The female bear's agonised bellows echoed through the clearing, as the hunters watched and waited. The Kzamm hunt leader looked anticipatorily – he could tell his subordinates were eager to finish the bear off, but he was experiences and he knew that bear hunting was an exercise in patience.
During the summer months, females with cubs were the preferred targets. And, as anticipated, the mother bear's maternal instincts had outweighed any fear of the Ape Men – she had charged into the clearing to protect her cub… however, she had walked into a trap and had been struck from a distance with Kzamm lances, seriously injuring her.
It will take hours for the mother to die – her agonised bellows, normally a call to other predators, were a warning for any other creatures. Once the mother bear had died, she would then be butchered and served to the tribe. The cub, running to its mother rather than be left in the bushes, would be an unanticipated bonus.
Speaking of which… Firstly, where had the cub gone?
And secondly, had it been his imagination or had he seen a small glimmer in the bushes?
. . . .
Two weeks after the mammoth mission, on December 23rd, Drew walked through the hall, now with Christmas lights strung down it, before entering the control room to see Nikolai and Kyle were, of all things, decorating a Christmas tree.
Seeing Drew, Kyle turned to him and said, "Welcome back Drew – how was the meeting with the Novum board?" Drew said, "About opening? Pretty good." Nikolai said, "Yes, komandir. Kyle and I were remarking about how you never returned our calls – it was almost as if…" Kyle filled in, "You weren't really bothered to respond."
"First off, please don't finish each other's sentences – it's weird", Drew said, "And, on an unrelated note, the park was fuller than I anticipated – some of the staff must have been taking some leave." Kyle shrugged, "Most people are staying for Christmas… for some, it's too expensive to travel home… for most, this is where all their friends are."
Nikolai nodded, "Loneliness has been linked to irritability, erratic conduct, chronic moping and extreme sarcasm." Drew rolled his eyes and said, "God… imagine if anyone started exhibiting those behaviours…"
. . . .
Meanwhile, in the park bar, Jack, Will, Collete and Yolanda were sitting in the closed bar, drinking. They had taken advantage of a day off to have a lock-in. As Jack sipped his strawberry mocktail, he said, "This, my friends, is the good stuff." Sitting next to him, Collete said, "You got that right – we were glad to get all this hidden."
"And the fearless leader doesn't know", Jack said, "Remember the staff Halloween party, where Drew hogged all the good sweeties?" Will said, "Yup… but who gives a crap about him anyway?", to cheers from the room.
Yolanda mock-tutted and said, "What about Nikolai? If I wasn't slightly under the influence, I'd remind you that under Section Two-Point-Bore of the Spoilsport Act, we're not allowed to be drinking in uniform… even when we're not on duty." She paused, "And that is my Nikolai impression. Work in progress."
Jack smiled, "Me and Nikolai are tight at the moment – after the Pleistocene mission, I made him a compilation of music. So… yeah, we're mates." Yolanda scoffed, "Still, if he discovers you've been holding lock-ins…" They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of something clawing at the door.
Jack got up and sighed, "I feel like I'm responsible – maybe he'll be more lenient if it's me and possibly if it's an apology." A few minutes later, he walked back and said, "Guys… could you come over here?" Will, Collete and Yolanda followed him to the door and were surprised by what they saw.
A small, black-furred bear cub was sitting at the doorstep, curiously sniffing everything he came upon. Will said, silently, "It's a steppe bear cub… but he isn't one of ours." Yolanda said, quietly, "Maybe it's like those dromas a few weeks back – he came through some sort of weird portal thing."
