Queen Of The Beasts

20| We Found Our Whistleblower

Mr Pow was suspicious. Very. He had that, "I know it was you face," On all day. The story was covered by morning shows. There were no finger prints left behind. The CCTV were all broken—filled with viruses, I silently thanked Donny. The guard who had been hit looked fine. They said they couldn't get a good look at our faces since we were in masks but they knew we were teens. The only evidence that was left was Emi's truck tracks. No witnesses, except for the animals. All in all a bunch of dumb kids stormed and hacked the zoo for fun, was the story.

"You dumb babies, have been up to something, " Mr Pow said, as he marched up and down in front of us.

"What makes you say that? " Connor asked.

"Oh nothing, just my—boots! "

I flinched and fell off the bench.

I feigned innocence when I pulled myself back on the bench. "Your boots, what? No, how? "

"Winters, have you used my gift? " Mr Pow's round blue eyes watched me carefully.

"Oh, uh, it's on my shelf at home. "

"Kearny! " He turned to Matt. "Where were you last night? "

"Umm, at home. Doing some late night gardening, what would a young boy like myself be doing at night? "

Emi snorted and mumbled something about 'young boy'.

Mr Pow eyed her. "Johnson, tell me how's your truck? "

"My truck is fine, why? It's old so it has a few kinks, otherwise it runs like horse. "

I coughed and Emi glared.

"McDouglas?"

Flora looked up, stunned. "Yes sir? "

"You've all obviously been up to something, " Mr Pow sighed. "Your alibis are terrible, I'd know it was you right away. "

We winced and looked at each other uneasily.

The weird thing was, Mr Pow didn't ask further. He helped us make alibis without even asking why. Maybe they'd find us maybe they wouldn't but we had to be safe.

After school we went to Emi's place. We piled into her room and waited impatiently as Connor navigated through the drive for anything suspicious. And to say there was a lot, was an understatement. There were drugs that weren't even supposed to be given to animals (we checked the internet and asked a biology professor).

And weird funds, and donations from nameless donors. Plans and experiments that we didn't quite understand and neither did Mr Johnson.

Finally we came across a folder named, project td19. Emi clicked and we gasped. There it was as clear as day, images of mutated animals—everything they're not supposed to be. I couldn't stand to look at them for too long. Their bodies were all over the place. And some didn't even look alive. It's difficult to describe. Just imagine your pet turned into a angry raging monster, but dead.

I slid out the room and went out to the porch. I sat on the porch stairs, rubbing my temples, as I tried to forget what I just saw.

"Ooh this way, yeah so close! "

I scrunched my face and massaged harder.

"Yeah, come on boss! "

I looked up reluctantly. And there they were, two large bloodhounds and a police officer not too far off. Play it cool, play it cool, I chanted in my head.

"Hey boys! " I announced telepathically.

"Yes! " They both answered.

"Can you do me a little favour? "