Whiplash
Chapter 29 "Wild World"
By DragonMan1997
Zootopia © Disney
Jacob Hopps read through the article again and again as Theo slept on the couch across from him. The article titled "The Purer Truth," by Lily Clawhauser, was a detailed and thorough analysis of the discussion that the author had authorities at the ZPD about Novus Purification. He couldn't believe some of it. He wouldn't have believed most of it if it weren't for the fact of what his wife had told him. Mind control? It sounded crazy. Police were running around with these little metal tubes that generated an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to deactivate the devices that were controlling animals. It all almost sounded like a science fiction novel, like one of his own stories. Though, it was real now. It was actually happening.
Jacob forced his eyes from the article after reading it for the thirtieth time. It held so little information and absolutely no answers to the true question that were on his brain. Walking over to the couch, he brushed his fingers around Theo's ears. There was fur that had been shaved off and a bandage that covered the stitches on her head. Jacob remembered how scared he was when he was told that his wife had to have one of these mind control devices removed. But now she was safe; she was out of harm's way. Jacob didn't mind the safehouse, he didn't mind the guards, and he most certainly didn't mind not leaving. It was the fact that his family didn't know where he was that got to him. He knew it was very well possible that his sister knew, but she wouldn't let something so important in a situation like this slip to the rest of their family.
Theo was Jacob's biggest comfort. Knowing that she was alive and well, that came as his biggest relief. He elected to sit by her side until she woke. Watching her sleep, he thought about their relationship. Could it be possible that she only loved him because she was told to through this mind control? Jacob decided that was a stupid conclusion. Even if it were true, Theo would have told him if that were the case. He fought off the dark notions, the horribly possibilities of his love turning against him at the flip of a switch.
Theo stirred until she stretched into a yawn. "Jacob?" The bobcat stretched her paw out and pulled Jacob into a spooning position. "What time is it?"
Jacob hummed into a smile as he laid by his wife. "It's six in the morning."
Theo groaned. "It's early. How are you ever up this early." Then she realized. "Wait, were you up all night again?
"Yeah." Jacob admitted.
Theo huffed as she tightened her grip around her husband. "I told you, just relax till this whole thing blows over."
"How can I relax with what's going on?" Jacob sighed as sleep teased him but still never came. "We're in hiding from the very people who used you and manipulated you."
"Their secret is out though, they're more vulnerable than they ever were before. The police have a way to free everyone who's under their control." Theo rubbed her chin into the fur of Jacob's head. "It'll all be over soon."
Jacob recalled one of his lingering questions that he had held off for the longest time. "What did they make you do?"
"I don't remember." Theo tried her best. "It was like I was dreaming. But, do you know how you can't seem to remember a dream no matter how hard you try? It's like that."
Jacob sighed. "So, they really threatened you?"
Theo shivered at the memory of when two NP's showed up and forced her to submit to the brain implants. "They threatened to kill you if I didn't comply. I could never live with myself if anything happened to you."
"I understand." Jacob felt sleep finally take over him. "It's going to be fine."
Several hours passed before Jacob woke. He was a little concerned when he awoke by himself on the couch. Hearing that the shower in the bathroom was running, he calmed down. Sitting up, he popped the joints in his back before he searched for the remote. Finding it on the coffee table, he turned on the television. It was old, but at least it was loud enough to hear.
"Well Jim, I'm standing at the scene here where Police are wrapping up their investigation of exactly what it was that happened yesterday. As we've come to understand, an NP attack was put to a screeching halt when a young tiger intervened. According to eyewitnesses, he was going door to door with some friends doing service for the neighborhood when he heard the screams." The scene changed to the face of an elderly moose.
"I was sitting on my porch when these boys came up to my house, with these funny looking post office hats, and asked if there was anything they could do for me. I told him, okay. You can paint my fence. Then there was this loud scream from the alley way. I was worried because I knew a lot of kids used that area as a short cut. I assumed the worst, but this tiger, he asks me to go call the police. I did, and when I come out again I see these boys fighting these strange soldiers and take them down." The screen shifted back to the reporter.
