Creak, creak.
The swaying canvas recliner gradually came to a halt.
The fading sunlight cast long, lonely shadows from the newly planted saplings.
“A hurricane,” Old Larry muttered.
His eyes were a bit vacant.
There was a strange beauty in his thousand-yard stare, as if his soul had briefly left his body to ponder the approaching weather.
Titan had naturally been listening to the emergency radio broadcast as well.
However, he honestly didn’t think much of it.
A hurricane?
What does a massive rainstorm have to do with an armored, semi-aquatic Deinosuchus?
He could easily hold his breath for hours.
He could just sleep at the bottom of the lake tonight and wait the storm out.
Wait a minute!
Titan snapped his jaws shut.
He immediately looked up at the eagle-owl, who was sleeping soundly in the branches of the sapling.
What was he supposed to do about his avian partner?
Sure, she was a wild animal and could probably find a way to avoid the torrential rain.
But what if she couldn’t?
This specific owl absolutely despised getting wet.
“Tsk, I am spacing out again,” Old Larry grumbled.
He sat up straight in the recliner, making a firm decision in an instant.
He was going to move all the zoo animals into the sturdy, reinforced clinic building to wait out the storm.
There weren’t many residents yet, so squeezing everyone inside wouldn’t be a problem.
“I am going to get things ready inside.
You can stay out here and keep sunbathing for a bit,” Old Larry instructed.
“Just don’t go hiding at the bottom of the lake when I come back to get you.”
By the time Titan snapped out of his own thoughts, Old Larry was already jogging down the corridor.
This actually made things incredibly convenient.
Splash.
Titan darted across the water to the base of the island sapling.
He gently nudged the thin trunk with his heavy snout.
“Hoot?!”
Titan’s nudge was a bit too forceful.
He nearly shook the sleeping bird right out of the tree.
The eagle-owl was already furious about having her sleep disturbed multiple times today.
Her massive, glowing eyes locked onto the offending crocodile below.
She fluttered down, landing heavily on his back, and delivered a sharp, reprimanding peck directly to the top of his head.
“Rumble.”
Titan completely failed to realize she was expressing her deep dissatisfaction.
He just let out a soft, slightly impatient growl.
“Hoot?”
The communication barrier between wildly different species was definitely a hassle.
Fortunately, they had already built a strange, unspoken understanding.
The eagle-owl quickly realized Titan’s mood was unusually urgent.
She ignored the stash of meat he had hidden for her, turning her head ninety degrees to stare directly at him.
Well, it looks like I really do have to drag you inside.
Titan’s plan was simple.
He wanted to take the owl into the clinic to wait out the storm with Old Larry.
But wild owls weren’t exactly known for their indoor domesticity.
How was he supposed to convince her? Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“Hoot.”
The eagle-owl seemed to sense Titan’s anxiety.
She lightly hopped forward across his scaly back.
She leaned her fluffy head down, gently rubbing it against the massive, terrifying jaws that could easily bite her clean in half.
The soft feathers brushed against his cold, hard scales.
Surprisingly, it felt incredibly comforting.
Titan immediately calmed down, though a very strange thought popped into his head.
Wait, why are you acting so affectionate all of a sudden?
He quickly shoved the weird feeling aside.
The hurricane was approaching.
He was absolutely going to bring his avian partner into the clinic for shelter.
Titan seemed to have forgotten one crucial detail.
The eagle-owl might not trust humans, but she implicitly trusted him.
Her massive, round eyes locked onto his cold, vertical reptilian slits.
There was not a single trace of predatory sharpness in her gaze.
“Number Three?
I left the main gate open for you.
Just follow me inside.
I need to get Number Four settled first.”
Old Larry grunted, straining his aching back as he carried the wiggling, tantrum-throwing bear cub toward the clinic.
“Damn it, kid.
How did you gain so much weight so fast?”
It was an exhausted complaint, but it was filled with helpless affection.
Titan poked his massive head out from the iron gate.
The eagle-owl, perched comfortably on his back, peeked out right behind him.
