A Fiery Beginning

a shadowy glimpse of the antagonist

The Menagerie

A Fiery Beginning

     Frank had been a security guard at the Los Angeles Zoo for the past 24 years, and this part of the day was almost always the same. Exhausted parents pushed strollers filled with sleeping toddlers while older children talked excitedly to each other about their favorite animals. The mountains cast their long shadow over the entrance to the zoo as if it were falling into twilight while the rest of the city still enjoyed the afternoon sun, making Frank feel that, for another night, the Zoo was being closed off from the rest of the world. Even in summer, when the sun stayed up until after 8 o’clock, night seemed to come too soon for Frank’s taste.

     Now, the fun part of Frank’s job was over for another day, and his walrus-like mustache drooped while he pushed the large gates closed. He would rather tell children where to find the elephants for the hundredth time in one day, even in the blazing California summer heat, than patrol the grounds watching out for vandals and trespassers at night. The people he occasionally caught weren’t the problem; most were teenagers that would cower when confronted with Frank’s considerable bulk and deep, authoritative voice. The zoo hadn’t had a real incident in years. It was the animals that gave Frank the willies.

     During the day, the animals barely pay attention to the people who crowd around their enclosures. Children always “ooh” and “aahh” when an orangutan looked in their direction or a black bear walks from his cave over to the discarded tire he has been given to play with. While the people craned their necks to see the slightest movement in the enclosures, the animals seemed determined not to acknowledge the throngs of people that crowded around their homes and gawked. To Frank, it seemed like the animals refused to dignify all the attention with a response, preferring to go about their “normal” routine, or sleeping all day long. Even though he knew that a zoo had positive effects for wildlife, he pitied the unlucky few that had to be caged up and put on display. Still, he knew the Los Angeles Zoo did their best to give as much space as possible and to replicate the various animals’ habitats. It wasn’t perfect, but compared to the Zoo when he first began work there, it was a vast improvement.

The animals acted very differently after the sun went down. Walking the zoo grounds at night with only his flashlight to light the way, Frank couldn’t always see the animals in there enclosures. Just beyond the flashlight’s beam, he could hear the animals moving, and he could feel the animals watching him. Sometimes, he felt like he had switched places with the animals, like he was on display for their amusement. The hairs on the back of his neck would stand on end, and it took considerable restraint to stop himself from spinning around wildly, sure that a leopard or lion had jumped from its enclosure and was about to pounce. Even now, after all these years, he couldn’t hold back a flinch as he pictured a predator leaping out of the gloom.

          The punk kids working security with him never seemed to notice the animals at all. They thought that Frank might have worked at the zoo too long and it was making him paranoid. They would joke that it was because he was big and slow, it was only natural the animals wanted to cull him from the herd. Sometimes, when walking patrol with Frank, they would suddenly shriek in fright, screaming “there’s a tiger behind you, Frank!” This was always followed by hysterical laughter, as if they were the first ones to think of this clever joke.

Frank wasn’t bothered by their pranks, mostly because he was sure that these guys would be leaving soon. They never lasted too long. In fact, no one had been at the zoo as long as Frank had been. Frank figured it wouldn’t be too long before they put him out to pasture. Then, he doubted that anyone would notice the animals at all.

The feeling of being hunted was bad, but it was nothing compared to what he felt like when he passed by enclosure number 68. In all his time at the Zoo, he had never seen any guest at the zoo pass under the canopy of trees into the darkened area that looked more like a cave than an animal exhibit. Not many guests even ventured near it. In fact, he had never seen anyone at all go in there, except for a weird old guy that apparently had been at the Zoo longer than he had. Frank had asked about the old guy once, mostly because he thought it was strange that he seemed completely unaffected by enclosure 68. The few times Frank had seen him, he was whistling to himself �" not a care in the world. He was told the old man had given a bunch of money to the Zoo, and to leave him alone. Frank didn’t have to be told twice, but he still wondered from time to time what he was doing in the enclosure.

