Chapter 17

Meagan poked another body while Steve watched. "Do you, uh, know what you're doing?"

"No."

"Oh. Okay then." He stood silently, even slipped his hands in his pockets. "You need any hel--"

"No."

"Hey," he said, kneeling down, "you okay?"

Meagan held up wallet and looked at the floor. Steve's eyes took a moment to focus as he stared at the ID, too used to scanning wide open, sunny spaces. But when they did he finally understood. "Oh Meagan, I'm sorry..."

He rested his head on her back and she let out a tiny laugh. "I always hated this guy." Then she looked up at Steve. "Why am I so sad?"

"Because I think this reminds you of everyone you know, everyone whose whereabouts and condition you're unsure of. Like your family. I'm sure the...problem, hasn't spread that far. Both of our families live in remote areas, I'm sure they're okay. But, you know..."

"I know, we have to go." She got to her feet with Steve’s help and dusted off her pants. She smiled weakly and took his offered hand, letting her old boss' wallet fall to the marble floor.

They made it through the last few sets of doors without stopping, each section littered with bodies with no giraffe in site. When they approached the final door in the Skywalk, just 75 feet from the Tower, Meagan had an epiphany.

"The Fornicorner!!" she shouted.

"Bless you."

"No!" she laughed, smacking his arm. "The fornicating corner!" She pointed excitedly to a fence diving the Tower from the train tracks. Steve followed the fence line down a hill to the base of the Tower to a very small door.

"There’s an entrance!"

"Not just AN entrance! The Fornicorner is where people used to go to have sex because it's out of camera range. The only way to see it is from the outside! That's our way in!"

She hurried down the hill against the fence line to the door, Steve and Milo following close behind. "God bless you, filthy restaurant guests!"

"Let me," Steve said, pulling out his wallet. "I’ve always wanted to try this."

Meagan had already noticed the door was unlocked, but she said nothing and let Steve have his moment. And when he finished and pulled the door ajar, she even gave him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek.

The door opened silently, and Steve entered first, staring straight across a beige and blue mezzanine. He could see the main security machines and the elevators, but no people.

“This is strange…” Meagan whispered, walking over to the railing. The mezzanine was a series of bridges that looked over the gift shop, with elevators on one side and security entrances on the other. She looked down out over the store and turned to Steve. “Doesn’t anything about this scene strike you as strange?”

Steve shrugged. “Everything about everything strikes me as odd today. Enlighten me.”

“Well, yesterday was a Friday, in August. What does that usually mean?”

“It should’ve been busy here…”

“But there aren’t any bodies here. And...” she said, walking back to the middle of the mezzanine, “there aren’t any stanchions out to queue people. The Tower opens at nine am, and Elise and I didn’t hear about the giraffes until five pm yesterday. That means that the little buggers might be organized, but they don’t move quickly. They’re inefficient. It took them eight hours to cover what we did in four.”

“Well yes but if we’d stopped at every house to strip the flesh off everything living thing we saw, we’d of taken eight hours too.”

“But they’re just wandering. They’re not moving in any distinct pattern. Out to Scarborough, then back downtown? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, I,” Steve stopped as Milo began wailing at the door. “Oh shit, Milo sees something!”

They followed the cat to the door as it cried and meowed away, fearing the worst. Meagan braced herself as she approached the door, searching for a lock, when suddenly, from the Skywalk doors, emerged a very tired looking Holden.

“It’s Holden!” Meagan cried. Then behind him came Elise, guns pointed. “And Elise!! They made it!!” She shoved the door open and Steve turned around to keep watch on the mezzanine.

“Try to keep your voice down,” he said, and Meagan blushed and nodded. Then she turned back to the Skywalk and waved frantically.

When Elise saw her she didn’t looked surprised, just relieved. Of course Meagan knew how to get here, and exactly which door she could just waltz right into.

Chapter 16

"This tea is kinda weird. I didn't know green tea was supposed to be... lemony," Holden finished his mug and set it down.

Elise was holding her mug in both hands, holding it up to her face and smelling it in with a peaceful look on her face. "Enjoy it. It might be the last cup you ever have."

