Ashton Memorial (38 page)

Gregory cleared his throat,
the sound of it rumbling throughout the zoo. “Citizens of Ashton
Memorial, this woman is clearly unstable. She has obviously stolen
equipment from the brave men and women who keep you safe. She is
using stolen Keeper equipment to spread her madness.”

Angie snorted and dropped the communicator
in her pocket. She looked around, making sure the way was clear to
go. She took her own rifle from her shoulder.

Gregory continued, his
voice booming all around. “From my vantage point, I have seen the
things this woman has done. She and her group are the ones who let
those creatures into our borders. Into your home. Those things have
invaded the sanctuary of Ashton Memorial, and she is
responsible.”

“He's fucking crazy,”
muttered Park, spitting rain out of his mouth.

“But fear not,” said
Gregory's echoing voice. “We have creatures of our own. Proud,
noble creatures who will not hesitate to defend us. To drive these
invaders away. Rest assured, citizens. This is my kingdom. And I
hold the keys.”

A click rang out from somewhere far off.
Then another. Then another. Then one click after another so fast
Angie couldn't keep up. She and the others looked around, straining
to see through the heavy rain.

“What's going on?” said
Dalton.

“Not sure,” said Angie. The
clicking continued as Angie looked all over, trying to pinpoint the
source of the noise. Her eyes fell on the hyena exhibit. The hyenas
snarled at her, their wet hair bristling in the rain. The light by
the door at the back of the exhibit was red.

Then the door clicked.

And the light turned green.

The hyenas jerked, startled by the loud
clicking noise. They turned to see the door slowly swing open.
Snarling and yelping, they ran for the open door.

“Oh shit,” said
Angie.

“That's bad,” said
Park.

Growling and snarling came from all around.
The growls and the clicking of the locks seemed to have alerted
every corpse in the area. Groans erupted from all sides.

“Really bad,” said Angie,
gripping her rifle and looking around.

“Who knew taunting the
crazy man could go so badly?” said Park.

A goat raced from the rain, bleating and
grunting in fury. It raced toward Maylee.

“Look out!” yelled
Angie.

Maylee dodged to one side, bringing up her
bat as the goat ran past.

“I got it!” yelled Angie,
leveling her rifle at the goat as it stopped and turned. It lowered
its head and barreled back at Maylee.

Angie fired. The dart
thudded into the goat’s hip. It slowed, staggered and slumped to
the ground, inches from Maylee. Maylee stood over it warily, bat
over her head. Finally she lowered it, looking at Angie and
panting. “Thanks.”

Angie nodded, whipping her head around as
more growls and moans came from the rain.

“I think we may need to
fall back for the time being,” she said.

“I think you may be pretty
fucking right,” said Park.

A horde of lizards raced from the rain. None
more than a foot in length. Angie recognized them from the reptile
exhibit. The lizards raced to Dalton. He screamed and fell back,
the lizards almost swarming him.

“Dalton!” yelled Angie and
Maylee in unison. They both raced to defend Dalton. Maylee got
there first, slamming her bat down into the mob of lizards. Several
splattered against the pavement. Angie arrived and kicked as many
as she could away. One hissed and turned on her, racing up her leg.
It flared a membrane on the back of its head and bit at her
clothing.

“Mom!” yelled
Dalton.

Angie grabbed the lizard and threw it as far
away as she could. She spun as she turned, then gasped as the
thrown lizard thudded into the chest of an approaching corpse. It
was a bloated naked woman, deep black sores in her stomach and
breasts. The lizard clawed madly at the corpse's flesh, trying to
get back to Angie. The woman ignored the lizard, groaning and
grasping for Angie. The lizard tore huge hunks of skin free,
revealing black blood and rotting bone.

“Shit!” said Angie,
watching the corpse and feeling more lizards swarming around her
legs. She heard Dalton screaming and Maylee crushing lizards with
her bat. Sharp, squelching clangs rang out as the bat smacked the
pavement over and over again.

