SAO Rifle Girl- You can never be too dark. ;)
SparkleyUnihorse- I'll roll with it lol.
Alyssa Says Hi- They did say the Titanic was unsinkable. Same thing, lol.
Thortox- Yep.
crissy25- Thanks! It either means I'm a fast typer, or I have no life. You be the judge of that!
1-800fangirl- No spoilers! And thanks, lengthy reviews mean a lot to me. And lol Jickery Island. Guess we'll all find out, eventually.
Chapter Ten already?! Wow, how ten days fly by! Anyways, I don't have much to say. Enjoy!
Judy POV
"G-Gideon? What are you doing here?" I ask him.
"Just passin' through town! What about you guys? Whatcha' doin' all the way out here in the west? This ain't no place no bunny rabbit".
He sounds a lot like his old self.
"Looking for a way to..."
I look him in the eyes, seeing eyes that look completely normal, containing no red at all.
"Carrots, who are you talking to?" Nick asks me.
"What are you talking about?! He's-"
I turn back to Gideon, but he's gone without a trace. He simply vanished.
"...Gone".
Nick looks at me in a deeply confused way.
"You sure you're feeling alright?" he asks me.
I nod, still staring straight at the empty spot that Gideon Gray once occupied. How could he just disappear? Am I going crazy? Can he teleport or something?
"Yeah...let's...get to shopping" I say, still beyond confused by what I just witnessed.
As I look for clothes that actually fit me; both size and personality, I notice a trail of blood leading to the rest room.
Either there's a dead body in there, or...never mind.
Nevertheless, I keep my gun in one hand in case I need it, not taking any more risks after all the close calls of recent. It's impossible not to be on guard every seconds anymore and expect to live even a few more years.
"Juds!"
He holds up two shirts with two matching hearts, obviously meant for two people in a relationship.
"Don't even think about it" I say with a smirk.
"I know, I know. I'm kidding. Like, could you ever imagine me wearing something like this?"
"No, no I can't" I reply, continuing to search through clothing.
"This is nice" Avery says, holding a t-shirt with a picture of a a piece of pie across the front of it.
"Aren't there better shir-"
"No" Avery interrupts Nick, "It's hard to find things in life better than pie".
"What about ice cream?" Nick replies with a confident look.
Avery points at him with an impressed look.
"You got me there".
If there's anything Avery can't live without, it would definitely be ice cream. The kid can't go five seconds without thinking of it, I'm sure.
Then, the serene atmosphere is interrupted once again. My ears raise up as I hear the sound of Gideon's laugh behind me, and I whirl around, only to discover nothing.
What was that?
It very clearly was the voice of Gideon Gray, but once again, neither Nick nor Avery seem to take any notice to it. Is it his ghost? Is it all in my head or something?
I groan in frustration, turning back to the clothes rack. Can I not have one hour of peace? That would definitely be nice right about now.
"Something up?" Nick asks again, walking over to me, holding a stack of clothes.
I take a deep breath.
"I'm going to be honest with you...I keep hearing the voice of this fox I used to know. His name was Gideon Gray, and he and I, we...didn't have the best relationship. Last time I saw him he was acting much nicer, but I guess the fear is still there..."
"Hah!" Nick replies, "We've dealt with hoards of undead creeps, a delusional Bogo that looks like the Hulk, managed to take care of ole' pinecone" he says, glancing at Avery.
"So why should I be scared of some bully from my childhood?" I ask myself out loud.
"Exactly! Wait, you said he was a fox?" Nick asks me.
"Yeah. He's the one that caused me to feel uneasy around you when we first met" I reply.
"Well, that doesn't matter anymore, Carrots. We're the best two cops in Zootopia, remember?"
I smile warmly at him, realizing his efforts to boost my confidence.
"That's right" I reply.
"I mean, chances are this Gideon guy is long dead" Nick adds.
"Or demented" I say.
Nick scratches his chin.
"You said you heard his voice?" he asks me.
"I saw him too" I reply.
"Sounds like something that would happen to Avery" he says slowly.
We both look over at the young, energetic hedgehog, bouncing down the aisle of clothes, singing a pop-song to himself.
"Yeah...it does" I say slowly.
Suddenly, an infected lion bursts through the front doors of the store, looking as savage as anything I can imagine.
I try to scream, but I can't speak. My legs will not work correctly.
Nick is no longer by my side, but attempting to help Avery from the creature, but his gun is jammed.
