale’s hand and sprint
into the metal box.

“
Emma!” Kale calls after
me.

I grab the thin cord and yank with all my
might. Eventually, one end of the cord comes up off the floor, and
I’m able to jerk the rest of it up. Before the door slides shut, I
run back out of the transporter with my gain. I carefully wrap the
cord around my waist about five times. I tuck the loose end, so it
doesn’t fall off. I wish I had my purse.

“
Whew! Didn’t peg you for
a smart one. May do well here after all,” says the heckler. He
hobbles over to the metal containers and licks the side of one of
them, leaving a trail of saliva. Then the transporters slowly
recede and disappear into the glass dome, causing the man to
screech at the top of his lungs. He throws himself on the ground
and paws at the glass wall.

Kale takes my hand again and pulls me away
from the lunatic. “Let’s get out of here,” he says.

But I hear a girl scream his name. “James!”
she wails. “Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me alone here! It’s your
fault that I’m here! James!”

He’s coming towards me. My heart stops. This
is it. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for since I first laid
eyes on James.

THE
SURPRISE KISS

My hand falls from Kale’s, and I somehow get
closer to James. I don’t remember telling my feet to move. Behind
him, the shorter brunette sister from his enclosure is still
yelling, “James!” I tune her out as I come face-to-face with
him.

I’m overwhelmed with fear, just like the
girl. James has been my distraction from this horrible zoo, and I
need a distraction right now. We are inches apart. His blue eyes
are even bluer than I had previously thought, and his hair is the
color of gold. He is beyond handsome. Who am I kidding—he’s
hot!

He doesn’t wait a second. He presses his
cool lips to mine, as he pulls me into an embrace. I’m a little
surprised by the kiss, because of everything that is happening
around us. I briefly return his kiss, and then bury my face in his
chest. James’ knows more about me than anyone else in the
enclosures. I’m glad that he’s here.

When James and I part, I
see Kale helping the small girl up off her knees. She has snot
above her upper lip, and her hair looks like a small rodent has
rummaged through it. Her pale green, cotton dress is rumpled with
dirty patches on the knee area. I feel sorry for the girl. She’s
been taken away from her sister. But I’m also relieved to know that
it’s because James wouldn’t
mate
with her.

Together, we walk over to Kale and the
sobbing girl.

“
Please don’t leave me
alone here,” she pleads with Kale. Her accent is thick and
distinctly from Texas.

Kale looks over to me and then at James. His
eyes grow hard until he looks back at the helpless girl that he’s
supporting. He softens once again and says, “It’s going to be
alright. Don’t worry.” He brushes some of the wild hair out of her
face so he can see her better. “What’s your name?” he asks her.

“
Victoria,” she
whimpers.

“
Okay, Victoria. I’m Kale
and that’s Emma. We’ll help you. It’ll be okay.” Kale pats her
shaking arm. He really is such a good guy, always trying to make
everyone feel better. I realize now that I wasn’t anything special
to him, which makes me feel a little better about my decision to
pursue James. And I still think Kale was laying it on thick for me
at first, since his stay at the last enclosure depended on it. I
have such conflicting emotions when it comes to Kale.

James reaches out his hand
to Victoria and says, “Victoria, I told you I’d help you. Now quit
acting like a raving lunatic.”
Ouch.
That was harsh, but I can’t
judge him for his reaction. I have no idea what went on with them
back in the last zoo.

“
Stay away from me James.
I hate you!” she spits. Victoria jerks away from James and further
into Kale’s embrace. A tinge of jealousy passes through me at the
sight of her physical closeness to my enclosure-mate.

Wait. I have to focus. Someone else could
come charging after us at any moment to slice our heads off or
steal me away. It’s time to act. “So what should we do?” I ask. “Go
into the forest?”

“
I think we should stay
here in the open. We can setup camp here,” James offers.

“
Pussy,” Kale mumbles
under his breath.

“
Got a better plan,
hombre?” James puffs up his thin chest.

“
I’m Hawaiian not Mexican,
dude. And yes, I think we should do as Emma suggested. We should go
into the forest and see what we can before it gets dark. Find
water. Food. Somewhere safe to sleep.”

Victoria offers up her two cents, “I agree
with Kale.”

