The Cageless Zoo

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  “Fine...,” she paused, closing her eyes and feeling like she was making a mistake. “Philippe’s data is contained within this.” She held out her hand and a rotating puzzle cube formed, representing all of his journal files.

  Raul touched the cube and it faded slowly as the data transferred. Melandre sensed Andrake’s mischief, but when she turned her head to see what he was doing, he had his hands behind his back.

  When the cube disappeared, Raul opened his mouth briefly, then after a pause, closed it and walked down the tunnel toward the jungle dome leaving Melandre alone with her children.

  She felt tears welling up and bit on her lip to stop them. Andrake and Natalya circled her in their arms and squeezed. She thought it should be her comforting them.

  “Do you want to leave, mum?” Natalya asked.

  “Uh huh,” she mumbled, nodding her head. “We can come back another time if you want. The zoo wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.”

  “It’s been fantastic,” Natalya said, spinning on her heels. Andrake nodded enthusiastically.

  “Can we see the cthulhu-beast before we go? I wanted to give it a hug but the Tansies were hogging him, recording immersives and being so slow about it,” Natalya said.

  Melandre smiled at her children. “Sure. It’s right here after all. And then we can go.”

  Moist, rotten air assaulted them as they left the tunnel passage and entered the swamp dome. A vending machine printed rubber boots to wear after scanning their feet. They were about to enter the marsh when the power flickered twice and then went out.

  “Oh shit,” Melandre whispered under her breath as the emergency lights glowed on.

  “Mum, was that supposed to happen?” Andrake asked, adjusting his pant leg stuck into his boot.

  “No way, you big dummy,” Natalya told her brother.

  That’s when they heard the screaming. Melandre backed her children toward the tunnel entrance. The screaming wasn’t the just a frightened yell, but the sound of great pain.

  “Oh god.” It was all Melandre could think to say.

  “That group of Tansies was probably still posing with the cthulhu-beast when the power went out,” Natalya whimpered. “When the eye-screens stopped working...”

  Suddenly, a commotion erupted in the swamp. A shape moved in the darkness toward them. In the dim light, they could see the colorful garb of a Tansie. Melandre reflexively reached out her hand toward the man running through the slimy hanging vines, water splashing as he had to lift his knees high. He was almost out.

  Then the swamp reached out and swallowed him. Melandre got the impression of tentacles flowing out of the darkness and dragging the man back. At least he didn’t scream.

  Melandre closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her strength. She really wished Philippe was here, but since he wasn’t she would have to do all she could.

  She gathered her children to her. “We’re going to go a different way. Keep near me and we can get through this.”

  Natalya glanced around frantically. “Can’t we stay right here? Until someone comes and gets us?”

  “No, sweetie,” she said. “We’re going to have to get out ourselves. With the sandstorm, no one can get here and you heard the guard. There aren’t many of them.”

  “Can we go outside?” Andrake asked.

  She shook her head. “The sandstorm would suffocate us and strip our skin down to the bones.”

  Then they heard yelling from the other direction, toward the hywakalith dome. She recognized the voice immediately. It was a scared yelling and not a pained scream.

  “Come with me, quietly.”

  They crept down the tunnel until they could see the tall fronds illuminated by the emergency lights. They stayed to the edge, glancing behind them occasionally toward the swamp. They hadn’t heard any more screams from back that way.

  At the threshold of the jungle dome, they could hear Raul screaming, ”Help me!”

  The Institute man was up in a tree while a hywakalith prowled beneath him, splitting its nasty grin and showing its four rows of teeth.

  Raul saw them at the entrance and started waving, nearly falling out of the tree. “Help me, please! I don’t want to die!” Melandre could hear the sobbing in his voice.

  Melandre checked around for a weapon, but the only object in sight was a trash bin against the wall. She couldn’t believe she was trying to save him, after what he’d just done to her. But he was her species, kind of.

