1.1 - The Gray World

Cold. The windows were gray and lined with frost, but they always were. Gray buildings and gray towers sat beyond the pane of glass, dotted with dull and cracked windows. Above them sat a gray haze and unmoving, gray clouds. Below them was a thick fog of gray, concealing the dreary streets below.

The alarm buzzed atop the nightstand, vibrating slightly every few seconds. Most animals would disregard the buzzing, but it was enough to rile her senses awake.

Judy's paw silently probed for the alarm before flicking a switch, turning it off. She rolled deeper into her bed, stretching and rubbing her eyes. She let out a breath, releasing a visible puff of warm air. Despite being coated in a thin layer of fur, it provided meek resistance against the cold.

Especially in these early mornings.

She gradually rose out of bed, yawning. She stretched her chest for a moment before finally ending in a sitting position. She licked the back of her paw before rubbing her eyes again.

The TV against the opposite wall suddenly flickered to life. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust. There was a news reporter talking about something, standing in the middle of a freeway. Judy reached for the remote and increased the volume.

"We have, uh, what appears to be a fatal crash on the 59 south-bound." the reporter said. "The accident appears to have been caused by a missing engine chip. We here at ZT4 News highly encourage everyone to install a chip before the December 21st deadline..."

Judy scratched the back of her neck for a second. She had completely forgotten about the deadline. She'd have to get her car checked. She got up and out of bed.

The apartment was small, as were most of them in this part of the city. Everything was a little different for prey.

Judy licked her paw and rubbed her face. She would have liked to use the fountainhead a little ways down the hall, but the water had been shut off by the city for a few weeks now. No one was rushing to fix it. She walked over to her clothing rack and grabbed her work clothes, still listening to the news.

"Five protesters are set to be executed this evening near the square, after publicly decrying Leader Wolfram. All are also suspected of possessing quantities of drugs." a coyote anchor announced.

Right when she'd be leaving work. Judy rolled her eyes. "Another thing to look forward to."

She laid her work clothes out across her bed. A short, black mini-skirt that halfway reached her knees and a white, ruffled undershirt. Just the way her boss liked it.

She slipped out of her nightwear and into her clothes. She grabbed a label from her dresser and pinned it around her breast. JUDY L. HOPPS – SECRETARY

Judy glanced at her reflection in the mirror. It was cracked, but she never seemed able to afford a new one. She tugged down her skirt some. It was awfully short, but that was what she had thought a month ago, just before her boss asked her to wear something shorter and even tighter. She had to do what he said. Still, it did bother her.

She straightened her top up before grabbing her keys, purse, and opening the door. Before stepping into the hall, she ran back and flicked the TV off before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

Judy shivered. Somehow, the hallway managed to be even colder than her room. Her clothes weren't doing her any favors either. The hall was empty, bar a homeless sheep on the far end. He sat there all day, every day. She felt his eyes on her figure until she turned the corner.

Her heels clacked with every step she took. As she briskly walked towards the elevator, she rummaged through her purse for a moment. She pulled out a ration card. It was a thin, red piece of paper, like a ticket. Imprinted was "ONE RATION CARD – GOOD FOR ONE SMALL MEAL."

She rubbed the card between her fingers. Judy never had to use a ration card before moving to the city. Back in the Burrows, they would just eat from a basket of carrots or strawberries – there was no need for food rations. Things were different here. She almost starved that first week.

The panels lighting the hall hummed with electricity. She continued down a flight of stairs – the elevator was not in working order, and it hadn't been for several months now. The manila wallpaper around her was torn in some spot, and the edges were lined with mold. The steps were somewhat steep, clearly not designed for a rabbit, but she continued anyway, as she did every day.

At the end of the stairwell, she stepped out and into another hall. All stairways ended here. This area was more busy than the rest of the apartment. She could see dozens of different prey mammals, from the towering deer and moose to guinea-pigs and mice. Judy made her way down the hallway until turning another corner and entering the cafeteria.

