All eyes were on Nick and Judy. Every single guest and employee in the restaurant were staring right at them.
Even the security cameras swiveled themselves around so that the security office got a good view.
A few of those same eyes darted to a new mammal making his way to Nick and Judy's table. He was wearing a white uniform that bored many similarities to the hippo's uniform, its only difference being the blue stripes that were present on the bull's uniform and not the hippo's. "What are you doing, Mrs. Sanchez?!"
"Huh? Sir, I-"
"Enough! Go to the break room and wait for me! You're in for a world of trouble!"
Judy's ears were pressed against the back of her head. Nick just smiled at Sanchez as she pouted and walked away.
The bull turned towards the couple. "I'm very, very sorry about her little outburst." He could barely control his anger. "We hope you can forgive our fine establishment. Her opinions are not shared by the rest of our employees, I can assure you. Please, stay, I insist. Your meal is on the house. And, if you need anything, ask for Johnson. That's me." He then turned and walked away.
"Well…" Nick had trouble formulating thoughts. "That.. happened? Ugh, I think I lost my appetite."
Judy had to agree. "Yeah, I don't feel comfortable here." She could feel several eyes still trained on her.
"I wouldn't exactly call it a 'comfortable atmosphere.'" He stood up. "Maybe we can still visit a McDucknald's." He pulled out his phone and began typing on the screen, messaging someone to pick them up. He had a feeling they may need a quick get-away.
"I'll go wherever you go," Judy said as she stood up as well. Just about everyone in the restaurant were still looking at them. "Um.. hi?"
Nick grabbed her paw and dragged her away. Soon, the doors were in their sight.
And then… they were not. The same hippo from before, Sanchez, stepped in front of the doors and blocked their only exit.
"Um, excuse us. We need to go."
She just huffed in response, reminding Nick of Bogo.
"Where are you two going?" Johnson was back with one arm tucked away behind him like he was hiding something. The couple backed away slowly. "Surely, you don't want to leave? I even have your complimentary appetizers here." He pulled out his arm from behind his back and showed them a basket of tortilla chips.
Nick immediately smelled something odd about those chips. Almost like a chemical were on them, or something else. Whatever it was, it was not meant to be ingested. "I think we're good. Our appetites have left us." Nick stared directly at the bull, looking for the smallest of changes in his facial expression.
Johnson stepped towards them, backing them back into the middle of the restaurant. "I'm sorry to hear that. We would've made your meals particularly… special."
"And now we want to leave. Don't make this an issue." Judy's voice was as stern as she could make it.
Sanchez came behind the wary couple. She had a slight shrill in her voice. "But, you see, it already is an issue."
"It isn't just about our relationship, now is it?" Nick challenged. "There's more to it." He could tell by looking at Johnson's eyes. They looked ferocious. Plus, if it was just about his and Judy's relationship, then it would be far more reasonable to just ask them to leave.
No, this was personal to the bull.
"Shut your mouth, fox, you disgusting waste of fur."
"So there is more to it, then?" Nick stomped up to the bull, sending his girlfriend into a worried fit. "Care to elaborate?"
"Nick..." she tried to get him to come back.
"Oh, there is much more to it. You're right." Sanchez's voice came from behind the fox. She had sneaked behind them. They were sandwiched between a hippo and a bull. "That's irrelevant, however. What is relevant is how dumb and inattentive you are. If you would've torn your googly eyes away from that bunny, you would've noticed the second fucking sign that blatantly said, 'No Predators,' in bold, red letters." It was a new policy. "And here I thought fox's had good eyesight. It's your fault you're in this mess."
Nick was just inches away from the fuming bull, almost ignoring the hippo. "Why? Why take such a strong stance against predators?"
That was not for the fox to know.
The bull shoved the fox back and knocked him into the rabbit, the two catching each other but failing to stay on their feet. They were on the floor at their most.. vulnerable.
Vulnerability.
A new concept that the bull knew far too well. Just seeing the dirty couple like that on the ground made him pause just for a second, the events of the lowest point in his life replaying like a movie in the back of his mind.
It was behind his rage, his newly-found hatred.
…
It was his brother's birthday.
Johnson was walking beside the ZPD Headquarters with his brother, Freddy, skipping along.
