Copyright 2001
Chapter 14
When we got off the bus at the zoo, it was obviously closed. The bus driver gave us a kind of funny look when we got off. "We're meeting friends here," I explained. He gave a slight nod and then drove away.
We waited until he was out of sight before we started talking.
"So now what? I mean, the zoo's closed. We can't get in. I guess we'll have to wait here for the next bus," Cameron said, sounding a bit glad. I grabbed his arm as he tried to walk by me.
"Not so fast. We're sneaking in."
"Man," he whined.
"We go about a block down, and then we help each other sneak over."
"Can I go last?" Cameron asked excitedly.
"Nope. You're going first."
"Crap."
I saw Laurel giggle nervously again. "What's so funny?" Cameron snapped.
Laurel stopped giggling and shrugged.
"Yeah. Thought so," Cameron said in his tough voice.
We walked the block down, and then looked around us to make sure no one was following. Cameron started imitating Bugs Bunny. "Do you ever get the feeling that you're being... Watched?"
We laughed.
We backed up to the fenced and I cupped my hands.
"You sure about this man? There isn't a pit of hungry bears or something on the other side, right?" he asked.
"Just make it fast."
Cameron shook his head. He placed his foot in my hands and scrambled over the wall. When he was on the ground on the other side, he turned to face us and said, "You know, it's never a good sign when someone doesn't answer your question of 'You sure about this?' Not to mention the question about being able to study Yogi's insides."
He looked at me, only half joking. The others went over. I climbed up the fence the hard way. You know what the hard way is? Climbing over a ten foot fence without help.
"No bears," Cameron said pleasantly when I reached the other side.
"What now?" Laurel asked.
Samantha started digging through her purse. she took out a small tour book and flipped to a page. "My Grandmommy got me this. And... Bingo. A map. That way."
We went and finally found a path. Fortunately, we were in the part where the cages didn't start for maybe another twenty feet.
We walked around for a while. See, the cages are attached to this bigger building, I guess, so people don't have to go from cage to cage in hot weather. We watched for a sign or a door.
Finally, Laurel said, "Gee, I wonder what that sign there about no trespassing beyond this point is about?"
"Shall we find out?" I asked courteously. I opened the door, looked around briefly, and then let Laurel go in.
"All right, let's get ready to kick some butt," Hardy said, punching the air.
It was different when we all went inside. We were in a long corridor, with dim lights, the warehouse kind, over our heads. I started leading the way down.
"So? What now?" Cameron asked Samantha.
"Um, in there are some... monkeys." She pointed to a door.
"Monkeys? Coooooool." Hardy went over and opened the door. "CRAP!" We all jumped back. Hardy slammed the door.
"Th- Th- That was a cougar," Cameron stammered.
Samantha shrugged. "So I guess the map was wrong." Cameron glared at her. "What?! Besides, it was just a cougar."
"Just a cougar. Right. JUST a cougar? Are you nuts?"
Samantha shook her head slightly. "Poor, poor Cameron. Cougars don't kill people. Not unless they have to." She walked over to the door again and opened it.
"Are you sure you want to- Oh," Cameron looked kind of embarrassed. There was a cage separating us from the cougar.
Samantha smiled. "Hey, girl. Or boy. May I?" Samantha stuck her hand through the bars and let the mountain lion sniff them. Then, the cougar rubbed up against her hand. Suddenly, the cougar's eyes went kind of blank. Hardy started counting down. Eventually, we all joined in. "10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1." The fog lifted from the cougar's eyes and Samantha scratched it behind its ears.
"Okay? Who's next?" I asked.
"ME! ME! ME!" Laurel waved her hand in the air wildly.
"Okay. Laurel, why don't you take the honors?" She looked at me and rolled her eyes while Laurel bent down next to the cougar and stuck her hand through the bars.
"Hello Mr. Kitty." Hardy, Cameron, Samantha, and I looked at each other. We didn't do the countdown when the cat's eyes glazed over.
Laurel looked hurt when she got up.
"Anybody else want the cougar?" I asked.
Cameron shook his head, and we could all tell he meant it.
Meanwhile, Hardy wandered down the hall and grabbed another doorknob. "I wonder what's behind door number two?" he wondered aloud.
He went inside and a second later, we looked and saw that he was acquiring a gorilla. "Always loved those things," he said.
"Any other takers?" I asked.
Cameron shook his head. So did everyone else.
"Okay."
"Hey! You!"