The cafeteria. Or, at least, that's what they called it. Really, it was no more than a serviced booth that served dried packets of various foods. There were a few chairs and tables scattered about, not nearly enough to sit even half of the apartment's occupants. A few mammals sat there, talking quietly or eating alone. This is how it usually was.

Apart from the hushed conversations and the clinking of plastic forks and knives, the silence was deafening.

Judy continued towards the small booth – not much more than a large tray. She briefly glanced over the meager selection before finally grabbing a freeze-dried carrot bar. The thing was a pale orange and just larger than her paw, wrapped in a transparent plastic wrapper. She turned away and continued towards the exit. She used her teeth to tear away the plastic wrapping. She leaned against the wall beside the door for a moment as she ate the bar. It was crunchy and tasteless – more than likely stale. The bits of ice melted in her mouth, but it wasn't enough to revive the taste of the bar.

She always did prefer actual carrots. Granted, they weren't healthy, but they made for a nice treat every now and then. Fresh produce did not exist in Zootopia.

When she finally finished the carrot bar, Judy tossed the wrapper into a nearby trash can. She reached into her purse and grabbed a filter mask. She slipped it over her mouth. The string seemed to dig into the back of her head, but the pain soon subsided. She took a breath before pushing through the heavy, steel door.

She recoiled as the stench of the world hit her. She scrunched her nose beneath the mask and continued down the dirty, stained sidewalk.

As she walked, she could feel eyes from all around look and watch her like magnets. They poured over her body, both up-close and from afar. She tried not to match their eyes, instead increasing her pace. The last time she had tried wearing a jacket over her outfit to work, she had been berated by her boss all day.

A heavy mist clung to the cracked, wet streets. All of the buildings around her were dull and gray, so she figured she wasn't missing anything. The sidewalk was littered with trash and excrement, mammals huddled together beside building and flickering streetlights.

Judy passed by a building, coming upon an alleyway. Usually, the thin strip of road remained blocked off behind a locked gate, but today it was wide open. As she continued to walk, she heard a scream come from the alley.

She began walking faster. Using her honed hearing, she could make out the sound of clothes rustling and a paw slap skin. Another scream came.

As she passed by, she glanced down the alleyway for a moment. There was a woman, a gazelle, probably in her mid-twenties, surrounded by several wolves. They pressed her against the wall, gripping by the neck as they molested her. She screamed again before noticing Judy. "Help! Help me, dammit!"

She was slapped in the face again and her head bashed into the brick wall. Judy quickly walked past the scene, stopping beside the next building over. She swallowed, her breathing rapid. The moans and cries for help hadn't yet ceased. Her fingers trembled for a moment as she regained her posture. Her eyes were watery. Why were they wet?

Judy continued walking until she came to a corner. There was a soldier there, a white fox, armed with an assault rifle. Prey waiting for the light at the corner tried not to make eye contact with the guard.

She stopped a few feet away from the guard. She, again, noticed his eyes on her. Her heart began to race and her neck began to itch as he continued to stare at her. She swallowed and began tapping her foot. The soldier shifted towards her and licked his chops. Judy continued to stare ahead. The traffic light across the street turned yellow, and then red.

Her heart pulsed. She swallowed again and blinked her, hoisting her purse back over he shoulder. A red image of a hand flashed periodically on the other side of the street. The soldier started towards her.

The red, flashing hand turned into a simple, white image of a nondescript mammal crossing the street. As Judy began to walk, she felt the soldier's paw lurch out and grab her bottom. She pulled away quickly, walking fast down the crossing lane.

The layer of fog continued to cling to the ground. The streets here, near the major buildings, were busier. The sidewalks bustled with movement as hundreds of mammals walked to their jobs. Security was also heightened here. Dozens of armed soldiers across several different species oversaw the crowds. Some were perched up on balconies, armed with high-powered sniper rifles, while others managed things from the ground. Everyone was too busy to stop and stare at her.

Through the thin mask, Judy could smell rain in the air. She shuffled through the crowds until she turned a corner, entering a towering skyscraper. The building was tall, easily reaching fifty or sixty stories. The walls were gray, broken up every now and then by black, tinted windows.

