CHAPTER III

Cameron slowly opened her eyes halfway, letting out a groggy moan. A strange white light shone down on her, and she could see a wall across from her with a poster that had a smiley face on it. The words "SMILE, It's Almost Over" headlined the poster. "Wh... whuh?" she mumbled.

Footsteps heralded the arrival of another person, and a young blond man with tan skin bent down over Cameron. "You okay, hon?" he asked her.

"Wh-what's going on?" Cameron stammered, struggling to sit up. "Where am I?"

"You're in the nurse's office, my dear!" the man replied soothingly. He turned and began digging around in a cabinet.

"Oh, thank god," Cameron said. She let out a long breath as she rubbed her forehead, wincing. "I just had the worst dream ev—"

She paused when the man straightened up, holding a strange red object that looked frighteningly like a drill in his hand. "Uh... what is that?" Cameron asked, raising a shaking finger to point at the object as her eyes widened in terror.

"WILLIS SAID YOU NEEDED A CHECKUP!!!!" the man suddenly screeched, whirling around. In his other hand, he now held a stuffed unicorn that appeared to have been maimed. "WILLIS IS VERY SMART, YOU KNOW!" the man shrieked, holding the toy to his face and activating the drill.

Cameron's "fight or flight" mechanism kicked in, and she automatically chose the latter, diving between the lunatic's legs and scrambling out of the room as she screamed for help.

Scurrying around the corner, Cameron popped to her feet and prepared to continue her mad dash to freedom when she found her path blocked off by (of all things) a gigantic cheetah.

"Are you feeling better, Miss Walden?" the cheetah asked in a dry tone.

Cameron stared at him, her eye twitching. "No," she said, mostly to herself. She spun around, grabbing her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she ignored the cheetah and the maniac who was singing to himself in the "nurse's office". "Okay! O-kay! Th-th... this is just a big, crazy dream!" she told herself. "Wake up! Wake up, Cameron! Wake up!"

"Wake up!" the maniac sang, giggling.

Cameron squeezed her eyes tighter for a few more seconds and then opened them.

"Are you finished?"

Cameron spun around to find the cheetah staring at her, obviously unamused.

At last, Cameron's shoulders slumped, and her entire body seemed to sag. "Okay," she said, her voice breaking, "I give up. Wh-what's going on?"

The cheetah frowned. "Were you not informed about—"

"About WHAT?" Cameron shouted, throwing up her hands. "Informed about WHAT?!"

"You were not informed about this place before being sent here?" the cheetah asked, undaunted but sounding as if he suspected this was true.

"Sent where?" Cameron cried. "Where am I?!"

-

The cheetah's face took on a saddened expression. So it's true, he thought. My suspicions were correct.

-

Spinning around, the cheetah padded away. "Follow me, miss," he ordered, his tone growing dark.

Cameron hesitated, glancing at the maniac one more time, and then did as the cheetah said.

-

"S-So... you're a g-giant cheetah," Cameron stammered, putting forward a poor attempt at small talk.

"Yes," the cheetah confirmed.

Cameron swallowed and looked away. "Just checking."

-

The cheetah led Cameron into an office and gestured to a chair with his tail. "Have a seat, miss," he told her.

Cameron did, shooting a wary glance at the cuttlefish-headed man who sat at a desk adjacent to the one the cheetah had walked behind.

The cuttlefish creature sputtered something, dribbling mucus all over the desk.

Cameron's mouth opened but nothing came out. She gestured wordless to the man, glancing at the cheetah.

"Oh! This is Principal Winston," the cheetah said, angling his head toward the cuttlefish-man. "He is quite harmless."

Cameron pulled her knees up to her chest. "Right..."

The cheetah gave her a sympathetic look and then sighed. "Well, my dear Miss Cameron," he began, "I have some news for you.

"My name is Zechariah, and I regret to inform you that there seems to have been some sort of mistake with the company that employed you. You were hired to be a guidance counselor, correct?"

"Y-Yes," Cameron replied nervously.

"Well," Zechariah continued, "all humans employed or chosen to be sent here are given strict details about this world, and it is their choice to be transferred." His eyes narrowed as he added, "Whoever sent you did an incredibly dishonest thing... for once here, you cannot return to the outside world you once knew."

Cameron's breath caught in her throat. Choking down her fear, she asked, "S-So... I'm stuck in this crazy magical world of oversized talking animals?"

