Nobody move.

Animals look harmless in their sleep - it's pretty deceptive since they may wake up and attack, or just continue lying on the ground. But what happens when they awake in the darkness? An empty void of nothingness. To any human, it could be extremely frightening.

Ayana was too tired to get scared. The first time she woke up, she immediately went back to sleep.

The second time, Ayana tried to sprawl her body and possibly wake her muscles. Then her claws scraped wood.

Wood.

Ayana struggled, kicking her legs - but her movements were restricted. Nothing but wood. With dull horror, Ayana realized that something was wrong.

Yes, that's it. Ayana'll be back in her habitat. Where all she needs is some brush, thick vegetation, her tree for hiding and sleeping. Where she rested in the heat of the day in the bushes and caves, or even up in her trees. Ayana would always have her long tail to help her to balance on narrow tree branches.

But she was already awake.

This was all her fault. Ayana curled in on herself, grasping her biceps tightly in a self embrace.

Then a soft voice spoke up.

"Ugh...Oh, my head." The voice groan. It was close and familiar, so familiar Ayana almost snapped out of her grogginess. She began to embrace herself again, but she felt something bump into her. It didn't bother her, that is until she found out where it bumped her. Right in her side.

Ayana slumped to her left, the thumps being the only source of anything besides silence.

"What the...?" The voice spoke again. "Wait. Where...? What...?" Ayana heard more bumps, the vibrations less tough but present. "I'm in a box!" The voice cried out. "I'm in a box! Oh, no. No, no! Not the box."

It was a long time ago when she too was put in a box, but that was a story for another time. Alex spoke of his experience before. Being trapped and you weren't able to do a thing.

"Oh, no, they can't transfer me. Not me!" The voice became sharp like a feeble kitten. The voice turned out to be male.

"Oh, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Darkness creeping in."

Ayana pricked her ears up, now fully awake and alert. The adrenaline rush giving her enough to lift her head in the dimness of the box.

That patch of anxiety reviving itself again.

"I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Walls closing in around me. So alone. So alone."

"Alex?" Ayana spoke softly, surprising herself of just how hoarse her voice was.

"Ayana?" He said quietly.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Ayana! Oh no! I- you- we're..." Alex trailed off into a hush. The fear in his voice was obvious. And she couldn't gather the strength to break free from the box and comfort him.

"I know." She responded, followed by a long pause between them. They both receded into their bodies and held themselves close.

Ayana just...didn't know what to say. Alex seemed more energized despite the drug than she did. Nothing that she could say would ever calm him down. She couldn't promise anything. She didn't...it shouldn't have to go down the way it did. Now things will never be the same.

"Alex! Alex, are you there?" Another voice sounded beneath her.

"Marty?" Alex cried out.

"Yeah! Talk to me, buddy."

"Oh, Marty! You're here!"

"Where's Ayana?" Marty asks.

"Here." The leopard yawned. "I'm here."

"What's going on? Are you OK?" Marty inquired.

"This doesn't look good, Marty." Alex interrupted.

"Alex, Marty, Ayana is that you?" A feminine voice rose.

"Gloria!" Ayana gasped along with Marty.

"You're here too!" Alex exclaimed happily.

"I am loving the sound of your voice." The zebra remarked.

"What is going on?" The hippo returned, her voice is more muffled than the rest.

"We're all in crates!" Alex shouted.

"Oh, no!" She gasped.

"Oh..." the voice mumbled, mostly to himself. "Sleeping just knocks me out."

"Melman!"

"Is that Melman?" Marty asks.

"Of course it is!" Ayana immediately responded.

"Are you OK?" Gloria's penetrated the barrier between them and reached his ears.

To him, everything was muffled, though it was comfortably close. His brain, still a haze after his deep slumber, put the pieces together: drowsiness, a small enclosed space, his friends nearby... he was obviously getting an MRI.

