I know the darkness... from inside…
Reckless rage… and, poisoned pride…
I know the weakness… I know the pain…
I know the fear… We do not name…
And, the one who comes to find me… When my time is through…
But, I know you… Yeah… I know you…
I Know You – Jake Smith (The White Buffalo)
December 21st, 2020
Two-hours after he had left the Hendricks Truck Stop, Nick finally made it into the Hopps driveway. It was far later than he had originally expected to be back and that was entirely due to slowness of the Jonesboro and Bunnyburrow plows that late in the evening. The todd had not wanted to risk sliding past the two counties' plows just to make up time and possibly hit something that he could not see through the steady uptick of the frozen precipitation.
Nick politely knocked on the front door, waiting patiently as the thicker flakes began to layer on top of the extended fur on his head and began soaking the simple shirt that he had been wearing. It had felt as if he was standing in Tundratown due to how much the wind was buffeting the area across the whole warren. The area really did call for a jacket or coat. It was still just warm enough to melt any of the snowflakes that managed to land on something that was of a warmer body. He had to knock again, a little more firmly, before one of the grandkits answered the door. It took a bit of time to get cleaned up and make the trek down to J-Hall. The last thing that Nick remembered was how peaceful Judy looked in her own bed. With no permission to join her, he had simply sat down along the edge of the bed itself while orienting the backpack next to him. As soon as he was comfortable, as much as he could be with his back pressed up against the wooden frame, the todd closed his eyes.
It felt as if he had merely blinked. He had been so deeply asleep that there was no interruption within his own subconscious, and he had certainly not been bothered by anybody during his sleep, and it was only for the fact that there was an alarm dinging on his phone that he woke up. It had taken a couple of moments to listen to that before he slowly withdrew the offensive device from his pocket. It was sometime after eleven in the morning and several other alarms had failed to waken him already.
He was quick to shut it off and then turn all of his work alarms off the for duration of the trip. Certainly, Nick did not need up waking up any earlier than was the current norm called for. He usually slept bad enough as it was.
Once that was taken care of, Nick stood up to pop his back and take a look around. His bag was sitting, untouched, from where he had laid it down and Judy was already gone out of her room. That was not to say that a recent perfume of her scent had not been nearby rather recently. Maybe only a couple of hours past, but it was still recent. So, the todd hefted the backpack onto his shoulder and stepped through the open door to his room.
Taking stock in his condition, Nick decided that he had not sweat much during the ride to and from Zootopia City, so he decided to change all of his clothes and forgo a shower. After that had been handled, the todd carefully removed the urn from his bag and set it on the desk that probably was meant to be a workstation or for a desktop computer.
"I have to take care of a couple of things before I see you guys again. Please, be patient." He said quietly to his parents. His paw slipped away from the top of the canister and the todd left the room while quietly shutting the door behind him.
The jaunt through the main hall and up the stairs was taken at a quicker pace than he had made it down the night prior. There was something on the air that made Nick realize that his hackles had begun to rise. He could not put a claw on the reason for the reaction and his paws never stopped on the way through the top of the stairwell doorway. He was a little preoccupied with the fact that he needed to speak with Stu before anything else could be done for the day. So, he pressed on, down past the dining hall entrances and over towards his office. Several of the younger Hopps kits ran past with grins, laughter, and threw up high-fives in some impressive jumps to compensate for how tall the fox was. Nick returned them all with soft hoots of encouragement at their physical displays while making sure not to knock them off balance with his larger paws. A couple of them even told him that their father or grandfather was in his office: which was where he was headed anyway.
As soon as Nick made it to the door, he rapped the wood with a deft paw.
"Come on in!" The buck called from beyond.
The todd felt himself take another sniff of the air and, again, the fur on his neck stood on end. He still could not place the reason for the discomfort that he was feeling. It went ignored so that he could open the door and step through the threshold.
"Ah! Nick!" Stu said after looking up from his laptop computer. "I had heard that your truck was back in the yard this morning. I'm glad to see that everything went alright out there."
"It did." Nick said, swallowing the "sir" that he had wanted to drop at the end of the statement. It was because the buck was upstanding and respectable as the Chief had been over the years. Stewart Hopps deserved that much respect from the todd: even if he might catch an ass-chewing over it. Still, the fox kept it to himself.
"How were the roads?" Stu inquired.
"I had to play catch up with a Bunnyburrow plow after I left Jonesboro, but it had been clear enough to see with the standard lamps." Nick replied.
The patriarch slowly leaned up on his elbows as he looked down at the keyboard for a split-second.
"And, your parents made it safe?" He asked. The concerned resonated within Nick: speaking to him as if his parents had been brought along alive rather than passed-and-gone. At some point, the buck had heard enough to adapt to the differences between rabbits and foxes, and he was being extremely respectful of the fact.
"Yes, Sir." Nick said tightly, nodding a bit as he himself looked downwards as well. "They're in my room right now."
"Good. They'll be safe there. I promise, Son." Stu said firmly, taking to his hindpaws before stepping around the desk to reach up and grabbing ahold of Nick's shoulder firmly. "When you're ready, we'll all see to it that they have a proper send-off, if you wish."
"I think that they'd love to meet all of you Hopps', Stu. To thank you all for the kindness shown to their family." Nick whispered, feeling his eyes beginning to water as he looked down at his forepaws. They had been clasped tightly at his waist the entire time.
The buck firmly pulled him down to a knee and wrapped his arms around the todd's neck tightly. The depth of the loss of his parents seeped into every bit of his body and he immediately wrapped his longer arms around the patriarch, in return.
"My family owes your parents, and yourself, far more than this for keeping our daughter safe after all these years, Son. The Warren is as much your home now as it is ours and we will make sure to take care of their resting site while you are away." Stu said heavily. The older buck's body was beginning to shake from his own emotions.
Nick stood up swiftly, taking the smaller male upwards with his larger frame, before whispering. "Thank you, Sir."
The silence that followed was short and pierced by the sound of a thick crackling of the buck's back as the tension had released his muscles. It was followed by a soft groan before both the fox and the rabbit began to laugh loudly and wetly. Nick immediately set Stu down on the floor so that the buck could rub at his back before wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Thanks for that, too. Now I don't have to go to the chiropractor." Stu said, releasing a happy sigh as he padded himself down along the spine.
"You don't have a single family member that is in that profession?" Nick asked loudly.
"Oh, no! I do!" Stu exclaimed happily. "But, those little turds don't offer a family discount like the fella in town does!"
Nick felt Stu hook him around the back to lead him out of the room as his mind was still processing the comment. Once everything had been comprehended, and the door was open enough for them both to leave, the todd busted out with an uproarious level of laughter. It took a couple of minutes for the todd to regain himself while shaking his head the entire time.
"I have a question for you, Nick." Stu said, seeming to have waiting for an opening.
"Go ahead." He replied.
"Can you tell me a bit more about why your eyes do that?" The patriarch asked, as if he was asking for a bowl of food to be passed across the table.