"Whatever, it's time to move," Holden got up and Elise nodded, finishing her tea. "What's the plan?"

"The plan hasn't changed. We go to the Tower, and Meagan will do the same thing."

"How do you know?"

"Because she wants to blow it up."

"Wait-what?"

"Time to go!"

"Steve's friends are weird," Holden muttered as they grabbed their gear and cleared out.

Once outside they kept low in the side streets, trying to stick as close to Queen Street as possible. The giraffes were everywhere, but it seemed that they didn't group up unless they were on the attack. The biggest groups they encountered were about five strong, and they were all easily avoided. They were now heading slightly north of the Tower, but Elise wanted to keep their route as simple as possible to avoid losing each other. Besides, she had a plan.

"What do you mean you want to take the Path???" Holden nearly screamed at her.

The Path was a notorious underground shopping mall that connected most of the downtown core together. People going down there for the first time easily lost their way and constantly had to resurface in order to get their bearings.

"That's the worst fucking plan I've ever heard."

"I am downtown every day. I know the Path like the back of my hand."

"But just being underground is not a good idea."

"It's a brilliant idea, because these things are smart."

"Sorry?"

They stopped behind a dumpster while four giraffes crossed in front of them.

"Were you even listening to yourself back at Starbucks? If they do communicate and plan, it stands to reason that they have some understanding of human behaviour. I mean hell, they're driving us out of buildings like cattle."

They made a quick dash across the street and found cover once again.

"As far as their tiny giraffe brains think, nobody's stupid enough to go back underground. So if no one's underground, there will probably be little to no giraffes around."

"A lot of this is hinging on the fact - a fact we don't know for sure - that these things are intelligent."

"Honestly, at this point I just feel safer being underground where I know the hiding places. Being out here in the open gives them too many chances to spot and swarm us."

Suddenly a window shattered across the street and a man fell onto the sidewalk, screaming and kicking as a stream of twenty or so giraffes followed.

"Shit!" Holden dove for cover, but Elise grabbed her gun and started aiming.

"HELP ME!!!" The man, no older than Elise, spotted her and started hollering in pain.

"Leave him!" Holden hissed, but it was too late. The giraffes had already seen her.

She crouched down, took aim, and before Holden could figure out what was happening tiny giraffe heads started exploding with nearly every shot she took.

A minute later no giraffe was left standing and the man scrambled to his feet and ran over to the two, tears streaming down his face.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! When did you become Rambo???" Holden looked at the giraffes.

"I was in cadets, we fired guns a a lot."

The man reached Elise, wrapping her in a sudden embrace of gratitude.

"Get off," Elise struggled and soon the man let go of him and went to hug Holden - who held out his hand to stop him.

"No fucking way. You gotta leave. You can't come with us." Holden shook his head, looking around anxiously for the giraffes he knew would soon be drawn to this place.

"Wha?" The man looked confused.

"He can come with us," Elise rolled her eyes.

"He's covered in blood!" Holden protested, and Elise noticed that Holden looked genuinely afraid.

She turned to the man who was still shaking.

"Are you all right?" Elise asked.

"I was hiding, but they chewed their way through the wall."

"Did they bite you?"

"How did they do it man? How did they eat through a fucking wall?" The man was too distracted to notice their questions.

Holden pulled out his gun. "Did they fucking bite you!?!"

The man took a step back, his hand grabbing something on his arm. "N-no." Then he turned to Elise, his blue eyes pleading with her. "Please, don't leave me here."

"He's been bitten!"

"Everyone needs to calm down!" Elise tried to stop Holden advancing. In the distance, they heard the wail of the giraffe.

"He's going to turn into one of them! He's like a sleeper cell!"

"Please, my name's Jeff Hicks, I'm 26, I-"

"Wait-"

Holden shot him in the eye. The pellet wasn't enough to kill him, but Jeff immediately started screaming in pain, covering his face as blood gushed out of the socket. Realizing the gun wouldn't finish him, Holden grabbed a piece of wood from a broken window frame as Jeff's skin began to take on a slightly translucent tinge.

Then Holden began bashing Jeff's head in until he stopped screaming, slumped to the ground, and was still.

