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As Rekrap maneuvered his boat through the choppy waters, dread rose within him.
Why did he agree to this?
The oars clutched in his sweaty hands sliced through the water, propelling him closer towards the island. As he drew nearer, Rek made out a grey figure waving at him enthusiastically. A smile of relief slipped onto his otherwise preoccupied face, and he set the oar in his right hand over the boat to return the greeting.
"Hey, Rek!" Rek heard Chief's ecstatic voice as he docked at the shore. "Hi, Chief," he grunted as he clambered out of his boat.
"So...you wanted to show me something?" Rek prompted.
"Yeah, here it is! Welcome to ChiefXD's Lovely Zoo of Horror Abominations!"
Rek blanched. He felt a lump form in his throat.
Of course it was something horror related. This was Chief, after all. The guy who, instead of partaking in relaxing activities like fishing or hiking, liked to spend his time around horrific anomalies that could reduce him to a pile of pebbles in a matter of seconds.
"Come along, come along," Chief beckoned, and rather reluctantly, Rek followed suit. They descended down a set of stairs, soon ending up in a lobby fashioned from polished deepslate and stripped spruce. Instead of the regular lamps Rekrap was used to, Chief had decided to adorn the ceiling with soul lanterns. They cast an eerie blue glow onto the room, only fuelling Rek's anxiety.
Despite his fear, Rek noticed some signs nailed haphazardly into doorways. They read things like 'KEEP OUT' and 'TURN AROUND', which he had to admit were some nice touches.
"So! Where do we wanna go first?" Chief asked him, bubbling with excitement.
"I-I don't know. You choose," Rek mumbled, glancing around nervously.
"Oh, loosen up Rekrap! I assure you that I've taken proper precautions when capturing these creatures!"
"...what are the chances of one of them breaking out of its enclosure?"
"Eh, about fifty-fifty. But if you insist I choose," Chief winked at him mischievously, "let's pay a visit to The Man From The Fog, shall we?"
Rekrap hesitantly got to his feet, ready to follow his friend, when his words registered.
"Wait, what do you mean fifty-fif-?"
However before he could finish his sentence, Chief had already whisked off, dragging Rek along behind him.
Chief sped through the dark tunnel, dragging Rek behind him by the arm. He was absolutely over the moon! It had taken him months to build the zoo, and he was bursting with pride at how it had turned out. His mind began to race with new ideas. Maybe he'd find a Frankenstein Mimicer, or maybe he'd introduce another Man From The Fog! The possibilities were endless!
Chief's stone feet clacked loudly against the concrete floor as he walked on, not letting his friend rest for even a second. He was just so excited to show off his zoo, and he couldn't wait for the smile on Rek's face when he saw all he had built.
"Here we are!" Chief announced as they neared a dark enclosure. From the little Rek could see, it was a fairly nice habitat. There were a few trees scattered around for The Man to hang from, and eye blossoms dotted the mossy ground. He took a step closer to the glass. Surely it wouldn't do him any harm, right?
Wrong.
Without warning, a dark shape hurtled towards the glass, pressing its distorted face up to Rekrap. It let out a horrible, shrill screech, which scared the living daylights out of Rek. He jumped back in shock, his life flashing before his eyes. Rek clutched his chest, taking deep, shaky breaths.
"And this is The Man From The Fog! His name is Jonathan, wrangled him into a net and dragged him all the way back here. Don't be fooled by his looks though, he's a sweetheart." Chief turned to the snarling creature, pressing his own face up to the glass. "Who's a good Man From The Fog?" he cooed. "You are! Yes, you are!"
The Man From The Fog screeched again, but if Rek wasn't mistaken it sounded...friendlier? He watched on as The Man scaled up the wall, gazing down at the two of them from the ceiling. "He likes to do that sometimes," Chief informed him. "He's very playful."
"Yeah...playful..."
"Well, we'd better be going now," Chief said wistfully. "Bye, Jonathan."
With that they walked off, ready (or at least Chief was) to check out the next enclosure.
"Well, it looks like the next guy on the path should be...The Goatman!" Chief exclaimed.
"Yay..."
With every step they took in the direction of The Goatman's enclosure, Rek's heartbeat quickened even more. At that point, he was pretty sure that his heart had either stopped or started beating so fast that he couldn't feel his own pulse anymore.
He took a deep breath. Whatever The Goatman looked like, he couldn't be worse than The Man From The Fog, right?
Wrong-er.
"The Goatman!" Chief gestured with jazz hands towards the enclosure. Through the darkness Rek could barely make out the lanky form of the beast. He gulped.
The Goatman padded up to the glass, trampling weeds and bushes in its wake. It approached the pair of them rather calmly for a horror mob, which made Rek lower his guard. The thing seemed so calm. Surely saying a quick hello wouldn't hurt?
Rek tentatively raised his hand, placing it lightly against the glass. The Goatman, who had its eyes fixed on Chief, whipped around to face Rek. It opened its mouth, revealing a multitude of knife-sharp fangs, before letting out the most cursed bleat to ever meet Rek's ears. Rekrap stepped back. No. Nope. No way. No thanks!