"Yeah. No, I'm fine." Melman assured her, a warmth spreading throughout his body at the notion that Gloria was concerned about him "I often doze off while I'm getting an MRI." At that, he had a twinge of fear. Why would Gloria be concerned about him? Magnetic Resonance Imagining was completely normal in the giraffe's life, and Gloria knew it. Also, why were Alex, Marty, and Ayana so surprised to see him?

Alex was the first to address his unanswered questions. "Melman, you're not getting an MRI."

Melman frowned. The concern and surprise in his friends tones about his well-being. Now, something else: Alex's voice. It was weird.

"CAT scan?" He tried.

"No!" Alex exclaimed in exasperation. "No CAT scan!" The voice had an edge that Melman usually expressed himself, but sounded foreign to a lion that usually expressed arrogance. Fear had radiated across his four friends, even the level-headed mother of the group Gloria.

"It's a transfer! It's a zoo transfer!"

"Zoo transfer?!" Melman shrieked, his blood running cold. His hooves scrambled against the mysterious barrier that enclosed him. It was wood. He was in a wooden box – a crate. "Oh, no. No, no, I can't be transferred! I-I have an appointment with Dr. Goldberg at five. There are prescriptions that have to be filled!"

"Melman - "

"Calm down, Melman -"

"Melman. Calm down, Melman-"

Calm down? Calm down?! "No other zoo could afford my medical care!"

"Melly - "

"Melman!"

"And I am NOT going HMO!" he finished, slamming his head into the crate in frustration.

"Take it easy, Melman," Marty spoke up. "It's gonna be OK. We are going to be o-kizzay." The zebra's slightly muffled reassurance did nothing to mask the noticeable panic that hung in the air.

Ayana blinked from her fizzy vision and the clumps of straw on her feet. A few holes at the top of her crate flowed with grey light, the only thing that allowed the outside world to be seen. Or of what little could be seen. She glances to reveal a gloomy sky and a new gust of saltwater and rust.

"No, Marty. We're not going to be o-kizzay!" Alex shot back. "Now, because of you, we're ruined!" Everyone could feel the emotion behind the accusation.

"Because of me?" Marty's voice rose in a pitch of disbelief. "I fail to see how this is my fault."

"You're kidding, right, Marty?" Gloria remarked.

Yeah, it was Marty who left. Marty had jumped the fence, ran through the streets of New York, and caused the scene in Grand Central Station.

But, he wasn't the only one who did so.

"What did I do?" The zebra asked. "It's not like I was alone in this - "

"Clamp it, Marty!"

"You-You ticked off the people!" Alex snapped. "You bit the hand, Marty! You bit the hand!"

The three Zoosters had left to the zoo, and for what? To follow Ayana and Marty, who thought the grass might be greener somewhere else.

"I don't know who I am. I don't know who I am. I got to go find myself in the wild." Alex mocked, creating a series of quick thuds that resonated from his crate, prancing around like a show horse in the limited space.

They were transferred through because of two animals running away. They were being transferred due to their mistake.

Well, at least Ayana thinks it was last night. She took another look outside her box before checking back on her friends.

"Hey, hey! I did not ask you to come after us, did I?" Marty asked Alex.

"Still, you didn't have to follow. I wasn't even going to Africa anyway just Connecticut."

Ayana only responded with a groan.

"He does have a point." Melman pointed out. Yes, Ayana and Marty decided to leave, but they made one to follow.

"What?" Alex cried in disbelief, and Melman could feel the daggers of the lion's disgust aiming at the giraffe and his small act of betrayal.

And she faced where she was hearing Melman's voice and give him a baffled look as he continued. "I did say we should stay at the zoo, but you guys - "

"Melman just shut it!" Alex snapped. "You're the one who suggested this whole idea to him in the first place."

"Alex," Gloria warned. "leave Melman out of this, please,"

Alex huffed. "Fine. You're right. At least I wasn't the one telling him stories about Africa - filling his head with nonsense for years!"

