FSE

Furry search engine

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It did not take long for them to reach the outskirts of the zoo. James, Roy and Michael looked upon the foreboding man-made wilderness. Tall arching gateways silhouetted against the deadened night sky, foliage broken and barely standing all around them. The zoo itself was through a black iron gate barely lit up by its own spherical lights on either side, illuminating the way through. The three travellers felt all the more nervous by such impenetrable stares, the sounds of chaos much fainter than before from the city to the east. But that did not allay their fears any as they walked closer, both raptors feeling incredibly uneased by the first zoo they had ever seen. To both of them, they were relics of an old time back in the first age of humanity. The sight of a zebra and a rhinoceros outside the gate, both dead and eaten with their insides hollowed out by teeth, did not help matters. Roy stopped them however to ask: "Hold up." "What?" asked FG. "...why we goin' through thuh zoo itself? Why can't we just go round?" "...good point actually, what you think Michael?" The boy stuttered to think of something to say, before he shamefully admitted: "I...I-i hadn't thought of that...i-it seemed like the quickest way through, I mean we COULD go round." "I think that might be better," said FG, "I mean, humans are one thing but...what if the animals in there got hit too?" "You think...they got turned into zombies too?!" "Why not? The place doesn't look like it's in great shape, and I dunno what we're gonna find in there. Let's go around." As they headed towards the eastern road up further along Ema Street, they found their sensible plan to be scuppered quite swiftly by the sight of a large looming pile of debris, burning treacherously so before them. Twisted cars and mangled trucks had slalomed into one bottlenecked area of the street. There were also no buildings close enough to traverse past it overhead, which left them with only one other pathway through. "Welp," said Roy, "looks like we gonna take thuh path less travelled." "Heh, right," said James. "Never easy is it?" Heading back towards the zoo itself, they headed inside the damaged gate and entered the front area. The zoo was open-spaced to encourage a free-roaming atmosphere, which was both good and bad for the three trying to make their way through. Wide plazas of cobbled stone and a meandering series of paths that circled all around the zoo itself. Michael lead them towards a map of the area, a billboard proudly displaying tours as well as listing the various creatures within. The map also had a notice pinned onto it, about evacuations.

"Hey look!" said FG. "They're using this place to pick up any survivors they find...so if we wait here-" "B-but we gotta find my mom an' dad!" said Michael. "We gotta find 'em first!" "Right of course, but I'm just saying that once we DO pick them up, we can all meet up at the zoo and get you all out of here, right?" "R-right! So we just go through the zoo an' get back to my house. If we go through here, start at the Elephant Restaurant an' pass all the way through, we can get out at the main gate right out to that main street!" "Well that's awesome, now we just have to deal with this jungle of death that awaits us." "How we gonna guide our way through?" said Roy. "We can't take this map with us." "Maybe the restaurant has something." Down the road opposite from whence they came was a large restaurant in faux-African style titled "Elephant Restaurant". It was certainly large, and almost certainly vacant of any survivors as they headed inside to try and relax a little before taking on the zoo. The interior of the restaurant was rather cosy, soft lighting on the walls with stone cobbled floor and rows of sizeable wooden tables complete with plush sofa seats. Michael immediately sat down on one to rest his feet, having barely had a chance to sit down since his ordeal earlier that day. He also found a map the size of a pamphlet that folded out to allow a better view of the entire zoo. He began to map out a safe route, noting the various animal exhibits while James and Roy investigated the place, making sure the place was empty. The kitchen counter was mostly devoid of food, which wasn't a problem for the moment with their own few supplies in each of their separate packs. James noted that Roy also wore a rather unique satchel, a deep-looking square-shaped bag that hung deftly beside his thigh, originally for carrying books but now repurposed for all sorts of things. The kitchen door was locked, but it barely resisted Roy's might as he broke open the fragile lock.