"Oh, this is Bruce! It's alright Rekrap, he's only saying hi!" Chief rushed up to the glass, spreading his arms wide as if to hug the entity. It let out another garbled bleat, albeit a much softer one the second time. Chief looked around for a second before spotting what he was looking for. He trotted up to a bucket on the floor, extracting a lump of still bloody meat. He tossed it to Rek, who only barely caught it before it landed on the floor. It made a wet squelching noise, which made him shudder.
"If you want, you can feed this guy. He's pretty chill, after all," his friend suggested. "Go through that door," he pointed to a rather well obscured spruce door, "and just...toss it to him." Shaking, Rekrap shuffled up to the door. He swung it open, flinging the slab of meat into the enclosure before slamming the door shut. He watched through the glass as The Goatman scurried up to the food, wolfing it down like it hadn't eaten in years.
"Moving on," Chief started, already continuing down the hall.
"This next beast I captured...oh golly, was it hard to get," Chief spoke with gusto, clenching his fist in conviction. "I spent weeks having stakeouts by the forest and luring him into a giant trap, then hollowing out a thirteen-block-tall tunnel, then having him chase me through it..." Rek didn't hear the rest of his friend's monologue over the thoughts buzzing in his own head.
As much as Rek thought he'd be dreading his time at ChiefXD's Lovely Zoo of Horror Abominations!, he found himself quite enjoying his experience.
Sure, there were monsters tucked behind glass that could escape at any moment and maul him to death.
Sure, the ground was slightly wet and a potential tripping hazard.
Sure, he could barely see his own hand in front of him.
But however much he tried to hate it...he couldn't.
It wasn't too bad. Hell, he'd even say it was fun.
He walked with a skip in his step, which Chief clearly noticed as his comfortable smile widened into a cheerful grin. He tugged gently at Rek's sleeve, urging him to hurry. Rekrap obliged, making an attempt to walk quicker behind Chief.
"This is the last enclosure I want to show you, at least for today," Chief began. "I have some others, but this one is just too good to save for next time."
They walked up to a large enclosure, the largest Rek had seen yet. The glass that trapped the beast stretched from floor to ceiling. The monster inside was obscured by curtains bigger than Rek could even imagine. Before it was a couple of benches, positioned so that whoever was sitting there could look up.
At that moment it dawned upon him what the mob behind the curtains was.
Sirenhead.
Chief drew back the curtains, revealing the grotesque form of Sirenhead. The monster was a staggering thirteen blocks tall, but despite its towering size and horribly contorted limbs, it stared down at them with the curiosity of a small child.
"Hi, Magical Fairy Princess Phoebe!"
Did he hear that right?
Magical. Fairy. Princess. Phoebe.
"I'm sorry, you named him what?!" Rek yelped. The loud noise caused a handful of loud sirens to blare throughout the room. "Shh," Chief pressed his finger against Rek's mouth. "He's a little...noise sensitive."
"You think?" Rek hissed.
"Well, yeah! Don't be too hard on him, though. He's just a baby!"
"A baby."
"Yes, bro!"
"A baby."
"Alright when you say it like that it-"
"This thing," Rek pointed wildly at The Sirenhead, "is not a baby!"
"Alright, alright, I get it," Chief chuckled softly.
The two, or rather three, of them stood in silence for a few seconds before Chief asked, "Hey, so do you wanna feed-"
"Absolutely not."
Chief's face fell. "Alright, I guess we'd better leave then. Bye, Magical Fairy Princess Phoebe."
Apparently, Magical Fairy Princess Phoebe would not be satisfied with that goodbye.
With a loud smash, The Sirenhead's hand burst through the glass, sending shards flying in every direction. Rek lifted his arms in front of his face to protect it, yet he still felt a piece nick him on the cheek. Figures.
The gargantuan hand reached for Chief, who was standing, completely shellshocked, at the breach of his enclosure. It picked him up like a kid would a doll, lifting him up to its face.
"🚨🚨🚨," it spoke to him.
"I know, but Rek over here-!"
Chief didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence before The Sirenhead grabbed his arms between its thumbs and index fingers. Rek was utterly confused as to what was happening, but it appeared that Chief knew what was to come.
"No!" he protested. "Don't you dare-"
His objection was cut off by a loud, strangled cry as The Sirenhead began to swing him around in circles. They were spinning at rapid speeds, so quickly that they had reduced to blurs of grey and red.
"Go, Sirenhead," Rek cheered under his breath. Clearing his throat, he yelled over the cacophony, "I'd better get going home now, Chief. I'll see you around some time, yeah?"
"No! Rek, come back here please-!"
"Bye Chief! See you next time!" he bade his friend, who was still being spun around like an electric fan, farewell. He skipped merrily to the exit, sighing in satisfaction as he returned to his boat by the dock.
"Man, that was fun. I'll be sure to come back next time," he said to himself, before he paddled away into the sunset.