In the case this didn't finish as quick as I wanted, I started writing this on July 1, 2018. Hopefully by the time I finish this chapter, it wasn't too long of a wait.
This chapter skips a bit forward but not too forward. :)
Judy Hopps
3:00 AM, the next day
With everything that Mr. Big had told me, I found myself dumbfounded. He claimed that Emmitt Otterton had died in the back of the vehicle, but then he stated that Otterton abruptly attacked the driver. That was almost two weeks ago, and both went missing. Even the couple of guards Mr. Big had sent over to the house disappeared, and even after that, plus the mass search he did, there was nothing to be found. No suspects, no bodies.
The shrew could be lying, leading us into a trap, for all Nick and I knew. But there was only one way to find that out.
After a few hours, the two of us were on our way to the Vine and Tujunga corner, in the Rainforest District. I was determined to solve the case and hopefully find out what happened to the other mammals Mr. Big sent. Everything kept piling on, and it all didn't make sense, at least not yet. I hoped not yet.
Nick and I were cramped in the small police vehicle, trying to pass the time by any means possible, but all we could settle on was listening to the radio. Every ten or so minutes, it went back and forth between music and the news, and the flu outbreak was all they could settle on at this point. Every hour seemed to get worse.
"Despite regulations by the NAA to ground all flights coming in and out of Zootopia, cases are continuously being reported in other countries. Scientists are expecting the number of cases to reach up to ten million by the end of the month, but fear possible mutations could-"
I clicked off the radio and sighed. "It was a mistake to turn that on."
"Uh huh," Nick mumbled. I turned to him briefly.
"Are you okay?"
"... Yeah. I'm fine."
He didn't sound fine, but I decided not to egg him on to say more, and instead continued on the way. Rain started to fall, but the roof kept us dry for the most part.
After a while of driving, we finally arrived to the street corner and parked the car on the side of the road. I got out of the car and did a double take to be sure this was the right place, and the long bridge with the home at the end matched the description Mr. Big had given me.
"Alright, this is the place. Now all we need to do is see if somebody's-"
Before I could finish, I heard the car spring to life and start driving down the road.
"-home? Hey!"
Nick started the car and began to drive down the road, not even turning around to apologize for it! Thankfully, it was far too slow to get far before I stood in front of it and forced him to stop. He glanced at me with a somewhat irritated glare.
"Carrots, get out of the way."
"Get out of the car, Nick."
"I can't."
"Yes you can. This is grand theft auto, Nick. I don't want to arrest you, but I will if I have to," I firmly stated, my feet planted on the pavement.
Nick stared at me for a second, then leaned a bit to the side and peering down the road behind me, with nothing but the faint lights of the vehicle to show them off. He took a look at the dashboard, then the keys. After a few seconds, he let out a frustrated sigh and turned off the vehicle.
"Fine," he answered, tossing me the keys. "I'll walk."
"Yes... to the house. We still have a case to so-"
"You still have a case to solve. I don't. I'm not a cop."
"Yeah, you're a criminal who's been spending years avoiding something as simple as paying taxes, which I promised - even though I shouldn't - I would let go if you helped me solve this case. Yeah, you've really got a sprouting career there."
"Well, you're just gonna have to arrest me, then."
"So you're saying you want to go to jail?"
"No, I'm not. What I am saying is I want to warn my friends and get out of this city before things start going south."
"What are you talking about 'going south?'"
"Think about it, Carrots, and really think about it, because it took me a few hours to put it all together: They start talking about this new and strange flu going around two weeks ago, just now starting to gain traction, and at that same time, over a dozen mammals go missing. Then you hear on the news about mammals mauling each other after they supposedly died, and now Mr. Big told us about the otter supposedly dying before attacking this Manchas guy, who also went missing soon after, along with all the other mammals who went looking for them."
"Nick... what are you saying?"
The fox hesitated; the heat coming from my head had simmered down at this point and was left with confusion, a chilling idea creeping about.
"I'm saying... what if they're not just missing? What if they're... dead?"
It was a startling and rather disturbing possibility, and it was something I hoped I would rarely, or even never, have to experience. But that was part of the job as an officer of the law. I knew it when I signed up, and I knew that even when Chief Bogo gave me the case. I had to be prepared for that, though.
But...
