Inspired by true events. Warning for animal (and human) injury and animal death.
Although inspired by a true event, bear in mind I know nothing about ducks or zookeeping, so that part is me guessing and making stuff up.
It came from out of nowhere. Normally the zoo had advance warning of storms, but the cell formed all of a sudden until it was right on top of them. Yuuji was caught near the zebra pen when the hailstones fell, blocks of ice the size of baseballs raining down like the wrath of God. Yuuji was hit a few times before he could get indoors; several visitors had to be taken to the hospital.
Even inside it was frightening. The roof rattled as if being pelted by a helicopter-borne machinegun. The aviary suffered worst. Its glass skylights had many spider cracks in places. Softball-sized ice spheres punctured the glass in multiple spots, showering into the climate-controlled terrain below. Most of the animals instinctively sought shelter just before the brunt of the storm hit; Yuuji recalled the usually attentive zebras skirting for cover and found it odd. One hailstone hit his forearm and swelled up into a welt. He declined to go to the hospital, since—as a member of the zoo's staff—he was responsible for caring for the hundreds of animals all frightened and some injured by the ordeal.
Now he paid a visit to the ducks in the indoor aviary to assess the damaged skylights, account for the birds, and remove safety hazards.
And that led him to the discovery that solemnly held his attention now.
"Albert," he mumbled somberly.
Akaashi moseyed into the duck habitat and instantly spotted Terushima slouching, staring at something on the ground.
"Terushima, how are—oh." He cut himself off, beholding the same sight Yuuji had.
At Terushima's feet lay Albert, a four-year-old drake, his body surrounded by twinkling glass shards from the skylights. His green and brown feathers were stained with red splotches, including one prominent crimson stain on his pale neck. His eyelids were closed, his beak weakly open, and his head and neck lay sideways on the ground. Around him among the glass particles were golf ball-sized pebbles of ice that had melted from something much bigger.
"Dang it," Akaashi muttered. Terushima kneeled down to get a closer look at the bird he was familiar with.
"I'm sorry, buddy. You had a good life."
He restrained the urge to touch the duck with his bare hands. He knew all the animals in this habitat well, and it hurt to see any of them gone.
He stood to face Akaashi.
"How are the others?"
Akaashi grimaced, having bad news about one of the goats. "Millie needs surgery on her eye; the vet is coming to see if we can save it. We can't find Charlie in the meerkat exhibit, but we think he's just too scared to come out of hiding. And Kenya didn't make it either."
Terushima exhaled at hearing the loss of Kenya the vulture. In his three years at the zoo, he'd never seen a catastrophe like this. He grabbed one of the soggy ice rocks to inspect.
"All that because of this little thing." He homed in on the punctured skylight that let in a shimmering cone of sunlight. There were other holes too. Panes that didn't fail completely looked like mosaics; it was amazing they were still intact.
Yuuji set the ice pellet down, only to flinch at a pain shooting up his forearm from the welt. His whole arm flared momentarily. Akaashi saw him grab his limb to cushion the broiling spot.
"You all right?"
"Yeah," Terushima said, rolling up his sleeve. The black and blue bruise seemed to have grown, but he convinced himself it only looked that way because of the lighting. Akaashi winced at the sight.
"You should have gotten that checked out."
"It's fine," dismissed Yuuji, letting his sleeve slip back into place. "We're not the ones hurting."
Akaashi noticed his associate gazing into the leafy brush above an artificial stream. A few adult ducks reappeared but remained in the relative safety of the overgrowth. Leaves dismembered by the hailstorm floated like shredded lily pads in the water. Terushima could see glittering specks in the creek from tiny glass shards. The reemerging, hungry ducks weighed the risk of leaving protection with their need for sustenance and seemed wholly unbothered by the foreign objects floating in their space. One of the ducks, a female named Cathy, quacked morosely. Terushima stared at her seemingly sad eyes.
He almost swore her attention was affixed on the drake at his feet. If ducks had the capacity to shed tears, Yuuji thought she would.
Terushima couldn't feed the ducks in the water like normal. With all the glass shards in the stream, it was impossible to cast anything directly into the liquid for fear of debris getting swallowed. Instead he sprinkled some food in his hands and backed up to a corner with no detritus. His action attracted the attention of the ducks.
But not Cathy.
After dumping the food, Yuuji filled his hand with some more treats and tiptoed over to the lone female.
She was extraordinarily hesitant at first, but Yuuji stretched out his open palm and held it just beside the water. He intentionally positioned his body in front of Albert to conceal the male. The lone duck stared firmly at Yuuji's hand, and after a long while, she swam closer and nibbled from his palm.
It wasn't the standard way of feeding, but it seemed right under the circumstances.
After having her fill, the mother quacked loudly seemingly in appreciation. Her ducklings began to hesitantly emerge from the leaves. The mother scuttled over to them to round them up. Akaashi took the opportunity to remove the male duck from the scene in order for things to start to return to normal.
Yuuji smiled before going to retrieve a pool skimmer to round up the glass pieces as best he could. He'd spent too much time with the ducks as it was; they had a whole zoo to inspect.
But Yuuji loved the ducks. And, for as little as he could do to soothe them or explain what happened, just making them feel a little better made it worthwhile.
Akaashi felt his pager buzz. It was the cue the vet had arrived for Millie's surgery.
"I gotta go," Keiji announced as Yuuji returned with the skimmer. "Don't spend too long in here. And seriously, get your arm looked at."
"I got some cream in my car I can use," Yuuji dismissively answered. "Did I tell you I bought a yellow Camaro?"
Keiji grinned, recalling the unfamiliar vehicle in the employee parking lot. "I wondered if that was yours this morning."
"Oh, dude, she's the bomb!" Yuuji excitedly continued. "I call her Hana. She's so slick, man—oh, you have no idea."
A dreadful thought suddenly crossed the bus-riding Akaashi's mind. The parking lot, filled with over 500 vehicles, was subjected to the same devastating downpour as the zoo itself. Almost every windshield was so damaged it was impossible to see through if not completely pulverized. Police forbade most of the vehicles from leaving due to roadworthiness.
"Wanna go ridin' in her after work? I'll drop you off at your house," Terushima finished eagerly.
Keiji beamed tensely. He'd break the news later. "Uh, maybe! We'll see," he fibbed and quickly departed.