Click.
With a soft click of a heavy-duty switch, a flashlight burst to life, cutting a dazzling beam through the gloomy night.
The oval-shaped pool of light swept across the cracked concrete pavement, swaying erratically as if trying to physically push back the darkness.
A rusty pedal tricycle sat quietly parked near the deserted entrance of Old Larry’s zoo.
Two young men in matching black short-sleeved shirts dismounted the bike.
They walked straight toward the front gate, making absolutely no effort to conceal their presence.
Neither man was particularly muscular, but they were both significantly taller than Old Larry.
One swept the flashlight back and forth, while the other carried a heavy, rattling metal toolbox.
They climbed the front steps one after the other.
The white beam swept across the ground twice before suddenly jerking upward, illuminating the large wooden notice board hanging above the main gate.
[ Larry’s Zoo ]
The font was supposed to be cute, and the original color scheme was playfully vibrant.
However, years of peeling paint made the sign look far more desolate than inviting.
“Are you serious?
That crazy old man really dropped a thousand bucks to buy a bear cub?”
“Didn’t we see it with our own eyes?
Handed the cash right over to the butcher.”
The young man’s voice sounded cheerful, though his words were muffled by the thick black ski mask pulled tightly over his face.
“Tsk.
A piece of land this big?
It can’t all belong to him, right?
He must be secretly loaded.”
“You think he actually keeps his cash stashed around here?
He clearly doesn’t live on the property.”
“How are we supposed to know if we don’t take a look around?
Hurry up, shine the light on the lock.”
The flashlight beam moved away from the sign and focused directly on the heavy iron gate.
The second young man awkwardly popped the latches on his toolbox.
He dug out a heavy pair of bolt cutters and held them up, fully prepared to snap the padlock.
He stared blankly.
“…It isn’t even locked.”
He had spent a full minute searching for a heavy padlock, only to gently push the iron bars and watch the main gate swing completely open.
The two burglars exchanged a bewildered glance.
They saw mirrored looks of shock and suspicion in each other’s eyes before cautiously stepping through the entrance.
Click.
The second man pulled out his own flashlight.
The dual beams merged, sweeping across the dark, silent zoo grounds.
“The ticket booth doesn’t even have a single coin in the tray.
Is this place really that pathetic?”
“He probably just hides the cashbox at night.
Let’s keep looking.
It isn’t like he deposits the daily earnings at a bank.”
Perhaps it was the oppressive, deathly silence of the zoo that filled their hearts with an underlying sense of dread, but the two thieves resolutely chose not to split up.
They walked shoulder to shoulder, slowly creeping forward.
They thoroughly swept the tiny ticket booth with their flashlights, finding absolutely nothing but a large, empty water cooler jug.
There was clearly nowhere to hide a lockbox.
“There is nothing in there.”
“Let’s sweep the rest of the park first.
We can double-check the front on our way out.”
Past the ticket office, the path opened up into a small, paved courtyard.
A massive oak tree stood directly in the center.
The layout seemed to be loosely modeled after the larger state zoo in the city, and despite its dilapidated state, it retained a certain rugged charm.
The beams of light swept up the trunk of the oak tree, revealing a massive, half-finished bird’s nest nestled high among the branches.
Aside from that, the courtyard was totally empty.
“Should we check out that building over there?”
One of the men patted his partner’s shoulder and pointed his flashlight toward the long, corridor-shaped structure housing the animal enclosures.
“Let’s go.”
They climbed the two concrete steps leading to the entrance.
Oddly, there was only an empty door frame; the actual wooden door had been completely removed. Get faster updates on g.com.
“Does this old guy just have a phobia of doors?”
The burglars stepped into the corridor, panning their flashlights left and right.
This time, there actually were doors—two heavy iron security doors lining the left wall.
While the first door featured a heavy sliding deadbolt, there was no padlock securing it.
The bolt cutters remained entirely useless.
One of the men eagerly reached out to slide the heavy deadbolt back, but his partner suddenly grabbed his shoulder, yanking him away.
Before the first man could complain, he followed the beam of his partner’s flashlight to the concrete wall beside the viewing window.
A wooden plaque hung under the glass.
The word [ Titan ] was painted in bold black letters, accompanied by a faded sticker depicting a massive Saltwater Crocodile.
“Are you insane?!” the second man hissed.
“What is there to be afraid of?
Look around.
This zoo doesn’t even have any actual animals in it.”
The man who had been yanked away sounded incredibly annoyed, but he didn’t reach for the deadbolt again.
He grumbled under his breath and followed his partner out the back of the corridor, heading toward a small, detached concrete building.
The flashlight beam cut through a dirty window, illuminating a sterile white table.
The light slowly panned across the room, eventually landing on a locked glass cabinet packed tightly with medical supplies.
“This looks promising.
That is a lot of veterinary medicine.”
“Medicine?
That works for me.
Vet meds fetch a decent price on the black market.
It won’t be a totally wasted trip.”
Hearing his partner’s approval, the first man walked over to the reinforced wooden door.
