"Hey, try steering," I yelled.
We backed up and took off again. We picked up speed. Enough to pull away from the guard, but when I looked back, he was still jogging after us.
"He's going to have a heart attack," I said.
"Which way?"
"What?"
"Which way?"
I turned around to face forward. We had reached a "T" corner. "Right!" I yelled. Naturally, Marco turned left. I nearly fell out.
Almost immediately, we reached another corner. This time Marco did choose right. And I did fall out of the cart.
I hit the linoleum and rolled. Then I was up and racing to catch the cart. "What are you doing?" Marco demanded when he saw me. "Quit playing around." I just gave him a dirty look and climbed back in. "I think we lost the guard," Marco said.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking," I said. "Just a few bruises. Maybe a cracked skull. Nothing serious."
"Where do you think we are?"
"I think we are in the longest tunnel I've ever seen," I said. It was more and more like a tunnel now. The floor was still linoleum and the walls were still whitewashed, but the lights were getting more spread out, so you definitely had the feeling you were underground.
"I wonder if they caught the others," Marco said. "Now do you see why it's crazy to think we can beat the Yeerks? I mean, come on: We can barely beat zoo security."
"We haven't beat anyone yet," I said grimly. "Look!"
Way up ahead, there were two guys in brown uniforms.
"Maybe they don't know who we are," Marco suggested. "They might think we're regular employees."
"Maybe. But not if they get a good look at us." I pointed. "There's a turnoff. Take it."
We turned. At the same time, the guards started yelling. The side corridor grew narrow. Too narrow for the golf cart.
"Ditch it!"
I jumped out. Marco jumped after me. We could hear the guards' footsteps as they ran down the main tunnel. These guys were in better shape than the old man. These guys could run.
The corridor ended abruptly. There were two doors, one a little to the left, one a little farther to the right. They were labeled P-201 and P-203. No help at all.
"Pick a door," Marco said.
I took a deep breath, "Door number one." I opened P-201. A blast of fresh air hit me. Sunlight blinded me. I blinked, trying to get my eyes to adjust.
The rhinoceros blinked, too.
"Ahhhh!" I yelled.
"Ahhhh!" Marco yelled.
We jumped back and slammed the door.
"Wrong door!" Marco said.
"Definitely wrong!" I agreed.
"Hey, you kids! Stop right there!"
The guards were just at the end of the corridor. "Gotta try door number two!" I said. "Do it!"
We opened the door and ran through.
There were trees all around us. Trees and grass. We were in the shade. Sunlight filtered down through the leaves. Just ahead the bushes gave way to open grass.
"Where are we?" Marco asked.
"Like I know?"
We worked our way through some bushes, keeping a careful eye out in all directions. We didn't see any animals. Just some birds up in the trees.
"Hey, there are people!" Marco said. He dropped down behind a bush and pointed.
There were people lined up behind a railing. They were high up. Or else we were low down. I parted the bushes to get a better look. The people were leaning against a railing at the top of a high concrete wall. They couldn't see us because of the bushes. But they were definitely all staring at something.
"We're definitely in one of the habitats," I said. "Those are people looking at… at whatever is in here with us. I'm just hoping it isn't that rhino. That thing was way too big."
"How do we get out of here?"
"I don't know, let's just get away from the door. Those guards will be coming after us any second." But, you know, in the back of my mind I was thinking, Hmm, why haven't those guards come after us yet?
Marco and I crawled through the bushes and around the bases of the big trees. We reached a corner of the wall, hidden from all the people above.
"That is an awfully high wall," Marco observed. "That's got to be thirty feet high. This is not good. That wall is high for a reason. There's something in here that they don't want to escape."
I scanned the wall. There was a steel ladder set into the concrete about fifty yards away. "I guess that's the only way out."
"Let me ask you something," Marco said. "Why haven't the guards come after us? I mean, if this was, like, the deer and antelope exhibit, they'd come right in, wouldn't they?"
"We have to think, not panic," I said. "I am trying not to think about why the guards didn't come in here." I moved back into the shadows of the bushes. "Besides, maybe there's nothing in here at all."
I squatted down on my haunches.
My butt touched something warm.
I had a terrible feeling right at that moment. I looked up and saw Marco. Normally, Marco has kind of a dark, tanned face. But his face was white. And his eyes were very large.
"Marco," I said, very slowly and very quietly, "is there something behind me?"
He nodded.
"What is it, Marco?"
"Um… Jake? It's a tiger."
CHAPTER 20
A male Siberian tiger, to be exact. Ten feet long. Seven hundred pounds of deadly speed and unbelievable power.
You know those old Tarzan movies you see on TV sometimes, where Tarzan is wrestling a tiger? And actually winning? Let me tell you something. You want to know what your chances are of wrestling a tiger and coming out alive? They're about the same as your chances of jumping off the Empire State Building and surviving.
"I have an idea," Marco said shakily. "Let's leave."
"Don't run," I said. "It might just get his attention."
"I think he's noticed us," Marco said. "I think he knows we're here, Jake. I think he's looking right at us! Look at his teeth!"
"Don't freak! I have an idea. The morphing. If I acquire him, it'll put him in a trance."
"Acquire? Acquire what? You can't acquire anything about him. He's the acquirer, and you're the acquiree. He's going to acquire your butt for dinner! He's going to acquire you and spit out the bones."
I swallowed hard. I tried to touch the tiger, but my hand was shaking too much. I took a couple of deep breaths. I heard somewhere that's supposed to calm you down, I guess it works. Unless you're practically sitting on a tiger. Then absolutely nothing calms you down.
"Nice tiger," I whispered.
He just watched me. He had this lazy "who cares?" look. This look of total, complete, absolute confidence. Almost like he thought I was funny. Like maybe he enjoyed watching me shiver and shake.
"Please don't kill me," I said.
"Don't kill me, either," Marco added.
I reached my shaking hand toward the tiger. His eyes followed my hand, I touched his flank. It rose and fell with his breathing.
"Concentrate," Marco whispered.
I was already concentrating real hard on the tiger. I was concentrating on his teeth, I was concentrating on the rippling muscles under his pale orange and black pelt. I was totally concentrating on the fact that he could swing that big, massive paw of his and send my head flying across the grass like a soccer ball.
Then the tiger's breathing slowed. His eyes fluttered a little and slowly closed. "How long does the trance last?" Marco whispered.
"Well, about ten seconds after you break contact. That's what it was with Homer."
"Ten seconds? Ten seconds?"
"Yeah. So be ready to run."
"I've been ready to run!"
I started to pull away, but then I hesitated. It was a strange moment, because right then I realized what I was doing. It hit me. This tiger was becoming part of me. All that power and confidence was becoming part of me.
"He's beautiful, isn't he?" I said.