Chapter 18

The instant Milo saw Elise he became attached to her, turning into a blur of fluff that circled around her feet. For a moment she couldn't move without kicking the cat, so stayed still as she smiled at her best friend.

"You weren't picking up your phone," Elise finally managed to say.

"Crap," Meagan hadn't thought to turn her phone back on after they lost contact. "I was saving battery power."

"New rule: If we get separated again, turn on your cell phone."

"Well hopefully we won't have to worry about that again. C'mon, let's go to the elevators and get your sister."

"Seen any of those security guards around?" Holden asked, holding his gun apprehensively. After that encounter with the man on the street he realized just how useless this gun was against a human - unless he was at point-blank range aiming at their eyes.

"It's been quiet-" Steve began, but a noise coming from below cut him off.

"Up the ramp," Meagan whispered, not wanting to waste any more time. Something was in the building with them.

"C'mon Dave," Elise pushed Holden forward, Milo letting up enough to allow her to walk, but not getting more than an inch away from her.

"Who?" Holden looked at her in confusion.

"Dave Holden."

Blank stare.

"Do androids dream of electric sheep?"

Holden turned to Steve. "So, Elise has apparently lost her mind."

"You just noticed?"

"Dave Holden is a character from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

"For the last time: I am not a literary character," Holden hissed, trying to keep from yelling.

"Tell yourself whatever you want - no one is named Holden in the real world."

They were almost at the end of the ramp when they heard the giraffe's wail.

"Run!" Meagan took off through the security checkpoint that once herded tourists, but was now abandoned, and headed towards the elevators now in sight.

Below them was the gift shop, a railing separating the two floors, and when they took a quick peek over they saw hundreds of giraffes in a nest made of cheap stuffed Moutie bears and the skeletal remains of tourists and staff.

"Fuck me!" Elise screamed. They had just found the motherlode of giraffes, and as she turned around and saw even more giraffes streaming up the ramp towards them she realized there was no escape.

Meagan reached the elevators first and screamed in frustration as the others turned and pulled out their guns to fire at the giraffes and give Meagan enough time to get them out of this situation.

"The elevators are out of order!"

"You told me once they could never break down!" Steve yelled.

"They can be turned off!"

"Plan B! PLAN B!!!" Holden screamed.

"THERE IS NO PLAN B!!!"

"DOESN'T THIS PLACE HAVE STAIRS!?!"

Meagan whirled around until she found the door to the stairwell, a skeleton still wearing black pants and a red shirt gripped keys in his hands. She grabbed them and reached the door, unlocking it and motioning her friends through.

"C'MON!!!"

The others turned and dived through, Steve was the last person, backing up as he kept shooting at the giraffes. They were about to overwhelm him as Meagan slammed the door on their tiny faces.

"Is everyone all right? Anyone bit?" Meagan started grabbing people's arms to check for bite-marks.

"Lay off," Elise pulled away, looking at the first flight of stairs.

"We can't be too cautious," Meagan frowned. She still couldn't believe Elise wasn't onboard with being overly cautious yet.

"Uh... Meagan?" Holden looked troubled. "Exactly how many stairs are we talking about here?"