Elise stared down at the dead body in horror. He was dead, his skin melting off his body, but the transformation had clearly stopped.

"This is why we can't save people!" Holden screamed at her, and as the wailing of the giraffes got louder they both took off running.

Chapter 15

Steve finally caught sight of Meagan in front of Sobeys. Breathless and keeled over, he reached out his arms. “Meagan...” he coughed out, “wait for...me...”

Meagan turned on her heel and saw the poor guy slumped over, and frowned a little. “I told you smoking was bad for you!” she shouted as she crossed her arms. She squinted in the sun and yelled, “Elise, did you at least keep up?”

“Hey keep your voice down,” Steve instructed as he approached her, hobbling with all his might. “And what are you talking about? Elise and Holden got separated from us back there.”

“Seperated?!” she screamed. “Sorry...separated?”

“You just screamed again!”

“Sorry! Where are they?! They can’t be far away, look behind you!”

Steve turned around expecting to see his graphic artist intern and Meagan’s very angry friend. But instead it was just the stupid cat. “It’s the stupid cat.”

“He’s not stupid! And he wouldn’t have just left Elise. They must not be far behind.”

“Look I appreciate your loyalty but cats aren’t stupid. If he’s away from Elise then that must mean that anywhere NEAR Elise is a bad place t—“ Steve stopped as he noticed Meagan’s face crumpling. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, you know, maybe e didn’t see where she went, or his path got blocked.” He took her hands and squeezed them, adding, “I’m sure she’s fine. They’re both fine.”

Meagan jerked her hands away and picked up the cat. “I KNOW she’s fine. And we’ll see her soon. But right now we have to focus on getting in the Tower. We’re four blocks away, one north and three west. But Bremner, the street outside the Tower, is a death trap.”

“Why’s that?”

Meagan pulled out a little piece of chalk from the front of her bag and began scribbling on the sideway. “Here’s the street, and that’s the Tower, and this is you and me.”

“Why did you give yourself a dress...?”

“Because I’m the girl. Now, we have to head up through the construction zones through there,” she pointed across the street, “and end up on the east side of the Air Canada Center. If we make it that far we can head through the Telus building lobby, and through the Go Train passages.”

“Whoa, I see a tiny flaw in your plan. Why would we go underground?”

“Because the only way to get to the underground walkway is through seven sets of double doors, and giraffes don’t have thumbs. It’s our one advantage over them.”

“That’s what they thought about the raptors in the first Jurassic Park.”

Meagan looked at Steve very sternly. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

He opened his mouth to protest but she was already moving away. And just to be sure, she kicked away her diagram. They headed towards the massive construction fence and began to scale it. To her amazement, Steve was much faster than she was. When he reached the top he perched on the bar to wait for her and to scout out the rest of their route. “Street looks pretty clear. Also, I quit smoking a few weeks ago, haven’t touched the things once.”

“Yes...well...Good.” She looked down at Milo who had no trouble finding his own way through a hole in the fence and was waiting for them. “Just hold your little horses...” Meagan muttered at it.

They dropped down together and made a b-line for the street. Meagan could hear rustling in the construction zone and figured it was either giraffes or survivors, and she wanted neither tagging along. But when they entered the Telus plaza on the other side her hopes were dashed.

“Clearly you weren’t the only one with this door idea...” Steve said. They looked out onto the long hallway between the first set of doors at a grisly scene. Littering nearly every inch of floor were soggy, bloody bones.

“Okay, so one got in. Or maybe a bitten person got in, and turned while inside. Let’s try the second set.”

Carefully they tiptoed over the dead bodies, the bones rattling against their shoes and echoing off the vast marble walls. The reached the second set and peered in. “Same fucking thing...” Steve whispered. “I don’t think this is a good idea. We’d better find another way.”

“Wait, let me go look. I think...” she trailed off as she opened the doors. She walked in and knelt down, staring at the bodies. “Look at the bones. Notice anything weird?”

“Other than the distinct lack of flesh?”

“They’re all facing the same direction. All the feet are pointed towards the floor, like they were running east.” She stood up and looked at him, fear gripping her. “They were all running AWAY from the Tower.”