  She thought about getting the trashcan to throw at the beast, but then it would just turn on her and she had no way to defend herself. She was about to go back to the other dome to find something when Andrake pushed his way in front of her.

  When he pulled the hacker wand from his pocket she wanted to cuff his ear. Now was not the time for punishment though. Her son pointed the wand at the hywakalith and a ghost moth appeared by its head. It took until the moth practically flew down its throat before the beast noticed it. Then it checked back up with Raul and probably deciding the food in the tree was too far away, snapped at the moth. When the moth flew away, the hywakalith chased it until it disappeared into the jungle.

  Raul jumped down from the tree and upon impact, rolled onto his back, holding his ankle. He was making too much noise as he groaned.

  “Stay here,” she whispered and ran to Raul, helping him to his feet. Her back felt exposed as she helped him limp back to the tunnel.

  “Thank you,” he said too loud and both kids shushed him.

  They moved to a point between the two domes and huddled around. Melandre eyed Raul’s ankle with worry. He would slow them down if they had to run.

  “Through the cthulhu-beasts or the hywakaliths?” she asked. “We have to go through one dome or the other.”

  Raul’s eyes wavered. Melandre snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. “Raul, stay with us. I need another adult here.”

  He shook his head as if just waking up and nodded drunkenly.

  Natalya took a big breath. “I think we should go through the swamp.” She bit her lip. “The cthulhu-beasts have a huge appetite, but there were twelve Tansies and if I remember correctly, only two creatures in the swamp. Six people each should be enough to sate them.”

  Natalya shrugged her shoulders.

  “Good thinking, sweetie,” she said, glad to have a reason not to go back to the jungle dome. She didn’t want to lose her whole family to the same beast. “We’ll skirt the edge of the dome. Maybe we won’t even see either one of them.”

  “I don’t understand,” Raul said, speaking to himself. “They have backup generators if the power goes out. And why haven’t the guards shocked the animals?”

  “I don’t know,” said Melandre.

  “It has to be sabotage or something. That many systems couldn’t fail at once,” he said. “At least we’ll be able to say it wasn’t the Institute’s fault.”

  Melandre speared him in her sights. “Whose fault doesn’t matter right now. People have already died. Don’t worry about your precious Institute’s reputation. Let’s worry about keeping my children alive.”

  A scream erupting from the tunnel behind snapped Raul out of his stupor. He nodded and motioned Melandre to lead on as they hobbled together.

  Raul didn’t have boots and their combined weight sunk them into the mud along the wall, so their progress was slow. They all kept their gaze trained on the swamp expecting an attack at any time. The spaces between the emergency lights were far enough that they traveled through darkness between. Melandre expected to feel a slimy tentacle grab her leg each time.

  Near the end, they found a section of ripped colorful garb hanging on the end of a twisted tree branch. They all stopped and stared solemnly before Melandre motioned them to keep moving.

  When they reached the other end and crossed into the connecting tunnel, Melandre felt a load lift from her shoulders, even before she pushed Raul away to rest. Maybe they would make it.

  “Which way now?” she asked. T
he tunnel led away in two other directions besides the one they came from.

  “The power station is near the exit,” Raul said. “But frankly, if we make it that far, I’m getting the hell out of here.”

  “I think we’ve got a lot more to worry about before the exit. We were on the far side of the zoo.”

  “The tempest lies down that tunnel and a pack of hyenas down that way.” Natalya pointed to the right-most direction.

  Raul snorted. “God, that awful tempest. I argued against placing that stupid creature here. They only included it since it reminded people of dragons.”

  “I thought it was beautiful,” said Natalya. “But you are right about their dangerousness. They’re only deadly when they have heavy winds to catch their sails on. Otherwise, they’re really slow.”

  “Sounds like we have a winner,” said Melandre.

  They started to move that direction when Andrake spoke up. “Wait. Maybe we shouldn’t go that way.”

  They all stared at him until he explained. “That creature may be easy to get past, but what about the other ones beyond? Shouldn’t we figure the total route?”

