“Daddy,” she says. “The animals …”
She doesn’t finish her thought. I can hear the fear in her voice and imagine that the animals are getting closer. The closer we are to getting away from them, the closer they get to us.
“It’s gonna be okay, sweetie. Just get ready to jump into the back seat.” I can see the animals on the other side of the car closing in on us. Our time is up. We have to make our move right now or end up like the others in the retention pond.
I open both the front and rear passenger doors at the same time. I grab Fi around her waist with the intention of pulling her out of the lower part of the foam suit. My plan doesn’t work. Instead, her feet get caught, and as I put her into the back seat, I realize her lower half was still snared.
The animals are starting to make their move. The monkeys and lemurs are coming first. My adrenaline starts to pump. We are so close to getting out of here.
“Fuck!” I scream as I start kicking the monkeys as they rush us. They don’t seem be in kill mode. God knows if they were, we’d be dead by now. It feels as though they are just trying to slow us down.
“Get in, sweetie!” I yell as I push her into the back seat. I push hard to try and get the lower part of the suit into the back as well. It isn’t budging. “Pull up your feet, Fi.” I’m trying not to panic. I can see the faint outline of something running right toward me. As it gets closer, I can make out that it is a lemur. I lift my foot and stomp on its head. I feel the skull cave in under my shoe. Brain and gore stick to the underside of my shoe.
“Pull your knees up so they clear the door.” I am pushing her legs hard so I won’t slam the car door on her.
“I’m trying, Daddy!” she yells in a panic. “I think I’m stuck!”
I push harder but realize it is in vain. We are out of time. I can feel fur brushing against my legs. The animals are going to attack soon. I back away from the car and grab the door. I throw the door shut as hard as I can, hoping the sheer force will make the latch catch through the thick foam.
The car door pops open.
I muster all my strength and try again. I hear a weak thud and it seems as though the car door has caught. The thick foam is sticking out, but it appears to be staying shut. I turn to get into the passenger door.
I am met by at least thirty different animals. They are all two to three feet away and I can see the blood lust in their eyes. I bend down and quickly pick up the Gerber knife. As I stand, a deer jumps off the roof of the car. I barely see it in time through the corner of my eye. I hold the knife up and it impales itself on the eight-inch blade. The weight of the deer as it falls to the ground makes me lose my grip on the knife. Without hesitating, I turn to jump into the open passenger door. The whole time I am kicking and trying to stomp on any animal that comes close to me. I still can’t help but think that they aren’t really attacking us.
I grab the doorframe and am about to jump in when I come eye to eye with one of the wolf hybrids. We are so close that I can see every detail on its face. Its eyes make me shiver in fear. They have the icy stare of a killer, but there is something more. I don’t feel a life force behind its eyes. All this time I’ve thought these animals have had some kind of higher plan and purpose, but now, as I look into this beast’s eyes, all I see is murder and survival. It wants to survive, and I feel its survival depends on me.
“Daddy, hurry!
”
Fi screams from the back seat. She hasn’t seen the wolf yet. Without thinking, I reach out to grab the beast. It doesn’t flinch as my hands dart for its head. In fact, it seems to move closer, allowing me to get a better grip on it. I wrap my right arm around its neck and pull it towards me. As I do, Fi finally sees the wolf and screams. When I instinctively turn to look at my screaming daughter, the wolf lowers its head and slips free of my strangle hold around its neck. Then, in one fluid motion, it lunges and sinks its teeth into me. I scream as its teeth rips through my shoulder.
Instead of thrashing its head around and tearing my shoulder apart, the wolf opens its mouth and releases me from its jaws. I immediately shuffle back towards the car door, open it, and kick the wolf in the face. My blood is still dripping out of its mouth as it just looks at me, not even fazed by my kick.
It stands there, staring me down. Fi is still screaming in the back seat. Just when I think the wolf is going to finish me off, it hops over me and jumps over the car. I sit there for a few seconds, stunned that I am still breathing. The pain rips through my shoulder and Fi’s screams bring me back. I dart into the passenger seat so I can close the door. Just as I am about to secure it, an ostrich sneaks its head in. I pull hard and decapitate it.
I fucking hate ostriches.
I get behind the wheel and start the car. “It’s okay, Fi!” I shout, trying to talk over her screams. “We’re gonna be okay. We’re getting out of here.”
I start backing up the car, hoping to run over ten to fifteen of those fucking animals. I look out the rearview mirror and notice the animals are moving away from the car--not scattering like they were scared of the car, but moving back to allow us room to get out. The parking lot is just dirt ground and sand, and dust is everywhere as I gun the engine for the exit.
My eyes are really bad by this point, and under normal circumstances, I would never have gotten behind the wheel of a car. But nothing about today was normal.
I floor it and hit a pothole in the lot. The vibrations shake the car violently and the back door next to Fi pops open.
“Daddy!
”
Fi screamed.
I’m afraid to stop. We are still in the parking lot, and even through the dust in the air I can see the outlines of a lot of animals still watching us.
“Hold on, sweetie!” I yell into the back seat. “Let me get some distance from the animals and then I’ll close the door.”
Too late.
I hear Fi scream louder than ever before. I look back and see a small marmoset jumping into the backseat with Fi.
Fi put her hands up as the marmoset lunges toward her. By luck, it jumps right into her open hands. She holds it at arm’s length and I quickly jam on the brakes. I reach around, put my hands on top of Fi’s, and begin to squeeze with all my force.
“Squeeze, honey!
