“Please stop,” said the white rhino.
“Please stop,” echoed the emperor penguin.
“Please stop,” requested the puma.
No matter which way they fled, Jinto and Lafiel could not ditch the throng of robotic fauna.
“Back off!” yelled Lafiel, pointing her Klanyu right at a beaver’s head.
“Please stop,” the beaver responded, whistling through its oversized teeth as it spoke.
“You’re robots, right?” she asked.
“We do not have free will, if that’s what you mean,” lamented the beaver. “Please don’t tell the children. They believe.”
“It’s creepy, Jinto. I’m killing it.”
“But they’re so cute,” Jinto whined.
Lafiel blasted the beaver.
“Warning!” shouted a chorus of animals. “Destruction of Guzornyu Amusement Park property is a felony! You will be tried in a court of — “
Lafiel silenced a puma, reducing it to little chunks. “If you don’t want us to destroy you, then get out of here.”
The fearless animals just moved in closer.
“Oh man. Sorry,” Jinto said feebly as he blasted a hyena. He took a small amount of comfort in the fact that the hyena was the scariest-looking creature in the park.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Such carnage,” said the controller, as he watched the valuable animals get slaughtered.
“We’re dealing with some twisted individuals here,” said Kite.
But the controller wasn’t listening; he was too busy trying to get the animals to abandon their mission and run away.
Eventually, he canceled the order, and the animals moved away from the intruders. The shooting stopped.
“Good. Have them clear the area entirely. If they stick around, they might interfere with the arrest,” directed Entoryua.
“Due to the electromagnetic interference, I can’t do it from here. A mechanic will have to go to the site and input those orders manually. What I don’t get, Inspector, is why you’re still hanging around in here, when the bad guys are clearly out there, blowing up my furry friends!”
Entoryua shrugged. “Remember when I told you to let me have my men wait by that emergency exit? And remember when you said it would be bad for the park’s image?”
“Yeah, yeah, you were right. What do you want, a cookie? Go get the bad guys already.”
On the terminal’s screen, the display clearly indicated that over a hundred twenty children were still ambling toward the exits. Taking their sweet time, too.
“Like I said, it’s too dangerous until the customers are all out. We can’t take chances like that with people’s lives, even if it means losing a few ‘animals’ “
“But all the people are gone from that sector,” argued the controller.
“He’s right,” agreed Kite. “Let’s go bring them in. Since the telephones are unusable, it’s really the only option.”
“Whose fault is it that the telephones don’t work?” Entoryua put out his cigarette in his typical, violent way. “You’re right, though. Let’s go get them.”
The otter sulked as he gave Jinto directions out of the maze.
Jinto felt kind of silly thanking the otter as he left the store, but he did it anyway.
Somewhere in the distance, there was an explosion.
✦ ✦ ✦
The animals no longer attempted to apprehend Jinto and Lafiel as they ran through the park. However, they also made no effort to get out of their way.
“Oof! Sorry!” Jinto yelled as he ran into a squirrel.
“It’s my fault,” conceded the squirrel.
Lafiel and Jinto were in some kind of maze, the walls of which were lined with goods for sale. Everything — stationery, knickknacks, pens, clothes, even diapers — had some kind of animal picture on it. Jinto paused for a second in front of some clothes, examining his own filthy bodysuit (Sorf).
What am I doing? I don’t have time for this!
The alleys and throughways were becoming increasingly difficult to follow. Jinto looked up at the ceiling, hoping it might give him some kind of indication where the exit was. No dice.
“Hold on!” Jinto called to Lafiel.
Up ahead, Lafiel stopped. “What?”
Jinto walked up to an otter shopkeeper.
“Hello, young man. May I recommend this otter-face nail clipper? At this low, low price, you should really buy two!”
“No, stop,” interrupted Jinto. “Do you know where the exit is?”
“Leaving so soon?” the otter seemed hurt. “What’s the rush? Stay and have fun with me! Have you seen my otter nail-clippers yet?”
“Just tell me how to get out of here.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“What moron’s blowing stuff up?” demanded Entoryua. “Was that your friends?”
Kite shrugged dejectedly. “Could be.”
Entoryua pondered his next move. Maybe we should split up. This would definitely be easier without Kite and his army. But I don’t want them to arrest me, too, just for doing my job. Ah, screw it. We tracked them this far. Maybe it won’t be so bad watching someone else put the cuffs on.
“Hurry up!” Entoryua poked the car’s driver.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” the young man replied while he honked the horn. “These critters just don’t understand the rules of the road.”
“Crap. I knew we should have brought an Uusia.”
“You want me to radio for backup?”
“There’s no time!”
Crash! Behind them, a patrol car attempting to avoid an armadillo plowed into the side of a building.
Entoryua sighed.
✦ ✦ ✦
“This way to the exit!” yelled Jinto. Almost immediately, he ground to a halt.
A line of forward-creeping Uusia blocked the path.
Lafiel reached for her gun, but Jinto stopped her. “It’s no use. Not here, at least. Let’s go back into that market maze.”
Lafiel cocked her head instead of her gun. Then she nodded. They turned and fled.
“Halt! This is the police!” boomed a threatening voice.
When the police say that, Jinto pondered, how many people actually stop?
He certainly didn’t.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Inspector, this is getting ridiculous!” complained the frustrated driver, slamming on the brakes.
In front of him, the road — which was, in actuality, not a road at all — narrowed so severely that it was barely wide enough for three people to walk side by side. There was no way a car could fit.
It would be a different story if they could just plow through all the shops. Unfortunately, that was not an option for these policemen if they wanted to keep a shred of their public image intact.
“Evacuate the workers!” sounded the internal broadcast. “Everyone with third-tier engineering classifications, please adjust all animals to hibernation mode.”
“Okay, men. Move out!” Entoryua ordered.
Irritated at the inability to issue orders over the telephone, Entoryua jumped out and ran to the car behind his, and told them to proceed on foot.
About twenty policemen lined up on the little road. The suspects were already out of sight, having ducked around a corner.
“Be prepared to fire. The suspects are armed and considered dangerous.”
Everyone, including Entoryua and Kite, drew their Kairia and toggled off the safety switch.
“After them!” Entoryua charged into the alley. Approximately twenty adrenaline-juiced policemen followed suit.