  Melandre grabbed her son and gave him a big hug. “Good thinking, scamp.”

  She looked to Natalya. “What’s after the tempest?”

  It took them longer than she liked and she felt vulnerable the whole time discussing the pros and cons of each animal that they would have to get past to escape. Raul had a lot of valuable information to add, though she thought her daughter had the more insightful conclusions like the one about the cthulhu-beast. As horrible as it was, her choice in direction had probably saved their lives. In the end, they chose the route past the tempest.

  The dome was a grassy plain with strange fungal trees. They kept to the edge and along the way, snapped off a crutch for Raul from a spindly tree with tufts of fronds on the ends of each branch.

  The flatness of the landscape afforded them a good sight line so they crossed it without worry of its predator. The tempest had escaped to other parts of the zoo.

  Following their preplanned route, they took the left passage of the three-way. Melandre had argued against this dome, due to its unique challenges, but the other way took them past the highly territorial mountain gorillas. Both Natalya and Raul had agreed that the gorillas would pose the greater challenge.

  The next dome was different than the previous ones they had visited. Instead of a half-sphere, the bottom had been carved out and it was a full sphere with multiple spindly bridges stretching across the gap. On either side, cliff walls rose up from below with bushes sticking out of crevices and cracks. This was the largest dome in the cageless zoo, twice the size of any other.

  Five paths snaked across: one along each cliff wall and three across the middle, lined with emergency lights. The tallest arched through the center. The two along the side climbed up until they neared the nests of the great deathtalon hawks with wide platforms for large groups to observe. They were named because of the brain liquefying poison contained within their claws. One scratch would kill within a few hours.

  Natalya pointed at the upper reaches of the cliffs. “The zoo has four deathtalons. One mated pair with a chick on the right cliff and a lone female on the left. The other mate died last year to a mysterious disease.”

  “I think it’s the mated pair on the left,” Raul countered.

  “No. I’m certain it’s the other way.”

  “Um.” Andrake, standing at the edge of the railing, pointed down to the bottom of the dome. “Do we really have to pass this one?”

  The others moved to the edge. Six bodies lay scattered across the rocks including two children.

  Natalya cleared her throat. “The deathtalon is known to be a cruel killer. Dropping its prey from great heights when it's full.”

  “I wonder how many they’ve eaten so far?” Andrake asked.

  “It’s worse than that,” Raul said. “When they scratch you, the first part of your brain to go is your muscle control. Their catch usually get fed to the babies alive while they can still feel it.”

  “I think that factoid doesn’t help us one bit, Mr. Hisler,” Melandre growled between clenched teeth.

  Raul looked to the two kids and then back to Melandre. He mouthed the word sorry.

  “Does anyone see a bird?” Melandre asked to distract them.

  Andrake spied one bird perched on a tree growing out from the cliff along the left wall. The others were not to be seen.

  “Which path?” Melandre asked.

  After a long silence, Natalya spoke up. “The path along the right wall will keep us out of that lone female’s territory. I’m guessing we haven’t seen the other two because they’re feeding.”

  Melandre could tell from her daughter’s hunched shoulders she was unsure about her conclusions. Raul only shrugged when she checked with him.

  “Right it is.”

  Before they stepped onto the ramp, she grabbed the lid to the trashcan.

  “Good idea, mum.” Natalya said. “I’ll go get the one back from the other dome.”

  Her daughter ran back the other way before she could stop her. Melandre’s heart labored in her chest the whole time she was gone. The relief was palpable when she returned.

  “Use your ghost moth if you think it might help,” she said to Andrake. He saluted her with his hacking wand.

  “Wait?” Raul said. “That made the ghost moth?”

  “Yeah. Beams the images through your security system to make you see a moth,” Andrake said proudly. “I finished making it last week.”

  “Got anything else in there?”

  “No.” Andrake shook his head.

