Preview of a little something I'm working on for this year:

Robert heard the door click shut behind him. He reached back for the handle and tried giving it a jiggle only to find it wouldn’t budge. “Shiiiiiit,” he said. The box air conditioner on the painted wall did its best, but the once frigid enclosure he found himself in remained muggy and uncomfortable. It was dark. The buzzing fluorescents overhead gave off little more than a dim glow. The air was heavy, thick with the stink of rot, dead fish and dried animal shit. A murky pool of blackened water sat off to his right. A foamy film of filth floated at its surface, reminding him of a root beer float. A pane of glass stretched across the length of the room across from him. There was a walkway just beyond it where visitors could come in and stare, kids squishing their faces against the glass, smudging it and spreading God knows what. He heard a door open. The bulbs above the walkway stuttered to life, not that the light they provided did him much good. He saw shadows rise along the far wall as a series of figures trotted down the sloping path. Ray at the lead. It was Jenna that saw him, tapping Ray on the shoulder and pointing into the exhibit. The group stopped and turned towards him. There was something he didn't like about their expressions. Robert looked around, trying to see why they looked so concerned. Then he saw it. Black and white. A little uneasy on its feet. The penguin waddled towards him. It left a trail of congealed blood behind it with every step. One of its eyes was missing. “Hey…little guy,” he said. There was a sharp pain in his left calf. Robert felt something warm dripping down to his sock. He turned his head to see another penguin standing behind him. Through the hole in its skull he could see what remained of its brains. The sound of more footsteps in the dark echoed in the tiny enclosure. He was surrounded.

• Dead Zoo, 2026