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It was just after seven p.m., and the summer heat had slowly begun to fade into the humid stillness of early evening. Kendall sat alone at a shaded picnic table behind the small zoo's only snack bar, sipping an ice cold soda and relaxing for a brief moment before his evening duties as zookeeper began.

The young fox had worked at the zoo for almost five years, ever since he graduated high school, and there was nowhere else in the world he would rather be. Even though the work was backbreaking and the pay was abysmal, Kendall loved working with the animals, and he was well liked among the rest of the staff. Even Mr. Kelley, the zoo's owner and manager, went out of his way to talk to the young fox. However, that wasn't to say that Mr. Kelley played favorites. Kendall had to take his turn at mucking out pens and enclosures just like everyone else. In fact, he had finished cleaning the wolf enclosure just an hour ago, and his boots were still caked with grime from the task. The faint, pungent aroma of wolf dung hung about him even now.

Kendall took a sip from his drink and gazed across the narrow concrete thoroughfare that ran through the zoo at the high fenced enclosure across from the snack stand. Up until a year ago, the massive enclosure had been home to Kelley's main attraction, Cicero the Lion. Not many zoos as small as Mr. Kelley's could boast a pure-bred African lion amongst it's residents. For years, the low admission prices had coupled with the fearsome lion to draw in crowds of tourists and locals during the summer months. Cicero had become a local celebrity, and you could hardly venture out of the house without seeing at least one Cicero the Lion hat or t-shirt.

But then, tragedy had struck. Cicero had succumbed to a massive, fatal heart attack in the middle of a sweltering July afternoon. A crowd numbering in the hundreds had looked on as Dr. Strauss, the zoo's vetrinarian, had vainly attempted to resuscitate the poor creature.

Afterwards, the zoo's attendance levels had plummetted. The crowd that had witnessed Cicero's untimely death had never returned to the zoo, and, without the star attraction, revenues had dropped substantially. Within months, the once thriving park had begun to struggle, barely kept afloat by donations from the community and the emptying of Mr. Kelley's personal bank account. There had even been talk of cutbacks, starting with the janitorial staff. Kendall himself had taken a pay cut willingly, devoted to doing his part to keep the zoo afloat.

Meanwhile, Cicero's enclosure had remained empty. The zoo had no money to acquire a new star attraction, and the concrete enclosure had quickly fallen into disrepair. Then, a month ago, a miracle had occured.

A larger zoo in a city barely a hundred miles away had contacted Mr. Kelley with an offer that seemed too good to be true.

They had a tiger they needed to relocate.

Mr. Kelley had jumped on the offer. The asking price on the animal was extremely low, though Kendall wasn't privy to the details. The rival zoo had stated that they had one too many tigers, and were willing to part with one cheaply. Mr. Kelley had taken out a loan and purchased the animal, it's home zoo even offering to transport the feline.

The old lion enclosure had been quickly restored to operating condition; cracks in the concrete patched, fence repaired, new sod and props moved in. When the transport crew had arrived with the tiger, Dr. Strauss had been first on the scene to examine the animal. The vetrinarian had been skeptical of the animal to begin with, convinced that the rival zoo had sold the magnificent creature due to illness or perhaps some sort of defect.

To the vet's surprise, however, the tiger, named Artemis, or Arty for short, seemed completely healthy. The feline's muscle tone was good, and his vital signs read perfectly normal. There wasn't even so much as a visible flea bite on the powerful creature. Best of all, the tiger seemed possessed of an even and docile temperment. When he was introduced to his new home, Artemis had accepted the relocation as a matter of fact and had taken to the enclosure willingly.

Kendall had been on hand during the whole process, and one thing did strike the fox as odd. The delivery crew from the other zoo had seemed overly wary of Artemis, if not down right scared of the tiger. They kept their distance whenever possible, and none of them were ever alone with the feline or more than a few seconds. Kendall had seen such behaviour before, among handlers and keepers who had witnessed one of their own being mauled by an animal, but Artemis seemed to have no violent tendencies whatsoever.

The only thing about Artemis that made Kendall uneasy was that when he looked the tiger in the eye, he could discern a glimmer of uncanny intelligence, an intellect that didn't seem entirely benign. But the beast had never so much as growled at Kendall, or any of the other staff members, at least so far as the fox knew.