"It still doesn't add up... If the flu killed them, then how could they be-... Wait... you mean... you think they're... undead?"
Nick nodded somberly.
"Nick, that's ridiculous."
"But doesn't it back Mr. Big's claim?"
"I... I guess, but..."
"But what?"
I turned away from him. My eyes were shut tightly as I remembered the promise I had made when I took the case. Mrs. Otterton... she hasn't seen her husband in ten days, and the ZPD couldn't do anything to find him. If I came back to her just to tell her he could be...
But he wouldn't be, either. That's what Nick was saying. Could he be right? No. He can't be. It doesn't make sense, that type of thing isn't possible. It just... isn't.
"We'll know when we find them all," I stated firmly, looking up towards the Manchas residence. "Let's go."
"Carrots, I told you, I'm not going. I'm going home, to warn Finnick and the others. If I turn out to be right, they could end up in danger, or worse."
"And how do I know you won't just try to hide again?"
"You know what I look like, don't you? You'll just run me through the system and have every officer in the city looking out for me. I won't exactly be able to hide after that."
"I'm an officer, Nick. I can't just let you go off into the night, even if I can run you through. You either come with me right now and help me solve this case, or I cuff you to the car and you can wait while I do it myself."
Nick opened his mouth as if to object or argue further, but furrowed his brow. He turned to look down the road, as if attempting to think of a way to outrun me, but a simple realization let him know that would never be the case. He stared at me in defeat, knowing he wasn't going to be able to get his way. Whether or not he was telling the truth about the mammals and his friends would be up to face, but right now, just finding them was more than important, no matter the outcome.
But Wilde didn't seem to agree with me, if walking to the car and holding his paw up against the steering wheel was any indication. Giving his answer, I unraveled my set of cuffs and wrapped one around his wrist, and the other around the steering wheel. Making sure the keys were on me, I gave the fox a small sigh that said more than enough.
I turned away again and stared at the house from afar. With a deep breath, I started forward.
"Sam is alive."
Those three words were enough to make me stop in my tracks, any sense of determination being completely blinded and wiped away in favor of something else. I craned my head towards Nick.
"... What did you say?" I hesitated, and so did he.
Nicholas Wilde
"Sam Wolfe. Wolfshire Wolfe... your ex-boyfriend. He's alive."
Whenever I revealed big secrets like this, it usually would have felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And yet, when I told her that the one mammal she thought was gone was actually alive, it did nothing. In fact, she acted as if I had threatened her - and I very well may have, in her mind.
"How do you know his name?" she asked, almost coldly. "How do you know who he is?"
I saw her reaching down, as if instinctively reaching for a taser that wasn't there.
"He's my friend."
"I don't believe you."
"Judy." I looked her in the eyes as I spoke her real name for the first time, no intent to look away. "He's my friend."
Her own stare seemed to lift a bit, but she kept herself fixated on me, demanding with her eyes more information from me.
"He left Wolfshire the night after the fire. Came all the way here to the city just to start over. I found him on the streets just barely getting by. I saved his life. Finnick and I, we took him in and got him into the business. He didn't want to do it at first... and a part of me's still convinced he doesn't want to... but he said it was far better than the streets."
"You're... you're serious...?"
I nodded.
"But... the body. I saw it myself, when they took it down. It was him, it looked like... him."
"It was someone else," I tried to explain. "Someone who didn't want to be known. It was just a coincidence they looked alike. He said it was better off everyone thought he was dead. He didn't think anyone would miss him."
That last sentence seemed to rip Judy's heart out of place, and soon enough, she was staring blankly forward, rather than any actual thing. One of her paws subconsciously rose to her chest, and her eyes began to tear up just faintly. It was no guess that memories started to come back to her, potentially haunting her of every waking moment leading up to the instant she saw him hanging from a tree.
A tear struggled to fall down her face, but she kept it in; and yet, I could still see every emotion that she would've let out otherwise. She sniffled to herself.
"Did he tell you that?"
I shook my head, then turned my body to show my phone that had been sitting in my back pocket. I guided her to my voicemail and had her open up the most recent one.
"Hey, Nick, it's Sam. Just calling to make sure everything is okay-"
She quickly stopped playing it. Even just hearing the first word was enough to let her know that it was his voice, and it was entirely indistinguishable. Her eyes started to water, and a faint, hopeful smile appeared on her face.