I am still mute as I watch the creature knock both Avery and Nick to the ground. My soul breaks into a million pieces. My body begins shaking, and I try to cry, but no tears stream down my face.
The animal sinks its fangs into Avery, as it scratches at Nick with vicious ferocity.
My feelings disappear altogether, and I feel like nothing more than a statue, watching with no emotion. I no longer even feel like a being.
I watch as Avery is eaten alive, smiling to myself now. Nick is covered in blood begging for me to do something. I laugh at him, and I only feel one emotion now: hate.
I hateNick, and I want to see him die. I want to see him burned. I want to see him in pieces.
"Carrots?" I hear, and I snap out of my daydream.
Nick POV
Man, Judy has been acting weird today. Too weird, even.
"Sorry" she says, looking very discomforted now; scared even.
"Something's wrong" I state simply, and with sureness.
"No, Nick. I'm just..."
"No, J. Something is wrong" I say again.
She takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes.
"I'm just scared I'm going to become one of those things. I keep having dreams and stuff about all sorts of terrible things" she admits.
"Like what?" I ask.
"I don't want to-"
"You need to tell me, Judy" I say surely.
She looks at me with purely sorrowful eyes, looking as if she truly doesn't want me to know, but she continues anyway.
"About you and Avery dying...and me just watching...and laughing...and...it's terrible, Nick" she says, tearing up.
"Well, you don't need to worry about that. Remember what I promised you?"
She nods, burying her face into my chest as she cries.
Bunnies, so emotional.
Except this time she has an excuse.
"Hey..." I say quietly, "I love you".
She sniffs loudly, and forces a smile, gazing up into my eyes.
"I love you too, Nick. More than everything" she says, and I know she means every word of it.
"Yes!" Avery shouts, holding his phone, "Just got the last twenty seconds I need!"
We can't help but laugh at the child, as I hug her tightly one last time.
We walk out of the store with more than enough clothes, chatting with each other nonchalantly.
I toss most of our extra clothes into the back of the car beside Avery, which he happily accepts as a massive cushion.
Then, I hear the voice.
"Nick..." the voice says eerily.
"What?" I ask myself.
Suddenly, the voice sounds closer.
"I'm right here, Nick".
I turn to my right, and there I see the red figure, with bone-chilling red eyes, holding a baseball bat in one hand. It's my father.
"No" I say out loud, "How...what..."
"I'm here to finish what I started. You can't live knowing what I did to you".
"What? No, I mean, I don't even remember! I had a dad? Who knew?!" I ask with a nervous chuckle, backing against the car.
"Time's up, Nick" he says grimly
I close my eyes and cover my face, remembering the familiar feeling of fists against my face. I prepare for the onslaught to ensue, but instead feel a pair of much gentler hands holding me.
"Nick! Nick! What's wrong?"
I glance at Judy with a terrified expression, but realize my father is nowhere to be seen.
"It...I saw him...my dad...I saw him"
"It's okay, Nick. He's not here" she says.
"It's happening to me too, Carrots. I saw him so clearly..." I drift off.
"We need to figure out why this is happening" she states simply.
The second I sit down in the driver's seat, the questions begin.
"What happened, Nick? Why were you screaming?"
Avery gasps in the middle of his sentence.
"Did you drop the box of donuts?" he asks.
"What box of donuts?" I ask.
"The one we took from the front counter, remember?" he asks.
"Oh, that's right" I say, recalling the event from earlier. Apparently selling boxes of donuts in a clothing store is normal, at least here on the west coast. Avery couldn't resist, so he made me take one along with us. I guess a few donuts wouldn't hurt much anyways.
We continue down the road, as Judy searches for any radio stations that may still exist, but her only answer is static. I think of all the things we'll never have again: TV, radio, internet, among other things. Still, though, the voice of my dad pierces my mind again as I recall the incident outside of the store. The way he said my name, sounding as if he wanted my blood in his hands...
Don't worry, Nick. It was just your imagination.
The hours pass with constant chatter from Avery, eating, singing, and of course, Judy and I have our moments. I stop for gas, and soon enough pass a sign telling us we are only 22 miles from the ocean, which shocks me. We've traveled across the entire country, which is quite the feat.
"This is the final stretch" Judy says with a anticipating grin.
"Let's just hope this island idea actually works out" I say, "Don't want to be out in the middle of the ocean with Bogo and nowhere to run".
"Trust me, Nicholas Wilde. This will work out" she says with a friendly smirk, "It has to".
