Chapter 3: Well, I'm a Wanderer…

A/N: Alright, 3rd chapter in! This time I'm going to try and slow the pacing, to help add more description. I'm also going to (hopefully) write Judy more in-character. Also, I found something awesome on YouTube: A user by the name of DrDissonance1 created a song which took some themes from Zootopia's soundtrack and made them sound like the Fallout 4 theme. Here's a link: https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbFasBm1COw. It's pretty cool, I'd advise checking it out. Anyways, on to the story!

The wasteland was many things. First of all, it was deadly. Catastrophically so. It was also depressing. The dark color palette of the vegetation crossed with the destroyed towns and cities made the landscape extremely dreary. But what Nick hated most about the wasteland was how goddamn boring it was. The two mammals had been trudging along for almost a day and a half towards the town on the horizon, but the settlement didn't seem to come any closer. In fact, Nick could have sworn the village was getting further from them. Judy's radio was playing non stop, and while the music was catchy the optimistic melodies were starting to become a bit annoying. Suddenly, Judy's ears twitched.

"What is it, Carrots?" said the fox. He scanned the dimming landscape. The sun was setting, painting the sky with purple, orange, and red hues. He couldn't see anything.

"I could have sworn I heard footsteps behind us," replied the anxious rabbit. Her ears perked up. "Must've been the wind. Anyways, let's pick up the pace. C'mon!"

Nick groaned. His small friend seemed to be capable of infinite energy. The hyper bunny started to pick the pace up, true to her word. Nick adjusted his long stride in order to catch up with the rabbit, who was practically hopping.

"Do you really need to go so fast? The sun's setting, we should probably find shelter somewhere and build a fire." Nick kept his paws crossed, hoping she would see his reasoning. Judy thought about it for a second.

"Fine. The trees around here should hold some defense, anyways. I'll look for sticks, you go find a place to stay." The bunny hopped away. Nick rolled his eyes again. They were walking alongside a large, leafless forest. Giving the cold temperatures and the leafless trees, Nick assumed the season was somewhere around fall. The computer he had retrieved the date from in the vault didn't go into specifics like season, it was meant to display the date alone. His fur kept him warm during the day, but with the daylight ever decreasing he was starting to shiver. The irradiated forest seemed creepy in the dark.

Judy hopped through the forest, picking up sticks from the ground as she hopped along. She stopped, nose twitching. She could swear she kept hearing footsteps, voices, and other intelligent sounds. She trusted her instincts, and her instincts kept telling her that something-or someone, was following her. She remembered some of the news she heard on her Pip-Boy's radio. Tales of slavers massacring colonies and taking the survivors hostage as workers, or worse. There definitely wasn't much of a law system in place in the wasteland. A crack behind her caused her to whip around. No one was there. Judy sighed, picked up a stick, and turned around. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind. Judy screamed, felt a syringe pressed against her neck, felt the needle, and saw no more.

"Help!" Nick turned around in his hiding spot. He had begun to worry about his partner, and now he knew she was in trouble. Nick turned the safety off of his shotgun, cocked it, and walked out into the now dark forest. Nick looked around, blinked his eyes, and felt his pupils adjust to the dark. His hearing wasn't as good as Judy's, but Nick's was still exceptional. He heard footsteps to his left. He turned, and followed the noises.

After a few minutes of quietly trailing the noises, Nick came to the edge of a bluff with light coming from the bottom of the pit. The fox quietly sneaked over the the edge and peeked over. Nick gasped- there were five large, armed mammals. And lo and behold, there sat an unconscious Judy surrounded by collared mammals. His lip raised into a silent snarl when he saw that there was a large collar around the bunny's neck as well. I have to bust all of these poor folks out of here, he thought. However, the slavers-at least, that's what Nick assumed they were-were large, armed, and scarred. This was proof that the guards weren't just holding big guns-they knew how to use the weapons as well. A large rhino sat up. Nick saw that in addition to his shotgun, the rhino also held a large club with what looked like a clump of concrete on the end strapped to his back. Nick winced. He didn't want to take a hit from that. The slavers seemed to be talking about something. Nick strained to hear their conversation.

