After we finished the sorbet, we continued to make our way to the zoo, stopping at shops and admiring knickknacks and other little things. Speck's attitude started to change as well, which I was thankful for, as I was starting to finally have some fun too. Still, in the back of my mind, I tried to keep everything in check. Last time we were having fun and relaxing, it ended in a blood bath. Speaking of, I was starting to feel kind of weird. And I mean weird as in my joints were getting achy. I thought that it was because of our lack of food intake, but it was beginning to become annoying. Hopefully it's nothing bad, because I didn't want it to get in the way of anything. Looking down at Speck's smile as she gazed into another clothing store made me not want to bring it up. I had to dismiss it. For her happiness.
"Is that it?" Speck pointed down the street.
I followed her finger and saw a large, concrete sign with the word "ZOO" painted on. I nodded, "Yeah it is, you ready to go in?"
"Yeah!" she exclaimed, beaming from ear to ear.
We walked down the street, past the sea of cars parked at weird angles, and got to the gate. The man there smiled at us as he printed out our tickets, stamped them, and wrapped our admission bands on our wrists. I was hesitant at first, but Speck prodded me until I shakily held out my arm. I scratched at the paper as we strolled in, Speck already ooh-ing at the animal sounds and gazing around at the nearby shops. I continued messing with the band as I narrowed my eyes at a nearby map, trying to memorize exits and paths as well as the nearest restroom.
"I want to see rhinos!" Speck squealed, popping up underneath me and blocking the map. "Do they have rhinos?" She peered at the illustration.
"Right there," I pointed at a brown splotch by the edge of the park. "It's far but look- there's a polar bear exhibit on the way." I traced my finger along the tan path.
"Ooh! And elephants! I've never seen an elephant!"
I chuckled, "Don't worry you'll see an elephant."
"Well then let's go!" she grabbed my wrist and unsuccessfully tried to drag me along.
"Whoa- slow down Speck! We have all day-"
"But I want to see everything!" she continued pulling me until I sighed and eased up, nearly toppling forward as we started running to the first exhibit. "Look, flamingos!"
I slowed to a walk as we got to the flimsy railing in front of the pink birds. They all stood peg-legged in the water, their faces buried in their feathers or pruning their babies. I had to do a double take. They were tiny! And not at all pink.
"Why aren't the babies pink?" Speck asked before I could.
A nearby pedestal caught my eye. "It says that flamingos aren't naturally pink- huh, who knew? Their feathers are actually grey, and it's the pink dye in shrimp and algae they eat that makes them pink."
"Cool," Speck crooned, waving at a flamingo that turned its head at her.
The wolf exhibit sat not too far from us, but Speck was insistent on seeing the penguins, so we went there first. There was a queue for it, and the worker assured us it's to keep the exhibit cold for the flightless birds. I adjusted my jacket around me, hoping it won't be dry because cold plus dry plus fish scales? Not a good combo. As soon as it was our time to go in, I was thoroughly upset. I had to zip up my jacket it was that bad. Speck did the same with her new jacket, as another worker began guiding us through. Speck's eyes widened as she plastered herself up against the glass with the other kids there, watching the black and white birds dive in and dart around the water. Several of the birds paused or looked curiously at the kids, making them all laugh and wave at them. I kept my eye on Speck to make sure she didn't go missing in the crowd, but the wave of people started pushing me along.
"Speck! Don't lag behind- ow!" I yelped, feeling somebody step on my foot.
"Okay!" I heard faintly. I was getting ushered along with another group and I had to fight against the current to escape. A man glared at me and my instincts skyrocketed, ready to fight, until he turned up his nose and continued walking. I let out a shaky sigh as Speck ran up to me. "Amber! Amber! Did you see that one belly flop? It was so funny!" she bounced before stopping, looking up at me. "Are you okay?" her head tilted.
I messed with her hair to which she complained at, "Yeah, just lost ya for a second. Don't wander off okay? Especially in a crowd."
"I know that!" she slapped my arm. "Come on, let's go see the next exhibit!"
The next few we saw were large apes, monkeys, and orangutans. Speck jeered at me because of the similar hair color so I ran at her, trying to tickle her. We stopped by the reptile exhibit, which Speck wasn't fond of, but I thought it was pretty cool to see these scaled beasts up close. Especially the alligators; they were three-times Speck's size.
"I still don't like 'em," Speck pouted while sipping her soda. We just stopped into the café, which was smack dab in the middle of the park. Only a third way through, and Speck was not slowing down at all. I shouldn't have given her sugar.
"Oh come on, that Komodo dragon was pretty awesome," I noted.
"But so creepy!" she shivered. "And the teeth, and scales, and tail..."
"What do you have against reptiles?" I raised an eyebrow.
She stayed quiet, not responding to me as we continued walking. It wasn't until we were alone on a sloping path that she spoke up, "Because they're mean."