"The police arrived shortly after and arrested the NP suspects. Here's footage of one of of the victims of this attack, Keith Clover, and what he has to say about his unexpected rescuers."
A gazelle being attended by a medic spoke. "I was so scared that my sister and I were doomed. I honestly thought we were gonna die. But then, Adam and his friends came and saved our tails. I have more gratitude for him now than when I first knew him. He saved my sister. And, that was one of the greatest reliefs to know that my sister, Liz, was alright."
The reported smiled as he stood in a different area. "Now if you look behind me, you'll notice how white this fence appears. It's the same fence that the resident allowed these boys to paint. The police have told us that upon their arrival, the boys went to work immediately to finish painting the fence. The leader of this bunch, a tiger by the name of Adam Hobbes, has proclaimed that he was just doing what any good citizen would do. His friends all agree that they're dedicated to serving their community and doing all that they can to help."
Jacob smiled at the incident. Finally, he thought, some cheerful good news.
The screen returned to the newsroom. "Alrighty then Carl, thanks for the info. We just received some more info about this miraculous bunch of boys. Apparently they call themselves the Post Office Batallion. And instead of carrying letters, they carry service and a hopeful message about a brighter future. We've heard also that they have a growing number of members, local citizens from the various districts of Zootopia, including but not limited to members of the Neighborhood Watch, the Junior Ranger Scouts, and even a ZPD officer who was seen wearing his new postal hat as he and his partner helped an old couple cross the street. In other news, regarding the ZPD, police have geared up. As they've been apprehending more and more NP recruits, they're starting to look more like soldiers now than peace kee-."
Jacob shut off the television. "Totalitarian Extremists trying to take over the world, Vigilantees, Post Office Batallion, Mind Control, and Militarized Police?" The rabbit laughed at the absurdity of it all. "Sounds like an interesting book." His eyes lit up for a moment as he thought about it. "Nah. not worth my time." Jacob brushed the idea away. "But, then again…" Jacob searched frantically for a notebook and paper.
Finally finding a composition book on the bookshelf and the first pen he could find, Jacob began to scribble down the words that poured from his mind. "It was the year twenty forty nine when the world seemingly cracked like an egg. No one really knew how or why it happened. Those that did were long since dead and forgotten under radioactive rubble in the form of ashen shadows. The world was broken. Animals panicked and became violent. The dark ages were suddenly upon us again. However, this broken world was not without order.
"Some form of life persevered. From the remnants of society, tribes and clans formed. Animals who had not lost their sanity rallied together those who were lost." Jacob paused as he tapped the pen against his forehead in thought. "Settlements rose up from the ashes of the old world. But, they remained divided by fear. Their determination to survive kept them isolated from one another. The settlements kept to themselves. In another part of the land, an ambitious mammal saw an opportunity. He sought to unify the settlements. Though, his plan to accomplish this was questionable. He wanted to rule as an unquestioned king with divine right. His followers grew and an army was formed. But, he did not trust his own soldiers to follow his precise orders. Pulling together his best scientists, he was able to use old world technology to control the minds of his armies. They no longer thought for themselves, they were as unstoppable as a hurricane. Their leader became known as the black bird, the Raven.
"Only one settlement dared to stand up to the Raven's army. The remnants of the police force had the weapons and tactics that gave them the chance of victory, but even they were not immune to the military might of the extreme obedience of the Raven's army. Hope seemed like it was lost. Then one day, a drifter came traveling from the north. After his family had all died in the nuclear winter, he decided to take his chances down south. He came across the Raven's army and was beguiled by their promise of unity. But, he found out the horrible truth about how false their claims were when he saw the destruction of settlements first hand. He fled.
