Chapter 112
sorry, posted the wrong thing, i fixed it though. hope you all enjoy!
Moving through, they came across many other animals that had not made it through the time neglected. None of the animals they came across were nearly as well off as the snakes so far. Eventually, they came up to the exit of the building. Here it was both good and bad news. The good news was that it was a glass door that used to slide open that acted as the final barrier. The less fortunate side was that through the glass, they could see a pair of orcs seeming to stroll about down the path. They had makeshift spears, and seemed to be wary and jumpy, showing that something had happened to them earlier. As they watched on, they quickly saw that the poor orcs were not long for the world, and why they were being so jumpy. Behind them, atop the lodge, stalked a pair of lionesses. As soon as the orcs got close enough, the female lions pounced upon them before the orcs even had a chance to make a sound. After the orcs had died, the two lionesses started dragging their kills around the corner and back behind the lodge. After waiting for a few minutes watching where the large cats disappeared, they felt it was finally safe to leave.
Finally leaving the building, Nat and Shannon noticed that the sun sat almost directly above them, signaling that it was around noon. Not wanting to dally in the city for too long, the pack started moving along the path towards the north while skirting around the far side of the path away from the lodge. After all, the gorillas were in no shape to help them in a fight, and they still had a long way to go should they want to leave the city today. However, there was one last stop that Shannon wanted to make before they left the zoo. After all, there was a small possibility that there were still wolves surviving this long.
They crossed the walk bridge leading over to the other half of the park, before making an immediate right. There, the path zigged and zagged before going around a couple enclosures. As the group made their way down, the wire mesh in each of the pens seemed aged and broken, and not in small ways. While they could still see some bears inside the exhibits they passed, the holes in the fence were more than large enough to accommodate their girth. And on the ground around the hole, there was a small puddle of black guck. Apparently, surface area was not a concern for spawning in monsters, as it appeared that the fence had been used as a medium. Which also very apparently turned out to be a bad time for the monsters. After all, bears were larger and stronger than the gorillas that they had just rescued. Keeping their distance from the napping giants, Nat could not help but use her energy to look closer at one of the bears that were there. They were bigger than the others, and was starting to grow spines out of their back and limbs. If anything, it made it look even more fearsome.
Continuing on, every enclosure they passed had a similar hole, all of them surprisingly a similar size. As they passed the mountain lion exhibit, the entire group immediately took cover behind a rock as a portal opened up, just two sections down from another hole. They watched as the metal deteriorated and crumbled down to the ground, until the portal finally collapsed with a single orc standing there. Sadly for the monster, it was not standing there for long. With no weapons or awareness, the unaware orc was immediately brought to the ground by a mountain lion. It was quick and brutal, but the orc could not have been in this world for more than three seconds before his neck was broken in the jaws of the powerful cat. Seemingly satisfied with what it had done, the predator returned back to the rock it had been sun tanning on before.
Carefully, the group proceeded down the path. The area had been named the Canadian Wilds when the park was open, and it was just living more and more up to its name. Numerous animals that should have been in the enclosures were walking about freely, with almost no care in the world. You could still easily tell where a predator was though, as all you had to do was look for the area that a bunch of animals were avoiding. There group just happened to be one of the dead zones that were travelling around. Occasionally, they would come across a half-eaten corpse, clearly having been a meal for a carnivore sometime recently. When it was an animal whose meat they did not have access to yet, Nat got Maia or Kali to quickly store the carcass, giving them the ability to hunt down the animals inside the Soulscape for more variety.
And then they approached what was Nat's main home away from home during her internship. Coming up to the fence, she could see that it had a single hole. However, sitting inside that makeshift entrance was two wolves, closely watching the entrance. Nat did not recognize either of the canines, but figured trying to go straight to them was a bad idea. Wolf packs rarely intermingled closely, usually a fight for dominance came out. She could not see any other wolves inside the enclosure, but she knew that they would be there. Wanting to avoid conflict, she guided her group around to the back of the enclosure, towards where the keeper station was. Inside would be a list of all of the wolfs that were residing inside, as well as an easier access into the other packs area.
When they got there, the door was not even locked. Nat was not surprised, given that the old keeper that she studied under never bothered locking it while he was there. That was one of the main reasons they had both gotten in trouble, but it only happened a couple of times. While they were never excessively close, they had gotten along quite well as co-workers. Hoping the old fart was alright through all of this, she walked over to the main desk of the small building. Looking through the notes, she was surprised to find out that there were almost a dozen wolves that were supposed to be inside. Even more surprising was that three of them were supposed to have been new born pups born last year. Before she could turn around, Shannon sat down in the chair and gave a knowing smirk her direction. Getting the message, Nat went up to the inner doors, and opened them up.
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