Deadfall: A Post-Humans Story

by Bassett, Thurston

  “Kara Zang?” Cynthia shook her head, “Isn’t your name Kara Chen?”

  The small woman nodded vigorously. “Zang is a cover, a business name like Shiver. Shiver is what my employers call me.”

  “We have spoken to your brother, he is worried about you.”

  Kara’s face had a half smile. “Yes, I suppose he is worried. He is a good man, but he does not understand what it is like to be like us.”

  Cynthia nodded and took a quick peek outside to see if they could get out without detection. “How do I know I can trust you and how do we get out?”

  Kara’s dark eyes looked pained as she looked up at Cynthia. “It will not be easy, but I have seen the alternative. We need to run, and now.”

  Kara grabbed Cynthia’s gloved hand and pulled her out of the toilet block and headed for the dense garden nearby.

  “Wait! My friend…”

  Kara shook her head. “No time. If they are near you, they will become a target. They are safer with the other civilians.”

  As Cynthia crashed through the leaves of exotic plants she wondered how she was going to explain this to Tony and she hoped he was safe.

  Chapter 20

  The first gangster that Cynthia and Kara noticed was wandering up a footpath close to the garden, where they were hiding.

  He was a man of average build and had a shaved head. He was smiling as he walked along, and he stopped every so often to look around. It was obvious that he wasn’t looking at the animals.

  Cynthia and Kara looked at each other and Kara tipped her head toward the direction they had been going. “Back gate,” she whispered.

  The two women ran along the fence line climbing over logs and pushing through bamboo.

  As they had to slow down again, to avoid detection, Cynthia took out her phone and sent a quick message to Matt.

  At zoo with Kara Chen.

  Was a trap.

  Help.

  She slipped the phone back into her pocket.

  They did their best to keep to the gardens, but the gardens ended and then they would begin again further ahead.

  “Hey!”

  A man’s voice called from somewhere close to the meercats.

  They were exposed.

  “They’ve seen us,” Cynthia hissed to Kara.

  The two women ran along the paved footpath.

  Behind them they could hear other feet and voices shouting to one another.

  Cynthia cursed to herself; she couldn’t believe that after the Chinatown shoot-out she let herself walk into a trap. She wasn’t sure how they had followed her, but it proved they were far more resourceful than she expected.

  There was a crack of gunfire that echoed across the gardens. Animals around the zoo began to bark or call out in response. The zoo’s patrons were making as much noise as the animals. Men, women and children screamed and called out for their families to run or hide.

  Cynthia’s zoo trip was turning into a repeat of the morning’s drama. This time, she knew the gangsters would not be able to herd the people into one place; the zoo was too big.

  They would be shooting to kill.

  Another gunshot, and a bullet whizzed close by like an angry insect.

  Cynthia caught a glimpse of a man in a black jacket running parallel with them on the others side of a stand of bamboo and tropical plants, he was planning on heading them off.

  “They are gonna’ box us in!” Cynthia wheezed.

  “Don’t you have a gun?”

  “No!”

  Kara halted next to the lion enclosure. They both stood scanning the gardens and footpaths for the pursuers. They could see one carrying a baseball bat running through the centre of the garden and there was another on the other side of the lion enclosure.

  “Where next?” Cynthia looked about for something to use as a weapon.

  The railway gate is still the closest, but they probably have worked out which gate we are heading for.”

  Cynthia’s mind raced. They needed an instant solution or they would be caught or killed.

  “Use what we have.” Cynthia looked down at Kara who gazed back confused. “We have abilities no one else has, let’s use them. Darwin; Survival of the fittest.”

  Kara nodded vigorously and looked about at the trees, buildings and fences.

  “Let us hope then, that we are both fit.”

  Kara made a break for the bandstand that was a tall gazebo standing on the lawn. Cynthia followed the fence that skirted the lion enclosure.

  At one end, there was a bridge that divided the lions from the cape hunting dogs. She remembered from previous visits that the there were spaces in the fence on that bridge, that she could get though, if she tried.

  She turned around just in time to see Kara scrambling up the pillars that surrounded the bandstand.

  She moved like a lizard or a spider up a tree trunk.

  As Cynthia ran up the small steps o her right, she noticed one of the gangsters was bearing down on her, fast. She wouldn’t have time to get through the fence and hide before being seen.

  The man swung the bat in circles as he advanced. She would need to be fast and effective.

  She braced herself and the man sped up. He threw himself into the swing of the bat and Cynthia barely avoided it. The first swing is always the most brutal. It always carried the most force.

  She used her martial arts training to deliver a swift and decisive low punch just above the man’s groin.

  His eyes bulged and he was distracted for a moment by the pain.

  She made every second count.

  She grabbed the arm that held the bat and brought her knee up beneath it, breaking it at the elbow. The gangster’s roar of agony was quickly silenced as she brought the bat up across the side of his head.

  He collapsed into a groaning pile.