Judy pushed through the heavy doors, entering the main lobby. It was still cold here, but significantly better than outside.

The lobby was relatively decorated and well-lit, at least compared to her apartment. The floor was made of a kind of hardwood from the Rainforest District. It made every footstep and movement echo around the room. Those kinds of trees were rare now. The walls, however, were in poor condition. Stained and old, the wallpaper had started to tear away in some spots over the past few months, especially as the seasons grew colder. Around twenty other mammals were in the lobby with her, mostly talking among themselves. There was a guard in the corner of the room, but he wasn't paying her any attention.

She swallowed before starting towards the elevator. She quickly punched in the floor number before glancing up at the clock in the corner of the lobby. She was cutting things close. Judy sighed as the doors slid open. For the first time in what felt like a long time, she took a moment to consider things. "Do I want this?"

She paused for a moment. A few other mammals began to step into the elevator.

"No."

Judy went to move, but hesitated. This was wrong. She glanced back at the clock. She had only a few minutes left. "What else is there?"

Nothing.

She finally stepped in.


"The whole bloody world's gone fucking mad, man." the armed hyena said. He gestured towards a small, box television set atop a power box. It showed grainy images of the Humans' missile tests. "One of these days, we'll show 'em."

Nick Wilde shifted his eyes from the gathering crowd across the street for a moment, glancing at the TV. "Well, that's why we have the anti-air system, you know."

The hyena shook his head. "That shit better bloody work."

It was growing colder, somehow. His fur stood up beneath his heavy uniform, in a feeble attempt to resist the frigid air. He breathed, releasing a visible cloud of hot air. Night was quick approaching. The sun had begun to set across the ocean, but no one could see a thing through this mist. The gray turned darker. Nick looked back at the growing crowd around the podium. Several guards – his colleagues, stood around the wooden platform.

Atop the platform were five mammals. All were raccoon, except for one badger. It would be difficult to tell from a distance, though. Their heads were covered in thin, white bags. Their pained breaths were visible in the frigid air. They sat on their knees, naked, their hands and feet bound by rope.

An execution.

And today was Nick's turn.

He swallowed before looking upwards. People watched from windows in the towering skyscrapers above him. It was hard to make out through the fog and growing darkness, but he could see the outlines of a few binoculars.

He felt a paw tap his shoulder. He turned around. It was the hyena. "Hey man, you ready for this?"

Nick sighed. "I've done this before. Never did like it."

"I did it once, a few months back. God, I still dream about every other evening. It was a 'bags-off' thing, you know." the hyena said. "The looks on their faces and that pathetic, scared look in their eyes. Then the blood, just going all over the fuckin' place. It's perfect, really."

There was a silence between the two. Nick shivered. It just kept becoming colder. The streetlights began to flicker back on up and down the street. He checked his badge on the shoulder of his uniform. There was a speck of dirt on it. He wiped it away. There was some commotion between guards across the street as several floodlights were powered on.

His radio crackled to life. "Wilde, you're up. It's time."

Nick breathed a deep breath. He checked his rifle one last time before breathing again. "Well, duty calls."

"Good luck, man." the hyena said. "This one's a big one."

Nick made his way across the street, towards the blinding floodlights. Traffic had been closed off for the entire block. Despite the frigid weather, the crowd lingered, now mostly silent. He could hear a baby fawn crying somewhere. He stopped by an armored truck. Several other soldiers stood around, checking in with networks and adjusting the little minutia. "Everything's set?"

"This one's special." the head of the division announced. He was a bobcat, easily twice his size. He handed Nick a small, printed card of paper. "Wolfram's gonna be watching. He wants you to read this before it all begins."

Nick looked over the card. He looked back up at the bobcat. "This is going to have an impact, you know."

"That's the point, dumbass." another fox said. The bobcat punched him in the arm before shaking his head. He went back into the vehicle for a second before returning, a handgun in one hand and a small, embedded microphone in the other.

