The Cageless Zoo

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  They scooted down the hall away from the railing in case the birds could slip through the tunnel. When it landed on the railing and screeched at them, they knew they were safe.

  Bent over and heaving, they caught their breath. With the adrenaline of their flight slipping away, Melandre’s shoulder throbbed. She checked the lid to find a deep gouge in the metal. After a few minutes rest, so her legs could stop shaking, they left the tunnels.

  Moving to the next dome, inhabited by a pack of sand devils in an arid desert, they found a half-eaten man in a blue and white checkered shirt at the entrance. Melandre put her hand to her mouth. The kids shared glances while Raul refused to meet her eyes.

  "Fine," she said and inched up to the body as the heat from the dome brought a bead of sweat to her forehead. Melandre held her breath and used the remainder of the dead man's shirt to hide his face. Somehow it was easier to look at him when he wasn't vacantly staring back. Raul and her kids came up after she was done.

  “Can you get the codes?” Raul asked, poking the dead man with his crutch.

  Andrake pointed his hacking wand and shook his head. “No computer. Whatever ate him ate the computer.”

  “If the sand devils did it, then we’re out of luck.” Raul said staring out into the desert dome. “They drag their prey into tunnels and eat them down there.”

  Natalya crouched next to the man, holding her nose and looking at the wounds. “It wasn’t the sand devils that killed him. They have small mouths. Whatever killed this guard had a big bite.”

  Her thoughtful pose and investigative eye reminded her of Philippe.

  “Good job, sweetie,” Melandre said.

  “Well that doesn’t help us unless we can find the beastie,” Raul said.

  Melandre noticed marks in the sand. “Looks like tracks over here.”

  They crowded around the trail, careful not to damage the evidence. Natalya indicated two separate prints with her fingers. “I think whatever was eating this man got chased into the dome by another one.”

  “Here’s a good print.” Andrake waved them over.

  “That’s a lion,” Natalya said right away.

  “Yep,” said Raul. “You’re going to be quite the biologist like your father.”

  Even though he had insulted them earlier, it was quite a compliment from an Institute man. Natalya beamed with pride and for a brief moment, Melandre forgot they were trying to escape with their lives.

  “I can’t tell what the other print is,” said Natalya.

  Raul shrugged after a brief examination.

  “Let’s follow them,” Melandre suggested. “Hopefully they’ve injured each other enough that we can get the computer back.”

  “I don’t even need it physically,” said Andrake. “Just close enough to connect.”

  They followed the tracks while scouting for other predators. The desert dome had a slight rise to it so they couldn’t see across the sand.

  The tracks led to a small incline and they found one of the predators, a huge grotesque shambler with green blood leaking from its wounds. The area around the dead shambler was rife with gouges and scrapes.

  “Computer’s not here,” said Andrake, pointing his wand at the dead creature. Long slimy filaments hung in a blanket around it.

  Raul pointed to the center of the dome. “I think the sand devils got the lion.”

  In the distance on a far rise, four blackish red shapes dragged another whitish one along the ridge.

  Melandre pushed Raul lightly in the direction of the sand devils. “If we hurry we can get the codes before they pull it underground.”

  They moved out across the sand with Andrake holding his wand in front like he was divining for water. But not long after, the sand devils disappeared into the ground.

  “Almost had it,” Andrake said shaking his head.

  As they neared, they could see a concrete path leading into a depression in the sand. Cautiously, they followed the path. Melandre clutched the trash can lid until her fingers whitened at the knuckles.

  They met no resistance and followed the trail into the ground. The right wall transformed into a clear barrier with tunnels on the other side. Passages with see-through walls lead in further.

  "The sand devil tunnels are unstable so we had to make safe ones," Raul whispered.

  "Yes, clearly you were thinking of safety when you designed this death trap," said Melandre.

  "Not now." Natalya squeezed her arm and both the adults nodded their truce.

  Andrake motioned toward the center tunnel. Melandre hoped the sand devils kept to their part of the tunnel complex. As the ground swallowed them up, she grabbed Natalya’s hand. Being underground caused her hand to tremble. Her daughter flashed her a reassuring smile.

  The signal led them deeper in until they rounded a corner and found two sand-devils fighting over an object the size of a leg. At first Melandre thought the sand devils were in the same passage as they were, but then she realized they were protected by the see-through wall. The black and red striped creatures reminded her of a cross between an ant and a feral dog. They had six legs with the front pair sporting pincers. Milky white eyes lolled in their heads.

  Two sand devils tore at a piece of meat, mauling it with their wide mouths. Gray foam dripped from their lips. They could see movement in dark tunnels beyond the two sand devils.

  After watching for a moment, Andrake led them further in. They found the lion around the next bend being feasted on by three sand devils. Her gaze fixed on the grotesque spectacle until her son gave them the thumbs up after a few minutes silently accessing his personal interface.

  “Test it,” she whispered.

  Andrake nodded and then held the hacking wand in front of him. Melandre didn’t think it was going to work at first when they kept gnawing on the corpse. Then the three sand devils shuddered and fell on their sides convulsing.

  Andrake kept it there until she told him, “That’s enough.”