Kendall stood and stretched, glancing at his watch. It was seven thirty, and the zoo would be closing soon. Already, people were trickling toward the front gates in hope of beating the snarl of late evening traffic. As the fox stood, he saw Mr. Kelley crossing the narrow thouroughfare and raised a paw in greeting as the badger approached.

"Kendall! How's everything looking today?"

"Not bad at all, sir. Arty drew a hell of a crowd this afternoon, and we got all the smaller pens cleaned out. Only things I have left to do is draining and refilling the pond in the wolf pen, and feeding Arty."

The badger socked Kendall on the shoulder good naturedly. Ever since the arrival of Artemis, and the zoo's return to stable financial footing, the badger had been in high spirits. "Good! Say, I was gonna stay late tonight and go over some book keeping fir the gift shop, but I have to go meet with an investor over dinner. Would you mind locking up for me when you leave tonight?" Kendall was the only employee that Mr. Kelley trusted enough to allow him to close up by himself.

Kendall nodded. "Sure thing, sir. Not a problem at all."

The badger's grin widened. "Excellent! By the way, I had a chat with my accountant this morning and you'll have a decent little bonus on your next check. Thanks for sticking around for as long as you have. Anyway, I need to go. I like to be seen out front at closing time. Good for business, y'know." The badger hurried off toward the front gate.

Kendall watched him leave, ushering the remainder of the crowd ahead of him. Within minutes, the zoo was practically deserted. The fox made his way across the park to the wolf pen. Draining and refilling the small pond inside the enclosure would take at least an hour, and he preffered to get this particular task done first. Feeding Arty would only take a few minutes, and he could take care of it on his way out.

..........

An hour and a half later, Kendall left the wolf pen, locking the gate behind him as he left. The pond was full of clean, crisp water, and the small pack of timber wolves were happily swimming in the cool water. Seeing his way through the darkened zoo by way of a small penlight he carried with him, the fox made his way back toward the tiger pen. Bypassing it, he stopped at the small equipment shed adjoining the enclosure. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, flicking on the flourescent overhead lights as he entered. The shed was packed with brooms, shovels, cleaning supplies and feed bags.

The fox crossed the room to an industrial refridgerator at the far end. He opened it and extracted two large, vacuum sealed packages of raw beef. Kendall tore the bags open and dumped the bloody contents into a clean five gallon bucket, discarding the plastic overwrap, and left the shed, leaving the lights on and door ajar so he could return the bucket after he was done.

The fox crossed to Artemis's pen, fumbled with his keys for a moment, then unlocked the gate and stepped inside. In the glow cast by his small flashlight, Kendall could see the adult Bengal tiger reclining at the far end of the enclosure. The fox rattled the food bucket and gave a low whistle, the signal that it was dinner time. Artemis stood and stretched, then paced languidly across the pen, stopping a good ten feet from the fox and sitting on his powerful haunches "Dinner time, big fella." Kendall extracted one of the pieces of meat feom the bucket and lobbed it at the tiger's feet.

The feline regarded the meat absently, then looked back at Kendall. The fox drew the second piece from the bucket and lobbed it next to the first. The tiger's gaze never left the fox. Kendall felt a shiver of unease run down the length of his spine. Suddenly, he wanted to get out of this enclosure more than anything in the world.

As the fox turned back toward the gate, Artemis took a few stealthy steps forward. Kendall whirled back around. The tiger was now less than a yard away, and the fox knew exactly what the big predator was doing.

Artemis was stalking him.

With a surge of panic, Kendall turned back toward the gate. In that same instant, Artemis pounced. His heavy paws connected with Kendall's shoulder blades, and the tiger rode the fox to the ground. The air rushed out of Kendall's lungs, and he struggled breathlessly against the heavy beast on top of him. He tried to call for help, achieving only a soundless wheeze as he felt the tiger's claws dig into his shoulders.

Suddenly, Kendall felt the tiger's powerful jaws close gently on the back of his neck, accompanied by a low, threatening growl. The fox went limp, knowing that if Artemis chose to bite down, his spinal cord would be severed almost instantly. After a moment, the growl faded into a rumbling purr and the pressure on the fox's neck ceased. Artemis slowly drug his claws down Kendall's back, leaving a double set of shallow, hairline scratches down the length of Kendall's back. The fox felt the claws hang in the wastband of his jeans, and saw an oppurtunity to escape.