"He also has a bad habit of butt dialing."
She let out a sniffled laugh, and that alone let me know that it had been common in her life, as well. She was able to find the phone call I had saved. It wasn't clear as if talking to someone normally, but even I could still understand every word.
"I left everything because I had nothing left. ... I just remember hearing that they looked for me, for days, talking about it on the local radios. They didn't find anything for a long time."
Judy's face started to freeze as she realized what he was going to say, going to mention.
"And then they found this body of a wolf who had taken their life by the river near my house. He looked so much like me... they were convinced it was me."
She seemed to swallow a lump in her throat, and that dismal gleam in her eyes was like she was reliving that moment all over again. How she experienced it, she wouldn't say or ever mention, but just the look on her face could tell me it had been the most traumatic experience for her. Did she blame herself all those years? What was she thinking now?
"She doesn't even know I'm alive."
The call cut off there. Hopps put the phone back in my pocket and turned away, leaving herself to her thoughts, just for a moment. I could hear her swallow again, and she seemed to hug her body. I knew she was holding back tears, or very well trying to, but refused to show me.
"He misses you, you know," I told her. "He still even has a picture of the two of you in his wallet, from high school. He said he was too poor to buy a yearbook."
I didn't see it, but I knew she had been smiling, even begging herself to laugh.
"He never got over you. Even after he started seeing... someone else - he still thought of you from time to time."
"... Really...?"
"Yeah."
Her breathing was slowed again, calmer, but she was ultimately and definitely thinking of plenty in her mind. It was a lot to take in, no doubt. But I had to tell her, otherwise I wasn't leaving here, and... well, who knows?
"Listen... Carrots... I'll help you. I can't exactly turn it down at this point, can I? But if I help you, you have to promise me that you'll let me go. You'll let me go and warn them, tell them to prepare. Even if I'm wrong, it's better safe than sorry... right?"
The rabbit took in a deep breath and let it out in a blow. She then turned to me and nodded.
"Okay. But if I do... you'll take me to him."
"Are you sure?"
"There's enough to show you're telling the truth. But I still want to see. I need to see. I just need to."
I gave her a comforting smile and nodded. There was no way now that I would ever deny her that right or chance, even if I wanted to, or even if she wasn't a police officer. Raising my wrists to her, I let her unlock my cuffs. I found myself rubbing my wrists a few times, tending to them gently. After a moment, I found myself looking over to the household again and realized neither of us had any idea what we were going to walk into. Would we get the information we needed without hassle? Or would we end up becoming part of the growing statistic?
"Let's go solve a case, I guess," I said in that casual tone. Outside, I was once again determined in her eyes.
Inside, I was growing nervous.
Hopps and I crossed the bridge, occasionally looking down into the green abyss below us. When we were on the other side, Hopps double-checked to be sure this was indeed the correct address. At the door, she gave three gentle knocks.
"Mr. Manchas?" she called out. "Judy Hopps, ZPD. We just want to know what happened to Emmitt Otterton."
Patiently, she waited, while I glanced back and forth between the windows, the door, and the yard of the house. Everything seemed to be as normal as a home in the Rainforest District could be. But there was just one thing that I quickly noticed. On the ground, next to the door, were newspapers, well over ten papers, none of them opened. Upon closer inspection, I realized all of them were editions of the past week and a half. It further proved Mr. Big's claims.
"Hello? Sir?"
Hopps knocked a couple more times and waited a few more moments, but there was nobody coming to the door. It was complete silence on the other side. I put the papers down and walked up to the front door, turning the door knob and expecting it to be locked. As Hopps began to ask what I was doing, the door opened with no resistance, and we were greeted with nothing but a dark abyss, barely lit by the outside.
"Do you have a flashlight?" I questioned, my voice down to a whisper.
"Yeah." Hopps reached in her belt and took out a small cling-able flashlight that she attached to her chest. With a single click, the light shone up the entire living room of the house, revealing only a place frozen in time - and no doubt, frozen in chaos.
The entire living room of the home looked as if there had been a mass struggle, a fight of some sort. Chairs had been toppled over, a glass table shattered, one of the light fixtures on the ceiling now on the floor and broken.
