Chapter Ten
It was too late.
Bogo, Judy, and Nick looked out the office's window and saw a giant black smoke in the distance, a sure sign of an explosion aftermath. Bogo left the office with Nick and Judy following him over to Clawhauser's reception desk in the lobby.
"Clawhauser! Gimme that mike and have it address to everyone in the station and out in the field!" Bogo ordered. Clawhauser complied and gave the microphone to Bogo as Nick and Judy stood by.
"To all officers! This is Chief Bogo. We are at Red Alert now! Go to Zootopia School for the Deaf for terrorism disaster procedures! Repeat. This is Chief Bogo. We are at Red Alert now! Go to Zootopia School for the Deaf for terrorism disaster procedures! Go! Get over there now!"
Bogo handed back the microphone as Clawhauser gasped in shock. "Go alert the hospitals and fire departments as well as off-duty officers, Clawhauser," he barked and turned to Nick.
"Did that kid mentioned about the bomb just a moment ago, Wilde?" Bogo asked as Judy stared at Nick.
"Yes, Chief," Nick answered, "He said 'school goes boom' and I knew immediately that there is a danger."
"Damn!" Bogo said, "That kid did not mention that during our interrogation earlier before you arrived. He was withholding that information from us!"
Judy gasped and Nick and Bogo turned to her. "What is it, Carrots?" Nick asked.
"Maria!" Judy exclaimed, "We got to go to school and see if –" she trailed off, Nick understood.
"Who is Maria?" Bogo asked. Nick answered before Judy could, "She's a deaf daughter of Hopp's neighbor in Bunnyhollow. She goes to that school. Can we go there and check, Chief?"
"Go ahead, I'll join you there in a moment. You two take over the responsibility of clearing out the place, keep the media out of danger, and have the ambulances and fire department to coordinate with you till I get there. I will tell your friend, Alex, what happens and he can go home if he wants. I got to ask that kid some more questions before I go," Bogo said as he walked quickly toward the detection center.
Nick and Judy rushed to their patrol car with Nick taking the wheel, turned on the siren and drove as fast as he could to the school. They arrived at the school in less than 5 minutes than the usual 20 minutes. What they saw was unreal as it looks like a war zone at the school. Ambulances and fire trucks were already there from nearby stations. As soon as Nick parked the patrol car, Judy said to Nick, "You go take care of things here while I go look for Maria!" He nodded as she got out and ran to the first school staffs she saw.
"Does anybody know where Maria Bunhill is?" Judy asked. The person shook her head. She groaned and ran into the building, or what left of it from the explosion, and found Ms. Redtail sitting at one of the debris just outside the front door, she ran to her.
"Ms. Redtail! Do you know what happened to Maria Bunhill?" she asked frantically. Ms. Redtail pointed her finger at her ear. "Say that again, officer," Redtail said, "my ear is ringing from that explosion so I can't hear you clearly." Judy sighed and repeated the question more clearly.
"Oh! Last I checked," Redtail answered, "she was in either in the lunchroom with rest of classmate or at playground over there," she point at the other side of the building. She thanked him and ran toward the direction that Redtail pointed at. As she ran, she saw some bodies amid some debris, fearing that one of them might be Maria. After quick checks that confirmed that they weren't Maria but felt sad and hurt for the victims as she continued her way toward the said playground. She saw a group of surviving children with some EMTs and teachers in the playground, she ran to them. As she got closer, one of the young rabbits broke rank and ran toward her. Judy recognized the rabbit as Maria and ran to hug her tightly.
Maria screamed and Judy let her go, concerned, "Are you hurt?" she asked verbally, groaned, forgetting that the girl was deaf, signed "hurt" to her to which she nodded and pointed at her side. She saw that there was a bandage on the side. She turned to one of the EMTs, a male raccoon, "How many kids are there?"
The EMT took a quick count and answered, "About 40 kids or so but there may be more inside some of the buildings and we dare not go inside until the firefighters clear it."
"Okay, I saw some bodies when I came through here," Judy said as she pointed at the place she was in recently."
"Yes, we saw some and checked their pulses on the way. No pulse so we had to leave it there and focus on other survivors here," the EMT said.
Judy looked around and saw the other open space between the surviving buildings, turned to the EMTs.
"Okay, are the kids and teacher able to walk?" Judy asked, "Any major injuries?"
"Most have suffered only minor injuries and couples or three are hurt badly but not life-threatening," the other EMT, a female lion, answered, "They were lucky to be here at the playground when the explosion happened. Most of the blasts were on the other side of the buildings here so the sides facing the playground have shielded the kids from the blast except for that section where you came through. One of the teachers here said that they had just left the cafeteria after lunch which was in that building where you came through when the blast occurred. Those three with the more serious injuries were close to that area when that happened. Some of us came in through that open area between those two buildings while the other EMTs came through the same place you came through," She pointed at the same open area that Judy noticed just moments ago. She sighed.
