Chapter 1

Bad Things Happen To Mammals

Noise drifted in through the partially open door. Loud, inconsiderate noise that crept into my room, made its way up my bed and crawled into my ears with the sole purpose to bounce around in my head and wake me up miserably.

Becky was doing the dishes.

God she was loud...

"Ugghhh..." I pulled at my ears, trying to block out the sound. "Jesus, Becky."

After a several seconds and a drawn out sigh, I trashed the idea of falling asleep again and sat up, immediately regretting the quick movement. Blood rushed out of my brain, or was it into my brain? Could never tell. The dizziness soon subsided, allowing me to begin the day. Not something I felt I was up for though. I rubbed the dust from my eyes. How long was I even asleep? I turned my head to the small digital clock on my bedside table which read one in the afternoon.

Maybe I should stay in bed, enough of the day has been wasted for it not to really matter anymore. Before I could convince myself any further I quickly stood up, bringing another bout of dizziness.

I felt a headache coming on.

I stumbled across my cluttered floor into the bathroom. After shocking myself awake with some cold water I made my way to my door, stumbling once again, then down the stairs to the kitchen where the sound of dishes could still be heard.

I stepped into the kitchen, the bright light which shone in through the large window facing the street blinded me, making my headache worse. I allowed my eyes to adjust before surveying the scene.

The kitchen was probably the smallest room in the house, my bathroom felt bigger on occasion. The house was old, meaning everything inside it was just as old, besides its occupants. The plastic and plywood table that stood in the middle of the room was there for as long as I could remember, bought off an old rhino's garage sale, meaning the thing took up most of the kitchen, making it appear smaller than it felt. The walls were stained with years of grease and steam, tinting the lemon yellow paint grey. The only window faced the street, large enough for a good deal of sunlight to shine in and effectively illuminate everything but small enough not to be easily seen through.

My claws clicked against the tiled floor, pausing as I carefully skirted a puddle of unknown clear liquid that has pooled beside the threshold. I wasn't going to ask.
I pulled out a chair, warm brown coloured wooden seats that contrasted the cream coloured plastic top of the table. The height difference between the chairs and table wasn't noticeable, until I sat down at least. I was barely able to see over the top of the aluminium skirting of the table when seated, most of the time I stood, but I was still too groggy to care.

"How was your coma?" Becky turned her head slightly to be heard over her shoulder.

"Didn't last long enough." I gruffly replied after locating her in the far right side of the kitchen, sleepiness still evident on my voice.

"Not like you to sleep in this late, I was actually thinking about waking you."

I only hummed a response. Taking a step back from the sink and shaking her claws out over the soapy water, she turned and smiled. I frowned in response.

"You hungry?"

"Nah, left my bed just to see if you'd ask."

She scoffed and turned toward the cupboards on the furthest edge of the kitchen, next to the overflowing bin. Should probably take care of that.

"Watch it Barry, wouldn't wanna kill my good mood."

"I'm not hearing the sound of my breakfast being made." I cooed, deciding to finally stand up in my chair.

She smirked and strolled over to the nearest cupboard. Upon opening it, her smirk turned to a pout.

"We're outta cereal," She stated simply before looking back at me.
"Looks like you're skipping breakfast."

I sighed. I was starving. After getting home late last night with nothing in my stomach besides half a packet of potato chips I bummed off of Kyle, I thought I'd get a hearty bowl of Corn Paws the next morning— afternoon. Now hearing there was no cereal, I felt even more empty. Becky looked at me decidedly.

"Put some pants on and head out to the Rendezvous, I'll give you a couple of notes."

I sighed louder this time, I didn't want to go outside and be productive in any sort of way today. Much less anything that involved socializing. Especially not something that involved pants. Reluctantly, I hopped off the chair and sauntered lazily over to the staircase. I didn't avoid the puddle of liquid this time. With a yelp and a hop away, I glared at Becky for an explanation. She shrugged in response.

"Fridge is leaking again."

