Piggy clutches a worn map, her eyes scanning the eerie silhouettes of animal enclosures. Little Brother shuffles nervously beside her, his toy train clutched tightly. The distant roar of a lion echoes through the fog, sending a chill down their spines.
Mother steps forward, her voice firm yet gentle. Father lingers near the gate, his lantern casting long shadows over the cracked pavement.
"Stay close, everyone. We don’t know what’s waiting for us inside,"
Little Brother tugs at Piggy's sleeve, his voice trembling. "Why do we have to come here? It feels...wrong,"
Piggy looks back at him reassuringly, though her own hands tremble. "We’re looking for the missing keys. If we find them, we can unlock the gate and get everyone out safely,"
Father peers into a shattered aquarium, the glass reflecting his worried face.
Suddenly, a pair of glowing eyes flash from the darkness. Piggy freezes, heart pounding. Father lifts his lantern high, revealing a monkey statue with a key clutched in its stone paw.
"That’s one of the keys! But how do we get it?" Mother steps closer, scanning the ground for traps. "Let’s be careful. These puzzles were left for a reason,"
Piggy kneels and examines the mosaic, tracing the images with her finger. "It’s a pattern. If we step on the tiles in the right order, maybe the statue will release the key,"
Little Brother helps by remembering which animals they saw first at the entrance. "The elephant was before the lion, right?"
Mother nods, guiding Piggy as she steps carefully across the tiles.
Father leaps forward, grabbing the key just as the statue’s eyes flicker red. "We need to get out, now!"
Piggy grabs Little Brother's hand, and the family races for the nearest window, ducking beneath swinging cages as they go.
Mother holds Little Brother close, her eyes determined. "We did it. One key down, but there are more to find. We stick together, and we’ll make it out,"
Piggy looks at the map, tracing the path to the next enclosure. As the sun rises higher, casting golden light over the wild, abandoned zoo, the family presses on—united and unafraid.
