EDITED BY: DrummerMax64

Chapter Four - A Different Point of View

Slowing his pace to a crawl, Edward looked upon the ginormous modern building with his heavy blue eyes. For some strange reason the feeling of drowsiness had swooped in stealthily in the time from the walk between the park and the hospital, and it just wouldn't leave. He wondered if it could have been from the abnormal amount of physical activity he had achieved today, but quickly dismissed the idea after remembering he wasn't entirely lazy. Walking to and from work and taking the subway did have some physical exertion involved, plus he had the extra advantage of that short run from the train station yesterday.

So what was it? What caused him to be so suddenly lethargic? He pried about his mind to find the reason behind it as he continued to slowly stroll along the sidewalk, but while doing so he became distracted by the beauty and architectural wonder of the structure that so easily tugged at his attention.

In front of the building were the colorful gardens and meticulously trimmed trees that added life to the dull silver, grey, and black colors that defined certain sections of the hospital. On the front side of the four-story-high center section was a plethora of spotless clear windows that reflected the sunny blue sky. If one stood far enough and if their line of sight was clear, they could see into each of the resting areas for guests visiting the hospital. On the other paw, if a mammal was standing at the window on one of the upper floors, they could also look out to see the bay and the gigantic wall that separated the arid desert that was Sahara Square and the ice cube that was Tundra Town. Being a visitor once before on the third floor, the view wasn't like the one Edward had back at his office downtown, but it did enough to put him at some form of ease.

At the time… He thought grimly. A frown crept onto his muzzle as he looked into the windows of the third floor.

It was still hard to believe that it had only been around two or three weeks since his last visit to Zootopia General. To him, it seemed like only yesterday that he was sitting right beside his mother's bedside while he and Sharla discussed their future together, and the plan they had laid out for the next phase of their life.

Something within him suddenly stirred as a paw reached out to a lamppost for support. The dreadful thought of his last visit came and went in the blink of an eye, and soon he found himself stopped just mere feet away from the protection of the canopied entrance. He could finally pinpoint the now obvious apprehension that nipped at his heart.

"How could she just keep that secret from us? Wait," he rolled his eyes, "because I didn't want everyone to worry about me." Her answer echoed in a low whisper, minus her famously infectious motherly smile. If he were speaking truthfully, she was right. If she had told everyone about her illness and how far it had progressed over the years, everyone close to her would have halted their lives entirely to ensure she made a full recovery. That wasn't what she wanted in the end. What she wanted was to see her little pups grow up and make a living for themselves in this world. Fortunately enough, she got to see that wish become a reality.

Gary and his husband were living comfortably in the city and had their work cut out for them at the private security firm they worked for (hopefully not too busy with everything surrounding the whole debacle with Lionheart). Lavender had her boyfriend Louis as they worked tirelessly at the family farm. And finally, there was Edward and Sharla, who were working hard to make a modest living in the city.

At the end of it all, what she left behind was a legacy of kindness and selflessness that made her who she was, a remarkably strong wolf anyone could look up to. Of all the times they had together, how he would give anything just to see that smile of hers again, just one last time. The emptiness alone was harrowing enough to crush any amount of spirit he had left. It was as if a piece of his very soul had been ripped out and trampled on right in front of him. No picture or video could even come close to the real thing, and he barely had the strength to set his eyes on a single one since her passing…

"Edward?"

The low voice caught him by surprise as he pulled out of his thoughts with an involuntary jump. His heart nearly skipped an entire beat.

"You okay buddy? You've been standing there for a good minute."

"I'm fine." Edward awkwardly grinned at Charles. The last thing he wanted was to start a whole conversation involving anything about his family. But, no matter how hard he smiled, all his friend did was raise an eyebrow and continue to unconvincingly stare at him.

"Really?" he asked skeptically.

Edward finally conceded and let out a breath. It was obvious he wasn't going to let him dwell on his depressing thoughts and memories, not that he wanted to in any way.

"It's just…"

He looked away and stared off into the distance, his train of thought beginning to piece itself back together. Charles was still standing beside him, more than likely looking for some explanation as to why he stopped. But of all mammals who knew him the best, did he really need to explain himself? The answer was just sitting right in front of them after all.

The wolf waited for some way to initiate his needless reasoning as the right words floated wildly around him, refusing to form any coherent sentence. His foot began to tap angrily on the cement. He knew what exactly he wanted to say, but why couldn't he just say it? 'The hospital reminded him of that day.' His mouth opened in a feeble attempt to speak his mind and say those exact words, but to no avail.

Say the words Edward, he thought bitterly. Just say the blasted words already!