"I am afraid so, miss." Zechariah leaned forward. "Also, this is an interspecies society. There are many different creatures—not just 'animals'."

"Like what? Other scary things?" Cameron cried. "Vampires?"

"Yes."

"Mermaids? Demons? Ghosts?!"

"Yes."

"ALIENS?!"

"Aliens do not exist, Miss Cameron," Zechariah replied dryly.

Cameron blinked, unsure if he was joking or not. Then she looked over her shoulder and whimpered, "Where am I right now?"

"You are in the Zoo Phoenix Academy," Zechariah answered, resting a paw on his desk. "This is where you were employed, so we brought you right here." He leaned forward slightly, trying to meet Cameron's gaze again. "Would you like a tour?"

Cameron turned back to the giant cheetah. "Okay..." she said uncertainly.

Zechariah nodded and raised his tail to his face, speaking into a watch-like object that he wore on it. "Jackie, can you come to my office, please?"

"Absolutely!" came an overenthusiastic voice from the other end.

Cameron grabbed Zechariah's tail and cried into the watch, "Who's Jackie?!"

The door to the office suddenly flew open, and a woman's voice sang, "Hey, hey, heeeeey!"

Cameron looked over her shoulder as a blue-green-and-yellow-haired woman in a blue-and-yellow dress waltzed into the office. "Well, hello-hello!" she greeted Cameron in a voice tinged with a Spanish accent as she shook the counselor's hand. "I'm Jackie! Drama instructor! So you're the new girl everyone's talking about? What's your name?"

"Cameron," Cameron answered timidly.

"You caused quite a scene, huh, Cam?" Jackie giggled.

"Cameron," Cameron said again.

"She is in need of a tour, Jackie," Zechariah informed the woman.

"Not another word, Zech!" Jackie declared, throwing an arm around Cameron's shoulders and leading her out of the office. "I got this!"

-

"I really think you'll love working here, Cam!" Jackie gushed as she led Cameron out into a wide area. "This is the main lobby. All the subject wings branch off from here."

"Have I gone insane?" Cameron asked, unable to focus on her surroundings or what Jackie was saying.

"Aw, of course not," Jackie reassured her. "Not really." Before Cameron could ask what that meant, Jackie said, "Come! I'll show you my wing first!" She guided Cameron into a hallway lined with velvet. "This is the 'Arts' wing!" she declared, gesturing to all the movie posters and paintings hanging from the walls.

"Oh my. Never would'a guessed," Cameron remarked.

"HAHA! SARCASM!" Jackie suddenly trilled. "I like you, Cam!" She threw open a door and called, "Baby! Got someone for you to meet!"

Cameron peeked inside the room, where someone was saying, "Okay, girls! Once you're warmed up—" Then the man suddenly spun around, exclaiming, "JACKIE!"

"Oh, god..." Cameron whimpered, staring at the tutu-wearing madman.

Jackie hurried inside the room and hugged the man, who appeared to be her husband. Then, as they broke apart, the man extended his hand to Cameron. "Salutations, señorita!" he greeted her. "Name?"

"C-Cameron," Cameron stammered, tentatively shaking the man's hand.

"Soopity-doopity to meetchya!" the man declared. "My name's Alanzo, but call me Al! It's shorter!"

"Heh... nice to meet you," Cameron lied as Al's four students eyed her suspiciously. "So what subject do you—"

"Dance!" Al broke in with a modest shrug.

Cameron blinked, somewhat miffed by the sudden interruption.

"Well, honey, we gotta run!" Jackie announced, hustling Cameron out of the room. "Got a lot of school to show!"

"You do yer thang, girl!" Al crooned as the two ladies left the room.

-

"So he was..." Cameron said questioningly.

"That was my husband," Jackie explained. "We both work in this wing!"

She went on to show Cameron the art, music, and film rooms, the latter of which Cameron asked about. "Why do the animals have giant fans?" she inquired, still quite discombobulated by the whole place.

"Guess they got a bigger budget!" Jackie exclaimed.

"But why?"

"Their last film did almost win at the festival," Jackie replied. "Hm..." Then she perked up and threw open the doors to an auditorium. "And here is MY domain!" she declared, spreading out her arms.

Cameron looked around in awe, admittedly impressed by the large room. Then she spotted a cluster of creatures on the stage and asked warily, "A-Are those your students?"

