Project Far Reach

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The long day was finally coming to an end for Tabot Ingalis. His best friend, Edward Johnson, had been fired from OMA, and now he wasn't even answering his cell phone. Tabot had finished the closing paper work for the reptile exhibit and now it was time to check in on the progress they were making on his new pass-time: the underground caverns exhibit.

The whole park was deserted, save for the occasional security guard. Being alone suited Tabot just fine. He had learned to cope with loneliness a long time ago after his wife had divorced him and left him with little more than the kitchen sink. This was peaceful.

Tabot always admired the park after hours. The huge metal halide flood lamps illuminated the park to perfection and seemed to highlight it's grand design. He'd tried to talk the coordinator into keeping the park open all night on holidays, but like many good suggestions at OMA, it was rejected.

He made his way over to the courtyard and went down the man hole. When he descended the ladder, he was impressed at the progress the workers had made on the office of directions. A couple of coats of paint and some furniture seemed to be all it was lacking. The computers he had ordered had arrived and were sitting in a corner, still in their boxes.

As he made his way through the first exhibit all seemed well. The imported mushroom forest was still very healthy. He had received a lot of criticism over whether such an exotic ecosystem could be transported to such a remote place as Florida and survive. Let alone flourish once it got there.

When he got to the door of the second break room, Tabot checked his watch. He loved being on time. Everything, it seemed, was going perfectly to schedule; the way he liked it. He opened the door to the loving aroma of fresh coffee. The coffee pot had been set on a timer so he didn't have to wait for it to brew.

After fixing himself a large cup, he made his way into the second exhibit. He was anxious to see how his blind alligator was doing. The move from his home had been stressful-- especially since he was blind. The usual way of throwing a towel over the eyes did little to calm the unhappy crocodilian. These rare and exotic alligators had exceptionally sensitive hearing, the most acute of any reptile on the planet. The noisy plane and truck ride had sent the gator into many uncontrollable fits. It was about as far away from the still silence that his home caves usually provided. Once in the exhibit, the alligator had started getting better, though it had still taken almost a week for his heart rate and breathing to return to normal.

Tabot walked at a calm pace, which was anything from what he was feeling inside. He was really going to miss Eddy. Hopefully, he would get in contact with him sooner or later. Maybe, he thought, they could go fishing together or something.

As he walked up the ramp leading into the hydroponics chamber, something off-beat caught his eye. It was a drop of blood, dried up and long since coagulated. Tabot scratched his head. He hadn't seen this the day before. He wondered if some of the bats had been fighting, although the idea was far fetch. According to the research he had done on them they were completely non-aggressive, even during mating season.

He looked around to see if he could find the source. Surely, he thought, if one of the workers had bleed like this they would have at least cleaned it up. Before long he spotted another drop, then another, and there were more of them. The drops of blood formed a trail that lead back to the stair well and continued down to the observatory.

It seemed that the blood spots were getting bigger the further he descended, until he caught glimpse of a sight that shocked him beyond belief. The bottom of the observatory was filled with water, and the giant blind alligator was floating silently mere inches off the floor. It seemed to be looking right at him, sitting patiently in the all to familiar ambush position.