We begin passing through the beginning of Los Animales, one of the largest cities in all of the country. Now is the time that we will come face to face with numerous of the infected, and we have to keep our guard up every second. Our combat skills, survival skills, and everything else will be tested trying to get all of our stuff on a boat and out to the island.
Anything but Jickery Island, my mind tells me.
"And that's how my brother ended up with a raspberry up his nose!" Avery ends his story.
"Bravo" I say sarcastically, wishing I could forget the story I was just told.
"And he was okay after that?" Judy asks him.
"Oh yeah, he was fine. Trust me, Ty did a lot more crazy stuff than that. He was such a role-model" Avery states with a slightly dreamy expression.
"Was he still alive when all this started?" I ask.
The young hedgehog inherits a look of deep regret, staring out the window.
"No...no he wasn't" he says softly and sadly.
"What happened to him?" Judy asks.
Avery looks away from the window and at us.
"My mom told me he was in a car accident, but I don't think that's what actually happened. He was really sad for a long time before that, and I saw him sleeping in his room, and I tried to wake him up. He didn't wake up, and I think he was already dead" Avery says, "So I left his room and didn't say anything. I thought I would get in trouble".
There's silence for a moment as Judy and I glance at each other as I drive, learning something new about our new companion every day.
"How did he die?" I ask without thinking.
"I think...I think he killed himself" Avery mutters.
I feel a pang of sorrow for the child.
"Maybe that's why your parents told you he was in a car accident" Judy says.
"Because they didn't want me to feel like I wasn't enough for him..." Avery trails off.
"You're a pretty deep ten year old" I say.
"Yeah, I guess so".
We pass through the city going around seventy miles per hour, passing tons of corpses, stores, restaurants, and even a stadium or two.
I open my mouth to speak, but take notice of an object in the road. An infected elephant, standing square in the middle of our lane. I push on the brakes and jerk the steering wheel to get around it, which causes the car to flip as Judy and Avery scream.
We slide past the elephant, turned upside down, grinding against the pavement with so much friction that it causes me to cover my ears.
We finally come to a stop, still upside down; no one injured, much to my relief. However, I immediately begin panicking, knowing we are still at least ten miles from the shore.
"Judy, grab your bag. I'll get mine, and Avery, you get the food bag. We have to run" I say.
"What about my new clothes?" Avery asks.
"They're in my bag! Come on!" I say.
We creep out of the smoking car, Judy limping a bit on her previously injured leg. We watch the elephant carefully for any sort of movement, but it simply sits, motionless, in the middle of the road, breathing in and out deeply.
"Too bad we don't have insurance" I say, "Sure could have used it with mayhem like him".
I hold my gun carefully, as does Judy. Even Avery wields a pistol, there to save our lives if we need him.
"Which way is the ocean?" Judy asks me.
I point to my right, luckily the opposite direction of the bloated elephant.
We immediately begin walking that way cautiously, not quite mentally prepared for the journey ahead. We finally get a few blocks away from the creature, and we take a moment to catch our breath. The surroundings around me remind me quite a bit of Zootopia; the buildings, sidewalks, stores, lights, and even the numerous decaying bodies.
"How are we going to survive on an island with this much food?" Judy asks out of the blue.
"Good question" I say, "Guess we'll have to go with plan B".
"What plan B?" she asks me.
"I don't know. This was your idea" I say, somewhat accusingly.
"Oh, so this is my fault, is it?" she asks me, obviously angry.
"Well, I mean you did suggest moving all our stuff to an island and trying to actually live there" I say.
"Well, you didn't have to turn the car over! You could have turned a bit more gently!"
"And what, risk crashing into that thing? I saved all of us, Fluff!" I argue.
"Gee, I don't kno-"
"Stop it!" Avery says loudly, wiping our argument clean out of the air, "If we're going to, you know...not die, arguing isn't going to help anything!" he says.
Judy and I glance at each other, and I take a deep breath.
"Okay, sorry about that, Carrots. I don't know what came over me" I say.
"It's alright, and you're right, too. We need a plan B" she says softly.
We continue walking towards the ocean, staying alert towards anything that may potentially harm us. We hear roars and screams way off in the distance every few minutes, making us all the more on edge. The buildings loom over us in a manner that could formerly be considered innocent, but now feels more like giants looking down on us, waiting to squash us like the bugs we are compared to this unforgiving world.
No car. No family, a cell phone on 76%, limited food, and limited ammo, surrounded by monsters. Yet still, everything to lose in the world, I think, looking at Judy and Avery walking alongside me.
