Rain forests district: 10:50 pm.
The thick fog and heavy rain created the perfect cover for her to lurk in the night without being noticed. The black cloak she wore, soaked with ice-cold rain, latched onto to the black shirt and black jeans she wore underneath it. Her teeth clattered when a gush of wind ran through her soaked clothes and wool. She cursed under her breath as she walked through the plants and trees that were all taller than her. She wished she hadn't left her car back on the road, which was at least thirty minutes away. But the person she'd hired told her to come on foot, during night hours—late, if possible. Unfortunately, she couldn't come late hours. Having so much power meant having a lot of eyes watching if she was safe or not . She was lucky she made it to the rainforest district without being caught by anyone—she had the black cloak to thank for hiding her identity, but not so much with the rain. Oh the rain was so cold, as well as the wind and the plants she pushed out of her way. She wished she'd brought something thicker—water proof. But she needed to do this, however things turned out. She spent so many years working on this plan—six years she worked. Testing. Making sure there would be no set backs and all success, and she was so close, too. She just needed to get rid of that dammed fox, Nick Wilde, and that overpowered soldier, Jonas Wolfson. Then, everything would be fine. And the world would be fixed. The world being fixed—that was her dream since she was a kid. It had been her dream ever since the incident involving her father so many years ago. She suddenly noticed that she was clutching the watch on her right wrist—her father's watch. Given to her by her mother at her father's funeral. She would never forget the sorrow and agony in her mother's eyes when she handed it to her. She told her to keep it safe… And she did. For 30 years she kept it safe.
The savage attacks, Jamal's death, throwing Lionheart in jail—She wasn't doing this for herself, she was doing this for her father. For revenge.
A sudden bright light tore through the darkness. In less than a second, Bellwether had her back against a tree. She pulled her hood over her head, just then jaguars—two predators— came walking past the sheep, having a conversation that she payed no attention to. She couldn't pay attention because of the anger that boiled in her soul. Revenge consumed her and guided her ever move.
The cloaked sheep managed to hear a few words of the conversation: they were talking about when would they have kids and other relationship stuff. A couple—a married couple. Why would they be in this part of the rain forest district? She couldn't care less.
"Dammed predators." Bellwether hissed under her breath. An evil plan conjured itself in her head, and she smiled. The sheep reached for a pistol at her waist (which she held in case the assassin she'd meet tried something sneaky) and held it at two predators walking past her.
Two shots was all it took to kill both predators. Bellwether smiled, and stalked past the two dead jaguars. Those two predators were a already married couple, planning to have kids. Good. The less predators in this world, the better. And she continued on as if nothing had happened.
The assassin she'd hired was male. She knew that much about him. His voice had been deep over the phone—unnaturally deep. He sounded big and strong; she was nervous to meet him, scared even. The assassin knew who she was and what position of power she took in Zootopia. Bellwether didn't know if assassin was a predator or no. That's what scared her most. If the assassin turned out to be a predator, and he somehow knew she had been behind the savage attacks…
A scream echoed through the darkness of the jungle. No doubt somebody found the jaguars she killed. Bellwether couldn't help but crack a grin. I wonder how they would act if they found out it was me who murdered them. She almost laughed at that.
She continued to stalk through the drenched, rainy jungle as quietly as she could, glancing her over shoulder once in a while. A flash light would be very helpful right now, but she couldn't use it. The jungle was almost complete darkness, and the occasional street lights along the roads didn't help much. The deep-voiced-assassin had said not to use one, saying it'll be easier for someone to follow her path, which she did agree with, but still….
He sent her a map to her phone that wasn't helpful at all. The map consist of a red line running from City Hall to some unknown place in the rain forest district. There was no address she could use. Only the map—the map that looked as if a first grader had created it. Another fact about the assassin: he never went to school, she had thought the first time she glanced at the map. Frustrated, she kept stalking through the jungle.
"He has to be somewhere around here." She whispered to herself, reassuringly. She was starting to lose hope and the will-power to find him. She glanced down at the map the assassin had sent to her via her phone. Her phone, which had a black water-proof case over it. She was glad she had that.
Though she didn't have her glasses, Bellwether read through the map three times before putting it away—sipping up her coat pocket to make sure her phone didn't slip out.
According to the map—or red line—she'd arrived to her destination. But she no one was here, or any house some sort. Damn it! Were is he? She felt so angry she just wanted to scream. The sheep instead punch a tree beside her, or… She thought she hit a tree.
She touched the tree again. It was hard and warm… Like a living thing… and Fury. Fur? An Animal. No, impossible; I couldn't be a living thing. Then why would a tree…
Bellwether heart almost jumped out of chest when she heard a deep, dangerous growl come from above. She instinctively glanced up at the source of the growl. Her stomach dropped.
Two black orbs stared straight into her soul, angry and dark. Angry because she'd just hit… It. Dark because, well, just because. The eyes came closer as the giant creature kneel down to meet her face-to-face. She took two steps back, almost falling in her ass. A gigantic nose came forward and sniffed her—a wolf's nose.
Bellwether turned her head away when the wolf—at least she thought it was a wolf—flashed its death-promising teeth.
