The setting sun captured the evening glow, painting the horizon in a fiery, hazy red.
The clouds looked as if they had been scorched by flames, scattered in jagged, irregular shapes across the sky.
Click.
The heavy parking brake was pulled up.
This time, Old Frank had actually driven Old Larry back to the zoo in a car.
Wait, Frank owned a car?
Titan hadn’t realized the eccentric old man had money.
“Number Three?”
Old Larry walked through the front gate of the zoo, raising his voice slightly as he called out for his favorite reptile.
“Stop calling for the third one and hurry up and get your fourth one out of my backseat,” Old Frank grumbled.
Frank opened the rear door of his sedan.
He looked at the injured little black bear cub sitting fearlessly on the upholstery and hesitated, clearly not daring to reach in and grab it himself.
“Alright, alright,” Old Larry sighed.
He turned around and reached into the car, scooping up the fuzzy bear cub.
Bear Number Four was incredibly affectionate.
The absolute second it saw Old Larry approach, it eagerly extended its one good arm, allowing the old man to scoop it into a warm hug.
“Are you really planning on moving into the zoo full-time?” Old Frank asked.
He leaned deep into the backseat and hauled out a heavy, battered suitcase.
“Yeah.
I just feel like…
there is no reason left for me to stay in that big, empty house anymore.”
“Alright.
Take it easy.”
Old Frank was an easygoing guy.
He didn’t ask any prying questions, simply offering a word of caution to his grieving friend.
“What are you going to do when your new granddaughter wants to come visit you?”
She can come check out the zoo!
Old Larry balanced the bear cub in one arm and accepted the heavy suitcase with his free hand.
He turned and slowly began walking down the zoo path.
“I’m heading out.
Take care of yourself, Larry.
And seriously, I highly recommend you buy an actual padlock for the front gate.”
“Yeah, see you later, Frank.”
Old Larry stood silently at the entrance for a long time, watching Frank’s taillights disappear down the road.
He didn’t move until Bear Number Four let out a soft, confused whimper, pulling him back to reality.
“Hey, don’t be afraid.
You have a real home now.”
He gently soothed the little black bear in a language it couldn’t possibly understand.
Surprisingly, the calm, rumbling tone worked perfectly.
Instead of rushing to the clinic to unpack his luggage, Old Larry simply abandoned the heavy suitcase by the ticket booth.
He carried the bear cub directly toward the main corridor.
“Well, look at that.
Even the wild birds have their eyes on this property.”
Old Larry noticed the dark, shadowy figures hopping among the branches of the massive oak tree in the central courtyard.
His avian knowledge was slightly more advanced than Titan’s; he immediately recognized the large birds as ravens, not crows.
Did ravens even live in this region naturally?
Old Larry certainly didn’t mind wild companions moving into the zoo, as long as they weren’t an invasive species.
“Number Three?”
He called out again as he entered the corridor, but received zero response.
“That’s strange.
Why is it so quiet all of a sudden?”
Old Larry pushed open the unlocked iron gate and peered into Titan’s enclosure. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
The baby crocodile was lying completely motionless on the lawn, docilely basking in the final rays of the setting sun.
“Wait…
huh?
What is that?”
Just as Old Larry was about to greet him, he noticed the red plastic bucket sitting upright on the grass.
A massive, jagged chunk was missing from the side.
“Wait a second…”
Titan was usually an absolute perfectionist.
He had deliberately rotated the bucket so the giant bite mark was facing him, presenting the completely intact side to the hallway.
He wanted to make absolutely sure Old Larry wouldn’t notice the damage at first glance.
Unfortunately, the baby crocodile completely forgot to account for the massive height difference between his low vantage point and a standing human.
Ahem.
Larry, you have to believe me.
The bucket was totally broken when I got here.
Titan kept his jaws slightly parted, letting out a low, defensive growl.
“You…
you little…
well, you are improving.
At least you didn’t swallow the plastic this time.”
Old Larry was utterly speechless.
However, when he peered into the bucket and realized Titan had actually spat the shattered plastic shards back inside instead of digesting them, he couldn’t help but offer a begrudging word of praise.
“Squeak?”
The little black bear’s whimpering broke the strange, tense atmosphere between man and crocodile.
“Don’t worry, buddy.
Don’t worry,” Old Larry cooed.
Acting like he was soothing a newborn baby, Old Larry didn’t bother closing the iron gate to Titan’s exhibit.
He walked directly toward the next empty enclosure down the hall.
Seeing the opportunity, Titan curiously waddled out into the corridor, closely following behind.
After all, he was officially the Assistant Zoo Director now.
He had total, unrestricted clearance to roam the facility.
Tap, tap.
