Inside the enclosure, the herd stood shoulder-to-shoulder, bodies tense, trumpeting anxiously whenever a staff member got too close to the barricaded area. No aggression toward each other. No erratic stampeding.
This was defense. A guard line. Lila stood rigid, guarding the barricade like a sentry. Her ears shifted toward the corner, nostrils flaring, as though alert to something no human could detect. Maria’s stomach tightened. “They’ve never done this before?” she asked.