It was a slow day at ISCPO Precinct 7. The lack of reports of crimes and the unprecedented order the city was experiencing right now gave most residents, especially law enforcement, time to just chill out for a while. Keep in mind I wrote 'most'. The minority of people didn't find solace and relaxation in the day. They instead saw unrelenting, mind-numbing boredom. Officers Augie Doggie and Shag Rugg were among the minority.
"So BORED!" Augie droned, slumping over her keyboard and fiddling with the papers on her desk. "There's nothing to do."
"Man, when we joined the force to become cops, I was hoping for more butt-kicking and less -ugh- paperwork." Shag agreed.
"Gee, I don't know how else to tell you, sweetie." Doggie Daddy, patting her on the head. "Sometimes, you're just gonna have slow days."
"I, for one, welcome this slow day." Yakky chimed in, sipping from her juice pack.
"Take it from Yakky, you two." Doggie Daddy agreed. "Think of it as a time to unwind a little."
"I guess you're right, Dad." Augie sighed.
"That's the spirit." Her father said with a nod before kissing her forehead. "It's my turn to go out on patrol, I'll be back in a few hours."
And with that, he left, leaving the three young officers to their own devices. Shag fluttered his lips as the boredom grew heavier.
"I swear, I'm gonna a die of boredom." He complained.
"We could always make our own fun." Augie suggested.
"Yeah? How?" The bear cub asked.
"Follow me." Augie said.
"Guys, wait. I-"
Before Yakky could finish her sentence, Shag suddenly grabbed her by her wing, dragging her out of the office behind them.
The trio entered an elevator, hoping to get to their first spontaneous activity. The elevators doors hadn't even fully closed before Augie's face broke out into a large grin; an idea flew into her head. She then turned to her friends.
"Hey. guys. Check this out. I've always wanted to try this." She said.
Before either of her friends could reply, she started to stamp her feet and clap her hands rhythmically. Yakky started to tap her foot and Shag bobbed his head to the tune.
"Not bad." Yakky commented.
"Dang, I can dig it." Shag praised.
Augie then stopped when the elevator dinged and the doors opened, allowing Sprig Plantar and Anne Boonchuy to enter.
"Hey, guys." They greeted.
"Aw, why'd you stop?" Shag said.
"Stop what?" Anne asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Augie was just throwing down some sick beats." The cub said. "Show 'em!"
The pup nodded and resumed her rhythm. Anne and Sprig were soon caught up in the beats as well.
"Pretty catchy, right?" Yakky said.
"Yeah!" Sprig replied.
"Oh, wait. I wanna do something." Anne said, before pulling out her handcuffs.
Following with the beats, she added the handcuff's clicking to it. Sprig followed along and added the sound of extending and retracting his baton. Shag followed by periodically buzzing his taser and Yakky began drumming on the elevator walls. Suddenly, elevator doors opened once more and Sprig accidentally struck Dawkins in the knee just as he, Dylan, Luz, and Amity entered.
"Whoops. Sorry, Corporal." Sprig apologized.
That's fine." Dawkins hissed in pain.
"What are you guys even doing?" Amity asked.
"It was Augie's idea." Anne said. "And we started adding to it."
"Cool!" Luz marveled. "Can we join?"
"The more the merrier!" Augie agreed as they entered.
She then resumed the beat and the new occupants were immediately enamored by it. Dylan started drumming on his clipboard and Luz began drumming on the elevator door. Dawkins and Amity simply enjoyed the music.
"Dolly and DJ would loved this." Dylan commented.
The music continued until Dawkins and Amity were accidentally tased and took Sprig's baton to the shin respectively.
"OW!" They cried before glaring at the culprits.
"Sorry!" Shag replied.
"It is getting kinda cramped in here." Sprig pointed.
Meanwhile, Doggie Daddy, Yogi, Boo Boo, Cindy, and Huckleberry were helping clear up a crime scene after gathering all the evidence they need. The scene in question was a house with a secret lab in the basement where the house's occupants would experiment with various viruses and curses. Doggie Daddy and Huck were in the basement lab, taking pictures of the whole thing.
"To think someone would be sick enough to do this." The former sighed.
"You're telling me." The latter replied as he jotted down their report on his clipboard. "Hey, do you think I should write our reactions to the scene?"
"You don't have to make a whole novel, Lieutenant." Doggie Daddy said as she sat his camera down on and leaned onto a table.
