"You can leave, too."
Karl gave a breathy laugh, moving towards the kitchen area and opening the fridge. I didn't move from Choro's locked door as I watched him haul out the bucket still full of food, putting it on top of the metal prep table and glancing over at me.
"Holding out on them?"
"You can leave," I repeated with force, reaching back towards the door lever. I knew that Choro wasn't going to be in the mindset to attack anymore, but I was hoping that Karl wouldn't come to that conclusion.
"Do that, and you're going to be in the news as a terrible keeper," A confident smile crossed his lips, "Plus, wasn't there a small clause that you agreed to with Calmine?"
"Better open a more venomous naga's cage, then," I didn't break eye contact with him as I moved towards Oso's door.
It was a move he was apparently waiting for.
Karl grabbed a fistful of cut meat and threw it at me, my arms instinctively covering my head from the bacterial projectiles and turning away from him. Hearing his footfalls coming closer, I booked it towards Oso's door.
I managed to get a finger on it before Karl grabbed me from behind and pulled me away from the door, the lever pulling down a little. Fully turning my attention to Karl, I threw my right elbow into his face and felt something shift from the hit. With a groan, he pushed me to the ground and immediately used his body weight to keep me from getting up. A hand flew up to his nose before his eyes locked onto mine, full of fury.
"Fucking bitch...!"
I pushed off his hands as he tried to grab at my clothing, fear replacing the fading anger in my system as Karl weaved one hand through my hair and twisted the other around the loosened collar of my shirt.
"Let go of me!" I screamed, the shirt tightening around my neck as I realized he was starting to drag me towards one of the repurposed rooms. It was a small storage closet that had been completely emptied out, a free room for me to 'decorate' however I wished.
"You owe me...so much..." Karl's voice was strained, "The least you could do is just fucking take the hint."
"I don't owe you anything!" I hooked a foot around one of the legs of the prep table as I was dragged past it, the bolted down table keeping me from moving with him, "You're nothing but an asshole that thinks he can throw around his weight because I'm kept here as leverage!"
"You're only here because those monsters listen to you!" He yelled back, twisting the hand in my hair more to try and get me to let go of the table, "Calmine should've left you back on that island, alone and without help."
"They're not the monsters here," A cry tore from my throat, feeling a button snap off from the stressed fabric of my shirt, "You are!"
I stilled for a moment, hearing someone else's voice join my own in the accusation before seeing a wall of yellow and white scales roll across my field of vision, a slight tug on my hair before I was fully released. Rolling onto my stomach, I looked up to see Karl fully wrapped up by Jyushi, the reticulated naga completely coiling around the man as they both fell to the floor.
A crunch echoed through the room before Karl screamed out in pain, his lungs quickly emptying out due to the large constrictor slowly killing him.
"Jyushi, stop! Don't do it!" I jumped up and pushed at the closest section of Jyushi's tail, hoping to distract him enough. I had saved one naga from death so far, and I didn't want to do it again so soon, "Stop!"
"(Y/n), he was hurting you!" The naga partially turned to face me, a confused look on his face, "I'm not gonna let him keep doing it."
"I don't think he's going to do it anymore," Another voice joined in, "Sounds like you broke some ribs. Humans are much more fragile than I thought..."
I turned towards the new speaker as I felt Jyushi's coils relax under my hands, letting Karl land on the ground with a moan and a whimper. The red-headed naga slithered up close to him, tugging Karl's head upwards to face him with a hand curled under the man's jaw. Jyushi gave Oso some room, loosely coiling around me and slowly pulling me away from the downed Karl. I could only watch the interaction as Jyushi wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
"You still awake?" Oso leaned down towards Karl, the man moaning in pain as his eyes were torn between fear and pain.
Karl slowly nodded.
"Oh, good," Oso released the man's jaw, "You see, we're not as simple-minded as you think we are. If someone hurts something we like, then we get sad. If someone hurts someone we respect, we get mad. And Jyushi really likes (y/n)..."
I felt Jyushi's arms tense up at the mention of his name.
"You're the one that made her upset a few days ago, aren't you?" The reticulated naga's voice rumbled against my back. Karl looked over in fear at Jyushi, not paying me any mind.
