The Fall (Book 4): Genesis Game by Joshua Guess

years old. Custom entrances. Kell would have figured that out from the three right-angle turns they had to make and the complete lack of any doors or windows.
    The group moved down a steep set of concrete steps, through another twisting maze of corners, and up another set of steps to emerge inside Trenton itself.
    Sure enough, there weren't any other guards to meet them. The land here was less flat than Kell would have expected Illinois, sculpted earthen terraces jutting out from gently sweeping hills. Everywhere he looked, food was growing. There were only narrow paths between the vast swaths of fruits and vegetables. In the far distance, a giraffe was eating from a tree.
    “Wait a second, that's a giraffe,” Kell said flatly.
    After a full beat, the entire group erupted into laughter.
    “No, seriously,” Kell said, trying to edge a word into the gales of mirth. “Guys. Either I just had a stroke or that's a fucking giraffe!”
    “Sorry, man,” Emily said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It was just the way you said it. So deadpan.”
    Rational Kell noted that none of his group were looking at him like he was crazy, so he assumed what he was seeing was real.
    “So what's the deal with this place?” Kell asked. “Why...where...” For once, words failed him. It was just too surreal to allow for logical thought.
    Emily was still the only member of the group capable of speaking, though the laughter had died down to fits and bursts with the occasional chuckle bubbling up. “You can ask the big man when we see him. All new visitors are required to.”
     
     
    There were some answers to be found along the way to the house of Trenton's leader, a man everyone simply referred to as Victor. Faded signage made it clear the place had once been a zoo, though that only raised more questions in Kell's ever-curious brain. Why move into a place that had been designed for ease of access, for one. It seemed like the last kind of refuge for safety.
    That was what he thought at first, anyway. The walk also revealed some clever adaptations by the residents. Zoos worked hard to hide the concrete enclosures from their visitors to create a more natural appearance. The residents of Trenton took the opposite approach, removing large sections of soil from the edges of those hidden bunkers and outfitting them with custom defenses. One of the monkey pits featured two barred doors set in one side of its circular wall, both ringed with spears of steel and pit traps.
    Kell wondered if the place was like some of the larger amusement parks he'd been to, with an entire network of connected tunnels and rooms below ground. If so, this place was more of a fortress than almost anywhere he'd seen since The Fall began.
    “Here we are,” Emily said a short time later, leading them up a short and steep path to what had once been a gorilla habitat. So the sign said.
    Kell once again revised his assumption when the door opened, spotting a large ape lounging on a fallen log behind a thick sheet of glass. The building itself was lived-in to an almost pathological degree. Clothes dried on lines strung from wall to wall, books stood in neat stacks next to every chair. A small camp grill sat beneath a makeshift stovepipe, surrounded by a surprising array of food, spices, and condiments. Kell eyed a jar of homemade pickles greedily.
    “Hello,” said a resonant voice from the dimmer recesses of the room. “Let me get this thing going, hang on.”
    Light bloomed in an old-fashioned oil lamp as sparks met wick, bathing a man's face in soft yellow light. He sat behind a table that served as a work desk, and leaned forward to take in the approaching group with intelligent eyes.
    Survival in the long term meant cultivating an ability to trust your instincts and take the measure of a person quickly. Usually this meant observing a little, seeing how someone spoke to others and gauging them on things like body language.
    Victor was much easier to figure out.
    The light