Wasteland

King for a Day

“Do you know how to use one?” Merida asked, brandishing a gun in front of my face.

“I’m driving.” I said irritably and pushed her hand out of the way. We’d been driving for hours, with only a two hour brake to sleep, and a stop to ransack an arms store. We’d stocked up on a myriad of shining hunting knives and body sheaves, and a ton of guns.

 “And I’m serious.” She said. “Look. Here is the safety.” It audibly clicked on and off. “And this is the trigger. You pull it when you want to shoot.”

“I know.” I shook my head. No duh. The various guns and knives strapped over my body made me squirm in my seat. All of this would take some getting used to.

The road stretched out in front of us, the same exact view. I was beginning to itch. I needed something different to distract me. And I didn’t want to talk about guns. I scanned the desolate roadside for anything. Just ahead a run forked off. I squinted my eyes and then all of the sudden swerved to follow it.

“What the hell?” Merida yelped and gripped the dashboard with white knuckled hands. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Sorry.” I apologized half-heartedly. “It’s just that… Mike and I, when we were younger we’d always go to the zoo. It was one of our favorite things to do. You know, go and see all the animal exhibits and performances. I haven’t been to one in years. Not since I was ten, I think. And with everything that’s been going on… I don’t know. I just want some normalcy.”

“So…?” She leaned towards me, her eyes burning into my face.

I pulled up to the deserted King Park Zoo. “So, I thought it might be a nice break.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Not at all.” I stopped the car, hopped out, and walked to her side. I was about to open the door, but she opened it forcefully, making me to jump back.

“Fine. But let’s make it quick.” She walked in front of me again. She’d always strut confidently into any situation, whether she knew what it was or not.

There was no one manning the entrance, so we hopped over the gate and started ‘exploring’. I grabbed a map and she napped a bag of popcorn. We walked wordlessly, but side by side. She popped one kernel in her mouth at a time and crunched them loudly.

“What’s that smell?” Merida scrunched her nose. I smelled it too. A reeking and sweet stench that grew stronger with each step.

“I don’t know.” I brought up the edge of my t-shirt to cover my nose. We reached the first exhibit and found our answer. The zebra was lying face down in its drinking water. Its body had been torn apart— the shredded skin exposed the white jail bar bones of its rib cage. Another dead one sat nearby with striped skin hanging out its mouth. Flies crawled over the dead carcasses, coloring some places of the Zebras completely black.

“Are they zombies too?” Merida asked horrified. Her mouth fell open and she stumbled a few steps back from the cage.

“Yeah… I think so.” I felt a similar sense of revulsion.

“How did it spread so fast? All of this…”

“How did this even happen?” I asked. Merida looked down suddenly and bit her lip. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. This is just so messed up.” She shrugged and trained her eyes at her feet.

“Come on.” I grabbed her wrist and began pulling her back. She let me. “I don’t really want to see the animals anymore.”

“No. I don’t either.”

We hadn’t walked far, and I could see the car from where we stood. We were scotch-free, ready to get out of that place. Having only taken a map and a snack, it’s almost like we were never even there. That would make it easier for me to forget the disgusting place.