The inquiry slowed the speed of his gait as his left paw came up over his left eye out of a natural reaction. It was then that that the todd realized the ring that was projected within his field of vision: wherever he happened to look. This was the first time that Nick had not recognized the new, natural response to something. Stu had stepped out in front of the fox while looking at him with a kindhearted muzzle.
"I apologize. I didn't notice that it happened." Nick replied weakly.
"You were like that when you came into my study, Son." Stu explained. It startled Nick even further. He could not place when the change had occurred. "Judy explained how it came to be, but she couldn't really tell us why. My daughter wanted us to know that it might happen, so that we wouldn't be startled, during your first trip out."
"I'm sorry, Sir." He whispered urgently. "It happens when I become concerned or stressed."
The buck's paw was felt on his shoulder. "What got you all riled up, Son? Bringing your parents here?" He asked steadily.
"I—I don't think so…" Nick spoke. "I had this weird feeling after I left the bedroom this morning. I don't know why."
"Look at me, Son." Stu said firmly, jostling the todd's shoulder a bit with a paw.
There was not a single minute moment of hesitancy; more due to the fact that there was a bit of fear in Nick than anything else. The buck's other paw came up to grasp his other shoulder and both of them squeezed firmly.
"I explained everything, as far down the family line, as could possibly be comprehended. They might be a little surprised seeing it the first time, but I told them that you were not a danger to them. Now that I've seen it firsthand, I know that for a damned fact. The talkative of kits might have some uncomfortable questions, but I know you will figure out those answers. And, the younger ones won't even notice the difference."
"I appreciate that, Stu." Nick said, again his voice was weak.
"You held this entire conversation with me like this," Stu said, his muzzle had shifted to one of a hardened conveyance of emotions. "I know what you are..."
Nick's ears pinned back as his eyes went wide; holding his peace while waiting for the other paw to drop.
"You are alright, Son! There's nothing wrong with you!" Stu whispered powerfully, squeezing the fox's shoulder painfully to get him to understand what was being said to him. "You are a good mammal!"
"Thank you, Sir." The todd's throat was so dry that he barely uttered the words.
As if to distract the fox, Stu roughly wrapped his arm around his neck and began to lead him down the hallway with a laugh. "Come on. You missed breakfast and I should be there to smooth the ruffled feathers of those two beautiful sweethearts that we know."
That was what caused Nick to smile softly as he was drug out through the hallways: not even fighting the fact that his back was beginning to give him Hell due to how he had slept overnight. Judy's father was smiling, which Nick noticed even out of the corner of his eye, as he took them towards the kitchens. The patriarch was already focused on the next step of whatever it was that was inside that smart rabbit head of his.
The door to the main kitchen was nearly passed when Stu shoved him towards it rather harshly. The buck was grinning widely at Nick, when he finally managed to spin around, so that he could see a little fuzzy thumbs-up being given along with it. A young doe immediately slipped past the orange todd, without missing a beat, while carrying a platter full of plates of food. Nick tossed his paws up by a few inches: indicating that the maneuver was somewhat unnecessary. The buck grinned wider, if that was at all possible, and ran a digit along the rim of his ballcap in somewhat of a salute.
It was as if Nick fell back through the entryway after that. His body spun around so that his hind paws could lead him over to the empty line at the forefront of the kitchen. Something was different about how he would receive his food today. It was more like a cafeteria than a kitchen just by the orientation of the carts set in front of the ovens and stoves. There was a stack of plates and little bushels of utensils placed at the forefront of the organized line.
Nick's sightline caught the fact that several of the does, led by Bonnie and including Judy, were sitting at the far end of the room when Stu stepped through the other entryway further down. All thirteen does immediately looked up at the patriarch as he smiled warmly towards them and the todd immediately looked away. He had almost made it across the expanse when he inadvertently caught the eye of Arabella Hopps; clad in a stained white apron while she was turning a ladle through a pot of stew.
"I've been wonderin' where you were. Mom and Pops said you'd be home late." The doe commented sweetly. "Did you eat dinner?"
After having completed the crossing, Nick felt himself bloom with embarrassment. "I grabbed a bite outside of town and went straight to bed when I got in." He replied, swapping up some of his explanation entirely and also inadvertently.
The older doe was quick on the uptake and polite, nonetheless. "You had a bite at the truck stop out yonder." She corrected him, already knowing there was nothing "outside of town" other than the last stop near the county lines. "Wait there. I've got a breakfast platter to whip up for you. Don't move."
"Yes, Miss Arabella." He said quickly. There was no sense in stirring an argument in the middle of the kitchen, nor right on the forefront of the lunch hour. Several rabbits had showed up, causing the todd to immediately wave them by without further incident.
Nick was so focused on watching all of those rabbits spooning random items into their plates, from the self-service carts, that he nearly missed the fact that the same brown doe was patting him on the shoulder to gain his attention several minutes later. When he looked over his shoulder, Arabella was standing behind his right shoulder and holding a tray of plates while wearing a gentle smile. It was nearly shoved into his paws.
"We don't do turkey strips in this warren. So, it's four turkey sausage links, several scrambled eggs, and some hash-browns. I heard you preferred the salt, so I hope that my considerations of it will suffice. Any other condiments are on you and out on any of the tables." Arabella explained firmly before pointing. "Robby's bunch is over there, if you want to join in." And, as soon as he had turned enough to take a look, the doe took the opportunity to smack him on the ass so hard that his tail exploded in overall size. It was then that she got sharp with him. "Get going, Mister Wilde. You're holding up my line!"
Whatever response of gratitude was smothered as he began to walk away. There was no question that he now knew how Judy usually felt under extreme embarrassment. Even the todd knew that his ears were so flushed that it could only add to the embarrassment of such conduct overall. He was so tongue-tied that he could not issue the statement of gratitude. Not that it seemed to matter; she was behind him and trying to smother her laughter behind a paw. He most certainly had to have been a sight to behold at that very moment.
Fortunately, he was quickly distracted by Robby's group as the bucks began to wave him over. Many of them had been on the tower crew the day prior. All of them were openly happy to see the todd as he walked over. One of the larger bucks shoved three of his siblings down the bench so that he could sit between him and Robby. The other three all grinned, as they began to reorient their silverware and plates, despite the treatment.
"Glad you made it alright, Nick!" Robby said loudly.
"And, thanks for the help with the watchtower, Bud." The large – enormous – buck said off to his opposite side. Nick remembered that he was Bradley Hopps, an older buck that was the brother to Stewart.
"Absolutely." The todd tried to reply confidently.
Nick forked some eggs into his muzzle so that he could, hopefully, balance his body's chemistry out. He was immediately interrupted.
"Don't be shy, Bud!" Bradley said loudly. Immediately, an oversized rabbit's paw was slammed into his back: caused the todd to spray out the food across the table onto some of the other bucks. "We saw how hard you worked yesterday!"
While he was coughing and hacking at the table, the rest of them were all roaring with laughter and thumping on it, or the floor below with their hindpaws.
Bradley wrapped an arm around his shoulder and shook him from side-to-side. "You gotta brag about that, Nicky! Never woulda thought a city-slicker could pull more than his own weight like that!" The buck shouted, hiking upwards to drag the todd into a headlock. "We'll make a Hopps outta him yet!"
