Seven

Frankie was brought out of his sleep by the sound of Dylan thumping down the stairs. He looked furious.

“Frankie, did Michael take my car?” Adelina was close behind him.

“Um. Yes.” Frankie couldn’t help himself; Dylan’s face was scary.

“Why?" Dylan pointed at Frankie as he yelled. "Where’d he go? He better not damage it.”

“He wants to save that caveman guy. I have no idea where he’s going though. He didn’t tell me anything.”

“Shit!” Dylan picked up a cushion and pegged it at the wall. “Sorry. I don’t want him getting himself killed. He’s being so stupid.”

“What do we do?” Adelina asked.

“I’ll take my old bike and go down to the police station. Hopefully, I can get Seth on it, and he doesn’t tell mum this ever happened.”

***

Michael pulled up at the local zoo and adrenaline surged through his body when he heard the cacophonous uproar that rolled around like thunder.

He climbed up a large tree that grew close to the wall, jumped in and rolled his ankle.

“Where would you go? Lions or elephants?” Michael pulled out a coin and flipped. “Elephants it is.”

After getting lost for a few minutes and getting scared by some monkeys, Michael found the elephant enclosure. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed a large fire crackled and danced in the middle of the island.

Michael clambered down the enclosure and silently approached the flames. He was thankful for the nightfall, as it did well to hide the gore of the two elephant carcasses that lay near the fire.

He could see the caveman on the far side of the flames. He ripped into a hunk of meat and locked eyes with Michael. He growled.

“Wait. Wait. I’m not here to hurt you. What am I saying? You can’t understand me.” Michael stepped into the light with his hands out. The caveman grunted.

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“I bet you’re scared, huh. I’ve got something for you. Here.” Michael pulled out a large bar of chocolate and unwrapped it. He took a small bite, then held it out.

The caveman lumbered around the fire and approached Michael. He leaned in close and sniffed the chocolate. Without warning, he snapped his teeth shut on the chocolate and went to town.

“Its good stuff, yeah?” A flashlight shone in Michael's eyes before he could see the caveman's response.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Michael’s eyes adjusted and he saw it was a security guard. “This that same one that’s been doing those killings the last few hours?” The security guard jumped down and slowly walked into the light. His limbs looked too long for the rest of his body, and a nasty scar ran over his left eye.

“What if it was?” Michael asked. The caveman noticed his gun and ran back around the fire.

“How did?” The security guard had just taken note of the elephant carcasses. “The fuck? Oh man, they ain’t gonna be happy bout this.”

“He’s just trying to survive,” snapped Michael.

“Hey, Bruce. Get the cops here, pronto. We’ve got ourselves a killer in the elephant enclosure. There’s a kid here too, and he’s in danger.”

“I’m not in danger," snapped Michael.

“Look, I don’t mean to be rude or anything. But he’s killed two elephants and a bunch of people. I can’t just let him go free.”

“Please, he’s just scared. He’s a caveman.”

The security guard burst out laughing. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“No, I’m not. Look at him.” Michael turned and beckoned for the caveman to rejoin him. The caveman slowly walked back, this time with his giant stone axe.

“Whoa. You don’t see that every day. The cops are on their way now. We’ll see what they have to say. If he doesn’t make any sudden movement, I won’t shoot him.”

***

Seth and Jane stood in the parking lot of the meat processing factory while the professors stayed in the car.

It smelt disgusting and was absolutely dead quiet.

“Well, you didn’t get it right this time honey. Where to next?” There was something about Seth's constant positivity that always brought a smile to Jane’s face.

“I don’t know, but we’ve gotta be quick. I feel like each passing hour brings him closer to death by someone else’s hands.”

“Hey, Seth, your radio is going off,” said Sanada.

“We need any available unit to respond. There’s been a call from the local zoo. They believe the killer is there, and that there is a child in danger. Recommended for two or three cars.” The voice on the radio was short and quick.

“Uhm, yup. Officer Kipp here. I’m on my way," replied Seth. He turned to the others and said quietly. "We’ve gotta get going. We’re not that close.”

“Officer Kipp, we’ve got a message for you from the station.”

“Yup?”

“From a Dylan Craig. That’s Jane’s boy, right?”

“Sure is.” Seth and Jane shot each other a look. He put his finger on his lips.

“He wanted to let you know that his brother Michael is missing. And so is his car. I said we had to send out a search party, we couldn’t just ignore the message.”

“All good. Hopefully that rascal hasn’t gone too far. Over and out.”

“Michael took Dylan’s car? What on earth is going on?” Jane cried out. Seth put his hand on hers.

“Its going to be okay. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for this.”

“I’m gonna kill those boys when I get home!” A thought suddenly dawned on Jane. “The kid at the zoo is Michael!”