1. P R E V I O U S L Y : On "ZooPhobia"

CHAPTER III

Cameron slowly opened her eyes halfway, letting out a groggy moan. A strange white light shone down on her, and she could see a wall across from her with a poster that had a smiley face on it. The words "SMILE, It's Almost Over" headlined the poster. "Wh... whuh?" she mumbled.

Footsteps heralded the arrival of another person, and a young blond man with tan skin bent down over Cameron. "You okay, hon?" he asked her.

"Wh-what's going on?" Cameron stammered, struggling to sit up. "Where am I?"

"You're in the nurse's office, my dear!" the man replied soothingly. He turned and began digging around in a cabinet.

"Oh, thank god," Cameron said. She let out a long breath as she rubbed her forehead, wincing. "I just had the worst dream ev—"

She paused when the man straightened up, holding a strange red object that looked frighteningly like a drill in his hand. "Uh... what is that?" Cameron asked, raising a shaking finger to point at the object as her eyes widened in terror.

"WILLIS SAID YOU NEEDED A CHECKUP!!!!" the man suddenly screeched, whirling around. In his other hand, he now held a stuffed unicorn that appeared to have been maimed. "WILLIS IS VERY SMART, YOU KNOW!" the man shrieked, holding the toy to his face and activating the drill.

Cameron's "fight or flight" mechanism kicked in, and she automatically chose the latter, diving between the lunatic's legs and scrambling out of the room as she screamed for help.

Scurrying around the corner, Cameron popped to her feet and prepared to continue her mad dash to freedom when she found her path blocked off by (of all things) a gigantic cheetah.

"Are you feeling better, Miss Walden?" the cheetah asked in a dry tone.

Cameron stared at him, her eye twitching. "No," she said, mostly to herself. She spun around, grabbing her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she ignored the cheetah and the maniac who was singing to himself in the "nurse's office". "Okay! O-kay! Th-th... this is just a big, crazy dream!" she told herself. "Wake up! Wake up, Cameron! Wake up!"

"Wake up!" the maniac sang, giggling.

Cameron squeezed her eyes tighter for a few more seconds and then opened them.

"Are you finished?"

Cameron spun around to find the cheetah staring at her, obviously unamused.

At last, Cameron's shoulders slumped, and her entire body seemed to sag. "Okay," she said, her voice breaking, "I give up. Wh-what's going on?"

The cheetah frowned. "Were you not informed about—"

"About WHAT?" Cameron shouted, throwing up her hands. "Informed about WHAT?!"

"You were not informed about this place before being sent here?" the cheetah asked, undaunted but sounding as if he suspected this was true.

"Sent where?" Cameron cried. "Where am I?!"

-

The cheetah's face took on a saddened expression. So it's true, he thought. My suspicions were correct.

-

Spinning around, the cheetah padded away. "Follow me, miss," he ordered, his tone growing dark.

Cameron hesitated, glancing at the maniac one more time, and then did as the cheetah said.

-