"Hear, hear!" The rest of the bucks shouted, pounding the wooden table with their balled paws.
Nick grinned a bit. "Or, maybe I'll make you a Wilde." He countered with a sputter.
It brought a chorus of chiding laughs from the rest.
"I'm not even sad to say it, my red-furred friend… My wife would be a factor of extreme opposition. I hear that Colby is single, though!" The unable shot back.
"That's gay as Hell!" Colby popped off quickly.
"What's wrong with that?!" Another sounded off. Devon, if Nick recalled correctly. More laughs came from the group.
"He's as fiery as he looks!" Bradley bellowed, eliciting another round of table-pounding and supporting shouts from the crew, before releasing the todd with another firm smack between his shoulder blades. "Eat up, Bud! We've got more work to do today!"
Nick spent several minutes working on two of the turkey links, while listening to all of the bucks as they jovially jabbed at one another, before the table was quieted by a rather loud set of chitters brought all of their heads around or over to the entryway behind the group.
Sure as Serendipity wears sandals, his mind echoed the quote from the Hendricks' buck.
"Aw, hell. His little sweetheart found him before we could put him to work." Bradley lamented.
Marcy was perched up on her hindpaws, in little blue shirt and a gentle yellow skirt, while waving at the todd with the politeness of any other proper lady that he had met in his life. The little doe even had a bow wrapped around an ear. His muzzle turned back enough so that he could fire-off a balled paw across his own bow and into Bradley's shoulder as hard as he could. The whole crew chuckled a bit while watched as the todd turned back to give his own wave in return.
"C'mon, fellas," Bradley indicated, obviously still smiling by the tone that was draped onto his words. "He's all hers today."
Nick's attention was now on the doe, giving her a little wave before lowering his paw down so that she could run over and climb up his fur before he caught Marcy and set her down on the table. The todd quietly pointed at his plate and indicated that he needed to finish eating. It was humorous when the doe plopped herself backwards onto her bottom, crossing her paws in her lap while blowing up her cheeks in annoyance. It was clear that she would be patient, but that she was not overly happy about it. So, he forked up a little piece of lettuce from his salad and offered it to her politely. Her little paws came up to take the piece and begin munching on it while grumbling in gibberish. The todd chuckled while he cut his sausage links up into larger pieces so that he could eat quickly and then focus his attentions on the little one.
"Blech!" Marcy said roughly, pointing at the turkey. It caused him to laugh in a low tone before setting the utensils down to point at himself before curling up his arms: showing her that it was the food that would make him bigger and stronger.
As soon as all of the meat was finished, he offered her a little bit of his scrambled eggs. There was a happy chirp now as she nibbled on the piece from the fork. Once the todd was finished, he pushed the plate aside, still listening a bit to the bucks that were milling about and creating plans for the rest of the day nearby, before gently cupping the doe under his arms to stand her up. Nick carefully began to brush the kit down, with the back of his index digit, from all of the little crumbs that had accumulated.
Someone's here, a previously unheard voice ran through his head.
Nick paused so quickly that he began to feel dizzy while every bit of his frame became electrified. He could see the difference as his pupils began to restrict again and he could feel the fur across his back and tail begin to stand on its end. The todd looked back down at the little doe and sniffed her inadvertently. The thing that had been bothering him all morning had finally been realized. There was an unknown scent on her and within the room itself. He stood up so fast that the fork, which had been precariously placed on the plate, was knocked away and to the floor.
"Stu!" He said loudly, projecting his voice across the room towards the back area.
Their parent's whole table looked back at him suddenly to find that the todd was standing there, with his ears pinned back, and it sent the buck into an immediate mobile response: swinging himself out of the bench and around the table. The next question that Nick had was interrupted by a gentle squelch of Robby's nearby radio, but it was immediately drowned out by the shrieking wail of the ancient Carter Air-Raid Siren, that the todd had helped to install on the top of the watchtower in the main courtyard, and it brought the whole room to a standstill. Every adult's head went up towards the ceiling, but it had startled Marcy so badly that she immediately screamed and jumped into Nick's arms.
The pitch of the sound peaked and fell into a horrid banshee's wailing before the terrible whine picked back up in speed. Marcy was shuddering against his chest while Nick began to look around. The sound was so loud that many of them, including Nick, were trying to protect their ears while trying to do their work. Robby was screaming into a radio not fifteen-feet away from the fox and he could not hear a thing.
"Arabella!" Nick screamed out, hoping to get the doe's attention as she had been closer.
The siren was relentless.
The doe's muzzle found his own questioningly as he waved her over, bundling Marcy into his right arm before passing the kit off to the doe urgently, turning to find that Stu had ran over to Robby. The poor kit was screaming her head off behind him as Nick took off to join them. As soon as he was closer, he began to hear the sound of shouting over the radio in Robby's paw, but the words were still drowned. Merely an accent against the screaming of the siren. Nick turned his focus on Stu and roughly grabbed his shoulder.
"Who's here?!" Nick shouted over the sounds, feeling the pull of his nose as it tried to override the focus on his hearing.
"What?!" The buck shouted back.
Nick ducked in close to the patriarch's ear and shouted again. "Someone, who doesn't live here, was in the warren! Who?!"
Their eyes met and the buck shook his head, not knowing anything to answer the question. It was then that all of his mental focus was poured into listening to the radio call.
"There's a BOP in the field to the west of the warren! It's attacking something out there!" The sentry was screaming over the secondary echo of the siren that he had no doubt engaged.
The todd felt the shifting of his focuses again: going to his olfactory and whipping away from the group to follow the scent out of the door. It was flung open and as soon as the clearness of the outdoors washed over the area, Nick was able to scent the fact that three rabbits had left the warren. Only one of those scents was recognized.
Without even thinking about it, Nick grasped the partition of the front of his shirt and jerked it hard enough to pop the stitching on each of the buttons. The long sleeved overshirt was ripped off his forearms and thrown down on the welcome mat. He could see the glow of the ring in his line-of-sight, and he already knew which direction that he needed to strive for: even over the rewinding sound of the ancient Hopps air-raid siren being spun-up to its full power again.
For a second, distant sounds crossed his mental plane.
Nick hit all four paws and was gone.
The snowscape had been chilled to such a degree that Nick had no trouble releasing every bit of speed that he could muster; claws scraping underneath as he darted into the forest ahead of him. It was not so thickly wooded that it prevented the sunlight from shining from beyond the opposite side. Bonnie and Judy were screaming out behind him: demanding that he return the warren despite they, themselves, having listened to the same sounds that the todd had heard. The screams of kits somewhere beyond the woods. And, the screeching of a hawk. The does went ignored as the todd had taken off on all four-paws.
"NIIIIICCCCKKKKK!" Judy screamed out so loudly that it made his mind spiral mercilessly.
Nick had thought that he heard several of the Hopps' clan vehicles roar to life in an effort to catch up, but the sounds were so fleeting that it could have been blamed on the winds rushing in and around the area or the siren behind him. Those sounds were drowned out by the focus on protecting his eyes as he ran through the undergrowth anyway. Wispy thin branches and vines slapped against his muzzle as he dodged trees. Once he broke out of the pseudo-hostility of that area, Nick's ears went to the high-forward position. He could see everything on the upward-angled slope.