Hopps went in first, inspecting the place slowly and being careful not to cut herself on the shards that littered the floor. I did the same, following behind her. As we went deeper into the household, I noticed that other than her flashlight, there was not a single source of light throughout the entire home, not even from under the doors leading to other rooms, and the air was feeling a bit thick, which was usual for the Rainforest, but not like this.
"Mr. Manchas?" Hopps called out carefully, turning about to illuminate other parts of the interior. I could see nervousness begin to form on her face, but she still held a look of bravery. Perhaps she truly was brave, and the nervousness was the facade instead.
Getting by the glass, there was something else on the floor that we happened to notice at last. A spray of fluid was all along the wooden floors of the living room, splattered onto the walls. It was a black, dry liquid, and I assumed it to be oil, as there was a small, knocked over can of oil nearby. When I shook the can around and opened it, it was completely full. Just opening the cover, it was new, entirely untouched. I looked for another can, but found nothing.
That was when we started to smell it; the unbearable stench, a pungent, sweet, but also bitter smell that filled the air, hitting us like a freight train. I stopped in my tracks.
"Ugh," Hopps groaned, "It smells like something died in here."
I wasn't laughing. Instead, I looked back to the black liquid. Only it wasn't just any liquid.
It was blood.
"... Something did."
As soon as she noticed what I was pointing to, and the assumptions I was making - and knowing that they were now more true than ever - she reached for her walkie talkie and spoke into it.
"Officer Hopps to dispatch, I might need some backup on standby, over."
"Will do, Officer Hopps!" a voice sprang on the other side of the radio, giggling as if in a somewhat more-cheery-than-normal manner. "What's for the occasion?"
"... A possible 10-54."
The voice didn't respond for a few seconds, but when it did...
"Oh... copy that. I'll have a team on standby for you."
... it was no longer cheery as it was just seconds ago.
"Thank you, Clawhauser."
Hopps put her radio away and sighed. I knew it was something she thought she'd never have to say. But that was the risk she took when signing up for this, and she knew that.
"Do you think that...?"
"Let's just hope both of us are wrong."
A second later, we heard something crash to the floor, in another room, behind a closed door. We both snapped our eyes to that specific door, down the hallway. The smell was the strongest, so it had to have been coming from there. I started walking forward, but Hopps stopped me.
"Wait here," she whispered.
"Carrots, wait...!"
But she didn't heed my warning, instead going forward, down the hallway, flashlight pointed forward and paw hovering over the now-visible taser. She walked slowly, making sure there was as little noise made from her movements as possible. To her, it was easier, considering her breed and size, but even then, there was still some noise she took into account.
Hopps slowly and gently made her way down the hall, to the door. I saw her use one of her ears to cover her mouth, assuming the smell was much stronger where she stood. I saw her shake her head for a moment and even attempt to hold her breath.
Suddenly, there was another crash from behind the door, forcing her to emit a tiny gasp. Now, she had taken out her taser and pointed it towards the door, just in case she was taken by surprise. Maybe it was just me, but I also thought I could see her even shake just a little.
The tension seemed to grow the closer she got to the door, but before she could reach it, I crouched my way over to her, even as she told me to stay put. Ultimately, she turned back to the door again and started forward. I covered my snout with my shirt, though it was way too strong to cover with such thin clothing.
Moments later, we were just a few feet from the door, and that was when we heard these noises coming from behind. It sounded like raspy, hissing breaths, or low, deep growls. No doubt, there was someone... or something behind there.
Paw on the taser and the other hovering resting firmly on the doorknob, she sighed. Then, with a single huff of air, she hopped up, pressed her hind paws against the wall, and opened the door swiftly.
What then stood in front of us were three mammals: two polar bears and a jaguar, surrounded by a strong smell, and their bodies seemingly balded and bloated, their eyes drifted and staring seemingly forward.
And then, as all six eyes stared right at us, the entire house went deathly quiet. There was no hiss or growl, not even a breath from the two of us. It was entirely silent.
Then they charged at us. The jaguar, as slow as he was, still acted as if he tried to leap at us, but Hopps and I were quick enough to dodge it and let the mammal fall to the floor. The jaguar tried reaching for me, clawing at me but never being close enough to hurt me.
