White clouds drifting down to reveal fields of golden wheat, with a volcano proudly standing miles away. Two giraffes walk at a leisurely pace through the fields, whilst a herd of zebras happily frolic pass a massive lake of water.

What is this? I don't remember the zoo looking this... I don't know, looking like one of those open safaris the people keep telling me about? Is this even an open safari?

"Hey, Ally Al!" A little girl's excited voice spoke up. "Mind if I join you?" Huh?

"You know, I think you'd be doing us a favour if you did," A male's voice chuckled. "You could knock some sense into him," What is happening?!

"Alex?" Melman?

A rattle shaking. Okay, what is that?! Some kind of... Argggggghhh!

"Alex?!"

Melman, what's happening?! I mean, can you see the open safari I'm witnessing here?!

"Alex?!"

MELMAN!

...

Alex

Central Park Zoo, Manhattan

01:23AM } July 22, 2014

"Alex!"

A heaved gasp ripped out of my throat as I awoke with a start, expecting to find myself in the open safari or wherever the heck it was ... but instead, I was sat in my pen below Marty's. Wha—?! Was that just a dream?! And how much time has passed?!

"Are you okay?" The giraffe asked me worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I am," I responded, struggling to calm myself down. Oh! So glad it was a dream!

Unconvinced, my friend raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound so sure,"

I gave a tired sigh. "What is it, Melman?"

"Okay, okay," The giraffe shuddered before he launched into yet another of his panicky rants. "You know how I have that bladder infection and I have to get up every two hours?"

"Yeeah?" I shot him a confused frown.

"Well, I got up to pee, um, and looked over at Marty's pen - which, you know, I usually don't do! I don't know why, but I did. And this time I looked over and—!" Oh for goodness sake!

"What, Melman?" I interrupted, growing irritated. "What's going on?"

"It's Marty," The giraffe answered fearfully. "He's gone!"

"Gone?!" I demanded, only to bash my own head on my pen's ceiling. "Agh! What do you mean gone?"

"I mean, he's left the zoo!" My friend fired back. WHAT?! Cue a quick glance behind him and... "Just, come on up!" Oh nononono!

Without hesitation, I scurried up onto the grass and looked around in a state of panic. Marty, where did you go?! Meanwhile, Melman was yelling down a small hole that looked like it had been dug up by something small?! Which animals would do that?! "Marty?! Marty!"

"He wouldn't fit down there!" Gloria's irritated voice greeted our ears, as I frantically tore out patches of hay from the zebra's bed. "Marty?! Marty! Marty?!"

"This doesn't make any sense," The hippopotamus murmured worriedly. You think?! "Where would he go?!"

It didn't take long for a realisation to hit me. He spent all day talking abou—! "Australia!"

"No, nononono, that's on the other side of the world!" She countered with annoyance. "He'd have to swim across an ocean to get there!"

"Okay so, where else would he—?!" I found myself ranting before another realisation prompted me to tug at my mane. No, nononono! "He's gone to Connecticut!"

"He wouldn't,"

"That's the only other place he's been talking about, Gloria!" I tried to reason with her. "It makes so much sense now!"

Unfortunately, this only worsened Melman's terror. "Oh no! What are we going to do?! We gotta- we gotta- I mean, we gotta- we gotta- we gotta call somebody!"

A gasp escaped my mouth as I dashed to the nearby phone and pressed several numbers. Okay, okay, the people might know what to do. They can help! "Hello?! Get me Missing Animals! And hurry! We've got a lost zebra probably on the way to Connecticut by now, and we're gonna need—!"

"Hello?" A man's confused voice spoke through the other end. Oh no. "Hello? How can I help you?" Yeeeah, there's no way they're gonna help us, right?

"Wait a second," I murmured aloud, pressing my paw against the aforementioned object. "We can't call the people," Cue me putting the phone down, mere moments before ripping the booth off and turning back to address my friends. "They'll be really mad! They'll get Marty transferred for good! You don't bite the hand that feeds you,"

"Mm-hmm. I know that's right,"

"We gotta go after him,"

"Go after him?!" Melman demanded.

