Whiplash
Chapter 7 "Way Back Home"
By DragonMan1997
Zootopia © Disney
Nick rubbed the sore shoulder of his left arm which was resting in a sling with a brace on his wrist. "What kind of drugs was I on?" Nick nudged Judy with his good arm. She was staring out the window of the train they were on. "Carrots?" She had been quiet ever since they boarded the train. "Judy!"
"What?" Judy let out a sigh, realizing that she had been ignoring Nick. "Sorry Nick, I've just got a lot on my mind right now."
"I thought the purpose of visiting your family was to catch a break." Nick saw Judy avoid his gaze. "We're not going just for kicks and giggles, are we?"
"I may have told a little white lie." Judy laughed with a sheepish grin. Nick's doctor had told him to get some rest and even spend some time in a place where there was plenty of fresh air. Judy figured her family would be glad to let Nick stay on their family farm for a couple of days. "Remember what I said about knowing an expert on whips?"
"Yeah," Nick remembered when she briefly mentioned it on the first day of their investigation, "what about it?"
"My dad has a friend from school who's kind of a history nut, and he has some training with whips." Judy remembered her dad's friend, an eccentric kangaroo, who could talk for hours about nothing but history. She remembered how she and her siblings used to call him uncle Harrison. He had been invited to several family reunions and parties because of how tight knit he was with her father. He was practically family, and he was no stranger to doing tricks with whips for entertaining the little ones. "I think he can give us a better idea of what we're dealing with."
Nick looked out the window to see Bunny Burrows coming up fast in the distance. "Oh, so we're multitasking?"
"Yeah." Judy picked up her bag. "You get rest, and we get information. It's a win win for both of us."
The train gradually slowed down to a halt. As it came to a complete stop at the quaint little train station, the train's doors opened and its passengers spilled out. Some greeted old friends while others were catching rides in taxis. Judy rushed out, excited to see her family again, while Nick trailed behind her. He watched as Judy jumped into her parents embrace.
"Oh! I missed you two so much! How's the farm doing?" Judy stood back to see her parents faces.
"Things are great! The crops are growing real good this season." Judy's mother, Bonnie, was just about the sweetest mother Judy could have asked for. If Judy's compassion had come from anywhere, it was her mother's compassion she inherited.
"So, Jude the dude, how's police work and all that?" Judy's father, Stu, was different from her. He was friendly, of course, but his life goals were more down to earth as he was content with being a farmer. Regardless of his less than enthusiastic attitude of Judy being a cop, he was proud of all his daughter had a accomplished. "You're partner doesn't give you much trouble, does he?"
"Dad. We talked about this. Nick is a responsible and respectable officer, just like the others at precinct one." Judy knew her father had a bit of a trust issue with foxes before she joined the ZPD. She had assumed that he put all that behind him when he began working with Gideon Grey. "Just because he's a fox, that doesn't make him any less of an animal than you."
"Oh, no." Stu laughed. "Nothing like that." He began to whisper to Judy, "You know cause he's a guy, and you're a girl. I'm not judging the fact that he's a fox but-."
"Dad!" Judy held her hands up in protest. "It's not like that. We're partners. Our relationship is completely professional."
Stu tapped his chin. "So there is a relationship."
"No, dad!" Judy stepped back to take a breath so that she could calm down. "If anything, we are just friends. Please, just leave it at that."
Nick finally sauntered up to their little scene. "Hi. How's it going? I'm Nick Wilde." Nick shook hands with Judy's father and mother. "You know, Judy told me all about you guys. And I have to say, you guys raised her well. I'm glad to know her. I also brought you two some gifts."
Bonnie watched as Nick used his good arm to pull out an orange crochet scarf. The moment Nick handed the scarf to Bonnie, she realized what it was shaped like. "A carrot scarf. Aw, how nice of you." Judy became nervous because she was not aware of Nick bringing her parents gifts.
Nick handed Stu his gift. "A fox taser?"
"Yeah, so you feel safer having me around." Nick burst into laughter as he pat Stu on the shoulder, who let out a nervous laugh. Judy buried her face in her palm feeling embarrassed by both her parents and Nick.
They made great time walking all the way to the Hopps family farm. It was exactly what you could expect from a farm. There were crops and of course living arrangements for Judy's parents and all two hundred and seventy five of her brothers and sisters.
