He walked out and gave me my instructions. “Alright, my work is done. You go prep their food. Don’t give them too much. It’s a waste on them anyway.”
And just like that, he was gone.
Every elephant watched him leave, especially the old one. Its murky eyes were filled with a cold rage.
A new message popped up in the chat.
Old Tusks: [Just wait until the festival. I’ll be the first to crush that hose–wielding human. Then all the other humans!]
SweetTrunk: [Daddy, let me do it! Let me!]
FattyTheSeal: [Tons of humans will come to see us during the festival. If we riot then, we can kill so many of them!]
MonkeyKing: [That hose–wielding human deserves to die. The new one is probably just as bad. I’m gonna hit her with a rock!]
My eyes widened. I spun around just as a rock the size of an egg whizzed past my ear. A cold sweat broke out on my skin.
On the monkey enclosure not far away, a monkey was standing on two feet, baring its teeth at me. When it saw me looking, it immediately started scratching its chest, feigning innocence with a goofy grin.
I swallowed hard. Now I was sure.
The members of the “100 Ways to Kill a Human” chat were the animals themselves.
My head was spinning.
These animals… they hated humans this much? And they were planning a riot during the upcoming Christmas?
After a moment of hesitation, I walked into the elephant enclosure and started my work. All the elephants watched me with cold indifference.
As I cleaned, my mind raced. The state of the enclosure was appalling. Piles of dung were everywhere, both inside and out, and the stench was overpowering. The artificial stream and pool meant for the elephants to play in were black with filth; the tap on the man–made hill had been dry for a long time.
Animals, especially intelligent ones like elephants, value cleanliness. I couldn’t imagine how miserable they must be living here.
I worked tirelessly, shoveling out mounds of waste and scrubbing the feeding troughs that hadn’t been cleaned in days. It was well past noon by the time I was abo-
ut seventy percent done, but the enclosure was finally starting to look presentable.
Next, I hurried to the food prep area, only to find a pathetic selection of palm leaves and dry, coarse hay. There wasn’t a single piece of fruit, not even a vegetable leaf in sight.
I asked a female coworker nearby, “Is this all the elephants eat? I thought the zoo had a decent budget.”
“How should I know? I feed the capybaras, and their food is even worse,” she said, rushing off.
I pressed my lips together. For now, all I could do was grab as much hay and leaves as I could carry and bring it to the elephants.
As I returned, the chat lit up again.
SweetTrunk: [I saw her cleaning so hard and thought she might be a good human, but she’s just like the others. Feeding us dry grass!]
LittleNose: [So hungry. I want papaya. I haven’t had papaya in so, so long. crying emoji]
PolarBearKodi: [Stop crying. I got rotten fish again today. I’d rather have the grass!]
I paused for a moment, then tossed the food into the enclosure. At least it was something to fill their stomachs. The elephants gathered listlessly, their eyes full of a
bleak, simmering resentment.
The old elephant didn’t join them. It lay down, motionless, staring out of the enclosure at something I couldn’t see.