He began to feel frustrated and started to fume as tears nearly filled his eyes. It was as if he was taken back to his toddler years and was unable to talk, unable to say exactly what he wanted or needed to in order to assuage himself.

"It's alright," Charles murmured softly, calling his attention again. His face bore a warm smile that melted away some of his anger. Before long it somehow naturally calmed him back down to manageable levels. "You don't have to go in there if you don't want to. No one's forcing you to go back."

"What do you mean?" he challenged. "Our jobs are on the line, Charlie, not to mention the fact that this interview is crucial for our story. Besides, it would be rude of me to make you do all the work for our article. I'm gonna have to start pulling my weight eventually. It might as well be here."

"Are you sure? I seriously don't mind if you don't—"

"I'm taking this interview, Charles. Just stop."

The tiger looked at him wide-eyed for a moment, then yielded as he went back to his normal smile. "Alright then, chief. You'll be the interviewer." He comically gestured for Edward to take the lead and nearly laughed before asking in the best nerdy accent he could, "Shall we discuss what kind of questions you want to ask on our way to the room?"

Edward shot his striped friend a look and began to walk towards the entrance of the building, trying his best to hide the grin plastered on his muzzle. "How 'bout we talk about it when we get there," he compromised.

"Fair enough," his friend shrugged as he adjusted his glasses, this time in his normal voice. After that, Edward led the way to the entrance under the canopy.

To Edward, there was humor to be found in the fact that after all this time, Charles still knew how to brighten his spirit. However, if he were being honest with himself, there wasn't really any merit being surprised by this fact—they've known each other since they were in grade school, not to mention the fact they once were a couple—of course of all mammals he'd certainly be the one to understand.

So, perhaps instead of seeing the humor in Charles's cheery spirit, his acknowledgment could better be explained with a feeling of gratitude. Accepting this as his reasoning, Edward's grin grew into a loving smile and took the newfound good vibes in stride as the automatic glass doors slid open fully to reveal the lobby.

The first step he took inside, recollection of the layout of the building—more specifically, everything from the lobby to the elevators—started coming back to him. The first detail he noticed was the jungle theme that the entrance took on, which reminded him heavily of the Rainforest District, minus the rain of course. A wavy sand-colored marble paved the pathways to the left and right side of the building. That path also led to the front desk, where two mammals sat, one young and one old, taking on the visitors as they entered the hospital. Once they were spoken to, given a badge, some would be told to wait before they could visit their friends and loved ones. They were invited to relax and wait in the lounge areas on either side of the lobby until they were called back up to the counter yet again to get the room number.

Both sides of the waiting area were decorated with a dark hardwood floor where comfy tan-colored chairs and couches met the mammals who had to remain in the area. The walls were painted a dark green with lighter symmetrical leaf-shaped patterns that spanned the entire width of the wall. In the middle of the lobby was a round column that stretched up to the glass ceiling of the fourth floor, decorated to look like a forest tree.

Located to the right of the lobby was a pharmacy and gift store where mammals could purchase over the counter prescription medicine or some card, flowers, or plush animal that usually had the words 'get well soon' somewhere on it.

Would it be wrong to buy something like that for a grieving otter whose husband was subject to something that no one knew how to crack?

Forgetting he even thought of the cruel joke, the wolf stopped in front of the desk with his friend trailing right behind. The older female rabbit smiled as he approached her.

"Hello dearies," she greeted happily.

Both of her ears were pointed straight up in the air and her face bore a gleaming smile that warmed his heart even more. She wore a white button-up shirt and a deep blue sweater, an amethyst necklace dangling just below her collarbones. If memory served him right, she was actually the first animal he met when he first visited Zootopia General, and her name was Gloria Thumper.

Her infectious grin finally caught onto him as he smiled back. "Good afternoon."

"I hope you're doing okay." Slowly her ears began to dip down, and her voice ever so softer as she continued. "I didn't get a chance to say this before, but I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that Charolete passed. Your mother was one of the kindest mammals I've ever met, and it's so sad to see her gone so soon."

"Yeah, you can say that again…" he mumbled and trailed off himself, his own ears starting to fall.

"I don't know if your mother told you or not, but her and I actually grew up together in the Burrows."

"You did?"

"Absolutely!"

Small world… he thought wryly.

"We used to get into all sorts of trouble when we were kids. One time, we even went so far as to take our boyfriends to this outdoor pool area at night when everything was closed and just swam to our heart's content."

At first, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not once did his mother ever mention anything about when she was a kid to him. He was shocked.

