Jack leaned up against the tree as the wind howled down the empty road. His cigarette trembled, the only light in the darkness, and the trees shivered beneath a moonless sky. His head pounded from his fight with Laura. You don't care about me. You never loved me. Why do you even bother coming home? She fought like a woman.

With each drag in, and each exhale, he counted backwards, wading back in time.

Three. Her dress on the floor.

Two. Lipstick smudges on a whisky glass.

One.

A pair of headlights turned the corner, and Jack gave a faint smile as the red Ford Mustang pulled into the empty parking lot. For the first time that night he pushed Laura out of his mind and smiled.

A beautiful car for an ugly man.

"Sh-it, Jack, you knew I was leaving tomorrow to go huntin. What's so important?" Tommy stepped heavily out of his car, and slammed the door behind him. He had once been a brute of a man, but now he was swollen, like a carcass left out to rot in the sun.

Somewhere in the distance a howling noise rose, haunting and terrible. Both of the men paused, and Tommy reached from the gun that usually set at his hip. But it wasn't there tonight. He was off duty.

"Sorry Tommy, need your help tonight," Jack said when the howling died away, and only the moan of the wind remained. "Something's been breaking into the cages, killing the animals. Could use a second set of eyes." Jack took a final drag on the cigarette and flicked it aside.

Once Tommy would have criticized Jack for smoking, but now he only said, "Sure, Jack. Anything for you."

Anything for you. The words burned between them like the dying cigarette on the ground. Had it really only been a year ago that Jack had traded handcuffs and pistols for a flashlight and bucket of meat? Unlike Tommy, in his deep blue police jacket, Jack's clothes stank of alcohol and smoke. The only clean piece of clothing he wore was the green jacket stamped with the cheezy Zoo logo.

They stood silent, watching each other. No handshake. No embrace.

"Let's go then." Jack turned and strode up the gravel drive. After a moment he heard the steady crunch, crunch, crunch as Tommy followed. A groaning howl filled the night again.

"What's that?" Tommy walked faster, and glanced up at the barren, twisted limbs of the trees. The last few leaves of fall hung on, limp and listing, like a dead man swinging from the noose.

"Hyenas." Jack's voice was soft.

"No shit? That'd be a hell of a thing to hunt. They smart?"

Jack paused at the gate. Tommy had hunted all his life, but Jack knew more about the animals here. "Some people think they're smarter than primates. They even lie to each other. If they have a kill they don't want to share, they'll make distress sounds and keep the other's away." The chain-link fence rose up high, disappearing into the darkness. There was an eerie stillness to the grounds, a foreboding that came with the night. Jack worked at the lock and then swung the gate open.

Tommy looked up at the rising fence.

"Don't worry." Jack turned back. "It's the quiet animals that kill the fastest."

Tommy laughed at this, as if Jack had told a great joke. He pushed his way through the gate and declared, "Been years since I've been here!" It was the back entrance to the Zoo, without any of the fanfare of the front. The gravel drive extended to several brick buildings and sheds. In the darkness Jack could just distinguish piles of sand, rocks, and bark.

Jack locked the door behind them. There, at the bottom of the hill, he could just make out the red of the Mustang. He was the only night guardsmen on tonight, and he held the only set of keys. No one would come or go without him knowing.

They passed by a carousel that carried kids up and down on colorfully painted ponies on the warm days at the Zoo. The garish smiling faces of the horses were eerie, as if they might come alive any moment.
"Kitchen's over here," Jack broke the silence, and motioned for Tommy to follow. "I'll show you what we're looking for. Got a few beers too."

Tommy perked up at the mention of beer. The lights of the kitchen shown in the darkness like a beacon, and Tommy smiled, his stride larger and more confident as they entered.

Inside the kitchen was warm and humid, heavy with the scents of plants. It was square, with sturdy granite counters that lined three sides of the room.. One counter consisted solely of a pyramid of upside down red buckets. Tommy twisted his head sideways and read them aloud.