A few edible vegetables here and there, as well as some meat that had been missed by opportunists who raided the place before, but there was no safe water in sight in bottles or so. Soda and milk however seemed a safer choice, especially when noted to not be produced within Raccoon City itself. They took a few extras just in case as FG had a sudden thought occur to him, keeping his voice down so Michael would not hear them. "What about the air? You think we might already be infected?" "Nah," said Roy confidently, "ah ain' seen anyone get infected that fast, if it wuz thuh air then thuh whole city woulda gone down around thuh same time. Ah found out that all these incidents started happenin' sometime aroun' September 20th, at least from whut ah read in sum ol' papers before we met up. But there's a lotta stuff from this Umbrella corporation though that nobody knows a thing abou', but considering they're thuh ones handlin' all thuh big chemicals round here, they're thuh biggest suspects." "Right. Typical lab accident, one vial breaks and a thousand people dead." "Science at its finest." "Heh...didn't think you were such a big nerd." "It's called balancin' both mind an' body. No use bein' some big dumb-ass brute, but neither is it any good bein' a skinny-ass nerd, you gotta balance thuh two if you ever wanna get somewhere." "Right...sure. ...so! What's in your bag then?" "Hmm?" "Come on, you must have had some crazy adventures yourself, I show you mine, you show me yours." "...no." "Aw come on man, I'm curious." "Look, ah ain' gonna be yer friend, ah jus' wanna get this kid back home safe. The moment he's back with his folks, you are mine." "Heh, long as a zombie doesn't get you first." "Well ah got armour, we jus' gotta worry about you. Seriously, yer walkin' aroun' without a damn shirt on, you gonna get bitten all over! LOOK, you even got bites on you already!" "Wait really?!"

Roy pointed along FG's chest and sides, the raptor having never noticed all the fresh bite wounds and claw marks he had that so neatly sealed up into his flesh. Yet James felt perfectly fine, and the wounds Roy noted were clearly almost a day old. "But...I don't FEEL sick," said FG. "Maybe I didn't catch it?" "You got bitten like fifteen fuckin' times, that ain' no damn coincidence." "...maybe we're immune." "Huh?" "Think about it, we're not from this world, what if the virus doesn't understand our DNA and doesn't infect us?" "...that's not how viruses work dumbass, it don' matter where yer from, long as your DNA resemble a human's it gonna get infected. Plus, we don' know if those animals in there are infected or not." "But does it? We walk and talk like humans but we got tails and snouts and our eyes are different and we got scales. Maybe we're different enough? O-or maybe our nanos even might keep us safe! Think about it, how many worlds have we been to where there's a shit ton of weird-ass diseases we've never heard of? And how many times have we ever been sick?" "...hmmmm...you got a point, but best not be sloppy either way. Just don't get bitten anymore alright?" "I won't, I can take care of myself. But if I do get bitten, well, you know what to do." "Trust me..." The black raptor leaned towards FG with a piercing stare out of his blue eyes. "You have mah word that you won't leave this city alive." "...wow...I dunno if you're better or worse than a lawyer with that attitude." "Why you so damn flippant wi' me?" argued Roy. "You know whut you did FG." "And I'm still telling you that I didn't do it, so shut up and focus on keeping Michael safe." "Ah already am focused on that, because unlike you, ah actually care about people." "Oh what, you think I'm doing this for a reward?" "Yeah. ...or maybe you actually guilty 'bout sumthin' an' wanna redeem yerself-" "Shut up." James snarled straight into his face with a sudden leer of restrained fury. "You don't fucking know anything, so you just shut the fuck up before I choke you, fucking shitscale." "...heh. So ahm right." "Nnngh...just fuck off alright?" The raptor turned away, trying not to show anymore frustration in front of his foe. Tears started to come to his eyes unseen. "It's your fault I'm not with Koopin right now, relaxing, being normal, having a LIFE." "Really? So he knew all about thuh shit you did?" "Yes. He accepted that I did bad stuff in the past and he knows that I am trying to get past that and become a better person. And I love him, and it's because I love him that I actually WANT to be better. I don't care what you think about me, but I actually care about SOME people in my life, and unlike you I actually moved ON from the past and all the people that are dead behind in it." Turning back towards him James confronted him with clear eyes dry with anger. "So how about YOU move on with your fucking life just like I tried to move on from mine?" "...didn't you say you were tryin' to get back home?" "Yeah." "How thuh fuck is that movin' on with your life? Ah know about Sarah, ah know cuz ah told you she wuz alive, an' ah know that thuh only reason you left yer boy Koopin wuz cuz you wanted to get back home...back to her." "How did you know I even left?" "Ah did actually stay awhile after you beat me, once ah heard you left ah made mah own way out to find you." The raptor in brown pressed a clawed finger straight up against Roy's chest, creasing the grey hoodie with a venomous sneer. "If you went anywhere near Koopin I will kill you right now." "No. Ah didn't. Mah quarrel is not with him. All ah want...is you. And only you." "...fine."