"Why are you so worried? What's so odd about a stupid vault dweller wandering around alone? They're idiots, of course they'd do something stupid like this. No one. Is. looking. For. her."

"I dunno, boss. I could've sworn that I heard something in the woods following me."

"Look, I'm the boss, and I say that we're fine."

Nick grinned evilly. The slavers didn't know about him. He looked down, and saw the crowd of slaves. He fought the urge to take a shot at the rhino leader's head with his shotgun. He wanted very little to see the slaver's head splatter into a burst of blood-No, no, no! I can't think like a savage! Nick thought. He didn't want to be as bad as those monsters. Nick looked back into the bluff. The five armed slavers were still talking, but he couldn't hear them now. His ears perked up in alarm when he saw one of them pointed in his direction.

"All right, we know you're up there! Come on down, big-ears," shouted the rhino. Big ears? Thought the fox. His ears were a tad large, sure. But he didn't think that that would have been an apt way to describe him. Suddenly, a shot rang out with a large BANG! One of the slavers, a large wolf, fell to his knees and knocked Judy's unconscious body over. Her arm hit the ground, and the radio started playing:

How lucky can one guy be?

I kissed her, and she kissed me…

As the fella' once said,

Ain't that a kick in the head?

The music set a relaxed mood, despite the shots being fired Nick felt his foot tapping to the beat of the song.

Tell me quick, Ain't that a kick in the head?

Nick spotted his hidden ally, a long-eared rabbit in a fedora and a long, tan overcoat. His light-grey ears were striped with black near the top of their long stalks. The stranger constantly fired his silver revolver, reloaded, and continued to shoot. Nick fired his already-cocked weapon at the rhino's head, and missed by an inch. The rhino turned in his direction.

"Dammit! There're two of them, boys!" He then took the club off of his back and started up the path. Nick fired again and again. He saw the strange rabbit fire at the stranger, but missed. The stranger sheathed his gun-which was out of ammo by now-and took off a sniper rifle on his back. He aimed it at the rhino. Nick fired again, and missed. The rhino was faster than he looked! Nick fired a third time, but the rhino was at the top of the path now. The slaver charged at the small fox, who dodged out of the way just in time. The rhino skidded to a stop, and charged again. Nick wasn't so lucky this time, and was hit in the left arm full-force by the rhino's huge club. Blood splattered from the wound. Nick grabbed the wound, gasping in pain. He looked up at the Rhino, with his eyebrows furrowed in savage wrath. The slaver was grinning. He raised the concrete-topped club over his head, intent on smashing Wilde. The fox flinched, prepared for the soft thud of the club as it ended his life. It never came. A loud shot rang out, and the rhino slumped over, his large club landing handle-up next to him, harmless.

Nick looked down at his arm, which was coated in fur and dry blood. He tried to move it, but couldn't. His arm felt like it was on fire. Nick couldn't help it-he screamed in pain. After a few spasms, and yelps, Nick decided not to try that anymore. He struggled to stand up, then walked down into the cavern. His mysterious ally was taking the explosive collars off of the slaves, who all had wide eyes. Judy had woken up by then, and was looking for him. Her ears perked up when she saw him.

"Nick!" She shouted happily. "You're alive!"

The fox grimaced smugly. "Well, almost." he said. "My arm is killing me…" The stranger took off the collar on another slave, then walked over to Nick. He picked a stimpack off of the floor on the way over, then jabbed it into the fox's arm, right above the wound. Nick flinched, then sighed in relief as he felt the wound heal. He turned around to thank the stranger, but the strange rabbit had disappeared into nothingness. Judy looked around as well, just as baffled. Nick shrugged it off-the stranger would probably be nearby, and he was certain they'd see him again. Judy walked over to him.

"You dumb fox…" she said, smiling happily. Nick rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, Carrots. I thought I did pretty well," Nick responded sarcastically. Judy's smile widened.

"I guess you did, Wilde."

"Ready to head out? We could probably make it to town today if we hurry."

"Fine. But I have some questions to ask you on the way."