He had watched families pass by 68 many times and could pretty accurately predict what would happen. Before they got close, Frank would see their bright, smiling faces. Parents would be enjoying the kid’s description of the roaring lion or hopping kangaroo even more than seeing the animals themselves. Dad would be hoping to get one bite of the snow cone Junior had and mom would be looking for the wet naps to try to restore Junior to the color he was born. Then, they would get close to the enclosure. Some would look in, but not many. Most would actively look in the opposite direction, as if looking for an escape route. Any conversation would falter. Babies in strollers would get fussy. Then, as they got further away from the enclosure, whatever proverbial cloud that went in front of the sun would be blown away and the sunshine would return. Most would act as if nothing happened at all, once they got far enough from the dark hole in the trees.

Every once in a while, something very different happened. A kid would look into the enclosure, head cocked to one side as if he could hear something very faintly through the trees. The kid would either sit there until a parent called for them to catch up, or they would try to drag their parent into the enclosure. This rarely ended well, usually with the parent yelling, the kid crying, and both leaving the park for the day. Even the kids who seemed drawn to 68 didn’t actually cross over the threshold. It seemed like there was an invisible barrier keeping everyone except the old man out.

If 68 was creepy during the day, it was terrifying at night. The animals in the enclosures around 68 either paced all night long or cowered in their enclosures trying to stay as far away from 68 as possible. Frank always did a thorough job, and never purposely avoided the area around 68, but he always picked up the pace when passing through. He doubted that anyone would ever go into 68 to cause mischief, and he doubted even more if they went into 68, they would come back out.

Frank caught himself dwelling more than usual on how frightening the Zoo could be at night. He looked up into the evening sky and confirmed what he was afraid of �" a full moon was rising over the mountains.  It was his least favorite night of the month. Everything that put Frank’s nerves on edge on a normal night was multiplied by 10 during a full moon. He tried to avoid working on full moon nights when he could, but as he was the most reliable security guard at the Zoo, more often than not he couldn’t avoid it.

Frank entered the security office, where a pimply faced kid named Rob was putting on his guard uniform. Frank went over to the large metal cabinet that held the walkie-talkies and flashlights and removed a pack of D-cell batteries. Rob smirked as he saw Frank start pulling the plastic off the batteries.

“Full moon, eh Frank?”

Frank always changed the batteries in his flashlight when the moon was full. There was no way in the world he was going to chance getting caught without a working light during a full moon. He thought about putting dead batteries in these punk kids’ flashlights so they could appreciate why Frank always put fresh ones in, but he could never bring himself to do it.

“You’re late. Get going.”

“Aww, c’mon Frank. Just because you’re scared of the moon, don’t take it out on me.”

Frank dumped the batteries out into the metal trashcan with a bang, making Rob jump. Not so brave, after all, Frank thought with some satisfaction. He slid the new batteries into the flashlight then tested it. Even in the bright office, he could see the ring of light on the office floor. He shut the flashlight off, slid it into his belt, and headed for the door.

“Wait up a sec!” Rob, scrambled to catch up, trying to walk and tuck his shirt in at the same time.

Frank decided that even Rob was better than walking the Zoo by himself on a full moon night, so he stopped at the doorway, holding the door open. As Rob reached the door, he pulled his own flashlight out and quickly shined it on the ground before returning it to his belt. Frank nodded in approval. Maybe Rob wasn’t quite as bad as most of the punks who pretended to do their jobs. As they headed out into the park, Frank decided to give the kid a chance, after all.

The front area of the zoo near the administration building was wide open, and the full moon was almost bright enough to read by. Rob and Frank passed quickly through the area. The meercats were bedded down for the night, and the flamingos were snoozing while they stood on one leg. Frank moved purposefully and was pleased to see that Rob was keeping pace, his head swiveling as they looked for any problems.