  They wound back through the tunnels and reached the arid sand without incident. The sand devils had collected enough prey that they weren’t active at the moment. Melandre hoped it was only other predators that they had found.

  Using the guard codes to shock the predators they were able to by-pass the next seven domes without incident. Three of the domes had been empty, their predators wandered off or eaten by another. Of the four with creatures—a darkaron, a pair of hyllion wolves, a pack of cygerons and a huge horned gorenaut; a few shocks from the wand and they ran off.

  As they neared the entrance dome, Melandre tried to steel herself from feeling any relief. They weren’t out yet, though she wanted to grab her children and run. It saddened her they hadn’t found any other survivors along the way. When the predators had been let loose, they must have turned on the people immediately. They would have met the same fate had they not been in the tunnel and used the tricks they had to survive. Melandre rubbed her shoulder remembering the impact from the deathtalon.

  The entrance was empty of people or creatures. The colorful trinket booths looked eerie under the emergency lights. She stopped and realized something had changed.

  “Listen.”

  They all held perfectly still and tilted their heads.

  “The sand storm has lessened,” Natalya said.

  Raul sighed in relief. “Rescue crews will be here in an hour tops.”

  A crouching shape to their right caught Melandre’s eye. Natalya was looking straight at it as it slipped away down a tunnel.

  “What was it?” she asked.

  “I swear it was a lightning lizard,” she said with her jaw hanging down.

  Raul shook his head. “You’re mistaken. We only had hywakaliths here. No hywlarkana.”

  “No, I’m certain,” she said. “Dad showed me all of his notes. I saw the descriptions given by the locals. They have a hump in their back for the lightning organs. The hywakaliths kill with their teeth and don’t have it.”

  “Must have been a sh
adow, or his notes were wrong,” said Raul. “You’ve done quite well to this point with my expert help, but don’t forget, you’re still a little girl.”

  A stray thought tickled Melandre’s memory. “Didn’t you say a dome had been damaged two years ago while a week long sand storm raged?”

  “Three days, but yeah.”

  “What dome was it?”

  She knew the answer before he said the words. His eyes had gone wide as he realized the implications.

  The lie was evident as soon as it left his lips. “It was the hyenas' dome.”

  She recalled that he mentioned before that the vegetation had withstood the punishing winds and only a jungle could do that.

  “Okay,” she said. “I guess I’m wrong.”

  But they both knew the truth and that each other knew it. Even Natalya, who was sensitive to people’s moods could tell something had happened.

  As they crossed the courtyard, carefully watching all around them, Raul pointed to a tunnel on the right. “That one leads to the power center. What ever happened, happened there. Thankfully we don’t need to bother with that.”

  Melandre stopped. She’d forgotten about their original plan once they’d gotten the shock codes and the revelation about the lizards.

  “We should go there and see if we can turn the power back on. There might be other survivors,” she said.

  “Doubtful. You saw the carnage on the way here. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only ones,” Raul said.

  Tears welled up in Natalya’s eyes. “There were hundreds of people visiting the zoo.”

  Even though she herself had thought the same thing Raul had, when she looked at her daughter she knew they had to try. “There may be some, holed up in a safe spot. A lot of the predators have turned on each other.”

  “You can go if you want. I’m getting out to my vehicle,” Raul said with his lips stretched across his yellow teeth. She knew he had other reasons to want to get out now. She just wished she could get her hands on Philippe’s research again.

  She checked with her kids to see what they wanted to do.

  “The power station, mum.” Natalya said while Andrake nodded his agreement.

  “Good luck,” Raul said as he headed toward the exit.

  “Come with us,” said Melandre. “We could use the help and there might be others we can save. It’s the Institute’s zoo after all.”

  “No way. I did my part helping you all get out. My vehicle is right outside this entrance not one hundred feet away.” He pointed to the parking lot. “I’m taking my out while I’m alive. You’d be smart to do the same.”

  “We’re the ones that helped you get out, you big dolt,” Natalya said.

  “Whatever you say,” he said. “You’d better hurry if you want to be heroes before the authorities get here.”

  “You’re the authority here,” Melandre said, but Raul had already started limping away.

  The three of them crept toward the tunnel that led to the power station and Melandre wondered if she was being an idiot risking her children’s lives. She thought about all they’d done to get here and decided that they could do a little bit more. They had the wand.

  The power station dome was a series of hallway. About half the emergency lights didn’t work which Melandre thought strange. After peering into a few rooms and finding nothing but offices, they paused at a stairway going down.

  “What was the bit between you and Mr. Hisler, mum? It looked like something awful had passed between you two,” Natalya said in the dim light.

  “It wasn’t the hyenas' dome that broke and let the sand storm in for a few days. It’d been the hywakaliths',” she said. “Were there any births from the flower-toothed lizards?”

  “Yeah,” said Natalya. “About two years ago—" and then “—oh.”

  “What?” Andrake asked.

  “The lightning lizard caused the power shutdown. They must have gotten old enough to create electricity and fried their computers. Unlucky for everyone involved that they took down the power center,” Melandre said. “It’s a shame we don’t have Philippe’s research. The lightning lizard proves your father’s research is correct and they’re sure to bury it now since their negligence has caused mass deaths.”