Two bunny kits, whom he did not recognize visually, were fleeing from the Bird-of-Prey. The hawk was preoccupied by repeatedly throwing its form into the snow drifts: searching for an entirely different target. The scent profiles were so apparent against the sharp, cleanliness of the snow. All of the other natural green scents were completely snuffed out because of the snowfall. He could smell that it was a Hopps kit under the snow despite there being three-hundred yards of distance between them.
It had been a rare thing to experience. A moment of concise, directed anger. Nick had only experienced that moment, after the initial Nighthowler incident, a couple of times. When it happened, there was a defined and unobtrusive ring in his vision: all of the world's colors became more saturated and brilliant than normal in his mind. The white hues of the snowdrifts and clouds were suddenly starker than normal, and the browns of the feathers were better defined. Even the rust on the nearby, derelict hulk of a tractor was accentuated. And, the peeling patches of original cobalt were out of the world in definition.
Meanwhile, Nick's legs had not ceased the effort of carrying his frame towards the hawk.
"RUN!" Nick bellowed. His paws modified the todd's approach vectors as needed.
Three things happened at the same time. A small brown bunny's head popped out: ears shaking off the snow upon his appearance. The hawk's attention was immediately brought up to the orange-furred mammal who was rushing it. There was a click in Nick's mind that finally let him know just how big this Bird-of-Prey was. Only a quarter of the todd's mind was able to process that the hawk was nearly twice his overall height comparatively.
And, it was entirely too late for an alternative plan.
As the todd had done so many times in his nightmares, Nick rolled his shoulder into the ribcage of his opponent and listened to the resounding thwack after the sound had echoed across the snowy area. The pain of the maneuver, though, was felt as deeply as the screeching surprise from the BOP. There would never need to be a video recording of what had happened as Nick's eyes fell on the menacing hawk. Its wings were spread wide while the tongued beak looked as if the hawk was panting each angered threat. The todd felt the entirely of the deepest of snarls as his frame fell into a circular, stalking pattern around the bird. He could feel the saliva on his tongue: drying into a bubbling froth as his lips pulled back in an effort to show off every single fang at the winged threat.
His lungs were trying to draw air, but his snarl was unyielding.
On all fours, Nick was staring up at the skinny, swiveling head of the hawk.
That was when the hawk hopped to reorient itself to face the fox.
And, Nick struck again.
It was softer than their initial embrace, but far more violent in the aftermath. The todd latched his jaws onto the left humerus of the wing while jabbing his fore-claws into the breasts. The hawk countered by jabbing its beak into Nick's shoulder and neck just as mercilessly. The t-shirt did nothing to defend against the sharpness. Tears welled-up into the todd's eyes as he screamed into a tightening bite. There was no taste of blood on his muzzle, though. It was all feathers, no matter his original desire.
Hope.
Hoping
Praying to Karma, that he would break its wing before the beak broke through his own scruff or gouged out an eyeball.
The Goddess was kind to Nick. The hawk halted its vicious pecking and began to pump power into its own musculature. Wings began pounding the air to gain elevation over the ground and that forced Nick to release his hold.
As soon as his paws were back on the snow, Nick whipped his head towards the forest to find that the Hopps kit was halfway across the wintery expanse. A bolt of panic shot down the todd's spine and set his paws into motion again. His tail was low as it pursued the thundering urgency to close the distance between the two. Pinned ears could hear exactly what the hawk was doing behind him: even over the ragged breathing that was coming out in the form of his own panting. The kit was too far from the forest to make it on his own.
Evergreen trees are a brilliantly vibrant shade of green: between all the leafless stalks of the deciduous plants. The bark of all of the trees only held a slight variance in their browns despite it being so apparent to the todd. At that moment, he could tell the difference between the trees without even looking at where the leaves were supposed to be on the branches. On the ground, only the most resilient of green ferns peaked out over the rolling tops of the snow-laden areas. But, the most prominent of attributes to the forest… One of the trees, off to the left of his immediate twelve o'clock, held a hollow base. There was a gash that a smaller mammal could crawl into.
A mental proximity alarm was set off. Nick was just behind the buck that he needed to protect.
There was no other option in the moment. He would always run faster on four paws than just his hindpaws. Something inside his psyche was telling him that much.
"Run for the hole!" Nick shouted desperately.
Once he was close enough, the todd curled his lips over his fangs: grabbing ahold of the bunny in his jaws while continuing to haul his own pelt across the snows. Nick ignored the fear-ridden wailing of the buck while maneuvering directly towards small hollow. Every beat of the hawk's wings could be heard, resulting in a deeper and deeper curl of Nick's tail between his legs.
And, then, it happened.
The hawk had dove at such a shallow angle that its talons sank mercilessly into the scruff of the fox's neck and upper back. The todd had heard the entire storyline up until that point: there was no helping the surprise from the surging fear of the BOP's overall size. That ceased when he felt one of his ribs cracked under the pressure of the grip. Nick heard it, no less. He ended up gasping from the shock and pain of being dragged away from the earth again: talons punching holes through his thin t-shirt and into his flesh. The need to refill his lungs with air released all of the tension in his jaws and the kit that Nick was trying to protect fell, rolling away: immediately darting for the hollow.
A half-breath brought his voice back. "GO!" He bellowed, choking on the pain in his back.
The mental realization of the pain ended up whiting-out Nick's vision while he had been watching the bunny. His motor functions were driven by another being entirely, at that point. The todd's mental facilities were firing on all cylinders despite the conscious delay. There would be no real loss as long as Nick could ensure that the hawk was able to be quickly dispatched after it had dealt with the todd. But, the natural desire to survive had him twisting his upper torso around so that he could clamp down on the closest wing again. The screeching and shrieking renewed from the overgrown chicken.
Gravity took over as if a plane had been struck by an anti-aircraft missile. Nick had been oddly oriented right-side, up and then… All of the sudden… They were rolling in a downward spiral. Falling so far, in fact, that Nick began to try to compute how much elevation that the hawk had managed gather for them. For a split second, anyway, before the two struck a rather sparsely snow-covered patch of ground. The impact tore the bird from the mammal and vented what little of Nick's air from his lungs again. The sudden feeling of falling had sent his stomach soaring.
When did it become so hot out?
And, all while he was in the snow.
His lungs were heaving within his chest: causing him to sweat and pant harder.
He could hear the hawk calling out as well as other screams from further away.
A shotgun was discharged from the same direction.
There might have been the sound of sirens in the distance.
He could hear the pellets whizzing past and impacting the snow angrily nearby.
Nick's consciousness was well and truly behind the curve. The lights came back on after the todd's frame was upright and on all four paws. There was no telling how long or short of a time had been spend writhing around on the ground before he was snarling and snapping at the equally dazed and flared hawk. It was weak from the internal demand to resaturate its own lungs with oxygen. The BOP was not even twenty-yards away and it was not looking at the fox. It had zeroed-in on all of the rabbits standing at the edge of the woods.