”
I yell. I can feel her hands tightening as we both close our fists around the marmoset’s body. I feel bones snap and organs squish. It lets out a little yelp as its eyes explode from their sockets. Then it is dead.
We both sit there for a second, staring at the pile of gore in our hands.
“Open your hands, sweetie,” I say. She stares at the blood and gore dripping through her fingers and out of her palms.
“Sweetie,” I say a little louder. “It’s okay. You can open your hands.” I throw the crushed animal out the open door. Fi is able to free her feet from the foam suit and kicks the remnants of it out the door. She reaches over and pulls her door shut. We look at each other and hug.
She then sits down in the back and puts on the seat belt.
I drive away fast.
I don’t look in the rearview mirror.
Why bother? I know what I would find.
As we drive away from the zoo down Rawhide Trail, my mind races a mile a minute. I am trying to make sense of what has happened. Why did the animals attack us? Why did they let us go? A pain shoots through my shoulder and I know I have to go to the hospital. How the hell am I going to explain that a wolf bit me?
Regardless, I know that everything is going to be all right. I may have gotten bitten, but Fi is okay. I protected my little girl against all odds. I can't help but smile, even though it is a sour.
“I’m sorry, Julie,” I whisper as tears fill my eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“What, Daddy?” says the tired voice from the back seat.
“Nothing, sweetie,” I say as I try to choke back the tears.
My little girl is going to be okay. That’s what matters. This whole time I’ve wondered if I’d be able to step up in the face of danger. All this time I’ve thought that, if I just had the opportunity, I’d prove to everyone that I was brave. Maybe that would even alleviate the guilt of doing nothing as I watched Dave being torn apart all those years ago.
None of that matters, as redemption is nothing but a Hollywood plot device. The world isn’t so black and white. Well, maybe it is. I protected my little girl, and that’s the only thing that matters.
I reach for my cell phone so I can call my wife and tell her to meet us at the hospital. As I begin to dial, I hear the faint sounds of helicopters in the distance.
“Hi, honey,” I start to say as my wife answers the phone, but I don’t get any more words out. I break into tears.
I turned onto Circle Drive and see that Fi has fallen asleep. When I am able to talk again, I tell my wife about what has happened at the zoo. She is silent as she lets me tell the story at my own pace.
Fi sleeps in the back seat, no doubt dreaming about monsters.
As I turn onto Highway 290, I hear the helicopters getting louder.
Afterwards
Two days after the incident at the Austin Zoo
Avery Ranch Development, Austin, TX
Kim and Bryan are walking home from school. They live in a neighborhood where the school is just minutes from their house. Their parents love the fact that they don’t have to take the school bus. Maybe they can postpone their kids’ exposure to bad words another couple of years.
Kim is nine going on thirty-eight, and Bryan is six years old. They always wait for each other after the final school bell rings. Their parents know they have a couple of great kids. They always look after each other and rarely ever fight.
They walk along Staked Plains Loop to get to their house on Hattery Lane. Both their parents work, but one always tries to make it home in time to meet the kids after school. Today, their mother, Janice, gets stuck in a meeting. She sends Kim a text telling them she will be a little late, but to go straight home and she will meet them there. Kim likes it when her parents are late. She feels like the adult in the house. Plus, she likes taking care of Bryan.
“Come on, Kim,” Bryan says as he starts running toward the park. “Let’s play before we go home.” Bryan is a little short for his age, but makes up for it by being fearless. He isn’t afraid of the bigger kids in the school and loves to climb tall trees. The trees in the park are his favorite. The trees around his house, like most in the new development, are still way too small to climb, but here in the park they are huge. Perfect for climbing.
“No, Bryan!” Kim calls back to him. “Mom told us to go straight home.” Bryan is already to the park. Kim rolls her eyes. “Children,” she says out loud as she runs to catch up with her brother. Truth is, she loves to play at the park, but she also wants to show her mom how grown up she is and that she can follow instructions.
“Okay, Bryan,” Kim says as she finally catches up to Bryan next to the slide. “We can play for ten minutes and that’s it.”
Bryan knows when his older sister is in no mood for negotiations and agrees. He immediately runs over to his favorite oak tree and begins to climb.
Kim looks around the park. There are two metal benches at each end of the park under the shady trees. There are definitely bigger parks around their house, but this one is the most convenient on their way home from school. It has two slides, a small rock-climbing wall, and a large playhouse structure complete with monkey bars.
Kim is climbing up the ladder to go down the slide when she notices a small dog lying under a tree. She isn’t sure what kind it was, but it reminds her of the dog from the
Benji
movies. She descends the ladder and approaches the animal slowly, saying stuff like, “Hi there, cutie. My name’s Kim. What are you doing out here all alone?” The dog pricks up its ears, but doesn’t react like some of the dogs her friends have. It raises its head, but doesn’t seem too energetic.
When Kim is about ten feet away from the dog, she gets down on one knee and holds out her hand, making clicking sounds with her tongue. The dog just looks at her.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Bryan yells as he runs over. “Don’t get too close to that dog.”
“I’m not, doofus,” she says, smiling. “I’m just trying to see if it has a collar and if it’s lost.”
“I don’t see one,” Bryan says.
“Well, it must be someone’s dog,” Kim reasons. “There’s a lot of houses around here. It must have gotten out of the backyard.”
“Well, what should we do?” Bryan asks. “He looks hungry.”
“We could take him home and give him a little food,” Kim suggests. “Then we could take a picture of him and put ‘Lost Dog’ signs up all over the neighborhood.”
“What about Booger?” Bryan asks, thinking about the five-year-old tabby cat at home. “Booger’s not real good with other pets.”