Chapter 4

The moment I saw who it was, the tears broke loose all at once.

It was my father. But I didn't understand.

"Dad, how did you get here?"

He hurried to my side and pulled out a small knife to cut the rope.

"Silly girl, did you forget? Your cloud storage runs on my account."

"The second you uploaded that video, I got the alert."

"I saw what was on it and drove straight here to get you out."

Only then did I remember. Back when I was starting out and couldn't afford a cloud storage membership, I'd just used my father's.

I never imagined it would save my life at the one moment that mattered.

He steadied me and eased us carefully through the broken hole in the wall, dropping his voice low.

"Don't make a sound. I didn't tip off Arnold or Felicia. We slip out quietly."

I nodded and stayed close behind him.

The water was already up to our calves, and in the grass along the path, several king cobras had slithered out.

Tongues flicking, hissing, the sight of them made my scalp crawl.

We reached the parking lot. My father started the car and got us out fast.

I looked back once at the black shape of the zoo and pressed the remote lock for the main gate on my phone.

Arnold. Felicia. Weren't the two of you the ones so full of love, so devoted to animals?

Then stay right here and find out what a living hell feels like.

Back in the office, Arnold and Felicia were still wrapped up in each other, dreaming aloud about all their happy days to come.

"Arnold, once Josephine's dead, we get married and take everything the Pruitts have."

Felicia nestled against him, her voice sugary.

He held her, smug.

"Mm. That idiot Josephine, I strung her along right into an engagement."

"Once she's gone, I'll play the devoted son to her father for a couple of years, then find a way to finish him off too."

"And the whole Pruitt fortune falls to me, nice and clean."

The two of them, faces fully unmasked now, egged each other on, the talk getting warmer and warmer.

Caught up in it, they even played to the security camera on purpose, whispering and pawing at each other.

With no idea at all that every word, every move, was already being recorded and sent to the cloud.

The rain came down all night, and the water rose like something gone mad.

Early the next morning, Felicia got out of bed at her leisure.

She wandered to the window, sucked in a sharp breath, and screamed.

"Arnold, this is bad, the water's almost up to the office!"

He rushed over, looked out, and his face went to pieces too.

Of the whole zoo, the highest ground was the director's office.

Everywhere else had long since drowned under the rain.

Felicia was still dabbing at fake tears.

"My animal babies, please, please be okay…"

But Arnold didn't praise her tender heart the way he had before. His face had gone bone white.

"Wait. Josephine said yesterday she opened every cage!"

The two of them looked at each other, eyes filled with terror.

They bolted like mad for the storage room and yanked the lock open.

The door had barely swung wide when several dark shapes came at them on a wave of rank, bloody air.

Arnold and Felicia were scared out of their minds, and a shriek tore through the sky.