Shouting. Flashes. Lights scrolling overhead. A jolt in her body. Pain. Such pain…
Judy cracked open her eyes. A lioness in a blue medical gown pushed the gurney as she stared straight ahead. Above her head passed plain white ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights.
"Make a hole!" The nurse yelled and waved a group of people aside. "Get every available doctor here, stat!"
"...Nick…"
It was all Judy could utter before she blacked out.
Shouting. Sharp teeth. Terror. Screams. A nasty grin. Thuds and yells…
"...waking up."
"Alexia! Get that propofol, now!"
Judy could hear the whir of power tools. Her arm and neck felt stiff. She felt a prick on her hand, and before she could find out more she fell into darkness again.
She could see the red lights, hear the sirens again.
And yet not her - she was watching from someone else's eyes. She was listening through someone else's ears. Someone else was being dragged from the Natural History Museum.
Hopps, it'll be okay Hopps, it'll be okay…
Judy opened her eyes, finally falling back to reality to stay.
The first thing she noticed as she looked up were the plain ceiling tiles, just like the ones she saw before. She tried to lean forward and discovered she could not tilt her chin down. A large neck cast prevented free movement of her head. With a herculean effort she raised her right hand; her entire arm was trapped in a bright red cast. She sighed and let it drop — which sent a needle of pain up her shoulder. "Ach!"
This had gotten someone's attention, because she heard an "Oh!" and the soft click of hooves to her left. A deer came into view. "Miss Hopps, are you awake?"
She moaned through gritted teeth.
"Oh dear, let's see…" He came around beside Judy. "Let me make sure the IV's still in…if you're hungry, I'm sorry but no food right now. Doctor's orders."
"Nnnh…" Judy squeezed her eyes shut. She did feel hungry, but more urgently she had to know, "Nnnh…"
"Oh!" He lightly smacked himself on the forehead with his hoof. "Right, you're confused. Okay, you're in Zootopia Trauma Center. You've been here for two days."
Judy's heart lept in terror at this revelation.
"My name's Cedric, I'm going to be one of your nurses. Your doctor's name is Susan Arti, she'll be in soon I'm sure."
Judy took it all in. She could feel her memory coming back, how she had ended up here, and suddenly she nearly leapt out of bed. Bellwether! What was she doing? She tried to speak, but found her mouth muffled by her cast.
"Calm down, calm down," Cedric gently motioned with his hooved hands. "You've been through a traumatic experience, you're not well. In fact it's amazing you're alive at all. A fractured neck bone, three broken limbs, a punctured chest cavity...if the ZPD hadn't been right across the street — oh, that reminds me!" Trying to put on a smile he pointed to her right. She managed to tilt her whole body and glimpse a collection of cards and balloons and baskets on the table. "The ZPD sends their warmest regards, and they hope you recover fully."
"Mm HMM!" Judy screamed.
"Uh…" He looked around, and his eyes lit up. "Ah!"
Cedric grabbed a pad of paper and a pen from the table, and put the pen into Judy's left hand, which had luckily been spared a full cast. He held the paper up, and she wrote: THE FOX! WHERE IS HE?
"Oh, uh…" The nurse looked around awkwardly. "Give me one second?"
He quickly clopped out the door, letting it shut behind him. The silence at least gave Judy time to look around her room more. Managing to sit her entire body up, she could see a small television, nearly two decades too late in its design, sitting on a metal cart in front of her. The rest of the room was furnished exactly like she imagined a hospital room would look, down to the generic paintings of flowers on the wall. She had resigned herself to counting the tiles on the ceiling when the door opened.
"Judy Hopps?" A short round pig in a white coat came in, carrying a clipboard, and Cedric came in behind her. "Dr. Arti, nice to see you awake. How are you feeling?"
More muffled grunts.
"Right, right. Cedric?"
Judy took the pen again and jotted down: I'M FINE. WHERE'S NICK?
Dr. Arti read it, and looked at Cedric. They both gave a slow and solemn nod, sharing some understanding that Judy didn't know, and it infuriated her.
"Judy," Dr. Arti spoke softly, "you're going to be okay. We're going to help you sort out what he tried to do to you."
Sort out…? She gestured for the pen again. WHERE IS HE?
The doctor sighed. "He's been detained, with the rest of the predators who've gone savage. The important thing—"
Judy stopped listening. Horrible images filled her head, Nick being pinned down by the cops, tased, muzzled—
"—psychologist in who will help to undo what he did to you."
She started paying attention again just in time to hear these words. Her blood ran cold. WHAT DID HE DO?
