Chapter 1, Prologue

The doe's eyes were glassy.

Coppery, unyielding, the smell of stale blood and exposed flesh reeked in the air, a mass of people were gathering. Points, whispers – flies. He had never quite seen eyes like that before; inanimately asleep with death, staring upwards. He had seen his fair share of blood, guts, gore, cuts, but he'd never seen something as gruesome as this; yet what was it? – That tender, familiar arousal of the hairs in his nose, ears sharp, lips twitching to bare teeth…

"Is everything alright?"

His heart skipped a beat, and Officer Nick Wilde snapped into reality. He whirled round quickly, throwing an arm out to stop the rabbit. "Carrots, you don't want to."

He could handle it.

"Don't be silly, let me through –"

"Trust me. Don't come over here," he said sternly, a hand up to hold her back. With the other, he reached for the radio on his collar. "Officer Wilde to dispatch; back-up required along with clean-up crew on Valentine and Vine. Code Two. DB, 187. Respond, over –"

The rabbit pushed past him. "Let me through –"

"Dispatch, come in – No, Hopps, just stay back!"

But Judy Hopps pushed past the fox anyway, and bore upon the calamity. Immediately, her grey ears fell. Her amethyst eyes grew.

Nick stopped short, heart pounding as he came up behind her. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to hold her hand. Touch her shoulders, slip his arms around her body and tightly wrap himself onto her, kiss her so her eyes would close, press his mouth against hers and turn her away so she could melt into the warm covering of that tangerine thick fur coating his chest – but he knew now that nothing he could do would give back to Judy the innocence that'd just been taken from her.

The doe's eyes were glassy.

Her body was mangled, spread-eagled and mutilated, blood drying maroon on the tarry black floor of the side alley, naked.

And Judy would never be able to unsee that.

Had she been prepared for this?

Was this his fault?

How could it be?

This wasn't just a murder.

"Officer Nick Wilde to dispatch," he said into his radio one more time, those ears folding back in sheer terror. "Vic is missing the lower half of her body."

Hey guys! I hope you liked the prologue so far. Stay tuned for the story to unfold...

Who would murder & hack down the middle a sweet doe?

Are Nick and Judy together?

Lots of M content coming up in near future chapters!

Can't wait to tell this tale the way it's meant to.

P.S I don't own any of the characters, blah blah, you know!