The crocodiles surged out of their pool, roaring at the crowd on the bank.
The giraffes kicked up dust and slammed their hooves against their fence.
The hippos opened their massive jaws and thrashed wildly, dragging a keeper into the water.
The elephant enclosure erupted, their trumpeting calls echoing through the park, accompanied by the sharp shrieks of the monkeys and the chest–pounding roars of the chimpanzees. The whole zoo felt like it was hit by an earthquake.
“Oh my god, what’s happening?”
“I’m so scared! Run!”
“My child! My child fell into the chimpanzee enclosure! Help!”
Chaos erupted everywhere.
No one was paying attention to a single tiger anymore.
The Tiger King stepped out of the dust, crushing the bars that had once imprisoned him under his paws. His eyes burned with a fierce light, his dull fur seemed to regain its former glory, and the sound of his breath was like the whisper of a demon.
“A tiger! A tiger!”
The crowd screamed, pushing and shoving, running for their lives.
I knew I was too late. I looked up at the parrot in the sky. “SkyScreecher, tell all the animals not to hurt anyone! Otherwise, I’ll never come back!”
The parrot landed on my shoulder, tilting its head as usual. “The Tiger King won’t listen to you-”
Even as he said it, a new message appeared in the chat.
SkyScreecher: [Berry said, don’t hurt anyone, or she’ll never come back.]
15:07
KingKong: [No way! I finally got a little human to fall in here! Damn it, now I can’t bite him.]
HippoTail: [Oh, okay. I’ll let the keeper out from under my butt then.]
TheBigPython: [Don’t worry, I can’t break the glass. I can’t hurt anyone.]
TigerClaw: [Hmph.]
Even the Tiger King had responded.
1 looked up and saw that he wasn’t attacking anyone. He was staring straight at me. The full force of the king of the forest was on display. Even though he was thin, he was still a terrifying sight.
A primal fear made my legs go weak.
The parrot on my shoulder peed in terror. “Run! Run!” he shrieked, flying up into the air and announcing to the chat: [HELP! HELP! THE TIGER KING HAS HIS SIGHTS ON BERRY!]
