Howl

15

A frost was in the air this morning, the fifth day of my confinement routine at the zoo. As I had the last four days, I woke, got dressed, met my guards for the day, went to the hall for food, th n spent the rest of the day back at the glass house. I was bored out of my mind. I'd been less bored at Merry's, though that was due to the threat of impending rape and death.

Heading down the corridor I paused as Mira was absent, she had been there every day so far. Emmett stood on his own waiting for me.

"Where is everyone?" I asked walking to his side confused. His face was stony serious, refusing to look at me. It was most unlike him as he had become really chatty and friendly the last few days. Apart from Mira he was the only one that didn't act on tenterhooks around me. This wasn't a welcome change.

"Roman's called everyone to a meeting, it looks like Merry is on the offensive."

"Are we going?" I was curious to see Roman. After letting him drink from me and then him saving my life, I hadn't seen him. Since that first morning in the cafeteria no one had even spoken of him. Radio silence.

Emmett finally looked down at me. "No, it's no place for a human." His voice was bitter and I winced as my heart stung. I couldn't think that this was my fault, I was dragged into it all by them. I wasn't taking the blame for trying to survive. I wasn't going to feel guilty.
Yet as he turned away from me, I wanted Emmett to tell me it wasn't my fault, that I was okay. How much of a pansy had I become? I wasn't having it.

"I want to know what's going on Emmett."

He sighed, pausing in his storming off. "As do I, look, we're going to get you some food then we're locking down in the center of the zoo."

"Whilst everyone else fights off Merry's vampires."

"Yes. Now come."
I ran after him as he stormed down the path to the cafeteria. It was completely empty as we entered, breakfast had already been and gone. I filled my backpack full of snacks and some fruit as I didn't know how long this would last and followed an impatient Emmett back out.

I hasn't been further into the zoo, so I was amazed by the abandoned caged areas, full of trees, climbing frames, ponds, everything the animals could have needed. In one as I passed there were some sheep and a few goats happily munching on the grass. I tried to pause to look but Emmett ushered us on.
We walked past a myriad of small buildings, going further into the zoo until Emmett guided me towards the entrance to a single story grey stone building attached to an animal enclosure. The enclosure had thick metal fencing much higher than the others, this was where they had kept something dangerous.
He keyed a code into a box next to the door and it clicked open, revealing a dark corridor which I got dragged into.

"This should be our most secure building." Emmett mumbled as he navigated the small hall to a back room that had a row of thick cages. "If anything happens you get inside a cage and you stay put."

I eyed the thick metal bars nervously. "Okay, your staying with me though right?"

"If all goes to plan."

I felt cramped in the space already, the room was very small with just one mottled glass window covered in the same thick bars. Emmett was quite a tall muscular man and consumed a lot of the space available.

With my stomach churning we waited. Hours of still quiet dragged on and Emmett grew as restless as I was.

"How old were you when you got infected?" I asked breaking the silence.

"I was eight, the colonies were just properly forming and the group I was in was heading to the closest. The mass gathering of humans attracted Howlers still rife with the active virus and as we got closer we got caught. Luckily I escaped being killed but contracted the virus instead."