"Sorry Judy, but we rented your room out, and Harrison is staying in the guest room. I hope you and Nick don't mind sleeping in the bunk rooms with the rest of the kids." Stu led them both into a larger room where the walls were lined with bunk beds. A lot of the children were in the room playing, swinging around the bunk posts and all.
They all stopped when they noticed Judy. "Judy!" They all said simultaneously. In one instant, a sea of fur and ears surrounded Judy as all her younger brothers and sisters group hugged her.
"Aww, I missed you guys!" Judy looked around and took notice of how handsome one of her brothers had become and how tall one of her sisters had gotten. "Oh! Guys. This is Nick, my partner on the police force. Be careful, his arm is hurt."
All the little rabbits slowly moved around him. They didn't usually see foxes in their home. Nick froze. When he saw how energetically they hugged Judy, he didn't know what to expect. "Hi."
From behind the crowd of children, a small girl holding a book stepped forward. "Judy's partner? Can you read us a story?"
"Well, uh," Nick chuckled nervously, "how about, I tell all of you a story tonight, before you all go to bed."
The little girl hugged the book in her grasp a little tighter. "Thank you."
Stu heard the front door open. He knew that was Harrison coming back and that Nick and Judy wanted to talk to him. "Okay kids, Judy and Nick are gonna be busy for awhile so hold tight." Stu paused for a bit. "Wait just a darned minute. Did you all finish your homework?" All at once, a majority of the kids pulled out notebooks and began to work on their unfinished homework. "That's what I thought."
Judy and Nick headed out into the hallway where they were met by a kangaroo in a bright red polo shirt. "Hey Judy! Good to see ya!"
"It's been awhile Harrison." Judy looked to Nick. "Oh! This is my partner Nick Wilde. Nick, this is Harrison Roo."
Nick smirked. "How do you do, Roo?"
"Pretty slick, Nick." Harrison clicked his tongue and pointed at Nick with both paws.
Nick nudged Judy in the side. "I like this guy already."
"So, you two want to know something about whips? Follow me, I got a whole set up on the side of the house." Harrison motioned them to the back door through the kitchen.
On the side of the house, there were a few set ups. One set up consisted of five posts in the ground with a soda can on each post. Another set up including a number of cups and glasses that were arranged specifically. Then to the side, there was a bucket filled with a strange liquid.
"Getting ready to put on a show for my partner, I see." Judy and Nick took a seat on the bench that was behind a red line that was spray painted on the grass.
Harrison opened a trunk and pulled out what Nick understood to be a whip. "It's also a refresher for you Judy. I gotta warn you Nick, this bunny can be full of piss and vinegar sometimes. She gets that from her father."
Nick laughed at the idea of Judy's reserved father being full of piss and vinegar. "Is that right?"
"Oh yeah, I met Stu when we were both on track doing hurdles. I tell you, he was quite the party animal before he decided to settle down. He wanted to play the saxophone in a jazz band. But once Bonnie stole his heart, there was no going back for him." Harrison unrolled his whip. "Watch this Nickie boy."
With great agility and movement, Harrison whipped a playing card from between two glasses, causing the smaller glass to fall into the larger glass.
The loud cracking sound from the whip surprised Nick and Judy, but both were amused. "Impressive."
"Watch this!" Harrison skipped the other tricks with the cups and went straight to the soda cans. One by one, he used the whip to split each can in half. The bottom half of the last can was still on the post with a bit of soda left in it. Harrison picked up the last can and drank the remaining soda with a bow to Judy and Nick. "And now, the piece de resistance!" He dipped the length of the whip into the bucket up until the handle. Then he pulled out the whip and drew out a lighter. "Don't try this at home kids." Flicking the lighter open, he ignited the whip and kept it swinging in the air until he whipped it in front of him. Nick and Judy could feel the heat from the wave of fire that flew off of the whip.
"Woah!" Nick clapped despite the pain in his arm.
"Thank you." Harrison quickly dropped the whip into a metal pan and smothered the burning whip with a blanket to put out the fire. "This one may have been burned enough that I can toss it. That's not a problem, I got plenty more paracord whips."
Judy's ears perked up when Harrison said that. "Paracord? What else are whips made of?"
"Oh yeah, they're made from all sorts of things. Another whip enthusiast I met once made a whip out of extension cords. But, a true whip is traditionally made from leather like this one." Harrison pulled out a slick brown whip from a special box.
