“’The extra adrenaline would have killed her, Jackson!’ Mitch yells, getting fed up with Jackson's blame and mood.
‘The gas did anyway!’”
Ugh, I could just hear the anguish in Jackson’s voice and I understand his argument. I never agreed with Chloe’s death. Unfortunately, it did add to the plot—mainly, Jackson’s anchor (well, one of them) was taken away. After that, it gave Jackson’s character the excuse to go off the deep end, and, hence, we have an intense Season 2. But Chloe’s death had felt rushed. I won’t say it was unnecessary—I already discussed why it wasn’t—but I believe it could have been planned better and placed more towards the latter part of the season. Anyway, I go on to say all this because you gave us the extra scene we needed to properly say goodbye to her. So what if it’s riddled with angst and pain? They just add flavor to your story.

“‘We don’t need you here,’ the ghost gene carrier snarls, appearing almost animal-like in appearance, and it scares Abe to see his best friend, his Rafiki, looking so murderous and beast-like.’”
I love this, because, if we go a little deeper, Abe isn’t just scared at the appearance of his best friend—he’s terrified because Jackson is suffering from something that Abe can’t save or protect him from.

“‘I bet you would have been successful if it was Jamie on this table and not Chloe.’”
So, this little sentence right here—this one’s a beauty. I’d have to say it’s probably the best line in the whole fic. It’s totally in-character, both for Jackson to say it and how Mitch reacts to it. This one has power behind it, and so so so so so much meaning behind it. I love it.

“The moment Jackson stands up, Abraham grabs a fistful of his best friend's shirt, holding him by the collar.”
This is so cute, despite the situation. It brought to my mind how in-character it would be for Abe to do this. We both have established that Jackson attracts trouble, so it’s possible that Abe has had to do this several times over the course of their friendship. Imagine that it’s become instinct for Abe, a habit that he formed when he and Jackson were younger. Ugh, the feels I get.

“‘Enough Jackson,' Abe commands more forcefully this time, and Jackson's eyes start to become lighter and less enraged as his mutating DNA begins to wane away in its effects.”
I like this line because it goes along with what I mentioned earlier about Cloe being one of Jackson’s anchors. Here, we see that Abe is the other one. Although the details of Season Two are fuzzy (it’s been a while), I remember that, although Abe was shown chasing after Jackson and worrying about him, the writers didn’t bring Jackson and Abe’s brotherly relationship to its full potential. Like you portray in this fic, I believe that Abe should have been a large influence against the mutating gene in the show—but he wasn’t. Anyway, good job with this part.

“In his heart brain alike, Abe can only fear the feeling that would sweep over him if he were to lose Jackson to the animal apocalypse as well.”
This. The feels. I’m drowning in them. You're killing me.

Overall, I loved it. So much angst. It was beautiful. I love that we got to see Abraham and Jackson mourning over Chloe’s death more in depth than what was shown in the show. And the end was sweet. It brought a smile to my face.

Again, great job! I’m looking forward to reading more Zoo fics from you.

Thank you for this story. I know you were aiming for a JacksonxChloe story but to me it read like a really nice story about Jackson and Abe's close friendship, even though it was brought on by grief. I really like their friendship. I thought you captured Mitch well (he's my favourite character) and really showed how Jackson must have been feeling at that moment. That line about Jamie was brilliant, it's exactly the kind of comment that would make Mitch snap, and it just shows the kind of pain Jackson was in that he'd be willing to go there. Anyway, in short, great job, very entertaining and I hope to see more from you.