After passing the flamingos the canopy of trees planted throughout the zoo to keep the animals cool blocked the moonlight. Frank and Rob drew their flashlights from their belts and clicked them on, Rob making a sound like a lightsaber as he did so. Frank couldn’t help but roll his eyes, ready to tell Rob to get his mind back on his work. Instead of waving his light around like Luke Skywalker, Rob held it steadily, its beam focused on the path ahead. Again, Frank nodded to himself. He might be a bit of a goof, but he was doing the job the right way.

Frank typically made his way up the hill and around to the back of the Zoo, then worked his way around the perimeter. One advantage to this method was that he passed 68 near the beginning of his rounds. This made the remainder of the night much more pleasant. As they passed various enclosures, they would scan the grounds with their flashlights, trying to avoid pointing the bright beam directly into the enclosures and disturbing the animals. Various chirps and whistles on his right told Frank they were passing the Aviary, where colorful and exotic birds were kept in what looked like a giant bird cage.

“Birds are really worked up tonight, eh Frank? Must be the full moon.”

“Must be, but we better make sure anyway.”

Sometimes, kids would hide in the aviary and once, a feral cat had gotten in and had killed 2 Nicobar Pigeons before it was captured. Frank remembered it was quite a mess, with bright green feathers everywhere, and the bigwigs were quite upset, because the pigeons were very rare. They passed through the double gate, and Frank noticed Rob wrinkle his nose at the ammonia smell from all the bird droppings. The aviary was pitch black because of the dense foliage, but the two flashlights provided plenty of light for them to navigate down the slick path. Although the birds seemed very loud and active for nighttime, neither Frank nor Rob saw anything out of the ordinary. Still, both breathed more easily when they passed through the double-doored chamber at the other end of the aviary.

After just a few steps out of the aviary, Rob stopped short.

“What’s the …” Frank began to ask before he was quieted by a frantic waving of Rob’s arm.

“I think I saw someone!” Rob whispered urgently, gesturing with his flashlight towards the dark entrance to an enclosure up the path. He started moving towards the entrance his flashlight stuck out in front of him like a sword. Frank moved to him quickly and forced the end of the flashlight toward the ground.

“Keep the light down. If someone is there, they’ll see the light coming.”

They moved quickly, keys rattling on their belts. Frank winced, thinking they were louder than a herd of elephants, but kept moving. He could hear Rob breathing and could tell that he was both excited and terrified. Frank had felt that way many times, although virtually every occasion turned out to be in his head, rather than an actual emergency.

They were off the main path now, passing by smaller enclosures with agitated monkeys that shrieked in protest as they jogged by. Frank couldn’t see or hear anything besides the stamp of their heavy boots and the rattling of their belts, so he let Rob take the lead. The light from Rob’s flashlight bobbed as he half walked, half jogged. He followed the path up to the left, passing over a small, wooden bridge that separated two sets of enclosures, then stopped abruptly near a fairly large, caged enclosure, panting but alert as he waited for Frank to join him.

“Do you see… where we are?”

Frank immediately noticed what Rob was talking about. The entrance to 68 loomed above, and he took a step back before he could stop himself. As he did so, the jaguar in the cage they were next to lunged at the pair, striking the bars and snarling. Rob let out a strangled scream and threw himself away from the bars, landing on all fours in the middle of the path. Frank jumped back as well, his heart lurching in his chest.

“Don’t be an idiot, Rob!” Frank practically yelled. He was angry at himself for reacting that way. He knew perfectly well that there was no way any of the animals could reach him unless he climbed over the low fence right up to the cage. But that hadn’t stopped him from reacting like a frightened child.

Rob rolled off his hands and knees to sit on the ground, a sheepish grin on his face. He took a deep, shuddering breath while thumping himself lightly on the chest.

“Sorry about that Frank. For a second there, I thought I was going to pee myself!”