I looked at the fridge, the off-white machine was probably older than both of us combined. It came from Becky's mother and still had all those multicoloured magnetic letters I used to fiddle with, but years of use had worn it down and every so often it would defrost and expel all its water. The thing was the size of a truck and made just as much noise, but it refused to die; to my dismay. I gritted my teeth and stomped up the steps, shaking my paw off all the while.

"Get Hector to fix the fucking thing!" I growled as I neared the top of the staircase.

"No ways!", I heard Becky call back, " I still owe him 20 bucks."

I closed the door to my abode. The room was bigger than it feeled, mostly due to the fact my possessions where littered in disarray around the floor and bed. I kicked a couple of articles of clothing out the way as I made for my window. In one quick movement, I opened the curtains and light flooded into the room, temporarily blinding me again.

The next couple of minutes involved me picking up shirts and pants from the floor and sniffing at them. Soon I found a top that smelled quite fresh and quickly threw it over my head.
It didn't take long to find a pair of jeans that didn't look too creased.

I found myself standing in front of the mirror. Dust had gathered on its surface thanks to my not-so-often cleaning sprees, which usually just involved me throwing clothes into the washer and vacuuming half the room. I stared at my reflection. My ears began drooping along with my indifferent gaze. I found myself frowning.

Nice..."

I roll my shoulders and make for my door. The house was made for mammals a little smaller than sheep. This allowed me to reach things easily and, most importantly, without help. Especially without Becky's help.

Becky did however have some trouble. She would constantly bump her head into door frames and knock over furniture. She was short for a wolverine but she was stocky as hell, her arms especially. That was her sore point, femininity. Mammals sometimes referred to her as 'he' or 'him' at a glance. She hated it, but never complained about. More than what I could claim, all I did was whine.

I looked around the kitchen after stepping back down the stairs, now dressed in a plain red t-shirt with blue tinged jeans, which seemed to becoming a little tight. I made a note to start working out again.
Becky had resumed doing the dishes, her attention drawn to a specific glass that wouldn't get clean. I saw the money lying in a small pile on the side of the table and grabbed it.

"Bring back some milk too, I think the fridge might of ruined it."

I grunted in affirmation as I walked into the hallway.

"And if you see Vince, tell him to come around at three." She called out after I opened the door.

I frowned. Why would she possibly want Vince around here again? I voiced my concern.

"The fuck you want him here for?"

I didn't like him, he was an asshole. Last time he was over he said some regrettably inappropriate things to Becky, making me kick him out. It wasn't so much me kicking him as it was me just yelling at him to 'get the outta here before I do something I regret!'. Becky told me I was threatening as hell, I didn't believe her.

Becky and him were friends, but after his outburst I was less sure. Until now.

"None of your business. Just tell him to be here."
My scowl deepened. Whatever– she'll have to deal with him.

I closed the door behind me, taking a step out onto the concrete path leading to the front gate. The sound of kits playing out in the street filled my ears and made me smile. Their game of soccer was a normal event in the street that kept them out of trouble and was only interrupted by the occasional car. The sidewalks were littered with several pedestrians, taking their time strolling through the warm sun that shone down on everything. The sky was bright and devoid of clouds, letting the suburb get full view of the endless blue. It was peaceful as always. Out here on Dark Dirt street, it was always peaceful. I took a deep breath of the crisp morning— afternoon air.

And God was it terrible. The small breeze that just barely tickled my fur brought the smell of something burning. I looked around again, noticing everyone was still calm and relaxed.

I looked up and surveyed the sky, eventually finding what I was looking for. Not far above the apartment complex to the far left of the patio and a few streets down was a trail of blackish smoke that lazily drifted with the breeze. I missed it on my first look into the sky, but it stuck out now. I followed it to its source, where it quickly disappeared behind houses in the distance. In the direction of the local dump. That wasn't right though, they only burned trash on Mondays, today was Saturday. Zootopia usually disposed of its rubbish by shipping it out of city, but it couldn't always afford to take all of it, which made sense on account of maintaining the transit system and the climate wall. The remainder left was usually organic refuge and other easy to burn substances. They got most of it all into one spot in each district and burned it in an incinerator. Unfortunately that meant smoke.
I walked quickly to the gate and scampered over it, too lazy to open the latch.