What he didn't realize was there was a large shard of glass and his accidentally cut his paw on it. He yelped in pain as the blue coonhound took notice.
"You ok, there?" He asked.
"Yeah, I just cut myself on some glass." He hissed as Huck pulled out some gauze from the first aid kit on his belt and tossed it to him.
Bandaging it up, the dogs walked out of the basement. Due to the poor lighting, they didn't notice the glass shard was stained with a mysterious dark substance and had the words 'Experiment Z-10-5' labelled on it.
Back at the station, a crowd of officers had gathered in the break room with Augie and Yakky among them, the former holding a stopwatch and trying not to lose her lunch over the sight. The cops chanted "EAT! EAT! EAT!" as they watched Shag and Puppycorn competed over who could wolf down their box of donuts faster. It was neck and neck.
"Come on, little bro!" Unikitty cheered.
"You got this, Shag!" Augie cried.
The bear and and unicorn-dog hybrid wolfed down their last donut and rang their bells.
"TIME!" They both declared as they look to each other in shock.
"13.7 seconds! That's a new record!" Yakky said.
"Good game, Shag." Puppycorn said.
"Right back at you, PC." Shag replied as they they clinked their mugs of hot chocolate.
As he and Huck patrolled the streets, Doggie Daddy wasn't feeling too hot. In fact, he was a bit green around the gills and his eyes were a bit bloodshot. The car's motions and every noise made his stomach flip and head split. His groaning eventually caught the attention of the Lieutenant.
"You all right there, partner?" He asked.
"I think I might be getting a carsick." The beagle moaned.
Before Huck could offer any words of console, a black dragon with sped by with his rider on top of him. His attention was turned as he immediately chased after them with the sirens blaring. It was absolute torture for Doggie Daddy as the sirens and the speed caused him even more aches and pains. Thankfully they didn't have to run far as they landed in a nearby park. Huck stopped and went out to confront them.
"Pull!" Shag yelled as a clay pigeon was hurled into the air.
He fired his shotgun three times before he was able to shatter it on the fourth.
"You're really improving, Shag." Augie commented.
"Way better than last week." Yakky added.
"I thought we said we'd never speak of that again!" The bear cub snapped.
"Sorry!" Augie apologized. "Pull!"
Another pigeon was launched and Augie was able to shoot it down with her pistol.
"Wait, guys. I wanna try something." Yakky said.
She then rushed to and back from the launcher before unholstering her pistol. With that, Yakky tossed the disc high before pulling out a coin and flipping it as high as she could. She then fired, shattering the pigeon. When they heard the coin land they rushed over to it and found it mangled by the bullet.
"Woah! On the first try too!" Augie marveled.
"I didn't think that would work." The duckling said as she and the pup high-fived.
"Okay, now you're jut showing off." The bear cub pouted.
"For now, I'm gonna let y'all off with a warning. Take care now, Mr. Hiccup." Huck told him.
"Will do, officer." He replied as he and Toothless flew away.
With that, the blue hound made his way back to his patrol car. As he started the engine and drove off, he noticed that Doggie Daddy was unresponsive and unconscious. He shook him slightly in an attempt to get to react, but nothing.
"He's as sick as a dog." Huck commented. "Poor guy."
All of a sudden, Doggie Daddy sprung to life, snarling and roaring as he lunged at Huck, his eyes a bloodshot and veins in his neck and face blackened. The lieutenant screamed as he tried to juggle keeping the beagle's gnashing teeth away from him and keep the car under control, nearly causing a few collisions as a result.
Elsewhere, Yogi and Boo Boo were driving along city limits in their car when Huck's sped by them, swerving wildly.
"Oh no! That's Lieutenant Huck's car!" Boo Boo pointed out.
"Way ahead of you, buddy!" Yogi said as he took a bite of a muffin and washed it down with a long swag of coffee.
"Yogi!" The smaller bear snapped.
"Right!" The larger one said before flooring it.
They didn't have to follow for long as they watched the car smashed through a fence and plow straight into a ditch. The two bears quickly exited their car and rushed over to the wrecked car. There, they helped the two dogs. Huck was the one still conscious.
"Easy does it." Boo Bo strained as he dragged the unconscious beagle.
"It's gonna be OK, guys." Yogi assured them as Huck sat in the backseat.
"Thank y'all kindly." Huck replied.
