Previous chapter's end:
Ice. Sheet thin too, but all she could see though it was a foggy white.
"Oh no….nononononononoNO-"
The ice broke, and she gave a loud scream as she fell to her presumed death.
{*}
Judy's violet eyes shot open, immediately aware of the vines that entangled her body as she hung from a sort of tropical tree, her free fall to a certain death halted just meters above the ground. As she looked around, she realized she was in a jungle of sorts.
"…W-what..? What is this place?" she whispered to herself, squirming loose from the vines and landing with a harsh thud on the jungle floor. There were many odd noises in the air, different kinds of animal calls that Judy didn't recognize.
And one of those sounds, a soft and threatening hiss, was whispered over her shoulder.
Acting purely on instinct, she dodged to her right, and a large shrieking mass whipped past in the spot she'd just been standing. White hot pain suddenly burned in her upper left arm, the cuff on her right wrist flickering red before turning a solid amber. She scrambled to her feet and bolted, the warm breath of the predator bristling the fur on the back of her neck with every missed snap of it's jaws. All this happened in a blur for Judy. Her heart pounded in her ears, fear filling the bunny and adrenaline fogging the pain in her arm and filling her with an energy she'd never run with before in her life.
Suddenly, something large bumped her in the back and she tumbled to a stop. Breathing heavily and ears flattened to her head, Judy whipped around, terrified. Only, there was nothing to be terrified of. The creature, some sort of bipedal reptile with dark scales, yellow eyes, and massive claws on it's first toes that tapped the ground menacingly, lay tied up like a log, vines ensnaring it's body like snakes as it hissed and snapped at Judy.
Said bunny took a few shaky steps back. "….How…..w-what are you?!" A snarl was her only reply. Noticing the reptile's inability to really even turn it's head in it's current state, Judy felt bit braver and walked around it, even tentatively touching it's scales.
"I-it's….not possible…you're…y-you're extinct!"
Even a child could recognize a dinosaur when they saw one. This particular beast was a raptor…what kind, Judy didn't know, but if movies back home taught her anything, it was that raptors were smart, scary, and deadly. The clacking of the dinosaur's toe claws on the ground beneath it assured her of that.
A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she froze, glancing up and over the raptor's back, only glimpsing brownish red fur, a blur of green, and a sharp, blue that seemed to stare straight through her before the other mammal slammed into her with a sort of predatory strength that knocked the wind out of her lungs.
As the stars cleared from her vision and her breath came back, Judy found herself staring a wild mammal in the eye, a little too close for comfort. Nervously she eased herself up, but the other mammal's nose pressed into her's and, with a dissatisfied masculine grunt, the mammal stopped her like some immovable force. She froze up, somewhat disturbed and unsure of how to react to this.
"U-uhm…."
As Judy stopped moving, the mammal snaked his way around her, sniffing suspiciously. It was then that she finally got a good look at him.
A weasel…he's huge! He's bigger than any weasel I've ever seen! Could probably fight a wolverine….and win, if he tried…
She shuddered, then yelped as the weasel's nose found it's way up the back of her shirt. Judy whipped around and gave him a good smack. Realizing she'd just hit what was easily an unpredictable, wild and prehistoric mammal, Judy curled into a tight ball with a terrified squeak.
When her hand hit him, the weasel sprung back with the agility of a cat, a look on his face that both gave away that he was clearly none too pleased with her action and accentuated the two lower fangs that stuck out on his lower jaw. When he noticed how terrified she looked, however, the weasel laughed. Rather lightheartedly too.
"If you're looking to hurt me, then I suggest you try harder. That was a mild inconvenience at best."
Judy's mind blanked, not quite sure how to register the fact that this prehistoric weasel could speak perfect English, with a British accent no less!
"Wha…..how…."
"What's this supposed to be anyway?"
Judy squealed like a six year old as the weasel curiously pulled at her clothes. Not very lady-like or graceful, but it got the point across real quick, as he backed off with a stunned 'what the heck' face. "These are clothes! Don't pull at them!"
"Why not?"
"Because you might rip them or pull them off, then I'll be naked!"
The weasel made an even stronger 'what the heck' face as he turned to the tied up raptor behind him. "But you've got fur."
"That's besides the point! I-OH MY-"
Judy covered her beet-red face as the weasel stood up on his two feet and she realized he wore nothing but his fur.
He looked back at her weirdly as she made muffled groans into her hands, rolling his eye and muttering under his breath to the dino, "And I thought I was crazy." He double-checked the growling raptor's bonds before turning back to the bunny, at first amused, but then a look of concern came up on his face.
"You're bleeding."
Judy looked up at him, avoiding looking at him below the chest. "What?"
He walked up to her and held his hand out, helping her to her feet before taking hold of her upper left arm, perhaps a bit too roughly, as she hissed in pain. She looked down to see where he was holding, and she quickly looked away as she now had the mental image of the open wound on her arm and the individual layers of bloody flesh now branded into her brain.
