In the moments before the sun rose over the horizon, the countryside was hushed. The only sounds were the soft whisper of the breeze as it blew through the grass and trees. Juno was still inside her cousin's car since the wreck early that night. She lay against the steering wheel unconscious, but at least she was uninjured.
The sun's morning light finally touched Juno and she woke up. "Where the hell am I?" she groaned In pain.
She looked around through the windows, then she slowly and weakly opened the driver side door. Juno exited the wrecked car and examined the condition of the car, but it was clear to see that it was as dead as Johnny. The sound of moaning caught her attention.
"Who's there? Can you help me?"
There was no answer, but Juno walked toward some bushes where the moaning was coming from. She was just five feet from the bushes when a male zebra in a blue bathrobe emerged from the bushes. Juno could have felt relieved because she found someone, but she was horrified because half of the zebra's face was ripped open.
The zebra was coming right at her Juno. "Get away from me!" she screamed. Juno ran up the hill with the zebra trying to follow. She burst out of the woods onto the country road on which she and Johnny had driven the day before. Without the uneven grass and brush hampering her, she was able to run at top speed.
Fifteen minuets had passed since Juno had escape the crazed zebra who tried to attack her, but she needed help and a phone to call the local police. She came to a stop when she spotted a sigh that read "Grate Dane Bar and Gas".
"Oh thank God!" she cried as she ran toward the station.
Juno reached the front door and opened it without even knocking. She looked around to see if anyone was there who could help her. She then realized that something was not right, but she still hoped for the best. She then spotted a broken lamp, a few magazines knocked off a shelf, and some blood on a desk.
"Hello!"
No one answered her call. She began to feel hopeless again, but she then spotted a phone in the manger's office. I'll have the police here in no time!" She thought to herself as she headed for the office.
She was about to enter the office when she heard a bump from outside, she spun around and saw a buffalo wearing only black pants trying to break the window. The buffalo's neck was ripped open as if something bit into it and tore a chunk off. Juno could tell that he was after her, but she entered the office, closed the door behind her and locked it. She picked up the phone, but to her horror the phone was dead.
"This just can't be!" screamed Juno as she slammed the phone down.
Just then the sound of an approaching car got her hopes up. Juno ran out of the office and saw the car pull to a stop, but the buffalo turned its attention to the car. Two lions in black suits exited the car. One lion named Ibuki put on some eyeglasses and he pulled a pistol from his coat.
"Aim for the head!" said the other lion who was named Free.
Ibuki took careful aim and fired. The bullet struck the buffalo right between the eyes and it collapsed to the ground lifeless. Juno walked up to the two lions and smiled, but her smile became really overjoyed because a third passenger exited the car and she could not believe who it was.
"Louie!" she beamed with joy.
Louis who everyone called Louie took Juno into his arms and embraced her with a passionate hug. Ibuki and Free looked at Louis hugging Juno and smiled at the tender moment. Just then a female Okapi named Cosmo exited the car, but she was wearing a red bra and thong.
"Who your friend sweetie?" she asked crossing her arms.
Louis turned his attention to Cosmo. "Her name is Juno and she's an old school friend!" he explained as he pulled a pistol from his coat. "Move, Cosmo!" he ordered as he aimed his weapon high.
Cosmo moved aside and Louis fired his weapon at the zebra in the bathrobe that Juno saw early. The zebra took a hit in the head and collapsed to the ground. Juno could tell that her friend and his goons knew how to handle these creatures. Still Juno did not understand what was truly going on and she wanted some answers.
"Can anyone tell me what's happening?" she begged, now to stressed to care if it was an alien invasion.
Louis sat against the front of the car and looked at Juno with a look of unease on his face. "Well, we don't really know what is going on or what's causing it to happen!" he explained as he checked his weapon. "Ibuki, Free and I were at the strip club watching Cosmo preform, but then all hell broke loose!"
"Yeah!" Ibuki added joining in on the conversation. "Some sick looking animals came into the club and started to attack the others guests."
Louis nodded in agreement. "Then they started coming after us, but some good old boy comes chasing them and he had a big gun like an M-16 auto rifle." He stated as he put his pistol back into his coat.
Juno could tell that her friend felt dead inside for what he saw, but it was not just Louis it was his companions as well. She didn't want to ask, but the words slipped out. "And then what happened?" she asked with look of sorrow on her face.
"He started shooting wild! The bullets tearing the place apart!" ground Louis.
Cosmo then stepped forward. "One of my fellow dancers was shot dead." she stated with sick look on her face.
"I saw one of those motherfuckers take ten to fifteen hits and kept on coming!" Free explained as he lit a cigarette. "The damn thing had to be dead, but it kept on coming until…"
Ibuki cut in. "It took a hit in the dead and that's what brought it down!" he stated as he cleaned his eyeglasses.
Louis stared at Juno with a look of fear and confusion on his face. He was just as afraid and confused as the others, but he did not care why these things were happening. There was one thing he did know and that was he and everyone else was in a battle for survival. He didn't want to finish the story, but he had to help Juno know how he and his companions found her.
"We all managed to escape the club and then take off in the car." explained Louis with some tears staring to build up in his eyes. "The radio in our car was saying for everyone to evacuate the city because of the crisis that was going on."
Free then stepped in. "Yeah! It was hell!" he stated taking a puff of his cigarette. "We saw many other animals running in fear and being attacked, but we managed to escape the city and now here we are."
Juno could not believe how awful things were in the city. She now hoped that her friends from Cherryington High School was safe because the school was in the heart of the city. She then noticed the tears in Louis's eyes and could tell that he was really broken. She placed her hand on his shoulder and he turned and looked at her with a weak smile.
"I don't know what is happening out there!" he said with a whimper as his tears ran down his cheeks. "This is hell on earth. This is pure hell on earth!"
Ibuki stepped in to finish the story. "We got out of the city, but we started running low on gas and that's how we ended up here." he explained checking the gas pumps. "We have a long way to go till we reach the airport, but since these pumps are empty I guess we're walking."
"What do you mean airport?" asked Juno with hope in her voice.
Cosmo pointed to the west. "There's a small airport west of here and the radio said to head for evacuation stations, but we have to walk ten miles to get there." she grumbled in frustration.
"Then lets go!"
Juno, Louis, and the others grabbed some food and drinks from the gas station and headed down the road that would lead to the airport. They all knew that they would not be safe until they could find some help or find a safe place that they could hold out until this crisis would come to an end. They only hopped that this was not happening around the world.
