So, I have time on my hands. Woo Hoo! Unfortunately my brain is not cooperating with motivation for writing. I have all this stuff in my head but bleh- This took me a few days off and on because I am trying to find motivation to get back to another story I need to finish. Pretty neat how a few people liked the action sequence of the last chapter because I have never written one and it was a first. Not generally my thing. Hope this one leaves a few more happy campers out there with another plot twist some of you fox like thinkers may have already caught. But I need to stress a point. I said this story wasn't going to get really dark- it isn't. I am trying not to put a ton of character thoughts in this story. Wild Nick can't talk, so I have to put his thoughts out in some instances. Just remember that Nick is 'wild'. (Snicker)
Happy reading to all the Gods….
Inspiration; Hozier; Like Real People Do
Disclaimer; I do not own Zootopia or its characters.
Under Earth 10
Juno rushed from the hall and into the kitchen before jabbing a button next to the door. A loud siren went off and every rabbit ear on the farm shot rigid as they dropped what they were doing and ran to the house. Steven and Randal were wrestling with the overturned cabinet on top of Snarlov as Bonnie tried to coral and comfort her children. Stu sat drained of all his color while Jack struggled to breathe as he tried to get to his knees again. Ruby was frozen in place at the door she had been peeking through and Pappy was huffing his way to his son shaking his head. Several of the older rabbits from the fields rushed in and Bonnie was instructing everyone on where to go and who to look after as Amber made her way to Jack. The buck had a blue tint to his lips and she passed Snarlov who sat up groaning. She kept moving seeing someone who needed her attention first.
The pin striped rabbit tried to get to his feet and buckled as he clutched his ribs. Amber noticed his trembling paws and was franticly trying to get him to sit back down just before his eyes rolled into his head and he stumbled to the ground. Milo and Wolford pulled up to the front of the house seeing the door open and the rabbits scrambling around in the house before they glanced at each other and rushed through the door. "What happened?!" Milo shot as he rushed to Jack and Amber while Wolford ran to Snarlov and Judy's brothers.
"It's doesn't matter, we can sort it out later. Right now I need help and so does he." Jack was wheezing and fighting to keep his eyes open as Milo picked him up and followed Amber to their medic room shoving through a little crowd of her family to get to the room. "RUBY- I NEED HELP NOW!" Amber pushed Milo out of the way as Jack went limp on the table. The doe was examining his ribs and shaking her head before she was rushing through a draw pulling out tubes as Ruby came in still half trembling. "Get the tank."
"What's wrong with him?" Milo asked as he curled one side of his lip into a cringe watching Amber tear his shirt open and start running her paws over his left side.
"All his ribs are broken on the left side. His lung collapsed. Out now." Milo cringed as Ruby moved Jacks body to the side pulling his head back on the table lifting his chin as Amber shoved him out the door. He heard them both running through an array of medical terms he knew well enough to know the buck was in trouble and left the hallway crumbling into the only chair large enough for him to sit. Wolford and Snarlov approached him from the other side of the room. Snarlov had an ice pack on his head and rubbed his chest, not that it particularly hurt. The furniture that had fallen had just hit him at the right angle and beamed him a good one. Both wolves glanced at each other frowning seeing the cat in the state he was. Neither of them cared for Jack, but they both understood what the effects of having an injured partner were. Although Milo wasn't technically Jack's partner it was apparent they had a similar relationship.
"We need a headcount," Bonnie said as she gathered all the kits and kept directing the older rabbits on who to tend to. Stu shook his head as Pappy kept scowling at the predators in the room and kept his father from leaving his side. Juno, Randal and Steven had just finished picking up the scattered furniture before they approached the predators, all with heavy frowns and stopped in front of them folding their arms. "The fox took Judy with a savage mammal chasing them. We're going after her."
Milo looked up in shock shaking his head. "That's not a good idea. We need to wait for Jack."
Juno shook his head holding out the necklace and torn clothes that had been around the fox's neck. "We aren't waiting."
Wolford took it furrowing his brow and turning to Snarlov before both of them looked the necklace over thoroughly and snapped their attention to the cat fighting not to bear their teeth. "Why was the fox wearing a symbol from the Nishtlar wolf pack?!"
Stu stood leaving pappy "I don't really care what the reason for any of it is. He saved Judy and me and probably half the kits in the house. That don't mean they aren't in trouble with sheriff Catmull still chasin' them. We aren't leaving them out there to fend for themselves."
