CHAPTER 5 The Name Tag Read "HENRY"... But the Man Wearing It Had Been Dead for Twenty Years
No one spoke.
No one even blinked.
The figure stood motionless beneath the flashing red emergency lights, its face hidden beneath the shadow of an old keeper's cap.
But the uniform...
Henry recognized every stitch.
Every faded patch.
Every stain.
It was the exact design the zoo had retired more than two decades ago.
His heart pounded.
"That uniform..." he whispered.
"I wore it on my last rescue mission."
The silhouette tilted its head.
Then, in a voice almost identical to Henry's own, it said,
"You left him."
A cold shiver raced through Henry's body.
"No..."
"I never left Max."
The figure took another slow step.
Its movements were unnatural, almost as if every joint had to remember how to bend.
The security guards raised their tranquilizer rifles.
"Don't move!"
The stranger ignored them.
Instead, it kept staring at Henry.
"You promised..."
"...you would never leave."
Henry's knees nearly gave out.
Those were his own words.
The exact words he had whispered to baby Max during countless sleepless nights.
No one else had been there.
No one else could have known.
Behind the barrier, Max let out a deep, mournful rumble.
It wasn't directed at the figure.
It was directed at Henry.
As if begging him not to believe what he was seeing.
Suddenly, the maintenance worker cried out.
"I've seen it before!"
Everyone turned toward him.
"It doesn't have a face."
"What?"
"It changes."
"It becomes whoever you're willing to trust."
Silence.
The old worker wiped blood from his forehead.
"It almost looked like my son when I followed it."
"I only escaped because I stopped looking at its face."
Henry slowly lowered his gaze.
He stared instead at the figure's boots.
They were wrong.
The left boot was on the right foot.
The right boot was on the left.
Every detail of the uniform was perfect...
Except for the things no photograph could teach.
The figure smiled.
Its lips stretched wider than any human smile should.
"You noticed."
Without warning—
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the hallway.
Then came the screams.
Someone fired a tranquilizer dart.
Someone else fell.
Metal crashed against concrete.
Henry reached desperately for the enclosure.
"Max!"
A massive hand found his shoulder.
For one brief second, relief washed over him.
Then he heard Max roar from the opposite side of the room.
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If Max was over there...
Whose hand was resting on his shoulder?
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