"Do not fire! Do not fire!" The todd swore he heard Robby's voice shouting.
"Nick! You get back here right now!" Stu bellowed.
"HEEEEEY!" Nick snarled, feeling the dry air ripping at his parched throat. His jaws immediately snapped together twice, as he stalked around behind the bird, trying to regain its attention. That sound resonated and echoed off of the trees. "I'm right here, you sonova-BITCH!"
The yelling bought no attention from the hawk, so Nick charged again. He knew that the sound of paws on the crunching snow would reorient the hawk's attention. Sure enough, the bird's head swiveled in time for it to hop off of the snow. Nick missed his mark by a foot and was unlucky enough that the BOP had found the real estate to bring his talons down into his body again. It did not clutch him, though, and instead landed close-by. When it leapt towards the todd, Nick was ready. He timed the lunge to dig his claws into the hawk's torso as it realized a mistake had been made.
More shotguns were discharged with renewed shouts of surprise. Several members of the Hopps family were screaming in terror: though, Nick was not sure if it was for his safety or because of the feral nature of two predators fighting to the death with all of their beings. The heavy-gauge pellets were whizzing above the winged predator, this time, trying to keep it on the ground so that Nick could fight it. All of the voices in Nick's mind were drowning out the sounds as he felt the talons thrashing through the fur on the todd's tail. The hawk's beak was savagely slamming into his head all the while.
End it now, Nick! Rage screamed desperately. Or, it's gonna fuckin' kill ya!
A split-second lull in the bird's attack brought the todd's muzzle up as he dug his claws deep so that he could make a lunge at the head.
Nicholas Wilde felt the pain lance through his body as one of the taloned feet dug deep, into his rightmost hind-thigh, as it attempted to hold him back. His frame felt a coil of energy as his opened jaws found the hawk's neck: closing on it in a pained response. The bird had not halted its shrill screeching and the sounds were making Nick's ears ring even worse than the siren had. His mind was sure that he had the target firmly and his jaws snapped closed with a mercilessly wet CRUNCH!
The moment was filled by the immediate taste of copper.
Blood was flowing across the todd's tongue.
He had nearly severed the hawk's head from the torso from the single decision.
His eyes went wide at the realization of what had just occurred, and his aching body immediately voided the feeling of tension due to the internal notation that the threat had been eliminated. Nick's jaw released the neck of the hawk as his forepaws shoved against the limp body of the Bird-of-Prey. Stomach contents immediately hit the todd's throat again while his lips curled back in a silent scream.
The only thing that came out was a gasp of terror.
The hawk had managed to take them far higher in flight than the previous times.
Nick understood that he was falling backwards towards the ground: unable to right himself.
The whistling sound of wind pierced the Tinnitus in his ears moments before Nick hit the frozen, snow-laden ground below.
The bright light, from the gray-clouded skies above, was extinguished as if Karma had snapped her fingers.
The suddenness of it was merciful enough.
Nicholas Wilde never even felt the impact that relieved him of his own consciousness.
...
Idris Bogo was sitting in the office, a little later than he had ever wished to be, while still overseeing the provided paperwork from his officers. His wife was probably going to be slightly upset with the fact that he was still at the office. In truth, he was the Chief of Police of Zootopia. The paperwork could have waited as long as two-weeks before being required to be filed with the Department's paper-pushers… But, he was a mammal of integrity and that, sometimes, required late shifts. He would be able to placate his wife later on, of course, but not without spending a bit of time receiving the cold shoulder.
What made things worse was when the phone started ringing.
A deft hoof came down on the receiver with a perturbed clatter.
"Yes."
"Chief… There's a call for you." The bull heard Clawhauser's nervous voice over the line. "It's the Tri-Burrow's Council. They say it's urgent, Sir…"
What in the fuck are they calling me for?! Bogo snarled internally.
"Patch them through." He growled to the desk sergeant.
"Right away, Sir!" Clawhauser said.
The phone began to ring outbound prior to the connection being made.
"Please hold for the Tri-Burrow Council." A smooth female voice spoke momentarily.
The connection buzzed once more before the open static of the far-away surroundings could be heard. There was the sound of dull chattering in the background of the circuit. The bull decided to hit the speakerphone button before laying the receiver down in the cradle.
"Chief Bogo." A voice sounded throughout the room.
"Speaking." Bogo said gruffly.
"I am Mayor Don Watts of Bunnyburrow. Joining me, this evening, are Mayors Jeremiah Scott and Patrick Dunn from Deerbrooke and Jonesboro Counties. The three of us hold the positions of power that comprise the Council of the Tri-Burrows, and I wish to make you aware that you are on speaker presently." The unknown mammal explained professionally.
"Idris Bogo." The bull introduced himself tightly. "Chief of Police, at Precinct One, in the City of Zootopia. I'd shake your paws or hooves, if it were not for the necessity of the long-distance call. What can I do for you all?"
"There's nothing for you to do for us, Chief Bogo." A second voice came out of the speakers. Both of the speakers sounded like they were small-framed mammals. More likely than not rabbits if the demographics held. "We are calling to inform you that there was a serious incident, involving one of your officers, this past afternoon."
The bull was on his hind-hooves so fast that he could tell that the opposite end of the phone-call heard the sounds of his chair rolling back on the wooden floor. Bogo's fore-hooves were planted firmly on the mahogany desk as his nostrils flared angrily. He knew better than to jump to conclusions these days… but, there were only two officers in that region. His "trouble-makers," as some of the other precinct chiefs liked to refer to them as.
When Bogo made no response, Watt's continued. "Chief Bogo. This past afternoon, Officer Nicholas Wilde was admitted to the Hopps Warren Medical Center for treatment from injuries sustained during a rather unusual incident." The mammal explained.
"What kind of incident?" Bogo growled, feeling his fore-hoof dragging across the top of his desk.
"He was involved, and seriously injured, in fighting off a Bird-of-Prey that had been in the Tri-County area for some time already."
Bogo lost his temper by that point. "Godsdammit! Give it to me straight!" He shouted at the office phone.
There was a rustling on the other end of the line. He had to have to have held enough fame to be seen on the news within the Burrows. The other end of the line seemed extremely nervous by the depth of the bellow, in and of itself.
"Chief Bogo… For some unknown reason to us, at this time, Officer Wilde ended up facing off with a hawk near-to the Hopps Farm in paw-to-claw combat… As best as we can describe it. We are happy to report that the hawk is dead. Though… Officer Wilde suffered, what has been described to us as, serious injuries by the Hopps clan."
Bogo's blood pressure was steadily soaring throughout the explanation of the incident. A hawk was serious business, even for Officer Wilde, to meet somewhere as remote as the Tri-Burrows. The bull had nothing to worry about from the even the largest of winged BOPs in the whole world, but that was not the case for Wilde and Hopps. Especially not for rabbits. But, they were making it sound like a fox had managed to kill a hawk without any department-issued weaponry. Bogo was seething, to say the least.
"What do you mean, 'described to you as'? What is the status of my officer, gentlemammals?! And, what about Officer Hopps!" The bull bellowed.