"You can't go out looking for them! Savage mammals aren't easy to catch without the right tools and strength or size. We'll go after them." Snarlov ground out glaring at the cat while all the rabbits turned their lips at him.
Milo cringed as both wolves kept their eyes locked on him and shrugged as he shook his head. "This is still a federal case, Jack is out and I don't have the authority to let you get involved."
"Jack will be fine in couple of days." They all turned to see Ruby standing at the entrance of the hallway. "He had a mild Pneumothorax." Ruby rolled her eyes at the perplexed looks she was getting. "Air got between his lungs and ribs, all we had to do was remove it and give him some oxygen to re-inflate it. He'll need to take it easy for a couple of days and then slow for a couple of weeks. You can talk to him in about an hour."
"You aint letting them predators go after Judy! They aint no better than that cat! How are they going to do anything against that red devil anyway! We need guns! And a posse to kill that demon too!" Pappy spat. Stu turned curling his brow and shaking his head before he nudged his grumbling father to Ruby who led him into another room while he kept muttering obscenities about predators and savages trying to kill everything they could get their filthy teeth and paws on. Stu tipped his head and ears with a small grin as Ruby rolled her eyes while she led her grandfather into another hallway. She turned just before she disappeared through a door, Stu smiling as she mouthed the words 'He's crazy- I saw everything'. The older buck turned back to the wolves with an apologetic grimace as Snarlov rubbed his temple and Wolford Shrugged it off…
Doug sat up looking around and making sure there were no more rabbits running before he motioned for Dillon to follow him down the ladder. Once the two had made their way off the farm and back onto the road they walked back to where they had left the rental car and Dillon was taking nervous glances as Doug kept grinding his jaw. The larger ram snatched the case from his brother and reached into the car picking up another small box before he flung the strap over his shoulder. "I'm going after that thing. Whatever it is I haven't seen one before, then again I've never seen a rabbit with stripes either. You better explain this in detail to Dawn. Find out exactly what we are dealing with Dillon. Don't screw up again you idiot." Dillon watched Doug leave and disappear into the forest.
The ram shook his head as he crawled into the car and started the engine. "I'm not an idiot," he mumbled as he drove away. "It's not my fault no one would listen to me."
Doug tracked back to where he had seen the fox and cougar enter the woods. He surmised the thing wasn't very smart. It had left its scent everywhere it had gone and bright red and orange strands of fur were scattered along the path he was following. How his idiot brother had a hard time tracking it and catching it left him shaking his head as he readjusted the case and started following a well laid out path. Might as well have put up a sign that says 'this way -come get me'. At least finding it would be easier than anything else to this point. No matter, he thought as he trudged the path. Doesn't matter what it is, once they see its savage it will be just like all the other ones, they'll just stick it in a cage and it will be forgotten….
Bonnie came to the group wringing her paws and shaking her head, "We are missing someone. They are still looking Stu." The older buck tipped his head and frowned as his wife's lips trembled.
"No, no, no Bon…not Addie."
The older doe sniffled before Stu grabbed her wrapping his arms around her. "I'm sure he's just hindin' somewhere Bon. We'll find him and get Judy back."
Several hours had passed when Jack woke and Milo found his way to his side. Two wolves were standing behind the cat with pinched brows and tightly folded arms as he sat down next to the bed Jack was on. Bonnie was a wreck after not being able to find Addie anywhere in the house and several of the older kits had kept looking into everything and anything they could think of searching for him as she sat at the kitchen table with Stu trying to keep her calm. Jack sat up groaning and clutching his chest as Milo tried to get him to lay back down. "I'll live Milo, I just need a brace. We have to go after them."
Amber shook her head "You shouldn't be doing anything for a few days Mr. Savage."
Ruby came back in biting her lip as Amber looked up at her. The red eyed doe let her ears fall when her sister asked if they had found their little brother and shook her head. "Did they check outside? The door was open, maybe he ran out in all the craziness." Amber asked and watched her sister disappear again as Jack threw his legs over the bed and landed on both feet with a grunt. Amber rolled her eyes as she opened an upper cabinet and stepped to him wrapping a large brace around his chest. Both wolves gave her a curious glance and she shook her head as she pointed to Jack. "I have a crazy sister who doesn't listen to anyone either." They both chuckled and the buck thanked her before addressing the doe and pointing at the two wolves who were openly staring daggers at him.
