Terror at the Zoo

by Peg Kehret

The elephant stopped. It stood quietly for a moment while Ellen silently repeated her urgent plea. Friend elephant: help us. The elephant moved its trunk back and forth, sniffing.

  Ellen heard movement from her left now. Another elephant?

  The first elephant lifted its trunk and trumpeted. The loud, sudden noise sent chills down Ellen’s arms. Was it answering her? Or did it trumpet because it somehow sensed her fear and Corey’s? Maybe it just wanted to warn the other elephants that there were strangers in the Elephant Forest.

  Farther back in the forest, a second elephant answered.

  “We’re going to have an earthquake!” Corey cried. “A BIG earthquake.”

  “What are you talking about?” the man said.

  Ellen wondered the same thing.

  “Listen to them,” Corey said. “The elephants do that when they’re scared. They can sense earthquakes before people can. Before the last big earthquake in San Francisco, all the elephants in the San Francisco Zoo trumpeted, just that way, to warn the other elephants that they were in danger. The keeper at the San Francisco Zoo said they wished they had listened to the elephants and left town before the earthquake hit.”

  For a moment, Ellen believed him and wondered how he knew what had happened in San Francisco. Then she realized it was another of Corey’s tall tales. He was trying to frighten the man. Perhaps if the man got scared enough, he would run away, to try to save himself from disaster.

  “Corey’s right,” Ellen said. “We read about it in Junior Geographic magazine. The elephants started trumpeting about ten minutes before the earthquake began.”

  “One man who was visiting the zoo that day got a broken leg during the earthquake when a tree fell on him,” Corey said. His words spilled out like water from a pitcher, flowing faster and faster, the way he always talked when he got into one of his stories. “Afterward, he said if he had known that the elephants were trying to warn him, he would have run far away from the zoo and gone somewhere safe to hide, like a basement. Instead, his leg was crushed under the tree and he was almost trampled when the elephants stampeded.”

  The first elephant stepped closer. Its trunk reached toward them, as if wanting to touch or smell them. The man leaned backward.

  Ellen tuned out Corey’s voice. She focused all of her energy on sending her thoughts to the elephant. Good elephant, help us! We need you. The man is evil. Please help us escape.

  The elephant trumpeted again; other elephants replied. There were more of them now and they all seemed close.

  Behind her, on the other side of the fence, Ellen heard another car go past. In front of her, and from both sides, she heard movement. Although Ellen could make out only three distinct shapes, she knew that there were several more elephants nearby.

  They trumpeted again. And again. The sound filled the night. It bounced back from the paths, from the trees, from the stars.

  If the security guard was anywhere on the zoo grounds, Ellen thought, surely he would come to investigate. He would hear the elephants and come to see what was wrong. Even the cars whizzing past on Aurora Avenue would hear this much noise. Maybe someone would wonder what was wrong and call the police.

  Keep calling, good elephants. Bring help.

  There was another loud eruption from the elephant chorus. A tingle of excitement prickled Ellen’s skin. She was sure the elephants recognized that she and Corey were in danger and they were responding in the only way they could. Would their cries for help work? Would someone hear them and come?

  “An earthquake’s coming,” Corey repeated. “The elephants know that an earthquake’s coming.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” the man said.

  “You’ll get away faster if you go alone,” Ellen said.

  The man grabbed Corey’s arm in one hand and Ellen’s arm in the other. He started away from the fence, pulling them with him. “We’re staying together,” he said, “until I collect my ransom. Now, move it.”

  The elephants kept calling. It was a steady clamor with first one and then another sounding the alarm.

  The man moved around the first elephant, keeping lots of space between it and them. Even in the dim light, Ellen could see that it was watching them. Its huge ears were spread wide and its trunk was raised in the air. Just as they passed it, the elephant let out a mighty blast.

  The man began to run. Ellen and Corey stumbled along beside him.

  The clouds lifted and the full moon once again shed its eerie light. The second elephant approached from their left and the man swerved away from it. Propelled by the man’s hands on their arms, Corey and Ellen crashed through the woods while the elephants continued their uproar.