Nick cringed at that thought. "You mean leather as in, animal skin?" Leather was not completely taboo, but it was still an item that was a more acquired taste. Usually, leather came from dying animals who agreed to give up their skin. Nick had even sold a skunk (butt) rug to Mr. Big once. That was just the fur, though…
A serious look took hold of Harrison's face. "I think it's about time I told you two some history about whips and why there's some respect that's demanded for them. You must understand that, though they are capable of some pretty cool and neat tricks, they were once used for evil and also good. Are you familiar with the history of the Puritans?"
Judy's ears went droopy. "Yes. I remember going to the museum will the big barrels of necklaces and wedding rings."
"The cult group of predators that enslaved prey and," Nick couldn't say it. "It's one of the reasons prey don't trust predators." Nick felt the fur on his neck stand up as his frame went rigid.
Judy grabbed Nick's arm, seeing that he was feeling uncomfortable. "That's in the past Nick. It happened a long time ago."
"It still happened." Nick relaxed as he felt Judy's paw rubbing against his shoulder. It helped him calm down.
Harrison pulled a chair up and sat down across from Judy and Nick. "I'll begin with the remember, it's important you understand these were dark animals, in an even darker time, who had no respect for the value of life because they believed they were superior. No one knows who made the first leather whips, but they quickly became favored by the Puritans that were in charge of the slave camps. They made the whips from the slaves. There were children who were beaten knowing very well that the whips were probably made from the skin of their fathers."
"That's horrible." Judy covered her mouth as she held back tears from that idea.
Harrison nodded in agreement with Judy. "It was horrible. But it turned around. You see, whips were used for evil, but there was a famous incident that turned the possibilities around for whips to do good. There were a number of uprisings in these slave camps, but the most successful uprising was in a camp called Wolfenstein. You see, not all predators who were Puritans were treated equally. Survival of the fittest. That was their motto. They did not tolerate weakness. Sometimes they tossed their own into slave camps if they were thought to be too weak.
"Fitzgerald Brown was a Puritan predator, a wolf, who was upstanding and embraced by Puritans and slaves alike. Brown valued life. That's why he treated slaves with respect. But, he was betrayed by a fellow officer who was after his position. Brown was accused of being weak because of his respect for prey. So, he was tossed into camp Wolfenstein. He was made into a slave. Realizing the true horrors that slaves were subjected to, Brown vowed to avenge the prey and tear down the Puritans. So, he coordinated the uprising.
"It was Brown, two other slave predators and four prey animals that lead the revolution in the camp. They smuggled weapons made from trash and anything they could find for the other slaves to use as weapons. Brown and the other six leaders stole the whips. It was Brown who taught them how to use the whips. You take your justice, he would say, by the skin of your father's. When all was ready, on a cloud darkened day, the uprising began.
"Systematically, they took down the head officers in secret. Without them, the other Puritans overseeing the camp would lack command or instruction. They weakened them enough that they could rush them. Brown and the others who wielded the whips, disarmed the guards with the whips and cleared the way for the slaves to fight on equal grounds. There were over four hundred slaves in that camp. Nearly three hundred and fifty survived. There had never been that many survivors in an uprising before.
"That event ignited the war on the Puritans to take them down. The Wolfenstein camp was the first one closed. Of the eight remaining camps, Brown regrouped with his six fellow escapees that used the whips, to lead the attack on three. They were known as Heaven's Seven. And when the Puritans were all captured, they continued practicing with whips. Only, they buried their first whips to put to peace the mammals they were made from.
"They made a sacrifice. They surgically removed strips of skin from their own bodies to make their whips. This became a symbol of their sacrifice, the cost of having a whip, and an extension of the body. They had followers. Together, they brought a justice never seen before to the land all those hundreds of years ago. They were the early version of police. Trust, Integrity, and Honor. That came from them." Harrison sighed. "Animals have forgotten the significance of Brown and what he started."
Judy was overwhelmed by the story she had just heard. "How come I never learned about this in history."
Nick understood the reason why Judy, and himself, had never seen anything about these whip wielding slaves who rose up against a group of prejudice extremists. "Textbooks. We're given the watered down version of history. How much truth do you think the public actually knows or remembers about the night howler case?"
"Nick's right." Harrison shook his head as he unrolled his leather whip. "Even Brown saw that the practice of whips would fade away into fiction. That's probably why he changed his name."
Judy was curious. "What did he change his name to?"