"That's gonna get infected if we don't treat that. Come with me."
Seeing no other choice, as she was as good as dead on her own, Judy followed him.
"What about…that?" she motioned back to the raptor, and the weasel shrugged. "He'll break out in a few hours, but we don't want to be here when he does."
Judy could've sworn he winked at her. How he managed that while he already had only one eye, she'd never understand. She looked up at the weasel. "I never got your name."
"Buck, short for Buckminster! And you are…?"
"Judy. Judy Hopps."
{*}
Judy never expected to discover Buck's home to be a rather hospitable sort of tree-den. He brought her in and wasted no time in cleaning her wound with some fresh water from a stream nearby. After cleaning it, he stepped out to get something, and Judy was left alone in her thoughts.
How would she get home? Was Nick looking for her? Was her family alright? Would those psychotic scientists get caught for their crimes? Her head swarming with unanswered questions and worries, she sighed, ears lowering until they drooped to her back.
"That's gotta be the saddest sound I've ever heard a mammal make."
Judy jumped in surprise and looked up to see the weasel returning, holding a sort of grass looking plant and a stick that had a few freakishly slender and long thorns on it. Sitting on the same side as her wounded arm, Buck started peeling long string-like strips from the plant in a manner that reminded Judy of string cheese.
"You alright?"
His voice was surprisingly gentle, and Judy quietly answered him.
"I don't know…"
Buck's own ears tipped in a sympathetic manner, and as he finished peeling, he turned his attention to the thorny stick, picking a thorn off and carefully scratching at the blunt end with a claw. "If you're worried about getting home, don't be. I can get you back up there before anyone realizes you're gone."
Judy was hit with a wave of dread, fear, sadness, and despite being in his company…loneliness. "I….I don't think you can help me with that. I'm not…from around here or there, if I'm being completely honest with you."
Buck finished scratching the thorn, having scratched a tiny hole in the end, and gave her a quizzical look. "Then, where are you from?"
At first, Judy didn't know if she should say anything. If she revealed too much, it could change the whole future. But then again, she thought, he lives all by himself down here. Not like he's gonna change the entire course of history…
"I…I-I'm from the future."
She wholly expected it when he froze up in the corner of her eye, but she didn't expect the accepting side-shrug and him continuing with threading one of the plant strings into the thorn.
"That's it? No questions? No laughing?!"
Buck chuckled, but in no way was it mocking. "Considering what you're wearing and that blinky yellow light on that fancy bracelet of yours, it actually explains a lot. Now hold still, this might pinch a bit."
Judy flinched and bit her lip as he carefully began to stitch the wound on her arm. "'Blinky yellow..?" She turned her attention to the cuff on her wrist, seeing that it indeed was blinking a soft amber, and the green light softly flickered behind it. She tipped her head, lifting her arm to better look at the device.
It only ever turns yellow when I get hurt…and I guess green means I'm okay. Huh. Kinda like a traffic light…..wonder what the red light means…
The implications of that thought disturbed her, and she shook her head to distract herself from it. Looking back to her other arm, she realized that Buck's stitch-work was almost done.
"Wow…you're good."
"Eh, I've had practice."
Judy straightened up, eyes wide. "You mean, you've had to….y'know….stitch up y-yourself?"
With a nonchalant smile and shrug, Buck nodded. "Once or twice. Not fun, but hey. It's kind of a necessary thing to learn when you live alone in this lovely hell-scape." He shot her a toothy grin, and she looked away with a raised brow and slight anxiety.
'Hell-scape'?! Is this entire jungle full of carnivorous dinosaurs?!
"By the way…"
She looked back up at him, confused, as he gave her a serious look.
"I suggest you stay inside. Sun's setting, and it gets a lot more dangerous after dark."
Judy nodded, thinking back to how on Earth she was going to get home and if her friends and family were alright. Buck gently nudged her to snap her out of it.
"Hey. It's safer off the ground."
Taking her hand, he helped her further up inside the tree and to a pile of grass and leaves that was tucked away in a well-sized, rotted out knot hole in the wood. "You can sleep here for the night. Tomorrow, I'll set up your own bed." Giving her a soft smile, he leapt up to a mushroom shelf and curled into a snug little weasel donut, and it wasn't long until Judy could hear him snoring softly over the sounds of the prehistoric jungle outside.
Judy crawled into the hole, finding it surprisingly soft and cozy. But of course, nothing compared to the softness and warmth of the beds, pillows, and blankets back home. Hugging herself as she nestled in, she stared off into space, hoping she'd awaken to find that it'd all been a bad dream.
{*}
Sorry for the wait! Hope you guys liked this chapter! :D
Zootopia © Disney
Ice Age © Blue Sky Studios
Story idea © KaraTheFangirl