"You got something of the little ones they can smell? They're good trackers. Maybe they can pick him up somewhere." Jack asked as Milo tried to help him stand straighter. The pin striped bunny looked back at him scowling and Milo sighed as his ears tipped back.
"This situation isn't going to change this subject Savage," Wolford spat as he held the necklace out while Snarlov tightened his arms over his tensed biceps. The buck pursed his lips and shook his head as Amber grabbed a small shirt Addie had left in the med room the night he had slept with the fox and handed it to the larger wolf. "We'll find the kit, but when this is over you better explain this. We don't care if it's classified or not. NO ONE should have this." Jack lifted his eyes to the ceiling as Snarlov and Wolford took the scent, following them closely through the house. Both wolves were twitching their noses and shaking their heads finding the scent everywhere until they got to the kitchen where Bonnie was sitting with Stu. The older buck had made tea and was sitting with his wife rubbing her shoulder when Wolford stuck his head under the table huffing.
He looked back at Snarlov glancing back and forth between two distraught parents as he came out from under the table, one paw full of a box of blueberries and the other with several crushed flowers. Bonnie took one look at it and covered her eyes shaking her head as Stu slumped in his chair. "Oh good gravy," Stu shook his head. "Addie crawled into the pack trying to stay close to the fox."
"Where'd the flowers come from?" Wolford asked as curled his fingers around them.
Snarlov looked them over shrugging. "Nick was eating them."
"Eating them?!" Bonnie and Stu both asked as their eyes went wide.
"What's the big deal, Savage said he ate all kinds of weird stuff."
"Not them things!" Stu stood from his chair shaking his head. "Bon got bit by her brother when she was a kit cause he ate one of those things, got a sizable divot in her arm from it. Why would a predator eat plants anyway?"
Jack shrugged "We know they are toxic but no one's ever been crazy enough to eat the things since it was found out. The effects only last on prey mammals for a few hours. No predator eats plants and he's not exactly either because he eats both. Like I said he eats all kinds of weird stuff. Maybe they just don't affect predators like they do prey." Jack looked at Wolford and Snarlov as they both shook their heads.
"Don't look at us, we aren't tasting the nasty things to find out. Eating things like pancakes and waffles is one thing, raw plants and veggies is something entirely different." Snarlov curled his nose as Wolford tossed them into a trash can. "We need to get a move on before it gets too dark Savage. There's a kit out there and we need to get them back, Hopps may not be a cop anymore but she's still one of ours."
Bonnie and Stu both gave them appreciative and hopeful looks as the wolves folded their arms over their chests again. Jack turned to Milo asking if he had gotten everything they needed instructing him to get it out of the car. The cat came back in carrying several bags Jack didn't bother looking through. He only motioned to the wolves as Milo handed him a shirt. "We'll get them back Mr. and Mrs. Hopps. Piberius won't let anything happen to them. You have my word on all of that." Jack said as Milo sat a bag beside him. "Pick it back up Milo, you're going with us. I can't carry it anyway."
The cat went wide eyed frowning as Jack smirked at him "Sir, I'm not a field agent! I just work in the-"
"Consider this a promotion then."
Wolford and Snarlov both rolled their eyes. Both of them thinking now they had to babysit two mammals, one who was injured and one who knew nothing about being in the woods, tracking, or field work. Juno, Randal and Steven had come back into the room and were packing up several items as both wolves and Jack watched them with turned brows. "What are you doing?" Jack asked.
Juno turned with a hard face as he hoisted a bag over his shoulder. "We all heard. We're going with you, that's our kin out there and we aren't sitting here doing nothing." Jack tried to lift the shirt over his shoulders cringing as he shook his head and looked up to find several sour faced bucks glaring at him. "We aren't asking Mr. Savage."
"Neither am I," Amber said as she stood in the doorway. All the bucks and wolves looked at her slack jawed. "Mr. Savage is injured, Ruby said Judy is injured. Something happens to him again and there's no way to get him help if you don't know what to do we lose our best chance at finding Judy and Addie." Bonnie and Stu glanced at each other sighing. Amber gave her parents a solemn and stern glare as they both nodded while Wolford and Snarlov bit their tongues. Amber collected her own supplies and met everyone in the front room again. They all gathered several ropes and nets from the barn used for various things on the farm to secure the sheriff once they caught her after explaining to the two older rabbits and younger bucks what they might need.