James leaned back against the counter of the kitchen, trying to not look like he cared about where this conversation was going as he suppressed his insult. "You're right...maybe both of us have to move on. But you want to bring me back, you said before that I could either come with you or die resisting, you just can't be able to. So why don't you start helping me in something that can help YOU get justice, rather than just trying to murder me all the time, huh?" "Cuz ah didn't think you'd be willing to come back with me." "Can you take me back home? Huh? Fuckface? No, you can't, so you just have to trust me." "Guess whut, ah don't." "Didn't the Armee pricks tell you that I couldn't get back home?" "Nope...huh...wait, no, one guy said sumthin' like that when he put those coordinates in mah head, said it'd help me get back anytime ah wanted." "Really? And how many times have you actually gone back?" "...that important righ' now?" "I just want to know how long that leash is on your neck before they yank you back like a fucking slave." "You tryin' to piss me off? Cuz you already done that FG." "I know...Roy." "You don' get to use mah name. You call me MG." "Fuck off Roy, how pathetic are you that you have to take away my own stupid nickname just so you feel better? Isn't the name your mummy and daddy gave you enough anymore?" Finally Roy decided enough was enough, grabbing FG by the shoulders and shoving him up against the wall. He snarled into his face, breathing hard with utmost restraint as his fists shook with rage. James simply smiled at being able to push a button back in turn, the black raptor murmuring: "You...are dead." "Hehe...not yet." "YOU GUYS OKAY IN THERE?!" shouted Michael. "YEAH!" said FG. "WE FOUND SOME FOOD, HOPE YOU'RE HUNGRY!" "CAN WE EAT BEFORE WE GO?! IF IT WON'T TAKE TOO LONG!" "SURE! ...come on, we're wasting time, let's eat and just focus on what we have to do, alright?" "Alrigh'. Lemme make sumthin' fer all of us, ah think thuh stove still works in this place." "Wait you can cook?" "Sure, jus' siddown an' I'll make us sumthin' simple."

He put FG down from the wall and headed off towards the stove, taking their brief respite easily to lengthen into a light dinner in order to rebuild their strength. But the more he began to wait, the more Michael turned anxious, worrying about his parents as well as the fact that the zoo was dark and treacherous for them all. It was only when Roy came through with some hot bowls of vegetable soup that he felt much more at ease, the three of them sitting down together to eat. James sat next to Michael, while Roy sat opposite of them. "Mmmm...this is good!" said FG. "What's in this?" "Cabbage, potato, leek and tomato." "Man this is really delicious, so you're a cook too huh?" "Ah learnt sum things up in a place called Skyrim, lotta good stuff they cook there." "Skyrim? That sounds familiar..." "You should know, friend of yers lives up there now, you remember a girl called Tah-Zer-Ah?" "...wait, black argonian, wings?" "Yeah." "HAH, oh my god she's still around?! How is she?!" "She's good," said Roy with a smile. "She got a wife an' daughter now, livin' up in a big fancy house." "Wow...a wife? Aw that's awesome, great to hear." "Why does she have a wife?" asked Michael curiously. "Isn't she a girl?" "...heh...guess you never got the talk about gay couples did you?" "Whuh? N-no, I dunno anything about that, whut's that?" "Ehhhh...why don't we ask your parents AFTER we find them? It's best you hear from them." "Okay...this tastes really good mister Roy, thank you for making it!" "Don' worry," said Roy, "and uh, you don' have to call me mister if you don't wanna, alright?" "Hehee, okay...Roy." After finishing their soup, they finally felt the resolve to head out into the zoo itself. The longer they felt themselves outside of it, the more intimidating it became, like a mountain looming beyond the horizon. Roy and James brought out their weapons readily in defence, not wanting to be caught off-guard as Michael stayed safely behind them, acting as navigator with a handheld copy of the map. The first area of the zoo was an open plaza for one to explore freely, a popcorn stand sitting alone and congealed to the side of several paths to go further within the zoo. Only one path was open for them, leading towards the northern concourse along to their right illuminated by a greenish-white street light. Currently they stood at the monkey exhibit, its inhabitants nowhere to be found amidst the bodies they would encounter. Crippled legs of black and white stood out like bone amidst the moonless night, the remains of zebras well-eaten by predators of both man and beast. A few apes laid here and there in turn, their arms severed now into hairless lumps of black smooth hands grasping faintly towards bars, or even towards their fellow species amongst other human remains. The stench of the zoo was insufferable the further they went in, the warm hay smell now overpowered by rotting death and carrion. James almost wondered on why there had been no vultures around to feast on this.