  They zigzagged through the elephant obstacle course, making wide swings around each elephant that they saw. Once, the man didn’t see an elephant approaching from the side and it reached out its trunk and touched the back of his neck.

  The man cried out and then ran even faster. Ellen held her right arm in front of her face, trying to shield herself from scratchy branches that they passed.

  They came to the edge of the forest and started across the clearing toward the gully.

  The man stopped. Just ahead, Ellen saw a huge elephant blocking their way. It was Hugo, the enormous elephant that they had helped wash. The trainer had said Hugo was ten feet tall and weighed more than six tons. Looming before them in the dim light, he looked even bigger than that.

  Behind Hugo, Ellen saw the gully that led out of the Elephant Forest. They could not get out unless Hugo moved.

  The man walked to his right, shoving Ellen and Corey in that direction. Hugo turned that way, too. The man moved the other way. Hugo did the same. His ears fanned out to full size.

  “Damn elephant,” muttered the man.

  Ellen looked up, directly toward the small eyes of the enormous old elephant. Help us, Hugo, she pleaded silently. We’re your friends and we need help.

  The elephant swayed slightly from side to side as his upraised trunk fanned the air. His big ears framed his face like giant bookends; his long ivory tusks gleamed in the moonlight.

  The man let go of Corey and Ellen. He withdrew the knife from his jacket pocket.

  “No,” Ellen said. “You can’t.”

  Hugo lifted his trunk higher and gave a tremendous bellow.

  “The earthquake is starting!” Corey yelled.

  “Oh,” the man said. He sounded breathless now, and not as menacing as before. In the pale moonlight, the whites of his eyes were wide with horror. “Oh,” he repeated.

  “Earthquake! Earthquake!” shouted Corey.

  “RUN!” Ellen screamed as she bolted away from the man. “Corey! This way!”

  The elephants responded raucously.

  There was no way to get around Hugo and up the gully, so Ellen dashed back across the clearing and into the forest, toward the other elephants. Despite the size and the frenzied trumpeting, she did not fear the animals as much as she feared the man. The elephants, she felt sure, were trying to help her.

  Ellen knew the man was terrified of the elephants. And he was afraid of an earthquake, too. Ellen didn’t think he would chase her now, not back into the Elephant Forest. Instead, he would try to save himself. He would try to get around Hugo, leave the Elephant Forest, and try to find a place where he might be safe in an earthquake.

  She hoped Corey was right behind her. The elephants were making so much noise that she couldn’t tell if he was running with her or had gone in a different direction. Either way, they would meet at the back of the Elephant Forest. She and Corey could go back to the fence and shine her flashlight at the cars going past until someone noticed and came to their aid.

  Corey screamed. The high-pitched shriek pierced the air in a brief interlude between trumpetings.

  Ellen looked back over her shoulder.

  Corey had not been fast enough.

  The man had caught him.

  14

  TONY had his hand on Corey’s arm.

 
; Ellen got a sick feeling in her stomach.

  “No!” she cried, as she ran back toward Corey and the man. “Don’t hurt him. I’m coming back. We’ll go with you. We’ll be quiet and do whatever you say.” Her cries were smothered by the trumpeting of the elephants; she realized the man could not hear her.

  The ground shook. Instantly, the thought flashed through her mind: it really is an earthquake. Corey wasn’t making it up, after all.

  But then she realized that the earth was shaking because all the elephants were hurrying forward, approaching the clearing. The whole herd was stomping its way toward her. She had always been surprised at how little noise an elephant makes when it moves but now, in their excitement, they crunched shrubbery underfoot and the forest trembled.

  Corey screamed again. The man yanked on Corey’s arm. Corey wriggled free, stumbled, and fell to the ground.

  Ellen rushed toward him. In a brief lull between trumpetings, she called, “I’m coming. We won’t try to run again. I promise.”

  “You kids can’t be trusted,” the man growled. “If I don’t get rid of you now, I’ll never make it out of here.”