The fox lunged forward, grabbing for the latch on the gate. His jeans tore away, rent by the razor sharp claws of the predator. Kendall's paw closed on the gate latch, and the heavy barred gate opened. The fox made it halfway through before Artemis sprang on him again. The tiger's full weight fell on Kendall, and he yelped as he felt one of his ribs crack under the strain. Artemis's claws dug into his shoulders again, deeper than before. Blood trickled down the fox's back as his paws scrabbled against the hard packed dirt, leaving deep furrows in the ground. Artemis let out an ear splitting roar and slashed brutally at Kendall's back, flaying the skin away in strips. The fox screamed, his vision narrowing from the intense, burning pain.

When Artemis stopped, the fox lay underneath the tiger, gasping in long, panting sobs. The tiger pushed down hard on Kendall's shoulders, pinning the bleeding fox firmly into the ground. An instant later, the fox felt something hard and damp press against his backside. A sudden realization of what it was gave the fox a renewed burst of panicked energy.

The tiger intended to breed him.

Kendall bucked and struggled under the heavy beast, his breath coming in desperate sobs. The more he fought, however, the deeper the tiger's claws sunk into his shoulders. The fox could feel the feline's hot shaft jabbing at his ass, getting closer to it's target with every probing thrust. He had been with Dr. Strauss when the vet had examined Artemis, and knew full well that the tiger was packing at least ten inches between it's hind legs, and it's girth certainly exceeded two and a half inches.

Kendall sobbed helplessly as the animal ground against him. Tears of pain and panic streaked his face, and he wailed desperately, hoping that, against all odds, someone would hear him.

With one last grinding thrust, Artemis found his mark. Kendall screamed as the tip of the tiger's cock pushed past his tight ring. The feline didn't pause for an instant, bulling his entire length into the pinned vulpine all at once. The fox felt a hot, burning pain as his ring tore, and his scream intensified into a wailing howl. Through the haze of pain and shame, the fox could feel blood welling up around the intruding shaft.

Artemis bucked against the fox roughly, then withdrew entirely. Kendall felt a brief glimmer of hope that maybe the tiger had lost interest, but the moment was fleeting. Artemis rammed back into him, slamming his hard tip against the fox's prostate. Kendall faced the realization that, despite the pain and shame of what was happening to him, his own cock was rock hard and weeping pre.

Artemis slammed in and out of the fox, withdrawing entirely before forcing himself back into Kendall's abused hole. The fox could feel the feline's heavy balls slapping against his ass, and he voiced an involuntary, quivering moan. Artemis let out a dominant, echoing roar as his blood slick rod pummeled into his new brood bitch.

The tiger was relentless. Thrust after thrust of his muscular hips forced his cock farther and farther into the unfortunate fox. One of Artemis's huge paws had changed position, now resting on the back of Kendall's head, forcing the fox's tear stained face into the hard packed dirt at the edge of the enclosure.

Kendall sobbed softly, limp and unresistant as the tiger had it's way with him. His cock was standing straight out, and a continuous stream of pre dribbled out of it's tip, pooling slowly on the ground. Time and again, the tiger's cock pounded into his prostate, sending waves of shameful pleasure through his battered body. The fox knew that he shouldn't be enjoying any part of what was being done to him, but, on some primal level, he did enjoy it. His mind was reeling, struggling to process the opposing input of pain and pleasure, shame and enjoyment.

Kendall whimpered softly when he felt the feline's hard, sharp barbs begin to flare painfully inside him, raking against his abused inner walls. The tiger fucked him at an increased, frantic pace, striking the fox's pleasure gland with a ceaseless salvo of hard, grinding thrusts. The fox could feel his orgasm building in his balls, and he began to cry harder, willing himself to hold out against it, to not let it happen.

Kendall held himself back for several minutes, caught in an unpleasant limbo created between his body's needs and his mind's resistance. Finally, the strain proved to be too much for the abused fox. With a loud yelp, Kendall lost control, spraying musky vulpine spunk onto the ground. In that instant, the fox could feel something inside his mind shatter, as if a wall had been torn down. His eyes glazed over, and a feeling of cold apathy took over. His body went completely limp, letting the tiger finish what it had started with no more struggle or resistance.

On top of the battered fox, Artemis had reached his climax, spurred on by the convulsion of his prey's inner walls as the fox came. The tiger's thrusts became wild and erratic, until, finally, the feline forced his shaft into the fox as far as it would go, and finished. What felt like a quart of hot tiger semen fired deep into Kendall's body, eliciting a soft groan from the fox. Artemis stayed in position for several more minutes, panting hard, then slowly withdrew his spent member from the fox with a lewd, wet pop.