"Aldabra tortoise, Spider monkeys, Boar, Crocodile, Chevrotain," Tommy laughed, his whole belly flapping. "Sh-it, Jack, what's a Chevrotain?"

Jack traced his fingers over the handles of the many knives, all sharpened and put away for the night. "It's a little deer thing."

"Maybe I shoulda gone hunting here." Tommy pulled open one of the two industrial sized refrigerators set in the wall. A blast of cold air swirled out around him. He stepped inside and rustled in one of the bags on the wall. Then he laughed aloud.

Jack drummed his fingers on the counter, annoyed, before he stepped closer. "What?"

"Look at these!" Tommy uncurled his fingers, to reveal a handful of pink frozen bodies, twisted in on themselves.

"They're for the animals," Jack said with distaste and took a step back from the tiny bodies of the mice.

"They're so little and pink. Wonder what else they have in here?" Tommy gazed at the freezers shelves filled with boxes and metal containers.

"Can we look later? I'll get fired if any more animals die tonight."

Tommy winced. "Sure, sure. Anything for you, Jack."

There was only one other room on the way back to the breakroom. It had a single steel counter, and a drain at the bottom. It reeked of blood and the floors and wall were still wet from being rinsed down.

"What's this room?" Tommy asked as he stuck his head inside and them wrinkled his nose up.

"Butchery. For the large carnivores. We cut up a bunch of meat."

"You feed any of em?"

"Sometimes. At the beginning and end of my shift."

Tommy pulled his head back.

Jack led the way to the break-room, and Tommy insisted on drinking three beers while Jack filled him in the nighttime killings.

"Strange killings, all of them," Jack said. "Some birds, some rodents, one fox. A few days ago a binturong. Whatever it is, it's getting more aggressive. And more confident."

"Anything linking them together?"

Jack paused, rolling his cigarette between his fingers. "Only that they all occurred at night."

"Strange," Tommy agreed.

They were silent for a moment, the only noise the wind howling outside.

"You're a hunter, so I thought you could help." Jack shrugged.

"Of course, of course."

Neither of them made any move to get up. Jack fished out another cigarette while Tommy drank, both lost in thought. Though Jack could have used the rush of warmth from the alcohol, Laura's ugly words kept him from partaking. All you ever want to do is drink and screw. Instead he lit his cigarette and took a deep drag.

It almost felt like old times.

Finally two long beams of light ripped through the darkness as they started through the night. Tommy swung his flashlight back and forth, like a child exploring. They walked through the Zoo, until suddenly two eyes glowed before Tommy's light. Tommy jumped and swung the light back to the trail.

"Holy hell, what was that?" Tommy's voice was too loud, expanding like his body did to fill all possible space.

Jack's hands twitched.

Three. Blood in the sink.

Two. Red water as it swirled down the drain.

One.

"Jack, you hear me? I saw something...." Tommy stood there, staring out at the eyes in the darkness, now faint reflections. His breath came heavy and fast. Jack always hated that he could hear Tommy breathing.

"Somethin wrong, Jack?"

Jack ran his hands over the back of his neck. Laura had said the same thing last night. Somethin wrong with you, Jack. Somethin wrong.

"It's just one of the cats watching us." Jack's fingers ached. He wanted another cigarette. "Lets keep going."

Tommy stopped and shown his light directly at the cage. It lit a black panther, with golden eyes that reflected the light. The cat froze for a moment, as if the light had paralyzed him, and then slunk away into the darkness.

"Sh-it. Can you imagine hunting something like that?"

"You wouldn't. It would hunt you. That thing can jump twenty feet."

"My rifle can shoot farther than that."

"If you can see it. They hide up in trees, and then jump down on their prey. Go straight for the jugular."

"Still think I could shoot it. Then I'd get it stuffed. Or turned into a rug, put it right in front of my fireplace." Tommy laughed, a noise at odds with darkness. "Sh-it, I don't even have a fireplace, but I'd get one for that monster!"