The bunny cackled as she continued, "That night, not only did we get arrested and charged with trespassing, but we had to beg for our lives that we didn't get charged with indecent exposure." The fawn sitting next to her sat there looking absolutely appalled at her coworker, her mouth agape. "Oh, close your mouth, Alice. I may be some cute little old rabbit, but I too was your age once. I can have a little fun and mischief every once in a while."

She turned back to the stunned wolf who was stuck on the dreaded 'c' word and continued with her story.

"Anyways, we were lucky enough to know the cop that transferred us to the police station, and he just charged us with trespassing. Our parents were not pleased with us that night. After that, we kind of took it easy and started to grow up a bit, then eventually parted ways when I took up nursing and went to university. We still kept in touch here and there, and eventually, it just stopped. The next time we spoke she came to the hospital for the first time, and I was sitting right in this very chair. We started catching up when she came here to get her annual checkups, and she even joined the book club I'm a part of to take her mind off of everything. She always enjoyed a good adventure."

"That she did." Edward nodded, remembering her nighttime storytelling she did before her litter went off to bed.

Before his fourteenth birthday, he and his mother would partake in an hour of fantasy and wonder while his brother and sister complained that they were simply 'too old for some stupid story.' The two of them nearly made it through their entire collection before high school consumed all of Edward's valuable time and eventually became some distant memory he wished he hadn't forgotten. He made a mental note—more of a promise really-that when he had the guts to visit his old home, he would finish up the remaining books in that bookcase.

"You fancy a good story?"

"Sometimes." He shrugged. "It depends on the genre really."

"Well, we're currently reading a science fiction novel. It's got everything a young mammal like yourself will ever need. Plus, it's got some exhilarating action that even some old lady like me can enjoy."

The offer didn't sound bad to the wolf. Take a day to relax and spend some time with other animals rather than sitting cooped up in his apartment complex for the rest of the day? If he and Charles weren't already preoccupied with this task, he would agree right on the spot.

"I'll definitely consider it."

Gloria noticeably beamed. "Great to hear it. We're always looking for more readers to join in." She let out a steady exhale. "But anyway, enough of my rambling. What can I do for you today? Something tells me you didn't just come here to chat with some old nostalgic bunny."

The joke caused a laugh to escape from Edward's muzzle. But she was right; he was on a mission. "I'm actually here to visit a relative of a patient here."

She turned to the computer as her paws hovered over the keyboard in front of her. "What's the name of the patient?"

"Emmitt Otterton."

Both her ears perked at the name. It was clear she knew full well who that mammal was. Her eyes were staring at the computer screen, but she wasn't paying attention to the information on it. What she was doing was carefully deliberating something in that head of hers. More specifically, about the savage otter.

If her body language meant anything, it was that this interview might actually hit a minor snag.

"I'm sorry," Gloria frowned, "For the sake of the families involved, at this time, only family members of the afflicted predators are allowed to come in for visitation. Just this week we've had to turn away four major and local news outlets 'cause they were hunting down these poor mammals for some silly story."

The silver wolf stood there for a moment processing her words, an astonished look on his face. Journalism and interviews were perfectly fine if the writer or interviewer respected the boundaries of the mammal involved, but crossing that fine line was unacceptable. Edward absolutely hated that aspect of his line of work and couldn't stand that those gossipy news stories about celebrities and famous mammals in magazines even existed. With everything going on, they—those sleazy magazine writers—were putting the savage predators in that category.

It was indeed horrible. However, he couldn't help that this interview he and Charles were about to conduct was going to make them cross that fine line. He'd be lying if it didn't make him feel horrible about putting Mrs. Otterton through this.

For the sake of conversation, he regrettably muttered, "That's awful."

"Isn't it? What's worse is the fact that they stalked the entrance for them to come out after their visit. They just couldn't take 'no' for an answer. We even had to beef up our security!"

Bass rumbled in Edward's ears as his striped friend spoke for the both of them, "Well if it's any consolation, we actually have a soul let alone common sense, ma'am."

"Is that so?" Her brow raised.

Charles laughed. "It is! Lucile is actually expecting us today, there's nothing to worry about on that end."

"Well, if that's the case, then go over by the waiting area until Mrs. Otterton arrives. That way I can check with her. Please understand, it's not that I don't trust you are anything—you both seem like wonderful animals—it's just for the sake of the family."

"We understand," Charles said, a smile on his face. He nudged Edward on the shoulder and gestured to follow him to the fake rainforest section to the right of them. Showing gratitude for her time, Edward thanked Gloria and trailed behind his friend.

The two predators found open spaces against the far wall of the lounge next to the pharmacy that accommodated their size. Beside them, a couple of chairs away, a mother and her piglet son sat comfortably in their spots reading and coloring, respectively.