"What?!" Marty shouted, overly offensive for his leopard pal.

"Listen to Glo, Al," Ayana spoke up, not offensive enough. "She's the voice of reason, and not arrogant enough to consider our dreams as a joke!"

"Ayana - " Gloria started. Alex cut her off.

"No, let the African wild cat speak! Oh, better yet, tell us a story about some of your scars and trick us into liking you!"

Ayana glared daggers at the spot where Alex would be if the wood wasn't there.

As soon as the resentment came, it went. Now the leopard knew her frustration and shifting the blame amongst her friends wouldn't solve their situation.

"Just...leave Melman out of this." Ayana sighed.

"Oh?" Alex gasped, feigning surprise. "Not gonna snap back? That's shocking -"

"What's shocking is how hard it is for you shut your ugly mug! And you can tell that to you fans back in New York." Ayana snapped. Cold.

A moment of silence rushed over before Melman spoke.

"Thank you, Gloria and Ayana. Besides, Alex, it's not my fault that we were transferred." Ayana smirked in Melman's direction when he spat on the word "transferred."

"Melman shut it," Gloria commanded. He obeyed. Then she changed the subject. "Does anybody feel nauseous?"

"I feel nauseous."

"Melman, you always feel nauseous," Alex flatly pointed out. Nobody, not even Melman said anything. Because he was right.

For a few minutes, all was silent. It was as if everyone were basking in the relief that an all-out war did not break out. But the friends could not sit in silence for too long, for if they did, each one of them would be alone with his or her own fearful thoughts and the distant crashing of waves far below. And that combination was almost more painful than any quarreling between friends.

Melman did not want to be the first to break the silence. Of course, Marty was the one on which the honor was bestowed. "So," he began. Melman could feel him carefully measuring out his words, knowing that one wrong word or inflection could ignite the tension in the air. "Where do you guys think we're goin'?"

"The question is, where did you think you guys were going?" Alex grumbled.

Melman and Gloria groaned.

"I beg your pardon?" Marty said, back on the offense.

"I said: Where did you think you guys were going?" Alex repeated. The lion paced. "Did you honestly think that you could waltz through New York City, get on a train, explore Connecticut - or whatever the heck you wanted to do – and be back by sunrise?"

"Here we go," Melman murmured, half to himself.

Marty chuckled. "Alex, buddy, you've always underestimated me. Besides, there was no trouble until you guys came to 'rescue' us."

"Marty –" Gloria started. Alex cut her off.

"Don't put this on us. This was all you two. We were trying to stop you guys from throwing your lives away!" Alex replied. With every syllable, the lion seemed to become more livid. Maybe even scared.

"Alex. You have to know I didn't mean for everything to happen the way it did." Even Marty deserved a jab of sympathy there. Maybe enough for all his friends to understand his decision, and why Ayana wanted to go back to Africa. They would've returned the next morning, and no one would ever know.

"Guys –"

Alex ignored Marty's statement. "I was in my prime, Marty! You ruined my career! You ruined my life!"

"Alex, what do you want me to –"

"Maybe you felt you could run away, I get that. You thought 'Oh! Nobody will notice if I disappear for a little while' And you were probably right because you weren't the star! So it probably was jealousy, Marty!"

"Guys!" Gloria shouted.

"I was the star in the greatest city on Earth!" Alex banged the sides of his crate. "A king! Loved by my people!"

"And you've ruined everything!" With his last accusation, Alex threw his weight against the side of the crate, and the stack shifted.

"Okay look!" Gloria was still trying to calm down her friends. Seeming to grow desperate even. "Let's be civil."

"'Loved'?" Marty scoffed.

"Guys, Guys!" Gloria yelled. "Quit it up there!"

"If the people loved you, it's only because they didn't know the real you!" Marty fired back, and Ayana fell onto her hands and knees as the zebra threw himself at Alex.

