Chapter 3
"Ugh...w….wh…what the hell...ugh...happened?" I murmured to myself as pain wracked my forehead each time I tried to open my eyes. I let out a loud prolonged groan as I finally mustered up enough strength to open my eyes only to receive the mother of all headaches. After a couple of minutes the pain began to recede from my head allowing me to finally open my eyes to the world once again, although what greeted me was completely different to what I was accustomed to. Instead of the usual grey concrete roads and quiet back streets of a small town that I always woke up, to there was instead a humongous city with weird swirling skyscrapers and what seemed to be a train line of sorts running through the city.
The city in my opinion looked like a futuristic style New York City combined with other wacky buildings and sky scrapers. As my eyes began to adjust more to the light I could see where my body was now residing. Instead of the cosy couch that I always woke up to I was instead lying on grass which seemed to be on a city park of some sorts. The park itself had a few trees strewn about the place as well as a walk path and some wooden benches. "Where in the hell am I?" I murmured to myself as I stood up rubbing my forehead which for some odd reason felt weird. I then tried to recall what happened to me prior to waking up. I remembered waking up on my couch before getting a knock at my apartment door too early in the morning for my liking. I then remembered that the person knocking on my door was….the postman…no…..it was Alex.
I smiled to myself as I mentally high five an imaginary version of myself for recalling who was at the door. I continued to recall the events that transpired after Alex's abrupt appearance at my apartment from being knocked out by Alex all the way up to Dave taking me somewhere in the van he hired. But for the life of me I couldn't recall what happened after that. And that really annoyed me. It was the type of annoying like when you watch your toast in the toaster to make sure it doesn't burn, but the second you look away it's on fire. "Ugh what the hell is wrong with you brain. I swear you only help me when I'm scamming people and playing poker." I made to face palm myself but as I pulled my hand up to do so I noticed something which made my green eyes widen in fear and panic.
What was once a normal human hand was now a black paw complete with small claws and paw pads? I stared at the foreign appendage with bewilderment and oar as the appendage moved wright in front of my face. Or what should have been my face as the more my eyes got used to the light of day the more I could see of the thing that was now sticking out of my face. "What in god's name is wrong with my face?" I shouted crossing my eyes in the process so I could see what the thing sticking out of my face was.
The more I looked at my new face the more I realized what it was. It was an auburn orange muzzle with a wet black nose at the end of it which twitched as I peered at it. By this moment in time I was panicking. I quickly stood up, nearly falling over in the process as my feet felt completely different to what I was used to. After getting used to standing I began to hurriedly check the rest of my body out to see what was different.
I quickly began to feel my face for the differences touching my new muzzle before feeling towards the top of my head as I felt two points which twitched when I touched them. At this point I guessed they were my new ears. I opened my new muzzle and began to feel my teeth with my new paw. They were now pointed and sharp instead of the usual flat that they used to be. I then looked down at my feet and Instead of my normal human feet and shoes there were now black paws like my hands but different and longer to support my weight. I felt a pressure near the base of my spine as I clenched my eyes shut in fear before turning my head to view my back. Sticking out of my black trousers was an auburn and white tipped fox tail which swished back and forth.
Now normally I'm not the type of guy who goes around and panics like a lunatic, flailing his arms in the air as he dashes around in a mad panic if there is something that cannot be explained. But what was happening right now was too much for my mind to handle. What had happened right now to me topped all the panics that I had previously whilst being a con artist. It topped the time when me and Dave had to sneak past a whole squad of police officers as they searched our stall once and it even topped the time when I had to run away from an angry customer and his gang who were intent on bringing me serious harm. So I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I started to have a rant.
"Well this is just bloody great isn't it?" I shouted to the heavens as I began to pace back and forth on the grass field, murmuring and cursing under breathe as I continued to pace back and forth. "I don't know where the hell I am. I don't know why the hell I'm here and to top it all off I'm a bloody fox that can walk and two legs. Thanks a bunch world. For picking out the most iconic slyly portrayed animal in the world. Thanks a bloody bunch." I yelled once again to the heavens as I began to pant from my new muzzle as I tried to let the anger out of my system which resulted in me growling, which made me angry again because I was growling like an animal. In all it was a cycle of anger.
After another few minutes of ranting and yelling I finally began to calm down as the weight of the situation I was in dawned on me. I began to think about my family and how selfish I was and how I hadn't seen them in years as I began to feel sad and angry at myself for not spending more time with them. "Well." I murmured before sighing sadly as I felt my new ears fold against my head. "I guess I should start somewhere." I took another glance at the giant city that was looming ominously over the park which I seemed to have awoken in. "Well the city it is then." I said to myself before I started to stroll towards the parks path passing a bench as I did so.