  Ellen ran toward the man, wondering frantically if she was strong enough to tackle him. Maybe if she came in low, from behind, the blow would make him fall down. She had to try; she couldn’t let him hurt Corey.

  Corey kicked at the man, trying to knock the knife out of his hand. The man cursed and lunged at Corey.

  I can’t get there in time, Ellen thought. Tears rolled down her cheeks and made salty puddles in the corners of her mouth.

  Corey kicked again.

  The man held the knife high. It stopped above his head for a fraction of a second and then plunged downward.

  Ellen screamed.

  Just before the blade reached Corey, Hugo turned his head, stretched out his trunk, and pushed the man’s arm. The knife whizzed past Corey’s ear and clinked against the cable.

  “What the . . . ?” Tony jumped and looked over his shoulder. Hugo loomed over him. Hugo’s trunk reached out toward Tony again, whipping back and forth like a huge gray snake, barely missing Tony’s face. At the edge of the clearing, the other elephants trumpeted.

  The knife dropped to the ground.

  Tony backed away from Corey, keeping his eyes on Hugo. Hugo stared back, his ears still straight out sideways and his trunk writhing.

  Corey crawled through the dirt and grabbed the knife. He jumped again, reaching for Ellen’s hand. Together, they stepped away from Hugo and the man.

  Tony spun around and dashed across the meadow.

  Hugo lunged after him.

  Instead of running into the forest, Tony ran to his right. Almost immediately, he knew he had made a mistake.

  There was a fence. A high fence. Unable to climb over it, Tony turned to run the other way but it was too late. Hugo stood directly in front of him now. Tony pressed his back into the fence. Hugo lowered his head, to butt Tony.

  The other elephants stamped out of the forest. They moved across the clearing to get closer to Hugo, their trunks thrashing about wildly.

  One elephant smashed a small tree flat to the ground with one foot as it crashed forward. When it got to Hugo, it stopped and watched, its trunk uplifted, its huge ears spread wide. A half moon of elephants stood around Hugo, like army tanks ready for battle. One after another, they trumpeted.

  “Help!” shouted Tony. “Help! HELP!!”

  As soon as Hugo stepped toward the man, Ellen and Corey scrambled and clawed their way up the gully, sending dirt and rocks showering down behind them. When they reached the top, they ran down the path.

  “Get rid of the knife,” Ellen gasped. “If he gets away from Hugo and catches us, we don’t want him to be able to get it again.”

  They passed the high shed where the giraffes stay at night. The fence in front of it was low and Corey flung the knife over the fence into the tall grass and shrubs that grew in front of the shed.

  They pounded down the path. Ellen had a stitch in her side from running but she knew they couldn’t stop. As they rounded the curve where the zebras had been earlier, they saw a light.

  “Zoo security,” called a man’s voice. “Who’s there?”

  They stopped running. At long last, they had found the security guard.

  Ellen and Corey both talked at once, trying to explain who they were and what had happened.

  “I just came on duty,” the man said. “Where is the other guard? Have you seen him?”

  “No.”

  “What about the night veterinarian or the keeper?”

  “We haven’t seen anybody except the man with the knife,” Ellen said, “and Hugo has him.”

  “Hugo who?”

  “Hugo the elephant.”

  “What do you mean, Hugo has him?”

  “He has the man trapped against the fence,” Corey said, “and he’s going to butt him with his head.”

  “Oh, no!” the guard said. “He’ll crush him!”

  “He’s doing it to help us,” Ellen said. “He saved our lives.”

  The security guard wasn’t listening. “You kids stay here,” he commanded. “I called the elephants’ trainer when I heard the elephants making such a ruckus. He’s on his way. Stay right where you are and I’ll try to calm Hugo until the trainer gets here. I don’t know where everybody else is but if anyone comes by, send them to the Elephant Forest.”

  Ellen was only too glad to quit running. She sank down on the path and Corey sat beside her.

  “If Hugo kills the man,” Corey said, “will they punish him? Will they think he went crazy and that now he’s too dangerous to live in the zoo anymore?”