"He's not thinking straight!" I said worriedly. "We gotta stop him from making the biggest mistake in his life! He's probably out there, lost. Cold. Confused," A sad sigh. "Poor little guy,"

Upon hearing my words, Gloria gave a tired sigh and began to scan our surroundings. Uh, what are you doing? It didn't take long for her to set her sights in the closest wall to us and allow an idea to form in her head. "Melman, you think you can get Alex over that wall?"

"Yeah," The confused giraffe answered. "Why'd you, why'd you ask?"

"I'll tell you," She shot back. "It's because I agree with him, we gotta go get our friend," YES! Thank you, Gloria!

"Are you actually serious about this?"

"Yes, I am," The hippo told him in a clearly annoyed manner. "Now are you coming or not?"

Even though we could tell that he was against the idea, he ultimately sighed in defeat. "Okay,"

Great! Hold on Marty, you're gonna be fine. We're coming to get you...

Ellie

Flight 95, Skies above the Atlantic

01:26AM } July 22, 2014

Hello again, friend. Welcome back to the old boring side of the story. I... I would say that it's been a while, but honestly? I don't think it's been too long since we left off at the zoo. But in any case, I imagine you must be wondering what's happened since then?

Well... for starters, nothing much. After we got back to our apartment, Mom and I made sure we had everything packed for our vacation and that our passports were ready to go. So far, so good. But then, along came some news! My father, Jerry, had dropped out at the last minute - because he apparently had to stay behind for something that had come up at work. I tried to be reassuring, but Mom wasn't particularly impressed with him and—! And even though I didn't understand anything about the concept of having a job, I felt sympathetic for the two of them.

Plus, adult life sounded tricky to me. Working long hours, paying the bills, all that nonsense = stressful!

Once Dad was left sulking in defeat, it was off to JFK Airport with us. The drive there wasn't very eventful from what I remember. My mother initiated a conversation with the Uber driver, whilst I was busy watching the scenery pass by and... honestly? I think a part of me secretly wished I had stayed at Central Park with Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria. I'm not sure why? I mean, I was excited about Australia and I knew we were planning to visit the zoo there at some point - so there was a chance to meet some new animals. Though—! Gosh, I don't know. Maybe it wouldn't have been what I was used to?

I'll have no idea now, but I digress.

Another thing I didn't understand, which... might sound bizarre, was the concept of meeting somebody. I mean, to be fair, I'm only bringing this up because my mother wasn't impressed with Dad when we left New York. I also remember her telling me: "Someday you're gonna discover boys, and it's gonna be a whole new world for you,". My reaction to that? Pfft. I've already seen what most of them were like from afar. I mean, feel free to consider the jocks from my high school an example. I'd rather not go into details, but the only thing I'll say about them is this: They're basically your stereotypical basket ball players who the girls fawn over, just for how "hot" they look. Why? Just—! Why?

Well, each to their own. Plus, I...! If I did end up discovering the new world Mom mentioned? I don't...! I don't think it would work ou—

"Elle?" My mother's concerned voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I forced a smile on my face. "Course, I am,"

"Okay, as long as you're sure," She responded kindly, as the steady hum of the airplane's engine greeted our ears. "So, anyway - I know there are a lot of other countries in Europe but if you had to pick one, where would you want to go?"

"Gosh, I don't know where to begin," I answered in a surprised manner. "I mean, the only country I can think of right now is Australia as that's where we're headed,"

Hearing this, the woman chuckled. "I know, but if you had to pick anywhere else?"

"Hm," I found myself pondering. "Maaaybe Spain?" My brows furrowed. "Possibly?" Cue an innocent shrug. "I don't know,"

"Spain's not bad," Phew!

"I think I remember you telling me you've been there once?" I asked curiously.

