Chapter 9: One Last Score
Two vehicles race down the street, lights flashing but no sound could be heard as Nick sat in the squad car next to Bogo catatonic as the world around him passed by in a blur. Judy's mother sat in the back as she shouted at both Nick and Bogo, with Bogo the only one responding to her. Nick however, could only sit there as his mind grew blank and his emotions ran so rampant he was unsure of what to feel.
He had come close to her, she was in the building. She had just left the post office in that crate at the least a few hours before, the pool of blood was still wet and slightly warm. How did they miss her, how did these crooks get a one up on all of them? But worst of all, the view blinded Nick as the image was burned into his mind, what had they done to Judy?
As Bogo and and Mrs. Hops argued back and forth with each other, Nick could only sink into his chair as he looked at his phone. For a moment it sat in his hands a black screen as he hesitated to press the button. Before he could put the phone away it the light came on, showing a photo of Judy, him, and the other officers celebrating Judy's birthday.
The notification up top shown there was a text that had come in. Nick's stomach turned to see Mr. Big asked for an update on the Godmother of his grandchild. Slowly he responded with only one word, 'Hospital', it was all he could muster the strength to send before reaching for his flask.
Taking the top off Nick drank what he could before passing it back to Mrs. Hops, "Here, it will help calm your nerves." He groaned unable to face her.
Shaking the flask once he soon felt her paw knock it to the floor of the squad car, "You think I want that?" She snapped at Nick as he groaned about the waste of such good whiskey, "My husband and I trusted the both of you to keep her safe, to keep her out of harm's way. And you couldn't do that one simple thing."
Without a word Nick turned back round as he stared up at the slowly darkening sky, 'She's right.' He thought to himself as he rested his paws on his gut, 'I should have been there for her, I should have walked her home that night. It should have been me in that box, me who they had beaten around and had their tail carved out. Not Judy, it never should have been her.'
The ride continued with Bogo and Bonnie arguing as Nick's thoughts slowly began to turn on him. Each new thought slowly grew more aggressive about how he should have been harmed, and not Judy, how he should be the one riding in the back of the ambulance. But regardless of what thought he had the fact still remained, she was there and he was here, and there wasn't a thing he could do to change it.
As Bonnie and Bogo argued with each other and Nick sat there blaming himself, Stu sat quietly next to Judy in the ambulance holding her paw. Every now and again he felt her grip his only causing him to swallow, in a vain attempt to keep from crying.
Patting her back down with damp towelettes the paramedic looked over at Stu, "There's no shame in crying sir." He only got a grumbled humph as Stu turned to look at him slightly dumbfounded, "It's alright to cry in situations like this."
Stu groaned as he cleared his throat trying to keep what little composure he had, "What good is that going to do?" He asked in a stirn voice as he patted Judy's paw, "It's not going to help her get better any faster, it's not going to get us to the hospital any faster, and by golly it's not going to make my wife calm down any less."
"You're right about all of that sir…" The paramedic sighed as he tried to prepare Judy for her arrival at the hospital, "but it may help you feel a little better."
Stu sat there as he stared at Judy, bare and covered in scars. The fur just under his eyes slowly became soaked as he fought in vain to keep the tears back. His want to keep from crying had nothing to do with being tough, or trying to seem like he was manly in some way.
His reason went beyond such petty things, he knew getting emotional wouldn't solve anything. And that the best he could do for the time being, was be the pillar of strength his wife would need him to be. Regardless of how the situation progressed from here, for better or for worse he had to stay strong.
But even he understood his limitations, 'I promise we'll find some way to make this right.' He thought to himself, knowing there may not be anything that can be done.
Within moments the ambulance arrived at the hospital with the squad car pulling in shortly after. As the paramedics rushed Judy through the emergency center, Stu held Bonnie back as she cried out her daughter's name. Fighting to follow them passed the double doors, all she could do was watch as her daughter vanished from sight.
They waited to hear some news of her progress, how things had gone, if she was even okay. Each passing second felt like a day to them as their worries slowly grew, only causing Nick to walk out for a short time.
When he returned Stu pulled him off to the side to speak to him privately, "I get it, I really do. But this is not the way to go about it young man, you toughen up and you buckle down." Pulling the flask out of Nick's paw he held it up, "This doesn't help at all. It never has and it never will."