  Andrake looked to the floor.

  “What, scamp?” she asked.

  “Would you be mad if I told you I stole dad’s data when you were transferring it to Mr. Hisler?” Andrake’s shoulders were hunched.

  Melandre grabbed her son and hugged him tight. “Oh my, no! That’s the best thing you could have ever done. With a copy we can prove that your father was right!”

  She felt like dancing, but they were still in a dangerous place. Melandre hesitated. “Maybe we should go back. This place looks deserted and I’m not sure what we’d do anyway. What do you two think?”

  About that time, she noticed a low-slung shape ambling into the hallway between them and the entrance. Melandre tapped Andrake on his shoulder and pointed down the hall. “Quick, use your wand,” she whispered.

  But when he pointed it, nothing happened and the beastie started to move toward them.

  “Down! Down!” she yelled as she saw the electricity gather in the creature’s mouth.

  They made it down the first flight when the ball of lightning roared over their heads and burst against the wall.

  They hit the door at the bottom and pushed through it to see another set of stairs leading to another tunnel. They were in underground tunnels beneath the domes. The emergency lighting reflected across floor. Melandre couldn’t figure it out until she hit the floor and it splashed.

  The tunnels had been flooded by a few inches of water. They wouldn’t be able to travel silently now. They ran down the tunnel, the water splashing loudly. She hoped there was only one lightning lizard. They followed the twists and turns, once taking a branch to the left, hoping the creature wasn’t following until she stopped to listen and heard it splashing through the water behind them.

  When they came into a wide room filled with pipes and power generation cylinders set in the water, she knew then why the power had gone out. They ran to the back wall, hoping to find an exit in the gloom, but no escape revealed itself. They were trapped.

  The lightning lizard sauntered into the room as if it knew they had no escape. Its low body dragged a long scaly tail through the water. Melandre gripped the trash can lid and pushed her children behind her. She cast about for a platform or something to climb. Even if it didn’t hit them with a direct lightning blast, the passive electricity would get them since they were standing ankle deep in the water.

  The creature must have sensed her thoughts because it opened its mouth. Melandre was mesmerized by the gathering flickers in the beast's mouth as they danced from tooth to tooth. She knew they would die here unless she acted, but she didn't know what to do.

  The electricity had gathered enough crackling mass and she knew it would release it soon. It didn't even have to hit them directly to kill.

  Then she remembered the rubber boots they'd put on at the cthulhu-beast's dome. The boots would insulate them from the electricity.

  Melandre shoved her children backwards in case her next move didn't work. She could at least die to save them.

  "Get back and don't touch the water!"

  As the lightning lizard released the ball, she launched the trashcan lid. The metal saucer flew through the air and impacted the lightning midway. The electricity expanded from the collision into the water. Melandre thought they were going to die when a blue haze washed across the water filling the surface in the room, making the lights flicker momentarily.

  Instead they were left with a sickening burnt smell. Both she and her children were unharmed.

  Across from them at the entrance, an immobile figure lay in the water. The lightning lizard had fried itself.

  “We’ve got a new piece to add to Dad’s research,” said Natalya. “The lightning lizards could probably make lightning in t
he jungles in the north, it's just they would kill themselves if they were standing in water.”

  Melandre hugged her daughter. “Yeah. We can do that now, can’t we?”

  Andrake stared into the water. “Actually no,” he said. “When mum pushed us back, I dropped the wand. The electricity fried it.”

  They all stared at it for a while until Melandre roused them. “Don’t worry about it. The most important thing is that we’re all still alive,” she said. “Now let’s get out of here, since we don’t have the wand anymore and I don't think we can get the power back on with all this water.”

  They weaved back through the water soaked tunnels and up through the power center dome until they made their way to the exit, moving cautiously since they were without Andrake's hacking wand. Natalya had brought the lid at least.

  As they crept along the trinket booths, they heard sirens in the distance. They ran out into the parking lot holding their hands to their face to block the gusting winds. The sand storm had abated, but the air was still blustery.

  They had parked on the far side of the lot and she didn’t want to risk going out that far so they stayed at the entrance, keeping a wary eye. As the line of flashing lights neared the zoo, Melandre pulled her children in tight.

  Suddenly, she heard a commotion and her heart sunk.

  Then she saw him. Raul was hopping on one leg and waving his crutch at the rescue vehicles. She was about to yell for him to be quiet when she saw the tempest.

  The slick black creature that was built like a blade, unfolded its wings and timed a wind gust perfectly. About the time that Raul noticed the creature sailing toward him, he turned to run. The tempest blew past him and using its tail, speared him in the gut.

  Melandre turned her children’s faces away and had them hold their hands over their ears to block the screaming. The tempest closed its wings after it dragged Raul across the black pavement.

  The rescue vehicles arrived in time to shoot the tempest, but Raul was already dead. They collected Melandre and her children and asked about survivors. She told them all she could, warning them about the myriad of beasts within and letting them know about the important information on Raul’s corpse.