Michael stayed close and closed his eyes away from anything that could be dead. He had seen enough death for one day and did not wish to add the remains of once-lively exotic animals to the list of what he would see. A few other animals laid further beyond, one being a rhinoceros well-carved out to become a hollow husk of natural armour, deep insides gnawed out by hands and teeth of others. Roy only became more scared of how even beasts could not stand up to the might of a zombie horde, a human horde even. If a group was large enough, anything could be killed and torn apart. The thought of it made him sick as they headed through a door within a large gate to the north concourse, turning a corner towards an office building at the end of the road. The building interior was not particularly interesting, other than a few desks and white walls with a colourful playing area for young children at the far back of the room. A happy plastic elephant acted like a small slide or hiding spot for kids, with various toys strewn about the place beneath shattered windows littering glass all over them. The only consolation they had was that there were no bloodstains anywhere. No other rooms offered any use as they headed back out towards another door within a gate that led towards the east concourse. Nothing new other than more of the dead, a wide thoroughway for tourbuses to drive through across smooth cobbled stone, one of which was parked against a stairway leading down towards a river area of the park. Various animals were eviscerated beyond recognition in some cases, from exotic birds to heavy beasts, all of whom had been in exhibits now torn brutally open by the bars themselves. It seemed as if none of the creatures around the world survived the assault. But compared to the rest of the city, the zoo was rather unusual in its casualties as Roy murmured: "Not many humans dead here." "Huh?" "Seen a lotta dead animals, but not a lotta humans. Wonder why?" "Maybe not many came to the zoo before the attack happened, they said they were evacuating people out of here right?" "Righ'...but...ah dunno, this place don' feel right. Like we're in thuh eye of thuh storm." "Michael, which way should we go next?" "Um," started the boy, "let's go...that way, to the south." "Why not north, that seems quicker to the exit." "Cuz that's where the elephant stage is...and...I-i dunno if that's a good idea." "He's right," said Roy, "last thin' ah wanna meet is a big-ass elephant all undead an' messin' up our shi-...stuff." A glare from FG kept him reminded to hold his tongue, the raptor in brown coming up towards Roy in secret adding: "Do we even know if the animals are affected by this?" "Best not to take chances...man this place feels so weird. Ah mean...this shit is like...ancient stuff when anthros used to be just...animals roamin' around in cages, back when we didn' have no hands or two-legged gaits an' whutnot. You ever feel weird like that?" "Sometimes," said FG, "once I worked on a farm for a few months and there were all these cows and horses around me, it was super weird to see them like that. Then again when I was with Koopin they had cows but they called them moo-moos. After a while you get used to it." "Yeah...had a lotta those moments too back in Skyrim or Daventry." "What IS Daventry by the way, you mentioned that long back." "Sum magical kingdom ruled by a king, not much else, weird shit happens there. Pretty easy to get killed if you don' keep yer eyes peeled." "Heh, I bet, lots of murderers and monsters?" "Naw...high accident rates." "...seriously?" "Aw yeah man, fuckin' trip over a rock, bang you dead son." "Tch, wow...you must be a real adventurer, you didn't trip over and die once in your travels, good for you sir." "Shut up." "Hehehe."