Jack said nothing, and they continued walking through the night, strange noises rising up all around them. Even after almost a year of walking these trails by himself at night, it was still eerie. Reflective eyes watched them both as they walked, but this time Tommy kept his flashlight on the ground.

"Ain't there anything in this place I could hunt?" Tommy asked, trying to fill the silence with conversation.

"We've got some goats in the petting zoo."

Tommy snorted. "I'm mean something dangerous. Something big." Jack sighed and wished he would just be quiet.

"We've got a polar bear. Some wild boars too. They'll eat a person whole, I've seen it in the news before. Mobsters feed their enemies to pigs. Nothing left for the cops to find."

But Jack didn't get to hear how Tommy would kill a wild boar, because his light lit on something horrible. Something farther up on the path.

Something matted and bloody.

"Tommy..." Jack pointed a single, shaking finger. "Look."

Tommy spun his light to meet his. A mangled heap of fur and flesh lay in the center of the path ahead. Around them the wind howled through the trees, the two lone beams of light the only thing to break through the darkness.

For a moment both Tommy and Jack's lights were fixed on the same spot, and Jack remembered what it had been like when they'd first worked together, when they'd first been friends. They'd made a living finding monsters. Back then it was simple, he would count backwards, as if he could wade back through all the mangled bodies, bloodstains and broken homes. He'd count backwards, leaving behind whatever humanity still remained inside himself.

Three. Sweat on the nape of her neck, a deep sigh.

Two. An empty bottle of wine, brown flowers, a cheap hotel room.

One.

Then Jack walked closer, the mangled animal growing, until he stood over it.

"I think it's a coyote," Tommy said as he crouched next to the form. Tommy shone his light on the head, the only distinguishable part of the body. It's eyes were glazed, it's neck twisted at an odd angle, but they could still make out the white teeth and canine head. It's body had been shredded, mangled, so that the blood and fur and gore were impossible to distinguish.

"What happened to it?" Tommy asked.

Jack could only shake his head. "I don't know." Jack spun his light up from the carcass, and out into the darkness patterned in the cages and trees around him. No moon lit up the night. There were no other humans at the Zoo. Eyes watched him in the darkness, but they offered no help or judgement.

They were alone.

"All I know," Jack said, "Is if we don't find whatever did this, it's over for me."

Laura's words came to his mind suddenly, like a slap to the face. It's over for us, Jack. It's over. Deep within the darkness, an animal howled.

"Jack, look..."

Jack swung his light to the ground in front of Tommy.

Blood.

Long streaks of blood, like the coyote's carcass had been dragged across the cement. Jack opened his eyes, and his flashlight swung up and away from Tommy's, slicing through the night. The blood trail slithered away from them.

"What do you think killed it?" Tommy said.

"Some kind of animal." Jack crouched to look at the blood. It was brown, drying, but parts of it still a bright red.

"Aren't they all locked up?"

Jack swung his light up into Tommy's face. "Guess we better go find out."

Together they followed the trail of blood, until finally it disappeared at a split in the path. One of the paths snaked down, deeper in the forested part of the Zoo, while the other climbed up the hill. They stood for a moment, shining their lights up and down each path, but the blood trail was gone.

"Maybe we should go back to the coyote carcass," Tommy said. The hair on his neck stood on end. "If it dragged it there, then maybe we're going the wrong way."

"No, we split up." Jack said firmly.

"Jack, come on, I don't know this Zoo like you do." His voice was almost whiny now. Jack heard the fear, but refused to acknowledge it. Something fear-like burned hot in Jack's stomach, twisting his bile, making him feel both alive and afraid.

"We split up. You take the low path, I'll take the higher one."

"Jack....."

Jack turned his light up to Tommy's face. It lit his doughy skin and double chin, and Jack saw the surprise reflected there. It was the same ugly surprise he'd seen in Laura's eyes when he'd finally accused her and seen the truth.