The woman jerked and spun as something hit
her from behind. Angie saw a dart protruding from the back of her
head. The woman fell, crushing the lizard as she splattered onto
the pavement. Park lowered his rifle and ran over.

Angie turned back to Dalton
and the lizards. He brushed the last one from him, tossing it away
in revulsion. It hit the pavement and Maylee swatted it farther
away. One was racing around Angie's legs. She kicked it and it
skittered across the pavement. It turned back to hiss at her. Park
arrived and kicked it so hard it flew out of sight. “We heading
back to the office?” he said to Angie.

“Fuck yes,” said Angie. “Go
go!” she yelled, motioning for everyone to run. Everyone did,
heading back around the corner and racing toward the
office.

They ran as hard as they
dared, unable to see more than a few feet ahead in the driving
rain. Growls and snarls and moans came from everywhere. “Everyone
be careful!” she yelled.

She took three more pounding steps and a
corpse emerged from the rain. It was a big man with slimy rotting
jowls and yellow teeth. He was on her before she could get her
rifle out.

“Mom!” yelled both Dalton
and Maylee behind her.

Angie pushed back as the corpse wrapped his
thick slimy arms around her. Angie turned her rifle upward against
her chest and fired. The dart shot up into the man's chin. He
jerked and fell backward, trying to work his mouth open. The dart
pinned it shut. Angie stepped back, bringing the rifle up to fire
again. A dart flew past her head and thudded into the man's
forehead. His jowls shook and he dropped straight down,
motionless.

Angie cast a glance back to see Park
lowering his rifle.

“Thanks,” she
said.

Park nodded. “We gotta
get.”

Angie nodded and turned back. She motioned
for the others to follow. She started again, more slowly than
before. She kept looking left to right, waiting for something else
to emerge.

They reached the large open walkway. Angie
knew the office was at the far end. She could make out the vague
shape of it in the pounding rain.

She could make out another shape too. Large
and hulking, it blocked the way to the office. It snorted and
stepped toward them.

“Oh fuck me sideways,” said
Angie as the shape became clearer.

“Is that a fucking rhino?”
said Park.

The rhino snorted and stomped its feet. It
grunted and huffed.

Then it charged.

* * *

Maylee tensed as the rhino charged. It
snorted and pounded through the rain. The ground shook from the
impact.

“Get out of the way!”
yelled Mom.

Maylee, Mom and Park all ran to the right.
Dalton didn't move. He stood, staring at the charging rhino. His
eyes were wide and he looked like he was trembling. Mom and Park
were in front and hadn't seen.

“Dalton!” yelled Maylee.
“Run!” Her voice was drowned out by the rain and the pounding of
the charging rhino. Dalton didn't move.

Maylee ran back toward Dalton, into the path
of the rhino.

“Dalton! Maylee!” yelled
Mom. Maylee saw Mom turning as she ran.

Maylee reached Dalton and grabbed him around
the waist. She dove, taking Dalton with her, to the left as the
rhino charged by. It missed them by inches.

Maylee and Dalton rolled across the
pavement. Dalton yelped as their elbows and knees banged into the
pavement. The pavement turned to grass. Then they stopped suddenly
as they crashed into something hard.

Maylee scrambled up, terrified they'd hit
some other crazed animal. Dalton stood next to her. Maylee let out
a sigh as she realized they'd hit a large tree.

“That hurt!” said Dalton,
rubbing his elbows.

“Not as much as the rhino
would have hurt,” said Maylee, looking up at the tree. It was
old-looking. Tall and sturdy.

“Maylee!” came Mom's voice
through the rain. Maylee whirled to see the rhino turning left and
right, looking for them. It found them and roared.

“Shit!” yelled Maylee. “Up
in the tree!”

“What?” said
Dalton.

“It's all I can think of,
Dalton!” Maylee yelled, dropping her bat next to the tree trunk.
“So unless you can fly, get up in the tree!”

Maylee climbed up onto the lowest branch.
She laid flat on her belly and reached down for Dalton. He took
hold of her hand and put his feet on the trunk. She pulled him up.
The rhino, snorting and pounding, drew close. It roared.