Jack said, mock-philosophically, "It's a message from God… he's telling us to leave him here until someone more responsible comes along." Yolanda hissed, "We can't just leave him! What if something happens to him?" Jack sighed, "Okay – I have a plan. One of us hides him in one of our rooms until tomorrow… We'll tell Nikolai that we just found him… oh shit, where's he gone?!" The quartet turned to find the cub crawling down the hall. Eventually catching up to him, Jack picked him up and gave him to Yolanda, before the sound of someone coming down the hall came. Jack cursed, "Shit… what are we supposed to-"
Suddenly, a deep Russian-accented voice came from down the hall, singing, "IIII wish it could be Christmas every day, when the kids start singing and the band begins to plaaay…" The quartet all looked at each other, as Jack furtively said, "Hide him!"
Nikolai turned the corner singing, "Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day… Collete? Denham? Hall? Darrow?" His eyes furtively darting around, he said, "I-I thought I had the halls to myself… anyway, what are you doing here? You're being all stiff, awkward and humourless. I approve." The quartet all looked furtively and Jack said, "W-we were doing a routine inspection… consider this area, um, inspected." Nikolai said, "On your day off?" The quartet nodded vigorously and if Nikolai did not buy this, he certainly did not show it. "Dedication", he nodded, "Anyway, I have to go in my office and check some security cam footage… Jack whispered to Yolanda, "Where did you hide the cub?" Yolanda said, under her breath, "Oh shit… I hid him in Nikolai's office."
The quartet ran like a shot after Nikolai and into his office, to which the security chief said in confusion, "Why are you…" Running into Nikolai's office, Yolanda slammed the door shut as they searched the office for Koda – eventually, Collete found him under the table. Handing the bear cub to Will, Jack silently called out to Yolanda, "We've found him! Let's get out of here!" Yolanda smiled and turned to the door…
To find it wouldn't open.
"Oh, yeah, kind of forgot", Yolanda quietly said, "I locked the door whilst we were in here… and I can't find the key."
Collete facepalmed, as Will screamed, "WHAT THE HELL?!". An open-mouthed Jack said, "Are you sure that I didn't do that? Because that's the kind of thing I would do." Yolanda pointed at Will, "He was panicking! He made me panic!", to which Will said, sarcastically, "You've locked us in!" A few minutes later, Nikolai stood, looking confused, as he held his keycard. The quartet all smiled awkwardly, before excusing themselves."
. . . . .
Walking out, with the steppe bear cub safely tucked into Will's bag, Jack said, "What do we call him? If he's gonna stay here, he'll need a name." It was Will who spoke next, "Beary?", followed by Yolanda, who said, "Boo-Boo?" The next few minutes was spent arguing over what to call the little cub, when Collete thoughtfully said, "Koda. I'd like to call him Koda." Jack said, "Actually, yeah, Koda's a good name", and Yolanda nodded, "Yeah – I'm cool calling him that." They suddenly noticed Will was looking in his bag, and he said, "Speaking of Koda… where's he gone?" Jack, Collete and Yolanda turned to see that the bear cub had slipped out of Will's bag and was moving… towards the Dimetrodon paddock!
"Oh shit!"
The quartet ran to the Dimetrodon paddock to see Koda had slipped through a gap in the fence! Opening the paddock door, they ran in, grabbed Koda and stuffed him in Will's bag. Suddenly, they heard a low snarl behind them, to which Will cursed, "Shit.", and they turned to see Rommel behind them! Jack turned to his three compatriots and said, "Shall we… run for our lives?", to which Yolanda said, "Oh yes, let's."
And so they took off to the paddock staff door, with Rommel in hot pursuit… all watched by Spiny the juvenile dimetrodon – who was feeling a strange sense of satisfaction. It wasn't him getting beaten up this time.
Eventually, Rommel had cornered all four of them and he advanced towards them, jaws slavering with anticipation…
When suddenly, the blaring of a horn cut the air and Rommel went rigid. The quartet looked up to see Kyle watching them. He said, half-sardonically, "Back off, Rommel – you've been fed for today." This allowed Jack, Will, Collete and Yolanda to run to the staff gate and get out of the paddock.
