Chapter 7

"We need to go now, right now! McHorn, stay here with Judy, keep her safe till I get back. Hindquarter, get your tail down to the cruiser, go!" Nick turned to Judy and embraced her, whispering something in her ear. McHorn's massive paw touched Judy's shoulder as she burst into tears as Nick left. Sprinting out of the apartment building, Nick made his way through the fire and medical personnel. Hindquarter, ready and waiting, threw the car into reverse as Nick jumped in. "Dispatch, unit 359, 10-31 at location 8-6-7 Tod Avenue, Meadowlands. Requesting 10-78!"

"Meadowlands?" Benjamin replied, sounding confused over the radio. "8-6-7 Tod Avenue?" As the cheetah stood up at his desk, he hesitated for a moment as he held a chubby paw finger over the desk microphone. He struggled to not look over at the massive form of Bogo, next to him. Benjamin pressed down on the button before shakily saying, "Nick… I mean unit 359—"

"Ben!" Nick yelled back again through the radio. "It's Natalya Specknoff. She just called me from my mom's phone. She's at my mom's house!"

"Wilde! Switch to a secure channel, now. Anyone could be listening!" Bogo shouted into the radio as he snatched the microphone from Clawhauser. "All mobile units, this is Chief Bogo. Switch to secure channel 5." Bogo waited for a few seconds before he too switched channels. "All units: I want all roads in and out of this city locked down. Suspect Natalya Specknoff may be heading back our way. Notify all districts. Lethal force is authorized if called upon."

Bogo turned in a circle around the atrium. In a deep voice, he shouted at the officers standing in the vicinity. "I want all of your tails out there on those streets, now! Clawhauser, first things first. Get me McHorn's cell phone number from your database. Then get on the phone to Meadowlands." Bogo looked at him. "Tell them what's happening. Have them proceed with extreme caution to 867 Tod Avenue. Natalya Specknoff may be armed and is extremely dangerous." Minutes later, after taking a slip of paper from Clawhauser, Bogo dialed the number using his cell phone. "McHorn, this is Bogo, I want you to bring Judy with you and come and get me," Bogo spoke as he walked out the front door.

As Hindquarter pushed their speed, Nick quietly gazed out at the passing world, lost in his mind. "You took someone from me whom I loved more than anything…I now take one of yours." Nick kept reciting Natalya's words over and over in his head.

"Nick!" Clawhauser babbled through radio, his voice sounding worried. "Nick, I only have a second then I have to get off the channel. Meadowland Police reported they just arrived on the scene now. No signs of Natalya."

Nick grabbed the radio from the dashboard. "Is my mom alright?" he shouted. After no reply, Nick shouted back into it, "Ben?"

One Hour Later…

As Hindquarter brought the cruiser to a grinding halt along the dirt road that made up Tod Avenue, Nick immediately jumped out. Joseph, getting out of the cruiser, looked out in amazement at the scene taking place before both of them. Countless vehicles and police officers surrounded Nick's childhood home. Without thinking, Nick started to run along the dirt road. Despite the commands to stop, given by officers he passed, Nick kept on going. It didn't take long before Nick's path, near the front of the house, was blocked by a group of Meadowland officers. "Move, this is my mother's house. I have to—" Nick shouted.

"I'm sorry Sergeant, but we can't let you go any further, I'm sorry," A tall, middle-aged lion said, his left paw held out in front of him.

"You don't understand; I need to get in there!" Nick shouted back at the lion as someone grabbed his arm. "Get your paws off of me!" Nick yelled to one of the officers behind him. Struggling with multiple officers around him, forcing him back from the house, he shouted over them, "Mom!" Breaking free from one the officers grip, his fangs bared, he began to push forward again for the front porch. It would be the tall lion officer from before that would finally stop Nick in his tracks. Running up behind Nick, the lion wrapped his forearms around Nick's chest, slamming him to the ground. Hindquarter, seeing this, rushed to Nick's aide. After throwing a short dark brown rabbit officer off of Nick's feet, Joseph began to struggle with a gray wolf on the ground. He soon found himself swarmed by other officers, several of them drawing their stun guns. Getting to his feet, he raised his paws and took a few steps back. After that, Hindquarter could do nothing but watch in vain as Nick continued to struggle on the ground.

