Warning: This chapter is very dark and contains violence ;(
Chapter 9:
Even though his walls were crumbling, he pushed through. Not for himself, but for Judy. The last week was living hell without her. He was wallowing in the lake of his own pain, alone. Every thought echoed through his head. Life was silent. There was no playful banter, no laughter and no soft punches. There was only one thing that kept him going. Even when he thought she was gone for good, he remembered everything she taught him. To push forward. He knew that she would be heartbroken to see him like this; hungover, broken, dead...
But now there was a new, stronger fire. She's out there. Alive, hopefully. He tried not to dwell too much on that. 320 Abbey Lane, that's where she was. Something must have gone horribly wrong with the previous owner. What happened on her visit, was a mystery.
He sped through the majority of the red lights in the squad car, but that wasn't important. No one was out at this hour anyways. It was that awkward time at night after the families went home and before the clubbing started. In other terms, the streets were empty. He pulled into a space sloppily and threw the car into park. Just as he was about to run into the building, the setting sun caught his eye. There it was, peeking through a small gap in the clouds. It was beautiful even though something horrible had happened. How did it have enough energy to pull through?
He sighed while pulling his broken phone out of his pocket and tried to turn it on. Of course, why would anything cooperate with him? He was losing time and he knew it. The fox slammed the device into the dashboard. He flipped it over and saw a crack run right through the screen, but it lit up. He dialed the Chiefs number as fast as he could. Painstakingly, he waited as it rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four.
"Hello this is the chief of the ZPD..."
"I found her get down here, 320 Abbey..."
"Please leave a message after the tone," the robot said.
Nick slammed his head into the steering wheel out of sheer annoyance and frustration. The car honked and made him jump. When would his life suddenly get easier?
He whispered something semi-understandable into the voicemail before hanging up. He whispered because his instincts told him he was threatened, even though there was no immediate danger. He turned MPS (mammal positioning system) on his phone before shoving it in his pocket. Nick should have called Clawhauser, but there was no time. He didn't know for sure that the clock was running low, but he could feel it. The anxiety was mauling him, he was about to jump out of his fur.
Nick frantically ran into the lobby against his better judgement. In the academy, they had learned all about the importance of calling in backup when an officer was alone. Especially for rookies like himself. It was basically a death wish to walk into an unknown situation alone. Especially unarmed. Damn it, he thought. He had no weapon on him besides the small pocket knife in his pocket. That wouldn't much help against whatever managed to take Judy down. Nick didn't think too much about his own peril as he had lost his sense of self of preservation long ago.
He found himself standing face to face with a door. Not just any door, but apartment 203. The one Judy had tried to buy for some reason. Well, he knew the reason, but that was off topic.
The doorknob was pristine, Nick could even see his own reflection. The distorted fox staring back scared him. It looked haunted. He leaned forwards, focusing on the bags under his eyes. It was as if he got no sleep in weeks, which was a pretty accurate statement. While sticking his face in front of the doorknob, he noticed something unusual. There was a long piece of white fur stuck in the keyhole. His heart dropped. There was another mammal in this room.
Nick slowly turned the knob on the door, but it was locked. Carefully he successfully picked it, trying not to make too much noise. The door popped open with a soft squeak. He stuck his face into the room and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark before entering. It was pitch black. Nick's night vision finally kicked in and he found himself in a decent sized apartment. Something else pulled at his mind. A different sense entered his head. A scent. His heart rate quickened, he could smell blood. From his time on the streets, he could recognize that sent anywhere. He gently pulled the door shut without turning his eyes away from the room.
He shuddered as he made out a slumped figure across the room on the floor. Forgetting that he was supposed to stay silent, he ran over, nearly tripping on his own two feet. Sure enough there she was, the cop in her former glory. Nick did a double take, making sure this was Judy. She didn't look like the always moving rabbit he knew at all. This mammal lay unmoving on the floor without a strong positive aura. Her usually metallic grey fur was soaked in fresh crimson blood. What shocked and scared him the most was how thin she looked. Her usually full hips and thighs were replaced by sticks. It was terrifying, he could see her ribs through the shirt she was wearing. And by shirt, it was more of tattered fabric that barely kept her decent. He remembered back to the academy days and training. But his mind was blank, staring at his mangled partner that lay in front of him. Who would do something like this?
He hastily picked up her dangerously thin wrist and with his paw, felt around for a pulse. Nothing. No steady drum beat. Just silence. No, no, no. I came all this way to find her. I knew she was alive. He lowered his head onto her flat chest and listened. All he wanted was reassurance that he wasn't too late. He just wanted to hear a faint beat, or even her voice. Oh, how much comfort that would bring. His own heart was too loud, echoing in his ears. It overpowered his head. It was all he could hear, the pounding of his heart. He could barely even focus on the simple task in front of him.