  “Oh, I hope not,” Ellen replied. Had it been a horrible mistake to ask the elephants for help? If Hugo hurt the man, it was her fault. If they lock Hugo up, Ellen thought, I’ll never forgive myself.

  “Look!” Corey said.

  Ellen looked where Corey pointed. Through the trees, she saw blue lights flashing around and around.

  “Police!” Corey cried.

  They scrambled to their feet and dashed toward the lights. “Help!” Ellen shouted. “We’re in here. Help!”

  She saw more lights now and heard voices. “We’re here,” she cried again. Searchlights suddenly flooded the whole area with brightness. Ellen and Corey stopped running and blinked their eyes, trying to adjust to the harsh, unexpected light.

  “There they are,” someone yelled.

  Moments later, Ellen saw her parents. Her parents and what looked like an entire squad of police officers. Her mother was crying. Her father kept saying, “Oh, thank goodness,” over and over.

  Mr. and Mrs. Streater ran forward. Mrs. Streater hugged Corey while Mr. Streater hugged Ellen and then all four of them hugged each other at the same time.

  A red minivan screeched to a halt just outside the gate and a man jumped out. “I’m the elephant trainer,” he said to the police. “I had a call from zoo security that the elephants were restless. What’s going on?”

  “There’s a man in the Elephant Forest,” Ellen said. “He had a knife and he tried to kidnap us but all the elephants trumpeted and then Hugo went after him.”

  “Hugo is going to kill the man,” Corey said.

  The trainer sprinted down the path toward the elephants. All but one of the police officers raced away, too.

  “Who is the man?” the police officer asked Ellen and Corey. “Did he tell you his name? Do you know why he was here?”

  “His name is Tony something,” Ellen said.

  “He stole money from the zoo and he was going to hold us for ransom,” Corey said. “He was going to lock us in a room and not feed us and then make you pay billions and billions of dollars to get us back.”

  “It would have been worth it,” Mr. Streater said, as he hugged Corey one more time.

  The director of the zoo arrived, and wanted to know what was happening. He said Jeff Caruthers had called him. After the police officer explained,
the director said, “It couldn’t be Hugo. He’s our most gentle, well-trained elephant. He would never be aggressive toward a human.”

  “It was Hugo,” Ellen insisted. “But he didn’t attack the man. He only defended us. He saved Corey’s life. And probably mine, too.”

  The director headed for the Elephant Forest.

  “They may need my help,” the officer who had stayed with the Streaters said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He rushed away.

  Corey said, “I want to go, too.”

  “We’re staying as far away from that horrible man as we can,” Mrs. Streater said.

  “The police have guns,” Corey said. “What if they shoot Hugo?”

  Mr. Streater frowned. “I don’t think they would destroy an animal whose home has been invaded. The trainer would use a tranquilizer gun, to make Hugo fall asleep.”

  “He didn’t have time to get a tranquilizer gun,” Ellen said, choking on a sob as she spoke. She knew she sounded hysterical but she was unable to control her voice. “Hugo attacked the man in order to save us. If Hugo sees us now and knows that we’re safe, maybe he would leave the man alone.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Streater looked at each other.

  “Please?” Ellen said. “He saved our lives. If there’s any chance that we can help him, we should do it.”

  “Let’s go,” said Mr. Streater.

  “Hurry!” said Mrs. Streater.

  They rushed down the path toward the Elephant Forest. Thanks to the floodlights that the police had brought, they could see where they were going. Ahead, the elephants trumpeted again.

  When they reached the gully, they stopped and looked down. A semicircle of police officers surrounded Hugo. The other elephants had retreated to the edge of the clearing and stood watching.

  Hugo still had the man pinned against the fence. Hugo wasn’t actually touching him but he kept flicking his trunk from one side of the man to the other. Whenever Tony tried to move, Hugo put his head down, as if he were going to butt Tony with it.

  The zoo director stood beside Hugo. The trainer stood against the fence, to Tony’s left, where Hugo could see him. The trainer was talking to Hugo, giving him gentle commands.