Page 27 of Property of Zombie

I’m shoving the last of my Doritos into my mouth when Evan, a member of zoo security, enters the breakroom with an iPad in his hand.

“Dr. Thomas,” he greets. “Carolyn said I could find you here.”

“She was right,” I quip with a smile. “What can I do for you?”

Evan is in his early thirties, a bachelor, and regularly comes to me for advice about his own animals. He’s also the only member of the security team who knows about my extracurricular activities because we once hooked up in the zebra habitat. Of course, it was when we were both relatively new employees, and there was never a repeat performance. Either way, he keeps my secret, and I provide him with free vet care for his three Great Danes.

He lifts the iPad and shows me the screen. I watch in horror as a video of me and Zombie entering the zoo plays.

“Oh, I…” I swallow past the lump taking up residence in my throat.

“Look, no judgment,” he says. “I just need to know if I should scrub this recording from the system.” Evan grins. “Can’t exactly keep your secret if I’m not kept in the loop.”

It never even crossed my mind to tell him I was here last night because it wasn’t a normal visit. In the past, if I ever came after hours, I always sent Evan a text to let him know to scrub certain time frames for specific locations from the system.

“Yeah, um…” I laugh uncomfortably. “If you can get rid of that and anything between the employee entrance to the medical wing, that’d be great. Take it from that time stamp to ten minutes out.”

“The medical wing?” he queries. “That’s a new one.”

“New kink unlocked,” I joke, hoping he buys it.

“Right. Well, consider it scrubbed.” He lowers the iPad. “Next time, don’t forget to text me. I like you, Lucy, and the animals love you. I’d hate to see you get canned over something like this when I can help prevent it.”

“Thanks, Ev,” I say, genuinely grateful. “I won’t. Promise.”

I breathe a sigh of relief when he nods and walks away, making a mental note to bring him some homemade treats for his pups. If I decide to work with Zombie and his club, I really need to be more careful.

If you decide? There’s no if about it.