"Barry!" I winced at the voice. Looking passed the rowdy kits on the street to see an elderly cougar with her paw lifted in greeting. My eyes narrowed as I watched her hobble across the tar toward me.

"So good to see you, Barry!" She exclaimed excitedly once she got closer.

"Unbelievably so." I responded.

She was well known to all the mammals who lived in the street. The old cougar, Beatriz, had been around since anyone could remember, basically as old as the suburb.

Beatriz was infamous for making a good batch of muffins, and talking your ear off whenever you accepted one, sometimes she didn't even wait for you to accept. She was strangely up to date on everything that happened in the city, considering all she did was bake and sit on a lawn chair reading cheap romance novels.

"We've been wondering where you've been this last week." She peered down at me, almost hunching herself over to get closer. The 'we've' was probably only her.
I began leaning back, appreciating the distance between us.

"Been kinda busy with... stuff," I replied, "Y'know, with what happened at work."

She nodded quickly, and was about to open her maw again.

"Do you know why they're burning trash earlier?" I interjected, trying to point the conversation in a useful direction.

She seemed confused at first before following my gaze toward the trail of smog.

"Oh yes! Dante told me when he came around yesterday, sweet boy's been busy with all his work there at the heap."

Dante was her neighbour's son who worked at the dump as a trash collector. He came around often to see Beatriz- God knew why.

"The city's been keeping them real busy with all the extra garbage he's had to pick up. They're burning it all now you see," she pointed in the direction of the dump, "they're almost too full to take anymore."

This was news to me. This only ever happened when the city had its big Christmas celebration, tons of garbage would be left out for the next week to be taken care of, much of it burned. The few days after Christmas was the worst, the wind always ended up blowing the smog in our direction, covering the suburb in a haze. But now, on a bright sunny Saturday, I have to breathe noxious fumes. Living the dream of Downtown.

"Poor boy, works so hard but never gets any appreciation. And now what with the city cutting most of their end of the month checks, its going to be quite difficult for the next four months or so."

This I had heard about. They were docking some the city's worker's paychecks by nearly a third. Most were street sweepers, many of the attendants and receptionists that work in city owned building and of course- trash collectors. Made me glad I wasn't working for government. The story was never clearcut either. There was never an official statement for the cut in pay, it was all by word of mouth. And mammals could really blow things out of proportion.

"I hear its only temporary though." I comment.

Beatriz shakes her head and shrugs.
"With this city, I never know. Are you on your way to the Rendezvous?"

I nodded.
"Would you care to get me some sugar? The kits are coming over tomorrow and I'd like to be prepared!"

Her pitch raised lovingly at the mention of her grandcubs. She was a grandmother at heart, and treated them with the utmost love. I could care less about the annoying brats. More than once she walked down to the Rendezvous, the crazy monsters left a trail of destruction behind them, annoying adults and other young alike. My bad experience involved them asking me play, and pushing me around after refusing. Becky arrived to get them off my tail, after scolding them and explaining that I was indeed a grown stoat and not some stubborn kit, they reckoned it funny that someone as intimidating as her had such a feminine voice. Becky had a general distaste for the cubs after that.

"Yea, sure.", I replied.
After handing over the cash, bidding farewell, she hobbled down the road, talking about how grown up her grandcubs were becoming, I sighed and pocketed the green in my back pocket. Hopefully this wouldn't be a long day. My headache flared up to disagree with me.

The walk down the street wasn't completely relaxing. I kept glancing upwards at the heavy cloud of darkness that now floated just above the church's spire a couple blocks down. I knew it shouldn't have bothered me but it filled me with a sense of uneasiness. That and the glares I got from the O'Malley household nearing the end of Dark Dirt. A group of four llamas stopped their discussion and pierced my back with their gazes.

It happened when the O'Malleys first moved in a year and half back. In passing their home they tried to make friendly with me, Becky insists they meant well but fuck it–
their condescending tones were asking to be put in place.