Bonnie and Stu walked them out to the edge of the woods, doling a great deal of affection on their children who were leaving and making sure they knew to come home. After a hesitant goodbye Milo was trudging through the brush as Jack walked beside him, using a long branch he had picked up as a make shift cane while Snarlov and Wolford looked around as if in disbelief. The buck looked to both of them as Amber stayed by his side. Her three older brothers keeping a close watch on everything as Jack stopped. After traveling for several hours both wolves were looking around as if they were confused.
"Something wrong?" he asked as Snarlov and Wolford curled their brows.
"Yes and no, they won't be hard to find but there's also a sheep out here." Snarlov rubbed his eyes as he looked around again.
"Its bunny borough city boys," Amber teased as she walked closer. "There are just as many sheep and pigs around as there are rabbits."
Wolford sighed as he readjusted the pack Milo had given him. "It's already getting dark, you guys aren't going to be able to move in the woods without being able to see. We can keep moving for about another hour but we're going to have to make camp if we don't catch up to them quick."
"How fast can a savage mammal move?" Jack asked as he leaned into the 'staff' he was using.
Wolford and Snarlov shook their heads "No idea. We've never been around one when they actually went savage and no one has ever seen it happen. We usually just find them that way after someone calls it in. It's not like they can just do a running sprint in the city or we have been able to time their movements. They shouldn't be more than a few hours ahead of us anyway. We should be able to catch up to them early in the morning if we don't catch them tonight." Jack and Milo glanced at each other and they all turned their heads as the striped rabbit stepped past them grumbling…
"Don't bet on it…"
Run Run Run, get it away. Protect them, protect her, hide her. Nick had been running for so long that he was panting and drenched as he slid on the earth and turned, marking another tree with his muzzle to make sure the thing was still following him. The night had passed and day had worn on and in his mind and body exhaustion was setting in. How can it keep going? How can it not hunger, how can it not thirst? How can it not tire? His ears tipped forward as he heard another yeowling roar and he darted into a tree. He settled on a branch with his chest heaving as he hoisted Judy over his shoulder and held her with a paw as he lowered his head flicking his ears when he caught sight of the cougar pacing around on the ground. The cats ears were tipped back and tail lashing as she growled and clawed at the trees he had left his scent on and he watched as she back tracked through the places he had left the marks that would leave her circling a large area searching for him. As she disappeared he managed to get his breath back under control and carefully climbed from the tree, tracing back to another place he had passed earlier where a large hollow tree had fallen into an embankment and stood open from the ground.
He climbed up the end and over the top before lowering Judy into an area that the cat couldn't reach into and stopped as he laid her in the bottom. His ears tipped up and he looked curiously to find the noise he had heard and the scratching had him tipping a brow as he took one claw and tore open the top of the pack that was still on her back. The fox nearly jolted from the hollow as a tiny black bunny kit landed on his nose. He fell back yelping inside the hollow of the tree as Addie giggled and wrapped around his snout. Nick blinked before his lips curled and he picked up the child between his thumb and pinched finger by the scruff of the neck standing as he clicked and chucked in hollow echoes. He waved one paw around in frustration and narrowed his eyes on the little rabbit.
Addie's ears fell and he curled into a ball with trembling lips looking back at Nick with the largest 'puppy eyes' anyone could imagine. The fox groaned covering his face with a paw and crinkling his nose. He had been so distracted with Carrots that he hadn't even noticed the little ball of fur climbing into the bag beside her feet. The little male whimpered and Nick deflated before he nuzzled into the little bucks neck making him giggle again before he sat him on the ground shaking a finger at him. He crawled out of the long trunk looking back as Addie made several clicking noises trying to escape and smirked as he returned a few more noises seeing Addie wasn't big enough to get out before he turned and left.
The roaring and howling feline wasn't difficult to find as he crawled through the trees watching her, studying how she moved and what seemed to agitate her and make her more aggressive- nothing about it made sense. It attacked anything that moved without thought and seemed drawn to and agitated by even the noises its own paws were making. He kept ticking his ears back and forth and dipping his head as he watched crouched into the trees, trying to understand what it was and what it was doing. He needed to get closer, needed to understand and shook his head before his eyes darted off in thought. His head hurt. There was a new thing with his eyes he hadn't figured out yet and colors that he had never seen before and couldn't identify. It was all over him, in the trees and on the ground.
