Chapter 7, It Gets Crazier: Aiden parked at the campus parking lot. I looked at the mysteries I jotted down in my apple notebook.
"What is Nessa plotting?"
"Is there something behind Deborah's and Nessa's relationship?"
"Where is Thomas Ferral?"
"Who is stalking Fern Stagg?"
"Is there a connection between Deborah's and Fern's case?"
The first two mysteries had to be placed on the back burner. For now. Nessa wasn't the cause of Deborah's disappearance. Even though the campus police might suspect she's behind the missing predator students. There's not enough evidence to prove it. I could read Deborah's diary again, but now that she was found, that would be a privacy breach. I'm certain that if we can find time for the first question our second question will be answered. The third question is what Aiden and I need to solve. Nick and Judy had gone to figure out the fourth question. The last one also needed attention.
"This case is like a jigsaw puzzle with a lot of missing pieces," Aiden said.
"But if we find them the case will come together and show a clear picture," I said before we got out of the car. Aiden locks it. Further down the parking lot, there was a single ZU police car. But we didn't see the deer. Nor the bear, wolf, and rabbit.
"One of them is likely sitting in the car," Aiden said.
We walked and there was Darby typing something on the laptop. He looked up at us and smiled, opening the door.
"Are you here to help?" He asked.
"Somewhat. Did you get shot?" I asked. The buck stepped out of the car and removed his vest. He lowered the collar on his light blue uniform and showed us a scar.
"I was fighting a red fox. He pulled out his switchblade. I didn't want to use my gun. So I used my coyote taser. Coyotes and foxes were similar in size so I thought it wouldn't hurt him too much, and it was better than hitting him with a bullet. When he was down I was suddenly approached by some mammal wearing a hood. It all happened so fast, they got a gun out and shot me below the collarbone. Next thing I realized I was on the ground. Although I did catch a glimpse of a raccoon tail. Whoever shot me had to have been a raccoon. It was the scariest situation I've ever been in." He explained. He pulled up his collar and put his vest back on afterward.
"When did this happen?" I asked.
"During Orientation, I was guiding the new students on where to go. It was insane how the fox tried to attack me in front of everyone in broad daylight. Although he did smell something like vodka. I should say it's more appalling that some mammal shot me in the same circumstance. I can still hear my cousin screaming my name and feeling her hooves shaking me. It was heartbreaking."
Aiden was writing stuff down in his comp book.
"In the security room. You said your cousin's name is Fern?" I asked.
"It is. We were close when we were fawns. We don't talk as much now. Nothing happened between us. I was in training and she was working to save for college. You can say life happened." He said.
"Why did you use a coyote taser on a fox?" I asked. I thought about the bear taser I bought when I first came to Zootopia. I still have it on top of my bedroom drawer. I only bought it because I told my mother I would. I didn't think I would need it. But after hearing Darby's story, would I be safe if a mammal had a weapon? I would have no choice but to use a gun if I didn't have a taser with me. That was a scary thought. Another scary thought is that it looks like there are tasers for every predator.
"After I graduated, my parents gave me a bag of tasers as a gift. There was a bear taser, a bobcat taser, a cougar taser, a coyote taser, and a wolf taser. I took the coyote taser just to make them happy and I thought it uses the least amount of voltage out of the other four. Never in a million years did I think I would use it. But now looking back at it. I can only imagine how things would be if I had to use a gun because I wasn't carrying a taser." Darby is thinking what I was thinking about earlier.
"I don't blame you, to be honest," Aiden said. He looked like he wanted to tell him something else. I wonder what it was.
"What caused you to get into a fight with the fox?" I asked.
"I saw him harassing a jackal. He was holding on to her arm while the jackal was pulling away from him."
"What type of jackal was it?" Asked Aiden.
"It was a black-backed jackal." Answered Darby.
"Do you happen to know their names?" I asked.
"Unfortunately, no." He said. Another question I could ask Deborah after she's well enough.
"Your cousin came by the police station today," I said.
"Really? What for?" He asked.
"She said she was being followed around by some mammal wearing a hood. One of those mammals that shot you." Aiden said. Darby looked around and looked at us.
"Get in the back of the car. Both of you." He told us. We did as we were told; he got in the front and closed the door making sure the windows were closed. He looked at us through the prisoner partition. He slides it open.
"They're gang members. We don't know the name of this gang, how many mammals are in it, or what their motives are. For some reason, they do not like campus police." He said.
"Grayson and Grizzly told me that," Aiden said.
"What else did they tell you?" He asked.
"They've been following you around, shooting at you, vandalizing your vehicles, harassing the students here," Aiden answered.
"You are right on point. They're some troublesome little effers." Darby replied.