Almost immediately, a mixture of blood and cum began to dribble from the fox's ruined ass, running in thick streams down his thighs. Kendall collapsed, trembling, to the ground. Artemis positioned himself over the fox, purring loud, and straained for a moment before a forceful jet of acrid, bitter piss erupted from his still semi-erect cock, bathing the prone fox as Artemis maked his newest claim.

When the tiger had finished, it backed away from Kendall, turning it's attention to the chunks of raw meat the fox had brought into the enclosure. Artemis selected rhe bigger of the two pieces and picked it up, batting the other one aside, towards rhe fox, and trotted across the enclosure to enjoy it's dinner.

Kendall regarded the remaining piece of raw meat with glazed, uncaring eyes for a moment, then pawed it closer to his own mouth. The fox gripped it in his teeth and began to tear at it hungrily, crawling backward out of the half-open gateway. The gate fell closed and latched with a loud clang as the fox began to eat.

............

When Mr. Kelley arrived at the zoo the next morning, he was in high spirits. The meeting with the investor the night before had gone extremely well, and as soon as the check cleared, the zoo would be officially out of the hole. The badger parked his car and got out, humming softly to himself. As he neared the front gate, however, the happy tune died quickly.

The front gate was standing wide open. Mr. Kelley's first reaction was one of rage, but it quickly died and was replaced by a deep, gnawing worry. Kendall never left the gate open. A sick dread mounted in the badger's gut as he hurried through the gate. He knew instinctively that something horrible had happened.

The badger ran down the narrow thouroughfare, glancing into each enclosure as he passed, until he reached Artemis's pen. His mouth dropped open in horror.

Kendall was curled into a ball, resting aginst the gate. His back and shoulders were matted with dried blood. At first, Mr. Kelley rhought the fox was dead, but when he called out to Kendall, he discerned a faint movement. The young fox was alive.

The badger flung the gate open and reached down to pick up the brutalized fox, giving a cursory glance at Artemis, who was lounging apathetically against the far fence. As soon as Mr. Kelley's outstretched paw touched the fox, Kendall sprang to life with a guttural snarl. He lunged at the badger, teeth bared and arms flailing violently. Mr. Kelley had just enough time to bring his paws up in defense, and gave the fox a hard shove. Kendall went sprawling, and the badger had just enough time to step backwards through the gate and slam it shut. The fox flung himself against the gate, clawing and biting at the heavy steel bars.

Mr. Kelley watched in shocked silence for a full minute, then dug his cell phone out of his pocket. His paws shook as he dialed the number for the ticket booth at the front gate. Marty, the zebra who ran the ticket counter, would just now be arriving. Sure enough, the equine answered the phone on the second ring.

"Kelley's Zoo Park, this is Marty. How can I help you?"

Mr. Kelley steadied his voice as he replied. "Marty, it's Kelley. Put up the closed signs. Don't let anyone in." There was a brief silence.

"Okay, boss. What's up?"

"Don't ask questions, Marty. Just do it." The badger hung up, took a deep breath, and dialed 911. When the operator answered, the badger cut straight to the chase. "Ma'am, send an ambulance and paramedics to Kelley's Zoo, 1409 Southwind Drive. And hurry, please." The badger hung up the phone and looked back into the pen at Kendall. The two made eye contact, and Mr. Kelley shuddered. There was nothing in Kendall's eyes; only a cold, dead light remained.

..........

The ambulance arrived a short time later. The two paramedics, an otter and a jaguar, stood outside the tiger enclosure, unsure of how to proceed. The otter took Mr. Kelley aside. "Sir, we need to get in there to get him out, but in his current condition, he's liable to attack us. We need to sedate him. Do ya'll have a tranquilizer gun?"

Kelley nodded absently. "Yeah, in the equipment shed, hanging on the wall by the fridge." The otter gestured to his companion, and the jaguar hurried into the shed to retrieve it. Mr. Kelley couldn't take his eyes off of Kendall, who was prowling the perimeter of the pen on all fours, snarling and growling. The wounds on his back and shoulders had reopened, and fresh blood trickled down his back. "What... what's wrong with him?"

