Chapter 11:
KAY
Dammit Kate, I wanted to go with Jason.
I don't think Kate was being very smart picking these pairs; she put both of the brainy people together and left the two most unintelligent people off to get close and personal with dangerous animals. I was probably the guy who knew the most about animals, even if all I'd learned was from aussie beasts. Kate would be the next step down in animal knowledge, her knowledge coming from common sense and rational thinking.
Pairing Jason and Cameron together probably wasn't as smart. From what I've heard of Cam, he was a great leader, but I'd also heard that he broke people's legs and ripped out their pockets, looking for spare change. Jason, in all his godliness, was just a slight bit still in primary school, just a tad immature. It would be interesting hearing all his stories from his Gardens adventures when we're back at home.
Kate took me by the hand and to the Galapagos tortoise enclosure. She told me it was her new secret way of getting behind the scenes.
"What animal should we get first?"
"I don't care, whatever you want, Kay."
"Well, I need a battle morph, so-"
"A cat. You should get a cat. Like my cat. I have a panther morph. You should get a panther morph! We could be panther buddies!"
Kate is acting a bit weird right now; I'm beginning to wish I was paired with anyone else now.
"Well, I think we should go for a little bit of variety, like the original animorphs."
"But, we could be panther-"
"Fine! I'll get a cat, but not a panther."
I'm beginning to see where Kate's coming from. She's love-struck. That's why she paired us together, she wanted alone time with me.
"Yay! What cat would you want?"
"How 'bout a tiger? One of those would be pretty awesome."
I take out my map of the Gardens and guide our way to the big cats section. Kate's obvious flirting is obvious. At each imaginary sound she hears, she finds an excuse to clutch my arm, or to bury her face into my shoulder. I know she's braver than this; she took on three aliens in a back alley, demorphed, remorphed panther and took out one more to save Jason.
"Oh! I wonder what's in this door."
Kate opens the door and walks peers inside.
"Ah! Protect me Kay!"
She falls dramatically into my chest as I look through her into the exhibition. A disgruntled Tapir looked on from the ferns inside.
"Kate, it's just a Malaysian Tapir. They're harmless."
Kate let out a girly giggle and stood up, closing the door. There was no way we could continue like this.
"Kate, hold up. You need to stop."
Kate stops and faces me, her smile fading slightly.
"I know what you're doing, but it's not going to work. Well, not on me."
"You have a girlfriend?"
"Not exactly…"
"You don't like me?"
"No, it's just that-"
"Who is she?"
"Kate, I'm-"
"It's my hair, or the way I dress, isn't it?"
"Kate, I'm not –"
"So, who is this mystery chi-"
"Kate, I'm gay."
"Oh."
Well, that's a way to shut up a chatty girl. We stood like that in silence for a while, and then we both started to talk at the same time.
"Are you-"
"I'm sorry that-"
After another awkward pause, I let Kate speak first.
"This whole time?"
I nodded.
"So, it's not me? I'm still beautiful?"
"Kate, you're beautiful. It's got nothing to do about your looks. You're gorgeous and you have a personality and a brain to match it. I'm just, not into that type of stuff. I'm into quite the opposite, really."
Kate laughed.
"I must look pretty stupid right now."
"Hey, you had no idea. It's not your fault. Now, how about getting those morphs?"
We walked down the corridor for a bit in silence when Kate paused for a moment, her face in a puzzling thought.
"Whatever happened to all aussie blokes being, well, blokes?"
"Whatever happened to all Americans being fat and overweight?"
"Touché."
"Come on, I think we're almost there."
We rounded the corner and stopped outside a door.
"This one is tiger. I'm sure of it."
"Okay, should we go through everything I had to do to get my morph first? Maybe some of it could help us."
"Tell me. Better safe than sorry."