"Mean? They're animals..." I tried to rack my brain for what she meant by that.
"But they are," she bit back. "They always bullied me."
It took me a second to realize what she just said. She meant reptile mutants, back at the lab, back at the ITex branch where she was forced to work and kill for their sick desires. No wonder why she didn't like the exhibit, it reminded her of the bad times, and I was trying to make light of it.
"I'm sorry-"
"Whoa look at that!"
We both looked up to see that we were in front of a big cat exhibit, a cheetah one to be exact. The enclosure wasn't huge, but it did have a tall, metal fence keeping the cats inside. There was a group of kids there with what I assumed to be a teacher, as he looked stressed as hell because the kids were going nuts on finally seeing the felines move. I peered over the wall and across the twenty-foot ditch separating the cheetahs from us. There were three total, and two of the three lifted their heads from their napping positions and stared right at me. I heard more of the kids aweing at the cats waking from their slumber and started to crowd the barrier.
"Kids- kids! Let other people look too-" I heard the teacher command, but the kids didn't listen.
I stared into the nearest cheetah's eyes who wouldn't avert his gaze from me. I blinked. It blinked. I glanced down at Speck who looked in between me and the spotted cat, clearly noticing something was weird. Out of the corner of my eye, the cat tilted its head, and when I turned my head back to gaze at it, it copied me. What the heck? That was when I heard it. A soft gurgling sound. I blinked and the cheetah did it again. It was clear only I could hear it, because Speck asked, "What is it doing?"
I felt my blood run cold, hearing a chuff and then a growl accompanied it. It was talking to me. To me. And it was only because it saw me as one of them. Of course. No wonder it matched eyes with me. No wonder they all started moving when they saw me. I felt my tail shiver in my pants, and my ears folded a bit against my head. Those parts of me, I was seeing them in the flesh, as actual living beings. Those wackos took these beautiful cats and plastered parts of them on me. I was part of them – they were part of me. And here they are, trying to understand exactly what I was.
"Amber?" I felt Speck put a hand on mine. I didn't even realize I was gripping the bars that tight. I gazed down at the cats again, all three of them looking up at me from their respective places. One started to growl, and then they collectively joined in, hissing along with their growls. They took several steps back, realizing I was not what they expected, and my heart fell. I was a freak. I wasn't even fully one-part cheetah. I had to have these scales. I had to have wings, of all things. I was a mix of different species and it scared them. Realizing this scared me even more; I couldn't fit in anywhere.
The other kids continued gawking at them and wondering why they were acting like that, when I heard two workers walking towards us. I could hear their walkie-talkies informing them to calm the crowd and the animals at the cheetah exhibit, so I put my hand in Speck's. "Come on," I muttered to her, edging her around the kids and down the path, away from the cats and to the main path again. Once we were a good distance away, Speck pulled her hand out of mine.
"What was that? What happened?" she demanded.
"I think they- recognized what I was..."
She paused, glancing back at the path, "But they're animals?"
"Animals can sense things humans can't, and I'm not entirely human..."
"Oh," her face fell, and she looked at her feet. Her reaction made me wonder if her own instincts said that reptiles were bad news as well. Not only was she bullied by reptile mutants, but reptiles most likely ate the animal-species part of her.
"Come on, let's go see those rhinos," I squeezed her hand in mine and she hopefully smiled.
It was a trek to get there, and as soon as we arrived at the exhibit, we realized it was packed with people – kids to be exact. I narrowed my eyes and slowed my pace to see over the sea of kids. A person was standing in front of the rhino plaque and shouting at the crowd.
"What the-" I started before a kid just shy of my height stepped in front of me. I almost put up my hands in defense, but Speck held my arm down.
"Hi there! Are you here for the rally?" he beamed at me. His smile was so genuine, it made me uneasy. Plus, he kept looking at both of us.
"Uhm, no?" I took a step back from him, still holding Speck's hand. "We're just here to see the exhibit."
"Well you should also listen to Mary, she has some great insight on the One Light," he continued to smile.
"Uh, okay?" I looked down at Speck and she was clearly confused.
She shrugged up at me, then asked, "What's the One Light?"
"Oh, silly me," the boy playfully smacked his face. "Here's a flyer!" He handed us a trifold with the words "Save the Planet" in all caps on front. I flipped it over to see if it was legitimate, and sure enough I saw an email, a couple numbers, and a business logo on the back. "You should really join us, we're advocating the freedom of zoo animals, and releasing them back into the wild!"
"Wha-huh? You're kidding me, right?" I stared into the kid's eyes, and he didn't falter at all.
"Why would we?" he said still smiling. "Are you denying animal rights?"
"Of course not," I spat back, receiving a look from Speck. "These animals are protected here. Don't you know that most of them were rescued from the wild? As in they could die in the wild?" To hear that these people just want to send out animals willy-nilly and expect them to thrive was maddening to me. Sure, some were rehabilitated but I was for sure that rhinos were near extinction because of poachers and hunters. Thank you, internet.