Edward and Charles took their places and sat down. Out of the corner of the wolf's eye, he noticed that the pig turned her head toward them. Almost instantaneously he felt her eyes pierce the very flesh under his fur, leaving him with this unwanted tension that loomed like a curse over his head.

What came next crushed his spirit almost completely. The grown mammal shut her book and hopped off her chair, asking her son to grab his things as she took a hold of his hoof and guided him over to the other half of the lobby. The piglet had this confused look on his face as he tried desperately to hang on to all of his belongings with his free hoof.

Edward's shoulders slumped as a short exhale left his snout. What he just witnessed was nearly identical to what he'd experienced on the train the day prior, and what he felt was nothing short of offended.

Disheartened, he looked back over at the counter of the reception desk. What he saw was a more profound expression on Gloria's face. From what he could tell, she was standing up on her chair, her paws clenched into tight fists. Clearly, she felt the same way. It was almost like she was about to leap from her place and pounce. The thought brought the wolf back into a more cheerful state of mind as his anxiety began to fade.

At least someone was willing to fight for them.

Before she had a chance to notice him staring in her direction, he turned his attention to Charles, who decided at that point to start a conversation. "Maybe we should discuss what kind of questions we want to ask before we get caught up in this interview? We wouldn't want to be the proverbial deer in the headlights when we were the ones to request this, right?"

Edward nodded his head and pulled out his phone. The tiger similarly grabbed a notebook from his back pocket and flipped open to a new page, pulling out the pen from the spiral wire spine.

For the next thirty minutes, both of them carefully deliberated the content of their interview and how they would conduct themselves. It was essential they get this right.

o o o

When Edward walked through the doors out of the elevator lobby, the silver wolf was greeted with what could best be described as a sea of mint-flavored ice cream with succulent chunks of dark chocolate chips. He could imagine its great aroma filling his nasal cavities and the captivating cool taste on the tip of his tongue, prompting his entire mouth to salivate.

If only reality wasn't so bland and harrowing.

What was actually around him were the light minty colored walls of the leftmost section of the hospital on the second floor, one of the oldest sections of the entire building, predating the gigantic modern additions of the rest of the hospital. The floors were made up of checkered white and green tiles, and on the walls were dark framed pictures of the past. Each image contained different scenes of varying location and theme. Some were of landmarks from around the world, others with the look of the older hospital building surrounded by an even older city. Some even had groups of nurses and staff from previous generations.

Looking at those grainy black and white photos brought him some charming nostalgic memories—more specifically, the memories of his youth and the fun times he had frolicking around the farm back in what felt like eons ago, when everything was pragmatic and simple.

He could almost picture it clearly in his head. The feeling of the fresh open air, the warmth of the summer sun, the sound of crops, leaves rustling gently through the mild breeze, and insects chirping their catchy tunes as he slowly strolled through the edge of the fields. The setting always managed to enthrall him, almost beating out his love for storms and how calming they were. But, seeing as how the rainfall from the yesterday treated him, that setting might just be beaten out. The only thing he could feel after that was the hefty amounts of stress amidst the pain he felt in his heart.

Those peaceful settings provided him the spark he needed to get through the challenges of his life. Now it seemed as if the spark had vanished without a trace.

He wondered if that light would ever return to him again.

Apart from the scrumptious looking walls, there was the nauseating smell of the clean, sterile air that made his snout wrinkle in disgust. The scent usually pervaded the depths of every hospital, the need for cleanliness in place so that bacteria and germs couldn't add on to the already growing list of problems a patient could have.

I guess some scented air fresheners are out of the question then? Edward joked to himself.

Through the entire length of the spacious hallway, the space along the walls remained almost entirely clear, with the occasional piece of medical equipment sitting just outside some of the doorways. There were hardly any tables to speak of. The minimalistic décor struck this section of the hospital far different than the hustle and bustle of the area where his mother was kept.

It seemed like it wasn't meant for much visitation at all. The doors were scuffed up and had seen considerable wear and use over the years, and the windows on the doors had this wire mesh that differed from the normal hospital look he was used to. Even the fluorescent lighting gave some hints of flickering, fueling the eerie atmosphere even more. This indeed wasn't an ordinary section of the hospital.

The only correlation he could make was with some random collection of movies and books in his mental library, their setting the only thing each story had in common: a gritty, old insane asylum. A bad, chilling feeling washed over him.

Is this where they are keeping the savage predators?

Muffled booms of laughter brought him back to Zootopia General and whatever conversation the otter and tiger were having together a couple paces ahead of him.

"I'll keep that in mind." Charles grinned. The wolf put on a smile as well and quietly laughed along with them to keep face and not show any apprehension or anxiousness in front of their interviewee.