He grabbed the handle and yanked.
It didn’t budge.
He shined his flashlight directly onto the doorknob, revealing a heavy, integrated keyhole.
“Why the hell is this the only door in the entire place that is actually locked?!”
“Relax, that just proves there is something valuable inside.
Hold the light steady.
I will pry it open.”
The two men swapped positions.
The second man dug a lock-picking kit out of his toolbox and began aggressively jiggling the pins.
Click.
Click.
Crash!
The incredibly loud sound of clanging metal echoed violently through the silent zoo, nearly making both burglars jump out of their skin.
“Who is there?!”
The first man instantly whipped his flashlight around, shining it blindly into the darkness toward the source of the noise.
The beam illuminated a metal trash can, tipped over and rolling slowly across the pavement.
“It…
it’s just a trash can.
The wind probably blew it over.”
“There isn’t even a breeze, you idiot!
Go check it out!”
The young man holding the flashlight took slow, trembling steps toward the fallen trash can, his eyes locked nervously on the shadows.
His partner quickly abandoned the lock-picking attempt.
He reached into his metal toolbox and pulled out a heavy steel crowbar, gripping it tightly like a baseball bat.
Crunch.
The young man’s sneakers scraped softly against the loose gravel.
He was barely six feet away from the trash can now.
He frantically waved his flashlight around, desperately hoping to find a stray cat or a rat to explain the noise.
“Hoot, hoot.”
Holy crap!
The sudden, low hoot made the young man scream in terror.
He whipped his flashlight upward, illuminating the massive Eurasian Eagle-Owl perched ominously on top of the concrete wall, its eerie green eyes glaring directly at him.
An owl.
That is a terrible omen…”
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The sound of incredibly heavy, rapid footsteps suddenly charged toward him from the darkness.
The young man instantly spun around, but the beam of his flashlight hit absolutely nothing but empty air!
Smack!
The flashlight was knocked violently from his hand, clattering against the pavement and sending its beam spinning wildly.
Before he could even process what was happening, an immense pulling force clamped onto his ankle, followed by a violent shove that sent him crashing flat onto his back!
Before he could scream, something incredibly heavy and armed with razor-sharp claws crawled directly onto his chest.
The spinning flashlight on the ground momentarily illuminated the horror—a gigantic, scaly maw hurtling straight toward his face.
“Ahhhhh!”
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the night sky.
The young man instinctively threw his right arm up to shield his face.
Less than a second later, excruciating, bone-shattering agony exploded up his arm!
Unfortunately for Titan, his jaws simply weren’t wide enough yet to cleanly amputate an adult human limb in a single bite.
However, the baby crocodile was not discouraged in the slightest.
He rapidly opened and closed his jaws, readjusting his grip on the man’s forearm.
With a violent, full-body twist, Titan initiated a flawless death roll, viciously twisting the burglar’s arm into a mangled pretzel.
Suddenly, a sharp, stinging pain struck Titan’s thick back scales.
He instantly released his bloody grip.
He whipped his body around ninety degrees, throwing his jaws wide open, and violently clamped down on the steel crowbar that had just struck him!
Crunch!
The second burglar was winding up for another swing when the sheer concussive force vibrated painfully up his arms.
He froze, staring down at his weapon in absolute horror.
The heavy steel crowbar had been bitten entirely in half.
His eyes bulged in disbelief.
Without a second thought of bravery, he dropped the useless metal stick, grabbed his screaming, half-conscious partner by the collar, and sprinted wildly toward the main gate.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
The terrifyingly heavy footsteps charged relentlessly right behind them.
The second man didn’t dare slow down for a fraction of a second.
Snap!
The brutal sound of jaws snapping shut echoed inches from their heels.
How on earth could a crocodile run that fast?!
Snap!
The two burglars practically threw themselves through the front gate, even developing the incredibly polite habit of slamming it shut behind them.
The heavy footsteps faded back into the dark zoo.
The second burglar roughly hurled his screaming partner and the heavy toolbox into the back of the tricycle.
He scrambled onto the seat and began pedaling with the sheer, unadulterated terror of a man running for his life.
“Bro…
bro!
My arm!
The bone…
I can see the bone!”
“Shut up!
Shut up!
We are going to the hospital right now!”
The young man’s forearm was severely mangled, essentially held together by torn skin and crushed muscle.
The agonizing, throbbing pain radiating from his nervous system was unbearable.
Summer nights were naturally hot and muggy.
Thick sweat soaked through their ski masks and shirts, making it impossible for either of them to think clearly.
As the second man pedaled frantically down the dark street, he suddenly noticed a pair of glowing green lights hovering in the air directly ahead of them.
Wait, a pair?
A silent gust of wind brushed past the driver’s ear, accompanied by a faint, eerie green glow.
He felt a sudden, strange numbness.
He subconsciously reached up to touch the side of his head.
His palm was instantly covered in a thick, hot, sticky liquid.
A wave of intense, overwhelming dizziness immediately consumed him.