Silverhills Zoological Gardens"Is that.....a...a...Kangeroo?" Cpl Saxby asked as the team sat in the security office that they had taken over as a HQ and now he sat squinting at a screen as his colleague Cpl Barks used a small joystick on the CCTV system to zoom in.
"Yes....or a Wallaby." Barks tilted his head to try and better see what the Tiger was eating.
"Aren't they the same thing?" It was a scene neither had wanted to see but with hundreds of animals running loose after the zoo's security systems went down it was lucky non had yet escaped the confinement of the zoo itself. Several guards had managed to tranquilise some animals or nervously herd some back into pens. Half the zoo though was now under the occupation of the "Growlers", essentially any animal that could rip your face off or would consider doing so. The team had been sat watching various horrific moments were the predators had got hungry and found their own food.
"Wallabies are smaller, much smaller than a kangeroo" Barks informed Saxby who was now cleaning his rifle with his feet up on the desk.
"Thank you Steve Irwin" Saxby carefully put the parts of his rifle down on the desk. There three hour shift was nearing an end when the door opened. "Morning boss" Saxby greeted Alex Redfern as he entered. The normal parts of East Moreland's military would have stood, snapped to attention and issued a report at the arrival of a senior officer but instead the Red's were notoriously laid back about such matters.
"Grab your gear and meet me in the gift shop in five minutes......." Major Redfern looked at the screen. "That tiger eating a Kangaroo?" He asked.
"No a Wallaby, kangeroos are much bigger." Saxby quickly corrected him.
"OK, well whatever the hell it is radio it through to the zookeepers and they can tick the thing off the wanted list." They'd been keeping a list of the animals that were running loose in the hope that they could account for them all as the last thing that the Mayor of Silverhills wanted was a pride of Lions wandering the city. They'd got one or two of the things as they'd wandered close but under the command of Red Legions Brigadier Jim Corey they had until now been content to simply set a perimeter. Now he was summoning his 64 Legionnaires to a briefing. For Redfern it was just another in a long career of military service but it was the first that had ever taken place among the aisles of stuffed toys.
"Morning lads" The Brigadier entered to find his men gathered before him, each dressed very differently, some in woodland camo, some in overalls while others seemed to be rocking civilian clothing, one even had a Northfort Royals rugby club cap on. Each of them though had immaculately clean weapons in their arms and on their hips. The mission they were being sent on was a simple one. Track down the remaining escapees and give cover to a keeper who would be with them. If the keeper couldn't sedate the creature or it was found outside its home pen it would be handled by the Legionnaires. Corey finished his part of the briefing and asked if anyone had any questions.
"Do we get to mount the heads on our living room walls?" Barks asked from the back of the room.
"No you do not." The Brigadier said sternly. "You only use your weapon when you have no choice. This is not some Zimalian Safari adventure anyone I hear of using their weapon without need is doing the Long Drag next week with the selection candidates." The Long Drag was a key part of the Red Legion selection process, it was a 65km cross country march to be completed in 20 hours or less. The very thought of doing it again was enough to silence the usual chatty Legionnaires. "Now the hunt is a foot." Corey had a rather unique
revolver rifle slung on his back having opted to join one of the teams out in the zoo.
30 minutes later and various animals had already been sedated and so far no Red Legionnaires had opened fire. Alex Redfern was with his usual team, Sgt. Olly Thomas was taking point as they made their way over towards the area they'd seen the hyenas earlier. Taking the left flank was Gavin Saxby, a former Air Force forward air controller who doubled as the teams medic. The right flank was covered by Thomas Barks, a rather outspoken member of the Legion who had a belief that there was no situation he'd ever encounted that couldn't be solved by the correct application of high explosives. Redfern completed their slowly moving diamond with a zookeeper by the name of Will in the middle. They'd practiced moving in this manner most of their career as it was more commonly used to protect VIP's. Olly held up a closed fist and the group stopped as the Sergeant raised his rifles sight to the eyes and swept the area ahead. "How many Hyenas we got?" He asked via their comms.