Freddy looked up to his brother with love and affection dazzling in his eyes. He was taking him to Kits' Place!
"I can't believe you're doing this for me! I'm so excited! Thanks, Mark!"
"Well, I've got to spoil you sometimes, right?" He ruffled the small tuft of hair on the calf's head. He could feel the buds, the beginning of fully grown horns, poking out from beneath his brother's fur.
Mark Johnson couldn't wait to see his brother mature, to see the mark of adulthood proudly sitting atop his sibling's head.
"I wish you would do it more often. You're always in your casino."
The bull stopped and knelt down on one knee. "I have to, Fred… it's my job to overlook everything. It's my casino and my restaurant. You'll understand when you're older."
Not this excuse again.
His brother always did this to him. Every time he would call and ask for them to hang out, Mark would only reply with a stern, 'No,' and a few meaningless apologies.
Why now? Why does it have to be his birthday for his brother to finally hang out with him?
He only had a few treasured memories of his big bro because of this.
"You always say that!" Deep inside, Freddy knew he shouldn't have gotten angry so quickly. This was the first time in months he had even seen his big bro, and he was taking him to Kits' Place to actually spend some time with him. But it felt like a dam had just shattered inside him, one that was holding back all the anger and hurt that he kept inside. Everything that had been piling up over a year's worth of time was let out all at once.
"Mark, when will you stop caring for your casino more than me?!"
That was like an bullet through the heart. Guilt erupted from the wound and spread throughout his chest.
"Why?" John didn't know what to say, instead choosing to pull his little brother in for a hug, but the calf retreated. "Why?!" With shining tears formed under his eyes, Freddy ran into an alleyway that was across the street from the ZPD Headquarters.
There, he got a few seconds of solitude, only to hear Mark finally catching up behind him. He darted deeper into the alleyway.
Then another sound caught Freddy's arrention. One that was faster, more crazed.
Then the shattering of broken glass entered the calf's ears. He looked up to see a lion lying in a bed of glass, the remnants of a newly-shattered window. Tiny shards, embedded within the outer coat of his fur, flickered with his ragged breaths.
Freddy picked up his brother and slowly moved towards the injured lion.
The lion groaned and wheezed, attempting to stand back up only to shout in agony and fall back down, his paws landing back down on the glass. His mane vibrated intensely as his voice grew more and more hoarse with every groan and sigh.
Then he growled.
His head shook vigorously, angrily, and snapped backwards, eyeing two prey animals awfully close to him.
And his teeth - no, his fangs - glinted in the sunlight.
Mark shoved his brother behind him and started backing away. The lion lowered his body closer to the ground with his hind legs in preparation for a pounce.
With an ear-shattering roar, the lion leaped onto the bull and calf, only Mark's one free hoof stopping the lion from tearing his neck apart. The three of them writhed and squirmed, two fighting to stand up, one savage lion fighting for a meal it so desperately craved.
Adrenaline pumped through Mark's veins, allowing him to muster enough strength to push the lion off of them. He saw the thing go limp for a moment, its head having just hit a brick wall, but quickly started to stand back up. Mark stood up and gathered his weeping brother in his arms and started to cross the street.
They never got to the end of the street together.
Several other prey were chased to the same spot in the middle of the street, blocking the two brothers, and soon eough, at least five savage other predators encircled all of them.
Two of them, a cougar and otter, roared with glee as they targeted Johnson and Freddy. Their pupils dilated, having their lunch just a mere yard from them.
The lion from the alley returned and tackled Mark from behind and began tearing into the bull's shirt, not yet tearing flesh. He was lucky to have a thick fur coat and a thick shirt, but it still forced him to drop his little brother. The poor calf fell hard on the pavement, his teeth cracking and chipping into small bits that he either swallowed or spit out of his mouth.
The cougar and otter saw their chance and pounced on the vulnerable calf.
Fred's cries of pain, along with the others, was heard many miles away.
A gunshot ran out, and the lion on Mark's back flopped on the hot ground with blood bubbling from behind its head.
The bull scrambled up only to fall face first onto the pavement. He tried to get up again. He had to save his brother.
Then a pair of black-furred arms pulled him away, those of which belonged to one of the many officers that were meant to protect Zootopia and her citizens. Two more gunshots pierced the bull's ears.
Then all was quiet.
