Day 438

There had been a zoo at the edge of the woods in the 1800's apparently.
It shut down during the Napoleonic War, all the animals were sold or eaten.
Nobody purchased the land after the war, it was left to rust and rot.
Bones and barriers alike were left frozen in time until it was rediscovered.

The first ones were teens roaming about the woods in boredom.
At first they thought they'd stumbled upon a prison, all those iron bars and warning signs.
It was actually the lion's cage as one pointed out a small visitor's plaque.
They all felt something brush past their legs and fled soon after, leaving one behind.

It happened several times after, each time someone was left behind or never left at all.
No cage was visited twice and over the years they began to regain their occupancy.
Still there were empty cages, exhibits to be remade with living bodies.
The left behind bones just fit so well with their new hosts.

Moving forward to today the zoo remains more crowded than its' heyday.
Each new creature a chimera of human and what little remained of the old exhibits.
Every cage had an occupant, just like the old days when visitors roamed rather than crows.
They were attracted to the smell of rotting meat that the chimeras exuded.

Most of them seemed like complete creatures except those that fought the changes.
Bones fused to cloth and flesh alike, sometimes tearing out the host's bones to replace them.
Such amazing new creatures needed an audience, needed companions and food.
The zoo drew more people in and this time, there were no leavers.