"Ah…" Dr. Arti paused for a moment. "When Mayor Bellwether found you, she saw the fox threatening you, she said he was trying to brainwash you. And when the police came, you were shouting gibberish saying that it was Bellwether who had attacked. Whatever he did, though, I'm sure we can undo."
The moment Bellwether's name had been mentioned, Judy had motioned for the pen again. When Dr. Arti finally offered it back she snatched it out of the pig's hooves and began scribbling: MAYOR LIED. NICK INNOCENT. NIGHT HOWLER FLOWERS. MAYOR BEHIND ATTACKS.
She underlined the last three words several times and pointed to them. Dr. Arti and Cedric just shook their heads sadly.
"We know, we know," the doctor patted the top of her head. "We'll take care of it, don't worry." She got up and began to leave.
No! Wait! Stop! Judy screamed through her cast for Dr. Arti to believe her, but soon the coat went out the door and was gone.
"Here," Cedric offered, "want to watch television?" Without waiting for her reply he switched the set on. "If you need anything else, just push the button there." He pointed to a button laying by her arm, and followed the doctor out into the hallway. Judy could hear them conversing as they walked away; she could bet they were talking about her.
She looked up at the ceiling and squeezed her eyes shut. Her stomach felt like it was turning inside out, and her heart bawled in frustration. She had already betrayed Nick's trust once, and now after just getting it back she had failed him again. He was locked up in some exam room, tied to a post, mad with rage, a shell of who he had been before.
Eventually, she calmed down enough to watch the program. The television had been tuned to Zootopia Public Access, and so for twenty minutes she watched Bob Hoss, the famous equine painter with a soft voice and bushy mane. At the very least it did help her forget about her helplessness. Unfortunately she was reminded again when the program went off the air, and the channel changed to the news report.
"Good evening Zootopia," A brown panther opened the program. A large longhorn cow sat beside him. "This is ZPA Newshour, bringing you the latest updates on the biggest stories. I'm Cory Connor."
"And I'm Tauren Bos. Our top story today, the city continuing to reel in shock at the attack on local hero Judy Hopps two days ago."
There was a photograph of the police officers outside the museum, and a stretcher being wheeled into an ambulance while carrying a small grey body that Judy recognized as her own.
"Miss Hopps was an officer of the Zootopia Police Department up until a few days before the attack, when she resigned because of undisclosed personal reasons. Her resignation came a week after she had found the location of the fourteen missing mammals, and her well-publicized press conference linking traditionally predatory animals to a string of attacks around Zootopia."
The footage cut to Judy at the press conference, the footage she'd seen so many times before. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore her own voice. "...something to do with their biology…reverting back...primitive, savage ways…"
Cory spoke next. "Witnesses have since come forward, claiming that the fox that attacked Hopps was actually seen arguing with her at the press conference. Some have speculated that his actions may have been motivated or triggered in response to her comments."
"Outside the ZooTech medical labs," the television cut to a scene outside a large building, "crowds of angry demonstrators are calling for the fox, Nicholas P. Wilde, to be formally indicted with assault and tried as a criminal." Judy could see the furious signs and faces they bore. They chanted for him to face justice, for him to be handed over to the mob, for him to be strapped in the chair and fried the old-fashioned way.
"This recent attack, the most high-profile yet, has increased pressure on Mayor Bellwether to install additional security measures. Earlier today, she had these words to say:"
Now the footage cut to Bellwether standing outside the mayoral office doors, a dozen microphones shoved in her face. "Zootopia is a very special place," she said, "and my goal is to preserve the grand history that we've built here. However, this epidemic threatens the very existence of our homes, of our great city. Therefore, I will be creating a special agency tasked with bringing an end to this reign of terror that savage predators have brought about. This agency will both spearhead scientific research to determine the root causes of the savage reversions, and a frontline force that will be ready to counter the next attack as soon as it begins, hopefully preventing any more casualties. I hope that the city council will be willing to hear out my plans and give me the go-ahead to protect Zootopia."
The screen went back to Tauren, and Judy began pressing the button for the nurse. "The Predators' Caucus in the council did express concern over Bellwether's choice of words, specifically connecting 'savage predators' with 'reign of terror'. In a comment released to us, Representative Tina Gray stated that 'it is irresponsible to apply blanket blame to all predators, and I'm disappointed that Mayor Bellwether has been insensitive with her rhetoric'. The rest of the council remains split on whether or not to support—"
Cedric came in. "Miss Hopps?"
She jabbed her finger at the pad and pen. She HAD to say something, she had to get out of here, she had to tell the truth. But Cedric's eye gravitated to the television.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I forgot the news came on now!" He quickly crossed over and turned it off. "I didn't mean to upset you, would you like me to put on a movie instead?"
Judy slapped her paw over her face, half-wanting to tear off her casts, and screamed.