"Seems so," Oso glanced back towards Jyushi and I before giving Karl his full attention again, "Now listen...I'm a nice naga, so I'll give you an offer. You can have your life as long as you leave hers alone. I'll even convince my brothers to keep playing this little prisoner game of yours, and we won't try to escape...as long as (y/n) remains as our 'keeper'."
"F-fine..." Karl stuttered, wrapping an arm around his chest as he backed away from Oso, "F-fine...!"
"Then it's a deal," Oso straightened out and moved away from Karl, sweeping an arm towards the elevator doors and freight entrance doors, letting the man pick his exit.
Karl slowly stood up with help from the wall near him and staggered over towards the elevator, using his keycard to call the elevator down. Jyushi, Oso, and I didn't move until the doors closed behind him.
"(Y/n), I was so worried when I heard the yelling...!" Jyushi rubbed his head against mine, slightly tightening his coils around my legs and waist while his arms lowered to my chest, pulling me close against him.
"What are you guys doing out here...?" I rubbed a hand against one of Jyushi's arms while looking over at Oso, "I thought I couldn't get to the door in time."
"When I heard the shouting start, I just simply pushed against the door you kept using," Oso's neutral look fell away with a smirk as he turned from the elevator to me, "I didn't think he'd survive one of my bites, so I got the next best thing."
I looked over as much as I could to see Oso's and Jyushi's enclosure doors wide open, "Do you think he'll actually honor his part of the deal?"
"Who, the human? That's up to him."
"And if he doesn't, then you can always ask us for help," Jyushi laughed.
"Just...promise me something, okay?" I looked at both nagas. They returned the look and waited, "Don't kill anyone."
"Only if they don't hurt you," Jyushi responded immediately with a smile while Oso rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oso...?"
"Fine, I won't kill anyone."
"All right...now I need you two to go back into your rooms. If someone finds you wandering freely down here, I could get into trouble," I looked up at Jyushi, "Jyushi, you can take that other food bucket on the table. Choro wasn't in the mood to eat today."
"Okay!" Jyushi released me and grabbed the bucket before moving towards his enclosure, "(Y/n), don't be shy about asking for help, okay?"
"I won't be, and I'll come back for your amazing hugs in a few hours," I escorted him to the enclosure door, closing it behind him when he was completely inside. Taking in a deep breath and turning to face Oso, the smile dropped from my face.
"So, now you know my predicament here."
"Known for a while," Oso dropped his own smirk, slithering over towards his enclosure, "The humans outside talk about you, saying that you're the naga whisperer. I find the bullshit they spew hilarious, but the reality of the situation isn't as funny."
I opened my mouth to explain, but he raised a hand towards me.
"Don't. I'm sure this 'Calmine' guy is holding us over your head, just like he's holding you over ours. Leverage, like you said," He opened his door wider, "Take your time."
Without a glance backwards, Oso glided into his enclosure and closed the door behind him.
I lowered my head as I slowly walked over and locked Oso's door, leaning against it and sliding down to the ground.
----
To my surprise, the week went by without incident.
I was able to speak with the other nagas as if nothing had happened, but still found it awkward to look Oso in the eye. He seemed to understand that I needed time before I was able to talk with him like I had before, only held back by my own mind.
If I wanted to get the nagas out of here, then I needed someone on the outside who could move about more freely than I was able to. The problem with that was I had no one to trust. My phone wasn't among my possessions, and there wasn't any kind of computer that I had access to.
I explored as far as I was allowed to go, pushing through the large double doors that I was escorted through and wandering the area up until the security booth. There was a keycard pad on the doors next to the booth, cutting off my range as the security officer watched me through the booth glass. With no way to interact with the officer, I turned back around and moved to the room that held my bed.
Sketching the layout I had access to in the field journal, my lips curled into a frown as every plan that I could think of completely relied on me getting some kind of internet connection.
Taking my time on cleaning out each of the naga's enclosures, I spotted each security camera and mapped them out in the journal sketch. As far as I knew, the only place that didn't have cameras was the back area that I was living in.
Choro had fully shed out and kept his distance from me until I was able to convince him that I wasn't holding what he did against him, his apologies slowly vanishing from our conversations. I had found out that he was able to move some of the bottom rocks from the water feature, helping him out with the rest without worry of how soaked I'd get. I wanted him to feel comfortable, my own comfort be damned.
