Chapter 28 – Epilogue

Nicholas Wilde was standing near the entrance to the Pet Str. Cemetery in the town of Horne, the capital of Horne County, sheltering himself from the pouring spring rain with a big umbrella.

His fur was red again, as he had washed off the black dye when camouflage became no longer necessary. His injured tail also looked just like before, thanks to the artificial hair extensions he got for it. He was wearing his old street clothes again, too.

The fox couldn't take his eyes off a black marble monument before which he was standing. The golden letters on the surface of the stone read:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE MANY UNKNOWN VICTIMS

OF BUTCHER'S DEN

AND THE MONSTROSITIES OF CARNIVORISM,

WHOSE FINAL RESTING PLACES REMAIN A MYSTERY,

THEIR UNCONSOLED FAMILIES AND FRIENDS.

Underneath, there was inscribed the biblical verse:

For you, brethren, have been called unto liberty: only make not liberty an occasion to the flesh, but by charity of the spirit serve one another. For all the Law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another (Galatians 5, 13-15)

When he finished reading the last sentence, the animal cried.

After the ZPD found him lying naked in the snow on Christmas Day, Nick was immediately put in a hospital in the state of almost total exhaustion. He was, however, able to force himself to utter a few words to chief Bogo when his boss came to visit the rescued officer.

It was then that he revealed to the police that the reptiles were indeed the ones responsible for the disappearances, and that they all lurked in the sewers.

A hunt was organized without delay. But although the tunnels underneath Zootopia were thoroughly scoured, and many horrifying signs of the presence of the reptiles discovered, no herps were actually caught. The other carnivores must have found those whom Nick had shot, and fled.

From then on, the ZPD organized regular patrols in the sewers all around the city, and had surveillance cameras installed to prevent a similar threat from rearising in the future. Excavations began in order to find if there was some sort of a hidden underground passage between Zootopia and Scaledonia.

The remains of officer Judy Hopps were also never discovered. It was therefore assumed that she had been killed by the reptiles.

All was not lost, however. When the ZPD officers pulled out from the Dragon's lair a gruesome tome of the draconites, a book printed on parchment and written in blood, called the Liber Draconis, Nick explained to them the purpose of the item.

Over five hundred carnivores from all walks of life, whose names were listed within the book, were caught in the following days around Zootopia and in the neighboring counties. All of them were immediately put in jail. By now, many had already been sentenced, and awaited execution.

Informed about the true reason of their prolonged crisis, the predators and herbivores of the city let go of their mutual animosity completely, uniting against a common enemy- the reptiles. Riots began in the Canal District which they inhabited, and cases of lynching were even reported. When mayor Lionheart tried to prevent the enraged mammals from executing their revenge, he was promptly impeached.

In his place, the more conservative councilor Swinton was soon elected. One of the new mayor's first ordinances was what became known as the St. Petrick's Day Edict. Signed on March 17th, it stripped all reptiles from the right to reside within the boundaries of Zootopia, and exiled those who had until recently been legally living there. The small minority had no other choice but to relocate to Scaledonia. Whether they were guilty, or not.

With the people's common foe gone, the city breathed with relief, now finally able to experience a time of peace, after such a long time of crisis.

After recovering from his injuries, Nick ran away from the hospital before Zootopia could dub him a hero. Both the press and the ZPD attempted to find the courageous officer, who was missing yet again. But the fox hid himself well.

Wiping away his tears, he looked at the tiny paper flags which were sticking out of the plot of flattened dirt in front of the monument. Each of the flags had a name on it, and commemorated a different victim of carnivorism.

He just couldn't make himself attend his friend's official funeral in Bunnyburrow. He wouldn't be able to look in her family's faces after what had happened. That was why he came to that place this day, instead.

With a shaking paw, the fox reached into the pocket of his slacks. He took out of it a ZPD police badge, which bore the name Judith L. Hopps.

Nick then put the badge by the side of the monument.

His partner had been posthumously re-promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Although his own degradation had also been cancelled, Nick probably cared about that just as much as Judy right now.

"Rest in peace, Carrots…" he mumbled with a shaky voice, barely keeping himself from bursting out in tears.

The fox then arose and, slowly walking down the wet paths of the cemetery, returned to his car.

He opened the door on the driver's side, folded his umbrella, and got in. Beside him, on the passenger seat, sat a vixen.

"Are you all right?" Scarlet asked him with concern, putting her paw on his shoulder.

Nick turned his eyes at her. She looked much better right now, without her punkish disguise. Just like he remembered her.

The female's sight soothed him, and he was soon able to calm his breath.

"Yeah," he said to her. "I'll be fine."

The vixen nodded. Then, reaching into her purse, she grabbed something from inside of it. It was a medicine bottle which had the word Carnisol written on the label.

Scarlet unscrewed the cap, took a pill, and then handed the bottle to Nick.

"Take this, it's time," she encouraged him.

Doing what she said, Nick also swallowed the muscular protein substitute. Then, looking over his shoulder, he called:

"Ezra!"

"Yes, dad," the kit answered him, continuing to play out the role he had been given.

The little fox received the bottle from Nick, took a pill himself, and then gave it back to Scarlet, his 'mother'.

Afterwards, the vixen looked toward the male again.

"You ready? Are you sure you don't want me to drive?"

"No, it's okay," Nick dismissed her worries, though he sighed rather uneasily after he said that, unable to look her in the eyes.

He then started the engine.

As they got on the highway which ran toward Zootopia, the troubled fox turned on the radio, desperately trying to distract himself somehow.

The voice of the singer flowed from the speakers.