We looked at each other and then looked down the hall.
"Oh, this isn't good," Hardy said.
There were two security guards. And they were running towards us.
"I think this means we should run," I said slowly. We ran. Samantha, Hardy, and Laurel were closer to the front. They took a right. Cameron and I took a left.
"Why do they always chase you?" Cameron panted.
"That's rude," I commented.
"It was supposed to be."
Suddenly, one of the guards tackled me. I guess the other guard had gone off after the others. Cameron looked at me, then down the corridor, then at the guard.
"HELLO!" I shouted at him.
Cameron shrugged and apparently decided on what he wanted to do. He kicked the guard until the guard rolled off me, then kicked him square in the stomach.
"Come on," I told him.
We ran down the corridor, with the guard falling behind. With the luck I'd been having lately, we ran into another fork. This time it was a bit better, though. To the right was a sign saying "Exit." We went that way.
"Wait!" I grabbed Cameron's arm.
"What?" he snapped.
"He'll be expecting that. We'll wait until he passes." I pulled him through another door and pressed my ear up against the door, trying to hear the guard.
"Hey, genius," Cameron sneered rudely.
"What," I said tiredly. I briefly thought about how much I wanted my best friend Cameron back.
"Look where we are."
I looked. There weren't any cages. This was a big natural habitat. With two Grizzly Bears.
Believe me. That's capitalized for a reason.
I cussed.
"And it sinks in," Cameron said, imitating some sort of announcer.
"Why don't you just shut up?" I asked. "I mean, cut it out. You used to be my best friend and all, but now you're pushing it."
"What are you going to do? You haven't even fought before!"
"Oh, and you have?"
"THAT'S MY POINT!"
The male grizzly woke up.
Cameron and I looked up as it stood over us.
Cameron slowly said, "Oops. I think we woke up Yogi. And I think this is the evil Yogi. Smoky the Bear. Think this qualifies as a Smoky the Bear?"
I nodded.
"Okay. Let's try this," Cameron said, looking the bear in the eye. I wondered if he knew that was dangerous or not. He walked right up to it and slapped his hand on its stomach. The bear grew calm. As soon as it did, he got away from it. "Now can we get out of here?"
I nodded. We left as fast as we could. However, I noticed something really weird while we were running. There were a bunch of hawks and other birds of prey sitting in a single tree. I could have sworn all of them were staring at us.
iRachel
This was almost too much. We'd overheard them in the mall making plans to come here. They could at least try to be more discreet. We'd have to talk to them about that. But now it was split as we'd been split, and the leader and best friend were once again in a predator's cage. The only thing was that this was a bear, and the zoo was closed. There were too many similarities. Not for the first time did I find myself wondering what the Ellimist was truly up to. This seemed like he was bending the rules way too much. And Crayak was letting him.
Why?/i
Chapter 15
We met up with the others as soon as we could. As it turned out, a slow, fat guard had chased them. They had left and then reentered the building without much trouble. They each had about ten morphs by the time we caught up with them.
I had one. Cameron had one. Would it be enough?
There wasn't time to see. It was almost eight.
We had a vague and sketchy plan. Cameron was spending the night with me, and Hardy and Laurel were staying at their grandparents'. As soon as my parents and their grandparents left, we would follow them to what was hopefully the Yeerk pool. Then we would get Alexis out and leave.
We managed to catch the same bus we had come on in time.
"What happened to your friends?" the driver asked.
"They were no-shows," I told him. Kind of true.
Cameron and I went to my house.
My parents had ordered pizza for us. Meanwhile, Alexis was hopping up and down, telling me that our parents had a surprise for her and not for me. About how special she was.
Great surprise
Of course, I had to act like the big brother that didn't care. I had to say I was happy for her when my mom came.
You have no idea what it's like.
One night, I had been given the chance to fight by some sort of really, really weird alien before I even knew if aliens existed. Then I found out I was going to have to fight my parents. And now I had to save my sister before she became one of them. My whole family might become Controllers. And me? I was going to have to fight them.
"You have no idea how much junk food I have eaten in the past week," Cameron said, digging into his pizza.
I had a feeling that he was trying to distract me.
"I bet I've eaten more."
"How much you want to bet?"
I dug in my pockets. "I have ten cents and a melted Hershey's kiss."
"Okay, I think I'll stick with the ten cents."
It was about six thirty.
We argued like we had just a week before, picked on Alexis, played Nintendo 64.
My parents and Alexis left way before I was ready.
