Young Writers Society

A/N: Let me know if Crothers is too much of a caricature. I was annoyed at a lecturer called Carruthers when I wrote this xD

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It was a cool Wednesday evening when the Neuromax representatives arrived for the bi-monthly inspection. The sun had sunk behind the heavy grey clouds hours ago, and the light of the moon was beginning to peep out instead. The night was quiet, with relatively few aeroplanes cruising by overhead. In the silence, the van rumbled up to the service entrance of the zoo.

Patrick took a deep breath and heaved the thick metal door open. The noise of the van’s engine faded away with a quiet purr, and the driver’s side door clicked open.

A slightly overweight man with grey hair, about ten years younger than Patrick, poked his head out the door.

“We good to go?” he shouted over.

Patrick pressed his teeth against each other and swallowed his irritation. The little upstart, Crothers, never had had any manners. Aurora had been talking for only two weeks and even she could manage hello, please and thank you.

But Patrick just nodded. “Yes. In you come.”

Crothers lumbered out of the big grey van, the gravel crunching under his heavy footsteps. His chest seemed to be thrust out under his heavy overcoat - there were peacocks in the zoo less full of themselves - even as he crossed the five step gap between himself and Patrick.

Patrick resisted the urge to groan. Crothers’ presence was always so loud, even when he wasn’t saying anything. So loud, in fact, that Patrick didn’t notice a tall blonde woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, step up to Crothers’ side.

“Hi there, Mr McAfferty. My name’s Tracy, Tracy MacLean. I’m a new technician with Neuromax,” the woman said, extending her hand to Patrick.

Patrick shook it, and smiled. She wasn’t a mouse by any stretch, but at least he couldn’t feel arrogance seeping out her pores.

"Good evening, Ms. MacL-"

The breath was knocked out of Patrick as Crothers brushed roughly past his shoulder on his way through the door.

MacLean caught Patrick's eye before he turned around to follow, and with wide eyes she mouthed an apology. Patrick waved it away and beckoned for her to come trot after Crothers with him as he thundered down the stairs. But a moment later, as Crothers reached the bottom of the stairs and turned around, he pointed a red, wrinkly finger at MacLean.

"I told you," he shouted, "I need you to go inspect the big animals! Elephants, giraffes, that sort of thing?"

"I know, sir-"

"And do you really think they can fit down here?" He waved his arm wildly, nearly bashing his knuckles against the banister.

"Oh, right." MacLean's eyes dropped to the ground, and spun around on one foot.

Patrick's shoulders slumped as she went back up the stairs and out the door, off towards the big animal enclosures. He looked down at Crothers, grimacing at how deeply he was frowning. Crothers never had been one for patience.

Patrick led MacLean through the underground to all the other enclosures, except Aurora, who Patrick would take him to via the above ground route. He’d decided not to tell Crothers about Aurora’s sudden awakening, and the fact that he had absolutely no clue how it had happened. All he knew was that all his previous assumptions were wrong. He’d thought the problem something he had done to these animals, but he had barely touched Aurora.

Crothers didn't say a word to any of the animals as he went gruffly about his business of various medical checks. Even when Chip, a member of the most acceptably bipedal species in the zoo, waved a nervous hello, Crothers simply averted his gaze. Patrick could feel bubbles in his blood simmering and bursting at the sight of Chip's slumped, despairing shoulders, or of Dexi's defiant snarl at Crothers' back. The ever proud Treego didn't even bother to say anything, just gave Crothers an icy glare, which also went unremarked.

When they were done, it was time to take Crothers to Aurora. Patrick's heart winced as he took Crothers back upstairs. It always seemed odd to Patrick that Neuromax had only built one staircase, but if you could have seen Crothers' face at Patrick's suggestion that they take the nearest ladder, you would be glad of it anyway. He should have prepared Aurora more, but in the past two months he'd forgotten just how odious his supervisor was.

Patrick forced himself to stay calm, and not throw the door open. This turned out to be the correct choice, because the moment he stepped out the doorway he bumped right into MacLean. She yelped and staggered backwards, though Patrick had only brushed her a little.

"S-sorry." she stammered. "I didn't know the code to get back in."

Crothers strode past both of them, shouting over his shoulder, "We're done down there now! Off to the panda."

MacLean patted down her super straight blonde hair and turned to follow her boss.

As they walked, they passed elephants, giraffes and rhinos, most of whom spotted MacLean and gave her a quick nod. Well, at least someone seemed to have been civil to the animals. One elephant in particular made a weird, angular swooshing motion with her trunk, which got a nervous giggle from MacLean. Patrick smiled at the thought that they'd got on well enough in their first meeting to have some sort of inside joke.

But the smile vanished from his face as he wrenched his eyes away from the elephants and back to his fellow humans. They had reached Aurora’s enclosure. Patrick stepped forward to unlock the gate, as the enclosure was still too new for the Neuromax officials to have made a key. His arm was still, but his fingers twitched a little. Luckily, a quick glance at Crothers showed that he was busy staring through the fence at Aurora anyway.

Patrick padded softly through the long grass, unsure if Aurora had noticed him yet. They'd agreed in advance that she would avoid eye contact with him when possible so as not to give anything away, so if she had noticed him she wouldn't be acknowledging his presence. It had been Chip's gaze that had first alerted Patrick, back in the Neuromax lab; seemingly consciousness could be found in the eyes.

"The thing deaf?" Crothers grunted.

In hindsight, zero acknowledgement of Patrick's presence probably wasn't the way to go.