"Yep!" Jackie feigned wiping a tear of pride from her eye. "They're my little prodigies!"

Cameron jumped a bit as a small fox suddenly dropped from the ceiling onto her shoulders before nestling in her arms. She blinked at it in surprise, to which it responded by promptly licking her face and running off.

"Good afternoon, my sparkling turtledoves!" Jackie sang as she led the perplexed guidance counselor toward the stage.

"Hey, Jackie!" most of the students replied in unison.

"Who's your friend, Cracker-Jacks?" a golden-and-purple bug-like creature asked, pointing at Cameron with his free hand (since the other was currently winning an arm-wrestling match with another student).

"This here is your new guidance counselor, fellas!" Jackie said, putting an arm around Cameron's shoulders again.

"Oh, good!" two of the students—a beat-up looking anthropomorphic jackal and a floating dark red jackal—said at the same time. The beat-up jackal looked at the other one, who muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "I need a lot of 'guidance'."

Cameron approached the gold-and-purple creature carefully. "Um, sorry," she said. "I hate to ask, but... what exactly are you? I want to know how scared I should be..."

"Well, I—" the creature began, but he was interrupted when the beat-up jackal began snickered. The creature shot the jackal a look, and the jackal quickly clammed up.

Then the creature turned back to Cameron and muttered, "Pass."

Cameron leaned back at that, only to find herself being sniffed by another student—a human—with a huge mass of messy red hair than hung down to her feet. Cameron quickly recoiled as the girl let out a catlike hiss. What the—?!

"You really got your work cut out for you, lady," the floating jackal said as he hovered next to Cameron.

Cameron turned to him, surprised.

"Jus' sayin'," the jackal said, throwing up his ghostly hands innocently.

Cameron gulped. "H-How are you f-floating like that?" she whimpered.

"Oh. Well, it's because—"

The jackal suddenly swelled to twice his normal size, shone a flashlight under his face, and bellowed, "I'M THE ANTI-CHRIST!"

Cameron's eye twitched as her mind threatened to snap.

"Uh, rude!" Jackie berated the ghost jackal.

"Damian, cut it out," the beat-up jackal snapped.

"Sor-ry! I was just introducing myself," the ghost jackal scoffed. He turned to another student—a red kangaroo—and added, "C'mon, back me up Kayla! My darling angel."

Kayla practically teleported to the other side of the stage.

Damian scowled.

Cameron would have surely fainted at that point, had it not been for the intervention of the beat-up jackal, who quickly grabbed her hand and apologized, "I'm really sorry about my cousin!"

Cousin...? Cameron thought, bewildered.

"Hello! My name is Jack," the beat-up jackal introduced himself, "and I would like to schedule with you as soon as possible!"

"Uh... okay...?" Cameron replied, removing her hand from the jackal's grip.

"Sorry," the jackal apologized, seeming a bit sheepish. "It's been a while since I had someone to talk to about my problems—"

He was interrupted when a stage light fell from the ceiling and crushed his head into the ground, causing a pool of blood to quickly form around him.

Cameron covered her mouth with both hands and let out a muffled scream as her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"Aw, man, not again!" the gold-and-purple creature cried, hurrying over to his fallen friend with another student close behind. "You okay, dude?"

The jackal gave the three-fingered "A-OK" sign.

The gold creature let out a sigh of relief and gave Cameron an apologetic look. "Yeah, this happens a lot."

"Hey, Jackie! Another light fell," the student who'd lost the arm-wrestling match called.

"I saw it!" Jackie replied, ignoring the event. She looked at Cameron and asked, "So, Cam! Do ya wanna stick around for the classes?"

Cameron hesitated, tearing her gaze away from the jackal, whose head was reconstructing itself. "I'm sorry to say," she said, strangely calm, "I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed."

"Understandable!" Jackie responded, nodded. She gestured to a student behind her and asked, "Vanexa, would you mind escorting Cam to her office?"

The anthropomorphic purple cat hopped down from the stage and wordlessly led Cameron out of the auditorium as Jackie told her students, "Alright, guys! Showtime!"

-

Upon reaching her office, Cameron looked at the cat and said graciously, "Th-Thank you!"

The cat stared at her blankly.

"V-Vanexa, was it?" Cameron tried.

Same reaction.

