Catastrophe

Chapter 1-3

The zoo closed at dusk every evening, except for a few special events scattered through the year. The guides and security team ushered the public out, closed and locked the gates, and finally peace and quiet descended. Carl always felt a vague relief once the world was shut out for the night.

Unlike many of the employees, who lived outside the boundaries, he had a small cottage in a back corner, not too far from the barracks where the security people were housed during their three-day-on shifts. There were patrols twenty-four-seven. Besides some rare and valuable animals, the zoo also housed some that could be dangerous if they ever escaped or if an unauthorized person either evaded closing time or somehow gained access. They all knew to summon Carl if they saw any animal in distress or injured. He slept lightly with his cell phone on the nightstand, set for a loud ring.

This evening, a strange restlessness troubled him, even after the public was gone and the evening feeding completed. Instead of going home, fixing himself a simple meal and sitting down to watch TV or do research on his computer, he wandered the grounds. Ultimately, he wound up near the cheetah habitat. In the gathering darkness, he could only see a short distance into the enclosure through the thick foliage. Still, he sensed movement within the shadows.

He paused, standing close to a wall of the compound that housed the elephants, and waited. A quiver of anticipation danced over his skin, along his nerves. Even though there was no obvious cause for alarm or concern, he found he could not move on just yet.

Perhaps he blinked. While he would have sworn there was nothing there an instant before, all at once he saw a nude man walking along the high fence. Was he inside or outside of the cheetah habitat? Carl blinked again, trying to clear a blur from his eyes. Another allergy symptom. It came and went and mostly was no big problem. Except at times like this…

The man was outside, at least now. He strode with purpose toward a stone-and-cement pillar that held several signs and maps indicating what the nearby exhibits housed and giving information on the various animals. While Carl watched, transfixed, the other man reached down near the bottom and wiggled a stone free. Then he thrust his hand into what was apparently a hollow space inside and drew it back with a bundle gripped in his fingers.

Standing there by the marker, he shook out a shirt, jeans, socks and a pair of athletic shoes. Before Carl’s startled gaze, the strange man proceeded to get dressed. Carl almost regretted that move. Nude, the man was lean and muscular with the build of a long distance runner. He radiated a fierce strength and power. Clothing diminished that effect, although it did not totally conceal it.

Responsibility jerked Carl out of his near-trance. He shoved away from the wall and stalked across to confront the man. All at once he was angry. Just who was this weird dude and what was he up to in Carl’s domain? Despite a tingle of attraction sizzling along his nerves, he could not let a stranger invade this special place.

“What the f**k do you think you’re doing? The zoo has been closed for over an hour, and the public has all left. How did you manage to evade the guards? And why were you running around with nothing on?”

The stranger whirled, transfixing Carl with a blaze of energy that seemed to make his green eyes literally glow. “What are you doing spying on me? I’m not a member of your public. I live here, at least for now, and I’ve got urgent business. Please, do not detain me. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

The counterattack stopped Carl in his tracks. “Okay, okay. I live here, too, and these animals are my charges. If anything endangers them, I can call a flock of guards in seconds, and I won’t hesitate to do it. You still haven’t answered my questions.”

The stranger exhaled a long, slow breath. “I can only tell you so much without violating my oath to our leader and our code. I, too, care for the welfare of the animals here, especially these spotted cats you seem to be drawn to. At times, I live among them, and I cannot do so clad in human clothes, I cannot go out into the rest of the world undressed. Do not ask me more, please. I need to go now.”

“How will you get out? The gates are all locked and can only be opened by an electronic signal from the main guard post and a few by a secret combination.”

Again, the stranger huffed out a breath, charged with impatience. “I have ways. I can climb and leap very well and bypass the electrified fences and the monitors. No one will know when I come and go. If you summon guards, I’ll vanish before they get here. They’ll think you’re crazy.”

Carl was not mollified. Some inner sense told him the stranger spoke only truth, although not nearly all of it. He heaved a sigh of his own, frustrated for the moment. Even if there was certainly more to this man than he’d admitted, Carl sensed he would get nothing else from the lean stranger at this point.

“All right, go on about your business, be forewarned. I’ll keep an eye out for you. If I find anything at all that seems amiss, I’ll track you down. Somehow, I’ll force the truth out of you! I know you’re being evasive. I just don’t know why.”

Although there wasn’t enough light to read the other man’s expression, it seemed his erect posture slumped the slightest bit.

“Aye. I understand. I promise I’ll do nothing to harm any of the animals and, in time, perhaps I can tell you more. For now you must believe me, trust me. I’m begging you…”

He whirled away then and vanished into the darkness, immediately and completely. Carl could not hear the sound of a footstep, the brush of a body against any of the foliage or any hint from the more nocturnal animals that they sensed anyone passing.

Shaking his head, he circled the cheetah habitat and found nothing out of order. After that, he walked on across the compound to his cottage. This was a puzzle he’d have to sort out later.