Suddenly, Hopps fired her taser at the jaguar, hoping it would subdue him long enough for me to get away. But it did nothing, absolutely nothing. The taser was worthless! The jaguar, I assumed it was Manchas, was quickly on top of me, a tingling sensation running through me as the effects of the now discharged taser went from his body to mine.
The moment his body touched mine, I could instantly feel this sensation of slimy, porous skin, with patches of fur falling onto my body as he shook, snarled, and tried to bite down on my face, but I was strong enough to keep him off me, and yet I still shouted.
"Help!"
Without hesitation, she answered. Hopps' foot made contact with Manchas' face, and while it didn't phase him, it knocked him off me just enough for me to break free, just before the polar bears could get close enough to me.
"Run," she shouted. "RUN!"
And so I ran, right behind her, sprinting for my very life as we were chased by three different mammals, all of whom shared the same looks and afflictions. They groaned and moaned behind us, but we didn't turn back until we were outside. Once there, we shut the front door and tried to catch our breath towards the bridge. Because the door opened inward, we had no reason to worry about our pursuers. All they could do, at least by the time they were at the door, was bang or slam their bodies against it. It was as if they didn't know how to simply turn a door knob and open it.
We were lucky that they didn't seem to run, or rather sprint, at us. But that didn't entirely mean we were out of the clear, and Hopps knew it.
"Them all together, that's gotta be well over two-thousand pounds leaning against that."
"Will we be okay?" I asked, still panting.
She didn't immediately respond. "... We should just head over to the bridge. Just in case."
Taking her words seriously, I walked over with her to the bridge, ready to cross it should the door suddenly come crashing down. On the short walk over, I overheard Hopps talking into the radio again, reporting "multiple" 10-91Vs. She wasn't all entirely wrong.
It wasn't until we were finally on the bridge that I leaned over and threw up over the side and into the abyss below, the smell finally getting to me. Almost frantically, I started to wipe myself off, hoping to get rid of the smell, but even after that, the smell, while not as strong, still remained, and it took whatever strength was left not to vomit again.
"Are you okay...?" Hopps asked me, just having cleaned off her own feet.
I let out a sigh and swallowed the spit in my mouth. "They're... they're dead."
"Wha... How... how do you know-"
"I know what a dead body looks like."
Immediately, her expression changed into one more questioning.
"Not like that," I corrected. "I was walking home a few years ago one night. I decided to take a shortcut into an alleyway and I... I found a body of this tiger, hidden under all these sheets. He had to have been dead for two weeks, at most. Bloated, patches of fur missing, covered with this slime, flies all over him... staring forward. Even after the police came and took away the body, I could never get that image out of my head. That tiger was dead."
I turned to the door, pressing forward occasionally but never giving way.
"Just like those polar bears. Just like that jaguar. The smell. That... smell... They must've died well over a week ago."
"But... they're still moving."
"Yeah. I know."
She shook her head. "But that's impossible. That just can't happen. Dead animals can't just... come back."
"Then what do you call that?"
"Rabies. Necrosis. Delirium. Anything that makes sense, but not ... that. Just not..."
Suddenly, Hopps' face changed, realization and fear mixing together. Her breath quickened.
"Jenny... my sister. My siblings. Some of them have the flu. Are... Is this going to happen to them? Are they going to...?"
But all I could do was shake my head.
"I don't know, Carrots. Maybe I'm wrong and this whole thing is separate. Maybe the mammals getting sick have nothing to do with... this."
"But if you're right..."
"Then you need to be ready for that." I sighed, turning away from her. "You have to be."
We waited for the police to arrive, all while the trio of animals inside continue to claw and bang themselves against the door. Never stopping, always moaning.
God, I hoped I was all wrong.
Judy Hopps
They banged on the door for twenty minutes. After the first few minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, and I brought Nick and I back to the car and waited for the backup to arrive. The entire time, I was thinking of home. Thought of Jenny and the others.
What if Nick was right? What if this flu was really what killed the animals? What if they really are dead and those are just their corpses, driven by... something, an urge to kill everything around them? What if...
Would that be Jenny? Bobby? Sammy, Lily, Maya... mom?
I tried to shun those thoughts. I couldn't let them get to me, let me think that. I could only hope it wasn't true and Nick was seeing things wrong. No public eye would ever take the possibility of the dead coming back to life lightly, even if it was heard of.
