The Alex King Series, A BATEMAN [good books for high schoolers .TXT] 📗

she would not give up on them, that she could give them hope. What evil was happening here? How could two people be caged alongside primates and monkeys? Who was behind this absurdity?

Natalia had entered the keypad pin she had memorised. It operated a second air-lock. The light went from red through to green and the second door opened with a whoosh. Her helmet was fitted with a fibre particle filter, but she had a sudden panic, as if it were too late, whether whatever was being tested here was an airborne disease, and whether the particle filter was enough to clean the air. She took a deep breath. It was too late now. And she was too close to those two poor souls to backout now. She walked past the first row of cages, close enough for the rhesus monkey to swipe an arm close enough to her for her to jump backwards. She glanced up at the CCTV cameras, realising that in her haste to see the prisoners, her former colleagues, she had put herself in clear view. On record. She panicked, picked up the pace as she walked past the chimpanzee enclosure. She could see that the enclosure was separated into four sections, with a solemn-looking beast in each cage. They did not share the rhesus monkey’s enthusiasm for visitors. She caught the eye of one of the larger chimpanzees. Sad and resigned to fate.

The gorilla was a large male weighing in at more than four-hundred pounds. To her horror, Natalia could see that one of its hands was chained to the wall. Dried blood and torn flaps of skin had formed around the cuff on the chain, and the hair had been worn away. The beast shared eye contact with her, but the look was far more emotive than that of the chimpanzees. It wasn’t fear, nor anger. It was pure rage. Before Natalia could cover the distance of the width of the cage, the gorilla lunged at her and smashed its left fist into the mesh, stretching it and straining the bars. Its right wrist was shackled, but she could see the chain straining against the steel loop in the wall. The wound around its wrist tore open and bled as it tried to get to her, the look in its eyes one of shear hate. Baring its teeth, it let out a deep, resonating grunt. Its fingers had now gripped the mesh and it was using the chain to pull backwards, heaving at the barrier between them. Natalia ran, covering the distance between the two enclosures in seconds, despite the bulky over-boots and thick rubber suit. As she reached the enclosure with the two separate cages, her former work colleagues within, she noticed that the gorilla had forgotten about her and had returned to its bench, sitting contemplatively back down. Pure rage to sedentary in just a few seconds, with no apparent memory of what had incited it so.

Natalia hesitated outside the enclosure. Both the man and the woman were naked. Now that she was closer, she could see welts on their back and buttocks. Both rested on their sides, their backs to her. She approached the cage. The noise of the angry gorilla had not disturbed them, but she could not believe that had been the case. The noise would have woken an entire neighbourhood. She coughed, but neither stirred. She looked at the lock on the gate. A series of bolts recessed into the metal, so that only someone from outside, and standing at an angle to the enclosure could work them. She eased the three bolts backwards.

She turned around, checked for a clock, but there was nothing but a blank wall with the row of CCTV cameras spaced opposite each enclosure. Her finger and thumb still clenched on the last remaining bolt, she looked back to the cage, recoiled when she stared straight into the woman’s face. She went to step backwards, but the woman had squeezed a bloodied hand through the mesh and had taken hold of the rubber suit.

Natalia screamed and tried to batter the woman’s hand away with her gloved hands. She looked into the woman’s eyes, but they were lifeless and yellow. Her face was blistered with tiny burns that looked like weeping pimples. She was perspiring and as Natalia looked down at the woman’s vice-like fist, gripping at her clothing, she could see that the woman had lost bladder and bowel control long before Natalia had entered.

The woman’s head lolled and swayed, and Natalia realised that she was in fact blind, merely turning her head as she sensed her presence, felt her clothing and listened for her erratic breathing.

“Let go of me!” Natalia wailed. The woman’s head cocked to one side and she pulled hard at the handful of rubber suit. “Please! I’ll help you!”

The man had got up off the bench. His eyes were not as yellow as the woman’s. They were raw and red and wet. He too had lost control of his bodily functions, and he was covered in the same tiny boils. His teeth were broken, and his gums were bleeding. He stepped closer then lunged at the mesh, biting and chewing on the wire, teeth breaking and splintering to the floor. He had squeezed his fingers through the mesh, but the little finger did not fit, and he was breaking it slowly as he clawed at her. The web of the join of skin was cutting on the wire, and as he lunged, the little finger almost severed through. He did not seem to feel the pain, nor register what he had done. His only intent was to get to her.

Natalia punched and struck the woman’s hand and fell backwards when she released her grip. She looked up at the two people, now no more than beasts, clawing and biting on the mesh. The cage door was opening outwards and she kicked