Heading towards the south, they passed through yet another wide area that would have been perfect for a battling ambush, a grand plaza with a few large gates to pass through. But the only animals encountered still were those of the dead and unburied, their corpses gleaming of dried blood and festering wounds as they slipped through down one large lane towards the service road. A quiet back-area of the zoo where a van laid snugly beneath a giant stairway. A small road alongside the stairs with a riverway beneath, ended at a door titled "Show Animals' Boarding House". They couldn't help but find themselves drawn towards the well-lit door, as well as the fact that Michael said: "That leads to the stage, which is right outside the front gate!" "Awesome," said Roy, "but...dammit, it's locked." "Wha?! B-but, there's no other way through!" "...hold up...there." Down along the riverway beneath them was a large stack of crates, which conveniently lead them towards an open ventilation shaft leading into the building. James immediately stepped forwards without hesitation, hopping over onto the boxes with practiced precision. "Don't worry, I got this." "Whu-whut the hell man?!" said Roy. "Don' try an' play thuh hero." "Shut up, I just wanna get out of here as bad as you, I'll unlock the door from inside and if any zombies are inside, I'll take care of them. See ya in a bit." Climbing into the vent, the raptor disappeared as his tail slipped through while Roy and Michael waited for a short while, finding a way to open the locked door from the inside. The tall black raptor stood impressively above the boy, dominating his view of the sky above as Michael asked: "You really don' like FG...do you Roy?" "No...ah don't." "...did he do something bad to you?" "...yes. Yes he did. Problem is he won't even admit to it, so he's either lyin', or he don' remember it at all." "...this...is...really weird." "Hmm?" "Like...I always knew dinosaurs were real...once. Everyone knows that...but you guys died out millions of years ago, waaaaay before people. But zombies, they don't exist at all!" "Tell you thuh truth...ah used to not believe in a lotta things. ...then ah started travellin'...found mahself in all kinds of bad shi-ngh...situations." "Really?" "...maybe monsters don't exist fer you. But somewhere out there...all of them do. Every single one. But you know whut you gotta do?" "Wh-what?" "You fight 'em. You take 'em head on with a weapon an' you fight them with all you got. Cuz if a monster gonna catch you someday...you gotta turn around one day and stab it right in its damn face with everythin' you got. You gotta be strong Michael...and brave. Times like these are exactly where you prove yourself to be a hero." "A hero? ...I'm not a hero." "Huh?" "I...I couldn't even save any of my friends...I...I-i-i-i...th-there was this monster, h-he was...he had this really evil voice, like all deep and horrible, a-a-and he...he was...he...h-h-he-" "Hey, hey, s'cool, you don' have to prove nuthin' to me, you just a kid. You don' deserve any of this." "I'm not a hero...c-can't even...can't...save anyone else but me-AAAGH!" "WHUH!"

Both of them suddenly jumped up at FG opening the door before them, the raptor looking oddly at both of their startled expressions before Roy shouted: "D-DAMMIT don't DO that!" "What, opening the door?!" "NAW MAN, just fuggin' startling us like that!" "Sheesh alright, sorry, christ I thought guys from New York were supposed to be all tough and ghetto." "SHUT UP, just go already!" "Fine fine...you okay Michael?" "N-no," murmured the boy. "...come on, we're almost out of here, it's not that far now from your parents' house, and soon you can put all of this behind you." "But I...I...I couldn't save anyone." "...hey...look..." He bent down towards the young boy, lifting his head up to speak directly. "Nobody expects you to, you were thrown into a bad place and you're just struggling to survive out here. If you can make it through all this without a scratch, that's still a very brave thing to do. It takes a lot of guts for a kid like you to survive all this, even if you're the only one left." "I-i am? You...you think I'm brave?" "Absolutely. If I was your age in a bad place like this, I wouldn't have survived." "But...but you're strong. Both of you are." "That's because we've done a lot, and we've travelled a lot too as well as learnt a lot of things. One day you can be like that too. Alright?" "O-okay..." "Good...now come on. Let's get out of this creepy place." Said creepy place however was not the service road on the outside of the boarding house. The boarding house in question was actually a stage-separate warehouse full of cages where animals were once kept. A forklift laid abandoned in one corner, with dozens of empty barred cages either half-open or fully shut. One creature however remained within the centre of the storage area. A lioness, wounds heavy upon her sandy body as she laid dead beside the forklift. But compared to the other animals they had seen, she looked far less injured. They decided not to press their luck and sneaked softly past her, heading towards a double set of doors towards the stage area itself. The stage was an open area, rather like a small theatre with tribal inspirations from its wood-and-rope designs. Benches were laid out in two rows of four, facing towards the rather small stage itself that had simply a rocky background upon it. In the midst of the dark night itself, the stage was incredibly intimidating with its high-rising African motifs, as if they were lost within an abandoned city of an unspoken tribe.