Chapter 14

They had a moment to take in the slaughter before two things happened. First the giraffes noticed the small group watching them and like a flock of birds, turned and began charging towards them. Second, a TTC bus burst out the garage of Canadian Tire and made its way toward the road, smashing into cars and pushing them off to the sidewalk as it, also, started coming right for them.

There was a sudden confusion in the giraffes. Their ranks broke up as they tried to both avoid being crushed by the bus and attack it - then there were a few giraffes who completely ignored the bus and just focused on the four unprotected humans.

The bus reached them first, not bothering to slow down and while Elise was still trying to decide on whether to go down fighting or spend the last few seconds of her life fleeing, a hand suddenly grabbed her and started pulling her to cover as the bus smashed into a car, sending it careening to where she had just stood.

She lost sight of Meagan and Steve as she fell to the pavement. Holden stood above her, pulling out a gun and firing into the giraffes. Milo was there one second, but then jumped up and attacked a giraffe that had reached them.

"Get up! Move!" Holden screamed and Elise pulled out her gun and started firing.

The bus slowed down with the added traffic, but still forced its way down the street, now covered in tiny giraffes. Meagan and Steve still nowhere to be seen. Milo was fighting giraffes nearby, but she had no chance of reaching him.

"Come on," Holden grabbed her again, she pushed him off, but he was frantic and didn't let her go, slowly dragging her off and soon she had to follow or be buried under an avalanche of giraffes.

They ran, and didn't look back. The giraffes nipped at their heels and just as they were about to overtake them a wail went up and most of the giraffes suddenly turned and ran. There was screaming somewhere and they thought maybe the bus had been breached.

Holden kept shooting into the giraffes still following them, and after ducking around an apartment building they seemed to lose them, but they could still hear the giraffes calling out to each other.

Elise pulled out her phone and dialed Meagan's number, but she didn't pick up. She pretended the only possibility for that was because Meagan was still fighting off the giraffes and not that she had lost her phone or...

They reached Queen Street. Dozens of giraffes roamed around and they kept in alleys until they saw a back door propped open. They needed a place to hide and gather their thoughts - maybe think of a plan to find Meagan, Steve and Milo.

Once Elise had heard a story about how the day of the attacks on the World Trade Center, people were still lining up in the Starbucks underneath and barristas served them dutifully until they were all crushed underneath the molten steel and concrete. For a second Elise almost expected to see a lineup waiting for frappuccinos, but instead she saw a few dozen giraffes cuddled into a nest.

Without thinking she ripped open her bag, pulled out her Tommy Gun and opened fire. The giraffes woke up, wailing their high pitched shrieks in pain, until finally Elise ran out of ammunition. The giraffes lay dead in a puddle of fur and blood, only one still remained living. It crawled towards the two, its neck had a chunk missing and its head dragged along the floor, its tiny mouth opening and closing, until it too went still.

Holden stepped forward and crushed its head beneath his boot. It crunched like a potato chip.

"Gotta destroy the brain, right?" He asked.

"I don't know. You're thinking about zombies," she looked around the Starbucks to make sure no more giraffes were present.

Holden sat down at one of the tables, needing a moment of silence before he started thinking about survival again. "You know, we need to start figuring these things out. We need to know what kills them and what doesn't. What makes a person turn and why some people just... die..." He trailed off, staring at a skeleton still wearing a green apron. The giraffes had eaten every last morsel of flesh, organ and hair.

"I mean," he continued. "They can communicate, right? Why aren't you guys more concerned about this? Sure, all animals have some way of getting signals across, but these things organize and-"

"Infiltrate."

"Yeah! They seem to be able to get into any building," he cleared his throat, looking around wearily. They shouldn't stay in one place too long.

Elise moved behind the counter, looking for a kettle.

"They drive people out, like that Canadian Tire."

Like my office building, she thought, but she was too concerned with searching through boxes to respond. Holden didn't notice, he seemed wrapped up in his thinking.

"When they need more giraffes they make more giraffes and when they need food," he turned away from the skeleton. "I can't figure out their game plan."

"Giraffes don't need game plans," she turned the kettle on.

"What are you doing?" Holden finally noticed her.

"I'm making tea."

"You're... making tea?"

"Yes," she gritted her teeth.

