Cryptid Kingdom (Cryptid Zoo Book 6)

by Gerry Griffiths

Dr. Zhang pointed at the dragon and yelled to the soldiers. They stood side-by-side like a firing squad and raised their rifles, prepared to shoot on the doctor’s command.

  A woman stormed into the room, also wearing a white lab coat. She yelled at the soldiers in Chinese, who immediately lowered their weapons. She turned to Dr. Zhang and berated him.

  “Who’s the spitfire?” Mason asked Song.

  “That is Dr. Chang. She is the daughter of Henry Chang. He owns the park.”

  “Looks like she packs some clout,” Mason said.

  “She also created the dragon.”

  “That explains it.”

  Three men raced into the room. Each one carried a high-powered tranquilizer gun. They took aim and fired. Three red-feathered darts struck the dragon dead center in the chest. The fast-acting sedative took effect and the dragon crashed to the floor in a disheveled heap, shaking the foundation.

  Dr. Zhang turned and walked out of the building. The soldiers trailed behind him.

  Scores of workers poured into the high-ceiling room as Dr. Chang shouted instructions. An emergency response team attended to the wounded and carted off the bodies while a maintenance crew came in to mop up the mess.

  The animal keepers worked together and dragged the cumbersome dragon inside the cage so that when the time came and the creature was properly cared for, the door could be properly secured.

  Three technicians rushed in with medical equipment to assist Dr. Chang.

  Mason watched from across the room while the doctor cauterized the neck where the head had been bitten off and the medical assistants administered a series of vaccinations. He looked over at Song. “What now? They postpone opening the park?”

  “We can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Mr. Chang would not allow it. Besides, there would be trouble.”

  “Trouble from who?” Mason said.

  “The people of Hangshong,” Song said. “They have been waiting a long time for Cryptid Kingdom to open and would be very upset if it did not.”

  23

  MECCA

  Gabe and Caroline got out of the back of Tommy’s Toyota but Amy couldn’t exit the front passenger side because the handle was smashed into the creased metal of the door after Tommy had struck a car while attempting to veer around a group of cyclists yesterday after picking them up from the airport. She had to wait for Tommy to get out from behind the wheel before she could scoot over the gearshift in the center consol and get out.

  Tommy reached back into the car, took out his backpack, and handed Amy hers. He pushed the door closed with his hip and locked it with a key.

  Gabe slipped his daypack over his shoulder. Inside were a couple of bottled waters, Caroline and his swimsuits, two towels, a tube of sunscreen, some energy bars and a few incidentals. He looked around and couldn’t believe the huge crowds of people—he estimated at least 20,000 that he could see—with more cars arriving and visitors piling out of charter buses and a nearby light rail public transit station, navigating the sea of parked cars in the sprawling lots like a mass exodus of worshipers leaving the city on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Caroline asked.

  Gabe stared at the giant dragonhead over the main entrance a distance away.

  To be honest, he was feeling a bit anxious. He knew there was an aquatic park and some rides but that wasn’t what was bothering him.

  It was the animal attractions that had him worried.

  While hanging out in Tommy’s apartment the previous evening, they had spent some time on the Cryptid Kingdom website so they would know what to expect and plan the outing so they could be sure to see everything while at the theme park.

  The short videos of the cryptid creatures had been especially informative. Some of the animals had seemed docile enough but there were those that truly frightened Gabe as they reminded him of the creatures that tried to kill him and his family at the zoo. He couldn’t say anything to Amy or Tommy, as they wouldn’t understand unless they had experienced the traumatic events themselves. He knew Caroline sensed his trepidation.

  “I’ll be okay,” he lied.

  Gabe and his friends soon found themselves caught in the slow-moving flow of park visitors. All around them everyone conversed in Chinese, their short, clipped voices lively with excitement.

  “Stay close,” Tommy said, holding up their four admission tickets.

  Gabe held onto Caroline’s hand so that they wouldn’t get separated. They moved along like cattle squeezing through a chute to a slaughterhouse.