Finding a small doorway opposite of the stage, they found themselves at last within the front gate plaza itself. The main entrance was a large fenced gate, which was clearly now open so that anyone could pass through. Beckoning them to escape, two stone statues of lions stood opposite of each other in front of the exit, staring each other down in eternal judgement. Despite it being the way out, they were rather nervous by such a strange entrance, one so dominating for what was apparently a place of wild wonder and excitement. "There it is!" cried out Michael, "we made it! We're gonna make it!" "Woah woah calm down," said FG, "we dunno what's out there so let's just chill." "O-okay, okay...I don't see any...zombies though." "Barely see any people too." "H-hello?!" A voice called out from their left in the direction of a souvenir shop. Cuddly toys lined up the windowsills, beckoning youngsters to buy them all upon the displays within elegant stone walls as FG walked closer with uncertainty. The man's voice had an accent to it, which James was trying to hear out. "Who's there?!" "You are...people?! Living?!" "Yeah, we're not zombies, it's okay!" "OH, good! V-very good! Um...p-please, pardon, come! D-dangereux to be there! Come, allez!" "The hell, is that French he's saying?" "Hold on." Roy walked forwards as his ears picked up the language, seeing a man in white clothes hide just inside the doorframe of the souvenir shop. Upon seeing the sight of a rather intimidating black reptile approach, the man shut the door with a panicked scream. "A-AAAH! PARTEZ! PARTEZ, LAISSEZ-MOI!" "Monsieur, un moman!" called out Roy. "Q-quoi?!" "Moin desole, moin voulais pa vous effrayer! Mo travay dans le cirque, c'est yon kostim que mo porte." "...c-costume? ...v-vraiment?" "Oui. Ne vou inquiete pa-we won't hurt you." "...ohhh thank god." James once again felt his translator remember what it had learnt back what must have been a month ago. A strange deja vu overcame him, fittingly, of another language's dialogue repurposed through his mind back into English. What was even more disturbing was Roy's apparent fluent grasp of French to the point that his voice was translated into him speaking with a strange but perfect accent. Even his rough informal manner of speech was gone to become something else entirely, as the man stepped out slowly. He was a young man, somewhere in his mid-20s wearing the white hygienic clothes of someone who would work as kitchen staff, despite dirt and other unsavoury marks staining his front. He was however extremely relieved, despite his shaking nerves as he conversed with Roy in his mother tongue.

"I thought nobody else had survived, a-are you part of the act that was going to come Halloween?" "...yes. Yes we are, we were...part of the act that was hired out to you. What happened to this place?" "Th-the dead...the undead came and they tore through the zoo yesterday, ripped through the entire place a day ago or two. I was part of the Elephant Restaurant kitchen, j-just part of the regular staff." "Do you live here?" asked Roy en francais. "What's your name?" "Matthieu...Matthieu Lobineau, and I do...I live on campus at Raccoon University, where I was on a scholarship program with, I came from my home to study abroad. My English is not very good, and I cannot focus with it when I'm like this in the middle of a fucking apocalypse!" "Hey hey, it's okay, we understand. Where are you from?" "Saint Tropez...your French is very good sir, but your accent...it's very strange and some of your words are...where are you from?" "My mother was from Louisiana, she taught me French since I was little. I'm Roy by the way." "Ah...ah, hahaha, tha-tha-that explains it, you are...Cajun?" "French Creole to be precise, I know it sounds very strange so my apologies if I sound rather odd." "Right, I see...yes yes it sounds very odd but I can understand you well enough, it's okay. But...why are you still wearing your costumes?" "The same reason you're wearing your chef suit outside of the kitchen." "Hah...o-okay, fair point." "Why are you hiding in there by the way? The exit's right over there and it's wide open." "B-because...OH shit, quick you need to get inside, quickly!" "Why?!" "Th-they hunt here, the lions, they hunt here!" "Lions?!" "The animals were infected, s-some kind of virus I don't know what it is but the zombies, whatever the fuck they are, they bit some of the animals and they got infected too! Even the elephant they managed to take down, a fucking elephant! I thought at least he would make it unharmed but the lions, they...th-they...HU-HAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAGGGGH!" Matthieu pointed behind Roy with a scream before slamming the door shut, the raptor turning with FG to see dark glaring eyes slowly come forth from the bamboo-styled walls of the zoo, right next to the door back to the stage. A deep beastly growl soon followed a sand-coloured creature, reddened wounds of muscle and bone peering out of its limbs and stomach. Despite the horrendous fatal scars, it was clearly not affected, as the lioness snarled in preparation for its new prey. James, Roy and Michael stood perfectly still, making sure they let the beast know that they saw it as both raptors slowly placed one hand upon each of their blades. Roy murmured firmly towards FG: "...FG." "Yeah?" "...have Michael walk slowly over to me." "Okay...why?" "Because ah think there's gonna be a fight comin' up...and I'd rather Michael be safe with our new friend hidin' away back there." "Alright...that sounds...good. Michael." "Yeah?" whispered the boy fearfully. "Go to Roy...slowly." "But...b-b-but-" "It's alright...they want me and Roy because we're dangerous. Not you...not unless you run, they want that. Imagine you're a ninja...sneaking very carefully towards safety...and long as you don't make any noise...they won't notice you. Alright?" "A-alright...okay."