Charles and Lucile took another few steps before stopping at one of the dirty mint green doors. The larger mammal went ahead and turned the silver knob, opening the door with ease and slowly revealing the room before them. The maddening sound of creaking filled the sterile air, Edward's ears impulsively turning themselves to listen against his will.

"After you Mrs. Otterton."

She smiled and gave a slight bow of appreciation before entering inside. "Thank you."

The wolf sped up and attempted to follow behind the smaller animal. However, he became distracted by something catching his eye.

Drilled into the wall was a plastic container with a clipboard sitting inside. Looking closer at the papers clipped onto the wooden board inside he could spot the picture of the predator in question printed on the page. Based on the headshot, the otter wore a green sweater vest and a button-up with a red tie in a tight Windsor knot. On his face was a pair of big black-framed glasses shielding happy brown eyes that just melted his heart. What on earth did he look like now?

Edward thanked Charles for holding the door for him and walked quickly into the dimly lit room.

In the time he took looking at the photograph outside, the otter had already sat down in a comfy wooden rocking chair and set her basket of yarn and sewing needles down onto the floor next to it. Beside the chair was a table, a very decorative plant and a stack of cups on top of it. A sink and bathroom were located just along the back wall.

The room itself was barely large enough to accommodate for Charles's size; he even had to hunch over to get through the doorway. It looked exactly like the hallway did, and the air still had that horrid stench to it. Above them was a single pair of fluorescent lights covered by a protective plastic sheet and old Styrofoam tile roofing which, in some places, showed some apparent water damage.

To their left was a large window that looked into the room next to the one they were in. From what he could see, the room looked empty, confusingly empty. He was sure that this was Emmitt's room based on the picture on the wall, so where was he?

Then, he could hear it.

The sharp sounds of scuffling and odd rapid fire sniffing that reminded him of the nature of his own species. It wasn't coming from Lucile or even from Charles, but rather from the room next to theirs.

He took some steps forward as more of the room came slowly into view. Then, once the entire room could be seen, he stopped.

Prowling around on all fours was one of the fifteen missing mammals that were recently found, and one of the now twenty-four savage predators in Zootopia: Emmitt Otterton, in the flesh.

The otter circled around the metal pole perpendicular to the floor as he sniffed every inch of the area he was permitted to roam. Around his body was a harness that was attached to the top of the metal spire, which prevented him from tearing what little equipment that was in the room apart. More importantly, it helped the hospital staff take care of him in his primitive condition so they wouldn't get injured themselves.

For a while, all that Edward could do was stare. Of everything he'd seen prior to being in that room—all the pictures, all the videos, all the stories—they all lacked the little something that put it all into perspective. Being there, seeing a savage predator for the first time with his very own eyes, there was nothing that could quite describe it. Despite all of his unheard wishes, what he was seeing was indeed real.

Seeing Emmitt in the state he was in put everything about savage predators in perspective. He could barely keep his focus. If his memory served correctly, when this whole issue began it started with only fifteen savage predators that spanned a months' time at the very least. Just this week, there had been nine more incidents, and with them, nine more predators having gone feral. And it was only Wednesday.

If that pace were to continue throughout the entire week, there was a good chance at least thirty predators would be affected. There was a good chance it could inflate to something extreme…

"Can you 'ere me?" Charles spoke abruptly in a cheesy British accent.

Edward snapped his head toward the animal hunched down to his left, and let out a sigh before bringing his nerves back down. The accent reminded him of an old cinematic version of a musical, very dark, very bloody, and surprisingly very catchy. The lead role was played by some major A-list fox actor, by the name of Johnny Vepp if he wasn't mistaken.

A grim tune of one of the songs fluttered through his head as he put on a half-smile, quietly replying with affirmation, "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

With a calming breath, he prepared himself for the inevitable. It was time. Edward turned back to the otter patiently sitting in the wooden rocking chair.

"Sorry about that," he began lightly, "I didn't mean to be rude. This is just the first time I've ever seen anyone in this condition before—face to face I mean."

Receiving no response from the smaller animal sitting in front of him, he cleared his throat and continued, pulling out his phone.

"For this interview, my colleague Charles will be taking notes as we go along, and I will be recording this onto my phone. Do you mind if you're recorded?"

She shook her head. "By all means."

"Great. And another thing, you don't have to answer any questions you don't want to. You can also go into as much detail as you wish, and if you ask us not to use a certain statement we will happily oblige the request."

She flashed the same smile and nodded, understanding the terms.

Edward shone a complacent smile of his own as he looked away from the otter and back down at the device in his grip, quickly navigating to the 'voice memo' application and opening it with a soft tap.

