"But that leaves us completely exposed," Lilasaid.
"Exposed to what?" Sy asked.
"Exposed to anyone, anything."
With his hat in his hand, Sy scratched at his head."You're not planning on staying here forever are you?"
Lila looked at Sy, his wrinkled face screwed up in herdirection. "Why not?"
"I mean, once those animals are gone, what purposeis there to staying here? You don't have any weapons, and from what I heardbefore the news went out, things aren't going too well in Portland. There mustbe thousands of those thing in Portland, and you're sitting right on the edgeof it."
Sy raised some doubts in her plan, but she wanted to benear if any of the animals came home. She knew how ridiculous that would soundto Sy, so she just asked, "Do you know of a safer place?"
Sy looked at her, sadness on his face, "I don't knowof any place that's safe. This thing is happening all over the world." Helooked off into the distance. "It's as if the earth itself was turningagainst us."
In the end, she decided that the front gates were theonly way to ensure that the creatures they released would actually be able toescape. The zoo was a large property, but with all of the animals competing forfood in the same general space, sooner or later they would have to leave andlearn to survive out in the wild.
The day after Sy arrived, they found a nice Zoo shuttleand decided to drive it through the front gates. Sy had volunteered to drivethe thing through rather than risk Lila in the collision. They had argued aboutit back and forth before Sy finally said, "You're young. My time's almostup. If something happens to you when you try and bust down that gate, it wouldbe a waste of your life, and mine would mean nothing."
He truly meant it. Lila couldn't believe that he couldcare so much for her, though they barely even knew each other. She watched asSy revved the engine. The tires squealed as he accelerated, and within a fewseconds, he was crashing into the middle of the zoo's front gates. The noisewas horrendous, the crunch of metal, the squealing of tires as the van lostcontrol, the screech of bending metal as the gates were torn from theirmoorings, and then the scrape of metal on asphalt as a piece of the metalturnstiles caught the undercarriage of the van and tipped it over onto thedriver's side. It slid to a stop, and Lila ran to the van.
She stood in front of the vehicle, unable to see insidedue to the deployed airbag. White powder from the air bag's deployment stillhung in the air. She kicked at the windshield of the van with her steel-toed boots.The glass shattered under the force, but clung together, until she kicked somemore. Not fearing getting cut, she reached in through the hole she made andpushed the glass away, cutting her hands in the process. She climbed in,swimming through the remains of the air bag to find Sy lying on his side. Hiseyes were closed and Lila pulled on his body, trying to get him out of the vanin case it burst into flames or something. He moved a few inches, and then hedidn't budge. She found the latch to his seatbelt, and undid it before tryingagain. This time, she managed to pull him further out of the vehicle, but thensomething stopped her once again. Sy awoke, screaming in pain.
The shock of Sy's voice caused her to drop his hand. Hewas clearly in pain. His nose was bloody from where the airbag had hit him inthe face, but she didn't see anything else wrong with him. "What's wrong,Sy?"
"My damn arm is trapped," he said. "Ican't even feel the damn thing." Lila crawled inside the van to see whatwas wrong. She spotted the problem immediately. Below the elbow, his armdisappeared underneath the metal of the van. His arm was trapped, twisted andbroken. As the realization of what had happened to Sy's arm dawned on her, shebegan to feel faint.
"You gotta get me out of here, Lila," Sypleaded, genuine fear on his face.
"I don't think I can. Your arm is trapped underneaththe van."
Sy's face filled with panic at the news. "You gottaget me out of here!" he yelled. "Those things. They'll be coming.That type of noise will draw them, sure as Sunday. You gotta get me out ofhere!"
Down the street, from the direction of the highway, shecould see distant shapes moving in their direction. They were human, but if Sywere to be believed, they were most likely dead humans.
Sy must have seen the look on her face because he said, "Oh,God. What is it? It's them ain't it? Get me outta here!"
Lila looked down at Sy, and she had no clue what to do.He was trapped underneath a van that she had no chance of moving on her own,and the dead were making their slow way towards them. There was nothing shecould do.
"Lila. Listen to me. We need a knife, something,anything to get me out of here."
"You want me to cut your arm off?" she asked.
"I'd rather have one arm than be one of thosethings. C'mon, hurry, Lila. Find something."
Lila avoided thinking about what she would do as she ranback into the zoo. Her sole focus was to find something sharp to cut throughthe remains of Sy's arm. But what about the bleeding? She would worry about thatwhen she finally got him free. She burst into the gift shop, her eyes lookingfor anything that she could use to free Sy. There was nothing. The shelves werelined with stuffed animals, toys, junk food, and things that most people wouldput in a Goodwill box after their kids forgot about them a month later.
Adrenaline ran through her body, and her brain was racingfast. There was nothing here. Nothing. Sy was trapped in the van, and shecouldn't think of anything to free him. Then she remembered the maintenancesheds... there could be something in there. She ran to them, feeling everysingle second tick by.
She threw open the doors to