Michael slowly walked over towards Roy, cautiously on his tiptoes as he sneaked as silently as possible. The lioness however was not alone as James sensed others slowly coming out from the reed-shaped walls. One female was on the other side of the plaza opposite the souvenir shop, whilst another was slowly creeping from the northeast between the gate and the second lioness. Roy heard another growl coming from the direction of the front gate, as Michael desperately stepped forwards with as agonising a pace as possible. Seconds stretched into eternal minutes, the deepening snarls of warning from the undead hunters of the savannah only making the boy sweat with fear. A beautiful scent to any predator alive or dead, their teeth baring with wrinkled noses as the barest of their primal senses awakened with a hunting urge. The moment Michael was within Roy's grasp, he slowly lead him towards with the door with as little movement as possible, speaking towards the store in his odd French dialect. "Matthieu. There's a kid here with us. When I say now, I want you to open the door, grab the kid, and close it as tight as you possibly can. Me and my friend here will take care of these monsters. Trust me, alright? Michael, Mr. Lobineau will keep you safe while me an' FG take care of these things." "O-okay." "Matthieu? ...Matthieu, are you still there? ...if you won't do it for me or because you're scared, then do it for the kid. Keep him safe. You don't have to come out or anything, you can hide in there with him. Just tell me if you're ready." A long aching silence of at least a minute hung dead upon the air before a voice weakly called from within the door. "R-ready." "Alright...NOW!" He pushed Michael towards the door which immediately opened to grab and pull him inside, before it slammed violently shut as the lions came charging all at once, their roars deafening across the entire plaza. James and Roy had their weapons out and ready the moment the door slammed, unsheathed almost simultaneously as they stood side by side in their first true battle of Raccoon City. The first lioness, who was closest to them, came running up towards FG who dodged and swung his scissors hard across her face, slashing out one of her eyes which did little to affect her state as she turned swiftly to strike at James' knee. He carved out a line of fire in front of her however to make sure she stayed away, knowing that even the most ferocious beast would think twice about being burned. Thankfully there remained enough intelligence within the infected animal to do just that. Roy found himself facing both of the other lionesses, making sure they stayed away by blasting out shots of ice at both their faces. The shattering shots brought shards of hard-hitting frost to their eyes and whiskers, stinging hard but not enough to slow down their charge as they sweeped outwards and around him. Trapped in their pincer movement, he swung his Great Knife hard around him with a furious roar, trying to intimidate them as they came straight towards him at the same time. Both of them received the very blade itself to the face.

One lioness had her head completely cut open at the top, carving her skull off as if it had been scalped completely to reveal the rotting remains of a deadened much-rotting brain. The other lioness lost half of her face but not her brain, her snout completely torn off to reveal a bloodied feline skull screeching at MG, the teeth now fully revealed always to intimidate him. James was keeping the apparent leader busy by constantly circling around her, the two ready to go anytime as the lioness quivered her lip with the urge to pounce, biding her time. The raptor gazed into her single dead eye, glazed over yet somehow still able to acknowledge him as prey. She charged once again, but this time made a feinting dodge to evade the swing of his blades before launching upon him, the raptor dodging back desperately to avoid any scratch upon his scaled flesh as he swung down hard onto her skull, cracking it half open. She still remained standing with a head split open, the brain dripping out its fluids down her eye and snout, grey and watery like the thinnest of blood as she panted with primal fury. James however took the chance of her brief reprieve to assault the lioness once more, but before he could swing down again she dodged, striking at James' side to try and scar him. He swiftly dodged back with a blast of wind, pushing both him and the beast apart from each other before shooting out streaks of fire towards her. Unfortunately for FG, the lioness was either too hungry or too angry to care about fire anymore, and simply leapt through the flames with jaws open wide towards him. Her body was set ablaze, the sandy fur charring across her grievous deadening wounds as he opened his blades wide before clamping them down on her neck. Throwing her down between his scissors, he roared as he violently severed her head from the rest of her burning body, cutting the neck entirely through with a feeble drip of a bloody puddle. Dead hearts do not bleed as much as the living. Just when he thought he had made the situation a little easier, a monstrous roar came from the gates themselves. Standing at the exit of the zoo, marred in shadow, was a large-toothed creature with one eye completely torn off by the flesh. Just as pale as the lionesses, but with a ragged darkened mane around its neck. The king had returned. "Awwwwwww fuck this," said FG. The lion roared towards the raptor at the sight of its dead mate, its basic instincts resurging forth with virulent fury as it charged straight into James. All he could do was take it head on, desperately thrusting straight into the lion's maw itself with his bloody scissors, lancing through the back of its throat as his blades burst free from its neck. Yet the lion was not still, snarling as it viciously clamped its teeth down upon the steel blades repeatedly, blood and spit flying from its crooked teeth. The only thing stopping it from moving forwards to slash was the more immediate problem of its throat being impaled, growling a gurgled moan of painful spite. Its single eye burned into FG's own, the lion's other eye completely stripped by the very flesh to create a viscous bruise of bare flesh. James had to act fast if he wanted to get away. The moment the lion pulled back to try and lunge forwards with a bite once more, the raptor pulled back his scissors only to see a lioness slam into her master from the side, thrown by some powerful force.

