by R. W. Ridley
For some reason, the Délons did not follow us out of the arena. I'm not sure if they could have overtaken us, but they didn't even try. It was as if they understood we had a rendezvous with the Takers, and they didn't want to interfere. It was even more of a reason to think we were being set up, but we were in too deep to turn back now. We had to follow through.
We had sent Pepper and Miles to scout out the road ahead. They came back and reported it was clear sailing. Pepper saw me sulking and maneuvered his mount next to the wagon on the opposite side of Reya.
He showed all the tact of a man who hurt other people for a living, "Get over it, kid. I lost a lot of men back there and you don't see me crying about it."
Reya fumed. "That was my brother."
Pepper stuttered. "Oh, well… Sorry…"
"This little twerp just let him die." I didn't look at her, but I knew she was referring to me. She kicked her horse and road ahead of the caravan.
Pepper waited until she was out of earshot. "Don't let her get to you, kid. She'll calm down after some time has passed."
"She's right." There was no other way I could've said it. "I let him die."
Pepper shifted in his saddle. He looked at me with a genuine look of compassion that I did not think he was capable of. "Show me a hero, and I will write you a tragedy." He winked at me. "F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that." I gave him a strange look. "What'd you think, I was some dumb jock who never went to my English Lit class?"
"I'm no hero," I said.
"An old coach once told me that brave men overcome fear while fear overcomes cowards, and no man always overcomes." He smiled. "Fear has to win out every now and then, kid. It's how the world works." He leaned forward in his saddle. "It's even beaten me a few times." He looked at his watch. "Now, take the next five minutes or so to feel sorry for yourself and then snap out of it because things aren't going to get any easier." He moved his horse to the front of the caravan.
He was right. I couldn't afford to go into the zoo feeling the way I did. It wouldn't do me, and more importantly, any of the others any good. I closed my eyes tight and buried my morose feelings deep inside. I stood and took the horses' reins from Lou. She smiled, relieved that I was back, for the time being anyway.
We pulled up in front of the zoo's entrance. Ajax was eager to enter, but I urged more vigilance. Remembering my conversation with Wes about what had become of the zoo animals, we had no idea what was waiting for us on the other side of the gates. An abundance of caution was called for. Everyone armed themselves, and formed a tight-knit group. We all entered the zoo with Ajax and Kimball leading the way.
Some of us were more surprised than others when we were greeted by a large African elephant on the other side of the entrance in the Flamingo Plaza. It plodded toward us with a strange curiosity, glaring at us, inspecting us. Ajax approached it and to my amazement began signing to the hulking gray beast. He was trying to talk to the elephant. What's more amazing is that the elephant understood what Ajax was saying. It nodded its massive head, raised its trunk, bellowed a trumpet-like blast, and stepped back to let us pass.
The pink flamingos bobbed their heads from their habitat and watched us with a great deal of interest as we journeyed farther in. Unlike every other town and community we had traveled through over the last couple of days, the zoo was alive. The animals had not only survived, they had thrived. There was no explaining it. They had no food, no caretakers, but they were definitely flourishing within the confines of the zoo. Some of the animals had escaped their habitats and were roaming about the grounds with little or no fear of us as we traversed from one exhibit to the other. A male lion crossed our path outside the Masai Mara habitat, but he only gave us a passing glance before moving toward a grazing zebra. Once he was in striking distance of the black and white feast, he simply lay down and yawned. He had no interest in eating the zebra. It was a little disconcerting to see such peace among species that did not usually live in harmony with each other.
Ajax led us through the zoo like he had lived there his entire life. He knew exactly where he was going. I even thought I detected looks from the other animals that suggested they had been expecting the great ape. A black rhino nodded in recognition at our presence, a giraffe seemed to point us out to another giraffe as we approached. They both bowed their heads as we passed. It was as if they had been waiting for us.