"Don't make me come up there," Gloria threatened with the impatience of an angry mother. "I'll get the whuppin' on both of y'all."

Alex ignored her. "I thought I knew the real you!" There was another bang as the lion threw himself back in Marty's direction. Crates rocked. Gloria's desperate shouts were now in vain.

"Let – Let's just talk about this like adults!"

By that point, Ayana already sunk into the corner of her crate and silently waited for the fight to turn over. Her eardrums were bursting and her nerves kept racking. With every insult that was thrown, so did Alex and Marty's bodies against the crates. Ayana was never the one for fights, so she waited to become a defense. To protect someone

"Oh, wait, Marty. Your black-and-white stripes," Alex continued. "they cancel each other out. You're nothing!" Gloria was still yelling as she desperately tried to calm everyone down, but her words along with Marty and Alex's friendship began to die within the chaos.

Stop it.

Stop it.

Stop it.

Stop it.

Stop it.

Melman chanted those words over and over. He felt sick- more than usual. Everybody in the crates knew that they should be at Central Park Zoo living their lives, not on a boat going to God knows where.

Suddenly, something snapped. The crates had been strapped together by something and the shoving had snapped the restraints.

Marty yelped in fright in unison with a series of thuds. For a moment, all was silent.

"Marty!" Alex cried, the anger he had before vanishing without a trace. "Marty, are you okay?" There was no answer. "Oh, Marty – what have I done?"

"Chillax, Ally-al, I'm fine," Marty assured him, like everything was normal. Like they were just roughhousing at the zoo. Like Marty didn't have a concussion.

"Okay, well that makes one of us."

"Alex, please."

The two began a remarkably civilized conversation. The others allowed them their privacy, as much as they could, anyway.

"Hey, Ayana."

Ayana opens her eyes, feeling dizzy and achy. She sits up gradually from her slump, feeling muscles twinge and complain as they leave the uncomfortable position.

Oh, she fell asleep without noticing. Guessing this entire ordeal has tired her out worse than she thought.

"Sorry to wake you, I just…" Alex trails off, seeming embarrassed.

Ayana leans left, shaking off the wooziness of her unplanned nap. "No, it’s fine. What is it?"

"I'm worried about you, Ayana," Alex commented, making Ayana's heart soar. It sucks how someone with such warm words only meant it in a platonic sense. It could mislead her brain.

Alex slipped down, unconventionally sitting shoulder-to-shoulder against the wood, and the pair sat in silence. Finally, Marty declared it enough and burst out with the one thought on his mind. "I’m thinking of leaving. Once we leave the crates."

"What?" Alex’s response was immediate and almost panicked in its intensity. "You can't leave!"

"Excuse me?" Ayana questioned, both amused and scandalized by the fact that her friend had the gall to say such things.

"Where would you go? You heard what I just tore Marty's ear off for! You have friends, you had free food! Unless it's not the food. It’s not me, is it?"

Ayana had been crushing on Alex, so if she did say yes, in fact, it was Alex, would be counter-productive. Instead, she took a serious, sincere look in the plank where she imagined his big, caring ocean blue eyes would be and introduce another issue. "Why do you care so much? Huh? I'm sure whoever replaces my enclosure in the zoo that we're going to would be better than me. Seriously, maybe they'd be better if my actions in this entire disaster were any indication!"

Before Alex could say anything, the ship took a sharp turn. Suddenly, the crates were on their sides, and they slammed on their faces. No, their backs. Their sides. Their faces. The crates were rolling. Alex and Gloria let out exclamations of pain and surprise.

The clink of metal had collided with something. They were at the railing. The only thing keeping them from plunging into the sea was a thin metal railing that was probably not made to tolerate the weight of large zoo animals.

Gloria screamed. Her scream drew nearer and nearer, and the animals couldn't see that her crate was sliding toward them at a dangerous speed. A weight crashed into one side of the crates, and the metal railing gave way.

They were falling.