Roy was panting heavily from beside James, trying to now deal with the one lone lioness after her friend now laid with crippled legs at the alpha lion's feet, the snarling female launching forwards at the black raptor. Roy put up his Great Knife horizontally, almost like a shield across his body as claws scraped violently against metal, before he pushed her back with a hard shove and used his momentum of force to swing down upon her leg with a slow spinning slash. Coming down on her overhead with a mighty roar, her back left leg was completely sawn off by the very haunch as she shrieked with vile agony. The lioness struggled to get up, her pack now wounded but death had made pain nothing more than a nuisance. They soon stopped, hearing something off in the distance. A tremendous groan of a monstrosity from far away somewhere back in the zoo towards the southwest. Even James and MG looked towards the zoo slightly, hearing the most unearthly cry that sent shivers down their spines, something that echoed out to far beyond the zoo, a sound that even the mountains would tremble at. Whatever made that noise was something huge. Huge enough for the lions to start faltering in their step, and dash back into the bushes along the east. They struggled to flee, but their wounds now remained the least of their problems always. "...shit," said Roy. "Whut you think scared 'em off?" "No idea," said FG. "You okay dude?" "Yeah, no bites on me. You?" "Not a scratch. Heh, nice work on fighting two of them at the same time, that was ballsy." "Hey, when you got a huge-ass blade an' you don't stop spinnin', ain't nobody gonna fuck wi' you. Come on, let's get out of here." He walked back towards the souvenir store and knocked on the door politely, speaking to the inhabitants in his odd French. "Matthieu? It's alright, you can come out now! The lions are gone!" "Really?!" The door opened once more as Michael and Matthieu peeked out, fearful at first before seeing that the coast was clear. Michael rushed over towards James, while Matthieu stood up towards Roy. "Thank you...Roy. I cannot believe you fought them off." "Me and FG managed to fight them, but the lions heard something far off back at the zoo that scared the shit out of them. You know what that was?" "...Oscar." "Who?" "I heard it too...that was Oscar. He is the elephant, the star attraction of Raccoon Zoo. He terrorises this place, wherever he will roam, none are safe against him." "Really? Is he infected too?" "Yes. He turned rampant, insane even, his tusks are all twisted and monstrous, his eyes dead and full of rage, he murdered an entire audience in the first minutes of his infecting! We all ran desperately for the exits, but...I missed the evacuation that was meant to happen here." "Damn...they won't be coming to evacuate anymore?" "No...the last of the choppers came sometime early afternoon, I think, I am not sure anymore but...I do not think they will coming back. "Shit...well, it's not safe here anyway." "Nowhere is safe anymore Roy. What about you and the boy? He said to me that he was going back to his house." "We want to get him back to his parents before anything else. At least he will be safe with them, hopefully." "Can I...come with you too, for a bit? I just need to get back to the tram station, just to reorient myself a bit." "Of course, you can come with us if you want to. Where you headed?" "Raccoon University...I have some friends there I want to find." "Fair enough but, can I ask you a question?" "Yes?" "...why do the animals here still act like animals and not like...zombies? You'd think the virus would have crippled all of their brains but they still got this primal instinct in them." "I don't know I'm not a fucking biologist, I took physics in high school!" "Haha okay okay calm down, I was just curious." "S-sorry...I'm so tired, and so stressed, I just want to find a bed and crawl into it and...just...sleep." The young student was clearly exhausted, his eyes reddened from lack of sleep as Roy sympathised with him, taking him out of the zoo along with James and Michael who gladly took him along. As they left the remains of the animal enclosures behind, they could only hope that whoever else remained inside would have the same luck as they did. The ever-present absence of other humans, alive or dead, both eased and unnerved them.