Ever since she had first used him as a heated rock, she had tacitly accepted his back as her designated riding spot whenever he took the lead.
Old Larry trusted Titan an incredible amount.
After settling the bear cub, he immediately hurried over to Cat Number Two’s enclosure.
He didn’t even glance back at the corridor to check on the crocodile.
Tap, tap.
Titan’s wet claws left shallow, damp footprints on the concrete floor.
He looked up at the sky, but he couldn’t spot anything unusual yet.
Were torrential rains terrifying?
Absolutely.
Any life could easily be swept away by the brutal, unconscious wrath of nature.
But was a rainstorm truly something to fear?
Not exactly.
Life is born from water and reborn through it.
To the wild animals of the world, even a violent thunderstorm was just another ordinary night of survival.
Chirp, chirp.
The frantic chirping of fledglings broke the silence.
High up in the massive oak tree in the central courtyard, a mother crow gently landed next to her nest, answering her babies’ calls.
Titan and the eagle-owl looked away simultaneously, continuing their march toward the clinic.
Up ahead, they saw Old Larry struggling to carry a massive water tank from the ticket office.
If natural disasters were just a routine part of life, why should anyone bother fighting against them?
Because love and compassion make life meaningful.
It is what inspires a crazy old man to raise a defiant shield against the cold cruelty of nature.
“Number Three.
He was leaning heavily against the clinic doorframe.
He was trying to catch his breath, preparing to rush back out and physically drag Titan inside.
“You.
Uh.
You.”
Old Larry’s outstretched arms froze mid-air.
He stared blankly at the massive, wild bird perched proudly on Titan’s back.
He was utterly stunned.
Was he hallucinating?
“Just.
Go inside.”
Old Larry felt like eighty different conflicting emotions flashed through his brain in a single second.
Ultimately, he chose total, exhausted acceptance.
Sure, it was perfectly reasonable for the Assistant Zoo Director to invite his own wild friends inside for a sleepover.
Old Larry was becoming incredibly adept at self-hypnosis.
He stood politely at the door like a hotel bellhop, watching a crocodile and an apex avian predator stroll casually into his clinic.
Thud, clatter.
Judging by the chaotic noise, Cat Number Two and Bear Number Four were already locked safely in Old Larry’s back bedroom, wrestling playfully.
Meanwhile, Boss Croc’s massive water tank had been placed directly onto the surgical table where Titan had received his embarrassing vomit-inducing treatment just days ago.
This was the very first time Titan had gotten a clear, up-close look at Boss Croc.
The alligator snapping turtle was genuinely enormous.
“Rumble.”
Adhering to the loose biological principle that snapping turtles were basically extended reptilian family, Titan offered a polite, rumbling greeting.
He then carried the eagle-owl deeper into the clinic to find a good spot to sleep.
Click.
Old Larry had just finished securing the exterior storm shutters.
He returned inside, locking the heavy front door tight.
He immediately noticed that the massive eagle-owl was no longer perched on Titan’s back.
Instead, a high medical cabinet door was left half-open.
A single, glowing green eye peeked out from the dark, cozy shelf.
He looked down at Titan.
The baby crocodile stared back with an incredibly innocent expression that practically screamed that he had no idea what the old man was looking for.
Old Larry was utterly speechless.
He wasn’t about to let the reptile play dumb again.
He marched straight over and bent down to pick Titan up.
He assumed a single arm would still be enough to scoop the baby reptile up.
The moment he tried to lift him, he froze.
The weight was entirely off.
He had to use both hands to haul the heavy crocodile off the floor.
He plopped Titan down onto a spare desk.
Old Larry kept shooting suspicious glances at the dark cabinet behind him.
He frowned, leaning in to ask a very serious, earnest question.
“Care to explain to me how you, a flightless, semi-aquatic reptile, managed to successfully seduce a nocturnal apex predator of the sky?”
“Rumble.”
It was actually quite simple.
First, you ambush a weasel.
Then, you save her from drowning.
And finally, you give her a feather back.
Boom.
Best friends.