Before the app loaded he looked around the room and recalled how everything sounded when he spoke, quickly taking the reverberation and noise into account as he tried to find a good place to stand. To make things easy, he decided to remain where he was and hold the phone in his paw while the interview went on. He silently hoped his arm wouldn't get tired.

He looked over at his coworker sitting on the edge of the table to see if he was ready to begin. In his paws was the notebook and pencil he had stuffed away in his back pocket that was now flipped to a fresh new page. The tiger nodded in confirmation as he prepared himself for the wolf's opening.

Edward took in a breath and slowly exhaled, mentally preparing himself one final time. His paw tapped the red button, and then he started to speak robotically.

"Otterton Interview. Wednesday, May 25th, 2016." Looking away from his phone, he kept it at chest level as he adorned his normal voice again. "I'm very glad you could meet with us today Mrs. Otterton. Before we begin, I would like to thank you again for accepting our request to meet here today. I understand that with everything going on it must be very difficult."

"It is," she agreed, "With my Emmitt in his state, it's been rough trying to manage everything around the house. On top of running our family's flower shop, my boys always ask me how their dad's doing or if he's getting better, and…" She trailed off, looking past the wolf and toward her husband crawling around the room behind him. "You can't just tell them there's nothing they can do to help their dad. It'll break their hearts. So I tell them 'they're doing everything they can to help,' and that 'they'll find something to bring him back,' just to calm them down. I don't even have the heart to bring them here to visit. Seeing their dad like this…it would be cruel."

One could see the anguish in her eyes as she looked at the otter behind Edward. It was truly painful to witness. Over the silence the two of them shared, Charles furiously wrote in the notebook, glancing up now and again to catch Mrs. Otterton's expressions.

Just looking at her response to the introductory statement alone painted a clear picture for how things were fairing outside of the hospital. She must've been stressed out of her mind. On top of visiting her husband, she had a business to deal with, two kids that needed to be fed and cared for, then the upkeep of their home, and finally taking care of herself as well. He couldn't imagine what was going through her mind.

For the sake of the interview, the wolf went ahead and threw the first question out into the open, catching the attention of the small green-eyed otter.

"How did you feel when you were notified your husband had been found?"

"I was ecstatic," she said without missing a beat, "When they told me they found my Emmitt I could hardly believe it. I don't think I even hung up the phone; I rushed over to the hospital to see him. I was going to tell him how much our babies missed him and how I missed him, that everything would go back to normal..."

He knew there was more to the story, and figured where it was leading up to. Debating whether to call it morbid curiosity or just simply doing his job, he inquired, "Then?"

"Then…I got to the hospital. I found out which room they were keeping him in and I ran as fast as I could. When I got to the wing it was jam-packed with officers and doctors, scrambling to get everyone into their rooms and make sure no one got hurt. I wasn't really paying attention to everything going on, I was just so determined. I wanted to see him again, to make sure he was okay. When I finally got into my Emmitt's room I saw him, and I couldn't believe my eyes. They found him. My Emmitt was home.

"I didn't exactly see what was going on at first. All I could see was that my husband was finally home and safe. As soon as I touched that door I was stopped by a nurse standing right beside me." She gestured toward the door to the patient's room. "She was able to bring me back to my senses before I made it into the room. When I looked inside through that window, I saw that side of him. I could hardly believe that it was my Emmitt. He looked so…different."

Edward turned backward towards the savage predator and gazed at his face. His back arched as he stood upward on his hind legs and looked in his direction. If he didn't have the harness strapped on his body and was wearing a shirt, it would seem like he was just crouched down on the floor like a normal mammal.

However, the way his enlarged, darkened pupils stared into the wolf's blue eyes told another story entirely. The Emmitt Otterton she knew looked like he was far away from what they were seeing in front of them.

What'd he become, Edward wondered silently to himself. Although 'feral' was the obvious answer, he didn't want to call him as such. Perhaps there was some part of him that still existed in this savage version of the poor otter.

"Do you think the real Emmitt is still in there?" he curiously pondered.

Biscuits. As soon as the words left his muzzle he instantly regretted them. The question was meant mainly for himself, but the words compulsively came to fruition. So he wasn't surprised when the otter sitting behind him gloomily said:

"No comment."

And that was that.

As he and Charles suspected, her first couple of responses brought a dark tone to their gathering. This wouldn't get them anywhere if their interviewee shot them down because their questions were heavily focused on Emmitt's current state. They already knew what his current state was—he was right in front of them. What they would have to do is brighten the interview up and follow the plan the two of them carefully structured if they wanted to get any more information out of Mrs. Otteron.