Outside the Ford African Rain Forest, gathered around a massive bronze statue of Willie B., the late legendary silverback of Zoo Atlanta, were 23 gorillas of various sizes and ages. Ajax loomed toward them stoically. We stood back and watched as a larger, more powerfully built silverback than Ajax met him in front of the group of apes. The two circled each other. The other gorillas screamed and hooted. It looked as if the two silverbacks would tear into each other at any moment. Instead, they stopped, grunted, and embraced each other in a bear hug that few bears could survive. In an extraordinary scene of joy, the other apes converged on the two silverbacks and emitted deafening sounds of happiness. It was a reunion unlike any I had every seen. Yet, could it have been a reunion? Ajax had been in Dr. Fine's care since he was an infant. How could it be that these gorillas knew him?
Just when I thought I could not be more confused by the gorillas' behavior, something even more astonishing happened. The silverback that first greeted Ajax began to sign to him. Ajax signed back. They were having a conversation. Some of the other gorillas signed, as well and joined in on the conversation. A group of gorillas with no known exposure to American Sign Language were using it like they had been using it their whole lives.
Lou put her hand on my shoulder. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
I nodded.
"What's going on?" Pepper asked.
"I have no idea," I said.
"What are they saying?" Hollis stepped up to the front.
Lou scanned the group. "I don't know exactly. They're all signing at once. Something about a theater."
Over to our left was the Elder's Tree Theater. "They must mean that one," I said. I broke from the group with Pepper and Miles in tow. We advanced on the small open-air theater with caution. Once we reached the perimeter, we could see a group of orangutans sitting on the stage surrounding a massive white-haired animal with its back to us. It wasn't until it turned that I realized what it was. It was a Taker.
"What the hell?" Pepper said.
Furious, I ran back to the others. "C'mon, we're leaving." Lou, Wes, and the others gave me a look like I had lost my mind. "Ajax sold us out."
"What are you talking about?" Lou asked.
I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the theater. "See."
The Taker was chattering its teeth now. The sound sent a chill down my spine. Lou's chin dropped. She became visibly shaken. "What…"
"Looks like our gorilla friend was in charge of dinner," I said.
I felt a hot rush of wind on my back. I turned to find Ajax and the other silverback looking back at me. Wes and the others kept their distance.
Ajax started to sign. Lou interpreted. "Not take. Keep."
"What?" The white Taker stood and circled the stage. It sniffed the air. It was becoming more and more excited with each passing moment.
Lou said with a thinly veiled sense of horror, "That's a Keeper?"
The orangutans began to scream and dart back and forth as the white monster's unrest grew.
I looked at Ajax. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Keeper protect baby," Lou said as Ajax signed. "Keeper save Storyteller."
Pepper chimed in. "Something don't smell right. I wouldn't trust that thing with the baby."
The other silverback rushed Pepper and roared. Pepper cowered back.
I studied Ajax. He had saved my life. He knew more about what was going on than the rest of us. It seemed to be absolute folly not to trust him now, but hearing that familiar chatter coming from the Keeper, I could not help but have reservations. My mind flashed back to Mrs. Chalmers walking down the
stairs of the attic, giving her baby one last look before she entered the hallway and gave herself to the Takers. "He's your responsibility now," she said. I thought about Stevie Spangler's thrashing legs dangling from the Taker's mouth. The monster had consumed him in front of my eyes, swallowing him whole. The Keeper on the stage matched that Taker in size and ferocity. The only difference was the coloring.
I took a deep breath. "Stay here," I said to Lou. Before she could ask where I was going, I entered the theater. I slowly walked up the outer aisle. I hung on loosely to J.J. My legs ached. My chest hurt from the pounding of my heart. The Keeper locked me in an eye-to-eye stare as I approached. Its short fleshy snout raised, its massive nostrils flaring, it sniffed the air getting a bead on my scent. The orangutans moved to the front of the stage. They bounced and wailed, trying to discourage me from coming any closer. Ajax knuckle-walked down the middle aisle with the other silverback behind him. They both hoot-growled, and the orangutans calmed in response. They moved to the rear of the stage.