Once Boo Boo had dragged Doggie Daddy close enough, Yogi immediately let out an "Alley-oop!" and hurled Doggie Daddy inside before closing the door and dusting his hands. Both bears sat back in the front before making their way back to town. It was around this time, Doggie Daddy had regained consciousness.
"What happened back there?" He moaned as he rubbed his head.
"That's just what I was about to ask you." Yogi said.
"You were?" Boo Boo chimed.
"Well, I am now." Yogi answered.
"I haven't the faintest idea." Huck said. "As a matter of fact, I feel a little strange. Not to mention a little peckish."
"Well, we did have some muffins with us." Yogi said. "But I ate them."
Just then, Boo Boo noticed the dogs' pale complexion and bloodshot eyes in the rearview mirror.
"Hey, Huck? Are you and Doggie Daddy OK?" He asked. "You guys are looking kinda pale."
"Sorry we're about to do this." Huck said.
He and Doggie Daddy suddenly busted through the plexiglass barrier and tried to climb into the front, letting out guttural moans and trying to get their teeth on them. The bears screamed in utter terror at the zombified dogs as they tried everything they could to keep their teeth away from them. Thankfully, they were in a less busy part of town and even more luckily, Anne and Sprig had seen them swerving before coming to a stop.
"What the heck?!" Anne cried as she stopped their cruiser and they exited.
They ran over to Yogi and Boo Boo, who frantically threw themselves out of the car.
"Guys, what's going on?" She asked.
"And what's up with Officer Doggie and Lieutenant Huckleberry?" Sprig added as he got a little too close to the car.
"Wait, NO!" Yogi and Boo Boo cried.
It was too late. The dogs busted through the window and grabbed onto the frog. He screamed as whacked them as hard his could with his baton to fend them off.
"Duck, dude!" Anne cried.
Sprig did so before the zombies were blasted in the face with mace, allowing him to slip away an run back to them.
"They're zombies, aren't they?" Anne gulped.
"Yep." Yogi squeaked.
"You guys hold them off. I'll go call for backup." Sprig said.
The other three officers nodded in agreement as the frog ran over to their cruiser. Anne, Yogi and Boo Boo readied their batons. They charged at the zombies, hoping to subdue them. But what they didn't expect was for the zombified dogs to fight back, parrying their blows and inflicting their own with their own baton.
"What the heck kind of zombies are these?!" Anne exclaimed.
She tried to swing at his head, only for Huck to strike her in the hand, forcing her baton out of her grip. He then managed to pin Anne to the ground and pressed his baton into her neck, choking her. Just as he was about to sink his teeth into her, Sprig came along and knocked him off.
"Thanks, dude." Anne panted as she got up. "Quick! To the car!"
She, Sprig, Yogi, and Boo Boo immediately locked themselves inside the former two's cruiser. The two zombified dogs immediately ran up and pounded on the the glass.
"Come on, now. Don't make this even harder than it has to be." Huck told them, almost sounding nonchalant abut being zombified.
Doggie Daddy finally punched through the glass of the front passenger window; the one Sprig was sitting. The four terrified officers screamed as Doggie Daddy did the same to Anne's window. They tried with all their might to fend them off. They may have been zombies, but their was no way they were going to shoot fellow officers.
At least, not yet.
Just then, Sprig accidentally flipped on the sirens. The high-pitched wailing proved too much for them, causing the zombie cops to quickly hobble away. With those two gone, the four were able to warily exit the vehicle.
"What happened to them?!" Sprig cried.
"I don't really know." Yogi said.
"Well, whatever happened to them, we gotta warn everyone!" Anne exclaimed.
Meanwhile, as this was happening, Shag, Augie, Yakky, Bluey, Bingo had just finished photocopying their various parts of their bodies and were laughing their heads off about it.
"That was great!" Bluey giggled, holding a picture of her face smooshed up against the photocopier's glass.
"You were right, Augie." Shag said as he pocketed his picture of his butt.
Suddenly, the fun times were cut short when their radios buzzed and the dispatcher's voice came.
"Officer Sprig Plantar has just requested for immediate backup. Any available officers please respond and meet up with him and Officer Boonchuy at the corner of Hanna Lane and Barbera Avenue." She instructed.
"Finally some action! Roger that! We'll be there in a jiffy." Shag cheered. "Let's bounce, girls."
"Later, Bluey! Bye, Bingo!" Augie bid as she ran after Shag with Yakky being dragged along behind her.