Chapter 14
When we got off the bus at the zoo, it was obviously closed. The bus driver gave us a kind of funny look when we got off. "We're meeting friends here," I explained. He gave a slight nod and then drove away.
We waited until he was out of sight before we started talking.
"So now what? I mean, the zoo's closed. We can't get in. I guess we'll have to wait here for the next bus," Cameron said, sounding a bit glad. I grabbed his arm as he tried to walk by me.
"Not so fast. We're sneaking in."
"Man," he whined.
"We go about a block down, and then we help each other sneak over."
"Can I go last?" Cameron asked excitedly.
"Nope. You're going first."
"Crap."
I saw Laurel giggle nervously again. "What's so funny?" Cameron snapped.
Laurel stopped giggling and shrugged.
"Yeah. Thought so," Cameron said in his tough voice.
We walked the block down, and then looked around us to make sure no one was following. Cameron started imitating Bugs Bunny. "Do you ever get the feeling that you're being... Watched?"
We laughed.
We backed up to the fenced and I cupped my hands.
"You sure about this man? There isn't a pit of hungry bears or something on the other side, right?" he asked.
"Just make it fast."
Cameron shook his head. He placed his foot in my hands and scrambled over the wall. When he was on the ground on the other side, he turned to face us and said, "You know, it's never a good sign when someone doesn't answer your question of 'You sure about this?' Not to mention the question about being able to study Yogi's insides."
He looked at me, only half joking. The others went over. I climbed up the fence the hard way. You know what the hard way is? Climbing over a ten foot fence without help.
"No bears," Cameron said pleasantly when I reached the other side.
"What now?" Laurel asked.
Samantha started digging through her purse. she took out a small tour book and flipped to a page. "My Grandmommy got me this. And... Bingo. A map. That way."
We went and finally found a path. Fortunately, we were in the part where the cages didn't start for maybe another twenty feet.
We walked around for a while. See, the cages are attached to this bigger building, I guess, so people don't have to go from cage to cage in hot weather. We watched for a sign or a door.
Finally, Laurel said, "Gee, I wonder what that sign there about no trespassing beyond this point is about?"
"Shall we find out?" I asked courteously. I opened the door, looked around briefly, and then let Laurel go in.
"All right, let's get ready to kick some butt," Hardy said, punching the air.
It was different when we all went inside. We were in a long corridor, with dim lights, the warehouse kind, over our heads. I started leading the way down.
"So? What now?" Cameron asked Samantha.
"Um, in there are some... monkeys." She pointed to a door.
"Monkeys? Coooooool." Hardy went over and opened the door. "CRAP!" We all jumped back. Hardy slammed the door.
"Th- Th- That was a cougar," Cameron stammered.
Samantha shrugged. "So I guess the map was wrong." Cameron glared at her. "What?! Besides, it was just a cougar."
"Just a cougar. Right. JUST a cougar? Are you nuts?"
Samantha shook her head slightly. "Poor, poor Cameron. Cougars don't kill people. Not unless they have to." She walked over to the door again and opened it.
"Are you sure you want to- Oh," Cameron looked kind of embarrassed. There was a cage separating us from the cougar.
Samantha smiled. "Hey, girl. Or boy. May I?" Samantha stuck her hand through the bars and let the mountain lion sniff them. Then, the cougar rubbed up against her hand. Suddenly, the cougar's eyes went kind of blank. Hardy started counting down. Eventually, we all joined in. "10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1." The fog lifted from the cougar's eyes and Samantha scratched it behind its ears.
"Okay? Who's next?" I asked.
"ME! ME! ME!" Laurel waved her hand in the air wildly.
"Okay. Laurel, why don't you take the honors?" She looked at me and rolled her eyes while Laurel bent down next to the cougar and stuck her hand through the bars.
"Hello Mr. Kitty." Hardy, Cameron, Samantha, and I looked at each other. We didn't do the countdown when the cat's eyes glazed over.
Laurel looked hurt when she got up.
"Anybody else want the cougar?" I asked.
Cameron shook his head, and we could all tell he meant it.
Meanwhile, Hardy wandered down the hall and grabbed another doorknob. "I wonder what's behind door number two?" he wondered aloud.
He went inside and a second later, we looked and saw that he was acquiring a gorilla. "Always loved those things," he said.
"Any other takers?" I asked.
Cameron shook his head. So did everyone else.
"Okay."
"Hey! You!"
We looked at each other and then looked down the hall.