I stood at the base of the stage and looked up at the massive creature. It did not have the greasy coating the Takers had. Its hair looked soft and silky. Ajax moved beside me and signed something to the Keeper. It breathed in deeply through its nose and let out a short guttural chuckle.
"The warrior?" it said.
Its thick throaty voice startled me. The tone of it rattled from its vocal cords and vibrated through the air like the sound of a horrible crash.
"He's too small." The Keeper reached down and pulled me up on the stage by the scruff of my shirt.
"Hey," I heard Wes shout. The other gorillas held everyone back at the perimeter of the theater. Wes tried to break through, but he could not get by the powerful apes.
"This is a boy," the Keeper tossed me about as it examined me.
Ajax continued to sign, and the Keeper continued to treat me as if I were a rag doll. He held me by my feet and lifted me above his head.
"This one saved the Storyteller?"
"Put me down," I said.
"Shut up!" The Keeper growled. "I should eat you and wait for a real warrior."
I swung J.J. at its hand, striking it on one of its huge knuckles, but it only flinched the tiniest bit as if it were just struck by a gnat.
Nate began to yowl from his sling around Lou's neck. The Keeper directed his interest on the pained cry. "Bring him to me," the Keeper demanded.
A female gorilla reached for the sling, but Lou slapped her hand away. The gorilla protested with a high-pitched screech. Another gorilla grabbed Lou by the hair. Wes punched it on the nose, causing a chain reaction that resulted in a melee between the apes and humans. Ajax stood and pounded his chest. The apes took heed and backed off. They clearly had the advantage and could have disposed of their human counterparts with ease, but at the behest of Ajax they showed restraint and retreated into the theater. Kimball had stayed out of the fray. He was unusually tranquil.
The Keeper held me upside down to his eyelevel. "I want the Storyteller."
"No," I said.
"The gorillas promised this to me…"
"It was not their promise to make," I said. "He's my responsibility."
The Keeper gnashed its teeth and tossed me to the back of the stage. I landed with a thud on top of three agitated orangutans. Had it not been for Ajax running immediately to my rescue, the three gangly-armed orange apes would surely have torn me apart.
The Keeper leapt off the stage and stormed towards Lou and the others. He was determined to get his hands on Nate.
"Stop!" I yelled, battered and bruised from the fall.
Amused, the Keeper turned to me. "Such a loud voice for such a little boy…"
"We came here to finish the book."
"What book?" With his hands curled under his wrists, the monster stomped toward me with an ominous glare.
"Stevie Dayton's book."
Fear smothered his menacing expression. He had not expected this. "You have the book?"
Ajax signed, "Read book now!" He pointed to the purple crack in the sky.
The Keeper peered upward. "That is why the Délons do not come." The white creature began to pace. "They are waiting for you to read the book."
"I don't understand," I said.
Ajax signed again, "Read book now."
The Keeper barked, "We cannot!"
"What's going on?" I asked Ajax.
"The Délons need us to read the book," the Keeper answered. "They are in allegiance with the ones like me."
"The ones like you? You mean the Take… the Greasywhoppers?"
He smiled at this name. "The Greasywhoppers? Ahhh, yes, you cannot speak their true name. We are a brother race, not of this realm. They are here to conquer your world. We are here to restore it."
"You can restore our world?" This heartened me.
He looked toward Lou and the others. "We cannot do it without the Storytellers." He looked back at me. "Nor can we do it without the warriors."
"Why did this happen?" It was hard to hide the immaturity in my voice. I wanted to sound authoritative and commanding, but instead I sounded like a little kid asking his mommy if Santa really existed.
"Because he was afraid."
"Stevie?" I asked, hoping against hope that the Keeper meant somebody else.
