"Damn it!"

Annie Speer crumpled the small piece of pink paper and angrily tossed it across the room in the general direction of the waste paper basket. The tall blonde woman glared as it fell short and bounced along the worn carpet of the staff room. A quick glance at the clock hung on the wall confirmed her fears: it was just about 8:00 pm. Her shift should have been done almost an hour ago. She'd just finished washing up and was supposed to be meeting some friends at a club. Unfortunately, she had made the mistake of checking the bulletin board one last time before leaving. The pink slip, requesting - no, ordering - her to stop by Hanson's office was pinned up in an obvious position. She couldn't even pretend not to have seen it.

Damn the man.

Damn him to hell!

Ever since he had taken over as Director of Operations at the Bakersville Public Zoo, Hanson had been making her life a misery. It had been apparent from the beginning - from that first awful staff meeting where he had practically drooled all over her - that he would be trouble for her. Her fears had quickly became a reality, as she had been forced to reject his advances again and again. When it finally became obvious that she wouldn't go out with him, the bastard had taken it upon himself to assign to her the most odious tasks. And so, despite the fact that she had seniority over several of the other Keepers, it was her who got called at all hours of the night in response to every little problem. It was her who got "requests" to stay on late friday nights to deal with whatever the Director wanted her to deal with. It was her who...

Annie sighed. She loosened her clenched fists, letting the anger seep out of her. No point in going ballistic over it. It was best just to see what the asshole wanted; with luck, she could deal with it quickly and still meet her friends at the club. If not, well... that was the job.

Ruefully, Annie examined her reflection in the full length mirror attached to back of the staff room door. Just over thirty, she looked a good deal younger than her years, with her stylishly short blonde hair and slim, almost boyish body. Feeling slightly foolish, she ran a hand through her hair, pushing back a stray lock, and straightened her yellow blouse. One of the reasons she had been looking forward to going out tonight was that Amanda had promised to fix her up with a promising male friend. It had been too long - nearly four months since she had broken up with that creep Andy - and she found herself missing the companionship.

Among other things.

Sighing, she opened the door, walked out of the staff room and down the hall towards Hanson's office. Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be too painful...

*****

"The drains?"

Jerome Hanson looked smug, sitting back behind his large desk with an arrogant smile on his fat, pink face. He brought up a hand to push his glasses back up on his nose before repeating himself: "Oh my, yes. According to Vickers, they're backed up something terrible. Something terrible. And it's supposed to rain tonight, don't you know. Yes..." He sniffed. "...rain."

"But..." Annie fought in vain to find some way to express her anger at having this job thrust on her in this manner. There must be someone else who could...

"And with the waterfall in the gorilla exhibit, proper drainage is all the more important," he continued complacently, ignoring her incoherent sputtering. "All the more important. You know that; the overflow can make such a mess. Such a mess."

Annie sighed and fell silent. No use wasting her breath with this jerk. He'd made up his mind. Besides, he might even be right. The gorilla exhibit featured a large "jungle waterfall" in the centre of the cage. If the drains were blocked, the overflow from the water feed could cause a huge mess, maybe even flooding the cage and the interior enclosure. Maybe, she thought to herself, just maybe this isn't some stupid game he's playing; maybe he really does care about...

"Of course," Hanson continued, a smirk appearing on his pink, pudgy face, "if cleaning out the drains doesn't appeal to you, particularly, I can think of some other more... pleasant way to pass the time."

Annie stiffened and felt herself turning red with anger. "I don't think so, *Mr* Hanson," she growled, her voice trembling. "I think I'd rather spend the night in the gorilla cage cleaning drains than go out with you." The smirk disappeared from his features as Hanson's face went blank. "In fact, I'm certain of it." Annie smiled and turned to go. "The gorillas," she lobbed back over her shoulder as she left his office, "are better company." Hanson might have said something, but she never heard it as the door slammed shut behind her.

Shaking with anger, she stomped down the short hallway and back into the staff room. That was it, she decided. She'd had enough. Sitting down at a table, she picked up a pen and paper and scribbled out a hurried letter of resignation. That would end matters; she'd throw it in his face and let him clean his own fucking drains! She'd...

As quickly as the anger had overcome her, it seeped away. Miserable, she stared down at the letter, and at her name signed at the bottom with her usual flourish. She couldn't do it; the job was all she cared about, really. And Hanson knew that. That was the maddening thing; the bastard was well aware that she wouldn't quit. No matter how much she hated him. Sighing, Annie got to her feet and walked over to her locker. She placed the letter on the top shelf. Then, with a final despairing look at herself in the mirror - at herself dressed up for a night on the town - she began changing into her overalls. Cleaning drains was messy work.

*****

The roar of the exhibit waterfall all but drowned out the sound of Annie's loud cursing to anyone more than a few feet away from her angry mouth. Even inside the closed off section of the Gorilla cage - the entire area consisted of a large outside section where the visitors to the zoo actually viewed the gorillas (the cage) and an enclosed room which was entered by a small opening just beside the waterfall, where the gorilla's went at night and when they wished to escape the constant scrutiny (the enclosure) - the roar of the waterfall was all but overwhelming. The air inside the enclosure was kept quite warm and Annie was sweating profusely as she struggled to move the step-ladder along the concrete wall to the location of the next plugged drainpipe. As she struggled with the ladder, she looked over at the gorilla who sat watching her. It was Kagu, the largest of the two males that made up the family unit included in this particular exhibit. His broad, flattened nose wrinkled as his black eyes followed her actions closely. For a moment, Annie almost expected him to offer assistance, but he just let out a quiet grunt and scrambled away on his short legs and long, muscular heavy-knuckled hands and began climbing the twisted structure of ladders, poles, platforms and rope that covered most of the ape's enclosure.

