Chapter 15 Abandoned

The test, were done. Zarda watched the soldiers wrap delilah in one of their shirts and take her to Severance. The other soldiers, conrad and ramses, lifted maleena's body up to go bury her in the garden. Zarda stood up slowly. His head was still hung low. It was throbbing in pain. He felt dizzy and unstable. Placing his hands on his hips, he tried his best to balance himself. Zarda just stared at the ground blankly. His tail flicked from side to side out of frustration. The other scientists still in the room gawked at him. They didn't know what to do or say that would help. They were in too deep with hopkins. She had threatened their livelihoods and families. They had signed their souls over to the devil herself.

Over walked the heavy set scientist, jasper. He had made his way slowly to zarda. Jasper approached him timidly, offering his lab coat to cover up with. Zarda waved him away from his face. Zarda walked out of the test room, back alone towards the bunker. He would wait there, until delilah and nicholson brought back his staff. As he left out, zarda held up a middle finger to the sky and shouted out.

"This is for you hopkins, you heartless witch."

The walk back was hard and lonely. Zarda's body ached with every step he took. Sadly, he was back inside the large bunker. Zarda walked the aisles of cages, past osborn weeping as he crawled into his empty cage. Osborn couldn't see his friend, but he could hear his sadness. Zarda put back on his clothes and curled up into a fetus position. Osborn had so many questions to ask. Like what did they do this time? Where was maleena? Why was he alone?He so many, but held off, until the next day.

Osborn curled up into a tight ball and closed his eyes. Zarda didn't struggle falling a sleep. All of his zapped energy left him no room to fight. Zarda's eyes closed quickly, and he drifted off into the float. It was the safest place he could escape to. The night went far too fast for zarda's opinion. The next morning brought him a painful hangover. He had a severe headache that had woken him up to. Zarda knew had the awful task of sharing the bad news to his friend osborn.

He, too, cried out a deep grizzly growl, waking all the inhabitant cage dwellers all around him. The animals began to join in with him in their own terrible cries. Zarda's eyes grew wide with fear as he listened. There were gut-wrenching noises he had never heard before. Some sad, but other's struck fear within his inner core. He held his legs tightly with his arms, rocking back and forth against the cage bars.

He never bothered closing the cage door from yesterday. There was no point. Where was he going? He had to wait on the others to return, anyway. No one was coming back for him either. Time became a horrible thing for zarda. It was a painfully long, excruciating never ending, exhausting waiting game. He was losing his mind slowly.

Minutes ticked by into hours, hours into long days, days into weeks. It had now grown to be two weeks past. He had not seen any soldiers, scientist's including hopkins, nor did he see gibbs, anderson or delilah.

Zarda decided he needed to investigate. He would leave and go as he pleased. Osborn listened most times. The bear was tired of lifting up the burlap flaps. Zarda would leave his cage more often just to go relieve himself in the garden. It was away from others and the ground absorbed the smell. Zarda loved the garden, even though he detested the doors. He made sure to visit his friend's tiny headstone marker, the soldiers had made for maleena. They had buried her under a large willow tree overlooking the rose bushes. Her grave would always be surrounded by beautiful red roses.



One boring week, zarda woke to a new morning mindfully. He decided he would go for a walk around the facility. The entire place seemed to have been abandoned. He didn't see the cooks who brought them their slop, and didn't hear the usual animals or machines in the labs. He decided he needed to find the master key. Up and down he walked the hallways, searching each room. He discovered the janitors supply room, a classroom of some sort, and a locker room. Along the way, zarda found a tiny office off to itself, he entered in. On the desk he realized a name plaque said scientist and zoologist Hopkins. Her desk was empty, no papers, no pens. Just the name plaque. He looked through her desk drawers, finding nothing but empty spaces. Frustrated, zarda looked up by the front door. Right then, he noticed the master key hanging on a hook. It was too good to be true. Zarda quickly ran over and snatched it up. Without wasting time zarda ran back to the bunker as fast as he could. He didn't know why he ran, he just had to.

Zarda headed over to osborn's cage first. Lifting the burlap sheet. He slid the key into the lock and twisted, until it clicked open. Zarda pulled down the annoying cover and opened the bear's door to find him a sleep. Zarda clanked the key on the metal bars, hoping to wake the sleeping grizzly. Osborn's eyes opened and closed, until he finally was fully awake. He sat up and rubbed his face.

"How you get in ere'? Am I dreamin' again bout our rescue? Is that really you, zarda?" Asked osborn.

