by Michael Todd
“Wait—what? I thought you said there was only one person?” Ava followed his circuit of the area and noted that, indeed, there was a fair number of different footprints. She had assumed they’d all belonged to the missing soldier. Obviously, she still had a lot to learn.
“Nope, you said that.” He pointed at her.
“But you said, ‘bingo,’” she protested.
“Doesn’t bingo mean you’re close but you’ve overlooked a few key details?”
“No, Manny, that’s not what bingo means,” Peppy said.
“What? Are you sure?”
Gunnar shot a glance at Ava and shook his head. Manny looked at the lieutenant, who studied the ground frantically in search of clues the others had already identified. “Come on, Cort. You look like a man who knows his way around a bingo board.”
“I may have been known to hit up the hall,” he said and looked up from the ground.
Manny raised his eyebrows and grinned.
The lieutenant squirmed. He looked horribly conflicted. “I’m…no… Are you sure it’s people?”
The pilot sighed, obviously displeased at not being vindicated. “A fairly large group of humans trampled through here. I’m sure of that. Do you see how many of the prints step on top of each other? And then there are obviously different sizes of boots.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean people trampled through.” Ava crouched to look at the prints. They definitely overlapped and there were different sizes, but so what?
“There’s blood spatter too,” Manny said. He moved about and pointed to different branches and rocks. “The height is consistent for people, so that’s definitely a bingo. No doubt about it.”
Gunnar examined some of the blood spatter. “There are animals the height of people.”
“That wear boots and uniforms?”
No one had anything to say to that.
“Look, I don’t want to seem like the expert on the fucked-up nature of our fellow homo sapiens, but I’ve seen mobs before. Do you blokes know about the cane toad? It’s the greatest ecological disaster to ever visit my home country. People used to gang up and head out into the farmland with cudgels and knives an’ all that. Toadin’, they called it. Well, sometimes, the bloodlust would get too much, and they’d start knocking off farmhands, old ladies, and the like.”
“Why does everyone have something against old ladies today?” Peppy demanded.
“I ain’t got a problem with old ladies. Me and the fam would come to their rescue when the toadlusters came for ʼem. You should’ve seen us. Some crazy blokes wave sticks around and demand fresh pie, and a whole pack of dingoes starts howling.”
“Toads aside,” Ava said, “there has to be a logical explanation for what a group of people are doing out here.”
“Ripping off their uniforms,” Gunnar said.
“Leaving blood everywhere,” Peppy added.
“Yeah, but until we figure it out, what do we do about it?” Manny asked, but he didn’t look at Lieutenant Cort. He looked at Ava.
To her shock, Gunnar and Manny looked at her too. Cort didn’t seem to notice. He still seemed engrossed with all the blood and footprints. Once they’d pointed the blood out, it really was everywhere. The lieutenant did not seem to enjoy the truth of this any more than he’d enjoyed being the last to notice.
“Well…we should probably get them out of here,” Ava said hesitantly. “I mean, we found a uniform. They’re probably soldiers who were trapped during the Surge.”
“We’ll need some specifics, Mother Teresa. It’s too many people for my chopper.”
“Transporting this many people on foot won’t be easy, either,” Gunnar said.
“Not unless we want to use them as meat shields,” Peppy added.
“Plus, if there are wounded, it’ll go even slower,” her teammate confirmed and nodded at what Peppy said as if she’d shared the secret for sourdough.
“He has a point.” Peppy hooked a thumb at Gunnar. “The wounded make horrible meat shields.”
“We’re not using anyone as meat shields,” Ava said.
“Our mission parameters do not include a large-scale rescue operation,” Cort said.
“You’ve yet to divulge the particulars of the mission parameters.” Gunnar tossed the man the flare gun. He bobbled the catch but managed to not drop it.
“The details are classified.”
Manny laughed—not literally in Cort’s face but close enough. “If you think I’m gonna listen to you Magic Eight-ball secret orders, you’re out of your fucking mind. Ava, what’s the plan?”
Again, Gunnar and Peppy’s stares joined Manny’s. When did this happen?