Harrison smiled a sad but seemingly hopeful smile. "He changed his name to Wolfenstein, after the camp he rose from, so that animals would always remember. Some still remember, but it's not taught anymore. I had to find it just to know about it. When I first heard his story, I was inspired. Call me crazy, I know I am. But this whip, I did make from my skin. It's not as bad as it sounds. It's only six plaits, or strands of my hide, but it's good. It's the closest I'll ever get to feeling like like one of the true whip masters of the old times. I know it's crazy."
Judy felt a mix of emotions. Strange? Yes. But crazy? "I don't believe you're crazy."
"Just an old fashioned romantic." Nick added.
Harrison smiled a bit. He swung his whip around over his head. Then, with just the right movement from his arm when the whip was straight out behind his shoulder, the whip came rolling and cracked. The sound of the small string, at the end of the whip, breaking the sound barrier was surreal for the three of them. The crack was like the Lightning from the storm that brewed the day that Brown lead the uprising. Judy, Nick, and Harrison felt in one moment, a swell of emotions surrounding the uprising of Wolfenstein the whip master. Judy almost thought the crack of Harrison's whip echoed the name, "Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein."
Night time had come eventually. Judy was brushing her teeth in the bathroom when she heard something from the bunk rooms. After spitting out the toothpaste and rinsing her mouth, Judy went to investigate. She cracked open the door to see what was going on.
"And then, when the door opened, we watched as Mr. Manchas turned savage from the night howler serum." Nick was telling stories to all of Judy's brothers and sisters. They all sat around with a lantern in the middle. "And just as I thought I was a goner, Judy came and handcuffed his leg to a lamppost. We swung on a vine to safety." Nick saw Judy looking through the door. "She saved my life." All the children released their onslaught of wows and praises for the story. "Alright kids, time to go to bed. I'll tell you more tomorrow."
Judy careful closed the door with a smile and walked over to the kitchen. She grabbed a couple of blueberries from the fridge, but she put them back, remembering that she had just brushed her teeth. Then, from outside, she heard the faint sound of saxophone music playing. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad either. Going out onto the porch, Judy saw her mother sitting on the swinging bench her father had built. "Hey mom."
Bonnie was so enchanted by the music that she almost didn't notice her daughter. "Oh, hi Judy." Judy came over and sat next to her mother. "Stu is playing his saxophone on the tractor. He goes out there so he doesn't wake up the kids."
Judy could see her father. Stu's silhouette was barely visible on the tractor in the moonlight. "Harrison told me about how he wanted to play in a jazz band."
"I know." Bonnie sighed. "But, he wanted to be able to support us too. It was his choice. I'm happy though, that he's pulled his saxophone out of the attic. It was one of the reasons I fell in love with him. I remember hearing him play in school. Oh, he was the best. He was so passionate with the music he played. He's been practicing again, and I can almost hear the same music as it was when we were younger."
"What inspired him to start playing again?" Judy asked.
"You." Bonnie hummed. "And, he's feeling a bit down, for how he reacted to your brother Jacob."
"Jacob?" Judy couldn't believe it. "What happened?"
"Well," Bonnie sighed, "you know that Jacob was always a little, different. He moved to the downtown area of Zootopia."
Judy remembered how sensitive her father was about his children leaving the farm. "I'm sure Jacob didn't leave because he hated the farm."
"Oh no, it wasn't anything like that." Bonnie took a deep breath as she laid back against the bench. "He found love. His pen pal. He was always writing her letters. And, he finally decided to go find her. Stu, you're father wasn't too thrilled to learn that she was a bobcat."
"Really?" Judy had heard of mixed race couples, but she had never imagined Jacob was like that.
"Yep. And that's why Stu was acting strange around you about Nick. He didn't want to hurt you like he hurt Jacob." Bonnie was almost crying.
Judy embraced her mother in the best hug she could give her. "It's okay mom. Everyone makes mistakes. I'm sure dad didn't really mean to drive Jacob away." Judy knew her father struggled and was slow to adapting to new ideas. But, she still loved him. She loved him because he was her father, and because he was still trying to learn from his mistakes. Though, Judy believed her father was just not used to outside ideas. "Maybe I'll pay Jacob a visit and help him come to terms with dad. I'm sure he doesn't hate dad. We can patch all this up."
Bonnie wiped her tears away. "That would be nice." Judy hugged her mother one last time before heading inside. Bonnie adjusted the quilt she wore for warmth as she sat on the swinging bench her saxophone player built for her. Bonnie listened to Stu practice on his saxophone in the night. She felt a burst of warmth in her heart as the young rabbit, she married all those years ago, was reborn as he played the first song she'd heard him play when they first met.