  “Who would have known there would be such a large turnout,” Caroline said.

  Amy turned and yelled over her shoulder, “That’s because this is a big deal. Everyone wants to see these legendary creatures.”

  It took nearly twenty minutes to reach the admissions booths.

  As soon as they had their tickets punched and were inside the park, Tommy suggested they check out the rides first as he anticipated long lines.

  Gabe was all for that.

  24

  TEMPORARILY CLOSED

  Gabe was more than happy to let Tommy take the lead, as Amy’s cousin was accustomed to dealing with the congested crowds common in Hangshong Province and he had devised a strategy by mapping out different routes they might take throughout the park in hopes of minimizing wait-time in lines; even if it took them off the beaten path.

  Tommy led them behind a food concession stand and ducked under a chain strung between two posts.

  “Can we do this?” Caroline asked.

  “Sure,” Amy said, following right behind Tommy. “No one will care.”

  “Sounds like famous last words,” Gabe said, hurrying alongside Caroline.

  “I’d hate to get booted out before we even get to see anything.”

  “We better stay close to Tommy,” Gabe replied. He motioned for Caroline to slip under the chain and once she was on the other side, he ducked under himself.

  They followed a crude pebbled path presumably reserved for landscapers and other workers that maintained the large garden area. From behind a hedge, Gabe could see park visitors admiring the lush greenery and the magnificent flowerbeds teeming with pink lotus blossoms, yellow and burgundy chrysanthemums, and white orchids amid the dark purple plum trees.

  Lily pads floated on an oval-shaped pond filled with orange and white speckled carp lazing on the bottom.

  Gabe gazed up and saw pairs of people passing overhead on a slow-moving chairlift like ill-dressed skiers being shuttled to a beginners’ slope. A young girl leaned out, looked down, and waved. Gabe waved back.

  Moving quickly behind the brush, Tommy stopped suddenly, and raised his hand for Amy, Caroline, and Gabe to wait for his signal. A second later he gave the okay and they emerged out of the shrubs and joined a large crowd that was milling around a fenced in exhibit of long-necked creatures that looked like giant birds.

  “What’s with the ostriches?” Caroline said.

  “Look again, Caroline,” Amy said. “Those are dinosaurs.”

  “What?”

  Gabe saw a portion of a sign on the fence that wasn’t blocked by people’s heads but it was written in Chinese. “You said these things are dinosaurs?”

  “Yes. They are called Alxasaurus,” Amy said, reading the sign.

  “I had no clue dinosaurs had feathers,” Gabe said, noticing the green plumage.

  They gradually moved along until they reached the other side of the enclosure where they saw a group of smaller raptors covered with blue feathers and red-tipped wings. They had large beaks with tiny teeth and clawed fingers. Each one had a mane of black hair running down the back of its head and neck like the plume on a Spartan helmet.

  Amy gazed up at the sign. “These are called Caudipteryx.”

  “They look like giant roast duck,” Tommy said. He turned and led them down a walkway, jostling through the crowd.

  Gabe heard a thunderous sound and l
oud screams. He hadn’t realized that they were walking under the steel trusses until he gazed up and saw the heads and shoulders of the passengers inverted on the roller coaster coming into a corkscrew turn. Even though they were a good twenty feet above, Gabe felt like he could reach up and touch them. He continued to watch the car of screaming riders loop into another turn and disappear down the track.

  “Pretty scary, eh?” Caroline said.

  “Nah,” Gabe replied. “Piece of cake.”

  “Ah, darn,” Tommy said.

  “What’s wrong?” Amy asked.

  “I was really looking forward to seeing the dragon.”

  “Why, what’s wrong?” Caroline asked.

  “This is Dragon Pagoda,” Amy said, and pointed at the sign set up on the front steps. “It says ‘Temporarily Closed.’”

  “That’s a bummer,” Gabe said, somewhat relieved.

