Animal Kingdom (9 page)

“
Yeah right,” said Bill.

Randall waved a hand dismissively. “Okay, you two take Shirley and begin checking for any areas that need securing. It wouldn’t hurt to seek out weapons too. See what you can find.”

Victor nodded and took off immediately. After a short while, Shirley and Bill followed after him. That left Randall and Grace alone.

Along with the brat, of course
.
Where the hell has his deadbeat father gotten to anyway, for heaven’s sake? Maybe those animals have escaped their cages and torn him apart. One can only hope...

Randall scolded himself for such an ill-natured thought. Such a harsh attitude was not the way to proceed in the current situation. A certain amount of
tact
would be needed. He sat down next to Grace and smiled. “I guess we should get started then, sweetheart?”

Grace frowned at him and Randall made a mental note:
She doesn’t like ‘sweetheart’. Don’t use it again.
He smiled. “I thought we could check each room for a water cooler. Office buildings always have them, do you agree?”

Grace nodded. “Okay. Should I bring Danny with us or find Joe first?”

Randall thought about it.
Guess it couldn’t hurt to come across as child-friendly.
“Yes,” he said. “We can take the little chap along. Perhaps we’ll bump into his father along the way.”

Grace seemed confused. “
Your
attitude has changed.”

“
I think the stress of this situation affected me worse than I first realised. I’m prone to making harsh judgements. A defence mechanism, I guess.”

Grace’s demeanour softened. She nodded. “Okay. Let’s get going then.”

“
Great!” Randall stood up and offered a hand. “Wake the young man and we’ll make a start.”

Grace rubbed Danny’s shoulders above his Undertaker backpack. “Time to wake up, honey.”

The boy stirred slowly. Too slowly, and Randall became impatient. “Come on now, lad. We’re going to go and find your father.”

The boy opened his eyes and looked around in a daze. “Where’s Dad?”

“
We’re going to find him now,” Grace answered.

The boy nodded and finally woke up fully. Randall forced himself to smile. “That’s a good lad. You hold on to Grace’s hand now, you hear?”

The three of them headed for the door and stepped out into the corridor. Randall couldn’t be certain, but he thought he could still hear the riotous shrieking of the monkeys downstairs. Not to mention the rattling cages in the lab ahead. He wondered if Joe and Mason were still in there.

“
We should check the lab,” said Grace, obviously wondering the same thing. “They’re probably still in there.”

Randall nodded. He put a hand out in front of Grace and the boy to stop them. “I’ll go, but you stay here, just in case there’s any danger.”

The boy whimpered and Grace stroked his head. “Daddy is okay, honey. We just need to check that there’s nothing a little boy like you shouldn’t see.”

“
I’m not little. I’m big and strong like the British Bulldog.”

Randall didn’t have time for this. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

He padded along the blue carpet and headed for the door. When he got there, Randall placed a hand around the long silver handle. Thoughts filled his mind about what he might find inside. His earlier notion of the animals escaping their cages now seemed quite plausible. The image of Joe and Mason ripped to shreds and lying in a pool of their own blood filled his mind, and he almost turned back. But he had to do this or else he’d lose face in front of the girl. Slowly, Randall pushed down the handle.

When the door opened, the hinges squeaked. Randall hoped it wouldn’t alert anything dangerous to his presence. There was chaos inside the room. Randall immediately saw trails of blood – and what seemed to be a dead rat. Amongst it all was Mason, kneeling over the body of Joe.

Is he dead? What the hell happened in here?

Randall was just about to burst into the room and offer his help, but reconsidered. Instead he closed the door quietly and turned back into the corridor. There, Grace waited for him, expectantly.

“
Well?” she asked him.

Randall shook his head. “No one in there. They must have gone somewhere else.”

Grace bit at her lower lip nervously. The gesture spoke of vulnerability and made her more attractive. “Why would they do that?”

Randall shrugged. “I guess we’ll know when we find them.”

Grace still seemed unsettled. “Okay. We should probably keep on then.”

“
Yes,” said Randall. “Let’s go see what else we can find.”

Chapter Eleven

The pinprick of light gradually widened until Joe’s vision fully returned. He found himself staring at the ceiling. His head throbbed like a drum beat, but the worst pain was in his leg. It felt like it was being held over a flame.

“
Are you okay?” asked a voice from somewhere in the room.

Joe didn’t reply for a few moments, and at first didn’t even know who the other person was. Then, as he continued staring at the blank white ceiling and listening to the chaotic sound of rattling cages in the room, everything came flooding back.

He tried to sit up, but Mason held him down. “Wait a few minutes. Catch your breath.”

Joe complied, but was still panicking on the inside. “The animals, they’ve gone mad. I need to find Danny.”

Mason shushed him. “Danny is fine. He’s with Grace. You’ve been out for almost ten minutes.”

Joe remembered passing out because of the pain. “My leg?”

“
I think you’ll be okay. You’ve got a pretty deep gash, but I stopped the bleeding. I bandaged it while you were out. Your arm too.”

Joe examined himself and allowed himself a small laugh at the absurdity of what he looked like.
A mummy in training
. “I feel like a train hit me.”

Mason smiled in a reassuring manner. It was surprising how much the curator’s dry personality and lack of social skills could still be such a comfort. “You certainly have been in the wars,” he said to Joe. “Come on, I think you’re okay to get up now.”

Joe took Mason’s arm around his shoulders and heaved himself up onto one knee. After a couple of deep, laboured breaths he pushed himself up onto his feet. Pain stabbed through the bite-mark on his right thigh, but he fought it to the back of his mind. He had to get back to Danny.