He nodded. "Your kind always seeks solace inward. Most of the time you find peace there. The one called Stevie did not. He found bitterness and fear. He became so afraid that he could not hold back his inner world any longer, and the Takers escaped his mind. They are here to find others like Stevie, Storytellers to bring forth legions of dark warlords. To rule the outer world as ruthlessly as they rule the inner world of those like Stevie."
"It was because of me," I whispered.
"Yes," the Keeper said, simply, unapologetically. "This is your burden to bear." He smiled. "And your wrong to set right." He looked at Ajax. "There is no turning back if the book is read."
Ajax signed, "Gorillas always know. Read book now."
The Keeper turned back to me. "I'm afraid Ajax may be right. You have to understand by reading the book you are opening the gate between the two worlds. The Takers will enter freely, as will the Délons. Their numbers reinforced, they will seek out the other Storytellers with little resistance and a renewed vigor."
Hollis interjected. "It sounds like the prudent thing to do is not read the book."
The Keeper huffed. "In order to vanquish the inner world, you must face it." He scanned our group and the apes. "The book will show you the way, but understand, you may not like where it takes you. You must trust that the journey is a small price to pay for the destination."
I could see my troops giving the Keeper's remarks deep consideration. We all had survived the end of the world. Nothing seemed so awful to us to keep us from bringing it back.
Wes stepped forward. "Let's stop this yapping and get on with it."
Pepper raised his fist and let out an ear piercing war cry. The others, including the apes, followed suit.
***
Lou sat in the middle of the stage surrounded by the gorillas and orangutans. She needed all the protection she could get. There was little to no chance the Takers could get to her. The book was face down on her lap. She sat anxiously, waiting for the denning moment.
Ajax paced in front of his band of simian brothers. He was as majestic and noble as any general I had ever seen in history books or on television surveying his troops. The apes were his to send into battle. They fought at his command. It was really a spectacular sight to see.
The rest of us huddled together on the opposite end of the theater. We were all well armed. Nate was in his sling around my shoulder. The Keeper approached.
"It is time you entrust the Storyteller to me," he said.
I hesitated.
"The Takers will come en masse this time. If they find the Storyteller, they will open a new gate and others will come, a different race, more brutal than you have ever seen."
I nodded. Opening the sling, I fought back tears. "Okay, little guy, we'll see you when this thing's all over with." Nate's eyes squinted in the late afternoon sun. He stuck his tongue out and cooed. I handed him to the Keeper before I began to bawl like a baby.
The white giant cupped Nate in his enormous left hand, and trudged to the entrance of the theater.
Pepper called out. "Hey, big guy, where you going? We could use your help."
The Keeper paused. "This is not my war. I cannot help. I can only protect the Storyteller."
He was about to exit when I shouted, "What's your name?"
He stopped, and his eyes brightened. "I am Tarak, son of Zareh."
"Well, Tarek, son of Zareh, if they harm one hair on that kid's head, I'm holding you personally responsible." I puffed out my chest in an effort to intimidate. It was a comical attempt.
The Keeper bowed its head and exited the theater.
Devlin cleared his throat. "You sure about this, Oz?"
"No," I said. "But what choice do we have?" Valerie and Tyrone were visibly shaken. Even though they wanted no part of the coming battle, they stood by us valiantly. I knelt down beside them. "I've got a special mission for you guys." They looked at me nervously. "I want you two to protect the elephant."
"But I want to stay here and fight," Tyrone said.
"Me, too." Valerie tried to stand tall and look brave.
"I know," I said, "but the elephant is very important to us. We can't afford to lose him. Do you understand?"
They both reluctantly nodded their heads.
"Good, now go back to the entrance and wait there until somebody comes and gets you."
They started to run out of the theater.
"Be sure to find a place to hide," I said standing.
When they were gone, Devlin asked, "What's so important about the elephant?"
Miles snickered. "Nothing, dufus. He's trying to get the kids out of the way for their own safety." Miles stuck out his hand. "You're alright, boss."