"All right, we need to get everyone out of here through that open area and meet with my partner, Officer Wilde," Judy said with firm voice, "He'll show you where to go so you can reunite the kids with their families as I am sure they are worry and on the way here now. We need to get out of here before any more explosion as there is a possibility that they will happen here in the playground. Any questions or concerns before we go?"
The teachers and EMTs shook their heads and Judy lead the group out of the playground toward the open area. The kids and teachers went through space, following the raccoon EMT at the lead between the buildings while Judy stays behind, directing the kids through space. Suddenly, there was another explosion on the other side of the playground and Judy grabbed the lion EMT, who was the last person in the group, out of the danger and a piece of sharp debris fell on the spot where the lion was at a just a moment ago. The lion and Judy looked at each other, sighed with relief, got up, and ran to the other end to join the others.
The group arrived at the parking lot in front where Nick was busy coordinating with other officers, firefighters, and EMTs. There were yellow tapes surrounding the place. Judy knew that the safe area was on the other side of the tape so she held up the tapes to let the kids through the tape, out of dangers. Then the teacher, a jaguar, held up the tape higher as she's taller than Judy to let the taller animals through.
Nick saw Judy coming toward him, holding Maria's hand. He sighed in relief that she's out of danger.
"I heard the explosion just moments ago and I had hope that you got out of danger which I am glad to see that you did, Carrots," Nick said, "I see that you got Maria out too. Some parents are here now but I did not have a chance to talk to them as other officers are busy to keep them in a safe place. Got one of the rabbits from running into the building when that explosion happened. The other officer just took that rabbit back to safe zone."
Judy took a double look at Nick's face. "What?" Nick asked as Judy focused on the scratch mark on his left side of the muzzle. "Is that how you got this scratch from that rabbit?" Judy asked.
Nick looked at Judy in confusion, touched his left side of his muzzle, felt the scratch, and groaned. "Oh, damn, I didn't realize that she scratch it as I was busy preventing her from going to that building. She was trying to get away from me when there was another explosion and we both fell down. She must have scratched me that time."
"Ah, of course," Judy said with a smile, "Worried mothers are the most dangerous animal in any tense situation, even small prey such as rabbit."
"Of course, Carrots," Nick retorted, "Right now, we are trying to keep those 'dangerous mothers' out of danger which is not an easy task! Bogo just called saying that he's running late as he got some more information from Edward and others. He said that the situation is more serious than he expected and is calling the governor for military assistance in this matter. Also, the bomb squad just arrived to find some more bombs on campus."
"Great! Just great!" Judy growled, "Just what we need, the army! This is getting out of hands! One of the EMTs and teachers said that there are some more kids inside some of other buildings," she gestured toward the buildings.
"We know," Nick said, "We have sent some officers to find them. And the Headmaster, Mr. Buckbrook, was severely injured by the explosion and has been airlifted to the hospital recently. Two or three teachers and some – I don't know how many – kids also were injured and were taken by some ambulances already. More are coming in from other buildings. The crisis response bus is here to handle the injured now." He pointed at the red and white bus nearby.
Several officers and EMTs were busy with children and keeping while reassuring the frantically parents from danger, and some kids were reunited with their family. Judy looked at the mass of parents in the safe zone, looking for familiar faces who were Maria's parents as she held Maria's paws.
"I guess that Maria's parents are not here yet because Bunnyhollow is few hours' drive from here so Maria will have stay with me till they come," Judy said to Nick, who agreed. She bent down to Maria and signed, "You stay with me till your parents arrive. Okay?" Maria understood, nodded, and hugged Judy, who smiled at her, hugged back for a moment, and then got up. She took the girl to one of her patrol cars.
"Wait here. I help others," Judy gestured. Maria nodded. She got up and yelled at one of nearest officers to come over. She instructed the officer to stay with Maria for a bit while she went to help Nick with coordinating. She turned back to Maria and gestured, "I come back later."
She returned to where Nick was and noticed that he was talking frantically on his phone, then ended the call and cursed.
"What happened?" Judy asked.
"Bogo said that the officer in traffic cam control just informed him that some armed animals in trucks and cars are coming toward the school. He thinks that it's SPS terrorists," Nick answered.
Before Judy could reply, two trucks crashed through the gate and several animals – mostly cats – got out of trucks' beds with weapons and pointed at the group. The black panther got out of the car behind the trucks, walked pass the truck and yelled, "Which of you is the headmaster of this school?"
Nick stood tall and answered, "He was inside that building when that thing exploded. He was taken by the helicopter to the hospital in serious condition and we don't know whether he lives or not. Who are you?"
The panther growled, "I am your new Fuhrer, you puny skanky!" as the other predators cocked their guns and pointed at Nick and the others as the third explosion was heard in the distance.