As she roared again he left the thought and retraced the places he had been through as they fled and while he was exploring with Judy before tipping his head. He jumped to a lower branch and snapped his teeth in a cut off roar that jerked her attention to him before she was racing up the tree. The fox was moving effortlessly as she scrambled to catch him growling and swiping at him every chance she got as he stayed just out of her reach. Colors fled in a blur before he dropped to a low branch and jumped back onto the ground. He turned looking back as the cat jumped from the tree and raced into a dense section of woods before turning as she jumped at him. He rolled onto his back kicking his feet into her gut and tossing her behind him before flipping over and snarling, snapping his teeth in a hiss as his shoulders tipped up over his back with each step he took.
Both predators had their teeth bore and ears pinned back as they circled each other. Nick was matching every movement it made as his paws stepped over each other with all the grace of a cat as he flicked his tail and twitched the end. The rattle that shot through the air drew her attention to the crimson fur tipped with a blood red end so dark it looked black. The cat hissed as she crouched to the ground and his ears flicked as her claws extended before she backed away. It remembers. Why? He tilted his head frowning and his tail puffed out as her legs curled just before she jumped at him again. Nick jumped back at her. The claws that had shifted and curled into hooks grabbed the fabric of the shirt she was wearing and he swung himself over her back latching onto her neck before he used his weight to throw her backwards. As she fell he rolled and wrapped his tail around her ankle and pulled, throwing her weight off balance and tripping her over the edge of the ravine he lead her to. The cat hissed and growled as she fell into the deep hole and the fox rolled again looking back with a curled muzzle and lowered brow.
He paced around the edge watching her working herself into a frenzy trying to claw her way out and attempting to jump at him each time he ventured closer to the edge. He laid on the ground tipping his front paws over the edge and tilting his head back and forth before he started imitating the sounds it was making. His ears tipped after several minutes and flattened to his head as it hissed and roared again. He dipped his head as the blue azure of his eyes started radiating from a central point and a roar had her backing away when he jumped into the pit. The cat had her tail lashing as she swiped at him several times while he kept stalking forward. Something was there. Something he didn't understand that kept pulling at his chest. An empty hollow sound behind every noise it made. Pain.Sorrow. Fear. Confusion. Anger. A wall of something that shouldn't be there.
Instinct took over as she bolted forward. Kill it. Kill the thing… Instead of moving out of her way he braced the ground and locked his shoulders whipping his tail and moving to the left as it hit her in the face. Each time she jumped he let her hit him, making sure his tail slashed at her until she had worn herself out and nearly collapsed as he stood on two feet again. The cat was panting and clawing at her face and chest, at each place he had hit her. He tilted his head watching her try to pull the barbs that had boroughed under her skin out. Long strands of his fur that had a silver sheen to them were sticking from her body like quills. Nick looked back at his own tail and ran a paw through it, more curious about himself than paying attention to the cat. He stumbled back when her teeth snapped next to his head and jumped back at her with a grinding echo of steel and clenched teeth as he landed on all fours in front of her hissing through his teeth again.
The hollow clicking coming from his throat vibrated through his chest and he tilted his head as her ears fell back while she lowered her head. The cat was growling and backing away as he stepped forward trying not to furrow his brow as she shook her head and shifted her eyes from his when he kept them locked on her. She fell to her side with her tail lashing as he stood again, stepping closer as she extended a claw in something between a warning and a plea. One snap of his jaws and she sheathed her claws averting her eyes as she continued to growl. Nick looked her over and leaned closer sniffing, still trying to figure out what the odd smell was coming from her. The scent of blood was what caught him off guard and he looked to see where he had bitten into her arm still bleeding. The color seemed to burn into his mind as he was able to associate it with something. The rapid heartbeat he had kept hearing coming from the cat had slowed as he reached for her paw.
He snorted at her shaking his head in an odd pattern as she growled again. The cat laid her head down taking glances at him after he snapped his jaw in a cut off roar again before he picked up her paw examining the wound around her wrist licking it several times and let it back down lifting a brow as she closed her eyes. Nick Jumped back out, glancing back at the cat as her breath started calming. He tilted his head as she started purring and digging her claws into the earth like she was kneading dough. Her tail was still flipping up and down as she fell asleep. He took one step wanting to get back to Carrots and the little buck and stumbled before he fell forward. His vision blurred as his head swam and he hit his knees before everything went dark…