Chapter 1: The Cemetery Gate
During the 1980's, there was a television horror show called Tales from the Darkside. Some of the episodes were scary and some were just campy. This is my homage to that show.
There are somethings in the darkness that cannot be explained. Can Nick Wilde convince his partner Judy Hopps, that there are some mysteries that even she can't solve and that are just best left alone?
I do not own the rights to Zooptopia or any of its characters. I do not own the rights to Tales of the Darkside or any of its characters. This story was written solely for the reader's enjoyment and without any profitable purposes. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious. I hope neither Walt Disney nor George A. Romero haunt me for writing this story.
Tonight I offer to you Tails from the Darkside…
The rat desperately scurried across the abandoned townhouse's wooden floors, seeking a way past the rabbit in the police uniform and down the stairs behind her.
"Give it up Ratolou," Judy Hopps snapped. "You're under arrest!"
The rat saw the small hole in the wall and charged at it, slamming into the rotted wood and out into the hallway beyond. He raced down the stairs and towards the open front door, when suddenly the rabbit landed in front of him. Quickly he backed up and frantically looked around.
"Pant…pant…pant! Slowdown Carrots, I can't keep up with you!" the uniformed fox yelled as he came down the stairs.
Seeing that the rabbit was momentarily distracted, the rat made his move and dove through the window onto the street below.
"Stop!" Judy yelled as she turned and leaped after him. The rat had run across the street and was standing next to the old fence that surrounded the dilapidated cemetery. He looked at the rabbit and then the cemetery, then cursing he wiggled under the fence and slipped into the undergrowth.
Judy realized she couldn't follow the rat under the fence or leap over it. She ran to the gate and tried to tug it open, but it didn't budge. Frustrated, she slammed a paw on the iron bars and stepped back, then seeing Nick in the doorway she yelled, "Help me get this open, he ran into the cemetery!"
The fox looked at her and then at the cemetery with wide eyes and instead of stepping forward, he actually stepped back. "Carrots, Judy come over here!" he yelled. "Get away from that place now!"
"He's getting away!" she yelled back as she tugged harder on the gate. Then looking closer, she realized it was welded shut. "Why would anyone weld a gate shut?" she asked.
The fox came closer and frantically grabbed her paw. "Lets go, I don't want to be here after dark!" he said as he pulled her away from the gate. "He's gone, we need to leave."
She pulled free and faced the frightened fox. "What is wrong with you Nick!" she yelled. "Why won't you go into the cemetery?"
"Do you know why some cemeteries are surrounded by iron fences?" the fox replied. "Iron fences just don't keep mammals out, they keep other things in. Things that shouldn't be loose on our city's streets!"
"Oh come on!" the rabbit huffed. "Are you really trying to tell me you believe in ghosts?"
"Carrots, there are things in the night that are far worst then ghosts," Nick sighed as he put his paws on his chest and smirked at her. "Look, you're a daytime animal, when its dark you can't see you paw in front of your cute twitching nose. We foxes are night animals, so trust me when I tell you there are things out and about in the dark that you don't want to see."
"First Mr. Smartypants, don't call me cute!" Judy snapped at the fox as they began walking back to their police cruiser. "Second, there are no such things as ghosts, ghouls, vampires or any of that other nonsense. They're just stories told to scare children around the campfire."
As he climbed into the passenger's seat, Nick replied. "There are things out there that are unexplained mysteries, trust me."
"Everything can be explained," the rabbit scoffed as she reached for the radio. "Any mystery can be solved, if you just follow the clues." Then calling into the station, she asked for Chief Bogo.
"You better have caught Ratolou!" the cape buffalo yelled over the phone. The rabbit's ears drooped and she gave her partner a withering look.
"Sorry Chief, he got away. We lost him when he ran into the Ravencroft Cemetery," she meekly replied. "The gate was welded shut and..."
"Wilde!" Bogo's voice cut her off. "You two report back to the station. Make sure Hopps doesn't go in there, especially at night!"
"10-4 on that boss, we'll head back now," the fox replied.
"But what about Ratolou? Judy asked, her noise was twitching in frustration.
"If he went in there, well may the Great Lion help him," Bogo sighed. "Just head back now." Then he hung up.