I've been a liar, been a thief

Been a lover, been a cheat

All my sins need holy water, feel it washing over me…

While still driving, Nick rolled down the window on his side and lit himself a cigarette. In these circumstances, Scarlet permitted him to smoke even in front of the kit.

But the tobacco smoke couldn't kill the persistent aftertaste of blood he still felt in his mouth.

For a very long time now, the fox had been looking for a reason to live. But in order to find that, he needed escape- escape from his past, and all the horrors associated with it. He hoped that, perhaps, the old con artist whom he was would be able to find peace within a family of con artists?

That almost worked. But one night, he had to admit to Scarlet openly- he did not want her as his wife only in order to pull off another hustle. No, he desired her to be more than that.

The vixen happily agreed.

Nick wanted a Catholic wedding. A modest, but real one. Although, if he wanted to get married in the Church, he first needed to become a member again. And in order to do that, he had to once again return to Zootopia.

He parked the car on Cypress Grove Lane, right in front of Old St. Petrick's. Scarlet could see how much his paws were shaking as he hesitated before opening the door.

"Don't worry, you can do it!" she attempted to cheer him up with a smile. "It'll all be over in a minute."

"Yeah, we'll be waiting right here for you," Ezra also encouraged him from the back seat.

Looking on his make-believe family, which was soon to become his real family, with gratitude, yet still with an almost indescribable burden weighing him down, the fox exited the vehicle tardily…

As he ascended the steps of the church, it felt as if his legs, just like the building itself, were made of solid stone.

He pushed the large wooden door, what created a screeching echo. The rain had stopped by now, and the sun which was shyly looking out from behind the clouds illuminated the floor of the church with the colorful lights reflected from the stained glass windows.

Fr. O'Rinse was praying in the back pew, waiting for him, and when he saw his former parishioner coming in, he got up to confront him. The raccoon, dressed in his priestly garb and a purple stole which Nick always thought to have been a fancy scarf in his younger years, smiled and pointed his finger at the holy water fountain.

Realizing that the stress made him forget about proper church etiquette yet another time, Nick dipped his paw in the water, and crossed himself.

Only then did the priest greet him.

"It's good to see you again. You're right on time. Follow me, m'boy, and let's get started."

Fr. O'Rinse then led the fox to the confessional box, and sat inside of it. Shaking like a leaf, Nick bent his knees at the grill to begin his confession.

"B-bless me, father, for I have s-sinned…" he stammered, hardly able to squeeze the words out of his throat. "… m-my last confession… was twenty-five years ago."

"I know that! I was the one who heard it!" the old raccoon inside the booth said merrily, probably in order to loosen up the tension. "Now, tell me something I don't know."

"I-I…" the surprised fox yelped. But then he went completely numb, unable to utter another word.

"Well? What's so scary, eh?" the priest spoke to him compassionately. "Don't worry, you already told me that you've eaten meat. We can cross that off the list. Now what else happened since the last time?"

Silence.

"You still remember how this is done, don't you?" the raccoon wondered aloud, realizing that, after such a long time, perhaps his penitent needed a little help. "Do you remember the Ten Commandments, Nicholas?"

"Y-yes, I do…" stuttered the fox.

"Well then, please tell me which ones you have broken."

Astonished, Nick knelt there with his mouth agape for a few more seconds. And then, with tears in his eyes and in complete honesty, he said something that surprised even the old priest who was hearing his confession.

"All of them."


THE END


AN: Yup. This is it.

I am going to be honest with you. I'm surprised that so many of you have persevered until the very end of this story, which (when counting the first part), has began almost five months ago! I was actually kind of selfish with the sequel. I used this story to get rid of some negative emotions, and didn't quite care about what the readers expected. I wrote what I wanted to write. That's why the story is so dark and twisted, I guess. But still, you held on! Congratulations!

In case the Aftertaste of Blood is leaving you with a feeling of bitterness, the ending is purposely vague. I left some questions open. Is the reptile threat really completely gone, or are the Scaledonians, angered by their defeat and exile, about to to declare an open war against mammals? Did Nick abandon the police to run away with his new family of former carnivores? Will he find peace together with Scarlet and Ezra? And, most importantly, is Judy really dead?

Her body was never found. The Dragon may have told Nick that he killed and ate her, but the fox himself has no real way to find out if that is true. Perhaps, after Nick threw up the Night howler serum and the reptiles figured out that he was no longer under its influence, they locked Judy away again? Or perhaps she used the opportunity to run away from them, and hid within the tunnels underneath Zootopia, sneaking from one carnivore outpost to the other in the dark, poisoning the herps as revenge? Maybe she's still hiding there, hunting for scalies?

I'm not going to answer that. You make of it what you will.

Judy's sacrifice has been rightfully honored, and she will be remembered as Zootopia's hero. She has been avenged by Nick, who has personally put their persecutors to justice- the corrupt Scaledonian ambassador, Allastor LaCoste, the members of Butcher's Den who have been hiding from the police, like Rufus, Jimmy and Kiara, and even the demonic Dragon himself. But still, this is a story about failure. Would it have gone better had Nick and Judy not fought so much, but cooperated in looking for the carnivores? Perhaps. But since they didn't, Nick is blaming himself for the death of his partner, even if he caused it while in a state of a lack of self-control. The only one who can still give him a reason to live, is Scarlet. And the only one who can forgive him, is God himself.

Thank you for being with me throughout all this time. Both of these stories are basically a book right now. I think I need a rest from Zootopia, at least until the sequel comes out. Or, perhaps, Zootopia needs a rest from me XD

Bye!