  Maybe he would recover, maybe he wouldn’t; at this point she was past caring. Things were getting too serious and one less gangster could only be a good thing.

  She kept the bat in her hand as she turned to run for the bridge again.

  A quick glance back over the garden told her that Kara was well out of sight and out of danger; for now at least.

  Cynthia’s shoes clicked along the wooden footbridge as she ran back and forth trying to find a weak point in the fence or a gap she could get through.

  There.

  A place where there was some overlap of the cyclone wire. She could just squeeze through as long as she held her breath.

  She climbed up over the railing and began to slide her body down through between the fence wires. It was tight but it would work.

  She gripped the palings of the bridge, as she got lower. Cynthia tossed the baseball bat down into a thick bushy shrub beneath.

  It landed silently among the branches and disappeared.

  Cynthia swung herself under the bridge and held on with both hands and pushed her feet into the gaps between the footboards and the struts.

  She hung like a sloth, her back to the ground fifteen feet below her.

  She tried to relax her breathing.

  As she tried to relax her body she heard footfalls on the bridge above her. It was a man; she could hear him panting.

  He stopped above her.

  She could see parts of him through the gaps between the footboards above her. Every now and then, she spied the black metal of a handgun in his hand.

  She needed to be very quiet. If this guy hears her, he could shoot straight through the footboards.

  Cynthia watched eagerly through the tiny slits for a few moments before the man began to run again across bridge.

  She exhaled as he left. She still hung suspended safely over the lion enclosure.

  The lions.

  Cynthia craned her neck to see where the lions were. She could see two light brown coloured forms laying in the deep grass at the far side of their yard. That was only two of them. Where are the rest?

  She couldn’t see any other lions, but she could hear the y
ells and screams of frightened zoo patrons all around the park.

  She needed to think of a way to escape from the zoo. After seeing Kara scramble up the pillars, Cynthia was confident that Kara would get over the fences or use the trees or something. She on the other hand was not so great at climbing.

  She looked at her feet. Shoes wedged tightly into the gaps of wood. She couldn’t maintain this position forever. Cynthia knew she had her best chance of escaping during the daylight commotion rather than at night when the fence line would be watched.

  She had to take her chance.

  Cynthia took a deep breath and dropped ten feet to the ground, landing on her feet like a cat. All this climbing, hanging and jumping was not what she planned to be doing today and she found that her clothes were a little restrictive. She made a mental note to pick some different clothes when she got back to the hotel.

  Around her the deep grass was pale and crisp. They wouldn’t be mowing the lion’s lawn, she supposed, that’s why it was so long.

  There was nothing moving. The lions must still be trying to sleep off the afternoon heat, or they were peering through the wire watching the people bustling about trying to avoid the gunfire.

  She stalked over to the bushy shrub where she dropped the bat. She could see the handle now that she was on the ground.

  She pushed herself among the prickly branches as far she dared and reached out for the rubber grip.

  And then she heard the soft crumpling of grass stems.

  She looked behind her, to where the noise had come from.

  It was a male lion.

  Cynthia felt her stomach rise into her throat, her fingers still brushing against the grip of the bat, not quite getting it.

  “Oh, no. Not right now, please.” She pleaded to the big cat.

  The lion sat back on its haunches staying very still while it watched her. Cynthia could see into its amber coloured eyes, they were curious and excited, but she knew better than to trust the expression on an animals face.

  Finally her palm wrapped around the handle of the bat and she drew it out of the bush, but when she held it she realized that it was not any use against an animal this big and this strong.

  She had always heard about how much bigger tigers were compared to lions, but now that she was facing this beast only five or six metres away, she decided that it didn’t matter. The lion is bloody scary when there were no fences separating you from it.

  She swung the bat a couple of times and stepped forward, hoping to startle it or frighten it away.

  It laid its ears back and looked more curious.

  The only way out of the lion cage now was the door to the warden’s building. This was the place where the zoo staff would prepare the lions food or drag them for their medical checkups. It would lead back out into the park and aid her escape.

  The steel door was still at least fifteen metres away and she couldn’t turn her back on this lion.

  It began to pad through the dry grass, closer to her. A deep thunderous growl came from the animal. The amber eyes were fixed on her.

  Cynthia took a deep breath.

  The lion drew closer.

  Cynthia peeled the silk glove off her left hand and shoved it into her pocket.

  The growl of the lion grew louder and its whiskered lips began to quiver, revealing the long white canine teeth.

  Cynthia pulled off the right hand glove and slipped it into the pocket with the first.

  She took a step back.

  The lion’s steps grew suddenly quick and the creature had knocked her to the ground before she could swing the bat. She couldn’t breathe, as the lion’s weight forced her down into the grass. She hadn’t even felt her body hit the ground.

  All she could see was the lion’s white teeth and the flashing amber eyes.

  She just wanted to recoil and fade away. It was hard to keep her eyes focused.

  The lion’s enormous paws knocked her about on the ground.

  It was playing with her.