"Thanks for nothing, you lazy bastard," she muttered jokingly, returning her attention to her work.

Finally, the step-ladder was in position. With one last shake to make sure it was steady (it wasn't, really, but steady enough), she climbed almost all the way to the top and then stretched her hands upward to run a long, thick brush along the inside of the drain. It wasn't easy work, and her precarious perch on top of the ladder made the job all the more difficult as she was forced to move slowly and carefully to keep the ladder from falling over. It was a good twenty feet to the floor.

That's why, when she felt the hand on her ass, she didn't immediately jump away; she couldn't do so without tipping the ladder over. She just stiffened in surprise. Keeping her hands on the brush to steady herself, Annie slowly turned to see what was happening. It was Kagu; crouched on a nearby platform. The great ape had reached over and placed one of his large, hairy hands on her ass. "Hey," she shouted, her voice sounding quiet and weak under the roar of the waterfall. "Stop that."

Kagu looked over at her as she yelled at him, a look of... well, she wasn't certain what, but he didn't look friendly. He stopped touching her, but didn't move away. Annie felt a moment of indecision; she'd never had trouble with any of the gorillas before - including Kagu - but something about him frightened her now.

Something was different; something was wrong.

"Shit."

The ape let out a quiet grunt. Suddenly terrified, the blonde zookeeper let go of the brush and began to climb down off the ladder. Almost immediately, she felt something grab the shoulder strap of her overalls. She twisted her body, trying to break free, but managed only to kick the ladder over. She got a glimpse of what was holding her as she twisted around. It was Kagu again. This time, he had grabbed hold of the fabric of her overalls and was effortlessly holding her dangling in the air off the edge of the platform as the ladder crashed to the ground. Annie immediately stopped struggling, not wanting to fall. She just dangled there as steadily as possible, panting with fear, trying desperately to avoid doing anything which might startle the gorilla or cause him to drop her.

He held her there for a few moments and then slowly drew her up until her face was level with his. He still held her out over the edge of the platform, so she remained limp and unresisting. "Please," she whispered, as if he could hear or understand her. "Please."

Kagu didn't react to her pleas. He did, however, reach out his other hand and clutch at one of her breasts through the overalls.

"Nooooo!" Annie let out a loud scream, reaching up to push his hand away from her breast.

Kagu reacted by baring his teeth and letting out a growl. His grip shifted and Annie dropped an inch or two before the slack was taken up. Immediately, she stopped struggling and dropped her hands to her sides, staring fearfully at the gorilla's face. What was happening? She'd never heard of one of the primates acting in this manner.

Satisfied with her compliance, the mountain gorilla turned his attention back to her breasts. His hand moved from one to the other, touching... squeezing... fondling... kneading... He seemed endlessly fascinated, playing with the zookeeper's breasts like they were toys.

After a while, he tore away the front of the overalls. Annie started to fall as the shoulder strap slid free, but the gorilla quickly shifted his grip so that he was holding her around the back of her neck. The grip was painful, but firm. It kept her from falling. Once again she didn't dare struggle, frightened that he might drop her. And so she hung there, limp and docile, tears running down her face to mingle with trickles of sweat, while Kagu used his free hand to finish tearing the overalls away from her slender body.

In moments, she was stripped down to her tee-shirt and panties (she hadn't fully dressed herself beneath the work clothes, hoping to change quickly in time to meet her friends afterwards), dangling half naked over the edge of the platform. Once again, the great ape seemed fascinated by her breasts as they rose and fell beneath the tee shirt, jiggling with the panicked rhythm of her breathing. With a puzzled look on his face, he pushed and poked at them, watching them shift under the thin fabric of her tee-shirt. This game continued for a few minutes until Kagu took a handful of fabric and ripped the shirt from her body. Annie stifled a scream as her bra was exposed to the gorilla's eyes. Delighted with his success, Kagu continued his game with her breasts, pushing and poking...

Then he tried to pull the bra away. Unlike the tee-shirt, however, the elastic of the bra resisted his attempts at removal; it stretched but did not tear. The gorilla pulled at it for a few moment and then began to get angry, baring his teeth and jerking the front of the bra in a clumsy and futile attempt to remove it. Whimpering with fear, terrified that he might completely lose his temper, Annie reached up and undid it for him with trembling fingers. The terrified zookeeper whispered soothing words as she slipped the bra off her shoulders and, putting her hands underneath her small, firm breasts, offered them up to the great ape. Kagu calmed down and immediately fell to playing with them again. Sniffling, Annie dropped her hands and again hung as still as she could, hoping he would eventually get tired of playing with her and pull her onto the platform.

After playing with her breasts for another few minutes, the great ape did pull her towards the platform. Annie sighed, trembling with relief as her feet found support, but her hope was short lived. Kagu immediately pulled her into his chest with his powerful arms and squeezed her to him, evidently enjoying the feel of her breasts pushing up against his fur. Annie let out a muffled scream and flailed uselessly with her hands, but the gorilla ignored her struggling. After a while, she gave up and went limp again. It was no use fighting it; perhaps if she just relaxed, he would lose interest.

Eventually, the great ape took hold of her shoulders and held her up and away from him. He lifted her so that her breasts were eye level and just stared. Annie, angry and frustrated at being held and manipulated like a toy, considered kicking him in the groin, but decided that it would be more prudent not to anger him. Great apes were normally very gentle, almost never attacking people, but they were fiercely strong; and there were stories... And Kagu was already acting strangely enough that Annie, despite her experience at the zoo, had no way of predicting what he would do next. No way of telling...

Still holding her in the air, the great ape leaned forward and took one of her nipples in his mouth.