"Okay, so the panther was curled up asleep on a rock ledge above the door, out of my reach. All the rocks were real except the back wall, which was the one he was lying on. It was made of plastic, so I had trouble climbing it. I got a piece of grass and tickled his nose with it, and threw apples at trees to wake it up slightly. The panther woke up, but was still half asleep. It was a bit annoyed at me, so it waved its tail out of irritation, just like pet cats. I then acquired DNA through the tail, and the panther woke up, but it was too sleepy to attack or anything. It seemed quite harmless and complacent."
Kate makes a move to go open the handle.
"Wait! There's, something else you should know before we go in."
"Another thing? What is it with you and secrets?"
"I'm a morphing-vecol. I can't send animals into an acquiring trance."
"Hey, it's okay. I'll acquire it first, and then you can acquire it while it's still in a trance."
And then we open the door and step into a rainforest.
The habitat was thick with foliage, it was difficult to see very far ahead; but Kate had told me to prepare for the worst. Holding hands so we wouldn't get lost, we stepped into the mass of green.
"Here kitty… Damn, I wished we brought a sausage or something to use as bait."
"Actually, I'd prefer to walk among tigers without holding a piece of dead animal."
Eventually, we found a tiger. It wasn't much of a problem, he was already sleeping.
"Oh, this makes things so much easier. Quick, go acquire it." Kate said with a whisper.
I step up to the tiger and sink my fingers into his thick fur. He was larger than Kate's Panther morph, stronger and more, well, butch. While I acquired the tiger, I traced his black stripes, and even dared to give him a scratch behind the ear.
"Um, Kay, we forgot something."
"Kate…"
"You remember when Jake and Marco acquired the very same tiger during the Yeerk war?"
"Yes…."
"Remember how there were more than just one tiger?"
Slowly turning around, I see a tiger walk through the bushes and into the clearing where we found the sleeping tiger. Kate stands very still, not daring to move. I look around us, searching for a weapon to use, an exit to take. Dammit, where was the entrance?
"Kate, behind you there is a metal ladder; it climbs out of the tiger pit. I want you to slowly walk towards it, without turning your back to the Tiger. I'll follow."
Slowly, we both walked towards the ladder. We both climbed to the top, the tiger watching us a few meters away from the bottom of the ladder, unable to climb after us, too docile to attempt a full-on jump at our feet, which he would probably reach.
Kate reached the top of the ladder and abruptly stopped, making me continue a few rungs until my head was almost up her dress. Ew.
"Why have you stopped?"
"Purple eyes!"
I looked around Kate and saw a man standing at the top of the ladder, a frown around his purple eyes.
Immediately, we were faced with a decision; tiger down below, or alien up above.
"Back down!" I said
"What? That's got to be at least 30 feet drop!"
"Do you like the alternative, an angry alien?"
"Good point."
I scooted down the ladder and jumped off it as I reached the end. The awake tiger was nowhere in sight. As we passed the sleeping tiger, he raised his head and gave a half-hearted swipe at our shins. I quickly dodged his heavy paw and gave a punishing flick on the beast's nose. The tiger decided he was better off to drop his head down and try to go back to sleep.
The other tiger was nowhere in sight as we exited the enclosure, but we weren't worried about the tigers.
"Why was the purple-eye here?"
"It could've been a scout."
"Maybe we underestimated them, and they've already started the attack."
"Well, we can't stop now, we need to keep going."
We keep walking in silence, slightly more jumpy than usual.
"We should skip the heavyweight animal, and go straight to the aviary. Wings are more important."
We exit the labyrinth of corridors via the Galapagos tortoise enclosure and walk over to the bird aviary, buying a bucket of popcorn on the way. I fished my wallet out of my pockets and pulled out a card, showing it to Kate.
"See this card? It's my bird of prey handling licence. I think that if we use this card and our charming smiles, we could convince the keepers to allow me into the small aviary, and then we befriend the keepers and get into the single cages, the more dangerous birds."
"Uh, use our delightful personalities? That might be a little more difficult than what it sounds like…"
I look to where Kate is pointing to, and see Cameron and Jason, trying to figure out a way to touch a large falcon.
Tell me what you think!
