Lee said nothing. He stared at the man.

  The man chuckled, sounding more nervous than amused.

  "Look, Lee, it's no big deal. I just won't have chips tomorrow.

  Whateve..."

  Lee whipped the clipboard up and slammed the edge into the

  man's throat.

  The other Keepers gasped. The bald man stumbled back, his

  eyes bulging as he clutched his throat. He choked and coughed. "Lee,"

  he wheezed. "What the fuck, dude?"

  Lee stepped forward and slammed the edge of the board into

  the man's neck again. Harder. The man stumbled and fell over, rolling

  onto his back. He wheezed and coughed and flecks of blood flew from

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  his mouth.

  Lee knelt to straddle the man. He dropped his pen and took the

  clipboard with both hands. He slammed the board down on the man's

  throat a third time. The man bucked under him. Blood shot from his

  mouth, spattering across the clipboard and chart. He wheezed and

  coughed, his breathing thin and gurgling. The other Keepers said and

  did nothing.

  Lee slammed the board down again and again, until the man's

  throat collapsed and the board was hitting the floor beneath. Lee sat

  back, panting at the man. Blood pooled from his mouth and he choked

  and gurgled. His neck was caved in, bruised and bloody. The man

  clutched feebly at the floor. His eyes glazed over as he stared up at Lee.

  Lee stared back, then stood. Dropping the clipboard, he strode

  over to the closest counter and grabbed a tranquilizer rifle placed there.

  He walked back to stand over the man. The man gurgled up at him, spit

  and blood frothing on his lips.

  Saying nothing, Lee leveled the rifle at the man's forehead and

  fired. The dart flew from the rifle and thudded into the man's forehead.

  The man jerked and was still. Blood seeped around the point of the

  dart, running down onto the floor.

  Lee lowered the rifle and looked at the other Keepers. They

  stared back at him, silent.

  "We're Keepers, people. And one of the things we keep are the

  fucking rules!" He shook with fury as he yelled the last part. He forced

  himself to calm down, looking to each Keeper in turn.

  They all nodded at him, silent.

  * * *

  Maylee slowly walked out of the alcove. Ella was staring, arms

  crossed, down at the bears. The light mist in the air coated Maylee's

  face and she blinked. It was almost completely dark outside. The only

  light came from a dim bulb inside the alcove. Maylee wondered how

  much longer the power would hold out.

  Ella said nothing as Maylee approached. She stared down at the

  bears as though no one was there. Maylee walked up next to her and

  looked down. The live bear huffed and snorted as it paced the exhibit.

  Despite how high they were, Maylee was glad the bear hadn't noticed

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  them. She looked down at the wall, wondering if anything could climb

  it. Then she noticed a short ladder placed to her right, running from

  their level up to something above the alcove.

  "What's up there?" she said, feeling awkward as she broke the

  silence.

  Ella looked, then resumed staring at the bears. "There's a big

  hill on the other side of this wall." Her voice was quiet and flat. "The

  ladder goes to the top. Zookeepers use it as a shortcut sometimes."

  Maylee nodded and fell silent.

  Ella turned and looked at Maylee. She smiled. "Hey, cheer up,

  it's Wednesday."

  Maylee blinked. "Huh?"

  Ella shrugged. "I dunno. That's just something I say when

  Lori's upset. I say whatever day of the week it is, then I say cheer up

  because of it."

  "Does it work?"

  "Nope," said Ella, shaking her head.

  Maylee chuckled. Then she gasped. "Wait, did you say

  Wednesday?"

  Ella frowned. "Yeah. Why?"

  "Shit," said Maylee, shaking her head. "Today was my

  birthday. I completely forgot."

  Ella gasped and smiled. "Cool! How old are you now?"

  "Fifteen," said Maylee, feeling weird saying it. She knew the

  significance of the date to her mother. It hung over her like a threat for

  years.

  Ella clapped her hands. "Double cool. Like me! You know

  what you need?"

  "What?"

  "A party!" said Ella, then she pushed past Maylee to hurry into

  the alcove. "Wait here!"

  Maylee turned to watch as Ella looked hurriedly around the

  alcove. She found something and rushed over to pick it up. She knelt

  and Maylee saw she held a small piece of white rock.

  "Here," said Ella, waving for her to come over. "Sit, sit."

  Maylee walked over and sat on the ground across from Ella.

  Ella leaned forward and scraped the rock across the concrete, leaving a

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  jagged white line.

  She drew a large, misshapen circle on the ground, then smiled

  up at Maylee. "This is your cake." Then she leaned forward and drew a

  rectangle next to it. "And this is the ice cream."

  Maylee chuckled. "You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble."

  "Don't worry about it," said Ella, smiling. "Nothing but the best

  for your party." She sat back and placed the rock on the ground. She

  made a big show of clearing her throat. Then she started singing.

  "Happy birthday to you," she sang.

  "I belong in a zoo?" said Maylee, raising her hands to indicate

  their surroundings.