"Sergeant, calm down and listen to me. We are under strict orders." the lion shouted in Nick's ear, as he held him down. "We cannot let you enter the house. It is an open crime scene. You know this."

"Where is she?" Nick yelled, his voice cracking as he turned his head back toward the lion. "My mom, is she alright?"

There was a short pause before the lion's voice softened, "I'm sorry, Sergeant. By the time we got here, she was already—" The lion eased his grip on Nick

"No!" Nick screamed. Breaking free of the lion's slacking grip, he scrambled to his feet. Once again, as Nick reached the front steps of the porch, three more officers restrained him: an elk and two wolves. Each of them reacted quickly as they intercepted Nick, threw him to the ground. As he screamed in pain, still yelling for his mother, Nick hit the ground hard. The elk officer, struggling to shackle Nick's wrists behind his back, resorted to using excessive force. Grabbing Nick's wrist, the officer struck him hard behind his left ear. Only after pressing his knee hard along the back of Nick's neck, the officer was able to restrain him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bogo shouted as he and a small group of mammals arrived at the shocking scene surrounding Nick. Judy and Mchorn appeared behind him. Bogo squinted at the officers and held back Judy as she tried to make a rush for Nick. "Who do you think you are, treating a fellow officer like that? Bogo pointed at the elk still holding down Nick, "Get off him immediately." The elk officer scrambled to his feet and stepped away from Nick. After gazing at Nick for a moment, Bogo looked at the officer again. "Get those cuffs off of him," Bogo spoke hatefully in a low voice. He didn't move a muscle as he watched the elk remove the cuffs. As the elk moved toward his two fellow officers, Bogo spoke again, this time to all three of them. "All of you get out of my sight, or I swear I will kick each one of your stinking tails from here to Savannah Central."

Judy broke free from Bogo and fell to her knees beside Nick. Nick bared his fangs and snapped at her, forcing her to the ground.

"Nick!" Judy gasped as she extended a shaking paw. She placed her paw on the back of his head, softly caressing Nick's face. "Nick...please." She struggled to speak, listening as he hyperventilated. Shifting her weight ever so slightly, Judy moved in front of Nick. "Nick, please, look at me." She pressed the side of her face against him, brushing along his cheek. Simultaneously, she rubbed his right ear gingerly. Judy, her head under Nick jawline, pressed against his chest; his heart beat rapidly. Nick's wall of stoicism shattered. Nick melted into Judy's arms. As he cried out in pain, he lowered his head onto her lap and curled his body up to her. Nick's body shivered as she brushed the side of his face.

"Stay with them," Bogo turned and looked back at McHorn, nodding toward Nick and Judy, as he approached the house. "Who's in charge here?" Bogo yelled as he climbed the porch steps.

"I am. You must be Chief Bogo," an aged white and black badger replied as he stepped through the front screen door. "I'm Sheriff Grazer." The badger extended a paw out to Bogo.

Accepting it, Bogo turned his head away from Grazer. "What kind of officers do you allow to work for you?" Bogo asked looking back at the elk officer he'd threatened. "What's the situation here?" Bogo said, taking a deep breath.

"Not good, Chief," Grazer replied before spotting Nick lying on the ground, supported by Judy. "You better follow me inside, but I have to warn you, what we found is not for the faint-hearted." Grazer turned and stepped back into the house. "Right through here, Chief."

After Bogo entered, he turned to his immediate left and entered what seemed a modest dining room. Motioned over by Sheriff Grazer, he walked over to where an overturned chair lay along one side of the room. He glanced over at a body covered with a sheet, a short distance away, as he approached. He looked at the turned over chair and then the body. "Is this where your officers found the body?" Bogo asked, his attention returning to Sheriff Grazer. "Is she the only victim in the house?"