I said a few things that I still don't regret and ended up helpless in the air, dangling by my hoodie in the hooves of a pretty pissed of Derek, the biggest brother of the llamas. Luckily for me, Mister Turner across the road, a middle aged billy goat who owned a liquor store stepped out and made his presence known. The llama brothers thought it would be wise to let me go on my way. They haven't tried anything since then, but every time I pass I feel their eyes follow me. Occasionally they throw comments in my direction, attempting to get rise out of me. Most of the time I ignore them, not wanting to find myself in a similar situation as before, without the help of Mister Turner who knows how badly it could have turned.

This time was no different. The oldest, Derek, sat on his front steps and glared daggers. The twins, I didn't know who was who (I think the one's name was Pinter), sat at one side beside one another. The youngest sat on the other side, a look of indifference on his ugly face, I didn't know his name. And I probably wouldn't find out. I stole one last glance in their direction, being sure to look nonchalant, and continued on my way.

The uneasiness returned after stealing another look into the sky. It wasn't a major change in the city's routine, but a change it was. Change usually led to unrest, which was never something pleasant to deal with. Especially with the many thousands of mammals in Zootopia.

I rounded the corner of Dark Dirt, officially leaving the street. The hustle and bustle was loud upon entering Lily avenue. A wide street that was a normal route for mammals traveling from Downtown to Sahara Square on their way to work. Even during the weekend the street would be perpetually busy.

Crossing it was nearly impossible during peak hour. The traffic now was moderate. Many of the mammals riding down Lily now would probably be heading out for some fun later tonight. It was a Saturday after all.

I strolled down the sidewalk, paws in pockets, feeling the breeze brush against my whiskers. The sunshine beat down on my fur, making me significantly warmer. It was a good Saturday, not as horrible as I imagined. Ignoring the smoke made it better. Maybe I could drop by Kyle's later. Haven't seen him in at least two days.

I rounded another corner where the hustle of Lily avenue was soon left behind. I entered the Rendezvous. This place was the best. A small dead end road surrounded by houses-turned-stores. You could buy anything you wanted here, and mammals did. I often saw preds walk out with whole fish.
Whole fish in this part of town was difficult to find outside restaurants, but not at the Rendezvous, here we could buy anything at an affordable price, most of the time. I often spent my cash on the mini-market that catered to all mammals. When you got stores like that, there were bound to be a variety of mammals hanging around. Which meant diversity. This place was a common ground, where preds and prey hung out and just.. existed.

I stepped further into the road and passed by several stores, mammals moving in and out of each of them. The rounded end of the road was crowded by pedestrians that spoke in loud voices, the occasional laugh split the din of noise. Mammals were packed on either side, either shopping or hanging around and chatting, sometimes just sitting back and relaxing.

This place was a relatively safe haven. It was crowded but always had a spot to sit at. Always at least one happy drunk mammal slurring a joke in the corner. Always a kit or cub moving about, sometimes shopping, sometimes just wasting their time leisurely.

Everyone had mutual respect for one another here, I'm sure that's more thanks to the shopkeepers possession of shotguns, but that didn't matter. Mammals were kind, they were upstanding citizens that treated each other with sincerity and compassion, where everyone got along and everything was peachy. Where the lines between friend and foe was nonexistent. Where no speciest remarks were made.

"Hey antlers!" I called out at the moose ahead of me. I walked up slowly to Vince, who was busy chatting with a antelope I didn't recognize. He turned quickly with a hard look on his face, glancing to the left and right for who called. I stared expectantly for him to look down, feeling my blood begin to churn in moderate frustration. He eventually did glance downward and saw me, his annoyed expression quickly turned into slight amusement.

"Oh hey there, short stuff. Didn't see you there."

I forced a smirk, I wasn't going to let him get to me. For now, at least.

"Ah, you know us short guys– used to it by now." I shrugged, replacing my smirk with a more genuine grin.
"Anyways- just wanted to tell you that Becky wants you around at six."

He narrowed his eyes and leaned down, hands on his knees. I felt my anger growing at the sight.
"So what, you're like her messenger now?"

I shrugged again, putting on a helpless facade.
"You ever try saying no to her?"

"Well," he continued, "tell her I can't wait." His mouth split open into a toothy grin. I felt myself lean back from his breath, not risking breathing in any of it.