Rob barked out a laugh reserved for someone who thought they were going to die and lived to tell the tale, and Frank couldn’t help but chuckle a little himself.

“If there is someone here, there is no way they went into 68. C’mon Rob,” Frank said, offering a big hand to Rob and hoisting him off the ground.

“Prolly just seeing things anyway,” grinned Rob, dusting off his pants.

“I think that was enough excitement for one night, don’t you? Let’s finish our rounds, ok? Keep your eyes open.”

The two guards moved away from 68. Every few seconds, Rob would give a small snort of laughter, shaking his head. Not a bad kid, after all, Frank though to himself.

After the guards’ footsteps faded into the night, a figure emerged from next to the jaguar cage. The jaguar eyed it intently, but made no move to try to attack. The figure did not even glance towards the jaguar’s enclosure. Instead, it watched the twin beams of light move up the path and around the corner, where they faded from sight. The figure then moved to the entrance to enclosure 68, passing through the dark opening and out of sight. The jaguar watched the figure disappear into the enclosure, and then resumed its nighttime pacing.

After passing through the entrance, the figure entered a large area filled with cages of all different sizes. In fact, the area was far larger than what could naturally fit in the space allowed by the area left by the other enclosures. The cages appeared to be made of gold, and they glinted brightly in the moon light. Some cages even looked like they were filled with water, although there was nothing between the bars. The space between the bars on these cages seemed to shimmer.

But the cages paled in comparison to what they contained. In the darkness, feathers, fur and scales flashed next to the gilded bars, sometimes all in the same cage. Growling, panting, and even singing that sounded human, but not quite, could be heard. Anyone else would have stopped to stare at the contents of the various cages, and would be there still, mesmerized by the sight, when morning dawned. Either that, or they would have run screaming into the night, and never returned again. But the figure did not seem impressed in the slightest, and never even glanced to the left or right while passing gold cage after gold cage.

Instead, a single cage seemed to be the intended target. A faint, reddish glow emanated from within, and a man’s face was partially revealed as he approached the cage and pulled an ornate key from his pocket. The closer the man got to the cage, the brighter the glow became, and the man smiled broadly. He fit the key into the lock on the cage door and twisted it until he heard a click and the door swung silently open.

“It is time to fly,” the man whispered, and the glow erupted into a burst of fiery light. The man lithely stepped back, pulling the gate open wide and putting some space between himself and the fire. As soon as the door was fully opened, the fire took to the sky, leaving a trail of sweet smelling smoke in his wake. The fiery glow faded, and the man was once again cloaked in darkness. He carefully closed the door and relocked the cage. Placing the ornate key back in his pocket, the figure moved swiftly through the entrance to Enclosure 68 and disappeared into the night.

Author's Note

first draft, so ignore grammar, any other feedback welcome!

Reviews

[RainDancer1997]

Wow very well written:)! So excited to see what happens next:) You've developed franks character so well. enjoyed it:)!

[Dave Ziegert]

Thanks so much for reading! Working on Chapter 3 - hope to have it up soon.

[Sharon Kim]

I really like the details that you have included. You have very thorough descriptions of the zoo and you really developed Frank's character. I love the ending of the chapter, I want to know what happens next. Is it a phoenix? I'm wondering if you plan on having Frank play a big role in the story or if he was just part of setting up 68 and its place in the zoo. If he does not feature in the story, I think that you could trim away some of the descriptions before he meets up with Rob for their rounds. You showed a lot about Frank's character during his interactions with Rob-work ethic, everything in its place, always prepared. You also showed how 68 freaked them out and how the night was much spookier at the zoo than during the day. Just a thought- I think it would pick up the pace of the story and hook the reader faster.
Keep writing! I can't wait to read more!

[Dave Ziegert]

Thanks for the feedback! I had not originally thought to bring Frank back, so I could lose a bit of detail. On the other hand, I like him, so he could have a place later. It actually wouldn't require any large change to my outline.