Two Halves Make A Whole | Huntlow

10. The Zoo

"Hey guuuuuuys!"

Luz bounded cheerfully into the living room where Willow, Amity and Vee were playing a game called "Monopoly" and Hunter and Gus were playing a game on the television called "Smash Bros". 

"My mom said that we're allowed to go to the zoo tomorrow!" Luz said excitedly.

Everyone's reactions were incredulous.

"You guys don't know what a zoo is?" Luz said, scratching her head. "Where you can see animals? Where a giraffe is kept..?"

"A giraffe?!" Gus cried, immediately jumping up from the floor. "Count me in, my dream is coming true!"

"It could be fun," Amity nodded her head in agreement. 

"I don't know, we might need to start doing some research on the portal door.. are you going Captain?" Hunter said.

"Count me in! There might be plants there!" exclaimed Willow. "Please can you come Hunter? It won't be as fun without you there."

The blonde's ears turned beet red, and he reluctantly nodded.

-

Hunter POV:

The gang arrived at the zoo 45 minutes later with Camila (with a lot of protest from Luz because they're "too old" to go out with a grown up) and the group split up to look at the animals. Luz went with Vee to look at the snakes, Amity went with Willow to see the jaguars and Hunter went with Camila and Gus to try and find the giraffes, upon Gus' insistant whining.

Hunter didn't quite know what to make of the zoo. It was very interesting to see all the animals, but at the same time it didn't feel fair that they were locked up in cages for people to gawk at all day with no escape. It reminded him of the Emperor's Coven.

"Ughhhhh, how long do we have to walk? My feet hurt," Gus complained.

"We shouldn't be too far off estimado," Camila assured him.

"I think we're getting close," Hunter said, squinting at the brochure with a map on it. "Just round about.. here!"

They halted at an exhibit where two tall, spindly yellow creatures stood with brown patches and long necks. 

"This is it?" Hunter scoffed. "I've seen much more impressive beasts than this lump of-"

"Oh. My. Titan!" Gus squealed. "I love it! My entire life has culminated to this moment in time.."

However, in the midst of Gus' rambling, the giraffe narrowed it's eyes as if it sensed that Hunter and Gus weren't human, and it let out a horrible, caurwauling shriek, exposing it's razor-sharp teeth and spiked black tongue.

Hunter and Gus immediately covered their ears as it shrieked but no one else did; humans clearly couldn't hear it the way witches or grimwalkers could.

Camila immediately noticed that something was up and hurried them away.

"That.. did not go the way I thought it would," Gus shuddered as they walked away from the giraffe.

Hunter put his hand on Gus' shoulder for comfort.

They continued to walk until they came across a closure that Hunter immediately felt drawn to.

He turned to Gus to tell him to come look with him, but Gus ran off to look at "meerkats", so it was just him and Camila.

Inside the closure was a large greyish-sandy coloured canine with a long snout, pointy ears and long fur. They had a scar on one of their shoulders and had a chipped ear. They were lying down and it had sadness sparkling in their eyes. Hunter felt a stab of sadness of the poor creature, being locked up for people to point at, without it ever being free.

"That's the gray wolf," Camila whispered next to him. "You don't usually see those in zoos, but this one was found injured and the zoo took them back and is nursing them back to health, so they could return to their pack."

"Their pack?" Hunter drew his eyes away from the wolf to look at Camila.

"Wolves travel with each other. It's a superstition that they have to always be alone. When they're with their chosen pack, they're much stronger and happier. That's why this one looks sad. They've been taken away from their pack so they're not happy. But when they get set free they'll be back on their paws in no time."

Hunter paused, and looked back at the wolf. To his surprise, they got up, limped over to him and laid down next to the glass, resting their head on the glass.

"I think this one gets you," Camila smiled.

Hunter in turn rested his head onto the glass, mirroring the wolf.

"Yeah," Hunter murmered. "I think I get them too."

-

"Sooooo, what did everyone think of the zoo?" Luz chirruped as the gang drove back in the car.

"I loved it, especially the big cats!" Amity added.

"Yeah, I loooved the pandas, they were so cute!" Willow squealed. "What about you, Hunter?"

Hunter jumped, having been lost in his thoughts. "O-oh! Yeah, it was good."

"Hey, d'you think we could stop at the bookstore? There's a book I want to get."

 -

Hello! I made this in a hurry so sorry if it's bad! I really wanted to add in Hunter's wolf hyperfixation into the chapter, and in later ones!

The new episode completely wrecked me FYI, I promise my story won't be as sad as the canon story's heading :')

Byeeeeeeee~

-mayz