  25

  SKY-HIGH

  After waiting in line for more than forty-five minutes, Jack was glad their hotel had been able to make a foreign currency exchange so they wouldn’t have any hassle buying admission tickets into Cryptid Kingdom with US dollars.

  “Did I hear you right?” Nora said, overhearing Jack’s surprise when he was told how much the tickets would be from the woman in the booth. “Two thousand yaun to get in? That’s around $140 apiece.”

  “You’d think we were buying Forty-niners season tickets at Levi Stadium,” Jack said, handing Nora the tickets while he closed up his billfold and tucked it in a small tote bag slung under his arm that also contained their passports and other identification.

  “I’ve never seen so many people,” Nora said, trying to avoid the mob of park visitors veering around her like she was a boulder in the middle of a fast-moving river.

  Jack consulted a park map he had been given along with the tickets. “Come on, let’s head this way.” Grabbing Nora’s hand, they merged into the swarm.

  But after a few minutes, Nora could sense that Jack was getting frustrated having to deal with so many people. Especially when they reached their major objective, which looked like an ancestral temple with three swooping roofs covered with orange tiles, and orange cement steps leading up to an archway entrance and saw the line out front that stretched for hundreds of people.

  “So that’s Yeren Temple,” Nora said.

  “Yeah, and you can bet anything Lennie’s inside.”

  “It’ll take forever to get in there.”

  “Maybe we could figure another way in,” Jack said.

  “What, sneak in the back?”

  Jack glanced at the map then pointed up at the chairlift passing overhead. “Sky-High is just ahead. I bet we could get a good bird’s-eye view from up there.”

  “Might give us some ideas.”

  “Worth a shot.”

  Heading in the direction of the nearest chairlift platform, they passed by a long fenced-in enclosure and saw a small herd of majestic white deer, each sporting two-antler racks.

  Jack glanced at the sign with a caricature of the animal with a description both in Chinese and English. “So that’s what a Fuzhu looks like.”

  “Like you even know what a Fuzhu is,” Nora said. “Look, they even have some Chinese Water Deer.” She pointed to a pair of hornless brown deer. Each one had two large incisors jutting down from their upper lips.

  “What’s with the teeth?” Jack laughed.

  “They’re also known as vampire deer.”

  “Okay. So what next?” Jack asked. “Buffy staking Bambi in the heart?”

  “Nothing would surprise me here.”

  26

  COBRA FURY

  Even though he had ridden the historic wooden 55-mile-an-hour Giant Dipper on the Santa Cruz boardwalk and the hair-raising 76-mile-an-hour steel roller coaster X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, neither rides prepared Gabe for the supersonic corkscrew roller coaster Cobra Fury that claimed to accelerate from zero to 90-miles-per-hour in 3.5 seconds.

  Gabe stood with Caroline, Tommy, and Amy on the boarding platform and watched the train of thrill seekers propel down the track to the sound of dramatic music blaring over the hidden speakers.

  Even though Gabe hadn’t heard the roar of jet engines, he could have sworn the train had rocket propulsion the way it took off like a missile.

  “Man, did you see that baby go?” Tommy said. He was the first one in a long line to board the next train. Amy stood directly behind him. Gabe and Caroline were in the next parallel line so they could sit directly behind the two cousins for the next ride.

  “I’m surprised it didn’t fly off the tracks,” Amy said.

  “The wheels on the track are magnetic,” Gabe said. “Has to be for the corkscrews.”

  “How do you know that?” Caroline asked.

  “From Final Destination 3,” Gabe said. “Not that it did any good. The train still flew off the tracks and they all died.” He noticed a worried look come over Caroline’s face when he mentioned ‘they all died.’ “That’s not true, they didn’t really die, at least, not at first. I mean...”

  Caroline put up her hand. “Don’t say anymore. I saw the movie.”