Running up to Kyle, Jack said, "Thank you." Kyle gave Jack, Will, Collete and Yolanda a curious look, "What the hell were you doing in there?" The four all looked at each other and Jack said, "We were giving the Dimetrodon a random check – gotta make sure the hatchlings are okay, y'know!" Kyle nodded, weirded out by how they were behaving.
Hearing Koda's cries from Will's bag, Kyle said curiously, "What's making that noise?" The quartet looked at each other, before Jack said, "Will's new ringtone!" Will nodded in response, "Yeah! It's my new ringtone… anyway, we need to go." All four of them dashed off.
. . . . .
At their accommodations, Jack, Will, Collete and Yolanda, the latter carrying Koda in Will's bag, walked, exhausted at their day. Jack sighed, "Okay, that last one was about as convincing as a giraffe with dark glasses trying to get into a polar-bears-only golf club. We messed up at hiding him." Will nodded, "At least we only have to for the rest of tonight". Turning to Yolanda, Collete sighed, "Let me have him." Yolanda passed the little cub to Collete, who stealthily carried him into her room and placed him in a cardboard box. She sighed, "Not exactly the most comfortable of places, but it'll do for one night."
Getting onto her own bed, Collete lay down, yawned and closed her eyes…. Before suddenly, a plaintive, fearful cry from Koda echoed through her room – she tried ignoring, but eventually, the woman said, "Damn it", walked up to the box, took Koda out and placed him on her bed. She lay down and went to sleep herself.
. . . . .
The next morning, Collete woke up, stretched herself and said, "Alright, Koda – time to get you…" She suddenly realised that Koda was gone! She searched her room to find no sign of him – then she realised… she had left her door closed last night, but now it was slightly ajar. Had someone found him? She needed to find Jack, Will and Yolanda – maybe they knew where he was.
Running to Control, she ran down the hall, screaming, "KODA?! KODA?! KODA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Turning into the vet offices and bursting in, she ran to Linda and said, "Where's Koda?" To Collete's surprise, Linda sighed and said, "He's safe."
Leading Collete down the hall, she took her to the animal nursery, where Jack, Will and Yolanda were now stood by a playpen… where Koda was now crawling around, sniffing curiously. Yolanda turned to Collete, "I'm sorry – I went to Linda when my shift began and told everything. I'm not a natural rule-breaker." Linda nodded, "I snuck in to your room, retrieved Koda and took him to our animal nursery." Jack said, "How did you without waking her up?" Linda turned to Collete, "Do you want to tell them or should I?", to which Collete said sheepishly, "I was sleeping on a beanbag to give Koda more room. He was sleeping on my bed." Linda, Jack, Will and Yolanda all burst out laughing at the image.
. . . . .
One day later…
As Terence shook himself awake, the tyrannosaur's eyes fell upon a strange sight - before him was a strange box, with a garishly coloured outer covering, including a ribbon and a bow. Ambling toward it, the tyrannosaur curiously grabbed the ribbon and tugged, causing the gift to come open easily. Inside lay a horde of food, as well as a few toys - a gift that the staff had made. A gift the tyrannosaur really enjoyed.
In the neighbouring segment of the paddock, he was alerted by the yawning form of Matilda, who had just woken and found a gift of her own, only a different colour from his. From his side of the fence, Terence showed his sister how to open the gift, to which she obliged - the items in this one were similar to Terence's… with the exception of a strange red toy. Lightly gripping it in her maw, Matilda was surprised when a squeak came out of the red object. For a moment, Matilda did not know what to do, but then she relaxed her maw and tightened it again. When the squeak returned, she began to repeat the rhythm of tensing and relaxing her jaws, enjoying the squeaking sound that it made.
All around the park, the residents enjoyed their Christmas gifts. The pups in Nero's pack were playing with a new tug rope, whilst the baby triceratops were playing with a ball that they had been given. Diego and Shira were busy eating the remains of a cow, whilst their cubs batted a ball around.
Everyone was in the spirit of fun.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
