Chapter 38:

Welcome to the Concrete Menagerie

(Outdated) Simular Beings


Bread wanted to go outside. Not just any outside. He wanted to go somewhere new! Like a beach or the city… Somewhere. Just anywhere else!

All he saw here was dirt. Dirt, asphalt, cement, junk… It was all either broken or decomposing. After looking at the same background for days, he wanted a change of pace. Something to light a new interest in him.

“Can I go outside?”

“Yeah, just go walk out the door.” Val munched away on a thinly sliced avocado pizza. “Outside. Bright and sunny. Hot and humid. Yuck.” She continued watching a boxing match on her phone without ever batting an eye.

“No, I want to go outside outside!”

Outside outside?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah! I want to go somewhere new!”

“New, huh?” She wiped her mouth clean with her free hand. “Coach, is there anything fun happening around here today?”

“What?” Coach poked his head out from the backroom. It looked like he was welding something. He had a face shield on. “I didn’t hear ya!”

“I said, is there any fun place for the kid to go?!” she yelled.

“Oh, well why didn’t ya say so?”

“I—forget it. Just tell me what you know.”

“Heard there’s a traveling carnival in town for the next four days. Why don’t you take the lad out on a little field trip?”

“Yay!” Bread cheered.

“Aren’t you coming with?” she asked.

“Me? Ah, I’m too old for that.”

“Come with us, Coach!” Bread urged. “It’ll be fun!” He jumped up in the air from all the excitement. That pent up boredom and frustration was going to be no more! He had a body, he was in the real world, and now, he was going to be free to explore!

Val sighed. “Oh, youthful energy. How I don’t miss it at all.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll come,” Coach answered. “Just after I finish this…” He went back to the backroom; sparks flew from beneath the door.

“How long will he take?”

“Oh, probably a few hours.” She ruffled his hair with her greasy hands. “We’ll get there. Night probably looks a lot better anyways. And less sticky.” She chomped down on another pizza slice before her gaze fell back on her phone.

Bread never got the chance to ride the attractions at the carnival. He fainted on the spot after having ridden the Ferris wheel. The three of them sat around an empty and watched the fireworks bursting into a million dandelion flames.

“The lad’s got motion sickness,” Coach said. “I ain’t even sure how, but I’ll say that body of mine is darn realistic!”

“Shut up, Coach.” Val shifted her attention. “Are you okay, Bread?” she asked. “You feeling any better?”

He nodded. The attractions were one thing, but watching all the people and smelling all those sweet, sugary snacks around him sure felt nice…

No!

He slapped himself awake. This wasn’t the time to be watching people! What was he doing feeling satisfied? Just because he was succumbing to mere motion sickness? He hadn’t even ridden the popular zero gravity roller coaster ride! This was just the beginning. He had to experience the world! He had to ride everything that the carnival had to offer.

Bread promptly popped up from his seat. He wasn’t going to stand around like this! He took a few bold steps, but immediately, he started to see twos of everything. He felt so dizzy…

“Whoa.” Val caught him before he smacked face-first into the mulchy earth. She pulled him back against the bench. “Slow down there, kiddo.”

“Lad’s determined.” Coach let out a hearty laugh. “Maybe with a larger body, I could make you into a better boxer than Val!”

“Yeah, right—I mean, well, I’m not saying you can’t. But you won’t beat me that easily!”

“That’s your ego talking, lass. That’s why you lost to Long Arms.”

“Wha—where did that come from?” Her expression lit ablaze. “It was a joke! Can you please stop bringing that up?”

“I’m just giving you advice for later, Val. Get rid of that ego of yours and be wary of your opponent.”

She groaned. Her gaze instead fell to Bread. “Okay, how ‘bout we try the petting zoo first?” She looked for affirmation. “Then we can see if you’re ready for any of the rides.”

He liked that idea. He could experience the best of both worlds!

Coach hopped off the bench. “You lot can do what you want. I’m watching the meerkats. They make me feel so tall.” He then strolled off into the dark.

“Well?” She smiled. “Shall we?” She held out her arm.

Bread gingerly grabbed her hand.

“Why don’t we go check out the lions? Heard they’re nearly extinct.”

“They’re all docile creatures,” the zookeeper said. “Especially the Nemean lion that we’ve successfully recreated through documentations of old lore and fantasy! We’ve made sure that he was well modified, so you’re all welcome to touch him!” She said this while feeding a large chunk of bloody, red meat to the massive, menacing creature. It ripped through the meat like a chew toy.

Do lions come from dandelions?

The thought unexpectedly crossed Bread’s mind. The name was embedded inside. Surely that meant they were somehow related. They were both kind of yellow, had large furry manes of sorts, and looked like the sun when seen from the front… Or were those just sunflowers? Clearly those were related to the sun. But sunflowers didn’t have ‘lion’ in its name.

A small girl trotted over to the back of the lion. She curiously stared at his behind as if it were more interesting than the front.

Bread didn’t get it. What was so great about his butt?

But while admiring the fur on his hind legs, she haphazardly pulled at his tail. The lion suddenly roared so loud the earth beneath them vibrated. Everyone quickly backed away in terror. The girl fell to the ground, frozen from fear.

Breaking free from the zookeeper’s hold, the lion then turned to face the girl cowering on the grassy turf. His sharp teeth were bared, dripping saliva like melted butter. A low growl gurgled within his throat. And as he prepared to pounce on his newfound snack, Bread’s instincts suddenly kicked into overdrive.

He pushed the girl aside and raised his arms in defense.

The lion leaped onto Bread, and the two went tumbling to the ground. His teeth tangled with Bread’s synthetic arms.

“Bread!” Val instantly sprung into action and landed a strong punch to the lion’s snout, but he simply roared and struck her aside with a single slap of his colossal paw.

The monstrous beast now had him pinned down to the earth; saliva poured onto his face as the lion’s hot breath steamed up the air with whiffs of old, putrid blood. The creature hovered above him, peering down as if in contempt; nostrils flared in fury. And as his teeth edged closer to his neck, Bread started to question his instincts—

He was going to die. Why did he jump in? He wasn’t strong. He wasn’t even big. He could’ve just let somebody else handle it. Why…

His arms started to tingle. Small sparks sputtered out in webs, and static discharged into the air around him. The fur on the animal’s paws slowly rose upwards towards the sky.

Bread could suddenly taste iron in his mouth. He recalled himself being packed into a cramped, glass cage. He clawed at the sides; he tried to get out. But the clear walls didn’t budge.

He was trapped. It was painful, stressful. The zookeepers whipped him to shreds. It was excruciating. It was so agonizing… Then all of a sudden—

An explosion of electricity from his fingertips.