Chapter 11: Death in the Bayou.
In the darkness, the fox felt the rabbit stirring as his foxhood was pressed against her back. She turned and yawned before kissing him on the side of his muzzle. He kissed her on the mouth and she responded with passion. Pushing her onto her stomach, he mounted her from behind and began driving himself into her with primal lust until finally he was satisfied. He grimaced as she once again snuggled into him, because she was dripping and sticky. "You get to wash the sheets tomorrow," she muttered before falling back to sleep. Nick just sighed and tried to get comfortable.
A few hours later, their alarm buzzed and Nick rolled on his back, he let out a growl. "Come on Nick, you've got to clean up before we go for our morning run." Judy said as she stretched and hopped off the bed. "You promised me you would start running with me again."
"Mmmfpt!" was all the fox could say at first. He yawned and gave a little whine before he sat up. "No sun…too early…fox sleep." He collapsed backward on the bed with a groan.
The rabbit hopped back on the bed and said, "Fox up…run as promised…no sex again if don't"
"Not fair!" the fox chuckled. "But your too late for that threat, I beat you to it last night."
"Nothing like being rudely awakened with a fox inside of you," the rabbit sarcastically replied. "Wham…bam…thank you ma'am."
"Sorry fluff," the fox almost whined. "I just needed you." His ears were flat on his head and his tail was wrapped closely to his side.
"I needed you too, Slick!" she replied as she leaned towards him for a kiss. Slapping his tail away, she added, "Now I need you to get up and go running with me."
"Ugggggh!" the fox growled as he rolled out of his bed and wandered towards the bathroom. "My butt still hurts!"
"Slick, we need hurry if we're going to get five miles in before work!" the rabbit said.
Finally he rummaged around, found his shorts and a t-shirt, and then followed her out the door.
"So you were kitnapped by a crazy old girlfriend?" Wolford asked.
"She wasn't always crazy," the fox sighed. "When we first met, she was sweet but naive. I guess she just ran off the sanity tracks a few years later. I was only eighteen when she caught me trying to scam some old widow out of a few bucks and stopped me flat in my tracks. One thing led to another and we ended up in bed a few times. I didn't love her, but was just using her for the sex." The fox sighed again at the wolf's disapproving look. "Loyalty, duty, and honor are all wolf beliefs and not something taught to foxes. I was young, horny and stupid, and then she told me that she loved me. I ran away like a pup and avoided her for years. Sometime during that time, she lost her job and ended up on the streets working as a hooker. She got into drugs and it has warped her mind, now she runs scams for the mob."
"She's now a liability to mob," Wolford said. "They know we're after her for kitnapping you and so she is a link to the Big Cat himself. She's not safe and we need to find her quick or she will be dead."
"Wilde...Wolford..!" Clawhauser's voice came over their radios. "Report in immediately. Guys they've seen your vixen! A patrol car has just seen Moxey and a mangy lion heading up toward the Black Bayou in the Rainforest District, the officer held back and radioed it in. Bogo wants you two to head up there and bring her back."
It took about forty minutes for them to arrive and the officer was waiting for them at the trailhead. "The lion's got her tied up in the old shack down by the docks," the tapir said. The tall mammal had a double barreled tranquilizer gun in addition to an old fashioned dart gun. Watching the wolf charge up his taser rifle, he added, "There's a lot of water around here so be careful with that gun, I'd hate for you to zap yourself."
As silently as possible, they began approaching the cabin. Suddenly the door flew open and a muscular but mangy lion walked out with Moxey slung over his shoulder. The vixen was screaming for help and pleading as he walked towards the pier. Nick heard Wolford whisper, "What the hell is he doing?"
"Police, put her down now!" the tapir yelled. "Stay away from the water!"
The lion turned towards the cop with wide eyes, but instead of stopping he ran up the embankment towards a pool of slime covered water.
"Stop him!" the officer yelled as he kneeled and fired both barrels into the fleeing lion's back. The lion staggered as he reached the top of the embankment and then lifted the vixen over his head and threw her into the water.
Wolford fired his taser gun and the lion shook as the electrical charge stunned him. He was already groggy and fell backwards down the embankment.
"Moxey", Nick yelled as he sprinted towards the top of the embankment he began to tear off this shirt and pulled at his dart proof vest.
"No don't!" the tapir yelled as he tackled the fox. "She's dead by now!"
"No, we can save her!" Nick replied as he wiggled himself loose and climbed on all fours to the top of the embankment. He skidded to a halt as he looked at the water before him in shock. The bloody water was foaming as huge alligators were fighting over the dead vixen's remains. Below him the lion was desperately clawing at the jaws of a reptile which had firmly latched onto the mammal's legs and was dragging him further into the water. Drawing his pistol, the fox fired all three tranquilizer rounds at the alligator. He was reloading his gun when, Wolford reached him and dragged him from the edge.
