A work of fiction:
Short story, based on a popular novel and Hit TV series
© 2017 by 45Mike
- ZOO
The Age of freedom began suddenly, without warning.
The fires began almost simultaneously all over the world. In the cities and towns, isolated farms and overpopulated suburban areas the animals hampered all our efforts to control the blazes.
The attacks were very well organized. In less than a week the human population was cut down to one third the previous number.
Just over a month later only ten percent of the people had survived. Within a year more than ninety-nine percent of the species Homo-sapiens had been eliminated in various ways.
In contrast, the casualty rate for the attacking animals ranged from zero to ten percent in most areas of the world. The heaviest animal casualties were surprisingly not from successful military counter attacks, (there were none), but from civilian individuals who had been living close to the land and knew enough of natures law and habitat to mount ingenious attacks and defenses. Some few of these hardy individuals were allowed to survive, though were kept under strict surveillance.
All of the surviving humans now speak animal, man-talk is not used. I believe, (because they tell me), that now, ten years later, I am the only human left on earth that can read and write. I am less than thirty years old. I am also the oldest human alive. They keep me as if I were a zoo specimen though they allow me the freedom to roam as I wish, and many of the civilized comforts that I was accustomed to before the war. I even have a motorcycle.
I remember when I was growing up, that when the wolfpacks of riders would rumble and roar through town, my whole being yearned for that freedom and excitement.
They tell me that the war could have been prevented if men had kept their end of the promise.
Ah, “the promise”. I learned of mans betrayal of the animals three days before the start of the war.
I didn’t know why they let me hear their conference. I didn’t even know how I heard the conference. I mean that I had never understood animal talk before that day. They said that I was not special, merely convenient, but that a human should be allowed to represent our species, hear their grievances and make some defense.
“Yeah, uh-huh, Right”.
At sixteen years old I had no experience as a defense council in a criminal case. But I tried.
I had run away from home. A silly argument with my father had turned into a raging physical battle. All I had wanted to do was drive the car into town and pal around with some of the guys. We had been having a running argument about the gasoline and how much it cost him for me to “cruise” around town.
I had no job. I had meant to get a paper route, using the car of course, but had never actually made the attempt.
Naturally my father interjected this bit of datum into the argument. He then informed me that I could not only buy gas for the car but insurance, repairs, clothes, food and rent.
Otherwise I could leave.
As he had by then hit me several times and thrown me against the wall, pinning me, his face an inch from mine with gasping rage and spit foaming down his chin,
I left.
I cried.
I had taken a change of clothes and a couple of sandwiches in a day pack I had received from my grandparents on my moms side. The sandwiches were gone in two hours. I had hitched a ride just outside of town that took me over Greens Pass, but I had not gotten a ride since. It was getting late in the day and there I was in the middle of the wilderness on a back country road.
I had hoped to make it to the Interstate by night and from there to Thomasville where my Moms folks lived.
As I lay shivering in the darkness the night sounds were frightening. Perhaps I slept, I don’t know.
I had walked along the road until it was dark then had walked into the forest. That was a mistake. As the false dawn arrived I stumbled to my feet and headed for the road. An hour later I was panicked, moving in circles, lost.
As the day warmed I calmed down some and in despair I sat down against a tree and cried myself to sleep.
A wolf woke me up accompanied by a crow and a mouse.
He had clamped his jaws onto my forearm and shook.
Wolves have sharp teeth and powerful jaws.
I thought my arm was broken. Later I looked at it, he had not even broken the skin.
Was I frightened? Well, yes and no.
I had heard him calling me before I woke completely and knew he was a wolf. I knew he was going to wake me with his jaws.
Animal talk is like telepathy, well no, it is telepathy. All animals can communicate this way. A very long time ago humans did too. Then however I was almost the only human to have or use animal talk. I saw and spoke with many animals, many of which I did not even know existed.
I soon learned that although all of the mammals and birds attended the conference, many reptiles, fish and insects did not. Of course all of the animals were not physically present, but many were.
All over the world groups had assembled. Those who could not attend physically did so by animal talk.
The conference began easily enough. I listened to the early history of man, when he lived as an animal, before the promise.