  She felt the sharp ache as the beast’s claws were cutting through her jacket and the side of her head was hit as well by the playful animal. She could tell from the growing pain that this was not a friendly game; the lion was playing with its food.

  Its hot, stinking breath filled her lungs and she felt her hair being tugged out as it got tangled in the lion’s teeth. It playfully gripped her head with its jaws.

  She had to summon all the strength she could to fight back.

  Her soft fingers pressed into the coarse fur near the side of the beast’s head.

  She felt the familiar tingle of energy.

  The big cats life-force was running up her arm like a swarm of ants.

  The lion growled and shook its head.

  Her skin erupted with the prickly flood. It was like a drug taking hold.

  The lion’s eyes were squeezed closed and its ears were flat. It tried to pull away, but it was too late. She had to finish what she had started. It would be cruel to cripple its mind and body in that way and then leave it to die.

  The animal’s full weight was suddenly on top of her and its hot breath was no longer forcing its way into her nose and mouth, it was dead.

  Cynthia exhaled and coughed as she tried to rid her mouth of the foul taste. She could barely open her own eyes before she started shoving the lion’s immense body to the side.

  She crawled across the grass and recovered the bat.

  Looking over at the still form of the beast, she felt a pang of guilt, but she was thankful for her gift. The lion looked content and still. The tan and cream fur still clean and tidy.

  Cynthia pushed the heavy beast into a more natural position, so it looked to be sleeping. If any of the gangsters look under the bridge they would only find a sleeping lion.

  Another two gunshots rang out through the park, and she was sure she could hear sirens.

  She needed to get out.

  Cynthia ran through the long grass toward the little warden’s building.

  The other lions were no longer laying in the deep grass. She could see them pacing and craning their necks to see what was causing the commotion outside.

  A female looked in her direction.

  Cynthia had to hurry.

  She got to the steel door and began to fiddle with the handle. It didn’t open.

  Two lions now stood facing her. They were nearly forty metres away, but they could cover that ground quickly if they wanted to.

  She fumbled with the lock picking kit that she still had in a pocket inside her jacket. She had to be efficient with this lock. She couldn’t afford to waste a moment, though she couldn’t afford to hurry and break the tools in the lock either.

  After a second of estimating and testing Cynthia found the two instruments that would unfasten the lock.

  She worked carefully, taking deep breaths and counting in her head to distract herself from the threat.

  The two lions watched her intently.

  “Come on you bastard…”

  The two lionesses that had been watching her began to casually trot in her direction. This alerted another male that had been watching people through the wire.

  “Shit.”

  The two lionesses drew closer and the male stalked further back, but advanced all the same.

  “You are faster than this Cynthy. You’ve done it before…” she chanted under her breath.

  Click

  The lock turned over and she pulled the door open as the three lions began to bound through the deep grass.

  She closed the door behind her and looked back through the Perspex window slot.

  One of the lionesses snarled at her baring its teeth viciously.

  Cynthia smiled at the lioness. “Not today, bitch.”

  It was then that she realized she just left the baseball bat sitting in the grass by the door.

  “Shit,” she muttered as she slipped the lockpicking kit away in her jacket.

  Cynthia looked at the darkened chamber
in front of her. There were corridors of cages and two large cages at the far end, one held a young male lion who was pacing in his cage. He could hear all the activity outside, but couldn’t see anything.

  A few feet in front of her there was steel door painted white with a walky-talky hanging on it. She turned the handle and peered inside. It was a big kitchen or torture chamber, probably the former. There were stainless steel benches for preparing meat and rows of cleavers and boning knives. There was also an area that looked like it was used by the vets when they tended to the big cats.

  At the far end there were calendars and posters of lions and party photos taken by the employees.

  Cynthia heard a sob.

  A young man had crawled in under the benches to hide from the gangsters outside.

  His terrified eyes looked up at her, pleading.

  “I’m not one of them. Stay in here until the police are come. It will be over soon,” she tried to say in a comforting way.

  The man just sobbed. His red rimmed eyes squeezing tightly closed. Cynthia could see from his outfit that he was a zoo employee. She found it strange that a man, who worked with lions, could be so afraid of people.

  She shook her head and leaned on the bench, looking at the knives. There was one door out and the gangsters were out there somewhere. She screwed up her nose, she didn’t want to take the knives to defend herself, but she knew that if she stepped outside that door with nothing she might not make it in one piece.

  Cynthia pulled two of the smaller meat cleavers off the magnetic rack they were hanging on.

  Things were going to get messy.

  Chapter 21

  Cynthia pressed her ear to the door of the warden’s building.

  She was ready to make her final break for the back gates of the Melbourne zoo, but first she had to step out of this building, back out into the grounds.

  She remembered from previous visits that there was a direct route to the back gates from the back of the lion enclosure, but it was fairly open with not a lot of cover. She would need to move quickly and if she were attacked she would have to be fast a decisive.

  She gripped the cold handles of the two meat cleavers.