Zoo by Tara Elizabeth Read Free Book Online Page B

I
would have given to be able to hit the rewind button and see the
world in a different light. I would’ve appreciated every day I was
alive. James was a nice distraction, but he wasn’t enough of a
distraction to keep me from missing my family and friends.
    Sometimes, after our
conversations, I watched James go about his day. He spent most of
his time with his horse that he named Sue. He took such good care
of her, brushing her and keeping her well exercised. Unfortunately,
I couldn’t bother myself to do the same with our cow. She was a
good cow, but she was kind of stinky. Okay
. . . She was really stinky.
    James grew more handsome to me by the day,
and I wanted nothing more than for him to be in our enclosure or
vice versa. I felt like he was all mine, something that the Keepers
didn’t control. He drew my attention away from my awful
circumstances, and I clung to that—probably too much—but it helped
at the time. The only person that seemed to interfere with my
goings-on with James was the strange tanned guy that watched me. He
showed up randomly, never at the same time or day of the week. He
always watched me and only me. It made me feel uncomfortable and
guilty. Not because I was attracted to him or anything. It was
something I couldn’t explain. It just was.

PROTESTING
     
    It was most likely a Saturday afternoon, at
the busiest time of the day, when the chanting started. I could
hear it from my hut where I was hiding from the unusually large
crowds. “Freedom! Freedom! Free them! Freedom! Freedom! Free them!”
they chanted over and over again. The sound was thunderous and
caused the beat of my heart to match up with the rhythmic
pounding.
    I crawled out of my only private space and
peeked through some ferns to discover that the majority of the
crowd was going crazy. Some held up clear virtual signs with red
writing. The writing scrolled across the signs. Some of the
protestors chanted, some threw red paint on the domes, and some ran
away from the scene afraid. The protesting mob surged our dome,
beating the glass with bats and fists.
    My heart started to pound. I was excited and
scared all at once. If people out there were unhappy with our
captivity, the possibilities were endless. We could be freed or
executed. Who knew what could happen, but I chose to believe that
they could be a way out.
    Janice burst through the plants panting. Her
hair got tangled in a vine and she had to yank herself free. She
fell to her knees from the force of her efforts and scrambled
forward. “They’re trying to break us out of here. They’re going to
shatter the glass! We have to get in our huts. Now!” she
screamed.
    I stumbled back into my hut as she pushed to
squeeze in beside me. Her frantic state had started to make me
concerned for my physical wellbeing. I mimicked Janice’s posture
and curled myself into a ball, covering my head as I waited for the
sky to fall. We were both silent as we listened to every sound
outside. Janice hoped it would all stop, while I wanted them to get
angrier and stronger. I wanted them to turn into super heroes and
lift the dome off with their bare hands, like it was feather.
    The chants, bangs, thumps, and all around
rebellious sounds filled my ears, but it was my hope and
determination to escape that kept me from panicking like Janice.
She was crying and rocking back and forth. I wanted to shake her
and say, “This is it! Our time to escape! Get a hold of yourself.”
Instead, I said, “It’s going to be okay, Janice.”
    It was so sudden when it happened. The
resonance of glass shattering somewhere, drowned out the sound of
the protestors. Unfortunately, it wasn’t from our enclosure. Then
there was screaming—lots of screaming. Someone shouted, “Run!”
    The sound of chaos is hard to explain, but
that’s exactly what I heard. I wanted to see it, so I slowly
uncurled myself and started to crawl out of the protection of my
hut. “I’ll be right back. Calm down.” Janice