The wolf spoke, "so," he said; voice so deep it sounded like a growl more than a word "Your Mayor Bellwether, correct?"
Knees trembling, she nodded.
"Good. I'd have to eat you if you weren't." He said, standing up to his full height; the wolf towered her by yards.
Bellwether lungs closed when the wolf said eat. Eat, she repeated the word in her head. Predator. She prayed—prayed—that he didn't know that she'd been behind the savage attacks. But he threatened to eat her? Predators had evolved to eating insects, so why would he eat her. Or maybe he was just making an empty threat. She sure as hell hoped so.
The sheep swallowed a lump in her throat. "You live in the rainforest district?" She asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice. She didn't succeed in doing so. And a dumb question… Or was it?
The wolf chuckled out of amusement of her fear or malice. She couldn't tell. "Come with me." The wolf said, and stalked away with such grace he made it look like a dance. Bellwether followed, clutching her pistol so hard she thought it would brake.
The sheep couldn't help but stare at the wolf's strong, muscular back as he walked—or danced, she couldn't tell the difference. He wore a sleeveless black shirt, exposing his giant muscles—probably capable of smashing steel. His thick calf muscle were covered with black jeans that look brand new. And three knifes hanged from a strap on his waist. But no guns—he didn't have a strap for a gun to be attached to his waist.
A normal assassin would carry a pistol on them—or have hidden somewhere in their clothes—, and maybe keep a knife or two tucked in their shirt. But he only kept knifes—and knifes only. And he didn't bother hiding them at all. Is he that good? Or was that he didn't care for guns? Maybe he's hiding one? Possible, but very unlikely. His thin clothes likely didn't have any place to store one—no hidden pockets or gun strap. And how could a wolf be so big? She'd seen some big wolfs' in Zootopia, but… This one was a monster—a giant. Unless… Unless he was…
After five minutes of pushing through plants, they arrived to an abandoned house Bellwether had never seen before. Its structure looked slanted slightly, and a the roof looked old. It would probably collapse in a couple of months.
The paint on the house had been washed off, leaving it completely brown with moss climbing up the walls and vines hanging from the roof.
Is this where he lives? The abandoned part of the rainforest district? 20 years ago, the rainforest district had been much smaller with a large population. The citizens of the district complained about the little space, and the Zootopia mayor eventually expanded it. As a result, the old part of the rainforest district was abandoned—nobody really bothered to rebuild it or anything. Waste of money. So here it is now—20 years later—old and forgotten.
They neared the front door of the house; the door looked as if it would fall down if anything touched it, and the door knob was brown with rust.
The wolf gripped the knob with its giant paw and pushed the door open with ease, a creek came from the wooden frame as it winged open. The house was dipped in complete darkness, the only light source being the holes in the roof, which didn't provide much illumination anyway.
Bellwether froze at the entrance to the abandoned house, not daring to move. She'd never felt so scared. The temptation to run away screaming was overwhelming, but she held strong. Not for myself, my father, she reminded herself, and took a step in the house.
The wolf disappeared in the darkness of the house for a moment, but reappeared when a candle light came on. The candle sat in the middle of a round table with fours chairs on all sides, the wooden furniture slightly slanted like the rest of the house. The sheep was afraid the candle would tip over and set a blaze to the house—or worse, the rainforest.
The assassin sat in one of the four chairs near the table. He glanced at her, giving Bellwether a silent message. Sit.
She didn't hesitate to do so, and sat in one of the chairs, removing her hood. She couldn't help but stare at the giant wolf, and he stared back. She finally gathered the courage to ask a question that had been jumping in her skull ever since she'd met the wolf. "Are you… Are you a dire wolf?" The sheep ask, her tone filled with nervousness.
A growl-chuckle came from the giant wolf as he crossed one leg over the other. "Well, aren't you the observant one."
The sheep's brow rose. "But I thought your kind went extinct a thousand years ago?" And she knew the reason why, but didn't want to anger the giant predator.
"And do you know why my kind had almost been wiped off the face of the earth?" His mouth was stretched into a grin, and his sharp death flashed in the candle light. Was he hiding his anger? Bellwether shivered, afraid to answer the question.
"Because… Because unlike many predator species, yours refused to stop using prey as a food source. So we did a genocide of your kind and any other species that refused to stop hunting prey." She answered, not daring to glance into the dire wolf's black eyes.
The skin above the beast's eyes arched, a growl escaped through the knifes he called his teeth. "Exactly, so tell me, sheep: if I let you leave my house, will you run back to the City Hall and order to have me killed or will you keep silent like a good little sheep?" He growled, uncrossing his legs, glaring into Bellwether's grey eyes.
The mayor pushed back the urge to look away. Those black predator eyes… She could see the hunger and death that was targeted at her. She just wanted to get this over with and leave. Not for myself, for my father.
"No," she said, barely audible.,
The wolf growled again. "Speak louder, prey." She shivered at the word "prey" for some reason. It made her feel like… Like food.
"No," she said as loud as she dared too.