“We can’t leave this large a group out here. One, they’ll die. Two, they’ll become fodder for the Zoo’s growth.”
Gunnar nodded. “She’s right. I’ve seen the way the Zoo eats the dead. And the living. That’s why I had to rescue Peppy. I couldn’t stand the thought of the Zoo developing such a poor sense of humor.”
“So I don’t like thinking about old ladies getting hurt. That doesn’t make me a monster.”
“I think he was referring to using humans as meat shields,” Ava said.
“Naw, I thought that was a good one,” Manny said. “But the question remains. What’s the plan, Ava?”
“The way I see it, we don’t really have a choice. We have to find them.”
Chapter Seven
Now that Ava knew what to look for, it was obvious that they actually followed a group of people. Although the leaf litter of jungle floor didn’t provide the best prints, she still identified outlines of boots in the muck amongst the debris. The branches too were all broken or bruised near waist level. She felt somewhat dumb that she hadn’t noticed sooner. Obviously, the group of people had taken no pains to be subtle about their movements.
Despite not having a rescue plan, everyone went along with Ava’s decision—even Cort, although he was blatantly more reluctant. “If we find them, how will we get them out of here? They said we can’t fly or walk.”
“We’ll figure that out when we find them. If they’re in good shape, we’ll have more able bodies. That’s always a good thing.” Ava hoped she sounded like she believed what she said.
“And if they’re hurt?” The idea of that seemed to terrify the man, even though it was basically guaranteed that at least some of them would be hurt. The Zoo didn’t exactly pull punches.
“Then we’ll mark their coordinates, hoof it back to the helicopter, break the canopy, and radio for an extraction.”
“And if we’re attacked?”
“Rule number seven,” Manny chimed in. “Don’t over plan. The Zoo hates plans. They never work out. Planning on what to do if we’re attacked by locusts or whatever guarantees we’ll be attacked by rhinosaurs. Planning on getting attacked by rhinosaurs means the werepire will come at us. And so on and so forth. Rule number twenty-eight. There’s always a bigger fucking monster in the Zoo.”
“Really? Again with the rules?” Peppy said.
“I think he’s right about that one,” Gunnar said from the front of the procession. “Check this shit out.”
A large portion of the path was almost flattened before it continued in the direction they’d been going.
“It looks like something was dragged through here,” Ava said.
Manny nodded. She felt a flush of pride, even though the markings were fairly obvious.
“Could it be the soldiers?” Cort asked. He sounded hopeful.
Gunnar shook his head. “Their trail keeps going. This has to be something else.”
“Rule twenty-eight.” The pilot nodded. “This has rule twenty-eight written all over it.”
“Should we turn back?” the lieutenant ventured and sounded hopeful.
“What about your top-secret orders? Did they say to turn back at the first sight of something big and scary?” Manny said.
Strangely, that seemed to change the man’s mind. He nodded. “We
’ll keep going then?” He almost managed to keep the question of his voice but not quite. He betrayed his lack of confidence when he looked at Ava.
“Yes. Whatever this thing is, it’s not following them—at least not following their path.” She walked to where the human trail continued. “There’s a chance they’re still alive.”
How good a chance? She didn’t want to guess at that.
“There’s a chance I’ll win the lottery too.” Peppy had the right of it.
Gunnar lit up another cigarette. “And a chance I’ll stop smoking.”
Cort paled.
“Come on,” Manny said. “There’s a chance this is them all dragging one of them blow-up bounce castles through the Zoo and they’re preppin’ a barbie for our arrival.” He sounded genuinely excited.
They continued to follow the tracks. The other thing—Manny’s bounce house—crossed the trail a few more times. The weird thing was that once it reached the thicker brush on either side, its trail vanished. Ava found it more and more difficult to convince herself that the thing wasn’t following the same trail that they were but doing a better job of covering its tracks.
An odd string of discordant sounds filtered through the underbrush and everyone froze.