"Take it," he said, offering the weapon to Nick. "Wolfram wants this to feel up-close and personal, you know, for maximum impact and all."

Nick paused before agreeing, taking the weapon and slipping on the microphone. "That works too."

"You've done this before." the bobcat said. "Just go on out there, say your lines, and drop 'em. Not too tricky."

A female tiger glanced up from a laptop set on the hood of the car, hooked up to a camera. "We go live in thirty."

"Go do it." the bobcat said. He smiled. "Make it fun."

Nick breathed deeply again before continuing up to the platform. Massive lamps flooded the platform with light. The air was freezing now, but the crowd still remained, now numbering three to four hundred mammals of every shape and size. The only thing between him and them was a four-man squadron and a few military barriers.

In front of the whole thing was a television camera. A light on its side periodically flashed red. The broadcast would be coming online soon. Nick straightened his posture and held the cue card up to the light. Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out the female tiger by the armored vehicle. The digits on her paw counted down from five. He swallowed as the camera began broadcasting. Speakers surrounding the crowd played his speech.

"Tonight is an important night. Not just for our fellow Zootopians, but for all of Animalia."

He looked out at the crowd. They were dead silent. Out of the hundreds, something – no – someone caught his eye. She was a bunny, maybe in her early twenties. She was in a secretary's outfit, just exiting a nearby building. She paused to glance at the scene before quickly walking away. She disappeared into the cold and dark. He continued.

"You see these five mammals, sitting on their knees on the floor I too stand on. They are mammals, no different from you or I."

"But they are criminals. They are guilty of conspiring and organizing against our state and the great Leader Wolfram. But furthermore, they plotted against you. By threatening Wolfram, they threatened you and your security."

The crowd remained silent. Nick walked around the platform and removed the bags from their heads, in accordance with the note. They looked bewildered, squinting in the overwhelming light. Nick continued.

"They have also engaged in countless acts of misdeeds and criminal behavior. They possessed drugs during their capture, no doubt intending to infect the wider populace with them."

"And tonight, these five shall pay for their crimes. There is no escape from the eyes of justice."

"Long live Animalia. Long live Wolfram."

Nick grabbed the gun and cocked it. It was custom made, decorated in elaborate engravings and carvings. There was a message engraved upon it. "And he doth deliver righteousness."

He walked around so the prisoners faced him and the crowd was at his back. He walked over to the first prisoner – a raccoon, just a little shorter than him. He trembled in cold air. His matted fur was blackened and bloodied. A long, infected gash ran along his back. Nick backed up pointed the gun down at the man's head.

It felt so heavy now.

He pulled the trigger, blasting a hole through the raccoon's head and exiting through his neck. Blood was flung all around the platform, some striking the other prisoners and Nick himself. The crowd jumped slightly as the loud crack echoed through the silent street. The body crumpled to the ground, away from Nick.

Nick moved to the next prisoner. He was also a raccoon, shaking and trembling violently. He tried to thrash his legs, but the binding was too strong. Nick pointed the gun at his head and fired.

The impact of the bullet threw the raccoon back some as the upper portion of his head was blown away. The body fell backwards and landed with a soft thud.

He moved on to the next prisoner, a badger. Despite the scene, he sat firm and straight. He stared straight ahead, an odd determination in his eyes. His strong, muscular body rivaled Nick in height. It was covered in cuts and bruises, especially along his face.

Nick turned his microphone off before speaking. "You have no fear."

"I do not fear death." he said. His voice was calm, but it was pained. He grunted. "I stand for something larger."

Nick pointed the gun at the badger's head. No response.

He pulled the trigger. Blood was thrown across the platform as the badger's head was blown away entirely. The hot, red liquid sprayed all over Nick's face and uniform as the body slumped down, still sitting on his knees.

A cry came from the next prisoner. She was a raccoon, just a few years younger than him. Nick quickly walked over and pointed the gun at her.

Her naked, trembling body was coated in the badger's blood. Cuts ran up and down her body. Her throat looked as if it had been wrung several times over the past week, and she bled from her bruised genitals. She shook as she tried to speak. "No, please."

