The Zoo

Chapter 1-Whippersnappers

Captured Whippersnappers

Hello, my name is James Otter and I’m a little over twenty years old, I believe. You see that I haven’t seen my human family in so long and yes, I said Human Family. It’s been about twelve years since I was turned into this creature, but I haven’t been this animal all my life. I was once a human like you and that is hard enough to explain; so I will just start from the beginning.

This all began when I was eight years old and my third grade class was having their annual field trip to the local zoo. Seeing the animals used to be a favorite field trip for me and I often had begged my parents to bring me to the zoo; but since that wretched trip, the zoo has become my prison.

The trip started the same way it did during second grade with our teacher lecturing us on how to behave and to stick with our buddy. Luckily my buddy was my best friend Tom Ricky and we both were enjoying the trip. After visiting the reptile exhibition and the bird coop, we had taken a quick stroll through the monkey jungle, where everyone laughed at the silly chimps. I glanced at Tom, who was making faces at the apes. “Hey look, there is your cousin!” I joked as I pointed to the gorilla scratching its butt.

“Yea, right,” Tom laughed as he pushed me with a huge grin on his face. It wasn’t long after we had moved onto the big cat cages that Tom spoke up about the lion tapping the window. “James, did you lock up your brother again?”

“Very funny,” I groaned outwardly, but inside I took it as a compliment. Lions are fierce creatures with immerse strength and also known as the King of the Jungle though they live on the savannahs of Africa.

As it neared lunch time, we reached my favorite exhibition: the Bat Room. My teacher hated bats; so after we got a stern talking to about behaving, she waited outside and everyone else piled in behind me. The room was dim; but with the red lights in the actual tank, we could see the bats clearly. I was pushed all the way to the end and I saw a huge, black door with a sign hanging from a single, silver nail. The sign was made of wooden and in big red letters, it read, ‘New Section-Sloths.’ I tried the door to find it open; so I yelled excitedly to the others before we marched into the new area.

With everyone inside the small, dark room, it was extremely cramped. The door slammed shut behind us and those closest to the door began to pound and shout, while the rest of us noticed the back wall moving closer. We all put our hands above our heads and searched for a button to stop everything; but instead, little chains shot out of the wall and covered our tiny wrists. As we struggled against the chains, they got tight and began to cut into our skin. If that wasn’t enough, I started to feel my eyelids droop and I was falling asleep. I glanced at the floor to see a strange green mist circling our feet. My last thought before sleep conquered me was, ‘Sleeping gas.’

Hours later or at least it seemed, I finally woke up with a pounding headache and an aching back from being chained to a metal chair. I peered around and saw the majority of my classmates were still asleep. I wiggled against the chains until some men in white lab coats entered and shook the others awake, making me glad that I was already awake as my fellow students cried in pain. I bit my lip as their yells continued, but eventually the lab coat men gathered in front of the room.

“Well, well. It seems that we got ourselves some young whippersnappers in our hands, don’t you agree Bob?” asked one of the men as he paced in front of a few frightened kids, occasionally stopping to examine one of the students.

“Yes, I believe so; but the younger the better as the boss always says,” replied Bob as he grinned evilly, grabbing one of the girls by the chin and pinched her skin.

“Let me go!” screamed Tom from somewhere behind and to the left of me.

“Sorry son, but I just can’t do that,” laughed another man with a gruff voice as he strolled up to Tom and slapped him across the face.

The fourth man was about a head taller than the rest and he carried a Indian Jones whip. With an evil grin plastered on his face, he weaved through the chairs to mine, lashing out his whip at any kids who cried. “Hey little brat. What’s your name?” he asked before spitting, leaving a nasty puddle of saliva beside my chair.

“J…J…James…” I stuttered as my gaze became glued to his whip as he flickered it back and forth.

“Well James…How old are you? Five?” he spat, making me flinch a little from his stern gaze.

“E…eight…sir…I’m in the third grade…sir…” I gulped as my gaze stayed on his straight face. With my answer, he spun on his heel and joined the other men in the front.

The whip man and the other cruel men stood around talking forever before Bob finally turned to us, speaking in such a commanding tone that everyone was silence, “Listen well and listen hard, or you will feel Jack’s lovely whip.” He glanced around to see if any of us would dare speak, but we stayed quiet from fear. “You are now part of a top secret experiment, where you shall BECOME an animal,” he peered around again, “and no, you don’t get to choose.” The other lab coat men laughed, but it only scared us kids worst. “You will live with the animals and it will probably live with them the rest of your life. After about fifteen years, a FEW of YOU will be chosen to become human again. You will give a full report of your wonderful life and if we LIKE your story, we will allow you to return to the human world; BUT, if we don’t, then you shall live as a very depressed human in a cage,” he finished with a stomp of his huge foot. They looked us over once more, but we stayed completely silent; so they left in a rush and we all sat there, afraid to speak.

 Author's note-

Hope you are enjoying this so far...and i know its quite a bit in the beginning...but it wouldn't be as good if i cut part of this out...

So i have a simple question...If you were kidnapped and told that you were going to be transformed, how would you respond? Please leave your answer in the comments.

Also don't forget to vote!!!