  Ella stopped singing and laughed. "You don't look like a

  monkey, though."

  Maylee nodded. "At this point, though, I bet I smell like one."

  They both laughed.

  "Happy birthday, Maylee," said Ella.

  "Thank you," said Maylee.

  Fourteen

  Angie and Dalton walked slowly, keeping a lookout for corpses.

  Angie felt ridiculous, still clutching the bright yellow hunk of wood

  that was once an arrow. But she needed a weapon. She couldn't be

  caught off guard again. The rain picked up around them. It was cold,

  but Angie scarcely noticed any more. She felt like the wet, cold misery

  was becoming a part of her. Dalton shuddered next to her. She had to

  get him shelter and warmth. Something better than storage sheds and

  public restrooms.

  They rounded a corner and saw a small building across a large

  walkway. Communications Office: Employees Only, read a sign next to

  it.

  "There it is!" yelled Dalton, pointing.

  Angie sighed, relief flooding her. "Yep, buddy. There it is."

  "Come on!" said Dalton, running forward.

  "Wait!" said Angie. "We need to be careful."

  Then Dalton screamed as a corpse stumbled from behind a

  nearby tree and closed its arms around him. It was a thin woman with

  most of her clothes dried and rotted away. She gripped Dalton with

  thin, leathery arms and hissed through her taut, papery throat. The

  tendons in her neck worked as she bent in to bite.

  "Dalton!" yelled Angie, running forward with the arrow. Dalton

  screamed, trying to pull away.

  "Duck!" yelled Angie when she reached him. Dalton did the

  best he could and Angie whipped the wood over his head, missing him

  by inches, and slammed into the woman's face. The woman let go and

  staggered back, hissing and groaning as yellow teeth fell from her

  mouth.

  "Get your own kid, bitch," said Angie, stepping closer to the

  woman and slamming the point of the arrow into her eye. The wood

  was splintered and jagged, and one thin splinter was long and sturdy

  enough to bury itself deep in the woman's skull. The woman let out a

  long, low moan, then slumped to the ground in front of Angie.

  "That's pretty satisfying," said Angie. "I see why your sister

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  likes beating these things so much."

  "You think Maylee's inside?" said Dalton, looking warily down

  at the corpse, but his voice full of excitement.

  "God I hope so," said Angie. "Let's go see."

  They slowly walked to the building, looking side to side as they

  went. Angie could hear, or imagined she could hear, faint and far off

  groaning, but she couldn't be sure. No corpses emerged to attack and

  they made their way to the building in relative peace.

  "Gross," said Dalton, stopping on the metallic stairs leading up

  to the office. He looked up and Angie followed his gaze.

  A dead zookeeper, tranquilizer dart embedded in his forehead,

  was hanging by the neck from a tree in front of the door. He'd clearly

  been dead for days and the rain had sped up his rotting. His skin was

  slimy and gray and the smell made Angie back up a step.

  "Yeah," said Angie, pulling her shirt up to her nose. "Just cover

  your nose and we'll get inside. Okay, baby?"

  Dalton nodded and walked up the stairs. Angie followed, doing

  her best to ignore the corpse and the slow creaking noise the branch

  made as it rocked back and forth in the rain.

  Dalton reached the door first but looked too scared to knock.

  Angie guessed what he was thinking. They'd taken days to get here.

  Anything could have happened in that time. Anything could be behind

  that door. The rotting body hanging from the tree did little to make

  Angie feel better.

  Angie shook the feeling off and, reaching out over Dalton's

  head, knocked on the door.

  Angie heard movement inside and her back tensed. Then she

  heard voices and she felt slightly better. At least it wasn't corpses

  moving in there. But it bothered her that she didn't recognize the

  voices. It sounded like a man and woman. Young, too.

  The door opened and a young man with round glasses peered

  out. He eyed Angie warily. "Who are you?"

  Angie wanted to push the man aside. Get Dalton inside and

  warm. She forced herself to stay civil. "I'm Angie Land and this is my

  son, Dalton. Is there anyone else here? A fourteen-, fifteen-year-old girl

  and a man about my age? They would be..."

  "We don't have any food!" yelled a woman's voice from behind

  the young man. Then the woman walked into view. Her arms were

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  crossed and she looked warily past the young man at Angie. Angie

  noticed both of them were wearing zookeeper uniforms. She tensed,

  remembering the Zoo Bites, but she forced herself not to show it.

  "Just shut the door, Caleb," said the young woman.

  "Just let me deal with it, Shelley," said the young man,

  apparently named Caleb. "She's right though, lady, we don't have any

  food."

  "You can't trust these people!" said Shelley. "They're all crazy.

  Just shut the door!"

  Angie cleared her throat, forcing herself to smile. "Look, we

  were told to come here. Some girl named Ella?"

  "Ella?" said Caleb, opening the door wider and leaning out.

  "Where is she? What have you people done with Ella?"

  Angie leaned back, a little surprised by Caleb's intensity. The

  branch behind her creaked as the body swung back and forth. "What?"

  she said. "We don't have her. She told us..."