"I did," She confirmed happily. "The four years I spent there were some of the best," College studies? "The food was great, from what I remember. There were also some lovely shops to look at and funnily enough, I met my first boyfriend there!" Oh yeah! Uh, Carlos, right? The dude with the cute Spanish accent? Yep, I remember you gushing about him...

Cue an understanding smile from me, moments before she murmured solemnly: "Hmph, maybe I should have ditched Jerry?" Huh?! Why would—! Um, I know this isn't any of my business, but why would you say that? It didn't take long for her to spot the surprised glower on my face. "You know your father and I've been having problems, right?"

"Y-Yeah," I stammered. "Um, wasn't what happened back at our apartment work-related?" So, that would mean Dad's not at fault!

"It is, but it still hurts that he didn't consider telling me until the last minute," Mom told me sadly. "I mean, I was under the impression that he was excited about our trip - because we planned it together, you know? We had all these places we were looking forward to visiting a-and—!" A tired sigh. "Honestly? It feels like those plans have gone out the window,"

"We could always improvise?" I suggested. "Why don't we check out those places ourselves?"

Hearing this, the woman's mood thankfully began to brighten. "Hm, that's not a bad idea," Oh?

A hopeful grin began to crease my cheeks. "You'd be up for that?"

"I don't see why not," Mom innocently shrugged. "We'll get a plan organised soon," Awesome!

"Great, sounds cool!" I smiled, feeling pleased that she was happy again. Cue a brief. but thoughtful glance at the miniature television screen in front of me, and... "Um, is it okay if I check the news real quick?"

"Yeah, sure,"

"Thank you," I replied in an appreciative manner, before I began scrolling through the categories for Manhattan's news channel, 13 WDLQ news. I wonder what's happening back home right now? Though...! Looking back on this, I'll admit that I wasn't prepared for the words: BREAKING NEWS: ANIMALS ESCAPE FROM ZOO flashing across the screen in bright orange.

Huh? Why would those words be—! What?!

Alex

Pennsylvania Station, Manhattan

01:32AM } July 22, 2014

Well... I think it's safe to say that our journey through New York's streets wasn't what we anticipated. Up until that point; Melman, Gloria and I didn't consider what the outside world was really like and I'd say that was because we were content with the life we already had at the zoo. We could have everything we ever wanted, put on a good show for the people and just, I don't know, not worry about any problems. And—! And as much as I initially hated to say it, I was starting to understand why Marty was curious. I mean, come on! The city was huge!

Gosh, where do I even start? Uh, let's see - ah! Here we go. There were these new buildings that we had never seen before, some of which were towering over us. Others had people sat at numerous tables eating for some reason or other? And I also remember seeing... headless white people wearing different types of outfits standing in front of some windows. I—! I'm not sure if I'm speaking for Melman and Gloria here as well, but I don't think I wanted to know how they ended up like that! I mean, were they painted in white?! And why didn't they have their heads?! It also didn't help that whenever we came across some people who weren't headless, they didn't greet us like they did at the zoo. They just took one look at us and ran off screaming, every time we tried to approach them for help!

I mean, there was no reason for that! I'm their King, they shouldn't be scared of me or my friends!

After unintentionally scaring off another group of people, my friends and I found ourselves descending a staircase into what Melman had described as Pennsylvania Station. The area itself appeared to look okay, you know? White walls, grey marble floor. The blue signs on the ceiling were helpful in telling us which platform to head for, as well. So were the large maps that had been plastered on the walls. It didn't seem so bad! That is, until we reached the platform we were searching for. Gloria and I were racking our brains impatiently, whilst our mutual friend was off exploring a smaller room close by.

And... yeah. Marty was still in danger. Good news all around, right?! Nope.

"I knew we should've taken Park," I scowled. "Are you sure this is the fastest way to Grand Central Station?"

"I don't know!" Gloria snapped in an annoyed manner. "That's what Melman said!"

