Lila looked at the empty swivel chair in front of themonitors. He had never been here. When was the last time that Lila had seen Sy?She tried to think back, but the days were all a blur to her. She existed inthe zoo. That's all she lived for. The animals were the only friends that shehad ever needed, and though some of them would just as soon kill her as look ather, she didn't mind. They were animals. That's what they did.
From Ranger and Strike, the zoo's cheetahs to Kinny themandrill, Lila had always found the animals more fascinating than the humans atthe zoo. They were her charge, her reason for being, and now something was seriouslyamiss. She needed to find out if her animals were in danger, so she scanned themonitors to see if anyone was around. She had to fiddle with the controls ofthe monitors to see all throughout the zoo, keeping her fingers crossed thatshe didn't mess the equipment up. She shouldn't even be in here, but there wasno one here to tell her what to do. Just when she thought was about to give uphope, she saw someone standing next to the seal exhibit, swaying back andforth, head swiveling back and forth as Kaya swam in the clear water of herenclosure. As she watched, the man threw his leg over the railing.
"What the hell are you doing?" she said to noone. Then, as the man threw his other leg over the railing, she stoppedwatching and she ran. She bolted through the security room's door, down thestairs of the back offices, and through a set of double doors into the giftshop, past rows of stuffed animals and piles of forgettable keychains thrownhaphazardly in wicker bins. The doors of the gift shop slid open, and her feetpounded the paved path that led through the zoo. At the first intersection, shetook a right and headed toward the pacific shores exhibit. Her breathing wasragged as she rounded the corner to the seal enclosure. Kaya and the other sealswere sitting on top of the manmade rocks and there was no sight of the man thathad entered the enclosure. However, the harsh barking of the seals let Lilaknow that the man was still around. She climbed up on the railing, though shewould have yelled at anyone else for doing the same, and she scanned around theenclosure, looking in the shadowy parts for signs of the man. There wasnothing, but the seals were more insistent now.
Lila backed off the railing and circled around into asmall, dark cavern. The gravel crunched under her shoes, and the artificial cavewas lit by the light that poured in from a small porthole that was set into thewall of the cavern so that people could see the seals underwater. It was theonly way to see them as far as Lila was concerned. As Lila stepped up to theporthole, her hand went to her mouth. The man was there, underneath the water,his hair floating above his head as if it were trying to get away from him.
His eyes were trained upwards at the rock formation wherethe seals were perched, their barks echoing through the park. His face wasexpressionless and his arms were outstretched before him. He struggled to movethrough the water, walking along the bottom of the pool. As Lila watched, shewaited for the man to bend his knees and propel himself to the surface. Shebanged the side of her fist on the disorienting, thick glass of the portholetrying to get the man's attention.
"Hey! Hey!" she yelled, the side of her fistsmacking dully of the porthole glass. "Get out of there!"
There was no response from the man. She wasn't even sureif the man was seeing her due to his hair floating around his head. He simplytrudged forward, up the natural incline that led toward the seals.
He has to come up for air, she thought. Howlong has it been? But he didn't come up for air, he struggled up theincline, bending at the waist and crawling like an animal up the smoothinterior of the enclosure.
Lila turned and ran through the darkness, her heelsslipping in the loose pea gravel. She skidded to a stop in front of the barelyconcealed door to the enclosure. She fumbled at her waist for a key ring. Thebase of the keys were color-coded with rubber to help her easily find thecorrect key, aquamarine for the Pacific Shores exhibits which featured seals,otters, polar bears, and even a few penguins and other less impressive aquaticbirds. She jammed the key into the door, spun it around, and then pulled thedoor open.
Inside, the enclosure, the floor was sparse grayconcrete. It led up to the rock-like formations, and Lila saw the seals leapinto the water, swimming to the opposite side of the enclosure. They sat in thesunlight, the sun sparkling off of their glistening hides, but the man appearedagain, pulling himself out of the water, his hair hanging over his face.
"Hey!" Lila yelled. "Get out ofhere!"
The man turned towards her, as a blind man would. Shecould only see bits of his eyes through his long, wet hair. He shuffled towardsher. In the back, she heard the seals barking as if they were warning her toescape. Something felt decidedly off, and she backpedaled a bit. The mancontinued forward.
"Listen. I'm going to call the cops if you don't getout of here." It was a bluff at best. She had no phone. She had a radiothat she would have used to contact whoever was in the security room, and theywould
