Caesar's Pearl Chapter 27
The Rodman family certainly didn't waste any time. The entire family as a whole scarfed down the remainders of their breakfast and quickly got dressed into regular clothing. Afterwards they climbed in the station wagon speeding straight to the San Bruno Primate Shelter. Will was incredibly fortunate they didn't pass by any policemen since he probably would've gotten arrested because of how fast he was pushing the car.
Will got them to the shelter in record time, but what they found there was far from encouraging.
The front gates were wide open with no sign of anyone in the yard. There were cars in the parking lot so it was a big red flag. To have the front gate open with no one in sight was a big warning alert. The family quickly got out of the car and went inside, but here things just seemed to become even weirder.
"Landon," called Will, running through the compound with Ranger leading the way on his leash and a nose to the ground.
Caroline and Margo were running behind them with the former clutching the hand of the smallest of their party. The four of them searched from room to room, but couldn't find the Mr. Landon anywhere or the other two employees that worked in this place.
Bulldozing through the front offices and the security room Will kicked down the door that led into the area with the main cages. When they stepped inside the holding area all of them were in for a huge shock.
Enrichment equipment used to stimulate the apes were scattered all across the floor with straw thrown everywhere, TV's were hanging from the ceiling from broken wires, and the every single cage door was ajar with none of their occupants in view.
Further down the walkway in the room Will felt his stomach drop as he saw a body close to the end.
Handing Ranger's leash to his wife, Will said "Stay here. Keep Margo back." He then ran down the passage kneeling beside the corpse he found there.
Caroline slapped a hand over her mouth in disgust. As Margo took a step forward in curiosity to follow her father Caroline abruptly turned her around pressing the child's head to her stomach to divert her.
"Don't look, Baby," murmured Caroline, wanting to shield Margo from the horrific gruesome sight.
Will identified the body. His skin was all burnt up, but he was still recognized enough for Will to know who he was. No question about it this was Dodge. How in the world did he end up in this condition?
Will looked around for answers to this mystery and found Dodge's cattle prod lying on the floor nearby a high-pressure hose dripping water. Will assessed hat Dodge must've been electrocuted by his own cattle prod after he'd been soaked with water from the hose resulting in his imminent death. What he couldn't figure out was how the buffoon actually managed to end up like this in the first place. I mean, Will knew Dodge was rendering on total stupidity, but even this was a bit much.
During his search Will located something he never expected to find here in this place. There lying on the floor was a punctures Gen-Sys ALZ-113 canister. Rising Will went over to the canister and picked it up promptly inspecting it while rolling the device in his hands.
From the corner of her eye Margo noticed something moving in one of the cages.
Tugging on her mother's sleeve and pointing in that direction once she got the woman's attention, Margo said "Momma."
"Will," said Caroline, slowly approaching the cage Margo pointed to. As soon as she saw what was inside Caesar's former cell she unlocked the door and shoved it wide open. "Will!"
The alarm in Caroline's voice is what drew Will over to his wife and daughter. Placing the emptied Gen-Sys canister into his coat pocket he rushed over to where Margo and Ranger were huddled outside Caesar's cage with Caroline on her knees inside muttering comfortingly to something else. When he got there Will now he saw what got Caroline so distressed.
There was Rodney lying on the floor of the cage shaking like a leaf. He was obviously in shock with whatever he saw occur at the shelter obviously freaking him out to get the already timid man this pathetic state.
Kneeling on the floor, placing a hand on Rodney's shoulder, Will asked "What happened?"
Sucking in a breath and releasing his shakily, Rodney stuttered "H-He spoke."
Brow furrowed in confusion, Will said "What do you…What?"
"You're ape," said Rodney, continuing after Will nodded his head to show he was following. "He spoke."
Will and Caroline looked at each other in utter bewilderment. Margo's eyes grew enormous. Caesar could speak now? That was so cool!
Will called 911 explaining the incident Rodney further described happen in the night. Within minutes police had arrived with an ambulance along with animal control and a couple of agents from the Animal Control & Welfare Commission.
By the time Mr. Landon arrived for work they were all grouped together in the security office watching a tape of the apes breakout in the shelter.
Margo was sitting in the back with Ranger banned from watching the footage. She could only hear not see for fear of mental and emotional scarring from any trauma.
"What in the hell," breathed the Sheriff of the Highway Patrol in disbelief at what he was seeing a chimpanzee do on screen. "I don't believe this."
Entering the office Mr. Landon pushed to the front of the crowd just in time to see his own son's fate.
It was far from pretty.
"…I'm gonna skin each and every one of you," snarled Dodge, brandishing his cattle prod at the image of Caesar holding the fire hose.
Then there was an electrical buzzing and the sound of water splashing that happened on screen that Margo couldn't make sense of, but everyone else did.
There was a huge mobilization underway triggered by the anomaly the people had seen on screen. All the government workers were calling their superiors informing them of the situation and asking for further instructions on how to handle this.
Will, Caroline, Margo, and Ranger ran for the car piling inside. Caroline and Will rushed to strap Margo and Ranger in rushing to get out of there.
"I need someone to coordinate with the S.F.P.D.," said the Sheriff of the Highway Patrol into his radio. "Tell them we got a fatality."
"What is it," asked Caroline, buckling her seatbelt.
Will stated "I know where he's headed." He then looked in the back where Margo was strapped into her car seat with Ranger clipped to a seat belt beside her. "Hold on tight, Margo."
Will hit the acceleration and they were out of there. They needed to get to Caesar before the police did. If they didn't then it would become a complete disaster.
Authors Note:
Don't you just love Margo's childish innocence? I find it very refreshing.
I'll give you one guess to where Will is headed! Ha! Ha!
And now the real fun begins!
Also, after this part of Margo's saga is finished I Will be focusing more on Born To Lead 2 and Magic of The Golden Flower. The reason for this is because both of those stories are getting very close to the end of their planned plotlines. Just think of it this way my friends with the other two out of the way that means a lot better stuff for this one.