"Chief Bogo. We understand that Officer Hopps was not involved. However, Officer Wilde was immediately taken in by the medical staff of the Hopps Family. He has not been rushed to the Tri-Counties General, in Bunnyburrow, nor to the hospital in Deerbrooke. We assume that he is under their care at the farm. He was seriously injured according to all of the video footage that has been shared with the local sheriff's units. We will keep you updated as we learn more." The male explained nearly nothing of the situation.
"I understand." Bogo said calmly, giving the Council his personal cellphone number before ending the call.
The bull's mind was racing as he calmly sat back against the chair he was sitting in. He carefully withdrew a large touchscreen cellphone and dialed the personal number for Officer Judith Hopps. That was a simple affair. The line rang one time before beeping at him.
"The number to the phone that you have dialed is either shut off or it is out of the service area at this time. Please, re-attempt yo…"
That nearly did it. Bogo was a hair's breadth away from slamming the phone against the desk. It would have been the third cellphone that he broke in as many months. A shove propelled himself out of the chair, that he was sitting in, instead and he was quickly across the office, towards the door. The bull was through the doorway and against the bannister in no time.
"Clawhauser!" Bogo bellowed down at the main desk.
The rotund cheetah's nervous muzzle immediately popped out, from behind the cubicle wall, to look up at the railing to the second floor.
"Who's on the roster that has one of the all-terrain patrol vehicles?" Bogo's shouting was drawing attention from a number of the other department orderlies and a couple of the civilians who were waiting for the cheetah to get to them.
"Wolford and Fangmeyer just left the garage, Sir!" Clawhauser's voice came back urgently.
"Call them on your cell and tell them to get their asses to the Farm!" The bull shouted back. The cheetah's ears pinned back immediately at that. "They stop for nothing other than fuel!"
"To the Farm, Sir?" Clawhauser knew exactly what the Chief had meant by that. The problem was that he was fearful of the connotations that the order entailed. It was a phrase that was secretly designated for Officer Judy Hopps' former residence due to its unusual distance from the city.
"Right now! And, I want a sitrep as soon as they can give it!" Bogo bellowed.
"Yessir!" The cheetah yelled back, and then to a new recruit who had been sitting near to the front door. The necessary cellphone materialized in Clawhauser's paw out of thin air as he began to sound off, just as urgently. "Wilcox! Take the desk!"
Bogo stomped back into his office, slamming the door, and leaving several officers on the top floor in disarray. The cell in his hoof was oriented to redial his little rabbit officer with an urgency. The bull nearly threw the device out of a nearby window when he heard a repeat of the out-of-service notification. Instead, he dropped the phone down on the desk and picked up the landline. Bogo was mentally kicking himself for not being aware of the landline number for the Hopps Family warren. So, he dialed out to another number. That answer was immediate.
"Idris! What's the matter?" Darlene Bogo answered.
"I'm sorry, my love. Something has come up. I don't think I'll be making it home tonight." The bull tempered his tone to a level of calm that reflected the respect for the female that he called his own.
"Are your officers alright?" She asked urgently.
"I don't know yet, Darlene." He replied. "There was a Bird-of-Prey attack in the Tri-Counties and I'm sending officers over to investigate the situation."
"You sent Mister Wilde and Miss Hopps back to her home, though. What happened?" The cow said quickly.
"It involved Officer Wilde and the locals are saying that he was injured. I don't know anything else yet. Officer Hopps was not directly involved from the sound of things."
Just as the bull noticed that the little red lights were beginning to light up all of the other lines on his desk-phone, Clawhauser shoved his way into the office without even knocking.
"I have to go now, Darlene. I'll be back home as soon as I am able." Bogo said, watching as the large cheetah strode over to his desk and snatch up the remote for the nearby television.
"Call me as soon as you can." She replied.
"I will." The receiver was set down in the cradle almost intimately while Bogo looked up. He could hear the sound of the media already. "What is it, Clawhauser?"
"Wolford is on his way to the Burrows now, Sir. Fangmeyer said we needed to turn on the news. She said that there was footage of what happened being played." The cheetah said firmly.
Benjamin Clawhauser had been at Precinct-1 for quite a long time before the diminutive Judy Hopps had even shown up. Contrary to what many mammals thought of the overweight feline, he was a mammal of great integrity and compassion. There had been an incident that ended up sidelining the cheetah, a couple of years before the rabbit had been assigned to the precinct, and it was something that nobody talked about out of respect. These days, few mammals even remained that knew the story behind his placement as the desk sergeant. Ben was a mammal of extreme sugar consumption and dedication to learning things within the department: despite a rabid obsession with looking at all things Gazelle. And, presently, he was rushing to tether his phone to the Bluetooth on the television. After a moment, the feed switched over and there was an entirely different set of anchors for the ZNN feed.
"—eaking news from the Tri-Counties this afternoon. We have received word that there has been another Bird-of-Prey attack inside the County of Bunnyburrow. The following footage was taken from bystanders of a local farm, during the attack, as an unknown red fox went out to save several kits from the large hawk." The female explained.
"We must warn you. Viewer discretion is advised. The following images are disturbing." Her male co-anchor said heavily.
The footage cut over to the immediate sound of screams from multiple mammals offscreen. The camera was trying to focus on the whirl of movement out past a featureless amount of snow on the ground. By the time everything had focused, Bogo was on his hind-hooves while his fore-hooves were rested on the desk again. His eyes were glued on the violence that was been played on the screen.
The fox was bounding across the snow with something in his muzzle as the hawk dove in to mercilessly sink its talons into the todd's back. There was no mistaking the fact that it was Officer Nicholas Wilde on the television. It was unclear what exactly he had shouted to the kit when his muzzle was free enough to speak. All that could be heard was a yell before the hawk began to take the fox into the air. That had not lasted long after the fox began snapping at one of the wings. Clawhauser's paw went up to the side of his head as they watched the mammal and the Bird-of-Prey explode away from each other upon impact with the ground.
Mentally, the bull focused back in on the screams of the nearby rabbits. Shots were fired from multiple sides of the videographer before a buck shouted for them all to stop firing in the direction of the fox. If there had been a mammal that had not thought it was Nick Wilde, on the screen, they would have been humbled.
"Hey!" The voice was ragged and far off. "I'm right here, you son-of-a-BLEEEEP!"
The elevated sound of the media censorship caused the large cheetah to jump in place while Bogo's back stiffened. The hawk was between Officer Wilde and the group of rabbits in the tree-line. The fox lunged at the hawk again, missing, and Bogo hammered the desk once with his hoof. The clattering of pump-actions was heard as the shouts of despair grew louder. More shots rang out before the two adversaries met again. In the background, there were orders being bellowed into the woods even as the steady paw held fast on the wide-frame shot of the event itself. The two officers could hear the muted sound of a beak being brought down on Nick's skull. That, even over the beating of wings while the hawk took to the sky again. As soon as the camera angle panned up, leaving the view of the ground behind entirely, Bogo felt his muzzle open slightly.
"Christ…" Idris Bogo whispered.