Zarda flicked at his big bear toe to assure him he wasn't dreaming.

"Yep. Alive and in the flesh. I got the master key, but no one is here, but us animals in the bunker. Already the air has the stench of death. Who knows how many of us are alive inside? The scientists are gone, the soldiers are not patrolling, and the cooks are missing, it's no wonder we've been starving lately. Come on, big boy, let's go open more cages." Zarda said with excitement.

Right then, a scary growl rumbled from osborn's stomach.

"Oh, mate, you mentioned cooks and my tummy just made the weirdest noise. I'm so hungry I could eat wallpaper." Said the bear.

Zarda agreed he had never been so hungry in his life. He was starting to see his ribs somewhat. Zarda pulled up his shirt to stare at his body, while he waited for Osborn to crawl out. The bear side stepped out of his cage and took a minute to get to his feet. He was still hunched over in pain, as he crawled out of the cage. Staying in that one position for months and months does a number on the spine and lower lumbar.

The big grizzly placed his hands on his knees and push up one vertebra at a time. Zarda could hear his friend's back crack and pop as he straightened up. Osborn leaned back with one big satisfying crack and stood upright. Zarda looked up to him. He couldn't believe how tall he truly was.

"How tall did you say you were again? " Asked zarda curiously. Zarda stood a good seven-foot tall. Osborn was even taller. The bear looked down at zarda with a chuckle.

"Hello down there." He replied jokingly.

The bear pondered for a bit on his question, before answering.

"Last time I checked, mate, I was around nine feet tall, give or take. Why you ask?" Questioned osborn.

Zarda shook his head and replied. "No reason, just curious."

The bear shrugged it off and moved up next to his friend. Zarda led them to the other cages. It was time to move, release, and rescue everyone they could. Zarda and osborn walked side by side down the pathway. They moved towards the first imprisoned animal on the opposite side of zarda's cage. Osborn tore down the burlap sheets, while zarda opened each cage.

Inside this particular one was a very, skinny gray wolf. His eyes flashed over at the two strangers, letting light flow inside his cell. When the door opened, the wolf hybrid darted out and stood upright. Like everyone before him did, who found themselves left in the cage for a long time.

"Many thanks to you zarda and osborn. I've been listening to your conversations every day, forgive me. I've had no other choice. My name is dane greywolf, but you can just call me by dane." He said.

Zarda was pleased to meet a wolf. He had heard of the Arabian wolves from the Sahara desert, but had never met them. Dane looked nothing like them. He was a dark charcoal color with light gray features around his eyes, nose and mouth. His eyes were gold. His body was manlike. Dane was wearing moth-eaten clothes, that were stained from his own urine.

Zarda covered his mouth. He didn't want to be rude, but the smell was awful. The wolf was extremely musky. He took notice to zarda's reaction.

"Sorry, I haven't taken a bath in a very, very, long time. If you don't mind, I would like to help." Said dane.

Zarda was okay with him helping, but he made dane stay to the rear of them. Zarda and osborn pressed on, moving down to the next cage, then the next, and so on, until the first aisle's cages were all emptied. So far, they had been able to release dane the wolf, three other bears apart from osborn. A fox and a young skunk.

"I think before we continue, I should take you all to the bathing room I found, while exploring. It has five large showers and several toilets. You all can clean up in warm water. Not to be rude, but the body odors coming off from this tiny group is burning my nostrils. I know you will feel better after having one. Osborn, I'll show you to the laundry room, where you can gather clothes for them. I'll continue to release more animals in the meanwhile. If you're okay with this plan, then all of you follow me. If not, then I wish you the best in your journey." Said zarda.

None of the animals were opposed to the idea. They happily chose to stay close to their new leader.

He moved on towards the bathrooms, leading the small group close behind, who were following right on his heels. He could sense they were afraid. Every now and again he would remind them they had been abandoned. That they shouldn't be afraid or have any need for fear. The bathing room was next to the laundry room, which was across fromt the kitchen area.

Zarda directed the first five into the shower stalls. He showed them how they worked and left them to clean up with the zoap bars. Zarda walked over to osborn and had him follow hom over to the next room to gather clean clothes for everyone.

"If you need me for any reason, you know where I'll be. Get them in and out. Leaving their clean clothes outside the showers, for them to change into. Once Dane finishes, have him come help me. You stay here, as I'll send more animals your way." He stated.

Zarda left them quickly behind to go rescue more beings like himself.