A huge crowd at a zoo gathered around the handler of Gustavo, a famous crocodile that receives tourists around the world for his giant size. He was even bigger than Lolong the crocodile that used to have the world record for the biggest crocodile at 20 ft. Gustavo was 25 feet long and weigh a whopping 2,700 pounds.
Right now it was a normal day and as Gustavo was fed 3 times a week it became one of the most popular shows at the Zoo. The amount of money his shows brought allowed the zoo to spend it on making sure Gustavo's life was stress-free. Throughout his 85-year life span, he had three handlers.
His current handler was the daughter of the previous handler who retired after being with Gustavo for over 50 years. Her name was Lauren Glass and she had been Gustavo's handler for just about 6 years. She looked at the crowd and began her presentation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy you are back for our show. Today is the feeding day of Gustavo. If you remember he is the biggest Salt Water crocodile on record and he needs to eat just as much. He is 85 years old and he was born here in the zoo."
As she talked the peaple were filing the show and excited to see him. As for the croc himself, Gustavo was at the bottom of the huge pound just relaxing However when it came to the food he was like a bloodhound. He may be an animal, but a mutation in his brain that no one knew about made him much smarter than people gave him credit for. He had managed to learn things not expected of him like remembering feeding day and faces.
He still remembers his old handler and he liked the guy as much as his instincts allowed. He would still have eaten him if given the chance, but that day never came. The new handler was much more boring and smaller than the nice man.
Lauren showed the huge pig carcass they were going to be feeding him, and he could see it from here. If he could he would be drooling as feeding days were always the days he looked forward to. First, they had to lure him up which was not hard.
"Now, if you may remember the crocodile has the strongest bite force on Earth, a single bite around the arm will shatter bone and if they enter the famous death roll your arm is coming off or worse."
The crowd went wild as she reached into a bucket and pulled out a whole chicken. She began to slap it on the pond and Gustavo was not one to wait, rushed to the surfaces for his deserved meal. He lunged at the chicken, but Lauren pulled back so he would walk out. That annoyed him, but if he wanted his meal he would follow.
When Gustavo's huge dark brown body was out of the water with his massive jaws wide open the crowd when wild with cheers. Gustavo never liked the annoying humans and the older he got the smarter he got. Lauren was not like her father who seemed to have a soft spot for Gustavo and she was actually afraid of him.
She listed the chicken and Gustavo's huge jaws opened up and she tossed the chicken into Gustavo's open mouth. When it touched his tongue the huge jaws clamped down and crushed it bone and all. and swallowed it. The crowd cheered and it annoyed Gustavo if he could he would eat them all. They just looked like alive food that he would not catch sadly.
He looked at the girl who replaced his old feeder and she was keeping her distance. He looked at the huge pig that would be his and he opened his mouth wide and went to the pig that was rightfully his. He caught it in his jaws and clamped down crushing bone.
The sickening crunch made a few people squeamish, but a few cheered. Gustavo rushed to his pond to eat and Lauren sighed in relief she did not lose a hand. She always loved to see her father working with the croc, but being his handler was scary. She was only 26 and she was taught by her dad how to handle him. It was still scary as she looked at the pond.
He was so big and unpredictable. It was a miracle her father still had arms as the times when Gustavo tried to eat him quite a lot. That was the last show for the day and she looked at the crows to disperse them.
"Well folks, seems that is out show. He should be eating his meal at the bottom of his pond. Crociels can go up to years without food by staying perfectly still. Please, come back next week for the next show."
The crowned began to disperser and as it was the end of the day and the last show she just had to do a few things like closing up. As for Gustavo he ate his fill and stored his meal in the cold water and rose to land. When he came up everyone was gone except for Lauren.
When she heard that Gustavo was out she looked over and saw the Gustavo was looking right at her. It kind of unnerved her as every day since she took over from her father when everyone was gone he just watched her as she worked. She thought he was waiting for her to let her guard down so he could eat her, but he had no such intention.
He was just curious about the girl and his brian made him have the level of intellect of an elephant. He just never showed it and was just interested in the two-legged creature that fed him. To him, she was the one who brought food and he was interested in where it came from.
She just kept working while Gustavo watched. This was a routine they and little did they know both the lives were about to change for the worst or better depending on whose perspective as from space was rushing the worst virus in the universe that had caused galactic empires to rise and fall.
Meteors were rushing towards the Earth at huge speeds and they had rushed around Mars like they had a mind of their own. These were the remnants of a planet that was infected with a virus called the Black Terror. Over 80 percent of all life that was infected perished and reanimated as a mutant monster plant, animal, or humanoid. They attacked the noninfected or the survivors to infect and evolve further.