The fox lunged and there was a resounding crunch that echoed even louder than any of his own shouts.
It had sounded as if a felled tree had slapped the ground. At least, to the Chief it had.
And, then, the entire frame started to drop. The bull could tell by the formations of clouds, beyond the fight, that the two were falling. The wings of the hawk had just gone limp and unutilized suddenly. Bogo knew exactly why.
"Fuck!" Clawhauser gasped so loudly that it was startling to hear. Bogo's most G-rated officer had used language that he did not believe anybody had heard before.
It was clear that Clawhauser had realized what ended up happening in the moment. Both of his paws were clasped on the top of his skull as if he was being detained during a traffic stop. The cheetah ended up hunching over a bit as he heard the chorus of wails from multiple bystanders as the camera continued to follow the todd towards the earth below.
The whole area had gone into total silence long enough to hear the gasps from several nearby rabbits.
Nick's arms and legs were flailing erratically while the wind-effect tore at the bottlebrush worth of a tail that the todd naturally possessed. He could not right himself for the landing. Not like a feline. It was so fast that the hills in the background had only been visible for a split-second before two resounding thwumps against the packed snow echoed across the field towards the audio receiver on the camera.
There was a clatter of the remote as Clawhauser lost his grip on the device.
The hawk did not even twitch on the screen.
And, Nicholas Wilde was lying in a crumpled heap nearby.
"Get the doc! Get out there! Move that BLEEEEP truck!" An older male rabbit had shouted from far off.
The camera never wavered as a large group of rabbits began running out into the snow-laden field. Three all-terrain vehicles made it to the impact site before the group could even get there. Dozens of rabbits hopped out from the beds and the cabs of the trucks to close the gap.
The todd's body was visually emphasized when the recording party zoomed in. He had landed right on his back and his right forepaw was hanging limp off of his supported wrist. Nick's head was lolled off and away from the trees that he had been filmed from.
"Come on!" Clawhauser shouted at the television screen. The level of immersion felt to the cheetah had to have been serious for that kind of response. "Get up, Nick!"
The video feed cut out right as the groups of rabbits all began to surround the fox. Some of them were shoving their way through the throng in an effort to get to him before the footage was shuttered. A split-second later, the somber faces of the news-anchors were shown… Their paws shuffled papers around and into order while they attempted to gather themselves for the rest of the report.
Clawhauser's paws had run down the front of his muzzle before he waved his left arm at the anchors on the feed. They were delving more into the incident while the cheetah was steadily becoming angrier at the lack of continued footage. The news-anchors had no further information to provide.
"Sergeant! I need you to go find a replacement for Wilcox during the next shift-change!" Bogo immediately snapped out of his reverie. "If you're up for it, you're with me until Wolford and Fangmeyer sort out how Wilde is doing."
"Chief?" The cheetah turned back towards the main desk with a look of confusion, his paws clasped back on top of his head again.
"I've been told that Officer Wilde is seriously injured, and that Officer Hopps was not directly involved. I need you to monitor the reports from Wolford's unit. Will you help me with that?" Bogo asked firmly.
The speed at which Clawhauser snapped to attention was almost surprising to the Chief. What was most certainly surprising, not that any mammal in the department would have been able to tell simply by looking at their boss, was the look of determination on the cheetah's muzzle. It was clear that, if it had been required by the Department's financial division, Clawhauser would have worked the time for free.
"Yes, Chief!" Clawhauser's eyes were filled the brim with tears, under the strain of holding back all of his emotions, though his voice never wavered as he spun around to leave the office of the Chief of the Zootopian Police Department. The cheetah had not meant to, no doubt, but the door slammed far louder than Bogo had ever been comfortable doing so himself.
It was clear to Bogo that he had good mammals in his corner. And, once again, he picked up the phone to make another attempt to contact Officer Hopps. The sound of the news report went ignored from across the room.
...
Nick's eyes popped open to the low-light painted on the ceiling above.
SHHHHRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!
The high tone of the ringing caused him to shudder on the table while forcing air into his lungs with a heart-wrenching gasp. Fortunately, there wasn't the sound of that godsawful siren on the air anymore.
It was a dimly painted eggshell pattern and a long way off from the last scene that he had remembered. His body seemed to float on air despite the heaviness of the former state of unconsciousness that had befallen him. It had been so deep that there had not been a single nightmare to haunt him in the darkness of his own mind, which was a blessing. Despite the physical disposition, Nick could feel a gentle blanket laid over his head. The weight fell the hardest behind his eyes, though. They felt sunken and puffy.
SHHHHRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!
Opening his jaws a little more, the todd's mouth felt like had been filled with sand from how dry it was. A long pink tongue curled out to wet his lips before Nick turned his head towards the source of the light despite the swimming vision he currently suffered. A couple of beds down and behind the glass of a nearby office, sitting at a desk, was Veronica Hopps. She was sitting in her chair, reading some kind of light novel, and paying no mind to anything else.
The visual drew a muted wave a relief over the todd. He was somewhere within the Hopps warren, most likely within the medical wing. It was muted, as his motor functions slowly came back online, because of the horrendous ringing that was in his head. He went to throw his legs off the edge of the table only to find himself rolling out of it instead: taking out a small tray of medical equipment on the way down. Before even being able to catch himself with his forepaws, Nick smashed his muzzle on the floor below. The crash of the metal pan table rang out through even the sharpest tones of the Tinnitus.
SHHHHRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!
Blood poured out over his muzzle as pain shot through his arm after the IV needles and monitors had been torn away. The scent of wet copper surrounded him as Nick crawled to his paws and knees, raising one of his forepaws up to cover one of his ears and potentially diminish the sound of high-pitched screeching. Once Nick could stand opening his tear-filled eyes, he saw an old buck staring at him from a nearby chair. The todd did not recognize the visitor.
"Hol' on!" Nick felt his voice groan out of body as opposed to hearing it.
His chest was killing him.
Sounds slowly returned to the todd as his free paw began to brush away the blood trickling out of his nose. A flat, piercing pitch of the disconnected electrocardiogram was the first thing that filtered into Nick's brain. The taste of his own blood pooling in the back of his throat caused the todd to spit unceremoniously on the tiled floor. Had he felt better about things, he would have been able to chastise himself about how rude that had been.
"—up there! Get back on that bed!" The buck said loudly.
Fortunately, much of his hearing was starting to return. Unfortunately, Nick was starting to feel the toll of being off of the limited morphine intravenous: massive aching and the sharpness from the damage to his right thigh and back were making it hard to focus again. The todd threw himself back up onto the examination table as the buck stood up to handle the wiring. Taking another look, he found Veronica standing near the doorway of her personal office: her paws were up against the frame of the door while she looked nervously towards the scene that was unfolding before her.
"Calm down." The buck said sharply.
The heat began to boil in Nick's chest again and restarted the growling. "Where is it?!" He snarled, coughing harder.
Paws roughly caught the front of Nick's tattered shirt and tightened the rags around the todd's frame. The buck's eyes were like dinner plates despite the fact that he managed to keep his voice steeled. Nick could smell the fear scent that had been released from Veronica: even over all of the blood that he was leaking.