Cameron coughed, growing uncomfortable. "Well, uh... yeah," she said, forcing a grin. "Good evening to you, talking cat—"

"Enjoy your stay."

Cameron paused as Vanexa turned and walked away. Then she hurried into her office and slammed the door behind her, pressing herself against it. In doing so, she got a good look at her office—and the basket that sat on it.

Remaining wary of everything around her, Cameron approached the basket and examined it. There was a strange pink-and-yellow plant inside, as well as a stuffed animal and a note.

Cameron picked up the note and flipped it over, finding that it read:

"Dear Cameron,

Welcome to the Family!

- ♥ Z.P. STAFF"

"How are you coping with things thus far, Cameron?"

"HOLY MOTHER OF—" Cameron began to scream, spinning around to find Zechariah standing in her office—despite the fact that she hadn't heard the door open. She let out a slow, shaky breath and sank back against her desk. "Please d-don't do that," she begged.

"My apologies," Zechariah said, dipping his head.

Cameron turned away, glancing at the giant cheetah. "Yeah... well... all things considered..." She paused and sighed, unable to finish as she sat on the floor, leaning against the desk.

Zechariah padded forward. "I am sure this is a lot to handle," he stated.

"Yeah," Cameron whimpered, her voice breaking as she wiped her eyes. She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms.

"This place will just take some getting used to, miss," Zechariah told her.

When Cameron didn't respond, Zechariah frowned. "Miss?"

Cameron didn't look up.

Zechariah felt a stab of pity for the young woman and rubbed his cheek against her face. "I am truly sorry this has happened to you, Miss—"

Cameron suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the giant cheetah in a hug as she cried softly.

Startled and feeling rather awkward, Zechariah looked around, unsure of what to do. Poor girl, he thought. She doesn't know what's ahead of her... Sighing, he rested his chin on Cameron's head.

Then his ear perked up as he heard a familiar sound. Ah... now there's an idea, he thought, smiling slightly.

Zechariah pulled away from Cameron and told her in a soft voice, "There is something you may like to see."

-

"This way, Miss Cameron," Zechariah said as he led Cameron out to the top of the academy's dome-shaped roof.

"Wh-what's up here?" Cameron asked, shivering in the cold night air.

Zechariah didn't respond, but gestured to the sky with his head, a smile on his feline face.

Cameron frowned and looked to where he had gestured—and her mouth fell open. "Oh my god..." she breathed.

Floating around in the sky were dozens of goldfish-like creatures, including several sharks and one whale. All of them were surrounded by a glowing yellow aura and bore markings of the same coloration, lighting up the sky around them. The symbol of the yin and yang was emblazoned on their foreheads, and they let out quiet, peaceful moans as they flew around.

"How... how'd you know I like fish?" Cameron whispered as she walked over to the railing, unable to tear her eyes away from the floating creatures. "This is... beautiful!"

Zechariah padded over to Cameron's side and sat on his haunches. "Welcome home, Miss Cameron," he murmured.

The two stared at the fish in silence for a while.

Then Cameron asked, "Soooo... where am I going to live, anyway?"

-

A white, raggedy-looking fish with black-and-yellow eyes swam around the school, her eyes fixed on Cameron Walden.

MAIL

Skoni, the dragon mailman of the City District, whistled to himself as he pulled his mail-cart through the suburbs. He paused at one of the houses and wrapped up a package with his tail, carrying behind him as he headed toward the front door.

Upon reaching the door, he knocked, still whistling to himself.

The door creaked open, revealing the timid face of a baseball bat-wielding redhead. "Y-Yes?" she asked meekly.

"Package, ma'am!" Skoni announced.

"EIIIEEIIHH!!!"

Skoni winced. Oh, great...

"Get away, monster!" the woman shrieked, waving her bat at Skoni.

Skoni let out a snarl and recoiled. "It's been 2 weeks, lady!" he barked. "I'm just here to deliver your mail!" Then he yelled in annoyance as the woman grabbed a hose and sprayed him. "DEMON!" she screeched.

"Fine!" Skoni snapped, pulling back. "Have a nice day." He stormed back to his mail-cart, his good mood ruined.

-

Cameron paused and lowered the hose. "Oh... you were just delivering the mail again," she realized, snapping out of her terrified stupor. Grimacing, she called after the mailman, "Sorry!"