I can’t help but roll my eyes. Victoria and
I were not going to be friends. She was too weak. I know I’ve had
my fair share of cries—like I did a few minutes ago—and I too let
Kale comfort me, but I was nothing like this girl. I could do
things on my own, and I still plan on getting myself out of here
eventually. She gave me the impression that she couldn’t do
anything on her own.

“
Great! Let’s go then.” I
start off for the ominous woods, putting space between Victoria and
myself. We cross the dusty clearing with our wits about us, ready
to embark on an unknown adventure. We don’t even set foot in the
forest before stragglers stop us. They were dropped off here like
us, but apparently didn’t get invited to join any of the other
groups.

“
Wait, please. Can we tag
along? We don’t know anyone here. Please.” A slightly overweight,
middle-aged woman pleads with us. I don’t remember seeing her in
the crowds earlier, though I don’t know how I could’ve missed her.
She’s wearing a
Disney
t-shirt, hot pink biking shorts, and white sneakers. Clipped
around her waist is a bright yellow fanny pack with a couple of
whimsical key chains dangling from the zipper. Her hair is teased
and hair sprayed. It almost makes a helmet around her head. There’s
no doubt in my mind that she’s from the late 80’s or early
90’s.

Next to the horribly dressed woman is a very
small Asian man. He’s dressed in khaki pants and a white t-shirt.
He has brown loafers on his feet and wire-rimmed glasses resting on
his sharp nose. I have no idea what time he is from.

The four of us look at one another as the
woman once again begs, “Please. Please.”

I grant them permission to come along since
no one else is speaking up. “Sure. Come on.”

The woman turns to her companion and in an
Asian language (not sure which one), tells him something I don’t
understand. He nods his head and smiles at us while saying
something else that I don’t understand. “He’s saying thank you,”
the woman informs us. “I thank you as well. My name is Phyllis and
this is Chao. We promise to stay out of your way.”

“
Emma, Kale, James, and
Victoria.” I point to each of us as I call out our names. “Well,
let’s get going before something else horrible happens.”

LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!

James pushes ahead and takes the lead,
probably trying to show Kale that he is in fact not a pussy. I
follow after him while Kale and Victoria take the rear. Phyllis and
Chao are all over the place. They’re like two elephants dancing
through the forest. I wouldn’t have thought such a tiny man could
make so much noise. It’s like he’s oblivious to where he actually
is.

There are whispers of the other new people
floating through the air, as they forge their own paths in this
super-enclosure. It keeps us on our toes because we are never sure
if it could actually be the “natives” hunting us. The light in the
forest is dim due to the sun fighting a loosing battle with the
trees. It infiltrates its way through the breaks in the branches
and leaves. It makes for an ominous journey.

Our feet crunch on the pine needles that
cover the ground, but the noise we make is not as loud as our new
friends. Kale politely shushes them, but they are hopeless. I’m
extra quiet as I make my way through the brush, trying to make up
for their heavy feet. Speaking of feet, mine ache like crazy. It
makes me wish I had shoes like everyone else, with the exception of
Kale. He’s in the same boat as me. Maybe I could make something
that would cover our feet. I glance over to Victoria and all the
extra fabric on her dress. No, she’d never let me . . . but for
Kale, maybe.

I bite my lip as I stumble over a tree root
that scratches my little toe. Victoria lets a tiny giggle escape
her lips at my expense. I can’t help but curse her in my head. We
aren’t getting off to a good start.

We walk for what seems like miles before we
see anything besides trees. There’s a small log cabin with smoke
drifting out of the chimney. It has a shallow front porch with two
chairs and dried meat hanging from the eaves. Next to the wooden
structure is a garden, like the one we left in our previous
enclosure.

Victoria has seen it and its potential to
feed her. She squeals and rushes over to the garden, digging up a
bright orange carrot before we can stop her. She plucks more and
more from the ground, wrapping them up in the folds of her long,
cotton dress.

The Asian man is braver—or stupider. He
rushes up onto the porch to steal slivers of the dried meat. His
female companion follows his lead and helps him collect the strings
of mystery meat.

Those two can do whatever stupid thing they
want, but I try to caution Victoria quietly, “Victoria. I don’t
know if you should be doing that. I think someone lives here.”