Twenty minutes after I made the call, backup arrived on the scene, followed by Chief Bogo himself. Upon looking at me the first time, he had this strict look on his face, like he wasn't all too happy to see me and was convinced I was already wasting his time. But as soon as he saw the look I gave him back, his expression lifted just a little.
"Fill us in, Hopps," he began. "Tell us everything."
At first, I began to explain as I normally would have, everything that led to arriving at the residence - minus the part about Mr. Big, at least for now - but when it came to Nick's claims about the animals being potentially... dead, I left that part out.
"They came at us, all three of them trying to rip into us. They were slow enough that we could get away," I claimed, "but... it... It was like they went savage, sir."
Chief Bogo seemed to scoff at the word. "Savage? This isn't the Stone Age, Hopps. Animals don't go savage."
"Maybe not, sir. But I can't see any other way this could be something else."
"As in?"
"Drugs, delirium, paranoia. The way they acted towards us didn't fit any of those fields. They didn't even flinch when I tased them. Not even once."
"How is that possible?" an officer questioned.
"I'm not sure. It was on full charge too, made contact with skin and everything, but nothing worked."
Chief Bogo spoke again. "And you're absolutely certain that these animals are connected to the missing mammals, Hopps?"
"At least one of them, Emmitt Otterton. We ran the plates Otterton was last seen in, which sourced back to the Tundratown Limo Service, which then traced us to a Mr. Renato Manchas."
"The jaguar."
"Exactly. Whatever happened to Manchas could be what happened to Otterton - and whatever happened to Otterton..."
I couldn't finish the sentence. The idea of someone like Emmitt, a small, tiny otter ending up like that. Thankfully, Bogo didn't try to force me to finish my words. All of us continued across the bridge until we were at the house once again.
However, when we got there, the banging had stopped. There was no noise coming from the other side of the door, not even the stumble of their feet. There was no way they could have just disappeared or left the house. From here, that was impossible. They were still inside, somewhere.
"Renato Manchas!" Chief Bogo hollered. "This is Chief Bogo of the Zootopia Police Department. We believe you have information regarding the disappearance of Emmitt Otterton. We need you and your... friends to come out with your paws in the air! You are not under arrest, only investigation!"
Everyone waited in silence for a few moments, expecting the jaguar or the polar bears to open the door and walk out. But there was nothing and no one there to heed the request. That gave Bogo a cue to move two other officers to the door. Nick stood at the edge of the bridge, staring intently, but not moving.
As the officers got closer to the door, that was when we could all smell it. Bogo pointed it out and even had to cover his nose when it got strong enough. By now, I knew that that smell was nothing but fear itself to me. They were still here.
One of the officers, a canine, held his ear up to the door and listened, acknowledging movement behind. Taser in paw, he held the other on the door knob.
"Stand back, sir!"
With a quick push, he opened the door, revealing nothing but black darkness. Instantly, the two officers were overcome with a full burst of the foul odor.
"Oh, god! What is that-"
Before the dog could answer the question, he and the other officer were ambushed by the three animals, who did nothing but growl and scream at them. The other officer was quickly surrounded by the two polar bears, and his immediate instinct was to tase them; but the taser did nothing to stop the bear from swiping at the leopard cop, who screamed as soon as the claws dragged across his face.
"He got my eye!" he shouted, quickly doing his best to back away. Immediately, I ran over to help him up.
As soon as the leopard was out of harm's way, I grabbed his baton, ran back, and started to hit away, as hard as I could, at the polar bear's legs, hoping to subdue him that way. Unfazed by my actions, the polar bear swiped at me, but missed by just inches.
"Stop! Now!" I shouted, but the mammal didn't listen, or maybe didn't know how to listen.
"Hopps, get away from him!" Bogo shouted at me, trying to get the injured animal to the bridge.
I started running away, doing as he told, but in the panic, I tripped on sets of vines that littered the ground. When I got back up, I could only recoil in pain. I had to have twisted my leg, if not sprained it. I could only get up and limp as fast as I could, but even then, the polar bear was quicker, practically beginning to jog towards me.
He was fast enough that me crawling was faster than my slow limp. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body, mixed with the fear that forced me to keep moving. Even then, it wasn't enough. The polar bear was coming up quickly behind me. The other bear was in the process of tackling another officer to the ground, and Manchas was being tased, despite it not working.