"Hey! Hey, you, guys," The giraffe emerged from the small room behind us with excitement. What's made you happy all of a sudden? "That room has some nifty little sinks you can wash up in and look!" Cue him to stick his tongue out and reveal a blue mint? What?! "Free mints!" Oh for heaven's sake!

"This isn't a field trip, Melman!" I shouted angrily, grabbing his tongue and tearing the aforementioned mint off. "This is an urgent mission to stop Marty from throwing his life away!" It didn't take long for the sounds of rumbling to greet our ears. "Now where's the train?!"

"Ah! Here it comes,"

One by one, the three of us poked our heads out in the direction where we thought said train was approaching. Come on! I have a limited patience span, people! But... now that I'm looking back on this, I'll admit it was actually quite funny when the sounds of horns blaring caused Melman to scream his head off. I shouldn't be saying that about the poor guy, by the way. Then again it was also partly thanks to him that we found out where the train was actually coming from.

"What did Marty say to you?!" Gloria demanded, raising her voice. "I asked you to talk to him!"

"I did! I did! I don't understand!" I protested frantically. "He said let's go! And I said, what are you crazy?! And he says, I'm ten years old! And he is black with white stripes, and so then we sang and—!" It didn't help that mere moments after the three of us boarded the train, even more people took off screaming!

Oh for crying out loud, can't you see we need help?! We're on a mission here!

Ellie

Flight 95, Skies above the Atlantic

01:36AM } July 22, 2014

"On the loose - several animals, including the world famous Alex the Lion, the king of New York, escaped from the Central Park Zoo tonight," A news-anchor woman spoke, as live footage of the aforementioned lion, Melman and Gloria boarding a train with a group of terrified people sprinting away played on my screen. WHAT?! "It is not yet clear what the circumstances behind these events are and we also have reports that a zebra has been spotted in Times Square,"

"Marty?!" I demanded in a shocked manner. Oh nonono! NO!

"What, what, what's wrong?" Mom's concerned voice greeted my ears.

"I-I...!" I stammered, unintentionally allowing my anxiety to flash yet again ... and on top of that, it didn't go unnoticed. Ellie, don't embarrass yourself in front of these people! Do not humiliate yourself! "A-Alex—!"

Thankfully however, the woman stopped me before I could start blubbering nonsense words once more. "What about him?" It didn't take long for her to spot the footage on my screen. "What?!"

"I've just been told that the police are following the animals' trail and it looks like they are headed for Grand Central Station," The news-anchor continued. "We will be sure to keep you updated and for those who are just tuning in, we have reports that several animals, including Alex the Lion, have escaped from the Central Park Zoo. Back to you, John,"

My mother's horror was slowly beginning to morph into anger. "Ooh, I'm gonna kill him!"

"W-Who?" I barely managed to ask, whilst trying to take slow breaths in order to calm myself down. Breathe in...! Breathe out...!

"Marty," She told me. "Next time we see him, he is dead. But before that, I'd like to ask him why he didn't listen to us, you know? We both warned him that the outside world was dangerous and he turns around and pulls this off?!" A worried sigh. "Can we keep watching this, so we know what happens?"

"S-Sure,"

Alex, Melman, Gloria? You guys better grab Marty and bail outta there! Please just — ! Just be safe...!

Alex

Grand Central Station, Manhattan

01:39AM } July 22, 2014

Looking back, I'll...! I'll admit that I'm not sure how much time had passed since Melman, Gloria and I boarded the train. All I was focused on was getting Marty back to the zoo in one piece and once that was done, that would be it. The four of us would just go back to our lives, continue giving the people a good show and forget this ever happened. Sounds simple enough, right?

Or it would do, if it weren't for what happened at Grand Central!

What events am I referring to, exactly? Well, here's your answer. After the train eventually slid to a halt, everything seemed to fall into a blur. I remember sprinting through numerous hallways and escalators with my two friends both on my heels. The plain white walls gradually morphed into a bright gold (which was a sign that Grand Central was close by) and it didn't help that the people continued to scream with terror and run away from us like we were planning to hurt them! Argh! How many times am I gonna have to say that I don't mean any harm?! I mean, I'm their King for heaven's sake!