So, Edward went along with the next question on his list.

"What did Emmitt do for a living? You told us that you and your family run a flower shop, correct? I suspect he's quite skilled when it comes to different flowers."

"He really is," she nodded. "My Emmitt always has a way with making any bouquet beautiful. I honestly think he's one of the best. He treats everyone like family, and because of that, we haven't had one unsatisfied customer since we opened. Our boys even picked up a thing or two when watching their dad work. Since he went missing, we've had to close up our store and focus on finding him. Then he was found and registered here at the hospital, and he hasn't seen any signs of getting better. We don't know when we'll be open again."

"What's the name of your shop?"

"'Otterton Floral Arrangements.'"

Edward looked over at Charles, the tiger giving him a thumbs up after quickly jotting down the name of the store on his pad of paper.

"I'll keep that in mind when I want to surprise my wife," he jested.

The otter chuckled lightly at his response. At least she was now sporting a faint smile.

He looked down at the recording and watched his device take in every little sound around them, all of the noise mainly coming from the savage otter in the room beside them.

Let's keep this thing going.

"So, Mrs. Otterton, I've been meaning to ask you this. Mammals like me—news types, newspaper outlets, etcetera—have been grueling to get an interview with someone related to one of the afflicted predators, even going as far as staking outside the hospital to chase these animals down. Why did you agree to this meeting today and give us that chance?"

After the question left the wolf's lips, it hung in the air as the otter looked vacantly at his face. He waited patiently against the window as his thoughts wandered off.

When creating this list of questions, there was general curiosity as to why exactly they landed this interview given what they were told by Gloria. Mammals would kill for this scoop, and surely this wasn't the first time she had been asked or berated for this opportunity. Ander's charm only stretched so thin.

So why were they so lucky? Edward was the first to ask this question, and was truthfully very curious. When he first mumbled it under his breath it didn't seem like something that would fit into what exactly they were trying to generate for their story. However, Charles insisted they include it for two reasons. The first reason was for rubbing this in the noses of other outlets and companies who would more than likely never get this chance to be the first to get an interview from a family member. Although he didn't share his friend's modest approach, he understood it enough to lackadaisically agree.

His second reason to include the question was that it actually was a decent question to ask for their story, depending on her answer. If he had a guess, this would undoubtedly be used at the very end, a nice topper to drive their point home.

But, it all depended on how their otter responded.

"When I turn on the news in the morning," she began, "all I see is the bad side of our group and the shame us poor predators receive because of who we are. It's not right. What makes it worse is that they only focus on his 'savageness' and never even touch on the part of him we all know and love. Call it silly, but I wanted to at least try and change that by doing this interview. I wanted to show others he isn't just some savage predator; his name is Emmitt Otterton, a florist with two wonderful children, a successful business, and one of the biggest hearts anyone could ever know."

The wolf couldn't help but beam at her humble response. "I don't think what your doing is silly at all. Actually, it's really admirable. I agree, I don't think anyone really does consider what these predators were like before they got like this, and I really think we should focus on that aspect a bit more. They aren't all bad, especially in Emmitt's case. Very well said, Mrs. Otterton."

"Thank you."

Unbeknownst to her, she actually managed to knock out another question on their list. The general idea of the topic simply aimed at her thoughts on the situation as a whole. For the sake of redundancy, he made the executive decision to skip it entirely, having more than enough info already in that department.

Feeling the uncomfortable static feeling in his legs and feet, he took a second to stretch them out and began to slowly walk around the room as the next question bounced off the minty colored walls.

"As you may have heard in the news, Mayor Leodore Lionheart was arrested for the involvement of the recent missing mammal cases. In his absence, Dawn Bellwether has taken up the reins as the mayor of Zootopia and has been working to find a solution to this issue. What do you think? Do you think Dawn will be able to find an effective solution to this issue?"

The sound of the wild otter's claws scraping across the tile floor and the chilling snarls emanating from his muzzle quietly reverberated over the silence in their room. Lucile wrung her hands together slowly as she spoke in a soft voice.

"Lionheart looked like such a sweetheart." She unenthusiastically grinned. "It's a shame he got involved in something so… sinister. It feels like yesterday when I got the chance to vote for him, one of the first predator mayors in the city's history. It was wonderful. Now that he's gone, I don't know what to think. I can't really say anything for or against Dawn because I don't really know that much about her, so if you're asking when we'll see a treatment for this, I have faith that it'll be sooner rather than later."

Once Charles finished writing down his notes, he looked up from his notepad and shot a nod in Edward's direction who took the cue attentively.

"Finally, do you think that there's enough being done?"