"Take the low path. You owe me this, Tommy. Or do you want to cost me another job?" Tommy held up his hand, shielding the light.

"Course not, Jack." Jack felt a sick satisfaction at the shame in Tommy's voice.

"I'll meet you at the end, they join back up. Yell if you find something." Jack strode up the higher path. Tommy took several deep breaths, and looked over his shoulder twice before he started down the new path. It seemed to get colder as he walked, and Tommy could hear the sounds of running water in the distance.

There was a crack somewhere in the forest and Tommy spun his light all around him.

"Jack? Jack, that you?"

No answer.

He kept walking, passing cages that held animals of sorts he'd never seen before. Some looked out at him, eyes in the darkness. Somehow their presence made him feel more alone.

No one here to help him. No back up.

No one to hear him scream.

He pushed the dark thoughts aside and walked faster.

Finally the paths met up again. He waited, swinging his light back and forth, but there was no sign of Jack. Minutes passed.

"Jack? Jack, this isn't funny man."

A low moan, or maybe just the wind, wound through the darkness. Tommy felt his lungs contract. A sweat covered his brow though the night was cold. His light trembled.

"Jack..." he whispered. He began to walk down the path. The flashlight traced the ground, back and forth.

But it wasn't on the ground.

A terrible snarl broke the night, and something huge fell from the trees, smashing Tommy to the ground. He screamed as his arm snapped, and his flashlight spun away into the darkness.

The creature was everywhere, fighting and clawing at him, and he screamed out into the night.

"JACK!! JACK!! HELP!"

He clawed across the ground, just able to make out the flashlight and it's beam glowing between the roots of a tree. He heaved upward, throwing the creature for a moment, just enough time to grab the flashlight and turn the light to look up at---

Jack.

The moment of shock, the hesitation, was all the time Jack needed. Tommy felt the fingers, not claws, close around his throat.

"Did you sleep with her?" Jack spat at him.

Tommy gazed up at him, tears of shock and horror in his eyes. He couldn't answer, couldn't make any sound, and he began to thrash back and forth, tearing at Jack's fingers with his one good remaining hand. Jack watched him with an animalistic hate. Already Tommy's face turned red. Red like the coyote Jack had mutilated in the sink, red, the blood trail as Jack had dragged its body across the ground.

Tommy's eyes bulged, his tongue flicked out like a snake trying to escape from his hole, but Jack finger's only tightened. The animal inside grew larger and stronger, and for the first time, he didn't have to countdown to find it.

***

The bloody sunrise greeted Jack, and he finished raking up the entryway just as one of the Zookeepers, Gus, swung open the front gate.

"Morning Jack."

"Morning."

Gus held a cup of coffee in one hand, and the wore the same green jacket as Jack. He rarely stopped moving, but he did now as dropped his voice.

"Listen, Jack, I really appreciate you helping me feed the animals on the days I leave early. You've probably saved my marriage."

Jack smiled as he pulled out a cigarette.

"It's no problem. We got an extra shipment of food so I already fed the boars." Jack flicked at his lighter. His fingers were cold and clumsy, and the spark refused to catch.

"Well thanks. I appreciate it."

"It's no problem."

"You're a good guy, Jack. You need anything, you just let me know."

They stood for a moment in the cold dawn, the morning noises and colors of the Zoo growing around them. One of the baboons stretched and climbed out into the outside enclosure, staring directly at Jack with such concentration that Jack had to look away.

"So, any of these monsters ever escape?" Jack made a wide sweeping motion to the rest of the Zoo, and the end of the cigarette glowed bright.

"Only monsters here come and go everyday." Gus laughed, and slapped Jack on the back as he left him by the entryway and strode deeper into the Zoo.

Jack smiled, took a long drag, and then flicked his unfinished cigarette at the baboon that still stared at him. He decided after he left Tommy's car in the mountains, he would buy Laura some flowers and take her on a date.

Maybe to the Zoo.