"Move aside!" I shouted as I climbed my way up a staircase, whilst numerous people took off. "Coming through! We have an emergency here! This is an emergency situation!"

It didn't take long for me to spot an elderly woman just... casually walking by? Huh? "Hey, hey! Just chill out! It's not that big of an emergency—" My attempts to reassure the people were suddenly cut off by a sudden throb of pain in my head. What?!

"Upstairs, downstairs!" The woman surprisingly began screaming as she viciously swung her handbag at me. Woah, woah, woah! "What gives you the right to scare us?!" Excuse me?! Next thing I knew, she was spraying something in my face! "How do you like that?!"

"Yaaah!" I screamed, moments before she grabbed my paw and used all her strength to throw me to the floor! What are you doi—?! A small smirk then began to spread across her face when she saw me coughing and struggling to get my breath back.

"Lady! What is wrong with you?!" I cried out, pulling myself up to my feet ... only to yell in agony when a hard kick to the face sent me back down. OOOOOWWWW! Pain began throbbing rapidly and before I knew it, blood slowly ran down my nose. Oh nonono! Cue another two blows from the woman's handbag, which prompted me to yell: "Get a grip on yourselves, people!" before scurrying away frantically. Get away from her, Alex!

"You're a bad kitty!"

My terror thankfully turned into a case of sweet glorious relief when I spotted someone very familiar. MARTY! Oh, thank goodness! Without thinking, I found myself lunging forward and tackling him to the ground. "I got him! I've got him!"

"He's got him!" I heard Gloria yelling at Melman, as they both scrambled up the stairs towards him. Get over here, guys!

"Whoa!" Marty gasped with shock. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh!" I murmured, tugging him into a tight embrace. "I am so glad we found you,"

"We were so worried about you!" The hippo agreed, feeling just as relieved as I was.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, I'm fine. Look at me. I'm fine," He told us, much to my initial confusion. Huh? Why aren't you happy that we get to go back? His brows then knitted worriedly. "What happened to your nose, Alex? You're bleeding!"

Yeah, feel free to thank the old lady for that!

Despite the throbs of pain I felt, I was quick to reassure him. "Oh! That's not important, buddy. And, er, you're fine?"

"Yeaah?" The zebra's brows furrowed.

"Oh, that's great," I smiled, before turning to address Gloria and Melman. "Hey, you hear that? Marty's fine. Ah, that's good to know," Cue a glance back in my best friend's direction with my paws clasped together. "'Cause I was just wondering, uh..." It didn't long for frustration to overwhelm me and within seconds, I seized him by the neck. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US, MARTY?! I THOUGHT WE WERE YOUR FRIENDS!" AND WHAT ABOUT TESSA AND EL?! AREN'T THEY YOUR FRIENDS TOO?!

"What's the big deal?! I was coming back in the morning!"

"Don't you ever do this again! Do you hear me?!"

"Do you hear him?!"

"Guys?" Melman's worried voice cut through the tense atmosphere. "We're running out of time!"

"Oh, Melman, you broke their clock?!" Gloria groaned angrily, whilst I continued shaking Marty furiously and yelling: "Do you even realize what you've put us through?! Don't you ever do this again! Don't you ever, ever do this again!"

Little did the four of us know, the station's lights suddenly went out and the sounds of various footsteps were thundering against the marble floor. It wasn't until a man yelled: "Hold your fire!" that we looked up to see what was happenin—

My heart sank. Oh no. Uh, can someone please explain why there are thousands of people here with guns aimed at us? And also, why is that lady still here?!

The following silence lasted for several seconds and...! And it was so dreadful that I'm not sure if any of us were brave enough to break it. Well, let's leave to Marty, shall we? "Good evening, officers!"

