The Zookeeper

Ch. 17: Power of the Pack

Luz felt the world slow down as she found herself being moved to the edge of the habitat, with her girlfriend looking in shock as she reached for her!

"Luz!" Amity shouted as the whole zoo began to panic.

The force of the bullet sent Luz over the fence and into the deep water of the exhibit, knocking her out and leaving her to drown. Odalia grabbed Amity's arm and hit her in the back of the head with the gun.

"Sweet dreams, Amity, just let Mama bring you home."

Amity didn't know who she was hearing but it was definitely not her mother as she was being dragged away from the alligator habitat while she thought Luz was drowning. In the pond, Luz could feel herself starting to drown, unable to do anything about it. She felt the back of her uniform get grabbed and she was brought to the center island. She coughed and spat up water, before looking around.

"T-T-Tank?" She asked, "You... you saved me?"

Standing over her, Tank the largest alligator in the zoo and supposed hater of human, was the one who saved her life. Over the past two weeks since he and his group were brought here, they had been treated with nothing but kindness from Luz and the zoo staff. It was slow but it made him realize that Luz was right, there were good humans in this world.

"I only did it because the others would miss you too much." He said but Luz could tell he was lying.

Luz put a hand on his back.

"Thank you." She said.

"Don't make a big deal out of it." he said, "You should worry more about the wound. I've been shot before, that won't end well without treatment."

"You're... right." Luz said, as the bigger gators lined up for her to walk across.

She held her shoulder and walked along the backs. Some of the on lookers helped her out of the exhibit, stunned at what they just witnessed. Looking around, Luz saw that Amity was gone and that meant only one conclusion. That woman, the one who robbed the gun store two weeks ago, she shot Luz and took Amity!

'I have to find her!' Luz thought as she was escorted to the infirmary of the zoo.

Camila was the first to learn about Luz getting shot, and she was at the infirmary instantly. She may have been a vet, but she had experience with human injuries too, so she wanted to help too!

"Mija!" Camila shouted as she came into the room!

"Mom, I promise this was not my fault." Luz said.

"Of course, it wasn't your fault! There was a crazy shooter in the zoo, I heard it!" Camila said as she rushed to Luz's side, checking her left arm in a sling. "What did the medic say about your arm?"

"He said it would be fine. The bullet went straight through my shoulder with no nerves hit, put I wouldn't be able to move it until about a week." Luz said, "Mom... they... they took Amity."

"What?! But why?!" Camila asked in shock.

"It's not concrete but we think that woman is her birth mother and she wants to take Amity back for some reason." Luz said as she stood up from the exam table. "And we have to find her before this crazy woman does something to her."

"Luz, you're hurt." Camila said.

"And the first person I've been able to be honest with could get worse than me!" Luz argued.

"Fine... but you aren't going alone."

Camila brought Luz to a quarantine pen.

"I'm sure you remember the latest addition to the Zoo." Camila said.

Luz did remember. Several of them were the African Wild Dog pups of the pack she was accepted into, all grown up. Some of them smelt something and looked at Luz.

"Pack Member Luz!"

"Oh, my god, you've gotten so big!" Luz said.

Using her one good arm, Luz hugged them as they licked her and nuzzled her. She was still a member of their pack after all these years, nothing could change that.

"Alright guys, as happy as I am to see you, I need your help." Luz said to them.

"What do you need, Luz?" One asked as they all gave her their attention.

"My girlfriend, aka my mate, has been taken from me and I need your help to find her." Luz said to them, holding her injury.

"Who hurt our pack member!?"

This angered the African Wild Dog pack greatly as it was a crime to hurt a member of the pack! If you mess with one of them, you mess with all of them! Especially if you threaten their mate, ergo a new member of the pack!

"A very bad woman. You will know once we find her." Luz said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her apartment key. "This belong to my mate 2 weeks before she gave it to me. It should be rich with her scent. We can use this to find her."

They started sniffing it and started jumping, ready to hunt this evil woman down.

"We're ready! Let's us at her!" They shouted, barking to how normal people.

"Alright boys, let's go!" Luz said with a determined grin.

Luz was about to when a pup patted her foot.

"Aw, you're so cute." Luz said, "Sorry, little one, you need to stay here with your mama."

The mom, walked over, one of the other pack members that was a pup when Luz joined the pack and the one half of the pack's leading/mating pair, and grabbed the pup.

"Leave, your aunt Luz alone, she trying to save her mate." She said, "I'm sure she'll give you lots of cuddles when she gets back."

"Promise?" The pup asked.

"Absolutely. And my mate will too, she just adores puppies." Luz said as she petted the pup's head.

The several dogs and Luz ran into the woods nearby, catching the scent that way.

'Hang on, Amity. We're coming to save you!' Luz thought as she managed to keep up with her back, her broken left arm doing nothing to slow her down!