"We should probably get going-"

"No, tea first."

"Elise-"

"Look! Toronto's overrun by giraffes! Most of everyone I've ever known is dead! Meagan and Steve are lost! Milo is missing! My sister is trapped in a Tower of certain death that I probably won't be able to reach and I JUST WANT ONE LAST CUP OF TEA!"

The kettle boiled, clicked off, and she messily poured a cup of green tea, then stared at it angrily for a second.

"... Make me one too?" Holden gave her a small smile. "Fuck the apocalypse. It's okay to be civil once in awhile."

Chapter 13

Sunlight crept through the windows and Meagan blinked angrily. “Close the curtains Mom...” she mumbled. Laying about two feet away Steve opened his eyes and smiled at her.

“I’m not your mother.”

“Thank goodness for that,” she smiled back. Then Steve looked over her shoulder and his eyes went so big Meagan’s heart stopped. Oh shit, she thought. But then Steve smiled, and nodded silently behind Meagan.

She rolled over cautiously and propped herself up, and caught sight of something far more surprising and far less likely than a hoard of angry miniature giraffes – Elise fast asleep, draped across Holden’s chest.

“Well I’ll be damned...” Steve whispered, now inches away from Meagan’s ear. “If this were Survivor, they’d be an alliance.”

“Yeah well I wouldn’t count on the moment lasting when Elise wakes—“

“OH JESUS H CHRIST!”

“—up”

Elise shot up, jolting Holden awake as well. “What, what’s going on!?” he said, clamouring to his feet. Elise stared up at him from the ground, looking shaken and violated.

“Nothing,” she snapped. “Nothing. Milo brushed against me in my sleep. Sorry...sorry to scare you like that.”

“Oh,” Holden said, his face softening, “it’s all right. Are you okay now?”

“Yes, I’m fine. We should get packed up.”

“Okay then, let’s move,” Meagan said, oblivious to the tension. She grabbed her bag and began rummaging through, thinking aloud. “We should look for side streets with houses that can provide cover if we need it. And we might be able to salvage some more supplies. We’re probably no more than four hours walk away, tops. And keep the food sealed as much as possible. We don’t know what’s attracting these things.”

“Did it look like they were communicating with each other?” Holden asked. Meagan stared at him as if he’d asked, “Do you think they’ll hurt us?”

“Of COURSE they communicate. All animals can communicate. Didn’t you ever see Jurassic Park 3?” She finally found what she was searching for. She pulled out an old navy blue Maple Leafs hat from her bag and fitted her long ponytail through the back. Elise frowned at her in dismay.

“You have a HAT, in your SURVIVAL bag.”

“I can’t have hair in my face while swinging away at a giraffe, can I?”


The group readied themselves and with Milo at their heels they ventured out together into the streets. Still quiet, and strangely void of giraffes, they made their way along the sidewalk to another side street and headed towards the Tower. They passed ransacked houses, abandoned cars, and stray pets wandering the streets without an owner to take care of them. Every few miles they would hear the distant sound of gunfire, or screams, but they never stopped.

They pressed on like that for three hours without interruption. But nobody mentioned the absence of giraffes. Like a perfect game in the eighth inning, nobody wanted to jinx it.

But as they approached the downtown core along Lakeshore Avenue, a mere ten minute walk away from the Tower, Holden grabbed Elise’s arm.

“Hey! Wha—“

“Shh. Stop,” he hissed. Meagan and Steve turned around. “Listen.”

The group stopped and turned, but nobody needed to ask again. A hoard of giraffes were just ahead, only a hundred feet away, breaking their way into a Canadian Tire.

“Patriotic little buggers aren’t they...” Steve muttered. Then he saw what they were after. “My god, there were survivors in there!”

A group of people streamed out of the doors. They ran together across the parking lot but they were no match for the giraffes. One by one the survivors were tackled, eaten, and then melted away. In their little puddles’ places sprang more giraffes, who on apparent instinct began following the herd. It only lasted a few minutes, but by the end not a single human was left.

The four stood very still against their wall. Steve slipped his hand around Meagan’s waist and pulled her close to him, turning her body towards him to shield her. “We have to keep moving,” he said to her. “It’ll be okay once we make it to the Tower. We’ll be safe there.”

