II
Meeting the Panthera Family
Three days later, Leo and Tigresa were standing on either side of the sarcophagus and peering
through the Plexiglas window at Michael.
Tigresa said, “Leo, the serum doesn’t seem to be working.”
“Give it more time, Tigresa. Technically, it’s still three hours before the full 72 hours have
passed. Let’s do something else until then.”
After looking at the clock, Tigresa said, “You’re right, Leo. I guess I’m excited to possibly meet a
human from the pre-Humanimal era.”
Leo laughed and said, “Are you sure it isn’t because he’s a rather attractive human?”
Looking at Leo with utter shock, Tigresa said, “Leo! How could you even remotely imply that?
I’ve never even considered a human as a mate and you know it! But, now that you mention it,
he is attractive. It might not be a good idea to bring him home with us. Victoria will probably flirt
with him shamelessly.” She and Leo laughed uproariously.
Michael could hear their voices as they discussed him but, their voices seemed muffled to him.
He couldn’t understand why this was the case.
Michael’s brain was saying, “Open your eyes. You’re awake now; so, open your eyes.”
Slowly, Michael opened his eyes. As his eyes opened, he could see the Plexiglas screen in
front of him. He also saw two faces looking through the screen at him. At first, the faces were
completely out of focus; all he could make out was a head attached to a body on the right and
another head attached to a body on the left. His brain told him that there was something
strange about the heads; something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
As his eyes slowly regained their ability to focus, Michael heard hydraulic pumps starting to
activate and he remembered Dr. Broadhurst telling him that, if he was cured of the virus, the
hydraulic pistons would automatically open the lid of the sarcophagus.
“I must be cured.” Michael thought.
Just at that moment, Michael’s eyes regained complete focus and he could see the faces. The
face on the right was a lion and the one on the left a tiger. Michael screamed and tried to force