Day 193

The old zoo was only a few miles out of town.

It was supposed to be abandoned.

They'd closed it down in '24.

You went in out of curiosity, that and they left

the old place open to the public as a museum.

It was pretty crappy as museums went, seeing

as it was just rusted cages, cracked glass tanks

and fairly small concrete enclosures.

No wonder it was shut, the place was tiny and

so out of the way hardly anyone ever came.

The day you went you only saw one other car

parked in the designated area.

It was eerily quiet as you walked up the steep

steps - the old zoo was at the top of a large hill.

They were cracked in some places, falling

apart in others but it had been over 60 years

since any proper maintenance had been done.

There used to be a gate at the top with a big sign

on it but that had been stolen years ago, now all

that was left was two long rusted poles.

As you headed past the old ticket booths you saw

the first big enclosure, now a concrete pit full of

weeds.

The next few enclosures were all in small buildings

and consisted mainly of rusty metal cages.

You'd never been sure of what they used to contain,

there was nothing online to say what they were or

where the animals went after the place shut down.

So far nothing overly interesting, nothing new at least.

As you drew closer to the peak of the zoo (which was

an old falconry with a great view of the area, right at

the top of the hill) things began to seem... off...

You couldn't put your finger on it til your text alert

went off.

You realised just how quiet the place had gotten.

All the birds and insects had silenced themselves.

It was getting creepier the longer you stayed so

you did the smart thing and turned around to go.

That was when you heard the sound of sticks

snapping behind you and something wet dripping

onto the concrete floor.

You ran away as fast as you could as something

large bounded after you.

Making sure to twist and turn, head through buildings,

anything to throw off your pursuer, you finally reached

your car.

You threw yourself inside and locked all the doors.

As you caught your breath you looked out of the

windows and sw something you'd missed on the

way in.

The other car wasn't empty.

In fact, the driver and passengers never left.

You could see a tiny arm sticking out just behind the

front wheel.

The arm withdrew sharply and the shadows beneath the

vehicle began to writhe and pulse forward.

Your attention was quickly brought back to your own

situation as your car lurched up, like something underneath

it was trying to stand.

And maybe it was.

You didn't stick around long enough to find out, hell you didn't

even look back.

The news never covered the zoo.

You never knew who was killed there or how many more have

been since, you know people still go there.

Something inside you is telling you to go back.

You need to go back.