Mark got one good look at his brother, only to see buckets of blood drenching every inch of his motionless fur. His neck had a massive hole and his chest cavity was exposed. The otter and cougar were also motionless gunshot wounds in their heads.
They, predators, had killed his brother, and only three of them had died. The rest escaped.
…
He never let himself to grieve. Instead, he allowed his feelings to fester. To turn to hatred.. hatred for predator kind and anyone who allied themselves with predators. It didn't matter if it was an intimate relationship or just something purely platonic; if you willingly associate with predators, then you, according to him, deserve to suffer and die with those flea-ridden carnivores. He's adopted the opionion that predators and all who associate with them should be killed without mercy.
He was determined to lead the rest of his life with that mindset. This is what led him to changing his casino's policies, and Nick and Judy were to be his first victims.
Luckily for them, Mark hesitated to attack. They reminded him to much of how vulnerable he felt and how he lost his brother. The flashback played only for a few seconds, but it was enough to allow the couple to get back on their paws and for most of the restaurant's guests to vacate the premises out of fear.
At least now, no innocent civilans would be harmed.
He lurched for the fox in front of him while his employee, Sanchez, lunged for the rabbit.
This time, Nick was ready and almost effortlessly slid out of arm's reach, Mark's hoof flying through the air where the fox's muzzle used to be. When he found the fox again, who somehow had gotten behind him in the matter of a second, Nick was just standing there, waiting for the next attack.
Smirking.
Judy was also having quite an easy time with Sanchez. The hippo wasn't in what one would consider 'great physical condition,' thus, Judy could easily dodge any attack she attemtped.
Judy found an opening and kicked the hippo square in the face, sending Sanchez flying. She slammed on the ground with a loud thump and was immediately cuffed by Judy.
She never left the house without spare handcuffs. Neither did Nick.
She turned to look at her boyfriend who was swiftly sliding away from each attack in smooth motions. The bull could not touch a single strand of his fur and it was making him furious.
Furious enough to have apparently called for some help a several seconds prior of Sanchez's cuffing. Several guards, all prey, entered the room behind her fox who hadn't noticed them. One of them knocked him to the ground with a kick to the leg and a punch to the head.
She had no way to help. A few of the guards noticed her and began to back her into a corner of the restaurant.
They were now separated.
Nick was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and thrown into the glass window near them, creating a web of cracks. Some glass had gotten into his fur.
Mark saw the glass reflecting red and white in the fox's fur.
It reminded him of his deceased brother. He shuddered for a moment, giving Nick an oppertunity to upper-cut him into one of his guards and take a turn towards his bunny who had three guards pinning her down.
It took a lot to keep that crazy bunny in one place.
He grabbed a chair and shoved all three of them off with one forceful push, earning a soft, 'Thank you,' from Judy.
Though, Nick knew she would've freed herself in no time.
She quickly cuffed another guard while Nick tried his best to distract the others.
One could say it was a bit difficult of a task for one mammal to do, however.
A burly gazelle grabbed Nick from his side and flung him acorss the room, again separating the couple. He landed hard on one of his arms.
Judy now had two of them after her, one now clutching a metal bat with a cutting grun on his muzzle.
As if it wasn't unfair before.
She used her powerful legs to jump and grab a hold of the beams that decorated the ceiling. They had no idea what she was doing or how she was even able to do that.
That was all she needed to do. Suprise them.
Without hesitation, she jumped onto a window and rebounded off of it and into the gut of the guard - more like thug, really - that had the baseball bat. With a groan, he fell to the floor and she put on Nick's trade-mark smirk, something she was beggining to use more often. She picked up the bat and gave the other thug a death-stare.
He ran with his tail in between his legs.
She turned towards her boyfriend to see a couple thugs lying on the ground crying in pain while another three, plus the bull, were surrounding Nick. He had no where to go.
A hoof jabbed right into his kidney. He sunk to the floor only to be grabbed by Johnson and slammed against the glass again, breaking the entire window. He held Nick outside of the window by his shirt collar. His legs were dangling carelessly.
A cold breeze entered the restaurant.
"Don't come an inch closer, bunny! Unless you want to see your boyfriend spattered all over the pavement!" He craned his head to face her.
She stopped dead in her tracks. "Johnson! What have we done to you?! This is murder! What have we done?!" She waa about to freak out from anxiety.