For Ava, sound was always oppressive in the Zoo. For one thing, the insects constantly made noise. Her head continually pounded with the buzzing, chirping, and singing of countless unseen creatures, but these unfamiliar sounds were far more disturbing.
At first, it sounded like laughter—the high-pitched peals of laughter that children sometimes made when laughing at the misfortune of others.
“Do you hear that?” Gunnar said. Everyone nodded.
“Do you think…is that the people?” Cort whispered, his expression one of near-horror.
Manny shook his head. “No, listen—underneath the yipping? That’s bone crunching. Plus, there are no breaks to listen for another punchline.”
Ava focused and finally heard it—an occasional low snap, moister than the sound of a branch breaking.
“What do you think it is?” she asked.
“Gunnar, I’ll give you three-to-one its hyenamites.”
“No way, you’ll win that bet.”
“Ten-to-one. Pack o’ smokes for a carton.”
“Do you smoke?” Peppy looked surprised.
“Nope, but I like dumping ʼem out and smashing ʼem in front of Gunnar.”
“Twenty-to-one. That’s two cartons for a pack.” Gunnar said. Manny grinned and shook his hand. The soldier moved forward. At a bend in the trail, the soldier proceeded with a slow, almost silent step. The others followed and Ava was proud that Cort was last—if he hadn’t been safely there, it would have been her.
“Goddamnit. Hyenamites. Even with those odds, I knew it was hyenamites,” Gunnar said with real disgust.
Peppy moved up and peered past Gunnar. She immediately recoiled. Her face showed equal parts disgust and amusement, a fairly entertaining expression. “Then why’d you take the bet?”
“Odds like that normally work out for me in the Zoo.” He shook his head, obviously not proud of himself. “It looks like about twenty to one up there.”
Ava moved close enough to see around the bend. Gunnar was exaggerating, thankfully. The odds weren’t twenty-to-one. More like ten. The fact that this caused her to relax proved how far she’d come since she’d first entered the jungle.
“What are they swarming?”
“I dunno, but it’s about the size of a bloke,” Manny pointed out. He stood in the middle of the path and made no attempt to hide. “Are you ready?” he asked way too loudly.
“No, Goddamnit. I’m not ready.” Gunnar dropped to a crouch. Peppy stepped into the jungle and vanished.
“Oops. Well, they are. Don’t think this means I won’t get that pack of smokes.” The pilot winked at Gunnar, leaned over, picked a stick up, and threw it at the hyenamites.
“Are you crazy?” Cort demanded.
“Not legally.” Manny drew a knife.
Ava very much doubted he’d ever been tested. In that moment, it was unlikely he’d have passed. Hyenamites did not look like something one threw a branch at.
They looked like hyenas in that they had broad shoulders, stumpy back legs, and short snouts but were far closer to the size of beavers or nutria, with the long hairless tails of rats. Their teeth split the difference between hyena and rodent too. Big, discolored buck teeth were framed by others of the thicker, pointier, and more terrifying variety. Despite their diminutive stature, Ava decided they were not at all cute.
Their movement was all rodent. One darted toward Manny on scuttling legs, reached the Australian easily, and sank its teeth into his boot.
“Little bastard!” He stabbed the creature through its back and killed it with a single strike. Before he could straighten, three others had landed on his back. They moved unnaturally fast and seemed to have no trouble taking hold.
“Damnit, Gunnar, I thought you said you were ready!” The pilot swatted angrily at them. They ripped tiny holes in him, and tiny rivulets of blood seeped from the wounds.
“That’s not what I fucking said.”
Manny stumbled backward to crush one of the hyenamites against a tree.
Peppy appeared from the jungle behind him, grabbed one of the animals from his back, and swung it against another tree trunk. It died with a loud squeak that almost made Ava feel bad for it.
The soldier dropped with a muttered oath when one of the hyenamites crawled up her leg and bit her thigh. She swatted at it, but more of them swarmed her.
There were still plenty available to rush at Manny. It occurred to Ava that perhaps Gunnar’s first estimate of their numbers had in fact been conservative and hers ridiculous.
“Sorry, bud. I ain’t got a choice.”