The polar bear fell to the ground, crawling behind me. With a single swipe of a claw, I was in his grasp, and he quickly yanked me back. I swore I could hear Nick scream my name... but I was out of focus. It took seconds for me to realize I was screaming for help, trying to break free from the polar bear's grasp.
I could feel myself, remember that I was breaking down into tears, as I realized, convinced myself that I was going to die - and nobody would be able to save me.
Not even-
And then, before I could even finish the thought, a loud bang echoed through the jungle, and then I was suddenly free, the polar bear immediately releasing his grip on me and letting me fall to the ground. With the remaining strength I had, I crawled away to safety. It took a moment to notice that my ears had started to ring, but I was still able to hear two more hesitant bangs. Was someone firing a gun?
By the time I found myself on the bridge, I could hear the indistinct shouting of officers left and right, some coming to me, and others walking towards... Nick?
He was holding a gun firmly in his paws, only for a second before the officers forced it out of them, and him to the ground. He had his arms behind his back and seeming to comply. It was all I could see. I winced in pain, holding my head and shaking it almost too hard.
"Officer Hopps?" I heard the muffled voice of an officer speak to me. "Are you okay?"
"Y... Yeah," I said.
Only I wasn't. A moment later, I blacked out. Or maybe I did, I wasn't too sure.
But the next moment I opened my eyes, I was laying on my back, with an officer standing nearby, seeming to check up on me from time to time. I recognized her as Francine from roll call. When she noticed I had woken up, her face lifted into a smile.
"Hey there, honey," she began. "How are you feeling?"
At first, I didn't say anything, only attempted to. I winced and held a paw up to my head, but what I felt instead was a bandage, wrapped carefully around the base of my left ear, and another around my head.
"Easy there. You took a lot of hurt. We don't need you hurting yourself anymore than you already have."
"But I... I didn't even feel anything."
"We all saw it. You hit your head pretty hard getting away."
I let out a deep breath, shaking just a bit from the soreness. Getting up, I realized I was in the back of a police vehicle, an officer's jacket covering me and keeping me warm; but the rainforest on its own was already warm, so it didn't take long to decide to push the jacket away. Francine offered to help me up, but I told her I would be okay.
Glancing around the environment, I realized we were still by the Manchas residence, on the other side of the bridge. Officers were everywhere, either investigating the interior of the home, or taking their own notes or photographs outside. Two separate ambulances were on the scene. One of them were just now taking off with the injured officers from earlier, the leopard giving out an occasional agonized groan as he held his face.
The other ambulance lifted three body bags into the back. It didn't take me long to realize who they were.
Or who shot them.
"... Where's Nick?"
"Mr. Wilde's been detained. They took him down to the station fifteen minutes ago."
All I could do was stare at Francine, confused out of my mine. "What? Why?!"
"He took a firearm from an officer's holster and shot three suspects without clearance."
"But he saved my life!" I opposed. "He saved their lives-!"
"And they're grateful for that. We all are, hon. But it's still protocol; he still violated the law. Surely, you understand that, don't you?"
"I..." Instead, I sighed, accepting it. "I know."
I stared over at the officers exiting the house, while others went in to help investigate. Chief Bogo stood near the front door and glanced in our direction. He gave me a subtle nod before turning back to the building.
"He's not gonna go to prison, is he?"
"No. No, I don't think so," she shook her head. "If it was any other situation, possibly. But he shot them in self-defense. The only charge he would get is stealing an officer's weapon... despite being for a good reason. He'll likely be detained for a few days until we can place charges."
"Will I be able to see him?"
"Of course. He'll be in the local jail. I can't see someone like him going to prison for saving officers' lives... fox or not."
"Yeah... Yeah."
If Nick was right... would there even be prisons left?
Ignoring the thought, I exited the car and started walking back over the bridge, to the house.
"Are you sure you'll be okay, Hopps?"
"Yeah. I think."
Once I was over the bridge, I looked all around me. The atmosphere was calmer now, if not still a bit tense. A couple of officers had cameras in their paws, taking photos of the places where the bodies of the polar bears and Manchas fell, laid with tape and caution signs. The smell of their bodies was still strong, but interestingly, no one seemed to question it. Had they never smelled a body before?
