After the girls got in ((hope ya don't mind, Rad...)), Sean started the car and drove off down the highway, back to his apartment. "Good job guys," he said. He wanted to mention how they needed to come up with some kind of plan now that they had the morphs they'd needed, but he didn't want to make the logical suggestion that they try following Jo's family. No kid should ever have to deal with this... he said, unconsciously looking back at Jo in the rearview mirror. That was when he noticed the eighteen-wheeler speeding down the highway on his right-hand side doing at least ninety mph. "Whoa!" He swerved left to avoid the obviously drunken truck driver and narrowly missed a car in the next lane. After is was well past, he said with the slightest edge. "Well, that was exciting. Maybe not as exciting as the crocodile, but yeah."
"GEEZ! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, YOU IDIOT!!!!" Brian shouted, swerving left to avoid the trucker that kept crossing the centerstripe dividing the two directions of traffic. "Moron..." he muttered. Within a minute, he'd parked in the far back of the visitor parking lot at Ben Taub General Hospital, which was just across the street from the zoo. After a shudder of revulsion, he forced himself to morph fly again and buzzed through the fence. He was inside the zoo.
He quickly demorphed, and was suddenly tired because of it. He hadn't really noticed that before. Weird. He thought of calling out for the others, but didn't think that was smart, considering he wasn't supposed to be there. Brian found himself in a long narrow passage that led to an emergency exit. He walked along, and eventually found himself by the vulture habitat. He was really eager to go ahead and acquire the giant bird, but thought he should start with something else. It was in a circular habitat standing in the middle of the pathway. Oddly enough, it was already awake. He reasoned that the others had passed by it already. He started to walk away... he then found a pile of clothes nearby, with keys next to them.He wasn't sure of what to make of the clothing... was it one of his friend's? Maybe, but why wouldn't they be wearing something skin-tight that they could morph with? It made him edgy, since he didn't know why the pile was there. But regardless, he had the keys. This was an opportunity he couldn't pass up. With the keys in his hand, and slight worry on his mind, he opened the vulture's cage and grabbed the bird, which didn't even try getting away. It must be too used to people, he figured. It grew still, even stiller than before while he acquired it. Brian felt a slight tingling in his spine from the excitement of essentially harvesting any animal's form that he wanted for himself. It had been so simple, he felt invigorated.
With a surge of confidence and a slight air of arrogance, Brian looked over his shoulder at the Timber Wolf habitat. With a smile of thrill and the feeling of what-am-I-doing-this-is-so-stupid, he hopped the fence. He walked in, not seeing anything. Maybe they were put indoors during the night? He figured this was the right answer and he started to walk quickly and confidently towards the back of the exhibit. There was a building there, and he hoped he had the right key. He heard a crunching sound to this right. His confidence was gone. "Oh shoot," he whispered. He heard another snapping twig. And then there was a sound that brought a shiver to Brian's spine.
"HOWW-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