Maylee screamed and pulled Dalton up to the
branch. The rhino passed right underneath them, slamming its head
into the tree. The whole tree shook with the impact. Maylee almost
slipped off the branch. She wrapped her legs and arms around it as
tightly as she could. Dalton took hold of her arm and gripped so
tightly it hurt.

The rhino staggered back, shaking its head
in fury. It staggered around, looking confused. Somewhere in the
rain, Mom and Park were yelling.

Maylee shifted to her
knees. “Climb!”

She and Dalton climbed to the next branch up
the tree. Maylee stood on the branch and moved to help Dalton up to
the next one. She had her arms around his waist when the tree shook
with another impact. The rhino snorted as it rammed the tree.

Maylee started to fall forward with Dalton
in front of her. Reflexively, she took one hand off his waist and
caught the branch above her. Screaming, Dalton slipped from her
other arm and fell. Flailing wildly, he caught Maylee's free arm
and gripped it tightly. Maylee clutched his arm desperately,
holding on to the top branch for balance. Dalton swung out over the
ground below them. And over the furious, pounding and snorting
rhino.

* * *

“Dalton!” yelled Angie as
he started to fall out of the tree. Maylee caught him with one hand
and he swung out over the rhino. The fall would be enough to
seriously hurt Dalton, and once the rhino noticed him on the
ground...

“Hurry!” she yelled to
Park, loading her rifle and readying it. “Shoot it! Take it
down!”

She fired. The dart embedded into the
rhino's hip. It didn't notice. It stomped around the tree and
roared, sounding desperate to get to Maylee and Dalton.

Dalton screamed as he hung there. Maylee
looked like she was giving her all to pull him up. It wasn't
enough.

Park fired a second dart into the haunch of
the rhino. It snorted in anger but otherwise did not react. It
stomped the ground furiously and rushed the tree again. It slammed
against the trunk. Angie heard wood crack, and Maylee and Dalton
screamed as they leaned out farther.

“Shit,” said Park, cocking
the rifle. “Fucker can handle his dope.”

Angie cocked and fired. The dart hit the
rhino in the side. It let out a grunt of pain and anger, whipping
its head around. Its eye landed on Angie. It bellowed and turned to
face her.

“Whoops,” said Angie. She
hurriedly recocked the rifle.

The rhino charged. Park fired and the dart
thudded into the rhino's cheek. It roared in pain, putting its head
down to slam Angie. Angie prepared to dodge, knowing she wouldn't
get the rifle ready in time.

The rhino slowed down, its lowered head
bumping along the ground.

“Huh,” said Angie, bringing
the rifle up and firing into the top of the rhino’s head. The rhino
let out a low whine and stopped, slumping to the ground,
limp.

“Mom!” yelled Maylee from
the tree. Dalton kicked his legs as he rocked back and forth over
the ground.

“Hold on!” yelled Angie,
slinging the rifle over her shoulder and running for the tree. Park
ran up behind her.

Angie ran to position
herself under Dalton. “I got him!”

Maylee nodded and let go. Dalton dropped
into Angie's arms. Angie's back strained and she stumbled forward a
few steps, but she caught him.

She smiled as she set him
down. “Second time in two days, huh?”

Dalton nodded, shivering in the rain.

She looked back up the tree to see Maylee
making good progress climbing down. She ran up to help her.

Maylee dropped to the ground, Angie's hands
around her waist. Angie let go and stepped back as Maylee stooped
to retrieve her bat. Maylee stared, panting at the rhino. They all
jumped a little as it grunted, but it remained still.

“Shit,” said
Maylee.

“Yeah,” said
Angie.

Groans erupted all around them. Fading in
and out through the driving rain.

“And on that note,” said
Park.

“To the office!” yelled
Angie.

They all ran across the walkway, heading for
the office. A group of corpses slowly emerged from the rain. The
corpses jerked and staggered their stiff rotting bodies across the
wet pavement. The corpses were coming in from the side, toward the
office. Angie ran as hard as she dared through the rain, determined
to get to the office before the corpses blocked them.