"No. No. Nope. You don't talk now, okay?" I scolded him. "You're not so good with the putting the words together and they're coming out good thing," I then released my grip on him. "You keep it shh!" Cue me to turn to face the people nervously. Okay, here goes nothing. You can convince them, Alex. "Hey! How you doing? Yeah. You know what? Everything's cool. We just, uh, had a little situation here,"

As I was speaking, I couldn't help but notice one group of people shoving one scared person forward - before changing their minds and throw... whatever it was they were carrying around him? "Little internal situation. Actually, my friend just went a little crazy. It happens to everybody," Please understand, people! "The city gets to us all. Just went a little cuckoo in the head,"

"Hey! Don't be calling me cuckoo in the head!" Marty shouted angrily. Oh, for heaven's sake! You're the one who got us into this mess! Let me fix it!

"Just shush!" I turned around to yell. "I will handle this!" Unfortunately however, as I was turning back towards the people, the woman decided to throw in another strike! Oowww!

"I got him!"

Argh! Why, people?! Why are you against us all of a sudden?!

Ellie

Flight 95, Skies above Europe

01:43AM } July 22, 2014

"Oh! Would you give a guy a break?!" Poor Alex yelped in severe agony, much to my horror and Mom's rage. "Aw! We're just gonna take my little friend here home and... uh, forget this ever happened. Alright?" Cue him to recover from his pain. "No harm, no foul, right?"

"Yeah," My mother shook her head with a scowl. "Like that's gonna do you any good, Alex,"

"Hey," One of the flight attendants, a concerned blonde-haired and blue-eyed woman, caught her attention. "Is everything okay, Mrs Knight?"

"Uh, no, no it's not,"

"What seems to be the trouble?"

Cue a worried glance in my direction, before she responded with: "Have you heard what's happening in New York right now?"

"No?" The attendant's brows knitted. "What's, uh, what's going on over there?"

"Um," Mom drew a nervous breath. "We've just discovered that four of the animals from Central Park Zoo have escaped and, er, they're being cornered in Grand Central Station,"

Our acquaintance glowered at us with shock. "Is this true?"

"Yeah, it is," My mother answered sadly. "My daughter, Ellie, here," Another worried glance at me. "She absolutely adores them, especially Alex," A sigh. "Um, do you have any theories on what would happen in this situation? Realistically?"

Hearing this, the woman grimaced. "Well, I'm no animal expert - but if I had to guess, the officials will get them transferred to Africa,"

"S-So...!" Mom stammered in a fearful manner. "That will be it?"

"Yeah,"

Meanwhile, I was intent on staying glued to the screen; desperate for the animals to find a way to escape. Guys, you gotta get out of this mess! Please, for the love of god, get out of there before they kill you! I—! I could have sworn I was almost hyperventilating by this point, that's how scared I was for them...! My hands wouldn't stop trembling and—! Argh! Okay... Okay, normally with negative situations, I would tell myself to remain calm and that I would figure out how to handle them eventually. But this—! This was one of the few times where I felt genuinely helpless. I also felt—! I also felt guilty for being on a plane flying across the Atlantic. Because if I wasn't, I would have tried to figure out how to help them get to safety...!

It just...! What was happening over there sucked!

"What's the matter with them?" I heard Alex's confused voice, mere seconds before the sounds of a gun being fired startled me back to reality. NO! I instantly clasped a hand against my mouth to muffle the horrified scream ripping out of my throat. Nonono! Pleaseno! It didn't help that my walls were crumbling in seconds. I found myself inhaling and exhaling to calm myself down again and violently shaking. The final straw went to tears bubbling up and my throat turning hoarse, thanks to my glitched breathing. They're—! Why...?! No!

"Ellie," Mom's worried voice greeted my ears. "Ellie, it's just a tranquilizer dart. They put animals to sleep," Sleep?! You mean, they don't kill them?! "He's unconscious, not dead,"

Despite hearing her reassurances, I... I simply couldn't bring myself to turn away from the screen. "I...!"

I'm so sorry, guys!