"Let’s get the fuck out of here!" Gretta snarled, motioning her tail towards the door. "My destiny is to leave this fucking hell hole."
"It is pretty gross back here..." Todd looked around at the rotten old utility room and the recalled the stale reptile smell from the hall. "Smells... bad."
"They don’t take care of us very well." She grumbled. "Sometimes we sit in our own shit."
Oddly enough, this gave Todd an idea. "Hey..." He smirked. "What if we made all the animals in the zoo intelligent and able to talk? Couldn't they tell people how they're treated?"
The crocodile blinked her one eye and a wicked smirk played across her long snout. "All of them?" She asked playfully. "You wanna start a revolution or something?"
"Yeah!" Todd laughed. "Let’s have a revolution!"
"Holy shit, monkey man." Gretta swayed excitedly, unable to help it. She almost bounced on her legs, which was a strange unexpected puppy-like thing to see a giant old crocodile do. "I think I just liked you a little more!"
"So..." He walked towards the door and unlatched it gently, peering out into the hall. "Uh..."
Comically, both the human and the crocodile lady poked their heads out of the doorway and conspiratorially looked around. They stared back at each other and nodded.
"Coast is clear, I guess." Gretta seemed to shrug her front shoulders. "Now what?"
"Let’s start with Fred." Todd grinned.
"Oh, fuck that guy." Gretta waved her paw dismissively. "He’s a dumb ass. Just leave him a dumb ass crocodile."
"So... everybody but Fred?" Todd laughed.
"Yeah. Screw Fred." Gretta snorted. Then suddenly, a pang of guilt hit her and she sighed. "Actually... you know what, Todd? He's probably as sad as I was."
"So, Fred?" Todd leaned down, patting Gretta's scaly back.
"Yeah, Fred." She said, but reluctantly.
Todd and Gretta approached the crocodile door and Todd peered through. He scanned Fred from a distance. 62. Male nile crocodile. With a deep breath, Todd performed the same uplifting routine on him. He gave him speech at the same time. The process began. The remote eventually dinged. They could hear Fred thrashing and growling in his cage.
When it was done, Todd gently opened the door. He saw...