His scaly claws clicked softly against the stone floor, kicking up tiny puffs of dust.
Surprisingly, Old Larry didn’t place the new resident directly next to or opposite Titan.
Instead, he chose an enclosure in the far corner of the corridor, diagonally across from the crocodile exhibit.
“Squeak.”
The little black bear was gently set down onto the fresh lawn.
A clean water bowl and a cozy cat bed had been prepared in advance, though the setup still felt rather basic.
Bear Number Four limped heavily on its three legs.
It stumbled awkwardly across the grass and practically collapsed into the cat bed.
Hmm.
The cat bed is black, which perfectly matches the bear’s fur.
Is Old Larry doing this color-coordination thing on purpose?
“I was planning to do some proper renovations for your exhibit today, but something unexpected came up.
I will build you a much nicer little home tomorrow.”
Old Larry seemed to be talking more to himself than the bear, or perhaps he was explaining the situation to Titan.
“We will just have to make do for tonight.
Come on, Number Three, let’s go check on…”
Old Larry turned around and froze.
He found himself staring at a crocodile with a bright red plastic bucket firmly stuck over its head.
The jagged bite mark was actually positioned perfectly.
Titan could easily see straight ahead through the gaping hole in the plastic.
Old Larry shook his head in pure exasperation.
The one-armed little bear curiously approached the red bucket.
It clumsily tried to lift the plastic rim, but without a second paw to balance it, the cub ultimately failed, settling for just patting the side happily.
Titan, however, seemed entirely satisfied with his gift-giving.
He turned and waddled out of the enclosure with his head held high.
“You really are something else.”
Old Larry was completely speechless.
However, he was deeply relieved that Titan hadn’t accidentally dropped any of the sharp, blade-like plastic shards into the cub’s play area.
Old Larry stepped out of the enclosure, leaving the one-armed cub feeling momentarily uneasy in its new surroundings.
Thankfully, Old Larry had placed a familiar stuffed toy inside the cat bed so the bear wouldn’t feel completely alone.
Click.
Old Larry locked the heavy gate to the black bear enclosure and hung a freshly painted wooden sign on the wall.
[ Resilience ]
“Alright, next up is Cat Number Two.”
Old Larry took long strides, effortlessly catching up to the leisurely waddling Titan in just a few steps.
This was the very first time the old man had closely observed how the baby reptile actually walked.
Despite being a genetically distinct Deinosuchus, Titan’s current body-to-leg ratio wasn’t drastically different from a modern Saltwater Crocodile.
His legs were short and positioned on the sides of his body, meaning walking on land required a massive expenditure of energy.
Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t sprint at terrifying speeds when necessary.
Cat Number Two’s enclosure was undoubtedly the crown jewel of the entire zoo.
However, looking at it now, it also seemed incredibly dangerous.
Titan vividly recalled the two burglars from the previous night.
If the Golden Tiger cub hadn’t been perfectly camouflaged inside its orange cat bed, the thieves absolutely would have stolen it.
Golden Tigers were incredibly rare mutations.
Even as a blind, helpless cub, Cat Number Two would fetch an astronomical price on the black market.
Anyone could easily hop the fence and kidnap him.
Clang.
While Titan was lost in thought, Old Larry pushed open the heavy gate.
Cat Number Two’s exhibit was located right in the dead center of the zoo’s layout.
Unlike Titan’s standard enclosure, this habitat featured thick, transparent viewing glass on three of its walls.
“Dinner time!”
Cat Number Two was infinitely more proactive than the terrified bear cub.
Hearing the familiar voice, the blind tiger bounded excitedly toward the gate the second it opened.
However, it was still incredibly small.
When Old Larry scooped it up, the cub was barely the size of a large house cat.
Old Larry pressed a warm baby bottle directly to Cat Number Two’s mouth.
Surprisingly, the cub refused to drink.
Instead, it aggressively turned its head away, sniffing the air, and let out a sharp hiss directly at Titan.
“Hiss!”
Despite being completely blind, Cat Number Two had an incredibly keen, territorial sense of smell.
“Hiss!”
Titan immediately responded with an aggressive hiss of his own.
The two apex predators were instantly locked in a tense, invisible stalemate.
Old Larry watched the bizarre standoff.
He pondered the situation for exactly one second.
Then, he aimed the tip of the baby bottle directly at Titan’s gaping jaws from three feet away and gave it a massive squeeze.
Squirt.
Warm, sweet milk splashed directly into Titan’s mouth.
Titan was incredibly puzzled.
Titan instinctively licked his chops, tasting the strange liquid.
Titan deeply analyzed the situation.
Titan fully realized the absolute humiliation of what had just happened.
Titan immediately threw a violent, death-defying crocodilian tantrum!