With a groan Nick held out his paw, "You can pretend to act tough all you like, but at least I'm not hiding how I feel. I may be killing my liver, but at least I won't have to deal with something worse later on. Because I chose to stuff my emotions down."
Handing him the flask Stu began to walk back to the others, "It's not about acting, or stuffing anything. Its about being who we need to be, for those who need us in their time of need." Looking back at Nick he sighed, "Think about that for a minute before you take another shot."
Nick simply rubbed his nose with his sleeve before looking at his messy reflection, 'Everyone does it differently I suppose.' He whispered to himself before his own mind turned on him, 'You kidding? You know damn well you're just trying to drink away the fact this is your fault. Hell you know you could have prevented this, you could have walked her home or even pay for a taxi. But n~o, Mr. Cheapskate had to let her walk home alone at night. Now look where she is asshole, it would take an ass load of luck and one hell of a miracle for her to come out of this.' Nick pressed his back against the wall and slowly slid down as tears ran down his face, "This is my fault…" He sobbed as he began to drink as much as he could from the flask, "Judy… oh god Judy." The one thing that had offered him some comfort and means of stability, had now only brought him to the depths of a break down.
And all he could think to do was drink and drink till he couldn't feel a damn thing. Was Stu right he pondered, was he even strong enough to be what was needed of him? The answer that kept coming up was an astounding 'no', only to be followed with how he wouldn't have to be had he taken her home that night.
Looking to his left he stared at his gun holstered on his hip in the faint reflection of the glass door. Next to the flask it seemed like his gun was his only friend now, and the bullets the truest words he would ever hear. Pulling his gun out he pointed it towards his temple knowing there was already one in the chamber.
Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, and for once in his life since this started he was at peace with himself. He sat there holding the gun to his head, his finger on the trigger slowly squeezing it. He slowly clamped his eyes shut as he began to grind his teeth with a low groan.
As quickly as he put the gun to his head his paw fell to his lap, the barrel pointing towards the wall on his left side.
Slowly Bogo came walking around the corner only to stare at Nick in shock, "I couldn't do it Bogo." He whispered before slowly holstering his gun, "It seemed like the right idea, like a good idea, I failed her this whole time. Nothing I did worked, they got this far and then some. And what did we do?" Bogo could only stand there in silence as he tried to find the right answer, "So I thought I should do right by her, but then I thought, what if she makes it through? What if she lives through this, what would she think of me then?"
Bogo could not answer him as the answer had to come from Judy. Pulling out a large bottle Nick began to drink whiskey as though it was water. After several hours a surgeon came walking out in a gown covered in splatters of blood all across her torso, in her left paw was the rubber gloves soaked in blood wrapped into themselves.
In her right was a medical clip board, "Hops family and friends." She called as the small group came walking up, "She's very weak right now, but if you want to visit her you can. Please keep it as short as you can, she needs as much rest as she can get." Allowing Stu and Bonnie to pass by she stopped Nick and Bogo as she waited for the other two to be out of earshot, "Her mother looked worse for wear so I couldn't say this in front of her. I'm not sure I'll get to tell her father, so please pass this on to him when you get the chance." Explaining everything she had endured caused their faces to go pale, every last bit of torture they managed to discover upon her body right down to the rape.
As Nick began to wish he didn't down a whole bottle of whiskey, Bogo began to wish he had started drinking that very moment.
In the end the surgeon sighed, "We don't know if she will survive the night. We've gone through at least ten blood transfusions during the whole ordeal back there. And even still we don't know if she will make it, if anything happens we will do our best to revive her. But…" She didn't have to say it, Nick and Bogo knew what she wanted to say to them and even that was too much.
With nothing more for her to say she stepped aside for Bogo and Nick to follow Stu and Bonnie. Entering the room they find Stu and Bonnie holding one another, Bonnie was to shocked and frightened to even touch Judy. She feared one touch could do more harm than good from how she appeared.
Stu however did what he could to keep calm as he held Bonnie, allowing her to cry into his chest. He simply nodded to Bogo and Nick to enter the room, knowing a single word could break and he would cry. Bogo couldn't make eye contact with anyone in the room, not even his own reflection after seeing judy bandaged up like she was.
Slowly Nick walked over only to hear her faint breathing as he gently held her paw, "I'm sorry…" He sobbed dropping to his knees while pressing his forehead against her bed, "I should have worked harder, I should have been faster, I should have walked you home that night or called a cab." He began to cry as Judy barely opened her eyes, "It's my fault… it's all my fault."
