The Zoo Escape Plan

"Yeah, I have a plan."

"Is it a good one?"

"I have a plan."

Victoria made no effort to stifle her annoyed sigh. Those were definitely not the words she wanted to hear from a stranger who happened to be her only chance at survival. 

She was currently crouched behind a large feeding trough in the middle of a zebra corral. The zebras had long since run off, stampeding with the rest of the zoo's wild animals into the city. The cages had all somehow been unlocked and their inhabitants set free. The public had fled, mothers practically dragging their children, couples running hand in hand, and zookeepers panicking like chickens with their heads cut off. Victoria, however, had been frozen to the spot, unable to process the possibility of what was happening. A massive gorilla had been about to pound her into the sun-scorched concrete when Jason had scooped her around the middle and ran with her over his shoulder like a sack of flour.

"Who are you? What is happening? How is this happening?"

Victoria ran out of questions and Jason introduced himself, explaining that he was equally confused and surprised. 

Now Victoria still found herself in the company of Jason, the pale, skinny redhead who apparently had a plan, not a good plan, but a plan nonetheless, to get them safely out of the overrun zoo.

"Well, what's the plan, Jason?"

The boy quickly peeked over the top of the overturned trough before ducking down again. His wide green eyes danced with a terrified excitement. 

"We have to make a run for it.” Victoria raised her eyebrows skeptically, but Jason continued. 

“The entrance is right around the corner along the main path. There's an alpaca drinking from a fountain to the right- nothing to worry about there. But there is a tiger sleeping on top of the ice cream cart to the left. So we just have to get past Mittens without waking him up and run through the entrance!"

"That's definitely not a good plan."

Jason ignored the snippy comment, scanned the area outside of the corral one last time, and took Victoria's hand to lead her quietly through the grass. Both of their hearts pumped in a harmonic frenzy. Jason kept his eyes on the peacefully dozing tiger. Victoria focused on the shiny silver gates in her peripheral vision. 

"Almost there, almost there, almost there..."

Then: scccrape. The breath left both teenagers as Victoria's sneaker sent an empty soda can skidding across the ground. The alpaca, startled by the unexpected sound, took off deeper into the zoo. The stillness of the air was shattered and the two simultaneously turned to look at the tiger. Its beady eyes were open and narrowed, seeming to glare from inside a magnificently striped head. Its tail and paws twitched menacingly. Jason and Victoria were already running when the great cat launched itself off of the ice cream cart with a roar.

"Run! Just keep running! Don't look back! We'll make it!" Jason hollered as he pumped his arms furiously.

Victoria felt like her body was on fire as adrenaline spiked every nerve. She couldn't stop, couldn't look back, had to keep her eyes forward. Jason reached the gate, grabbed her by the wrists, and pulled her to safety. They worked together to slam the heavy gate shut. The tiger crashed against it a moment later and snarled viciously at its prey. Jason fumbled to untie his sweatshirt from around his waist. He hastily looped it through the gate’s handles as a makeshift lock and jumped out of reach of the tiger's razor-sharp claws. The vicious cat shook the metal barrier, the sweatshirt loosening with every blow. But it miraculously stayed, and the tiger gave up once it was clear that it would not be able to reach the other side of the high bars. Jason sighed in relief as the predator turned and made its way back to the ice cream cart. Victoria wiped her sweaty forehead and let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The two of them made eye contact and tried to smile despite their aching arms and legs.

"Thanks for saving my life... again." Victoria managed to say after several seconds of heavy silence.

Jason pulled his knees to his stomach. His toothy grin couldn't fool Victoria. She could see the lingering fear in his eyes.

"Told you I had a plan, didn't I? I'd call it pretty good, too; we survived!"

"Yeah, you did have a plan. But it almost got us killed. So I wouldn't call it good."

Jason raised his eyebrows, his eyes saying, “Cut me some slack, will yeah?”

Victoria sighed. "Alright, fine. It was a great plan. Thanks again for saving me- for saving both of us."

"Now that's more like it. You're welcome."

A piercing howl abruptly ended their moment. The teens exchanged an all too familiar look of terror and were up and running into the shelter of the city in a heartbeat, not willing to test their luck any further.

“We’ve gotta hide or something!” Victoria said.

There was no one else out on the street. Cars sat in park in the middle of the street, headlights glaring. But the usually bustling city street had become ghostly silent.

Victoria waited for Jason to answer, but he found himself unable to do anything more than pant and hold the stitch that had formed in his side.

“I think that must have been a wolf or something. We can’t stay standing out here like this.” 

“Just jump into that car there!” Jason cried. “We’ll lock the doors and wait this out.”

Victoria nearly faceplanted in what could only be a pile of animal feces as she hurried towards the car Jason had pointed at. 

They slammed the doors shut and fumbled with the locks. Jason pulled the keys out of the ignition from his spot in the driver’s seat. The headlights sputtered out and the engine stopped its gentle whirring. All was completely silent.

Neither one of the teenagers spoke as they caught their breath. They seemed frozen to their spots. Victoria was visibly shaking.

After a full minute had passed, Jason slowly turned in his seat to look out the window at their surroundings. It was hard to see much of anything in the little light that the streetlamps offered, but he could see that people had really made a mess in the process of fleeing the uncaged animals. Overturned trash cans, abandoned purses and strollers, and even cell phones were strewn all around the sidewalks and street.

Jason squinted against his window’s smudged glass. His heart did a backflip worthy of an Olympic gold medal as he realized what he was looking at. 

Matted fur. Strange stripes like that of a zebra. Smacking jaws licking up the remains of someone’s nachos. 

Jason had believed the howling came from a wolf too. Now he wished it was only a wolf that they had to deal with. 

The creature was staring right at Jason. It had finished the nachos.

“Is that a hyena?” Victoria whispered.