“They thought they were safe...” she whispered.

Chapter 12

When they climbed out onto the fire escape there was a moment of dread as they looked at the blood red sky. The sun was setting.

"How long will it take us to get to the Tower?" Steve looked at Meagan.

"30 minute drive?" Meagan estimated.

"We won't be able to drive downtown," Holden shook his head.

"Why not?" Elise asked in annoyance, but she already knew the answer. They all knew that the main population of Toronto was downtown when the outbreak happened, which meant the cars were all downtown.

"The road's going to be clogged with abandoned cars," Holden still answered.

"Careful Meagan, Mr. Caulfield here might take your job as walking guidebook on how to survive the apocalypse."

Holden muttered something angry under his breath about his last name not being Caulfield, but the others had already started heading down the metal stairs to freedom.

The streets were silent, and they couldn't see any movement. The giraffes were all on the main street, either because they had already been through this area, or because there was something delicious over there left to eat.

"It will take too long to walk," Meagan was shaking her head.

"So we find a place to sleep tonight," Elise said, reaching the bottom first. Steve was next, and he helped Meagan down, the two exchanging awkward smiles and thanks as they moved away.

"Thanks for helping me down," Holden said sarcastically as he jumped down after Meagan.

"Listen you," Elise pointed at Holden, having a hard time keeping her voice down. "Stop complaining and be helpful for the next five minutes or I-will-feed-you-to-my-cat."

Suddenly they heard a high pitched wail and all turned to see a giraffe standing across the street, staring right at them. It made no move to attack, but kept making that noise until three more giraffes appeared, and then three after that.

They all pulled out their guns, ready to defend themselves, when Holden ran to a nearby car. He tried the first door, it was locked, but the second car's door opened and he jumped in.

"Get in!" He called over to them.

They stood for a moment, firing into the giraffes, but soon realized there was no way they could hold back the flood of furry vengeance, so they followed Holden into the car, slamming the doors shut and looking around frantically as the giraffes started jumping onto the hood and roof.

"Great fucking idea! Now what?" Elise punched the back of a seat to keep from punching Holden.

"Look for keys!" Holden suggested, but the fear in his eyes showed he hadn't thought this one through.

"That never works in real life!"

"Fighting doesn't help," Steve sighed, feeling like a man trapped in a car with children.

"Hang on," Meagan pulled out a screwdriver from the glove compartment and crawled into the driver's seat.

"Oh right," Elise rolled her eyes, "you know how to hot-wire a car."

"I do," she said blankly and the three watched on in silence, Milo meanwhile batted at the window in an attempt to fight the giraffes.

Then the car roared to life and everyone was still too stunned to speak as Meagan put it into gear and kicked the gas pedal, living behind a trail of giraffe jelly.

"How the hell did you learn how to do that!?!" Elise finally managed to ask.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I've been preparing for this all my life. I've known how to hot-wire cars since Grade 7."

***

It didn't take long before the cars became so dense they were constantly swerving around them or mounting the curb to keep moving forward. Before long it became too much trouble and they knew they had better find a place to hide soon - a place with food preferably.

Holden started directing them, telling them he knew just the place, and after five minutes of Meagan's road rage they crashed into a parking lot of a Scarborough plaza.

"What is this dump?" Elise looked weary of the place.

"My parents own a restaurant," Holden explained, pulling out a key chain, "and I have the keys.

With a final glance for giraffes, they grabbed all their gear and ran for the door. Once inside Meagan immediately started searching the small dining room for giraffes. As Steve barred the front entrance Meagan started looking around for emergency exits.

The restaurant was small, which made it easy to defend, and the windows had shutters over them to keep any kamikaze giraffes from coming through the window. Best of all - there was food.

Meagan couldn't keep the smile off her face as Steve and Holden started cooking something up for them. The gas was still working, though she imagined this would probably be the last night any of those amenities ever worked again. The thought didn't lessen her spirits.