"That was weird," the rabbit said. "I've never heard the Chief call off an officer chasing a criminal before?"
"He just wants us safe," the fox replied. "You don't go in there, especially after dark."
"This is ridiculous," the rabbit sharply said back to the fox. "Are you telling me an experience police officer like the Chief believes that nonsense?"
"Like I said Fluff," the fox replied. "Some mysteries can't be solved, but I'll tell you what. You bring a change of clothes and after work tomorrow, I'll introduce you to someone who will make you believe in, what did you call it? Oh yeah, that nonsense."
The next evening after work and having changed into civilian clothes, they ate a quick dinner at Nick's favorite falafel shop before catching the tram to the East Side of the city. The rabbit was surprised when the fox led her past a popular bar called The Hanging Cat Pub and into an alleyway, where a small crowd had gathered around a strange looking white wolf wearing a top hat and a flock coat. The wolf appeared to be verbally seducing a couple of collage aged female white-tailed deer. "Wait Slick, you brought me all the way here for a ghost tour?" the bunny huffed.
"Not just any ghost tour, but that is the Undertaker and he has been telling stories ever since I was a pup," replied Nick. "Come to think of it, he really hasn't changed much over all those years? Anyways, if he can't convince you that there is more in this world then what the can see, well I don't know anyone who can."
The wolf looked over at the fox and the rabbit and gave them what could only be called a feral smile. "Nick Wilde, it's been years!" the wolf chuckled. "I've heard you've gone honest and have become a cop!" Then looking at the rabbit, he added, "This must be your lovely partner, the savior of us predators, Judy Hopps." He took her paw into his and lifted it to his muzzle for a kiss. His lips seemed both icy cold and red hot warm all at the same time, but it was his blood red eyes that entranced the rabbit. She was started when he spoke again. "So I see you're a skeptic?" he asked.
She shook herself before replying, "Look I don't believe in this supernatural nonsense. Every mystery can be solved if you follow the clues!"
He stepped back closer to the two does and replied, "Supernatural nonsense? Maybe you should have listened to your grandfather when he told you those stories around the campfire all those years ago?" Before she could ask how he knew Pop Pop, the wolf turned to the fox. "You know the price, seven dollars for seven stories," he said.
"Still only charging seven dollars?" Nick laughed. "You need to raise your price! Everyone else is charging at least twenty." He handed him the money for both him and Judy.
"But Nick, seven is a sacred number," the wolf replied. "A holy number!"
"Aren't there seven deadly sins?" one of the does asked.
Stepping close to her, he replied with sinister sounding chuckle, "Exactly, seven sins…a holy number!"
"Wait, did you say sins are holy?" the doe asked as she watched him toss the money into his hat and then turning it over, she added, "Where did the money go?"
"That's a mystery!" the wolf replied with a grin. Then reaching into the hat, he pulled out two blood red roses which he handed to the does.
"Really!" Judy scoffed. "I've seen street magicians do that trick. Your hat has a false bottom!"
"Ah, does it?" the wolf asked as he handed the hat to the rabbit.
Judy peered into the hat and then felt around the insides with her paw. "Well, I'm sure it has a fake bottom, I just can't find it in this dim light," she huffed as she handed the hat back to the wolf.
He once again gave her a feral grin as he reached his paw into the hat and pulled out a necklace of what appeared to be thirteen silver coins. Then with what seemed like an unnatural quickness, he bent over and clasped it around her neck. "A gift for the skeptic," he said. "Thirteen coins to save a soul." Then he quickly walked away and greeted his other customers.
"This can't be real?" Judy asked Nick as she tried to tug the necklace off, but it wouldn't come loose. "If this was real silver coins, it would be expensive."
"He's never done that before?" the fox said ad he looked at the wolf.
The wolf turned to face the fox and gave him a sad frown, before turning back to the crowd. Then he laughed as he reached for his shovel. "Come, the night waits!" he announced.
Nick looked at the crowd and then to Judy. "Huh, there are thirteen of us in the group tonight."
As if the wolf heard him, the Undertaker stopped, turned around, and called back, "Are you two coming?"
The fox and the rabbit hurried to catch up with the others, but the fox suddenly had a bad feeling about this night.
Next Chapter: The Sin of Lust!