“Don’t you do this, Gunnar! Don’t you fucking do this, mate. I got this.”
Gunnar raised his rifle, aimed at Manny, and squeezed the trigger.
The volley swept the wave of approaching hyenamites aside. In ten seconds, fifteen of them were dead and the rest raced back into the Zoo, yipping as they retreated, their meal forgotten.
Gunnar went to give Peppy a hand up. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Thanks.” She held her leg, though, and scowled.
“A fucking dinner bell, mate. You rang a fucking dinner bell over hyenamites. The pencil-pusher will tell his cappy-tan we’re the greenest damn greenhorns to ever frolic in a field.”
“You’re bleeding quite badly,” Ava said to Peppy and fumbled for a bandage. “Let’s get that wrapped and some pressure on it.”
“It’s fine,” the woman said but she didn’t protest when Ava dressed the wound.
“Oh, I’m fine, Ava, thanks for checking,” Manny said and gestured at his own wounds.
She could tell from a distance they were fine. The blood had stopped. Peppy’s didn’t look bad either, honestly, but the damn hyenamite had gotten her leg, which could affect her mobility.
“We’ll need to disinfect and bandage you up, you big baby, but you’ll be fine,” Ava said to Manny. “Right now, I think we might have more pressing concerns.” She gestured to what the hyenamites had been occupied with before their arrival.
Ava approached it reluctantly. It wasn’t a man, that much was obvious—or, at least, not anymore. It was too round, like an egg. No, more like an owl pellet. Despite its shape, it still had human features like broken bones, hair, rotten meat, a mangled hand missing one of its fingers, and a skull with a ruptured eyeball still in its socket.
“Oh-God-I’m-going-to-be-sick,” Cort managed to rasp before he dropped to his knees and threw up. Ava didn’t exactly blame him. The acrid stench of the object brought tears to her eyes.
She retrieved a handkerchief and held it to her nose as she approached.
“Look at you, Mary Poppins,” Manny said.
“You know about her in Australia?” Gunnar asked and very obviously tried not to l
ook at the mess of body parts.
“We do, mate.” Manny left it at that.
It confirmed the horror of the carnage in front of them that Manny had nothing else to say.
“What the fuck kind of thing could do this to a person?” Peppy asked. The woman made no effort to make a joke either.
Ava picked a stick up and poked the detritus. It came apart to reveal more layers of meat and bone. “It looks like—” Ava suppressed a gag. “It looks like the victim was crushed. That’s what fractured most of the bones. But it also seems like acid was involved. I see a lot of distortions to the skeletal structure that shouldn’t be there. Plus, there’s the acrid smell.”
“So you think this is some kind of spanking new plant? Some sort of super-duper Mercury Fly Trap?”
“I don’t know… The acid indicates it could be but with all the fractures, it makes me think…” Ava tapped her chin. “My guess is that this person—or people—have been partially digested, but that would mean that whatever did this is huge. What the hell could do this?
No one had an answer, which seemed worse. The unknown always did.
Chapter Eight
Despite Cort’s protests, they continued to follow the people.
Now, however, they no longer traveled alone. The hyenamites followed them and while Ava didn’t actually see another of the weird, rat-like scavengers, she heard them. The creatures yipped and laughed and somehow goaded them to move faster. They also made her pay more attention to the trail behind them than what lay ahead.
“Lucky us,” Peppy said, her tone completely flat, as always. “It’s supposed to be a good omen to have a pack of ravenous, bone-eating wannabe rats follow you through the Zoo.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I exactly heard that one, mate,” Manny retorted.
“You’re just happy someone will laugh at your jokes,” Gunnar said to her.
The hyenamites squealed in mock delight.
They came across another section of the trail that looked like something huge had been dragged across the human boot prints.
Manny hunkered down and peered in one direction, then the other. “It don’t make a lick o’ sense. What kinda bloke would squash all this down for a spell then stop? I can’t figure how we can’t see its trail go off into the Zoo and come back. It’s not like something as big as a hippopotamus can simply vanish.”