"I told you to calm down." He growled back.
"The kits?" Nick gasped urgently, still trying to sit back up.
"You got them out, fox." The elder said, shoving against the todd's chest to keep him down.
The burning pain was weighing down on his hip now. "How bad?" Nick asked.
"Thomas said that you have a mild concussion." The dark chocolate-furred buck said. He had finally released Nick and taken up the clipboard: focused on going over the charts now.
"Not for me! For them! What happened? Did anybody get hurt?!" Nick's growl reverberated around the room even as he raised a paw up over his eyes.
"Hold still!" The buck snarled loudly.
Immediately, the clipboard was tossed to the ground with a resounding clatter. It had clearly bounced around on the wooden hardboard prior to flipping over and slamming the aluminum onto the tile. The flutter and flapping of multiple sheets of paper followed each strike against the floor. The buck quietly moved around the table before grabbing a hold of Nick's opposite side: hooking his right shoulder and the belt loop of the same side to roll him onto his side. The pressure against the todd's lungs immediately dissipated even while his leg throbbed in pain. Looking down, Nick could see the bloodstained bandage wrapping that surrounded his right thigh. He felt the constriction of a wrap that was around his chest. The older buck took out a roll of gauze while considering the additional blood-flow coming out of the already soaked set that had been applied previously.
"The chart says that you have four deep puncture wounds here. On top of a concussion." The rabbit explained, taking the wrap around three times before brutally yanking on the roll so that he could throw a knot into the newly cut strip. "Quit your fuckin' whinin', boy!"
Nick had hammered a paw onto the metal tabletop once while growling at the buck threateningly. He ended up banging the side of his head down while trying to withdraw away from the pain.
"You have multiple lacerations over the top of your head, on your ears, and on the back of your neck. Additionally, there is some severe bruising across your back which is why you're having a hard time breathin' as you lay down." The buck replied.
"Where is it?" Nick asked again, his strength pouring into his tone loudly.
A paw shot out and caught the todd by his trachea and while it was not wide enough to get a hold on more of his neck, the paw began to squeeze. The graying buck's face was right against his own muzzle, nose-to-nose, while the rabbit's muzzle contorted with anger. And, again, Nick's head bounced off the table… though, not from his own ministrations.
"Don't you fuckin' snarl at me, boy!" He shouted. A split-second later, the rabbit's freed left arm shot out across the todd's sightline. He could not see the face of the buck anymore and reached out to grasp at the right wrist that was leading the charge against his throat. "Don't you dare interrupt me, Veronica! SIT! DOWN!"
Nicholas Wilde did not know who it was that had his mind swimming back into the darkness again, but the old timer was strong, to say the least. The wet feeling of blood and spittle leaking out from the left side of his mouth caused the todd's body to convulse in an effort to clear enough breathing room for consciousness. His vision cleared of the brown arm finally and the buck reoriented his focus downward again.
"You listen and you listen well! You killed that fuckin' monster, boy, and you saved those kits! Including one of my own great-grandkits!" The buck shouted at Nick, stinking of tobacco and carrot stew. "Why'd you do it?!"
The realization of who the buck was struck the todd harder than any of the impacts that had been felt during the confrontation. Tears and anger boiled up at the treatment that he was receiving; while his Adam's apple was restricted from elevating enough to swallow the blood that was pooling at the back of his throat.
"Why wouldn't I have?!" Nick's shout came out as a wheezy gasp, trying not to cough the blood out onto the buck's muzzle. He was also desperately trying not to rip his claws across the buck's wrist. The next sound of his voice came bubbling out against the blood and saliva that was pooling within his muzzle. There was a gentle splattering that fell out against his own chin and throat, and against the buck's paw. "They were screaming for help!"
"POP-POP! That's enough!" Veronica screamed out. The sound of her paws slapping at the buck's ancient shoulders could be heard over Nick's own gurgling.
The buck leaned down past Nick's line-of-sight and the breathing of the rabbit could be felt against his own ear. "You're a fox! Why'd you do it, boy?" He whispered into the todd's ear.
"Innocents… don't deserve… to die…" Nick sputtered; his tongue having pushed enough of the liquid mixture out through the corners of his lips to speak again.
It must have been a morbid sight to witness.
"You come find me when they release you. You hear me, boy?"
By that point, Nick felt the paw release his throat mercifully. The resulting gasp for air only drew in a large volume of blood and spit into his lungs. It caused the todd to smack the left side of his muzzle against the metal tabletop again: spewing the offending mixture across the thoroughfare and between two other examination tables. By the time he had regained some semblance of total consciousness, only then did he realize that Veronica had rushed over to his side so that she could check all of the leads that were running into his body.
The doorway behind her was momentarily closed and filled with the retreating back of the infamous Pop-Pop Hopps. A second later, the door exploded open with both of the Hopps parents, a black and brown buck in a rather official looking lab-coat, Robby and several other does who had usually frequented the nursery area, and they were all followed up by two familiar uniformed-clad officers. The older buck merely pushed passed them all to exit out through doorway.
RRRRRRHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEE!
The sound of the screaming echocardiogram complimented the renewed ringing in his head while there was a weakened loll of the skull against the tabletop. His rolled his head back over towards the offices, away from the entryway and the incoming group, so that he closed his eyes. All while still gulping for air.
Touches and murmurs could be felt and heard through the mental glimpses of the following minutes. Someone was tenderly cleaning up his muzzle while another mammal carefully lifted and examined his leg. Nick was not aware of how much time had passed before he reopened his eyes, finding Michael Wolford staring directly at him from above. The todd had to have been turned onto his back again: despite the fact that drawing air, in that position, felt like he was stabbing himself in the back with a thousand knives. The weight on his own body was incredibly painful. Nick reached out with a paw, and it was immediately taken by the larger wolf as he leaned down to meet the todd's gaze with a closer ferocity.
"Nothing happened just now, buddy." Nick whispered weakly. "Leave the buck alone, please."
The upper lips of the wolf curled a bit while his gray ears pinned back. Nick could see the anger in his eyes. "Alright…" He said in a clipped tone. "How're you doing?"
"Back's killing me. Leg's on fire… Hurt's to breathe." Nick gasped, feeling himself starting to fall again. "Need to sleep a bit more…"
"We have to make a call, Nick." Wolford said deeply.
"Whatever… the media… reports—" The todd began to hack deeply. "—s'bullshit. Tell 'im."
"Deniability is out of the question, Buddy. You're already all over the news. I've seen at least seven different videos, on the mainstream feeds, just during the drive down." The wolf explained.
"Fuck." Nick muttered, swallowing the need to cough any further.
The draw of the morphine on his mental facilities was too strong and the todd fox was forced to lay his head down on the pillow. When his eyes opened again, he was staring up at Bonnie Hopps. And, she was staring right back at him with more worry etched across her gray muzzle than he had seen on any other mammal in his lifetime. After a moment had passed, Nick felt her paw begin to run over the top of his head.
A soft hum of a lullaby being shared in his ear immediately dropped his eyelids.
This time around, sleep was more of a respite.