“
Easy there,” said Mason, steadying him.

“
I’m okay. Let’s just get out of here.”

The two of them headed back out into the corridor and crossed over to the other side. Mason opened the door to the seminar room and stepped inside. Joe followed, limping and stiff.

“
Where is everyone?” Mason asked.

Joe’s stomach rolled and a spark shot up his spine. “Where’s Danny? Where’s my son?”

“
I’m sure it’s nothing. Let’s just go look for them before jumping to any unhelpful conclusions.”

Joe clenched his giant fists and felt himself tremble. They had no right to move Danny without informing him first. He stormed out of the room. If it were not for the agony in his leg he would have run.

“
Slow down,” Mason shouted from behind him.

But Joe did the opposite. He sped up, zigzagging the corridor from door to door and checking behind each one. Every room was empty.

“
Danny!” he shouted.

Somewhere up ahead, a voice shouted back. Joe finally managed to run, ignoring the pain in his leg. Up ahead on the left was a room with the label: WAREHOUSE – UPPER BALCONY.

“
Dad, I’m here.”

The voice definitely came from the room in front of him, and it definitely belonged to his son. Joe pulled down the handle and pushed open the door. Inside was a cavernous room that stretched down to an open space at ground-level. It looked like a storage space for the zoo, a warehouse full of random crates and boxes. Joe was standing on a metal walkway that towered above. It led to a flight of stairs on the right and left to a small, windowed cubicle-office. Danny was inside the office.

Randall was with him.

“
Son of a bitch!” Joe sprinted into the office just as Randall turned around to face him. The punch caught the man square in his flabby jaw, knocking him sprawling to the floor. Joe stood over him. “What the hell are you doing with my son?”

Randall cowered, scooting back on his backside as he rubbed at his chin. “Are you insane?”

Joe noticed his son, shaking in the corner, and put an arm out. “Danny, come here.”

Danny ran over to his father, buried his face in his stomach, and wrapped his arms around him. Joe turned his stare back to Randall. “Why were you alone with my son?”

“
He wasn’t alone,” said a voice behind Joe.

He turned around to find Grace coming up the metal staircase from the warehouse floor. He raised his eyebrows at her. “What?”

Grace was shaking her head and seemed angry. “I told Danny to wait in the office with Randall while I looked downstairs for supplies. He wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

“
Why did you all run off without telling me? What was I supposed to think?”

Grace laughed. It was an unpleasant sound. “
You
were the one that ran off. We didn’t know where you were. We were hoping we’d find you on our way.”

“
What?” Joe stepped towards her, shaking his head. “You couldn’t have looked very hard. I was still in the lab.”

Grace seemed confused for a moment and Joe caught her glancing past him towards Randall. “But we looked there,” she said. “Randall said the room was empty.”

Joe turned around. Randall had gotten back to his feet and had plonked himself down on an office chair. The man was rubbing his chin and wheezed slightly as he spoke. “It
was
empty
.
It was a bit of a mess in there, but I didn’t see you.”

Joe didn’t buy it, but before he had chance to say so Mason came up behind and placed a hand on his back. “You were unconscious, Joe, and I was kneeling on the floor. It’s quite possible that he didn’t see us.”

“
Right,” said Randall. “I only poked my head in –
granted
– but it looked to me like you were both gone. I’m sorry, my friend.”

“
No,” said Grace. “It’s Joe that should be apologising to you.”

Everyone looked at Joe and he suddenly felt like a misbehaved child. Reluctantly, he stepped towards the man he had just struck across the face. “I’m sorry, Randall. I acted badly.”

“
You did.” Randall walked forward a few steps and then offered his hand out. “But we have bigger fish to fillet right now, so let’s just forget it.”

Joe couldn’t be certain, but he thought he saw the beginning of a smirk on the other man’s face. Still – whether he trusted Randall or not – Joe was the one in the wrong. “I’m sorry,” he said begrudgingly.

“
Okay then,” said Grace. “Now that we’ve got that sorted, maybe Mason can tell us what’s what in here.”

“
Of course,” said Mason. “This is the zoo’s storage warehouse. It’s one of the places we keep dry animal feed, maintenance and landscaping tools, cafeteria supplies, etc. The cleaner’s station is also in here”

“
Cafeteria supplies,” said Grace. “Excellent, that’s just what we need.”

“
Should we leave it here or gather it up?” Joe asked.

“
I think it would be best to split it,” Randall said. “If something happens to one stockpile then we will have a backup.”

“
Good idea,” Joe admitted, although he hoped the theory wouldn’t have to be tested. “Mason can show me where the supplies are and then we’ll bring some of them up. Where are gonna camp out with the stuff?”

“
I think we should remain in the seminar room, for now,” said Mason. “It’s the only room with soft furniture, and the closest to the stairwell, which will give us the quickest warning if anything gets through the barricade in the lower hallway.”

“
Sounds like a plan,” said Randall. “I’ll check on Victor and the others and bring them up to da–”

They all heard the shouting from across the corridor. Two male voices. Neither of them happy.

Joe shook his head and sighed. “I think maybe we should
all
go and check on them.”

Chapter Twelve

Joe and the others found Bill and Victor arguing in a cramped office at the end of the corridor. The conversation was heated and both men looked ready to get physical. Shirley stood nearby and seemed content to watch.

Bill squared up to Victor. “Call me that again. I’m begging you.”

“
I think once was enough for you to get the point, pal.”

“
I’m not your goddamn
pal
.”