The stories of prehistory were vivid with mental pictures and sounds, as a bonus I got thoughts and emotions as well.
I learned that humans had pretty much been at the middle of the top of the food chain. As omnivores we seemed to do fairly well.
There were many centuries of individual men “discovering” fire, inventing the wheel, lever, pounding and cutting tools. During that time though, there was no organization, no common drive to exploit the knowledge of technology.
The knowledge passed with the death of the individual into oblivion, to reawaken generations later or thousands of miles away.
Animal talk, you might think, would be the perfect vehicle for passing knowledge of technology to others. Well, actually it is. But only if the one with the knowledge wants to share it.
Consider, a man with a long sharp stick, he knows that he can gather meat easier with it. But in order to use it most effectively he must keep it a secret. If he tries to tell others of the stick then his prey shall know and stay clear of the danger. Animal talk has a disadvantage, broadcast.
Any creature anywhere can understand it.
As the seasons and years rolled into centuries, some of the technology began to be shared, understood and used by many creatures. Much of it though was useful only to humans. Eventually some of the animals began to resent the ability of men to use tools and weapons.
Many weapons were powerful enough to be used and thought of without secrecy. Humans began, in some areas, to move up the food chain. Predators that had been eating humans were being foiled by technology. Those that had been solitary hunters began moving in packs, humans were forced into tribes as defense. Battles were fought large and small across the earth.
Men, being tenacious and powerful, began winning the battles but losing the war.
Fire, we used fire as a weapon. Soon a large portion of our habitat was destroyed, our fires destroyed not only our enemies but our homes and gardens as well.
Not that we grew or built much of anything but we relied on the forests for food and shelter. The fires destroyed everything, at times we destroyed ourselves. It soon became clear that the situation was unbearable for all species.
A conference was held, much alike as the one that I attended.
At this, the first meeting, it was decided, (by the first democracy, majority consensus), That humans would no longer use fire to war with other animals, that predators would stop hunting humans, placing men at the top of the food chain. In return men would develop and use technology to benefit all the animals.
There, the promise was made.
Humans were given unlimited power to become intelligent, develop tools, farming and everything else of benefit to the world. We were to be kings of the earth, beneficent and noble.
Again centuries passed, and more. Men took grazing animals and herded them into areas of fertile lands and lush vegetation.
We grew crops of their favorite foods in return for milk. As the animals grew old and died we used their meat and hides for our selves. We took animals as partners, helpers and friends.
There was some grumbling now and then as humans continued to use fire, (which can be very frightening as you know), however we no longer needed to use it as a weapon and had learned to control it quite nicely.
All animals make noises, (well, most of us), distinct noises that are much lower priority than animal talk. Though these noises can and do convey a limited communication. Humans began building and using more and more complex patterns of noises to relay human specific thoughts. Languages and dialects sprang up and died repeatedly.
Through the ages though, were kept a common base of noises, threading through generations and tribes. In a surprisingly short time men stopped using animal talk. An even shorter time later we forgot how. The promise we had made was forgotten, but the power we had been allowed grew and grew.
Now the animals were very angry. They understood more of men and our technology than we suspected. We forgot our promise and broke it. They did not forget.
We had been on the edge of annihilating the earth and all the creatures by nuclear fire for years. Now our technology was terrible and the wastes of our population and society had destroyed too much.
Several species had tried to warn us many times, but we could not understand. So that as I saw, heard and felt these things I came to understand that the end had come. I did not like the outcome of that trial, I could not defend the behavior of my species.
We were guilty.
Some species wanted no less than the complete destruction of humans and our technology, others preferred to attempt a dialog and a re-affirmation of our promise.
Most species called for an immediate and drastic reduction of the human population and complete destruction of our technology.
I tried of course. I insisted that I could begin a dialog, translate and mediate a peaceful solution. I failed.
The wolf, crow and mouse accompanied me to the nearest house. The police were called. I was taken to a hospital, examined and questioned.
Neither the doctors or the police were impressed with my story.
The wolf had been docile, waiting for a chance to begin negotiating.
He waited until I admitted to myself and the animals that I had failed.
I felt him die. The next day the fires began.
The animals were free of the broken promise.