"Well adults are the cause for their capture, so we kids are going to change that," his smile finally drooped just the littlest bit before turning back around and pumping a fist in the air to Mary's words. I had to close my eyes and block out her voice. This was insane. To think that these kids would try to change the system that's already fine where it's at made me want to punch something. Sure, it had its flaws and there were controversies, but it wasn't like they could do much. Even with this flyer.
I quickly ripped it up despite Speck's protests and threw it into a nearby trash can. "Come on Speck, we're getting out of here."
"But-" she looked back at the crowd. "I want to see the rhinos…"
"I know you do, but they're not going to let us through unless we believe them fully." And I clearly didn't. God, how could they be so ignorant? Changing the system takes time and bills and agreements with the entire world. They were just one silly group.
"Well, what if I believe them?" Speck had to jog to keep up with me as I started towards the exit.
"Speck, you can't believe everything a person says right off the bat. You have to question them," I informed her. That's how I realized that my life was a fake from the start, and how I got to where I was now. "Let's do our own research before believing them."
She instantly went into full-on-pout-mode and started dragging her feet. I groaned and continued to usher her out the exit, as I realized more and more kids with signs and groups were making a beeline for the rally. The closer we got the exit, the more kids started pushing past us, and passerby were complaining about the influx of kids. Apparently, nobody but the zoo staff knew about the rally and were demanding a refund for their tickets. Speck gawked at the kids running and bumping against her, so she yelled at them to slow down. I felt an elbow knock into my side and pain shot through me so much I had to keep myself from cursing. We finally reached the turnstiles to exit the zoo and squeezed through.
Once free I gingerly placed my fingers on my side, wincing at the tenderness. As much as I wanted to curse at the crowd, I held it back since I would just be bringing attention to myself. Speck, on the other hand, looked like she was going to explode.
"Stupid kids," she kicked a pebble into the street. "Stupid rally, stupid flyer guy, stupid stupid people!" She finally kicked a trashcan which toppled over and stuff tumbled out. I blinked at her as she squatted down and held her head in her hands. "I just wanted to see the rhinos! I hate those stupid people!"
"Hey, hey, it's okay," I sat down next to her on the sidewalk. "We can see them tomorrow."
"But I wanted to see them today!" she whined.
I sighed, looking off and grumbling to myself. Of course, we were having a great day and these people had to come in and make it worse. And I didn't really help either, but at least I exposed their controversial belief. Surely Speck recognized that, right?
"Were they really going to release them into the wild?" Speck's quiet voice asked, her eyes meeting with mine.
"Probably," I answered her, making her seethe in anger.
"But why is that wrong? Shouldn't animals roam free?" she flailed her arms, trying to make sense of it.
"Think about it this way, animals have to fend for themselves, and that means having food, water, and shelter. They already have that here, and if they were thrown into the wild, they wouldn't know how to do any of that," my voice fell towards the end, realizing what I was saying. We were just like these animals, before we escaped ITex. We were fed, given water, and a cage to sleep in, and yeah it was deplorable conditions, but it was something. Escaping was what made us different from animals, because we had more human parts and were able to adapt to our environment. God, why did I choose the zoo? I was just slapping us in the faces with the reality we were in. We weren't meant to live outside of ITex, we were meant to be lab rats, in cages, much like these animals were meant to be here.
Speck huffed and rested her chin on her knee, debating on whether to agree with them, "I wish I could kick them where it hurts."
I chuckled, "I get ya, though we would probably get arrested." That was when an idea came to mind and a smirk appeared on my face. "Actually…"
As soon as night fell, I dashed around the corner from our hiding place and headed straight for the truck. It had the group's tag line and group name on it: The Doomsday Group. Perfect. Speck darted towards me, her backpack thumping against her. I crouched down behind the truck, putting my finger up to be quiet, before closing my eyes to listen. Just distant city sounds, and a faint siren that was nowhere near us.
"Okay, we're clear."
And with that, we stood up and broke out the spray cans.
After finishing our masterpiece, we took a good look while still protecting our faces from the smell. Speck grinned and looked up at me, and I copied her. This was the greatest idea I had. We used cheap green and orange spray paint to change their name to "Doo-Doo Group" (sadly I had to keep it PG for her) and used a thick black marker for a bold outline. Speck went to town with the other, more colorful markers while I painted over their mirrors and windshields. She even created our own tag, which was a jagged S with green spots all over it.
I sighed happily, holding the empty can, "It's-"
"Perfect!" Speck completed for me, beaming. "Now they'll know that they're big fat jerks."
"Your penmanship is on point," I gazed over her angry scrawls calling them animal killers and anti-rights activists. She smiled back as her thanks before a yawn broke through. "Yeah, we should probably get some rest. We had a pretty long day."
"A pretty fun long day!" she sleepily smiled.