"Free gum!" Avery exclaims, peeling a piece of gum off of a railing.
"No!" Judy says, "That's just asking for "free disease"!" She says.
"Aw, come on!" Avery exclaims, as Judy pulls Avery away from the rail, holding his hand the same way a mother does with her child.
I laugh to myself, imagining Avery trying to live on the street like I started doing around his age.
Now that's funny thought.
Avery POV
Wow, the city sure is a weird place.
All my life, I've lived in the woods with my dad and brother, and now, here I am in Los Animales. Pretty crazy!
As I bounce down the street beside Judy and Nick, I sing my current song: "Bold", which I think is pretty fitting right about this time.
A mean, how can a song about being brave in hard times be a negative thing? Apparently, Nick doesn't seem to argree.
"Please, Avery, for five minutes" he says tiredly, "For five minutes, could you stop the singing?"
I sigh for several seconds quite loudly.
"But I like singing" I declare.
"We don't want to attract anything unwanted" Judy says, siding with Nick.
The sun still hasn't set, due to us being in the far west, in a different time zone.
I look at my phone for the time.
6:41 PM.
Bedtime isn't for a while.
"So, how long until dinner time?" I ask curiously.
"Whenever we come across somewhere not asking to be murdered" Nick replies.
I sigh as my stomach growls for what feels like the thousandth time.
As Nick and Judy stop for a moment to inspect something on the ground, I sit on a bench for what used to be the bus stop, thinking to myself about all that's happened lately. I don't know what to call Nick and Judy, exactly. They seem to be my parents and my friends both at the same time, which is pretty cool to me. But boy, do I wish going to the shooting range with my dad and brother. Those were maybe the happiest times of my short life. Still, I feel obligated to be thankful for Judy and Nick, as they've protected me successfully so far. They've been like my new family, which really has gotten me this far.
I begin pondering a question that Nick asks a lot that always gets me thinking.
"Why aren't we infected yet?"
I mean, there's no way we can be immune to it. We're three normal people; well, on the outside. We aren't special compared to everyone else in the world. And besides, we aren't the only ones left, either.
Still though, we've even been touched and cut by these things, yet we still look and act like normal people. It defies all reason, if you ask me. And usually not many people ask me, so I don't know what I'm on about.
Well, besides the voice that talks to me. Now that's kind of weird.
"Okay, kiddo" Nick says to me, "We're stopping for a minute because Judy's leg is hurting. If you want some time to stuff your face, please do it now".
"Yes!" I say, immediately ripping into my backpack, pulling out as much food as I need...or think I need.
"Just don't eat so much that you explode or something" Judy says with a laugh as Nick helps her change her bandage.
Aw, they're so cute, I tell myself.
I mash a huge cheese sandwich into my mouth happily, glancing over at a strange structure to my left.
"Guys, what is that?" I ask, pointing to it.
"It's a subway station" Nick answers, "And before you ask, a subway is an underground train".
"Wow!" I say, not having seen a real subway station until now. Well, besides the sub restaurant.
"Judy? Remember when we got that train working back in Zootopia?" Nick asks.
"Yeah!" she responds.
"Well, I mean, we could try it now if you want" he says, "all the cars around are either out of gas or have a dead battery. Or don't have any keys available to us, so maybe-"
"Definitely! Let's give it a try" Judy responds.
"I finally will get to ride in an underground train!" I reply.
"Those zombie creeps will be a problem, though, of course" Nick says with a thoughtful look, scratching his chin with his claw.
"I'd rather risk that then continue walking the wide-open streets for four more hours" Judy replies.
Nick helps Judy to her feet, and I shove the last of my sandwich down my throat.
We walk over to the entrance, and peer down the staircase, seeing nothing but a pool of blood, and then darkness. The lights are completely out.
"Well, I guess we should get our flashlights out" Judy says in a nervous tone.
"Yeah" Nick says, staring down into the abyss in a shaky tone.
We begin walking down the stairs, as our steps echo into the darkness.
Is this a good idea?
Is venturing down into a pitch dark subway line to find a faster way to the shore a good or bad idea? Your call. Anyways, I'm glad that this story is mostly getting good reception. It motivates me all the more to make the story as presentable as possible. I'm having a lot of fun with the character of Avery, by the way. Oh! And I bet I had you there for a second with Judy's daydream scene. I would never be that cruel. Or would I? Please leave your thoughts in a review, and thanks for reading! As always, until next time!