"Yes, Chief, Mrs. Marie Wilde. She has been living here for some time now from what I've learned. But I think the body had been moved before we arrived. Based on the blood drag marks over here and pooling." Grazer pointed along the floor as he pulled a notebook from his shirt pocket. "It's possible the victim was still alive before we arrived. Or someone else moved her from chair to this location. I have my guys right now searching around the outside of the house for any evidence. I just finished talking with one of the neighbors from down the way before you guys showed up." Grazer scanned his notebook. "Her closest neighbor, an elderly whitetail couple called the Keens, told me the victim's husband has been dead for some time now. They were close to the victim it appears. Her husband had died in Zootopia as a result of an explosion or something, back when their kit, ah…" Grazer read his notes. "… Nicholas was still a young kit..." The sheriff flipped a page in his notebook. "The two of them, mother and son, uprooted and left for the city immediately after. Mr. Keen said the victim never sold the house when she left. When I asked why they both told me the land the house sits on has been in the Wilde family since before the Mal-Confederation, it seems." Sheriff Grazer turned another page. "Mrs. Keen said around twenty years ago Mrs. Wilde moved back here without her kit. No idea what happened to him or how she managed to support herself financially." He flipped over another page. "It also seems, by what Mrs. Keen had said, that Mrs. Wilde was planning a trip to Bunnyburrow in the coming days. Said she was going to be staying with her son's in-laws for a few weeks at their farm. Asked if they would not mind watching the house while she was away. No one else was in the house when we arrived."

"Did the neighbors see or hear anything?" Bogo asked as he looked down at the body.

"No, the Keen's house is further down along the road, near the dead end, but another neighbor did mention something. A Mr. Digger told one of my officers he recalled seeing an unfamiliar blue car drive back and forth a few times earlier this evening. Said the car was not a regular on this road. Not many mammals drive this far out from town, you see, unless they live or know someone in these parts. He didn't catch the entire license plate, but he thinks the first three characters were 1-J-0. " Sheriff Graze closed his notebook. "He can't be sure."

Bogo lowered himself next to the covered body and leaned over the sheet before taking a deep breath. His stomach seemed to tightened as he removed the sheet fully, examining the body. The mangled and seminude remains of an elderly vixen lay sprawled out on the floor. "What kind of civilized mammal would do this to someone?" Bogo asked Sheriff Grazer. He looked at the front paws of the vixen's body. The marks along her wrists seemed to tell him that she had struggled to break free while she was still alive. He covered the body with the sheet and took another long, deep breath before standing. "Will you see to it that our department gets copies of the report and all the photos from here? If you need any extra support, our crime lab in Zootopia will be at your disposal, ready to assist."

"Roger that, Chief," Grazer replied. "Do any of your people know who may have done this?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, we do. The individual is a wanted female Arctic wolf. She called the victim's son, Sergeant Wilde, from this residence a little more than an hour ago, telling him what she was going to do." Bogo looked down at the body one last time before he headed back to the front door. Walking outside, he carefully collected his thoughts as he walked over to Nick and Judy. "Wilde, I'm putting you on paid administrative leave, effective immediately until further notice." He looked over at Judy and cleared his throat. "Judy, I'm…I'm going to have Hindquarter take you both back home. I want him to stay there with the two of you for the rest of the night, to be safe." Shifting his gaze to Nick, Bogo fought to hold back a few tears. "Do whatever you can for him, Hopps. Don't leave him alone."

"Thank you, Chief," Judy replied as Bogo turned and approached Hindquarter and McHorn. Several crime scene technicians passed by her and Nick as she looked over at the front door of the house. Lowering her head again, she kissed the back of Nick's ear as she comforted him.

Six Days Later…

As rain drizzled on his head, Nick stood, as if made of granite, next to an old dogwood tree. Dressed in a simple black suit, he watched as two groundhog groundkeepers approached him. One of them nodded in respect as he slowly began to turn a crank lever along the ground. The remains of his mother Marie, lying under a dark canopy, began to descend into an open grave. Nick, entering the tent, his suit completely drenched, stopped next to the grave. His mother's body wrapped in white, embroidered silk, came to rest on the bottom. Nick, had personally placed a white lace shroud over his mother's head during the ceremony, kissing her forehead one last time. As he looked down at his mother's body, he reached down and picked up a pawful of dirt. Throwing it into the grave, he struggled to control his emotions. "I'm sorry mom. I failed you and the family." Nick mumbled.