  Gabe wished now he hadn’t mentioned the disaster film because different scenarios were beginning to play out in his mind of weird ways they would die. Everyone pushing in line anxious to get on the ride just as the next train pulls into the platform and Tommy falls on the tracks, the steel wheels running over his neck and ankles; Amy getting ejected from her seat as they go into a spiraling corkscrew; Caroline’s shoulder bar suddenly opening and she’s decapitated when she hits the ground.

  He was about to imagine his grotesque death when a loud screech sounded to his left and everyone’s heads turned as a train pulled in and came to a sudden stop next to the platform. The shoulder bars raised up in unison and the riders began to disembark, some with horrified looks on their faces, others laughing, a few even in tears. Gabe watched them grab their stuff and scurry toward the exit, speaking excitedly in Chinese.

  A bell sounded and the barrier bars swung open, allowing two people to step out of each line and climb down into the train. Gabe counted twelve rows of seats. Tommy and Amy were in the very first row, Gabe and Caroline in the second. As there was no carry-on bags or loose items allowed on the ride, everyone that had them were told to toss their belongings on the other side of the platform and they could retrieve them after the ride was completed.

  Even though the seat was contoured and padded, Gabe could feel the hard impact plastic underneath pressing against his shoulder blades and spine.

  Tommy glanced over his shoulder with a big grin on his face. “Hey, guys. Nice knowing you.” He flinched when Amy punched him in the arm.

  “Be nice, Tommy!”

  Before Gabe could respond, his shoulder harness swung down and pinned him to his seat. He looked over at Caroline. She was clutching hers with both hands.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I’m not too keen on these kinds of rides.”

  “You should have said something.”

  “I’m fine. Really,” Caroline said.

  “You sure? We could always tell the—”

  A loud horn sounded, signaling the ride was about to begin.

  “Too late now,” Caroline said.

  The train suddenly catapulted down the track like a projectile propelled from a slingshot, thrusting Gabe back into his seat. He felt the wind slapping his face, the high-speed acceleration pressing on his chest; the force much like what a fighter pilot trainee would experience spinning around in a high g-force centrifuge. It was difficult to turn his head, but he was able to see Caroline. She looked positively scared out of her mind.

  They were going so fast that everything to the left and right of him was a peripheral blur. He could see the crowns of Tommy and Amy’s heads and blue sky.

  The train went into its first revolution and he spun upside down and around, his stomach shooting up into his throat as the air went out of his lu
ngs and his head became a helium balloon: everyone screaming, Gabe being the loudest.

  Get me the hell off this thing! Gabe thought, panic-stricken, knowing there were seven more corkscrew turns up ahead as the train thundered down the track.

  27

  WUHNAN TOADS

  The ride operator signaled for Jack and Nora to step on the white line on the floor. As soon as they were in position, a two-person chairlift came from behind and scooped them off their feet onto the seat. A safety bar swung down and clamped over their thighs as they left the platform and moved along the ropeway fifty feet up in the air.

  Jack consulted the park’s map in his hand with the view down below. “That’s Yeren Temple to the left,” he said, pointing at the building as they passed over the natural savannah setting of the deer enclosure. “The next one is Fu Lion Pavilion.”

  Five minutes into the ride, he pointed out the two-story Birdhouse as they approached the loop that would take them back around.

  “Oh my God,” Nora said. “Look at that.” She was motioning to Splash Down, the aquatic portion of the park on the other side of the grounds with over 2,000 bathers, some wearing life vests, most of them with inner tubes around their waists, floating in the crystal blue chlorinated water in the gargantuan pool section.

  “That’s insane,” Jack said. He watched the wave machines generate a powerful surf so strong it lifted everyone on its crest like a bobbing kelp bed and sent them crashing into one another like bumper cars slamming together in a horrendous pileup.

  “It’s a wonder no one gets hurt,” Nora said.

  “Or drowns.” Jack flipped the map over in his hands and checked the back page for additional park information. “Says here the wave pool measures 100 by 230 feet and holds 6 million liters of water.”

  “Which would be roughly,” Nora paused a second to make a mental calculation before continuing, “a million and a half gallons.”

  “Aren’t we the brainiac.”