"Good luck, guys!" Bingo called out.
After a minute or two of driving with the lights and sirens blazing, they finally spotted Anne, Sprig, Yogi and Boo Boo waving them down. They pulled over and stepped out of their vehicle before walking up to them.
"So, what's the situation?" Augie asked.
The other officer's sweat nervously as they tried to come up with a way to explain the situation that her dad was in.
"Why are you guys sweating? It's not even that hot." Augie pointed out.
"Now, I don't know how to put this without upsetting you too much." Anne began. "But..."
"Your dad and Huck are zombies!" Sprig blurted out.
"And no, we wish we were joking!" Boo Boo added.
"And now they've been set them loose in the city and who knows how many people they've bitten already!" Yogi finished.
Anne briefly glared at them before turning back to the shocked kids. But the pup seemed to take it the worst as her eyes shrunk down to pinpricks, tears flowed down her cheeks and her jaw hit the floor. Yakky waved a hand in front of her face and snapped her fingers at her.
"Um, Augie?" She asked. "Your expression is starting to scare me."
Before they knew it, Augie had a whole new tone.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE WE WAITING FOR, THEN?!" Augie barked. "Let's go save my daddy and Huck!"
Without waiting anther second, the septet rushed to their cars and set off.
Rushing down the streets, the cops kept a close eye out for any sign of the zombified dogs.
"Just how are we supposed to find a couple of undead cops in a city like this?" Sprig asked.
Just then, they saw a crowd of people running for their lives. After managing to get through the crowd, they finally spotted the zombified dogs quickly hobbling towards them. It was miracle how they haven't bitten anyone yet.
"That was easy." Anne commented.
As the other cops exited their vehicles, Augie could only stare in shock as she saw her zombified father come charging towards her and her friends. Finally, the living and undead cops clashed, swinging their batons and fists. Huck faced off against Anne, Sprig, Shag, and Yakky while Doggie Daddy was being dealt with by Augie, Yogi, and Boo Boo.
As they fought, Augie noticed that Doggie Daddy was trying all he could to not harm her. This gave her some hope that he and Huck weren't completely lost. Unfortunately, when Doggie Daddy was struggling with Boo Boo, she had a difficult choice to make.
"I'm so sorry! I hope you understand." Augie sobbed as she knocked her undead father to the ground.
"Augie!" The zombie beagle choked out.
Augie whimpered and swung again, this time knocking the zombie to the ground. At was this time, Sprig was able to do the same to Huck. With that, they handcuffed the zombies and stuffed them into the back of Anne and Sprig's car. The drive back to the station was a quiet, somber one, apart from the growling and snarling of the zombies in the back.
"Are you gonna be OK?" Yakky asked.
"I... I don't know." Augie said.
"Now what?" Shag wondered as they observed Huck and Doggie Daddy in one of the temporary holding cells of their precinct.
"Well, Cindy, Lisa, and are working on a way to at least help manage the the zombie infection." Reagan explained as she jotted down notes on them. "And Brett, stop making faces at the zombies!"
"Sorry!" Her partner apologized.
"So, you're saying they can't be cured?" Augie tearfully asked.
The former Cognito scientist sighed.
"As of right now, no. But, we might be able to help manage it." She explained as Brett put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We still need to tweak it and it's still untested.
"Have you guys ever dealt with zombies back in your days in Cognito?" Yakky shivered.
"Yeah, lots of times." Brett answered. "But never ones with parts of their personality."
Meanwhile, Anne and Sprig were sitting in opposing cubicles filling out paperwork and doing a crossword respectively in an attempt to forget about what transpired today. Just then, Anne let out a low groaned as she rubbed her temples. This did not go unnoticed by Sprig.
"Hey, Anne. You OK?" He asked.
"Yeah, I just have this splitting headache all of a sudden." She groaned as she got up. "And I'm feeling a little hungry for some reason."
"Wait." He said stopping her. "Before you leave, what's a 5-letter word for pain?"
Before she could answer, she collapsed to the floor in pain. As Sprig ran to her aid, he looked down and his heart sank into his stomach when he saw the bloody stain ion her right pant leg.
"Anne?" He squeaked.
"Yeah?" She replied.
He pointed down at her leg. She looked in the same direction and was mortified. She lifted her pant leg up and saw an unmistakable bitemark on her ankle.
"Oh no." Anne gulped in dread.