"She'll be waiting on you." I say over my shoulder as I walk over to the mini-market, snickering all the while. Becky wouldn't be too pleased with waiting those extra three hours. Better make myself scarce.

I bought a extra large box of Corn Paws, a carton of coconut milk, a packet of sugar and I had enough to buy a pack of cigarettes. Becky didn't like me smoking but I reasoned it was better than drinking. She knew I couldn't handle my alcohol, being a lightweight and all... kind of a sorepoint for me.

I slapped the cash on the counter and walked out, a packet of goods in my paws, a little big and heavy but manageable. Now all I needed to do was deliver the groceries and find Kyle. Kyle wasn't always difficult to find. He usually just sat around outside his place, staring at mammals who walked by. He was a real dick sometimes, but could the guy command a crowd. That's actually how we met, he was on his corner, about two blocks from Dark Dirt, just standing on his little podium doing magic tricks. He did it every so often and I was lucky enough to catch him, this lanky antelope standing tall with a couple of cards in his hooves, surrounded by a crowd of eager mammals. He had them wrapped around his finger.

So I walked up to the crowd and see him doing all these tricks, just the usual stuff where he would ask someone to pick a card or pull some cloth out his mouth. But his finale was what stood out. He picked up the tip hat he had in the front of his podium and pulled a rabbit out of it (turns out the buck's name was Leonard, who fucking knew).

Course, the crowd went nuts and threw more money at him. I was impressed, especially after seeing a raccoon run up to him and drop some cash into his hoof. He got the raccoon to steal from the audience while they were busy watching. It was ingenious.

So I approached him and told him what I did. He wasn't super impressed but he gave me a chance. Next time he had his little magic show, I was put on stealing duty, oh boy did I deliver. The shock on his face was a sight to witness. He got me in on the deal immediately. At the end of every session we would put the money that was willingly given and the money not-so-willingly given. We'd split it down the middle, which was more than a fair deal.

Today was turning out better than expected. I smiled as I strolled up Dark Dirt street, ignoring the glares of the llama brothers, ignoring the noxious air, ignoring the fact that I would have to take this sugar to a chatty cougar. I did it with a small spring in my step.

The giddiness in my system had no real reasoning to exist, but I wasn't going to question my disposition.

I walked through the front door, feeling the coldness of the hall under my paws. I dropped the packet of groceries on the kitchen table and took a deep breath before smiling triumphantly.

"Barry, come look at this!"
Becky's voice came from the lounge. My smile faltered, my mood wavered. She sounded upset. I walked briskly through the hall into the open lounge, feeling the temperature drop as I went. This room was easily the biggest in the house, although made for small mammals, it housed Becky quite well. It didn't take sunlight so well, making it cold most of the time.

I found her on the couch, (got the thing from the same old rhino) not sprawled out like she usually was. She sat upright, staring intently over at the box TV a couple of feet away from the couch. The volume was relatively low but I could make out the picture of a news broadcast. Becky's usually calm, sometimes jovial, expression was replaced by something I could only recognize as shock. She was tense, wound up like a spring. I didn't say anything, instead I walked over and looked closer at the screen.

The picture were of two anchors, the familiar moose and snow leopard -I remembered the moose's name was Peter- their expressions as ramrod as ever.
At the bottom of the screen showed a large 'BREAKING NEWS'.
Just beside that, the red panel scrolled lazily, birthing words that never held any good message. Any news that was breaking was usually never good.

'Police officer left dead after savage mauling'

"Mauling." The word left a bitter taste in my mouth that no amount of swallowing would alleviate. Another mauling, I thought they had eased up.
Becky looked over to me, her expression forlorn.
"The bunny cop." She stated blandly.

My eyes shot back to the screen. There it was. A picture of the bunny cop who had our former mayor put in prison.

The same one who defied all belief of her abilities and persevered. The small picture was of her in her uniform, freshly graduated by the looks of it. Pride and happiness radiated off of her smile, her eyes filled with the same determination I saw in her interview. She had the look of happy, hopeful energy. She seemed so excited. So happy.

The first bunny cop in Zootopia was dead in her third month of duty...

-and she was mauled.

'"Oh, that's just great..."