Now without further ado, I bring you...
THE HUNTED
In Two Hours
Jackson Pawly was breaking the rules. He was supposed to be sleeping. Instead, he was on his laptop watching EweTube. He was browsing around when he found it. On the trending tab was a video simply titled WATCH AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. The thumbnail was was too grainy too really see anything, but it looked gray with a blue blob in the middle. He looked at the number of views it had and gasped. It had 1.2 million views and had only been uploaded a few hours ago. He tapped on the thumbnail, and the video opened. It started in the passenger seat of a car. Jackson guessed the camera was on a mammal, like a GrowlPro. He heard voices, but couldn't make out anything that was being said. Suddenly, the camera turned, and he saw who was driving the car. It was a gray rabbit wearing a police uniform. Jackson had seen her before, she was the cop that had solved all those high-profile cases, starting with the one where predators had started going savage. He grasped for her name for a few moments before finally remembering It. It was Judy Hopps…
Now
Judy Hopps and her partner were cruising through the streets of the Meadowlands. While these night patrols were usually pretty interesting, tonight they had not pulled over a single mammal. Instead, she was forced to listen to her partner ramble.
"And so, get this, I'm the bad guy because I apparently stole his wallet, even though I had literally just watched him pickpocket the wallet from someone else," Nicholas Wilde said. Much of the night had gone similarly to this. Nick started talking again "It-" Suddenly, a blue SUV blew past them, going about 150 on a 70 MPH highway. The two cops looked at each other. Judy hit the lights and started speeding after the SUV. Nick, meanwhile, grabbed a pair of aviator shades out of his breast pocket and put them on. He shouted into the car's loudspeaker, "Pull over!" The SUV did not pull over. He yelled it again a few more times, but to no avail. Finally, he asked his partner, "Should l do it the hard way?" She nodded her approval, still focused on keeping with the speeding vehicle. Nick rolled down his windshield and snatched his service weapon from its holster. He leaned out the side of the police cruiser and aimed the gun at the SUV's back right tire. Suddenly, the vehicle pulled off to the side of the road and slowed to a stop. The cop car pulled up beside it.
"Looks like somebody doesn't want his car wrecked," Judy said. "Lucky for us. You got this one?"
"Yep," Nick replied.
"Cool," she said, "I've got your back if it goes south." He gave her a thumbs up then stepped out of the car.
Thirty Minutes Later
Chief Bogo groaned and put his head in his in his hooves. Tonight was shaping up to be the worst night he's had in a long time. He looked up at the officer sitting across from him. The cop, a very overweight cheetah named Benjamin Clawhauser, was shaking in his seat.
"Show me it," Bogo told his subordinate. Clawhauser pulled out his phone and opened up Ewetube. He tapped on a video, then turned it around and showed it to the Chief of Police. For a few minutes Bogo just sat there, watching it from start to end. It was the same video that Jackson Pawly would end up watching in an hour and a half. When it finished, he looked back up at Clawhauser's somber face and said, "please tell me you sent backup,"
"Yes sir!" Clawhauser responded. "Wolfard and Snarlov are on their way, along with a few ambulances."
"Thank you," Bogo said. "Do you have any idea how this got uploaded?"
"Delgato is the only one working in the back tonight," Clawhauser told him.
Chief Bogo slammed his hoof into the intercom button. "DELGATO!" he shouted, "MY OFFICE, NOW!" Suddenly, they heard a crash from outside. Clawhauser opened the door, and they both saw Delgato running for the exit.
Now
As soon as Nick's paws hit the pavement, the doors of the SUV opened and four mammals stepped out. There was a bear, a zebra, an antelope, and a pig. Nick recognized the bear from somewhere, but he couldn't place his tongue on it.
"Good evening sirs," Nick started. "Just asking, but do you know how fast you were-" Before Nick even knew what was going on, the bear grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the side of the cop car. The antelope and zebra grabbed his arms, securing him in place. The bear let go of his throat and produced from his pant leg a medium sized shotgun. The bear pumped the shotgun and placed it against the fox's chest. Then, as Nick was looking into the bear's eyes, he remembered where he seen him before…
Three Weeks Ago
The drug bust had not gone as planned. What had started as a simple undercover-as-druggie trick had turned into a full blown shootout between two gangs with the unlucky officer caught in the middle of it. That officer was Nick Wilde, who in three weeks would be behind the camera of the most controversial piece of film of the decade. He was currently hiding under the dashboard of the car that he had used as part of his cover. They were in Happytown, the slums of Zootopia, and when Nick and the others had cracked down on the clam members for selling catnip, another gang took their chance to wipe out some competition and started a gunfight. Now all that Nick could do was wait in cover until backup arrived. He didn't have to wait for much longer, as the ZPD arrived a few minutes later… with force. Canisters of tear gas started to seemingly fall from the sky, and soon enough the criminals started hacking like they had hairballs stuck in their throats. Nick was somewhat protected, but unfortunately for him one of the windows had been cracked in the fight. His eyes started to sting and a cough bubbled up from his lungs. He heard shouts as the police officers started subduing the perps were outside. He looked out the front windshield and saw the carnage unfolding. All around him, masked cops were tackling gang members and putting them in cuffs. Those who were not doubled over with coughs were trying to escape. The only one to succeed was a brown bear that dashed past Nick's car and muscled his way through the crowd to make it out. It was the same bear that would come back weeks later for his revenge…
Now
The bear grinned as he saw the look of fear on Nick's muzzle.
