I am so sad about this elephant’s death. All the animals are out of the cages after I open them all. Also, I took the splinters off some of the animals after pulling it so tough my small body is sore as a cactus. 

The lions around here are Fredrick, Prince, Melissa, and Haley. They are African Lions who live in solid rock habitats with nothing but a giant monster truck tire and a giant hole to crap. Fredrick misses home, and so do the others. 

“I like home. We are protected,” Fredrick said. 

“But living in the wild is better, Fredrick,” I said. 

“Who are you?” Fredrick asked. 

“I see. We do not meet each other in the zoo since we are caged for a long time. I am Clay, a quokka. I like it already, but what was that alien boy who tried to kill us?” I spooked. 

“At least we are here with each other, no cages, no bad habitats, and no smell. However, we need to introduce each other to make a new home,” I continued. 

“Clay, how long have you been in the cage?” Fredrick asked. 

“We could not say more about the cages,” shouted Denny.

Denny, an ostrich, and his wife, Molly, who those two each other’s feathers for survival until today, they are eating the leaves from the bushes I was hiding. 

AHH! 

A civet named Cress screams that he wants to be back in the cage. He goes back into his cage and wants to be protected from predators.

“Hey! You look like a cat! Cats are predators! Come on out! I worked so hard taking you out!” I shouted. 

“I like the cage, you fucking rat!” Cress hissed. I am pissed at his calling me “rat”. 

“I am not a rat! I am a marsupial! Get it right!” I yelled.

“I am a civet! Not a cat!!” Cress shouted. 

Cress and I argued until Fredrick heard rumbling from his stomach. All the animals are hungry as I enter the forest to find something. Cress followed me and smelled something delicious. 

Bono and Bona want bananas, while Don the alligator needs fish. He enters the ocean and sees a lot of grey fishes. Sure, his stomach said yes, but his body said no. Still, he swam but felt like dying. He said, “I cannot take the fish.” 

He got back and took big breaths. Fredrick ordered the zebras while they are eating grass. The zebra refused to offer the lions and cheetahs as their dinner. Still, they ate four zebras and one of them ran away, finding a place to hide. Clay and Cress looked at the female zebra and cried. 

“Come back and tell us what happened!” Clay asked. 

Other settings include a tortoise named Snail, who said being slow makes you keep track of things. Snail wants to catch up with me and Cress as we are still fighting over what species we are until I said to him, “I have a family!”

Cress was shocked and remembers his family was gone after humans took them for kopi lumak. He was in the zoo after his family is gone. Using him as entertainment, Cress spins his body around until he is in a fantasy world. His face was melting like a pot, and his muscles could not be steady. 

“I hate humans. Why are you into humans, Clay?” He asked with overwhelms. 

“I just want humans and all animals to be happy. Because of my appearance, I can give anyone love and respect,” I said. 

Cress looked down and apologized to me. I accepted it. Snail cheered, “ Wait for me! I want to have friends!” 

I was shocked about this tortoise and ran to him, hugging and kissing him until I introduced him. 

“I am Snail. I am slow but love to make friends and learn about the world,” he cried. 

“Don’t cry. We are here in this together,” I said. I pat his head and trail him to the berries Cress found. Since I eat leaves, I chew them fast, like a shredder. Cress laughed, and Snail cheered that all the berries were good but about that zebra. I have to find her until a scream alerts us. I could not help but order Cress and Snail to hide. Snail tucked his body into his shell,l and Cress climbed up to the tall trees until he was grabbed by a native blue alien with sharp, huge eyes. Cress screamed, which warned me about the trouble. I hesitate, but my gut says never to give up. The lions head towards the forest and see the blue aliens ambushing Snail until I spot tiny rocks. I quickly grabbed them and threw them hard at the alien’s head. There are three adults, but one of them notices the pebble on his head. He turns around and sees nothing but trees and leaves. I am behind him, ready to use my nose like a sword. The lions, on the other hand, were running to the aliens until I shouted to them, “Do not kill them!” 

They had interrupted my strategy. Darn! But what about the zebra? Not right now!

The lions stopped, and I told them to take Snail and run. When the alien holds Cress so tight, his mouth opens up with very sharp teeth that resemble a saw. 

“This animal must die!” He spoke. My heart is beating so fast, my anger grows, and my eyes are wide! My muscles trigger it to kill him, but my brain cannot do it, not because I am scared but because I am angry. Why would this alien kill Cress?

I shouted, “HEY! What do you think you are doing!?!” 

The alien man turned to me while the lions pushed Snail to the sand. Snail can feel the hot bottom, listening to the material rustle. 

The aliens only hear me chipping like an animal. I can speak English but they are speaking the same language also. I don’t understand. 

“Animals are not like humans. I know they are animals, but humans have a bigger strength to think properly. Animals, on the other hand, have none,” said the alien leader. 

“Leo. We should go. I am going to carry this to kill for our president,” said the alien warrior. 

I heard “Leo” and “President.” What is going on here? This must be a trick! My face hesitates until one of the warriors grabbed me. 

“A rodent always runs away,” argued the chief. 

BAM!!

A gun from far upwards shot down the chef’s head. It must be a human, I thought. One of the warriors dropped Cress down and grabbed his friend’s right arm, crying to not die halfway. Cress scatters away from the forest, and I spit the alien’s hand. He dropped me and wiped off the spit, telling me to not do that again! I also scattered away and found all the animals there. I ordered. “ We have to hide!” 

I spotted a cave there next to the sand where the dark insides shiver me, but we have no choice. All of us ran there and the aliens chased us fast. The cheetahs can stop them. They paused and turned around to jump at them. 

The sister cheetahs are fast and professional hunters. But their faces are boring from the blood they had bitten. They are screaming in pain but never give up. 

There is a man in his green camouflage on the high trees, staring at us. With his green eyes and orange hair, he thought, “Humans and animals are the same. I want to check on them.”