This was a moment she had not only been preparing herself for, but a small part of her massively enjoyed the fact that she had been right all along. Plus she had her best friend, the man she had been secretly fantasizing about for as long as she had known him, and Holden in case she needed something to distract the giraffes with while she got away. She even liked having Milo around, who purred loudly as he ate two entire salmons in the corner of the restaurant.

If you were going to live through an apocalypse, this was the way to do it.

The night was peaceful, but all of them knew that tomorrow would be hard as they started their hike into the infested city, a city no longer owned by them, but maybe the greatest predator that ever lived - the lap giraffe.

Chapter 11

"Uh, Meagan?" Elise waved her hand in front of Meagan's face as she stared at them blankly, as if they had all disappeared. Her eyes were scanning from side to side as if she were counting something nobody else could see.

"Is...she...?" Holden began, but Steve shook his head quickly. "She used to work there. She didn't like it very much. She never talks about it."

"So many...tourists..." Meagan was mumbling. Elise grabbed her shoulders and shook her, which seemed to help, because in an instant Meagan was jabbering about how safe the Tower might be for them. "IF we can get passed security."

"Yeah but they're like mall cops at best right?" Holden said.

"Imagine if you took thirty highly damaged Iraq war veterans and shoved them into a job with no future, no benefits, no pay. And then you made them younger and dumber. And that's what we have to get passed. The angriest, stupidest brood of minimum-wage earning, baton-wielding maniacs this side of...the tiny giraffes we've been fighting."

"Okay, well that just means we need a plan, which we can discuss when we get moving," Elise said. She was already checking out the windows in the showroom for her exit, and Steve and Meagan followed behind her. "We've got to find a way to convince them that we're there to help them somehow. That'll make them take us in nice and easy without a fight. And besides, not all of them are bad, right Meagan?"

"No they're all atrocious people."

"What about that Allan guy?"

"What Allan guy?" Steve said, but Meagan wasn't listening.

"Shhhhh! Everybody shut up!" she hissed. She inched closer to the window and placed her ear against the glass. Carefully, silently, the other three did too.

"I don't hear anything..." Holden whispered. "Do you?"

"I hear you," Elise glared at him.

Then suddenly, Milo leaped onto the counter, his back arched, hair standing on end. He hissed and growled at the window, and all of a sudden they saw it.

A hoard of little giraffes coming straight for the front door.

"We have to get out of here, NOW!!" Elise said. She grabbed Steve by the jacket. "Where's your offices? There must be an exit from there!"

"There is, it's a fire escape. It's back through the main entrance, we have to go right past the doors."

"Then let's move before they get in. And Meagan!" she said, grabbing her tiny shoulders. "Don't get freaked out by the Tower now. I promise, if you lead us back there, I'll let you, I dunno..."

"Blow the fucking thing up?"

"Yes," Elise smiled. "I'll let you blow the thing up."

They made their way together back up one level to the MP's offices. They were ransacked, as if every other employee but Steve up and left. "They're all gone," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry man," Holden said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure they made it out okay. They had plenty of warning. And maybe we'll see them on our way."

"Oh no," Elise said. "We are NOT adding a bunch of politicians to our little group." Then she leveled her gaze at Holden. "I have enough trouble trusting everyone as it is."

"Okay, look I don't know what your problem is but I've had enough of this crap! Who do you think told HIM there were weapons down there?"

"You almost killed my cat!"

"I THOUGHT IT WAS A GIRAFFE!"

"MAYBE I THINK YOU'RE A GIRAFFE, RIGHT NOW!"

"THAT.....doesn't make any sense."

Elise cleared her throat and smoothed her jacket. "Yes I realize that." They both huffed, embarrassed and tired from fighting, but Elise wouldn't be the first to apologize and Holden was too stubborn. So instead, Elise extended an extra wrist guard she stole from the store. "Truce?"

He looked down at the guard, then up to Elise's brown eyes. Which weren't so scary when she wasn't threatening to kill him. "Truce."

Steve cleared his throat. "Did you guys wannna grab a guitar and sing Hey Jude together, or can we get the fuck out of here?"

"Right! Yes, let's move!" Holden said. Elise shook her head in spite of herself and avoided Meagan's giant grin from across the room. So he wasn't so horrible or stupid. Fine.

"He still shot at my cat," she muttered.