Back with Augie and her friends, their conversation was cut short when they heard frantic screaming from the hall. They rushed over to see what it was. When the crowd cleared, they were horrified. They saw a zombified Anne and Sprig tackling and sinking their teeth into Badgerclops, quickly zombifying him.
"Now would be a good time to test out that new treatment you were talking about." Yakky gulped.
"Yeah." Reagan agreed as they ran and she pulled out her radio. "Guys, it's now or never. Better get them ready!"
As they did, Anne walked up to the holding cell and released the zombified dogs.
Brett then stopped at and smashed open glass case and pulled a green lever, causing some of the lights to flash green.
"Code Green! I repeat! Code Green!" He announced before rejoining them.
"Code Green?" Augie asked.
"Yeah! It's for when there's a zombie attack. Didn't you read the handbook?" Brett asked.
"I actually forgot that's a part of that." Shag said.
As the group ran, they were passed by one of the armories. After initially passing by it, they came back to it and rushed inside. There, they ran into Lieutenant Mao, Colonel Ryder as well as other officers arming up with riot shields and tasers.
"Mind explaining how this happened?" Mao Mao requested.
"Augie's dad and Lieutenant Huckleberry somehow turned into zombies and now we run the risk of a full-blown zombie apocalypse." Yakky said.
"A zom-pocalypse, of you will." Shag chimed.
"Here they come! Get ready!" Officer Lincoln called from the hallway.
"You heard him! GO! GO! GO!" Ryder ordered as they rushed into the hallway.
Once in the hall, the office saw the oncoming zombies. In response they firmly stood their ground and formed a shield wall. They groups finally clashed, pushing against each other. They pushed and shoved against one another, neither side willing to give.
"Hold the line!" Ryder called.
"Man, these guys are strong." Shag strained.
Just when it looked like they were pushing back, Sprig was knocked over. He retaliated by biting down on Yakky's leg. She screamed in pain as she kicked the zombie frog off her.
"Yakky!" Augie and Shag screamed.
"How could this possibly get any worse?" Officer Clyde grumbled.
"Wait no! Don't say that!" Mao Mao yelled.
Things got even worse when on the other side, more zombified cops showed up, sandwiching them.
"Oh, God! WE'RE SCREWED!" Brett screamed.
Suddenly, Augie lost her footing leaving a gab in the wall just as Shag was becoming overcome with the infection. The officers screamed as they were swarmed and braced themselves for the end...
,... but it never came.
They opened their eyes and found that the zombies had been tranquilized and saw the officers responsible for that.
"Just in time." Cindy panted.
"You guys are heroes." Lincoln sighed in relief.
"Good work, you guys." Ryder praised.
"You can thank us later." Officer Bandit Heeler replied. "Let's get them to the lab."
An hour later, they later found that a majority of the officers in the precinct had avoided becoming infected. The ones who did were fitted with special collars or bracelets to keep the infection at bay.
"This should help keep the infection under control." Lisa explained as she fitted Yakky with her bracelet. "I know this isn't a permanent solution, but for now, it should suffice."
"So, with this on, she can't infect anyone?" Shag asked as Lisa nodded in response.
Over with Doggie Daddy and Huck, the former was wailing and hugging his daughter over the fact that he nearly killed her and her friends.
"I'm so sorry, sweetie!" He sobbed as she hugged back.
"It's okay, Dad." Augie assured, tearing up herself. "I forgive you."
"It's gonna be alright, Doggie Daddy." Huckleberry told him, comfortingly rubbing his back with his paw.
It took a minute or two for the bawling beagle to calm down enough to answer some questions.
"So, what's the last think led up to you two becoming infected?" Ryder asked.
"Well, while Cindy, Yogi, Boo Boo, Doggie Daddy and I were at that house with the secret lab, Doggie Daddy accidentally cut himself on the glass." Huckleberry answered.
"That would explain his bandaged paw." Brett pointed out.
"So, it's possible that was a fragment of some glassware that contained the strain." Reagan theorized.
"I'm just glad this whole thing is over." Doggie Daddy said.
Every officer in the room could only agree. Just then, Ryder got a call on his radio.
"Colonel, one of the crime scene cleaners assigned to clean the house on Schulz street had just become infected with the virus and had escaped." The dispatcher informed.
"AW, COME ON!" All the officer who heard it griped.
"So much for a happy ending." Augie sighed.