Todo had also shed out completely, returning to his prissy attitude as I gathered up his shed and dumped it into the garbage. Nothing I ever did seemed to be good enough for him, despite following his exact directions for cleaning out his enclosure. I tolerated Todo's verbal barbs a lot better than Karl's.
"Your arm..." Ichi called out in the silence as I cleaned out his enclosure, "...is it okay?"
I stopped raking the substrate and looked over to where he was lounging on a 'fallen tree', completely shocked that he spoke to me.
"Yeah, it's doing better," I quickly recovered, giving him a reassuring smile before turning back to my task. He hummed a little in response, silence falling once more in the enclosure before I heard him take a breath.
"I...heard what happened."
Of course he did...I think all of them did.
"I see," I looked over my shoulder towards him, not pausing in my chore, "You don't need to worry about what happened."
"I'm...glad you were able to rely on Jyushi," I caught a rare smile from Ichi, seeing it for a brief second before his regular disinterested expression replaced the rarity.
"I am, too," Scooping up the pile of substrate into the garbage can, I gave Ichi a relieved look, "I hope that I'll be able to rely on you, too, sometime."
He turned his head to the side with a huff, readjusting himself to lounge on his coils facing away from me.
"Don't make too much of a mess, all right?" I tried to laugh as I hauled the garbage and rake towards the open door of Ichi's enclosure, closing it behind me. As I tossed the bag into a larger garbage bin and wheeled it to the large doors by the security office, I heard the elevator ding down the hall, drawing my attention back to the back area of the enclosures.
"Delivery for...hello?" I heard a voice call out as I headed back towards the area.
"Yeah, I'm right here," Responding as I got closer to the elevator, I saw one of the zoo employees holding a box roughly the size of a medium computer tower.
"Ah, this is the last delivery for today. Mr. Calmine couldn't be reached for signing, so we just sent it straight down to you," The employee smiled as she handed it over, "By the way, I heard what had happened earlier this week in regards to the teen. I am so relieved that you're okay."
"Oh," I glanced down to the package in confusion before recovering, "Yeah, I'm fine. I had warned them that stuff like that may happen, but I guess I was the one not ready for it."
"Are they...you know...real?"
I recognized the spark in her eyes. It was similar to when I first started learning about the nagas.
"The nagas? Yeah, they're all real. I don't know what the placards in front of their enclosures say, but I can guarantee that they're genuine," I gave a wide smile, moving over to the prep table and setting down the package, "The zoo's not getting flak over people claiming them to be hoaxes, is it?"
"Not as much as I thought we'd get," The employee walked in a little further, looking around the back area, "Oh, I'm so rude...My name is Sasha. I work with the exotics upstairs, specifically the venomous section."
"A fellow herpetologist, then. Nice to meet you, Sasha. My name is (y/n), and I'm the naga keeper," I reached out a hand for her to shake, Sasha taking it enthusiastically.
Sasha was a shorter woman, only a few inches shorter than me. Her dyed blonde hair held some semblance of pale pink color, as if she was letting it fade over time, and her brown eyes were full of curiosity.
"Would...it be okay if I came by on my days off? I promise I won't get in the way. I just really want to see them up close."
"Only if my boss allows it and, if he says 'yes', only if they are okay with you," I pointed a thumb towards the enclosures, "They're just as smart as we are, with the same thought processes. It would be rude to invite a guest without the host knowing."
"Oh, of course!" She chided a little, her tone letting me know that she didn't take what I said completely seriously. I refrained from frowning, knowing that this would probably be the only time I'd see her.
"I shouldn't keep you too long. I can walk you to the security station, and they'll let you out," I motioned towards the large freight doors. Sasha turned towards the elevator, noticing the keypad.
"Ah, right. It was nice to meet you, (y/n), and I'll see if I'm able to come hang out."
The officer buzzed her through after she showed her ID card, and Sasha gave me a final wave before the door closed behind her. Walking as calmly as I could down the hallway, I sprinted to the package when I was out of sight from the security booth.
Cutting open the tape sealing up the box, I opened the flaps to see a single folded sheet of paper sitting on top of shredded crinkle paper. Hesitantly, I took the folded paper and opened it up.
'Hope this gives you the lift you need.'
It was signed by Jeff...the helicopter pilot.