Her paw left the other as her lips parted. Edward attentively prepared for her next answer, but retracted as she slumped back in her rocking chair.

"No comment," she responded tersely.

Edward raised his brow, not anticipating her short response, but respectfully conceded knowing that it would only hinder them if they started to press for more information.

So instead, he put on a smile and cleared his throat, "And that's about everything. Thank you again, Mrs. Otterton. It really does mean a lot to us that you gave us this chance."

"It was nothing, really."

After ending the recording and stashing the notes away, Edward and Charles shook the otter's paw in turn.

"We'd love to stay and chat more, but Edward and I have to get going. We can't just go on caffeine alone now can we?" The rumbly bass of the tiger chuckled. "Please, take care of yourself, Lucile."

"You too Charles, Edward."

The two Gazette writers made their way to the exit and stepped back into the minty hallway, closing the grimy door behind them.

As soon as the door shut completely Edward let out all of his built-up anxiety in the form of a sigh, expelling all of the terrible smelling air from his system. Whether it was the lack of food, his deprived caffeine levels, or his sheepish nature, he could feel his arms and legs start to shake while his heart rate felt like it was nearly double its normal pace.

"That went really well. Like, really, really well," Charles grinned. Edward sluggishly followed behind the tiger as they began to make their way to the elevators. His friend giddily continued their conversation in a hushed tone, "Did you hear what she said about wanting to change the hearts of mammals in the city? Wow, what a quote!"

"I wouldn't raise your tone, especially in this neck of the hospital—"

"I know, I know, but Ed, this quote is gonna be the perfect end to our story! And here you thought we couldn't do it."

"Yeah…" His paw anxiously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Come on Ed! We just got the scoop of the century! Not even ZNN could get their guys in here, not to mention the other news outlets. We should be thrilled!"

"Yeah," he repeated uneasily.

Edward's focus left his friend as he glanced at the pictures of the distant past. One image he'd seen upon entering this section of the building called his attention once again. It was of the older version of the hospital, and the glorious looking city behind it. How he wished he could turn back the clock to see Zootopia in its heyday. It would certainly beat the chaotic situation of the present.

Although he couldn't help but ask himself the same question his friend did. Why wasn't he excited? He was right; they had gotten something that other outlets couldn't even get their hands on. So why was he so anxious?

They nearly reached the end of the hallway when Charles quietly mumbled, "It was Emmitt, wasn't it?"

The wolf tilted his head, more or less with confusion. His mind barely even registered that his friend was speaking.

"Sorry, I missed that. Did you say something?"

Quickly dismissing it, Charles shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Ed. It wasn't important. Right now, we've got to figure out what we're going—"

The familiar tone of the tiger's phone buzzed and rang inside of his denim jean pocket. His striped paw quickly dug the device out and brought it to his face. He stared at the name of the contact for only a few seconds before scurrying back down the hallway to answer it. He covered the phone's speaker as he pardoned himself. "Excuse me. Hello…?"

The name Tommy hit Edward's ears before he walked through the doors into the elevator lobby, and nearly set off his interest before the doors cut that idea short. He had all the time in the world to ask.

o o o

"Tommy! How's life at the ZPD, hon?"

"Shut up Charlie," the voice on the other end of the line muttered. Charles wisely obeyed his boyfriend's orders. "What in the world do you mean you need to see some evidence!? I can't believe you. One, obviously that's against the law, and two, I'll lose my job! Are you out of your freaking mind!?"

"Maybe," he snarked innocently, "but, that's why I mentioned the report."

"I don't care! You're lucky I don't just haul you down to the precinct right now!"

"But, you wouldn't… mainly because you love me oh-so-much? I bet you couldn't bear the thought of sending your poor ol' Charlie to jail, couldn't you?"

Between them was a stark moment of silence that Charles couldn't help but snicker at. Then, on the other end of the line, a long groan filled the speaker on his phone.

"You're so lucky I love you."

"That I am. Now, how about the report? Is it possible we can take a look at that instead?"

"Eager to get to the point are we?" The mammal mumbled quietly on the other end of the line. "I'm… actually not sure. Let me check in with someone else who actually cares about the safety of his job. You owe me big, Charlie."

"Don't worry," Charles grinned, "I may have an idea on how to make it up to you."

"Is that so?"

"Well, I may not be a dancer for one of the greatest pop stars of this generation, but I think I have a few moves up my sleeve. Maybe I could show you them… tonight? How about that? You know you can't resist."

"Ooooh, how tempting," Tommy chuckled. "Alright, deal."

"Great. Thanks again hon."

"Anytime babe. I gotta get back to work. Stay safe out there."

"I will."

"Love you."

"Love you too."