Alexis, like many of the other pigmorphs, came to the hill but being a new arrival she didn’t know why she was led here by the herd. Few of them could really bring themselves to speak. She approached the leader Rodney and asked, “What happened here?”
Rodney slowly turned, “One of the deermorphs was killed yesterday. I heard that it was the mother of Jeremy, their leader, who did it. That’s what the newshounds are saying at least.”
Her blood turned to ice again; it’s bad enough that they exploit animals for their DNA but for people to be killed just as senselessly, it wasn’t right. Alexis tightened her hardened fingers and clenched as hard as she could.
“There are a lot of- anthromorphs here,” she said; she was about to say “people” but it somehow didn’t feel right considering the company.
“Yeah,” Rodney nodded, and then sighed, “Hannah was the park’s unofficial transgender counselor. A few of us switched chromosomes when we picked “random.” Hannah was the first of ‘em and helped a lot of the TGs out. It’s a shame you didn’t get to meet her, she really was somethin’.”
“Yeah,” Alexis absently said. She wandered off from the herd and took off for the trees to be alone. Looking towards the funeral, her resolve to see this place shut down for good hardened. While she may be a slave to her new instincts, Alexis still had enough of her wits to realize the evil that looms here.
“This place must be shut down,” Alexis muttered to herself.
=====
Meanwhile, in the break room Meghan found Gunther sitting at his usual spot, inattentively stirring his coffee. That arrogant smirk on his wrinkled lips long since disappeared. She never seen the old coot this spaced out.
“I take it you heard about what happened in the park yesterday,” She said.
Gunther sighed and finally took a sip of his lukewarm drink. “Yes I have,” He replied, “And it looks like your report is no longer a hypothesis. I suppose my meddling was ultimately unnecessary.”
Meghan didn’t comment on his last remark. She considered taking it to Juanita but didn’t considering recent events. “Let’s table that subject shall we?” She said, “Is there any word on what management is going to do?”
“I overheard during an emergency board meeting last night,” Gunther told her, smirking ever so slightly, “Word is that a government agent is coming in to investigate.”
“Great, that was we really need.” Meghan remarked, “Uncle Sam breathing down our necks even more.”
=====
“This is going to be an interesting case,” Agent John Quincy Polanski muttered under his breath as he walked through the halls of the resort.
On the surface, the Park’s lobby looked just like what he saw when he took the family to Disneyworld but ol’ Walt didn’t get into the habit of changing his guests into half-animal hybrids. The prospect of becoming half animal did not appeal him at all, he was fine with his human genome and to be honest with himself, this place gave him the chills with its mad scientist vibe. He had a job to do regardless, and he intended to bring the guilty party to justice but the circumstances were highly unusual.
For one, the politicians and the courts in Washington were already debating on the legal status of these “anthromorphs.” You couldn’t euthanize this she-bear like a regular animal because she was (in theory) a citizen of the United States, nor could she be tried as a citizen because she wasn’t quite human any more. Although the public does not know about this incident yet, the media will pick up on it in day or two and this little brush fire will grow into media firestorm that will consume the halls of Congress and eventually, the social fabric of the country.
John knew that he’d probably get a frosty reception here but also knew he had the full weight of the Department of Justice and the office of the Attorney General of the United States behind him. He will investigate this crime with his team, he will question the accused and the witnesses, and he will send his report back to Washington. Justice must be served.
He walked up to the receptionist’s desk and showed his credentials. “I am agent John Q. Polanski with the Department of Justice,” He told the secretary, “I believe a Ms. Juanita Lopez is waiting for me.”