"He's a fucking predator! Shit like him does not deserve to live!"
"Judy… it's okay... get yourself out of here." Nick's voice has never sounded so.. fragile.
"You better listen to him, bun-bun. I'll do the same to you. Dating a predator, let alone even being friends with one, makes you a predator! You're trash, just like him!"
"Nick.. listen to me, I'm not leaving." She told Nick. She looked into the bull's eyes next. "And he is the best mammal I've ever gotten the pleasure of meeting. You do not know who he is, how much he has contributed to society as a whole. He's done so much for Zootopia and none of it was for personal gain! He's even helped prey mammals even when they considered him to be less valuable than the dirt they walk on!" She cautiously walked closer. "What made you like this?" Her voice was turning ragged. "Why… why do such a thing? Why?"
Mark looked into Judy's eyes, and felt his own start to swell up with tears. He had just noticed she was the same height as Freddy, if you count the ears. She also had a similarly fiery passion that was present in his brother.
"Their kind took everything from me!" He choked back a sob. "My brother is dead! Eaten! Torn apart! He wasn't even recognizable when all was said and done!"
Judy didn't know what to say. She just trudged up to Mark and placed a paw onto his arm. He brought Nick a bit closer, but he was still dangling. "I'm sorry… Johnson. I'm sorry… I can't imagine how hard that would be."
Nick spoke up, his voice almost failing him. "I…" he coughed, "…know how it feels to lose those you love." The bull turned to look at Nick and nodded. "Want me to tell you about it?"
"Sure.. fox… Nick."
"My family and I were going to a fair. A predator only fair. We had no quarrels with prey, it was just a simple matter of being treated better at a fair with only preds.
It started as a good day. We must've ridden at least every ride a couple times each and we must've stuffed our stomachs with at least a couple whole blueberry pies in the span of four hours." Judy noticed the bull's face sadden a bit more. "It wouldn't last forever.
My father and I… we got on a ride called, 'The Tornado.' It was tampered with. Every ride there was tampered with, even the kiddie rides..." Nick was pulled back into the room and set down. He sat down against one of the windows that were not cracked. Judy joined him and rested her head against his arm. Johnson and his thugs took some chairs and crowded around. Even the three who were handcuffed squirmed over listen to the story.
It was truly an odd sight. They just tried to kill two cops and were going to go to jail no matter what, and yet, they calmed and even listened attentively to the fox's story.
He continued, "My… my father and I… we were ejected." Nick closed his eyes. A small trickle of blood ran down his muzzle. "He never survived... killed by a hate crime." Judy's breaths became hollow.
"Here." Mark Johnson handed the fox his wallet. "There's all of my money right there. I'm sorry."
"Wha-what?" Nick frantically tried to give the wallet back, but the bull never allowed it.
"I hope you can forgive me."
"I.. Wait!" Nick screamed. Johnson was dangerously close to the edge of the broken window. "Please… don't."
"Johnson… you're forgiven. Come back here." Judy was shaking uncontrollably.
"I have nothing to live for. I hope we can become friends in whatever place we go to when we die."
Nick and Judy ran over to him, but were stopped by a thug who had tears crawling down his face.
Then Mark Johnson lept out of the window.
…
NightWolf here!
This was a really tough chapter to write. I won't lie, I actually teared up a bit. It even made me contemplate whether or not I should keep what I wrote up there in the story , Obvious, I know, but I did keep it. It was a very emotionally draining process.
And I do want to say that this is by far not the end of the fanfiction. There is a lot more I want to do. And, yes, things will continue to be dark for a while. I don't know how dark, but that's why I rated this fanfiction as Mature. It gives me elbow room.
But, trust me, there will still be plenty of happy times. I won't sadden you too much. :)
In all seriousness, this, I think, is only the beginning. But it will get better. Remember, I absolutely love Zootopia. I won't tarnish it by any means. I believe you all will get the outcome you want.
And, please, private message me if you have anything you want to say! I'd love to talk to you guys!
And thanks for the kind reviews! They're very appreciated! I do read them all. My favorite review may be the one who called me out on my 'mild cliffhanger.' It got a laugh out of me! Perhaps it wasn't as 'mild' as I thought it was!
Well, that's all I have to say. Until next time!