"Hiding out in an old mail truck, he disguised himself with the uniform of the dead letter carrier. He roamed again, from settlement to settlement. Our drifter felt out of place with his new clothes, so he produced a story, a fictional tale to explain why he wore what he wore. He would explain that he was a postal carrier from the newly restored government known as Zootropolis. And though he secretly scoffed at his own tale. Many took his tale as a sign. Long after he traveled northward again, settlements began sending their own couriers and letter carriers to each other. They became unified as information flowed freely. They overcame their fear of each other, and their unity became the stumbling block of the Raven's forces."
Jacob smiled wide with each detail of the initial plot. "The settlements needed more though if they were to succeed. They needed a leader. So they sent their best carriers in search of the original drifter himself." He stopped when he heard the floor creak behind him. Theo was there.
"How do you do it?" Theo asked as she held a towel around her body.
Jacob shrugged his shoulders. "Write?"
"No," Theo circled around the couch, "how do you make it sound so real? I'll admit, some of your stories can be overwhelming, but they always sound believable."
Jacob closed the composition book in front of him. He scribbled a title out before setting it aside. "It does sound believable, doesn't it? It almost sounds real. That's strange. Why would something so out there sound so real?"
"Well, it seemed real to me." Theo sat next to Jacob as she picked up the composition book. "Wild World?"
Jacob hummed at hearing the title. "It's a song title. I heard it on the radio the other day. It also gives me an idea for the main character. Maybe he'll say something along the lines, it was harder to tell who was more savage, me or everyone else."
Theo squinted her eyes in a quizzical way. "I feel like you stole that from something."
Jacob laughed. "Every writer steals from everything. We steal from life, we steal from our friends, we steal from our lovers," he brushed his paw over Theo's, "but it doesn't no matter what you steal, it won't make a difference. How you steal it, that's what makes all the difference."
Theo smiled as she held onto her husband's paw. "You stole my heart. Yes, you stole my heart in the best way. You convinced me to give it freely. And, there's no one else I would rather have it stolen by. But for a thief, you take good care of what you steal."
"A good thief always polishes the diamonds he steals, especially if you intend to keep them." Jacob moved in to kiss his wife.
The moment shattered with the glass windows of the house as animals dressed in black took out the guards and circled around Jacob and Theo. The two clung to each other as the whole wall came crashing down. Through it, the Raven came flying in on her mechanical wings which folded up upon landing. Pressing a button on the side of her head, the bird mask opened up to reveal her face. "Love, how disgusting."
"Kit?" Jacob stood up in anger. "You leave her alone! Don't you dare-."
Kit immediately shot Jacob with a tranquilizer dart that knocked him out cold. "Take him." She turned to her soldiers. "Lieutenant Tigre!"
A tall soldier stepped forward. "Yes sir!"
Kit grinned at the devastation in Theo's face. "Kill the traitor. Everyone else, meet me in the Rainforest District." With that the Raven closed her mask and took flight.
Each soldier left until only Lieutenant tigre remained. The glass from the windows cracked under his feet with each step he took. Taking off his mask, he was all to recognisable to Theo.
"Tigre?" Theo couldn't believe it. "How could you? Why would you do this? Why are you helping them? What about your wife?"
Tigre raised his rifle with the poison dart loaded and ready to go. "You all will pay for your crimes."
Theo saw there was no escape from the barrel pointed right at her. She closed her eyes. "Jacob!" She heard the dart fly, but when she opened her eyes, she saw that it was stuck in the side of the couch.
"The task is done." Tigre switched off the communicator that was built into the collar of his NP uniform. Theo stared up at him, still in disbelief that she was alive. "It's going to be okay Theo. But first, we need to get Jacob's sister on the horn."
"Judy?" Theo carefully stood up, still holding onto her towel. "I don't understand. What's going on?"
"I've been working as a double agent." Tigre pulled out a goldish metallic rod. "This is a tracking device. I've got the location of the Raven's base of operations. But, now is the time to act. They're weak right now. We have the chance to snuff out Novus Purificatio once and for all."