"Nick...we should go now," Judy said tactfully. "Everyone will be waiting for us back at the hall for the after-gathering." Judy was dressed in a simple, knee-length, black dress. She lowered a small open umbrella to the ground as she slid a paw around Nick's arm. She looked up at him. "Mom and Dad wanted me to tell you they're sorry that they wouldn't be able to stay for the after-gathering. They needed to catch the train back to Bunnyburrow. They said the service was wonderful."

"I failed her." Nick struggled to speak; his shoulders hung low. "I failed to protect her." Nick turned to look at Judy, tears falling from his face.

"What?" Judy raised her left eyebrow in confusion.

"I failed to protect her from harm, Judy." Nick faced his mother's open grave. "After…my father's…death—" Nick stopped for a moment, still crying. "I became the family alpha, the last male Wilde left. My mother, had me swear the family oath before her. I was entrusted with her charge and upholding the family's honor." Nick closed his eyes. "I was only a kit, Judy, too young and unprepared to fully understand what it truly meant." Nick opened his eyes. "Right before I ran away when I was twelve, I told her I didn't care about the family's honor. After what those junior scouts did to me, I knew then our honor meant nothing to the world. Then I meet you, and you showed me how wrong I had been." He looked at her. "You helped both of us reconnect after all those years apart. The year before we were married, when we spent the weekend at Mom's house, I promised her I would never again fail the family."

"I still remember that weekend," Judy replied. "Your mother was so happy for us. It was just a few days after you had proposed to me." Judy blinked. "Our last night there, she had you renew your family oath. Marie had recited it to me earlier that day, when I had asked about it. How did it go again? Upon my life, I swear…" Judy noticed Nick's face turn away from her and look back at the grave, his body shook.

"I should be the one down there, not her, Judy. I let a monster get to my family." Nick's legs collapsed beneath him. "I just couldn't save…" Nick began to cry out.

Nick, please…please look at me." Judy suddenly took his head in her paws. "You…did not kill her. No one would have known Natalya would do something like this." Judy looked deep into his eyes. "Her death was in no way your fault." She turned and looked down at Marie's body. "She loved you, Nick. You gave her so much happiness these last few years. After all your years apart, you made her proud of the fox you became." She took one of his paws and placed it over her belly before covering it with hers. "You still have a family to protect Nick, right here."

Nick felt along the soft fabric of Judy's dress. He pressed his face against her and remained there for a few moments, hugging her. Nick started to get up from the ground. Leaning in to kiss Judy, he heard her speak as he brushed her cheek.

"Swear it to me," Judy spoke into his ear. "Your family oath, Nick," She took a step back from him, stepping out into the rain. The look in her eyes immobilized him as she took his paw once again and placed it back over her stomach. Judy continued to look into his emerald eyes. "Swear it right now, to me and our kits." As she stood in the rain, her dress becoming saturated, she pleaded to him in a low voice, "Please Nick."

Nick, hesitating, wiped a few lingering tears from his face. He gazed down at Judy's paw that still held his and felt movement along it. Stepping out into the rain with her, Nick lowered himself again on the rain-soaked ground. As he knelt before her, bowing his head and resting it on her paw, he asked her, "Could you help me with some of the words?" He looked up and gave her a quick glance.

Judy smiled back and nodded before raising her head up into the rainy sky, closing her eyes. As the raindrops continued to fall on her face, she whispered under her breathe, "Watch over him, Marie."

Lowering her head down, Judy listened as Nick, in a firm voice, said, "By the customs and the rights of the skulk, I enact this oath. As it has throughout time, so shall it be, now and forever; Wilde's prevail." Judy, assisting Nick with his family oath, listened as he spoke the words after her. "Through honor and guardianship, I, Nicholas P. Wilde, son of James Wilde, swear upon my life…."


A/N: Hey everyone. If you are enjoying the story, please take a moment and leave a quick comment and let me know your thoughts on the new chapter.