  Melandre could see Raul’s mind working. “What are you thinking?”

  “Well, the zoo works by projecting an augmented reality into the animal’s systems. Keeping track of the world and hiding the guests.”

  “Prey, you mean,” Natalya said.

  “Not now,” said Melandre.

  Raul nodded. “It’s okay. Prey is right. But they carry a power system with them just like we do. If we can get the codes, we can push into their systems and shock them with that wand.”

  “It doesn’t have much range,” Andrake explained. “Back at the hywakalith dome, that was about as far as it reaches.”

  “Well that doesn’t help us right now,” Melandre said. “But if we find a guard, we’ll be sure to do that. Let’s get moving before the birds get hungry again.”

  The four headed out onto the right ramp, Melandre and Natalya in front with trash can lids held in front of them like shields, Andrake with his hacking wand and Raul limping behind last with his make-shift cane.

  The deathtalon on the other side of the dome shrieked at them as they traveled across, but it stayed on its perch. As they neared the platform with the nest, Melandre noticed her daughter’s trash can lid shaking. Natalya’s lower lip was trembling, but she had scrunched her eyes like when she had lectured Raul. Melandre flashed her a reassuring smile, though it felt forced. She was terrified herself.

  As they neared the edge of the platform, one of the deathtalons released a bone-shaking screech. Natalya dropped her lid and it rattled across the ground. Melandre pulled her daughter down and the others followed. They hid on the slope of the ramp. She could hear her daughter’s heartbeat even above her own.

  Melandre grabbed the lid with her sweaty fingers, handing it to Natalya and motioned for them to continue. The two deathtalons rested in their huge nest, preening themselves. They were bigger than Melandre thought they’d be. She imagined their wingspans to be at least twenty feet. Chirping from a chick could be heard from the nest, though they couldn’t see it.

  Creeping at the farthest point from the nest, they shuffled around the platform. A couple of boulders blocked them from view until they were about halfway across. Then the shortest section of the nest wall revealed its contents. Andrake gasped and Natalya whimpered when they looked.

  Inside the nest, two men and
one woman were set against the side like manikins. The taller man was clearly dead with his arm bitten off and dark viscous blood congealed along the rocks. But the other two were clearly alive. Their wide eyes followed them as they moved past.

  There was nothing they could do for them. Even if the birds weren’t guarding them, they’d be dead in a few hours. But that didn’t make her feel any better about leaving them.

  Raul must have been concentrating on his walking because he didn’t acknowledge the horrible sight in the nest until they were nearly to the end of the platform. Then he exclaimed much too loudly, “God have mercy.” And dropped his crutch.

  The clatter of the wood against the platform resulted in two soul rending shrieks from the nest. The two deathtalons spread their wings defensively.

  “Run!” Melandre yelled.

  A deathtalon tore across the platform and Melandre barely got her lid up in time to deflect a claw. Her children had already started down the ramp. Helping Raul limp across she eyed the second bird that stayed in its nest, protecting the chick with its wings stretched wide. She knew the other bird was circling around.

  Andrake and Natalya tore down the ramp ahead of her while she urged Raul on faster. Torn between helping the injured man and protecting her children, she found herself about halfway between them when the deathtalon made its attack.

  The bird swooped down onto Andrake. Its deadly claws outstretched in front to snatch her child from the ramp. She was too far to do anything. She was certain that nothing could be done, when Natalya ran back up the ramp and launched her trash can lid at the bird. It spun through the air and hit the bird’s body enough to make it veer slightly. Andrake dove at that moment and the bird’s talons missed him by a hair.

  Its huge wingspan meant it would have to make another long circuit before attacking again. She screamed for them to keep running. They might make it with only one more attack.

  When her children reached the bottom, she felt relief. At least until she checked to her left to find the deathtalon streaming toward her. Then in the space between, a ghost moth appeared and the bird stopped its descent and tried to attack the insect. This gave her and Raul enough time to make it down the ramp to safety.