Zombie Kong - Anthology Read Free

“Okay, but just one piece until we see if you’re going to get sick.” Looking into those gorilla eyes that seemed to have more caring and life in them than Lindstrom’s or Rico’s, Cesar doubted all the candy in the world could be the problem. The problem was whatever hellish experiments they ran in this place. That fucking deformed, huge fish in the other room stood as evidence to that.
    He scratched Manny’s forehead while Manny chewed the candy with so little enthusiasm, that it broke Cesar’s heart. What could he do but be Manny’s friend? “Friends ’til the end, buddy,” he whispered. The end. That might not be far off for Manny, thanks to that fucking doctor.
    Manny groaned. His eyes closed. Cesar stepped to the side in case Manny was about to throw up again, but he kept rubbing the poor gorilla’s head.
    And he felt Manny’s forehead move under his fingers. It shifted . Manny’s eyes snapped open and he looked at Cesar in what Cesar could have sworn was pleading, please … Manny hit the side of his own head with his fist, grunting.
    “Don’t hit yourself––don’t. You hurting?” Cesar rubbed his forehead a little harder, hoping to help, and he felt it again, as if the bones under the flesh were spreading out. “ Jesus H .”
    Manny threw his head back and howled. Cesar jumped back as Manny hurled himself against the door, growling like a rabid animal. Or a madman , Cesar thought. The door gave each time Manny slammed against it, something that shouldn’t happen so easily, not with steel. Manny stopped, panting and groaning, and looked at Cesar again with those same pleading eyes, even though his teeth were bared.
    Those eyes did Cesar in. What the fuck was this, keeping this animal in a cage, an animal that had never hurt anyone and just wanted to be loved? How was that right? Nature was cruel, he knew, but these men were worse. What if Manny did get out? He probably couldn’t survive on his own, but Cesar could help him. How different could the Mexican jungle be from the African one? At least he’d have a fighting chance, and they couldn’t hurt him this way anymore.
    Cesar stepped back up to the door. “You’re a good little man,” he said, making the sign for friend. He slipped his fingers through the openings and pulled as hard as he could, throwing his own body backward in an attempt to help. Manny grunted and threw himself forward again and again. When the door finally gave, Cesar was thrown back and slammed into the edge of a stainless steel table. The side of his face burned from contact with the edge of the door. He reached up and felt blood.
    Manny loomed over him, teeth bared, but still with those pleading eyes. Cesar had never been this close to him before; metal always separated them. Manny reached down and grabbed Cesar’s arm and the front of his blue, lab-issue jumpsuit, sending Cesar’s heart tripping while he was lifted to his feet. Manny grunted a few times, banged his chest with a meaty fist and then brushed the fist downward. Sorry, sorry.
    Cesar smiled and touched Manny’s shoulder. “All right.” He laughed a little and then had to wipe his eyes when Manny leaned down and pressed their foreheads together, his hands making the sign for friend between them. “Yeah, we’ll always be friends, little man. God, I hope I’m doing the right thing. You’ve gotta know, I’m trying.”
    He half-expected a horde of white-coats to come rushing in because the cage door had been opened without a key. That he heard nothing––no phone rang and no one was there with a tranquilizer gun––was a good sign.
    “No alarm on your door, Manny,” he said, straightening and rubbing his throbbing lower back. “That was poor fucking planning, huh?”
    Planning. He couldn’t lose this job. As much as he reviled the place and what they did, he had bills to pay. If he was on that camera opening the door for Manny to get out of the lab, he might even be arrested, forget just