"Carrots," he whispered. "Judy... don't leave me. Please..."
Was she... she... dead? He couldn't bear the thought. It was all too much, he thought she was alive. He had gotten his hopes up, but now, they were shot down. The fire that kept him going had been smothered rather violently. She was gone. Forever. Nick wasn't the most religious, but he hoped that she was out there somewhere and would remember just a little piece of him. He knew that he would never forget about her, the bunny who changed his life. For the better, might I add. He lay his head on her abdomen, trying to preserve any last memory. He felt her sticky blood on the side of his face, but he didn't care anymore. There was nothing to care about. Unlike last time, he knew she was gone. What he needed was proof that Judy was dead, not just forensic analysis'. But he had the proof lying in front of him. Now, there was no way to comfort himself. He closed his bright green eyes, the only sign of color in the dark and depressing room besides the sick amount of blood. A tear slid out from under his eyelids and slid down his fur, creating an indent down his cheek. It gently landed on her side.
Suddenly, Judy sat up violently and screamed. Nick was quick to put a paw to her mouth, but it only spooked her even more.
He was relieved, she was alive. For the most part.
"Shhh… Judy it's me," he wiped away his tears. The sounds coming out of the bunny's mouth were heart wrenching. They were full of a pain he couldn't comprehend.
The screams subsided as she felt a warm paw around the back of her head. She felt comforted on the smooth velvet voice of…
"Nick?! Is that you," she wasn't able to see him in the dark, but she could sense who it was. He was hard to miss, that's for sure. But something was off. He seemed uncharacteristically quiet and solemn.
Her voice was so strained and weak. It was barely loud enough to hear. It was as if she lost her voice… from screaming. Nick stood up and opened the blinds just a little to let in some dark light from the setting sun, but not enough to blind them. He looked into her half opened eyes and froze. They were glazed over, as if she wasn't inside. It scared him. It really scared him.
Immediately after seeing the russet fox, she relaxed, releasing the tensions in her muscles. Judy lay back down in the floor and let him embrace her. That's all he needed, to know she was okay. The physical embrace of another being calmed her down. It wasn't any mammal, it was Nick. Just the way he wrapped his arms around her frail body made her feel secure. He put a large paw behind her head, forcing it to lay upon his chest. Judy breathed in the scent of his fur, something so familiar and soothing. What worried her though was how much he reeked of alcohol. This was not the fox she knew. She closed her eyes wishing, hoping this misery would end. For a week, she had been left alone in the dark, wallowing in another mammal's blood. She has no sense of time, or even sight in the dark room. All she could focus on was the pain she was feeling from the mental, and physical abuse she received.
"They told me you were dead…" Nick whispered, his voice shuddering. "They, they said you lost too much blood. She could tell he was shaken, but she was even more. She knew about the horrors that were in this apartment. He followed her dull gaze over to the corner of the room. Just barely illuminated lay a large crumpled panther, with a red IV sticking out of his arm. He followed the course of the tube and saw how it entered a pouch filled with more blood. Scattered across the floor were a series of empty pouches just like the filled one. Nick shivered at the sight and understood what had happened.
He bent down, in an attempt to pick the rabbit up, but she gasped and clutched her side. Her dull amethyst eyes flew open in pain. He watched in horror as her back arched in response to the flair up. Nick carefully tried to pry her bloody paws from her side. Sure enough, there it was. A small bullet wound right on the far side of her hip. His paws were sticky from her blood now, as the wound had opened up again. The poor lighting made it difficult to make out exactly how deep the shot was, but it didn't look pretty. That was for sure.
Nick slowly lifted up the ruined white shirt she was wearing. Now it was his turn to gasp as he saw many scratches run down her thin stomach. He carefully tried to apply pressure to the wound in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. The fox was worried that he would accidently break her fragile ribs.
He looked around at all the puddle of red they were sitting in. It was impossible to tell how much of the blood was actually hers and not the panthers. He didn't know how much she had already lost. He whispered to Judy as she gritted her teeth in pain. Nick tried his hardest to maintain composure. Losing it would not help either of them.
Judy suddenly froze and seized moving. Her long ears shot up into the air, using her last bit of energy. "Run."
"What? No!" Nick was worried, what was spooking her now?
"Leave," she struggled to articulate the last word.
He looked at the worried look on the injured bunny's face. "Leaving you here is completely absurd. It was out of the question from the day I met you." Her breathing slowly started getting heavier and heavier. The fur on the back of his neck stood up. He sensed something. Not one of the five senses, but a sense all the same. He gripped Judy closer to his body. He ignored the continuous cries to 'run' from his partner.
Without turning around he felt another presence. A third one.
Hope you guys like this chapter!