The survivors evolved and developed mutagenic abilities and one of the Galactic Empires that had been fighting this plague for thousand of years found that one of the most recent planets to fall to the Infection was causing the infested to begin to evolve ways to leave the planet and survives the vacuum of space. They could not allow that and they choose to destroy it.
They destroyed the planet in hopes of stopping it, but the virus survived and a few of the strong infected called Carries were some of the ones that could infect were heading straight for Earth.
of course to Gustavo and Lauren had no way to know as Lauren was just taking her time to do her last duties before going home. She did not know why, but she looked at Gustavo who was still looking at her.
"You know bud, you are quite scary even if you stand still."
Scary? That was a word a few people used to call him. He did not know what it meant, but he did not care. She saw that he blinked a few times and as she was alone she decided to humor the idea to pass the time.
"Scary, it means to scare people. Like them running away. Well, you are huge and those teeth are not just for show bud."
Gustavo listens to her words and blinked a few times thinking about that. She looked around hoping that no one saw her talking to a giant croc like it was a person. She sighed and tried to hurry up. The infected were just 5 minutes away from Earth and the world leaders were in shock.
The news was going wild telling people to go to bunkers and their shelters. The doomsday preppers were cheering and rushed to their lives works and believed they would live. How wrong they were, Lauren had her phone off and was taking it easy. She smiled and looked at Gustavo.
He barely moving and she was scared of him as even her dad was scared of him. She had been around him since she was 5 and it was like her dream to look after the old croc. Thinking at he might even live to be over a hundred made her laugh as she will be around him for years.
Gustavo's survival instincts went wild and he rushed to the depths of his pond in fear and Lauren was surprised as he usually stayed up here until she was done. She heard a huge boom and she looked up and saw bright meters rushing to the ground. She was terrified and froze in place as one was rushing right at the zoo.
When it crashed in the middle of a restaurant the infected unfurled itself and revealed its huge body that was over 30 feet. It was a mix of rock and flesh and from it, huge roots burst out of its body. It was not a fighter and was just an infector.
It began to root itself to the ground and its huge body burst open releasing a huge black mist all over the zoo. This was happening all around the world on mass and Gustavo's pond was one of the places to receive one of the biggest doses.
Lauren tried to use her shirt to not breathe it in yet she was helpless as it went through the skin. All the animals in the zoo were infected no matter the species and Gustavo was no exception. The virus was in no way stopped by the water and if anything it was even more infective in the water.
When the virus entered Gustavo's body it began to affect him on the genetic level and a magical one. His body began to twitch and convulse. His scales burst open and he felt a pain worse than anything he had ever felt. He thrashed as his scales were being ripped open and his bones and muscles were being broke and ripped only to be healed
When the virus reached his brain it reacted with his mutation and mutated his brain even further. Lauren was no exception and her body was bursting and being torn apart. She was not like Gustavo as animals could deal with pain far better than humans and felt she would die at any moment.
She felt her life flash before her eyes and thought she was going to die. Both Gustavo and Lauren died temporarily as they were some of the lucky ones. Lauren before was a tall woman of European descent at 5 ft 11, black hair, blue eyes, and after her eyes became ice blue, her hair became a midnight blue and her height grew to 6 ft 2.
She was more athletic and now her body was perfect as the virus maximized efficiency for the survivors. As for Gustavo his new scales were pitch-black and shined like metal, his back was full of razor-sharp spike. His new body had longer legs for running and his claws were huge. He grew to be a huge 32 feet and his insides were even more of a change.
To support his new frame his bones, muscles, heart, and lung had grown even stronger, and as the virus was a genetic and magical one affected his brain making his higher intellect smart enough where he became far more self-aware. How smart he would be would have to be seen.
He and Lauren opened their eyes at the same time and felt a sense of overwhelming, yet that was crushed when Gustavo rushed out of his pond and his new body was elevated. Lauren stood up in shock as she looked at Gustavo's new body.
More important she felt things were higher than before and saw her clothes were tighter. She was more scared than Gustavo would try to eat her as his new teeth looked like they could turn her to mincemeat like the chicken she fed him earlier.
"Hey bud, it's me. You're not going to eat me right?" She had no clue why she felt talking to him would work, but she had a feeling. Gustavo looked at her and he could very well eat her, but he was not going to.
For some reason, he had lost all desire to eat her as if his instincts were telling him not to. He could not speak or even communicate but she could somehow feel his intentions. She felt that was odd that she could feel that.
He felt her relief and he was interested in what that feeling was. As the virus was a magical and biological one in nature it had made them have a bond like a contract between the two of them. First, they had to survive in this zoo, full of mutant creatures, dead and alive.