I haven't had a panic attack in ages- AGES- but holy hell I haven't forgotten how awful they feel… I can't breathe, there's no air getting to my head, oh my gods oh my gods Celestials above I feel like I'm going to pass out…
"Please tell me that this is all just some sort of April Fools gag please?"
"Mary, for one, it's November, two, no… and I'm really sorry but you're gonna need to go down to the city morgue to identify him…"
Well, this- this is a little much for me right now… nineteen and already in way over my head, how is this going to help find my friends?
"Only if you promise to keep looking for Jason and Chief Otterton, alright?"
"We're doing our best, Judy, we're doing our best… now go down to the morgue…"
"But-"
"That's an order, officer…"
"Yes sir, of course, sir…"
The morgue is only about a block away, a small, rather decrepit (probably purposefully so) office building tucked away on a back street… and I hate it… As soon as I step inside, the cold invades right through my clothes, right through my wool and everything- there's only one thing that's on my mind-
It's cold in here.
That's quite literally just about all I can really think right about now, as I step into the morgue, following a thylacine officer whose name I don't know and quite honestly I don't care to find out.
A few minutes earlier I'd wandered down here, mind still in a blur, a weird red haze flickering at the edges of my eyes. I'm really on edge right now, and I don't know why. This whole scenario just reminds me of the scat that went down that got me sent here, the scat that's still going down, it's been just about twenty, maybe twenty-four hours since the mammal I like the most, as well as the otter who might have been my only hope at getting inside the mind of any of the disgusting creatures that would have done this sort of thing to me and to everyone else, every other mammal in the city of Zootopia, yeah, she's gone too…
And all I know is that for once I'm glad to have company here. I may not really like him, I certainly don't trust him, but Wolfard is a mammal who I at least feel makes sense-
That got thought wrong- if something happens to me, well, three times with him around is a pattern… not that I haven't already realized that he probably wants to hurt me- but then at least there'd be a suspect…
The thylacine pulls out a drawer from the bank of cold steel cabinets and drawers, all of them polished to a shine, each and every single one of them with a tag tucked in the front…
The one that he goes to is along the left wall, column A1…
Drawer thirteen… there's a joke there, I know it, but whatever the hell it's supposed to be, I don't get it, and I definitely don't find it freaking funny, not at all… I may have hated the mammal with all of my guts but he was still my father, there's that going for him at the very least…
The drawer rolls open, and the thylacine pulls back the sheet, and yeah, that's definitely my father… oh my god oh my god oh my freaking-
Air gods above I really really need air…
Breathe, Mary!
Okay, good thing you forgot to eat breakfast again, Mary, I think to myself, otherwise you'd be retching your guts out all over the freaking place… breathe wait the air's starting to smell weird again oh gods this isn't good…
"Do you smell something, Mary, or am I just imagining things?" Wolfard asks me, and I shake my head.
"I don't know sir, I think I'm smelling the same thing…"
"Reminds me of my time in the war," he says, panting… "this doesn't feel right, Mary…"
The thylacine's left the room, when did they do that? I didn't even hear them go…
"Mary, this really doesn't feel right," Wolfard says, panicking now. "Mary, check the door, quick, hurry…"
I do as I'm told, of course, I'm a good officer… and "It's locked!"
"Are you sure?"
"I may have hooves but I can open doors!"
"That doesn't answer my question!" he snaps, more angrily than I've ever heard him…
"Yes sir, it's locked sir!" I yell back, the air getting hot and thick now, and oh scat it's starting to turn blue...
"Please don't eat me," I whisper, hooves together.
"What?"
I point to the corner, where there's gas pouring out of the grates all over the place, and Wolfard looks terrified…
"I'll do my- going quick Mary- best- but- agh! -no promises…"
And I'm running, afraid… Even as I flee I can hear him screaming for me to come back, for me not to leave him, and then as he loses it, I can hear him begging me to tell his wife and pups that he didn't mean to hurt me, please, tell them that he didn't mean to hurt me…
And then he's gone, and a savage wolf is after me and I'm running, running, running all over the place, trying to flee, trying to slam doors behind me but I'm not fast enough and OW! He just got my arm a little bit with his claws oh gods he's got me, hoof to the face, sorry officer, I don't want to do this and I force him off of me, get back up, jump up onto one of the tables that's thankfully empty and I level my gun at him- it's only a tranquilizer gun, it should just put him to sleep, right?
I shoot him, and he drops, and he's frothing at the mouth this isn't right this isn't right- and he chokes out a plea for help… it shouldn't have worked that quickly, the gas is making me lightheaded, gods, he's not breathing is he- he's just out cold, right? Right- oh my god oh my god oh my god… no, he's more than just out cold, no no no no!
Check his pulse, please Celestials above let him have a pulse...
Nothing... my heart drops.
Grab the radio off of my belt- it's not working, flock me!
Grab Wolfard's radio, thank the Celestials above that there's a connection!
"Nine-nine-nine, officer down, officer down officer down at the city morgue, officer down officer down!" I scream my throat raw, scream and scream and scream until I pass out from the lack of oxygen, and when I wake up the blood on my hooves- how'd that get there, I don't remember, there wasn't any blood, did I do CPR or something?
What's going on I don't understand- why is my uniform all torn up- it looks like I've been clawed? Sure feels like it too...
And there's a knife in my hoof! Where'd that come from? It's not mine!
This isn't right! I didn't do anything! I'm innocent what just happened I can't remember anything please!
"Mary Bellwether, I should have known… we never should have taken you on in the first place… and now you'll go to rot… just like your mother... "
Screw you, Delgado!
They're loading me into a cruiser and there's still blood all over me and I see them drape a sheet all over the whole mess, load a wolf into the back of a bus- wolf's body, I mean-
And then I'm being shoved in and the door is being slammed behind me…
And I still have no idea what's going on… only that I feel like I'm following down the same path that my parents are…
And that chills me to the bone...
And I just know- I just flocking know- that this isn't going to turn out well...
Hey folks, sorry for the holdup, it's been crazy here… hope you're all doing okay, despite everything… best wishes!
-WP