I... I can't say I haven't.
Suddenly, I heard vibrations nearby. I started to glance around the environment trying to find the source, but didn't see it at first, so all I could do was listen in until it got closer. The closer I was, the louder it got. It wasn't until I was standing directly in a bush that I found the source.
Nick's phone. He must've dropped it when he was pushed to the ground. Did he leave it here on purpose, or was it an accident? Where he fell, there was no way it was an accident.
I didn't spend time looking at it; Bogo would see it, and it would probably be evidence to him. As wrong as it was, I kept it secret from him, putting it in my pocket and hoping he wouldn't notice. When I got back up to my feet, nobody seemed to notice what I had been doing. Perhaps they assumed I was looking for evidence, helping with the investigation. They wouldn't entirely be wrong.
"Hopps," I heard Bogo say to me from behind. His tone was calm, almost concerned. "You should head home, rest a while."
"But I can still help here-"
"You did help. Thanks to you, we have a lead on the mammals. It's not a strong lead, but it's a lead nonetheless."
"But... what about my-"
"I was wrong to force this case onto you. I was cross; still am, slightly. But if an entire precinct couldn't find any information in two weeks, how could we expect a rookie to do it in 36 hours?"
He sighed, turning away from me.
"And even with that... you could've died today. I know you understand that, and I understand that. But you still weren't prepared for something like this... not even the most experienced."
Bogo turned back to me, his expression genuine, but stern.
"I want you to go home and rest. Don't go back to the station until you're feeling fine. Or rather, don't try getting back to work so soon. I need you in top shape the next time you're on duty. Understand?"
I didn't try to protest. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Now go on, Hopps."
With a hesitant nod, I walked away, heading back over the bridge for possibly the umpteenth time, and started for the car I arrived here in. Some of the officers I passed by told me to feel better, others congratulating me for helping them, whether with the case or keeping the other officers alive.
I could only exchange a faint smile before I drove away. The rainforest was still all too dark, but I had to assume the sun was starting to rise at this point, whatever time it was. I gently rested a paw on my bandaged ear, tending to it carefully, but pulled away when a small, sharp pain ran through. It had to have torn a bit. It didn't feel bad... but looks were different than feelings.
I waited a few minutes, until I was long out of sight of the officers, before I pulled over to the side of the road, just as rain started to come down in clumps from the leaves above.
Safely under the hood of the car, I pulled out Nick's phone and turned it on. I let out a frustrated sigh as the screen came on.
"Password protected," I mumbled. "Great."
Turning off the phone, I started to slide it back into my pocket, but quickly recoiled as I felt something crinkle inside. Pulling the phone out, I reached into my pocket and noticed a tiny slip of paper with four numbers: 0320.
How did I not notice that earlier? Maybe I was too focused on other things and... never mind.
Pressing the button on the side again, the phone came back on, and I simply entered the four numbers in order. I was then automatically sent to a GPS app that marked a single address. It seemed to be settled on the outskirts of the city, on the docks.
Could that be where Nick lives?
Could that be where... he lives?
"I guess I'll find out," I said to myself, resting the phone inside a tripod. It corrected itself horizontally, directing me on a straight path to the Zootopia Shipping Yard, residing on the outskirts of Savannah Central.
With my foot pressed gently on the gas, I started forward. It would be almost an hour before I got there.
Inside, I could feel this bubbling sense of nervousness and uncertainty. I was going to be there for so many reasons. It was more than believable that I would be going there to see a... friend that I thought had been dead for more than half a decade. Just to face him again and be all kinds of things to him, for him, was acceptable.
But to tell them that dead animals were coming back to life?
That needed more than just an explanation. I don't think I have one.
I'm currently attempting to add more story from different characters, rather than wait a chapter to write about other characters like some stories do. In the next chapter, I'd like to show story on Judy's side, then on Nick's side. Several days are going to pass over the next couple of chapters, so you're not going to have to wait 30 chapters for the collapse.
For the 3 people who still remember and read this story, I'm sorry for taking two years to update, and I'll definitely try not to take so long to update next time. I want to get a few new chapters out by the time I start my next year of college in August. This idea is, so far, one of my favorites, and I really want to expand on it!
Stay tuned...? I hope?