When Mitch and I get done the other's have gone to get the rest of our plan moving. Abe and Anissa have gone to get the plane ready and moving. When I walk out to the truck where Ray's group had the animals Jackson steps out looking shocked.

"What's wrong?"

"You gotta see these."

I step into the truck with Jackson and he points over to a cage with a warthog and a serval, a wild African cat. I look over to Jackson surprised, "Shouldn't he be terrified of that cat?"

"Yeah, but instead it's like they're best friends."

As Jackson and I look around the animals in the truck start to go berserk. "Let's get out of here." the two of us almost jump out to the truck and meet up with Jamie, Chloe, and Mitch.

"What's going on in there?" Mitch asks as I almost run into him.

"Well, it looks like the animals have all found a common enemy. Us."

Jackson nods. "At first it was just the serval, then the rest of the animals joined in. but it was more like it was passing from one animal to the next."

"So what's going on?"

"I don't know, maybe it's some Emotional Contagion, but it's a biological phenomenon. Nobody quite understands it, but it's real. Like yawns are contagious. You see somebody yawning, you can't help but yawn yourself. Same thing with laughter."

"And you think that's what's happening with the animals?"

"I can't say for sure, but it's a theory. But if it's true, that would explain why the abnormal animal behaviors have been increasing so much these past few days. Because animals in proximity could be triggering each other. Like inside the truck."

I shake my head, "You're saying one of the animals starts displaying the behavior, then it spreads from one to the next, like a spark?"

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Something my father said, I didn't understand at the time, but he called it "the spark." He said that once the spark was lit, it would spread all over the world from animal to animal, like wildfire. And that once this happened it would be impossible to put out the flame."

Mitch shakes his head, "I just can't believe we let it get this far. One minute Jamie's wanted for killing an FBI agent. The next minute, we're in a gunfight. At a zoo."

Jackson sighs, "You think I wanted it this way?"

"It was your idea to contact this Ray character. Doesn't take a fortune teller to figure out that bad things might occur when he's around."

"Yeah, well, I didn't hear you come up with any ideas about how to get out of this country undetected."

"Right, but my no ideas beats the hell out of robbing a zoo to get out of here."

"We had no other options, Mitch."

I step between them, "Hey! We all made decisions that put us in his situation. We can't do anything about it now, but we do need to figure out how we are getting to Africa."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Is Ray still out?"

I nod, "yeah."

Mitch steps forward, "I say we leave him."

"We're not leaving the guy, okay? He's hurt."

Mitch shakes his head, before looking at Jackson, "I'm a veterinarian. I didn't take the Hippocratic Oath and Kat is a nurse so she didn't either."

"Are we really gonna leave him here?"

"Could put a bow on him. Leave him in front of the police station."

I shake my head, "No, we'll call an ambulance once we get to the plane. Then we'll call the zoo, tell 'em where they can find their animals. And to use extreme caution when approaching them."

The group nods in agreement and we start to head to the truck, but we hear the door to the warehouse open. When we turn we see Ray, holding his side and a gun, Jackson steps over in front of me, "Seriously, Ray?"

Jamie rolls her eyes, "What is it with you guys and guns?"

"Well, my charm only gets me so far. Where's Anissa?"

Jackson sighs, "She's with Abe. They went to the plane."

"Good, Let's go get 'em then. It is my plane, after all. Come on."

Mitch protests, "No, no, no, no. No."

"The plan abides. We're taking the animals."

"We can't."

"Sure we can."

"No, it's impossible. Something is wrong with them."

"And we can make it right by setting them free. So get in the truck, and let's go to Africa. Now! So who's volunteering to ride in the back? Or do you want to draw straws? All six of us can't fit in the front."

"Look you're not getting it. The animals, they're not right. It's not safe back there."

Jackson shakes his head and puts his hand up to Mitch, "I'll ride in the back."

Jamie protests, "Jackson, no you can't."

I grip his arm, "I'll come with you."

Ray chuckles, "Well, look at that. How sweet is that, huh? All this "saving the world" stuff is really working out great for you, Jackie Boy! Mitch, you drive. Appreciate you saving my life, sport."

Mitch scoffs, "You say that now. But, I might have left a nickel in your chest. Shouldn't hurt. But getting through airport security might be an adventure."

When Jackson and I get into the back of the truck I curl my knees up to my chest, after Jackson and I find a place to sit away from the animals. Jackson wraps his arm around me. "You okay?"

"Yeah..."

"None of this is your fault." As he says this the truck lurches forward."

I scoff, "That's not exactly true. I know what kind of trouble you and Ray get into when you're together and what comes along with Ray and I went with your idea to seek him out."

"Hey, we couldn't have made it this far without you."

"In the back of a speeding truck with homicidal animals, headed, by gunpoint, on our way to a rendezvous with a stolen plane?"

"It's okay, we'll be okay. We have to."

As the truck speeds down the highway, the back door comes open and I let out a scream. The truck comes to a stop before Jackson and I jump out of the back. I hear Mitch shouting, "We're near the airfield, come on."

With that, we all take off running, even Ray, even though he is a little ways behind the group. We make our way, quickly, to a large plan where Anissa is waving us on. "Come on!" When we get into the back of the cargo plane she looks at us oddly, "What happened to the animals?"

Ray shouts, "Doesn't matter right now, cops are on our trail." He rushes up to the cockpit and starts up the plane.

When we start to take off with the cabin door still open. As we roll down the runway cops start to shot at the plane. Anissa grabs a gun from the top storage, "I got this."

"No! No! NO!"

The group protests, but Chloe jumps onto Anissa, knocking the both of them out of the plane. "Chloe! Anissa!"

The group looks on in terror as the police get to Chloe and Anissa, arresting them. Jackson sits on the cargo bay floor covering his mouth as the door closes.