"Oh, this isn't good," Hardy said.
There were two security guards. And they were running towards us.
"I think this means we should run," I said slowly. We ran. Samantha, Hardy, and Laurel were closer to the front. They took a right. Cameron and I took a left.
"Why do they always chase you?" Cameron panted.
"That's rude," I commented.
"It was supposed to be."
Suddenly, one of the guards tackled me. I guess the other guard had gone off after the others. Cameron looked at me, then down the corridor, then at the guard.
"HELLO!" I shouted at him.
Cameron shrugged and apparently decided on what he wanted to do. He kicked the guard until the guard rolled off me, then kicked him square in the stomach.
"Come on," I told him.
We ran down the corridor, with the guard falling behind. With the luck I'd been having lately, we ran into another fork. This time it was a bit better, though. To the right was a sign saying "Exit." We went that way.
"Wait!" I grabbed Cameron's arm.
"What?" he snapped.
"He'll be expecting that. We'll wait until he passes." I pulled him through another door and pressed my ear up against the door, trying to hear the guard.
"Hey, genius," Cameron sneered rudely.
"What," I said tiredly. I briefly thought about how much I wanted my best friend Cameron back.
"Look where we are."
I looked. There weren't any cages. This was a big natural habitat. With two Grizzly Bears.
Believe me. That's capitalized for a reason.
I cussed.
"And it sinks in," Cameron said, imitating some sort of announcer.
"Why don't you just shut up?" I asked. "I mean, cut it out. You used to be my best friend and all, but now you're pushing it."
"What are you going to do? You haven't even fought before!"
"Oh, and you have?"
"THAT'S MY POINT!"
The male grizzly woke up.
Cameron and I looked up as it stood over us.
Cameron slowly said, "Oops. I think we woke up Yogi. And I think this is the evil Yogi. Smoky the Bear. Think this qualifies as a Smoky the Bear?"
I nodded.
"Okay. Let's try this," Cameron said, looking the bear in the eye. I wondered if he knew that was dangerous or not. He walked right up to it and slapped his hand on its stomach. The bear grew calm. As soon as it did, he got away from it. "Now can we get out of here?"
I nodded. We left as fast as we could. However, I noticed something really weird while we were running. There were a bunch of hawks and other birds of prey sitting in a single tree. I could have sworn all of them were staring at us.
iRachel
This was almost too much. We'd overheard them in the mall making plans to come here. They could at least try to be more discreet. We'd have to talk to them about that. But now it was split as we'd been split, and the leader and best friend were once again in a predator's cage. The only thing was that this was a bear, and the zoo was closed. There were too many similarities. Not for the first time did I find myself wondering what the Ellimist was truly up to. This seemed like he was bending the rules way too much. And Crayak was letting him.
Why?/i
Chapter 15
We met up with the others as soon as we could. As it turned out, a slow, fat guard had chased them. They had left and then reentered the building without much trouble. They each had about ten morphs by the time we caught up with them.
I had one. Cameron had one. Would it be enough?
There wasn't time to see. It was almost eight.
We had a vague and sketchy plan. Cameron was spending the night with me, and Hardy and Laurel were staying at their grandparents'. As soon as my parents and their grandparents left, we would follow them to what was hopefully the Yeerk pool. Then we would get Alexis out and leave.
We managed to catch the same bus we had come on in time.
"What happened to your friends?" the driver asked.
"They were no-shows," I told him. Kind of true.
Cameron and I went to my house.
My parents had ordered pizza for us. Meanwhile, Alexis was hopping up and down, telling me that our parents had a surprise for her and not for me. About how special she was.
Great surprise
Of course, I had to act like the big brother that didn't care. I had to say I was happy for her when my mom came.
You have no idea what it's like.
One night, I had been given the chance to fight by some sort of really, really weird alien before I even knew if aliens existed. Then I found out I was going to have to fight my parents. And now I had to save my sister before she became one of them. My whole family might become Controllers. And me? I was going to have to fight them.
"You have no idea how much junk food I have eaten in the past week," Cameron said, digging into his pizza.
I had a feeling that he was trying to distract me.
"I bet I've eaten more."
"How much you want to bet?"
I dug in my pockets. "I have ten cents and a melted Hershey's kiss."
"Okay, I think I'll stick with the ten cents."
It was about six thirty.
We argued like we had just a week before, picked on Alexis, played Nintendo 64.
My parents and Alexis left way before I was ready.