Most of the slavers' prisoners had vanished by now. Judy and Nick left the bluff, tired from the night's events. The sun was rising, and they knew that it was no use trying to make up their missed sleep. Once we get to the town, I'm going to rent a hotel room and buy whatever passes for a beer in these parts, Nick thought. They had gone through the bodies of the slavers, and deduced that the post-nuclear society used bottle camps as currency, and collected somewhere around two hundred of the trinkets. Nick figured that if he needed to, he could try using his charismatic properties to gain some more caps once they got into town.

"So, who was that?" asked Judy. The two had begun walking towards the small wooden town, and Judy hadn't forgotten her questions.

"Come again?"

"Who was that? Who helped us?"

"Oh, duh. I have no idea. He just appeared out of nowhere-and you saw how he just… disappeared."

"Interesting character. Anyways, whatever. We might as well forget it."

"I'll say." Nick yawned loudly, earning him an annoyed glare from Judy.

The morning sunrise was beautiful-or rather, as close as beautiful could be in the wasteland. The golden sunrise illuminated the cold, harsh world. The grey grass painted a drab picture of death and despair. How poetic, Nick thought. He was tired from walking, and even more tired from Judy's constant chatter in addition to the cheerful radio. Judy had an optimistic and curious outlook on everything, and half of the time she seemed to be talking more to herself than to the fox. Nick's arm was still a bit sore, though the wound had scarred up long ago.

The drab sun was falling from the sky as the two mammals entered the town. The two were given odd looks from the townspeople. Nick looked around for a clothing vendor, the first thing he needed was to blend in. He spotted a vendor with coats of various colors and sizes on the street, advertising fair prices and a variety of availability. Nick walked over to the vendor.

"Hi there. I'm interested in finding a coat-anything to help me fit in." started the fox. The (literally) shrew salesman smiled.

"No problemo, sir. Would you like a longer or shorter coat?"

"Longer would be nice."

"No problemo, sir. Right this way." He gestured behind a curtain. Nick entered the warehouse. He was surrounded by an even more diverse selection of clothing. The small rodent lead him to a section labeled "FOXES." Nick gathered up a grey shirt, a pair of khaki pants and a long, grey overcoat. He topped it off with a grey fedora, to match the coat. He tried to emulate the common style he saw among the people of the irradiated world, from the strange rabbit that helped him out to several people on the streets. He also looked through the rabbit section, but decided to find Judy and bring her here later. After some bartering, he arranged a price of fifty caps for the entire outfit.

Next, Nick needed to find Judy-and a place to stay until morning. He found Judy easily enough, though it did take some looking. She had also looked for clothing, and was already in her outfit. She had chosen a simple ensemble of a light-blue shirt and navy pants, as well as leather shoulder-pads and knee-pads. Nick had kept his Aviator sunglasses, and decided to keep them as part of his clothing as well.

Judy walked up to him, looking a bit embarrassed. She pointed to a group of scantily-clad jackrabbits down the street, who were waving seductively in the direction of any males who walked by them.

"Nick, are those-"

"Yes, they're whores, Carrots." Judy's face turned even redder. Nick smirked again-the wasteland was starting to prove amusing for him. "C'mon, Judy. Let's find someplace to stay."

The dynamic duo found an inn with open rooms easily enough. The room was a bit small, though it had two beds, a table and a bathroom. Nick changed in the restroom, then hung the hat and coat up on the hooks implanted in the door. The two mammals looked around intently. Judy broke the silence after a few seconds.

"So, now what?" Nick shrugged.

"I dunno, Carrots. Right now, I'm going to find something to eat and drink. Afterwards, I'm going to sleep. Feel free to tag along, or do whatever you want." Judy nodded.

"I think I'll stick with you for now." she replied. Nick shrugged again-he was secretly glad of the Rabbit's company, though he wasn't about to admit it.

"Let's go find some food, then." he said. He took his coat off of the door, and held the door open for Judy. He exited after the rabbit. They walked down the street side by side, observing the strange people around the town. As the two walked down the settlement's street, Judy smiled to herself. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she new that whatever was coming her way promised to be exciting.