"You said working here was great," I said.
"Oh, it is. When we're not dealing with these pests. It's difficult to get work done when they are around." Darby replied.
"If they're damaging the vehicles and they have shot you. Why isn't this on the news?" I asked.
"It was on the news when I got shot. The higher-ups were not happy about it. When I got out of medical leave officer Bouncer told me that the staff wanted nothing about this gang to be brought to the public again and to take care of them as quickly and quietly as possible. I mean I guess if there's a violent gang shooting campus police it would make students least likely to enroll which means less money. But it's nearly impossible to take care of the problem because they're so fast. The crazy part is that my comrades and I managed to catch one member. When we tried to confront him, he poisoned himself before we could get any answers."
"That last part sounds pretty cult-like," I said.
"It does. But I don't think cults carry around guns that look like what swat or the Zootopia Armed Forces would be using." Darby replied.
"Then they're getting these weapons illegally," Aiden replied.
"Not knowing where they're getting them from is the problem," Darby said.
Out of nowhere the windows in the back were shattered Aiden and I yelled out feeling a bullet barely passing by us.
"Speak of the devil! Both of you get down!" Darby yelled. Aiden and I crouched as much as we could. You could hear screaming from outside. No doubt it was the students. Who would be crazy enough to shoot at police in front of everyone? And then I thought about Darby's story. Anyone in this gang is who. Darby sped away to avoid the shooter's line of fire. He gets out and then opened the back door.
"Get on the ground!" He shouted. Aiden and I quickly got on the ground. Darby pulled a megaphone out of the car.
"Can I have your attention! Can I have your attention! There is a shooter present on school grounds! Please stay inside the school buildings until further instructions! Again! There is a shooter present on school grounds! Please stay inside the school buildings until further notice!" Darby said through the megaphone. A crowd of frenzied and panicked students can be seen running back inside the school.
Aiden and I practically leaped away from the car when a loud pop rang through our ears. Darby snorted and made a short bellow seeing the flat tire.
"I gave away our position when I gave that warning." He pulled out his walkie. "This is officer Stagg. We have a ten seventy-one. Requesting a one twenty-nine."
"Ten-four officer Stagg." Someone said on his walkie. Darby looked at us. "Out of the two which one of you is a better shooter?" He asked.
"He was the top in our class," I said.
"Okay. You stay with me. Backup should be on its way." He said to Aiden. Darby looked at me. "You guide the students. There should be some of us around the building. Make sure no one gets hurt or left behind." He gave me the megaphone. "Just press the button while speaking through it."
We jumped back when a bullet landed between us.
"Another one must be around here somewhere. Hurry!" Darby said. I nodded and ran towards the school. I was a little worried about Aiden. While he was the best shooter in our class we did not have any idea where these troublemakers might be hiding.
"Everyone remain calm while entering. You don't want to trample anyone. Again stay calm while entering and wait until everything is resolved." I said through the megaphone. The students were rushing inside but not as fast as before I made the announcement. My ear twitched when I heard screaming. I ran over to the screaming and saw a meerkat trying not to get run over by wildebeests as they ran past her. I pulled her out of the pack and placed her on my shoulder.
"Stampede am I right?" I said. The meerkat giggled and hugged my neck.
"Thank you, officer!" She said.
"Your hair is cute," I said. It's dark brown and was in short twintails with a pink ribbon tied at both ends. She giggled and twirled the end on one of them.
"I can walk you back to the school if you like," I said.
"That would be nice. I don't want to get stuck again." She said. I chuckled a bit and headed back to the school.
"Tiffany!" Shouted a female meerkat with the same hairstyle but wearing blue ribbons.
"Stephanie!" The meerkat on my shoulder replied. I placed Tiffany down and the two meerkats hugged each other. Chances are they were sisters
"Thank you for finding her officer!" Stephanie said to me. The two meerkats left. I left to see if any more students had been left behind. I quickly got on the ground when I heard a loud bang. The side of my right ear stung like fire. A bullet had nicked my ear. I turned my head and saw one of the members running away. They thought they could shoot at me and get away with it? They had another thing coming.
I got up from the ground and sped after them. There was still a lot of distance between us. I stumbled when a bullet barely hit my hoof. Getting nicked by a bullet was almost like getting a paper cut. Or a small cut from a knife. Small wound but incredibly painful. I knew there could be a chance I might be placing myself in a position for an ambush, but I couldn't risk having this criminal go scot-free. I kept feeling stings as I ran. I was either out running these bullets or whoever was trying to snipe me was a terrible shooter.