"Nick!" the wolf shook him. "Get a hold of yourself!"
The fox looked at the wolf and then down at where the lion had by now been dragged to his death into the water. A smaller seven foot gator was trying to climb up the muddy embankment towards the wolf and the fox. Grabbing the telescoping taser baton that Jake had given him, the fox put it on maximum setting and it crackled with sparks, Q had told him the taser could drop a bull. As the alligator opened its jaws and hissed, Nick yelled, "Eat this you bastard!" He threw the baton into the reptile's gaping jaws. The beast went tense and shook for a few moments before it slid backwards, with now sightless eyes, into the water below.
Wolford pulled Nick off the embankment and towards the cabin. They could hear the other officer on the radio calling for Fish & Wildlife to dispatch officers to the scene and also reporting into his station.
Nick sat on the old shack's porch and Wolford joined him. Sighing, the wolf pulled his radio out and called into dispatch. "Ben get me Fangmeyer…Fang, she's dead, a lion tossed her into a gator pit…Nick's okay, but really shook up…me too!...Fish & Wildlife has been called…nothing could have been done…give us a moment, then we'll head back."
The tapir joined them and sat down, "It looks like I'm going to be here for a while. Once the F&W guys get here you two can book, but they'll want statements first. Look guys, shit like this happens too much up here, this isn't the first gator attack I've seen. She was a damn good looking vixen too!" he said as he shook his head.
Nick looked up at him and growled, "She was an old friend! Who was that damn lion?"
"Sorry pal," the officer replied. "Locals called him Silent Bob because he was a mute. Been living up here for close to ten years, rumor say he disposed of bodies for some gang. Never could pin him down, at least not until today."
Nick stared at the embankment, there were tears in his eyes, and he mumbled, "She didn't deserve this…I should have treated her nicer…"
Wolford put his paw on the fox's back and said, "Nick you shouldn't blame yourself, she got in with some bad mammals. You couldn't have saved her."
The fox only answered with a sniffle.
After filing their report with Fangmeyer, Bogo sent the two officers home. It was late and Judy had already left by the time Nick finished. Boarding the subway, he sighed as an old goat looked at him in disgust and let out a hummph. Some things never change, do they? He thought before looked out the window. He exited at this street's station and slowly walked towards his apartment, his feet felt like lead and his tail was dragging behind him. Step by step he made his way up the building's three stories to his apartment and sighed as he saw the doorknob. Digging for his keys, he unlocked the door and inside he could smell chicken and rice, which was one of his favorite dishes. Glumly, he looked towards the bedroom and he could hear her humming. She called out to him and his tail wagged some in happiness at the sound of her voice. "Nick are you okay?" she asked again as she entered the room.
He wearily sat down on the couch and she came over to him. Lifting his face with her paws, she peered into his eyes. He blinked at the look of concern she gave him with her lovely violet eyes, she was so beautiful and more then he deserved in his life. Gently she kissed him on his cheek and pulled his muzzle to her breast as he cried.
He had no appetite, so they just talked late into the night as Nick told her about Moxey and the way he mistreated her. Judy knew that he just had to mourn and listened as he went from being disgusted to angry with himself, finally he fell asleep with his head in her lap.
It was well past midnight when Judy managed to awaken him enough to go to bed, where he tossed in turned in his sleep as she cleaned up the kitchen. The fox dreamed of beady eyes peering at him from the murky waters. In his dream a raccoon was standing in the water looking at him, when suddenly huge toothy jaws bit down on the coon. "Jake!" he screamed as he awoke and frantically searched for his phone. Dialing his friend he muttered, "Answer coon…come on answer!"
"Wwwhat?" Jake said as he answered the phone. The raccoon didn't sound quite right, he was mumbling. "Ow, don't bite my tail!"
"Are you okay?" Nick frantically asked. Judy had entered the room and looked at him with concern. "Who's biting you? DO YOU NEED HELP?" He yelled in the phone.
"Hunh, it's Nick," Jake mumbled as he was talking to someone else. Then he said, "Diamonds said get your own coon, fox." There was a thump and Nick heard giggling followed by a female's moan. He looked up at Judy and his ears were laid flat. "I think he's busy," the fox said as he hung up the phone. "I had a nightmare that an alligator ate him."
"Oh Nick!" Judy said as she climbed into the bed. "Jake's fine!"
"I think he's more than fine," the fox chuckled. He pulled the bunny closer to him and whispered in her ear, "You know you love me?"
"Do I know that?" Judy giggled. "Yes, yes I do!"
She slipped from the bed and stripped off her clothes before turning off the light. Gently she climbed back in bed and snuggled up to her emotionally drained fox. He yawned and the she felt him rub her with his chin, before he sighed and his tail wrapped over her.
Before he fell back asleep, Nick could smell his rabbit and the scent of his mark. His bunny was safe, his friend was safe, and now he could finally relax.