After three minutes of walking I began to notice how desolate the park was. There was not a single soul apart from myself in the park which confused me a bit. I chalked it up to being too early in the morning for people to be walking. To be honest I was also glad. Imagine someone seeing me and what they would think and that would be a bad situation to add onto my predicament. Before long I had made my way to what seemed to be the park's entrance which was a black painted steel gate which led out to a road which was lined with trees. I guessed the road led towards the city so I decided that was the best route to go. I opened the gate and exited the park shutting said gate behind me as I let out another long sigh. "There's no going back now." I muttered to myself as I breathed in deeply before heading off along the road and towards the city, its skyscrapers towering above everything.
"Well isn't that just perfect." I whispered to myself as animals of all kinds walked up and down the streets of the city on their hind legs, texting on phones and driving all kinds of vehicles on the busy roads. Now ten minutes before this I had reached the edge of the city without a sight of a single living soul apart from myself. But after another few minutes of walking down some sub urban pathways that lead into the city I began to hear numerous cars and what I thought were people talking. I didn't want anyone to see me like this no matter what city I was in. Even if the buildings were quite eccentric and colorful. I was certain that the populace of the city were human like I had once been.
But that idea was soon destroyed and thrown into a rubbish bin in my head because as I made my way around another street corner heading towards the noises I came across the noises. Instead of the humans I was expecting to find I was instead looking at animals standing on their back legs just like myself. And my god was there a lot of them. There were animals of every kind walking and talking to one another. Some wore smart suits whilst others wore what I classed as casual attire as they strolled down the now bustling streets of the city. I was shocked to say the least as I quickly hid behind the street corner that I had come out of. "OK Ben…..deep breathes….you can do this." I took a deep breathe in before I stepped out of my hiding spot and walked out into the bustling streets. Or that would have been what I did but as soon as I stepped out of my hiding spot I tripped on a small crack in the pavement falling head first onto said pavement which rendered me unconscious.
When I awoke from my unconscious state I found that I was lying against a brick wall in an ally just of the entrance to the street where I had fallen. I tried to stand up and managed to get up slightly but the sudden paint to my head caused me to fall back down against the brick wall. "Ugh. Why does it always happen to me? Damn you stupid brain. Damn you." I placed a paw on my forehead as I hissed in pain rubbing my head in an attempt to relieve said pain from my system. "You're finally awake then huh?" I turned my head in the direction I heard the deep and gravelly voice coming from and came face to face with a small fox of sorts. The fox had a very light brown fur which covered most of his body as well as some snow white fur which covered the underside of his chin and eyes.
The small fox's eyes were deep hazel and he had over sized ears which sat atop of his head and the fox wore an expression of uncertainty. The fox wore a pair of pale green shorts as well as a black polo shirt which had two red stripes going down either side from the shoulder of the top to the base. He even had a pair of shaded aviators in his left paw which he was holding onto as if he had just taken them off. In all honesty I thought that the little fox in front of me was just a child and for the love of me I should have kept my mouth shut…but I didn't.
I put on one of my classic grins and looked at the fox before speaking. "Hey there buddy. What's your name?" I asked the fox as his expression began to darken. I continued on. "Was that your daddy who just asked me if I'm awake?" But the reply I got from the small fox startled me. "If you call me buddy again." He said in the same gravelly voice I heard before. "Then ill bite your face off." I blinked in surprise at the fox's response before groaning in embarrassment and bringing my paws up to hide the shame on my face. "I'm sorry sir." I said looking at the fox in shame. "I just thought that…well….. " Before I could continue the fox held up his paw to silence me. "It's fine. I shouldn't have gotten so worked up about how you were taking to me." He chuckled slightly before continuing.
"I should be used to it by now but my previous warning still stands." He stuck out his paw to which I grasped it and shuck in a friendly but confused manner at the mutual respect he was giving me. "The names Finnick." He said before giving me an expecting look as I realized he wanted to know my name. "Benjamin. Benjamin Sherwood, but I do just prefer Ben." Finnick nodded in reply, his ears swaying forward and back as he did so. "So" Finnick said as he looked at me with curiosity. "I've never seen you around here before and I know everyone." Finnick said to which he looked at me curiously once again. "So let me ask you this Ben. What's a red fox like you doing in Zootopia?"