That’s one way to oust a CEO, she thought. No one on the board will ever fuck with me again. The thought almost brought a smile to her face, but she wouldn’t allow herself one until they were flying out of here.
“Let’s just get the plane ready first and–”
“We have to find her,” he said, moving off her shoulder. His motivation seemed to heal him, at least for the time being. “Please.”
“We have no clue where they went.”
“There’s only one way they could have gone.” Andy pointed to the trees ahead. “That way.”
Chang sighed. “Then let’s go.”
They walked across the tarmac and into the patchy woodland. She swatted mosquitos away from her face and kept her finger on the Glock’s trigger. There was no sign of wildlife save for a few birds singing high on a branch somewhere. They continued hiking for awhile and Chang was tempted to say they should head back when Andy suddenly stopped. She looked too.
About twenty feet ahead, at the edge of a tiny clearing, lay the bloodied body of a man. Cautiously, the two of them stepped closer for a better look and saw that it was Sans, horrifically mauled and eviscerated. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Chang felt bile rising in her throat and turned away.
“Are there still hybrids around here?” she said.
“It should be too bright for them.”
She began moving. “We better get back to the–”
She froze. Andy followed her line of sight and stopped too. They both knew what had killed Sans.
An animalistic figure was standing about thirty feet away. There was blood all over her mouth and claws, but she looked more ashamed than territorial as she froze before them.
“Sydney?” he called.
She took a step towards them when Chang suddenly raised the Glock and fired.
It missed, but Sydney turned and scrambled away into the underbrush.
“What the hell are you doing?” Andy snapped.
“Didn’t you see? She’s gone completely feral!”
“She killed him in self-defense!”
“She ripped him to fucking shreds and ate him! She’s too dangerous to be brought back! We have to go. Now!” She took off in a sprint back towards the airfield.
“Wait!” he cried after her, but it was no use. There was no choice but to follow her.
By the time he reached the hangar, he found her opening the rear door of the plane and ascending the stairs. “Come on!” she called.
Frantically, he looked back at the forest. Sydney was nowhere in sight. “Shit,” he muttered, and ran for the aircraft. After he had closed the door behind him and joined her in the cockpit, Chang turned to him as she began the pre-flight check.
“It’s not her fault,” she said. “It was his.”
“We don’t have to leave her here. We could sedate her, bring her back and try to fix her.”
Chang shook her head. “The research is gone. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do this but she’s beyond help. You have to understand that she’s not a person anymore.”
The next thing he knew, they were starting down the landing strip. Andy felt an uneasy serenity watching the trees whip by as the aircraft sped down the tarmac. Then the ground fell away.
From the top of a tree on the northern side of the plateau, Sydney watched as the plane banked to the left and flew off towards the distant reaches of the savanna.
She continued watching as it dwindled into a little speck in the sky. By the time it vanished, there were tears rolling down her cheeks.
RETURN
The sun was getting low beyond the Potomac view of the boardroom’s panoramic windows, bathing the place in an evening glow. Chang and a suited man sat on the other side of the table, files and stacks of papers littering the mahogany between them.
He had introduced himself as Derek Marder, the COO. He was a lean corporate type with silvery gray hair but not a wrinkle on his face. “The team made a final sweep of the facility yesterday. Sans and his personal staff are all confirmed dead, as well as seven of the hybrid creatures you and Ms. Chang described. That leaves five unaccounted for.”
“Did they get off the reserve?” Andy asked.
“Unfortunately, it appears so,” Chang said. “An unusual animal attack was reported in Serengeti National Park two days ago. An entire group of zebras was found brutally slaughtered, but each was only partially eaten. We’ve hired Solomon Akeda, a respected zoologist who was at the scene, to spearhead the search.”
“Why would the animals do that?” Marder asked.
“Probably establishing territory,” Andy suggested. “They’re expanding, seeing where on the food chain they fit in the new ecosystem.”
“Yes,” Marder said, shuffling papers. “Which is very, very bad. Akeda’s team is trying to track them down, but it’s going to be hard to keep this quiet. Not to mention the millions of dollars in research we’ve lost and telling the truth to the families about how their children really died. It’s not a good time for anyone right now.”
“The legal department has advised me against speaking about the nature of the settlements we’re preparing,” Chang said. “But just between us, Andy, I doubt SansCorp will be able to recover from this.”
He silently gazed out at the river, unsure of what to say.
“Your family is still picking you up tomorrow?” Marder asked.
“Yes,” Andy said. “When I called them, they were quite surprised to learn I was still alive.”
“I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you in person. And the hotel has been fine?”
“Perfectly fine, sir.”
“It’s the least we could do.” Chang smiled, then her mood grew somber. “I’m really sorry this all happened.”
“It’s none of our faults,” he said, watching his fingers tap on the wood. Then he looked up. “Was there any sign of Sydney?”
Marder shook his head. “They’ve combed the entire reserve. No trace of her.”
Andy silently nodded.
“Okay, that’s it,” Chang said. “We’ll keep you updated.”
Andy got up, pushed in the chair, and exited back into the hallway. He took the elevator down, walked past the reception with the large, sleek SansCorp logo emblazoned on the wall, and came outside into a gentle summer evening’s breeze.
There was something he needed to do, but he checked his watch. It was almost ten to seven. They were usually closed by now. Unless… He pulled out his phone and quickly Googled something. Sure enough, it was open today until 7:30 due to Extended Summer Hours. He could make it if he got there quickly.
Andy requested an Uber, which arrived two minutes later. The drive from Bethesda to downtown D.C. took roughly half an hour, but he finally stepped out onto the sidewalk and glanced towards the Washington Monument down the Mall. The Capitol Building wasn’t far behind him. But he didn’t even pause to take in those sights, running up the stairs to the building’s grand entrance.
At the security check inside, the guard told him: “We’re closing in less than ten minutes.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “There’s just one thing I need to see.”
He briskly walked to the left of the main rotunda with its enormous elephant display and continued into the Hall of Mammals. Crowds of people were gently drifting out as he made his way to the Africa exhibit. It was just as he’d seen it two weeks before, but it felt different now. Empty almost, and not because he was one of the few people still here. As he walked up the ramp leading deeper into the hall, he paused to look up at the leopard, staring off into an imagined savanna with its kill slung over the branch beside it.
Andy tried to imagine her up in a tree like that one, looking out on her new domain with the pride of an apex predator– free to roam the land on an endless safari, unrestricted by society’s constraints just as she’d always dreamed. Regardless of wherever she was or what became of her, he knew one thing was certain.
She would always be human to him.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’d like to thank the people who have helped me with the preparation of this novel: my Dreyfoos creative writing teachers Brittany Rigdon, Angela Weber, Brittany Ackerman, and Donovan Ortega, and my biology teacher Stephen Anand. I’d also like to thank “Uncle” Edward Seagram and “Uncle” Phillip Benson for their insights on hunting, and Jane Snook for her photographs and tales of Africa that served as inspiration for the setting. And lastly, to my mother and editor Barbara for providing invaluable support and insight throughout the writing process.
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