Water dripped from his clothing and his hair, spatteringon the concrete. She backed through the doorway, and he came at her. She beganto feel like a carrot. Was he mentally ill? Was he on drugs? None of thatreally mattered to her at the moment. She just wanted him out of the enclosure.She would figure out the rest of it once he was out and the seals were safe.
They were on the gravel, backing through the fake cavern,and she asked the man, "Are you ok?" There was still no response. Hejust gurgled, and water spilled from the man's mouth. He came closer to her,and she was about to dodge out of the man's way when she bumped into one of thezoo's many garbage cans.
She fell to the ground, and then the man was upon her.She pushed with all her strength, but she couldn't escape from underneath ofthe man. His weight was too great. She pushed with her legs, and they slidacross the gravel. His wet hair hung down, brushing her cheeks with cold wettendrils, and then she saw his eyes, lifeless dead things, not a spark of lifein them.
Around her, she could hear the bleating of the seals, theroar of the polar bears, and the excited chattering of the penguins. They couldsense that something was wrong, and Lila cursed herself for not noticing itbefore. Something had been wrong for days, but she had been too stupid tonotice. Content with her own simple world, she had failed to pay attention tothe warning signs, and now she was going to pay the price for it. Something waswrong, and she didn't even know what it was. Something was wrong, and it waslying right on top of her.
As she shoved the man backwards, she thought about thezoo. She thought about what would happen if she were to fall here, to this man.The animals, the glorious animals, would be trapped in their enclosures. Mostof them would starve to death. Some of them would eat each other, but mostwould just starve without the human caretakers there to feed them, The thoughtof her lovely cheetah's lying dead in their enclosure did something to her.Strength filled her muscles, and she pushed the man off of her.
He rolled over on his side, pawing at her and sendinghimself off-balance as he tried to rise at the same time. Lila took hersteel-toed boot, as demanded by OSHA, and kicked the man in the mouth. She feltnothing, but the results were astounding. The man's mouth went inward, and fora second, it looked like he was trying to suck on her boot. When she pulled herboot free, blood fell to the ground and in that blood she could see bits ofteeth. They fell like bits of eggshells onto the ground, and Lila dancedbackwards, wondering how she had let it come to this. She had never hurtanother human being in her life, and guilt overrode her own self-preservation.
"Are you ok?" she asked the man. But he made noanswer, he just stood up, his arms pawing at the air between them. He gurgledthrough his own blood, and advanced upon her. She was going to have to take himdown. Whatever was going on was big. Why else had the zoo been largely emptyfor the last few days? Why else had her co-workers failed to show up to work?Because something was seriously wrong.
She wouldn't let the animals be hurt. She looked aroundfor anything that she could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. The zoo wassupposed to be a safe place, so most implements that were deemed dangerous toanimals or humans had been worked out of the design. All she had were herhands. She looked at the man again, his sickening face and dead eyes followedher as she danced from side to side. She circled behind the man and shoved himto the ground, hoping that whatever was wrong with the man was not contagious.
He fell to the ground easily, and she went to work,stomping on the poor man. When she was done, the man lay on the ground, hisankle still twitching. His skull had split at some point, and blood and gorestained the gravel where he now lay. She didn't know how long she had beenkicking the man, but when she was done, she sank to her knees, as her legs feltlike they were built from stuffing jammed inside sun-bronzed skin.
She fell to the ground and howled at the sky. All aroundher, she could hear the sounds of the animals in the zoo. Lila looked at theremains of the man on the ground, at the twitching foot, and tears came to hereyes. Sobs rang out through the zoo, but there was no one there to hear her.She sat that way for some time, her mind running at a thousand-miles-per-hour,filling with questions that she had no answer to. Where was everyone? What was goingon? Who was this man? How much shit was she in?
The only answers were the cries of the animals.Eventually, she wiped the tears out of her eyes and looked at herblood-spattered clothing. She had just killed someone. Someone had died becauseof her. The clouds of her emotions began to dissipate, leaving one solitaryfeeling... fear. The fear wasn't for her; it was for the animals. Something wasgoing on. She was the only one here capable of taking care of the animals andmaking sure they were fed. If the police were to arrest her for her murder, theanimals would surely die.
Lila rose to her feet, fighting her wobbly legs. Shegrabbed the cold, wet leg of the dead man and dragged him along the walkwaythat ran between exhibits. Blood spilled out of the man as they went, pouringforth from the grievous head wound she had inflicted. When she reached the edgeof the polar bear enclosure, she stopped, and looked up at the sun as it rosehigh