"Night night, fox," the bear said. Suddenly, in a flash of blue, Judy flew through the air and kicked the bear right on the snout. He stumbled back a few few feet and fell to the ground. The animals holding Nick released him in surprise and grabbed his service weapon. Then, the bear fired off the shotgun, and over seventy lead pellets hit Nick in the chest.
Two Months Later
"Has the Jury reached a verdict?" the judge asked. He was an old goat, harsh but fair.
"We have, Your honor," the juror said. "For the charge of bribery, we find the defendant… guilty. For the charge of aiding and abetting members of a gang, we find the defendant… guilty." The courtroom burst in a series of voices as everyone as everyone started talking at once.
"The court is adjourned," said the judge, and he rapped his gavel twice. Two prison guards yanked the defendant, Bill Delgato, out of his seat. His cell was awaiting him.
Now
Judy watched as the force of the shot shoved Nick into the side of the police car. His sunglasses flew of his head, and his gun dropped out of his hand. He slumped to the ground; his head lolled to the side. Judy was in shock, she couldn't take her eyes off her best friend. She was forcefully snapped out of it when, with another loud bang, a bullet tore through her left shoulder. Pain raced through her, and she let out a yelp. She couldn't believe it, she had just been shot. She looked up and saw the antelope. He couldn't have been more than nineteen years old. He had a look of shock on his face, and the gun he held tightly in both hooves was shaking. Without thinking, Judy raised her gun and fired twice. The antelope clutched his abdomen and fell to the ground with a shout. Pain exploded in Judy's right knee as another bullet hit her. Her leg gave out, so she went to a kneeling position as she spun around to see that the zebra was almost on top of her. She raised her weapon and fired again. The bullet struck the zebra in the jaw and exited through the top of his head. He was dead before he hit the ground. The pig grabbed a baseball bat and smashed Judy in the back with it. She flew a few feet before hitting the ground again. The pig walked over and planted a hoof on her back. The rabbit struggled under the pig's weight, but to no avail. The bear, who had just stood up, swaggered over to the pair. He pumped the shotgun and aimed it at the rabbit's head. BAM. The body cam video ended.
Five Nights Later
"The other three are dead," Alex Hornison said. He was laying in a hospital bed with his stomach wrapped in bandages.
"Are you talking about the other three members of your crew?" the giraffe reporter asked.
"We weren't a crew," Alex told her. "I was friends with Lars Berenstain, the bear. He got me to do it. He-he… Oh what have I done!" He started to cry. "And then I shot her! I shot the rabbit, and now I'm going to jail!"
"It's okay, it's okay," the reporter comforted him. Once he calmed down a bit, she asked him, "How did you find the officers?"
"Lars, he paid off some buck in the ZPD. I don't know who. He told us where they would be that night. He led us to them and made sure that he would be the only one watching us."
"Why did Mr. Berenstain want to kill the cops?" the reporter asked.
"Lars ran a gang, called the Clawboys. They got busted a few weeks back for buying, and the way I heard it, the fox was the one in the car with him. Lars was the only one to make it out."
"Wow," said the reporter. "Well, thank you for your time, Mr. Hornison," she grabbed her coat and tape recorder. "I hope you have a good recovery."
"So do I," Alex said, "so do I." He laid his head back against the pillow and began to cry.
Now
The gunshot rung through the air. The bear looked up and saw that the pig had a fresh bullet hole in his temple. BAM BAM. The bear felt the bullets hit him in the neck. Then, he felt his blood and his life drain out of his wounds. He toppled to the ground and died.
Judy, covered in blood, looked up to see who had saved her. She saw Nick, one paw on his chest, the other holding a smoking gun.
"H-Hey Carrots," he said weakly.
"Nick, you're alive!" Judy responded.
"I think so," he told her. Judy tried to stand but couldn't. Instead, she crawled over and sat down next to him. "We got them." They heard a groan and looked over. The antelope was still alive and rolling around on the ground clutching her stomach. "Well, almost all of them," Nick corrected. He raised the gun.
"Nick, no!" said Judy. Slowly, he lowered the gun back to the ground.
"Yeah," Nick sighed, "you're right." A moment later, he began to cough up blood.
"Sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy exclaimed. She rushed to help her partner, unstrapping his bulletproof vest, the only reason he was still alive, and took it off. His shirt was soaked with blood. "Oh Nick," Judy said.
"Medkit…" Nick said between coughs, "in the car." Judy grasped the car handle and yanked the door open, falling backwards in the process. She got up and climbed into the car as best she could. She grabbed the first-aid kit from under the seat and crawled back out. After removing Nick's shirt, she wrapped his chest in gauze, covering blood-matted fur with bandages. After that, she worked on herself, putting a tourniquet around her leg and patching up her shoulder to the best of her abilities. She sat back down and with a few sniffles began to weep. Nick slowly raised his arm and put it around her shoulders. "You bunnies are so… emotional," he murmured.
"Nick, you're dying!" Judy yelped.
"And yet I remain the calm one," he replied. They sat there for what felt like an eternity, and with each breath Judy could Nick getting weaker and weaker.
Finally, when his breaths had become staggered, and his head bowed, and his eyes became slits staring at the ground, Judy picked up the sound of sirens in the distance. A minute later, a cop car roared into view like a knight in shining armor followed closely by two ambulances. The car screeched to a halt, and two timberwolves, Officers Wolfard and Snarlov, flew out of the car and rushed over to their fellow cops.
"Oh crap!" Wolfard said, "are you guys okay?"
"Never better," said Nick, barely audible. A moment later, the paramedics ran over and lifted the two into stretchers.
"Don't worry," said one of them, a female ocelot, "you're going to be alright."