"Three" Will replied rather enjoying his experience of being a makeshift Red Legionnaire of sorts for the day. The Hyena's could be tricky. As pack animals they'd likely not split up and in his mind Will was expecting to lose one or two of them on this mission. The animals were dozing on a rock in what had once been an enclosure for the emu. Of the four giant birds the zoo had three had been accounted for with one now being sighted as a black and white blood spattered mass of feathers.
"Command this is Red Three, splash one Emu in Grid 6G." Redfern called it in. "With the Hyena asleep what do you think our best shot is?" Alex asked the zookeeper who looked through the scope on his own rifle. He examined it for a moment or two and then put his rifle down.
"I think if I take aim at the closest the one furthest away might not get spooked. I can probably get that one as well but then who knows. If they stay in the enclosure we could be OK but I'd say you two should take aim just in case." The plan was formed and they all got into position. Will would be the one to count them down and then likely mayhem would begin. They'd told command they'd be taking the shot and as Redfern watched their rear to ensure no animals crept up on them the zookeeper and the other Reds prepared to get the job done. There was a thwack as Will fired the first shot and watched as it hit its mark in the hyenas rump, it yelped as the sting woke it up and that woke the others who began scanning their environment for the threat muscles twitching ready to run. Will had reloaded quickly and fired, his second dart missed as the first hyena began staggering as it tried to run. The animals bolted towards the back of the enclosure before finding their way blocked, Will fired again and got nowhere near.
"Somethings coming" Redfern had spotted movement. "I think we've company." He wasn't sure what yet as it was moving behind an ornate hedge that deocrated the lawns of the zoo. "Take them out and get here." Behind him Redfern heard two shots from the Red Legionnaires and then his comrades joined him. "Not sure what but there is something there." he gestured to the area in front of them and the movement of the shrubs. They had no idea what was there but fingers itched on triggers expecting something like a Tiger to come bursting out at them. As they waited the black and white shape of a Honeybadger emerged and simply laid down on the path looking at them. "Cheeky bastard" Alex said as it seemed like it was almost mocking them. "Will shoot it" Redfern ordered and dutifully the zookeeper did. The Honeybadger took the dart in the shoulder and stood up and almost seemed to look at it before growling at them while retreating back towards the bush. A foul smell erupted as the stink gland emptied and the team wished they had their respirators on.
"Do we kill it?" Barks asked nervously half gagging on the smell.
"No way am I shooting Stoffel" Saxby spluttered.
Thankfully Will had reloaded and got a second shot into the creature which seemed like it was considering charging them before it began to slump. "Go grab it Barks" Sgt.Thomas ordered the corporal as the team scanned the area for other creatures.
"No thanks" Barks replied, "I've seen them sleep off snakes, little bastards likely tricking us." The Legionnaires looked at each other and then at Will who realised he was going to have to go get it. Reluctantly he did and soon the team were heading back to deposit their prize in a holding cage while another team with transport picked up the Hyena. By the time the Honeybadger was in its cage it was coming too and it was pissed off. The team watched it growl at the world through the bars and then exited quickly as it was clear it had reloaded its stink glands. By sunset all the animals had been taken care of. It was a heartbreaking day for the keepers as the majority had been shot by Legionnaires after the keepers had failed to get the job done. The team left Silverhills with the zoo staff room in tears as the Legionnaires boarded their Landrovers for the return home. Brigadier Corey climbed aboard Redfern's team LandRover and then ordered Barks to pick up the crate at the rear. "Bit heavy boss" then NCO said hoping to get some info.
"Lets just say the staff aren't likely to miss some of the Buffalo." The Commanding Officer said with a smile, "Did you know Turnbull in Red Eight apprenticed as a butcher before joining the military?" He chuckled, "The Lions that got in the Buffalo enclosure have remarkable teach that cut just like a Legionnaire's sword." The team stowed all their kit and the Buffalo meat before setting off, Thomas almost stalled the LandRover as they reached the zoo gate and a crunching sound of the gears being mashed saved the day much to the amusement of the Brigadier. "Its true what they say Sergeant. Learn the art of delegation." The job done the zoo had control back and hadn't paid anything out, the issue now was could they get their IT systems back but that was someone elses concern for now.