  Caleb looked her up and down. There was a desperate craziness

  in his eyes Angie didn't like. "Look, lady. I'm sorry we don't have food.

  I'm sorry we locked you all in here."

  "Just shut the door Caleb!" yelled Shelley.

  Caleb ignored her. "I'm sorry for all of that. Just give us Ella

  back, please."

  The branch behind her creaked as Angie stared at Caleb and

  Shelley. "Look, I told you. We don't have her. And no one locked us in

  anywhere. We got here two nights ago. Ella helped us get inside."

  Shelly's eyes grew wide and she pointed at Angie. "They're the

  ones that let those things inside! Shut the door!"

  Caleb frowned at Angie, his eyes narrowing behind the round

  glasses. "Is that true?"

  "Screw this," said Angie. She grabbed the door and shoved it

  inward, pushing Caleb back in the process. She and Dalton walked

  inside as Caleb and Shelley backed away like frightened animals. The

  room stunk of sweat and desperation.

  "Get out!" yelled Shelley, pointing at the door.

  "What's your problem, chickie?" said Angie, feeling very sick

  of this shit.

  Caleb let out a long sigh and adjusted his glasses on his face.

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  "Look, let's all just calm down for a moment."

  Shelley ignored him and stepped toward Angie. "My problem?

  All you guest fuckers are crazy. That's my problem. The whole worlds

  gone crazy. There's one too. Oh, and corpses are eating people! Let's

  not forget that one. The only person I can trust is Caleb and he won't

  shut the fucking door!"

  Shelley pushed past Angie and walked to the door. She held it

  open wide and gestured out of it. "Now leave, please!"

  A groaning corpse stumbled into the doorway and grabbed

  Shelley. She screamed. The corpse, a bloated old man with thick slimy

  strips of skin hanging from his head, moved in to bite. The slimy strips

  of his flesh brushed across Shelly's face and she shrieked, sounding like

  she was losing her mind.

  "Shelley!" yelled Caleb, moving forward to help.

  "Shit," said Angie, putting Dalton behind her and rushing

  forward. She arrived first and grabbed the corpse by the forehead. She

  pushed back, recoiling inside at the feel of the corpse's slimy skin.

  Caleb reached Shelley and grabbed her arms. He pulled her

  toward him, out of the corpse's grip. The bloated man gurgled and bit at

  Angie's forearm.

  "Someone wanna give me a hand with this?" yelled Angie,

  pushing against the corpse as he bit and grabbed at her.

  "Here!" said Dalton, running up and putting a pair of pliers into

  her hand.

  "Where'd you find those?" said Angie, struggling with the

  corpse.

  "Drawer."

  "Okay. Thanks honey, now stay out of the way."

  Dalton nodded and ran farther back into the room, away from

  the corpse.

  Angie brought the pliers up and shoved the point into the

  corpse's eye. The corpse groaned and fell back, working its jaws

  limply. Angie grabbed both handles of the pliers and shoved them

  deeper into the eye socket of the corpse. She wrenched the pliers open,

  hearing bone crack and something squelch. The corpse gurgled and

  slumped to the floor, its head inside the door and the rest of its body

  outside on the porch. Angie kicked the corpse's head outside and shut

  the door.

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  She turned. Dalton stood against the wall, looking warily at the

  door. Caleb stood next to Shelley. Shelley stood, arms crossed and

  looking shaken, staring at Angie.

  "Thank you," said Shelley. "Now please leave."

  "What?" said Angie.

  Caleb put a hand on her shoulder. "Now, wait a second,

  honey."

  Shelley pulled away and glared at him. "Don't you honey me!

  You can't trust these people!"

  "Who are you even talking about?" said Caleb. "Do you even

  know any more?"

  "Her!" yelled Shelley, pointing at Angie. "Them! Everyone!

  And don't you dare give me your college bullshit like you're some

  goddamned psychiatrist! You study animals, Caleb. Stupid animals!

  Not me!"

  "Okay, sweetie," said Caleb, an edge creeping into his voice.

  "You need to calm down."

  "No," said Shelley, "what I need to do is get the fuck out of this

  place! I hate this fucking zoo! I only work here because of you! I don't

  even like animals all that fucking much!"

  Caleb stared at her. "You think I don't realize that? You think I

  haven't thought about how easy it would be to leave you? How easy it

  would be to go out with any of the girls at school? Someone with my

  interests? Someone more at my level?"

  Shelley pulled back as if she'd been struck. "You

  motherfucker."

  "Wait," said Caleb, turning red. "Wait, that came out wrong."

  "Fuck it did," said Shelley. She stomped to the door, flung it

  open and ran outside.

  "Shelley!" yelled Caleb, following her.

  Angie watched them go. She stood, dumbfounded, staring at the

  door for a moment. "Well shit," she said.

  "Shit," repeated Dalton.

  "Watch your mouth," said Angie, a little shocked. She'd never

  heard Dalton swear. Maylee, all the time. Never Dalton.