As Judy looked to see a crying fox, her first thought was why had Gallows started crying? Earlier he was pissed yet overjoyed to have his fun with her. Looking down his back she noticed his clothes were different, even her location had changed.
There was no longer the smell of horrid things she had yet to place what caused them, the smell of disinfectant and alcohol filled the air. Looking at the fox by her bed she soon noticed his fur was unkempt and matted in random places, he even smelled whiskey rather than cheap coloane. As his head began to rise she saw he was crying and in an officer's uniform.
As the badge came into view she groaned as tears of relief began to flow, "Nick?" She faintly asked grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.
"Yes… it's me!" He cried as Stu and Bonnie slowly came closer, "Your parents are here as well." Gently pressing his head against hers he cried all the more, "Oh God, Judy I'm sorry this is all my fault. I should have been faster, I should have stayed by your side that night."
Judy faintly gripped his paw as she groaned trying to speak, "It's not your fault, they were waiting for me to be alone. A few of them were waiting for me to show up at home." Nick cried as he held her paw to his cheek, "Please don't blame yourself Nick, you couldn't have known what they had planned. And there's no way you could have protected me every second of every day."
"That wouldn't have stopped me from trying." He wailed into the mattress hellbent on believing he could have made a difference in one form or another.
Using what little strength she still had left Judy brought Nick's paw to her lips for a light kiss, "Nick it's alright. I'm here now." She sobbed as he gently rubbed his nose against hers.
Slowly Judy's grip loosened as her breathing began to slow, all she could do was whisper one last thing into his ear. As she began to slip back into unconsciousness, it was enough to bring fear and shock to Nick causing Bogo to drag him out of the room.
Slamming him against the wall Bogo demanded he keep calm, "She's weak and in need of rest. They have several monitors on her right now, if she even skips a beat they will be in here to try and save her." He growled before letting Nick slip past his arm and slide onto the floor, "She's tired Nick, and she needs time to recover. Your screaming won't help her at all, stay out here till you've calmed down. Or go home and get some fucking rest for once, you can't survive on booze and adrenaline alone." Grabbing his shoulder radio Bogo called Clawhauser, "Chief Bogo to dispatch, come in dispatch."
"T-this is dispatch, go ahead sir." Clawhauser was hesitant in his response, unsure as to how he should take in everything that had transpired.
"I want you to send four officers to the hospital, two of them are to keep Judy's room guarded at all times. The other two are to patrol the surrounding area. Neither are to leave their assigned posts until the replacements show up, if even one of the replacements are missing they don't leave." Bogo was unsure if the thugs would try anything at this point, but he had already taken too many chances up till now.
And he was tired of the results he had gotten from them, "Yes sir, I'll be sending out the best I can with your instructions." With that Bogo looked back at Nick only to shake his head before walking back into Judy's room.
As he did Nick received a text from Mr. Big, 'I do hope you have managed to find my grandchild's Godmother. I've been patient in allowing the cops to do their job, but I'm done waiting. If I don't hear back from you soon I will take matters into my own hands.'
Sitting in his chair Mr. Big soon received Nick's response, 'She's resting here at the hospital. She's gone through quite a lot and all officers are on high alert till further notice, and will have four officers guarding both the hospital and her room at all times.' His text went on to inform Mr. Big of everything that had happened to her, from the tail they received in the mail to how they found her beaten and shaved bare.
But nothing caused his blood to boil more than to learn how this upstart leader of a band of thugs, to cross the line and rape her after she had be tortured. He stared at the last few lines of the text, pondering how they managed to get away with what they had. But at the end he could only ponder the single name that Nick had given him, who was Mr. Gallows and why was he stepping into Zootopia?
With a groaning hmph Mr. Big tucked his phone away, before looking down at the small group of individuals kneeling before him. Some faces he recognized, some he didn't but in either case he didn't care. His eyes slowly focused on the lion of their group and remained locked, for what reason he had yet to guess.
"So tell me…" He began raising his paw waiting to signal the bears around himself, "for what reason do you come to me for protection? What reason would I have for taking any of you in, and why would I even bother considering it?" Before any of them could answer he pointed to the lion, "You there, answer me and be honest. Or I'll have them ice each and every one of you, with a brand new pair of cement shoes."
Here you go guys chapter 9 enjoy!