The doe was right about these mammals being fast. I was running at full speed yet there was still distance between us. On average a horse can run fifty-five miles per hour. This mammal had to be running between sixty and seventy miles per hour. Whatever mammal this was, they had the ability to outrun a horse. I couldn't catch them at this rate.
I could shoot them but I didn't want to pull out the gun unless I really needed to. Plus they were so fast that I don't think I would be able to get a clear shot quickly enough. I'm not Aiden. The mammal hopped over a fence and continued to take off. Did they really think a horse can't jump? I backed away a bit, ran towards the fence, and leaped over.
I lost track of my shooter, but they did leave a few clues. I knelt on the ground and saw a footprint that belonged to a cheetah. That's why I couldn't catch up with them. A cheetah can go up to seventy miles per hour. Unless you're Clawhauser of course. I looked through my uniform pocket and then remembered I gave that blurred picture to Judy.
A deer could run between thirty and forty miles per hour. It's a far stretch, but I was starting to think that a cheetah might be harassing Fern. A cheetah would be extremely fast to a mammal that can only run up to forty. Plus it would explain why the image is so blurry.
I stood up and then started to walk around cautiously. There were claw marks on the walls and windows, the marks looked like they came from a big cat. The shooter made a sharp turn and climbed up the school. Only a big cat as lightweight as a cheetah can do that. Again. Unless you are Clawhauser.
I fell on the ground when a couple of feet hit my head. I scrambled to my hooves and saw a small mammal wearing a hood. No doubt it's a rabbit. I didn't know if this was the sniper or not. But regardless, I wasn't going to have a rabbit take me down. I knew if I tried to swing at it, they would quickly hop to another position and try to hit me with their feet once they saw an opening. I wasn't in Judy's class, but I heard mammals at the station talk about how she took that rhino down.
I watched the rabbit. They hopped over, I turned to where they hopped over. They hopped again and I still followed them. This went on for a bit. I couldn't see their expression but I'm sure they were getting frustrated that I wasn't swinging first. But if I took any chance to attack I would leave myself vulnerable to a kick from them.
Realizing that I wasn't going to do as they planned, the rabbit quickly hopped to my side and leaped at me. I swung around and managed to land my hoof on their body. It was like hitting a fly with a fly swatter in mid-air. The rabbit ended up hitting the wall and fell on the ground not moving.
I let out a loud neigh when I felt claws sink into my neck. But suddenly whoever grabbed me let go. I turned around and saw the cheetah on the ground and Jazz standing there. Jazz had jumped and kicked him in the head. He looked at the rabbit.
"Woah. If I need to fight a horse criminal I'll make sure I'll have either Grayson, Grizzly, or Stagg at my side." He said.
"Only if the criminal knows not to attack you first," I said.
"That's my point." He replied. He then looked like he realized something. "Quick! Cuff the cheetah and search for a vial! I'll do the same with the rabbit!" He said. I did what he told me I found a small vial containing a periwinkle-colored liquid.
"What is this?" I asked.
"It's a poison made from autumn crocus. They look like their night howler cousins. Unlike their cousins, it doesn't make you go savage. It can kill you. That's what the last one we caught poisoned himself with." Jazz explained.
"That explains the color. A lot of apple and carrot farmers at my home use the flowers to keep bugs from eating the crops. My mom had used them for her apples and carrots in her garden." I replied remembering how she always told me not to touch or eat the flowers.
"You're from Bunnyburrow too?" He asked.
"No, Foal Farms," I replied.
"I guess all country mammals know about autumn crocus then. I thought Bunnyburrow was the only small town."
"How did you know it was autumn crocus?" I asked.
"I had one of the school doctors investigate the vial. He makes my fur stand up though." He answered.
"Why does he?" I asked.
"Because he'll only treat your injuries if you're prey. Remember that story I told you about how I got attacked by that weasel? That doctor conveniently showed up and started treating my wounds. He was talking about how predators were assholes and that's why he doesn't treat them. If Nessa has a plan, I wouldn't doubt that he's in on it. He was also there when officer Stagg got shot one time. Even though he's the reason that officer Stagg and I are alive. I can't help but feel he knows something. His timing was just too perfect during those events." The rabbit explained. I had to tell Aiden this whenever I got the chance.
"Go back to where you said he'll only treat prey. What will happen if a student or a ZU officer that's a predator gets sick or injured?" I asked.
"No idea. It is a college, so I don't think he's the only doctor. Unless the other doctors are like that as well. If that's the case I do feel bad for any student or ZU officer who is a predator." He replied. I wondered if that's why Deborah goes to a city doctor.
"How did you know I'd be here?" I asked.
"I went to look for you. I saw you chasing that cheetah. Your partner caught the shooter. Officer Stagg said he shot him." He replied.