The otter shook his head sadly. "When I was in the army, we called it TFD, traumatic feralism disorder. Saw it a lot with soldiers who got captured and tortured by the enemy. Once the mind hits it's limit, it cuts off completely, and this is what happens. Whatever that damn tiger did to him, it shorted him out completely. All that's left is his base instincts. He's in pain, so he lashes out to protect himself."

"Will he recover from it?"

The otter sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. We... we had to shoot a couple of our own boys in the war when it happened to them. They were gone, completely gone. It was mercy to do it. At least, that's what I tell myself."

The jaguar emerged from the shed with the tranquilizer gun in hand. He moved ro the gate and pushed the barrel of the gun through the bars. Immediately, Kendall lept at it, snarling. The jaguar pulled the trigger. There was a soft thump, followed by a loud yelp, and the fox crumpled to the ground. "Should I dart the tiger, too?"

Mr. Kelley turned and looked at Artemis. The tiger hadn't moved from his spot at the far end of the enclosure, despite the all the comotion. "Yeah, might as well, just to be safe." The gun thumped again, and a dart struck the beast in the thigh. Within seconds, the feline was sound asleep.

The two medics opened the gate and entered the enclosure. They gently lifted the unconscious fox onto a back board, and began to asess and field dress his injuries. Halfway through the process, they stopped, looking at each other with shocked, disbelieving expressions.

Mr. Kelley moved up to the fence. "What? What's wrong?" The otter turned to the badger, his face pale.

"Sir... his injuries...it appears that this fox has suffered severe sexual trauma. He was raped." Together, the badger and the otter turned and looked at the sleeping tiger, and a chill ran down both their spines.

..........

Later that evening, Mr. Kelley sat alone in his office. A mostly empty bottle of bourbon and a glass sat in the middle of his desk. The badger hadn't had a drink in over a decade, but now was a good time to start again. He reached for the glass, his paw shaking from a combination of stress and the alcohol he had been steadily downing since the ambulance had left the zoo that morning. The badger forsook the glass, taking the bottle instead and downing the remainder of the liquor in one hard gulp. He coughed as the liquid burned it's way down his throat.

He had received a call from the hospital barely an hour ago. Kendall had no known family, and thus the zoo's owner had been listed as his emergency contact. The doctor Mr. Kelley had spoken to stated that Kendall was stable, at least in a physical sense. The deep tissue lacerations caused by the tiger's claws had required over a hundred stitches to close. He had also been treated for a broken rib. The sexually related injuries were far worse than the paramedics had originally thought. Not only was the fox's sphincter torn; Artemis had also torn the fox on the inside. According to the doctor, it was a miracle that Kendall hadn't succumbed to death by bleeding or septic infection during his night in the tiger pen. As far as his mental state went, the doctor had mentioned that a transfer to the state mental hospital was in the works, and that it was unlikely that the fox would ever recover fully.

Mr. Kelley couldn't help but remember the otter paramedic's words from that morning, and briefly wondered if perhaps it would've been better if Kendall had died from his injuries.

The badger sighed and opened a drawer in his desk, extracting Artemis's records. The thick file contained the feline's capture paperwork, sale records, and vetrinary reports. He flipped through it idly. He had to do something about the animal. Just looking at the tiger gave him a sick feeling of dread. But what to do?

He could have the beast euthanized. After what had happened to Kendall, the state commission wouldn't object. But that would put the zoo back into financial ruin, and the badger had to consider not only his own well being, but that of his employees as well.

He could sell the tiger. With the money from his newest investor, coupled with the income from the sale, he could easily buy a new headlining act, another tiger perhaps. A female this time, though. Mr. Kelley extracted a packet of business cards from his drawer. Every zoo, circus and supplier he had ever done business with was represented in the stack of cards.

Several years ago, the badger had purchased a retired circus elephant from Ringwald's Circus. Within two days of the pachyderm being delivered, however, she had died from unreported heart complications. Mr. Kelley had spent the next six months trying to get the zoo's money back from Ringwald, all to no avail. A grim, drunken smile crossed the badger's face as he extracted Ringwald's card from the stack. He quickly dialed the number. His call was answered on the second ring.

"Hello? Is this Miles Ringwald? This is Roger Kelley, from Kelley's Zoo Park. What? Oh, no, I'm over the elephant thing. I have a proposition for you. I need to relocate a tiger..."

..........

At the other end of the zoo, Artemis cracked open an eye sleepily, and a deep, malevolent purr echoed about the dark enclosure...