He sat back in his chair and crossed his legs again. "Better." He said, then got to the main subject. "Now, if I remember right, you had a job for me, correct?"
She nodded, clutching her trembling hooves.
"Good—what is it then." He sounded inpatient, angry even. And she didn't want to wonder why. His black, hungry eyes said enough to shut her up.
She quickly slipped out a picture of Nick Wilde, the same one she'd shown Cain: the fox curled up covered in his own blood and mud and torn clothes. "I have two targets for you, I want you to get rid of this fox first—Nick Wilde." The wolf stared at the picture, his dark eyes widened a bit.
The dire wolf said, sitting up in his chair, "you sure he's not already dead? That picture sure does make it look that way."
"It was my first attempt at killing him, but, miraculously, he survived. And now he's in the care of the Zootopia Hospital, healing." Bellwether continued. "I think it would be best if you killed him while he's still disabled."
The sheep heard the wolf clenched its powerful jaw—he could probably crush steel with it. He gave a glare that could've made a demon piss itself. "Do you mock me, sheep?" He asked, his deep voice almost shaking the table. " Your asking me, one of the greatest assassin in the world, to do something as wimpy as to kill an injured fox!" A malice grin then stretched across the beast's face. "Or is that… You have a death wish, and want to experience being eaten alive." He chuckled, flashing his sharp teeth again. Bellwether noticed the candle lights made some blood-stains in his teeth visible. She felt herself shrinking in the chair she sat in.
Panicked, she gathered enough air in her lungs to say. "Y-you could wait until he's fully healed." She gulped. " I mean, I heard it will be one more week until he's fully healed." But it would slow down her plans, greatly.
The rage in the dire wolf's expression faded just a bit. "And my second target?" He asked.
Bellwether had already slipped out the picture that Cain had taken a week ago: Jonas standing at Jamal's funeral.
"Jonas Wolfson: a number one ranked solider in the military." She said.
The dire wolf's brow rose. "Ranked number one, eh? I could use a decent challenge." He said, with a slight grin
Bellwether cracked a smile. "Oh trust me, you'll get a challenge out of this one." She slipped the picture back into her coat pocket. Her smile dropped. "But I need them both dead, quickly."
A malice grin grew on the dire wolf's face. "And may I ask, why are you in such a rush to kill these two." He asked.
Bellwether glanced away from the dire wolf. "It's… It's—personal." She said. Not in a million years would she tell the real reason to why she needed Jonas and Nick dead. It would be her death sentence.
The wolf chuckled. "Personal, huh? Well, I guess I can accept that answer." He got from his chair and ambled over to a box laying against the molded wall of his house. He opened the box and pulled out a disfigured corpse: a bunny.
The bunny was male and had been striped of his clothes, revealing his naked body. His throat had been slashed and his stomach gutted, some intestines of its hanging out. The dire wolf licked it's lips and bit off the bunny's head. Blood streamed down his cheek as he chewed it.
Her stomach lurched as she heard the cracking of the bunny's head between the dire wolf's iron teeth, and the blood springing from the body in the wolf's giant paw. She fell out of her chair and vomited on the moss covered floor, gasping.
The dire wolf laughed so hard he almost spit out his food. Prey: they have such weak stomachs. He continued to chew the bunny's head, a grin stretched across his face.
He swallowed, licking his blood stained lips. "I'll have those two targets of yours dead in two weeks or so. And after that, you'd better have my money, sheep; the exact amount: $5,000."
Recovery, Bellwether nodded and stood to her shaking feet.
The dire wolf pointed a finger at his door. "Out." Was all he said.
Bellwether practically ran out the old house, keeping as much distance as she could from the wolf.
The wolf stared out his door as Bellwether disappeared in the trees and bushes of the rainforest. He licked his lips in hunger and malice. Maybe, if that she comes back to pay me, I'll eat her and take the money. A double treat. He chuckled to himself and shut the door to his house, and continued to eat the dead bunny.
Luckily, she'd memorized the trial back to her car.
She couldn't banish the image of the dire wolf eating the bunny from her mind. That wolf—that dire wolf had eaten a dead corpse. A male bunny. Does that wolf still hunt for prey? Dumb question, but still…
How many times has he hunted down prey? How long has he been living in the abandon section of the rainforest district? That question made her skin crawl. That bunny he'd hunted down and killed and stuffed inside a box in his house… Why wasn't that bunny reported missing. The ZPD… Someone… Would've at least noticed that bunny went missing, right?
Suddenly, her phone buzzed inside her coat pocket. Still driving, she slipped her phone out of her jacket. And what she saw next made her heart wail at her rib cage.
Amber alert: Thomas Carrotson has been reported missing.
Species: bunny.
Age: 25.
Last seen: yesterday in the rain forest district. Reward: $300 to any useful information.
$2000 if found.
Bellwether was second from vomiting in her car. Thomas Carrotson… Was gone… For good. And only she knew his fate. No, not just her, that dire wolf, too. An image of the headless bunny corpse flashed in her mind. She swallowed the bile building up in her throat. That dire wolf still hunted prey, still eats prey. And for some reason—for some obvious reason—Bellwether felt like she'd made a mistake.