The gunshot echoed around the downtown street, reverberating up and down the massive skyscrapers. The crowd remained mostly silent. He could make out a few muffled cries. Her body crumpled forward, the remnants of her head landing by his feet. It was a kind of face he'd seen before. She was beautiful once.

Nick walked over to the next and final prisoner. The raccoon's breathing was past and erratic. Nick noticed the hole extending into the prisoner's chest. For all intents and purposes, he was already dead.

"We do not fear you." he said. His voice was rough. He coughed, some blood flying from his mouth. "One of these days, you'll see. Everyone'll see. My death will resonate through these narrow city streets, across the plains and the oceans and the deserts and the mountains. My death will mean something."

He paused before continuing. "And yours, it'll mean nothing."

Nick breathed in before pointing the gun at him and pulling the trigger.


This side of Zootopia never slept. When the rest of the city was settling in for the night, the evening here was just getting started. The soldiers mostly leave by the end of the day, prompting underground gangs to come out in force and clash with the few that remained. The sounds of sex and crying could be heard throughout the building. Judy peered through her window, stained with grime and cracked in one corner, down at the street below.

There was a gang, comprised mostly of moose, on one end of the parking lot, and the uniformed soldiers, polar bears, their weapons drawn, on the other end of the lot. The leader of the gang held a handgun, pointing it around wildly.

Judy backed away from the window and let her blinds fall back into place. Above her, she could hear a bed rocking and a couple moaning. This happened every other night.

Her neighbors were fine, most of the time. A round of muffled shouting erupted from behind the thin walls. They were arguing about some game. Still, they were tolerable.

Her neighbors across the hall seemed okay, but she hadn't seen them in some time. The father of the family, an older-looking dog, generally kept to himself. The rest of the family was nice, but they hadn't lived here in months. The father came back every now and then, but only for a few hours every other month. It was a strange situation.

Judy sighed before collapsing back onto her bed. She stared at the single, bare lightbulb dangling from her ceiling. She would normally go down to the cafeteria and grab a quick bite before sleep, but she was trying to save up on ration cards. More and more frequently she found herself skipping meals or entire days to save up the cards.

Judy slowly rose from her bed and plucked her phone from her purse. They were still a new technology, but she had mastered it fairly quickly. She opened her communications app and set it up on the small table. She sat down and scrolled to her contacts list.

Mom and Pops – Offline

She sighed. "Of course."

As she went to close the app, she heard a single knock on her door. Her heart jumped as she snapped around. A paper had been slid under her door. It looked as if it were crumbled up.

Judy slowly got up and moved towards her door. She swallowed as she gradually turned the handle and pulled the door open, peeking her head outside. The hall was empty, bar the old man sitting in the far corner. She quietly shut the door and picked up the paper. She frowned. The paper was blank, except for the heading near the top.

Judy walked back over to her desk and examined it.

"ROOM 503 – RESISTANCE INFORMATION – URGENT" it read in big, bold letters near the top. Judy recoiled from the letter.

The paper had been delivered to the wrong room. Room 503 was the neighbor's room, across the hall. She sat back in her chair. So that's what he was doing, why he and his family had up and left town. They were members of the Resistance.

Judy sat down on her bed as she began to contemplate. The Resistance had been a thing for several centuries now, ever since the predators took rule. They faded in and out of obscurity, murdering a politician here and torching a crop there. Their most recent incident was no more than a month ago, when a car bomb exploded outside the Capitol, killing eleven officials, seventeen bystanders, and injuring over fifty-seven others. The whole thing led to a stricter crackdown on rebel activity across the country.

She looked again at the paper. There was only the heading, everything else was blank. She could feel the indentations of writing, but it wasn't quite visible.

She let out a breath as she set the paper down on her nightstand. A chill ran across her spine as she settled into bed, her breath visible in the cold air. She shivered as she slept, the bedsprings still squeaking above her and the neighbors shouting over whatever game they were playing.

Judy closed her eyes. This was no way to live.