Chapter 23: Chase!


Alex, Judy, and Nick went down into the subway, towards the drop spot that Weaselton had described. After a train had finished crossing the tracks, the three of them went over the tracks and approached the abandoned locomotive car that was the dropoff spot. Alex had to admit, this Doug animal had chosen a damn good dropoff spot. It was very well secluded, out of the way, not monitored by any surveillance feeds, and the exterior of the abandoned train car was covered in rust and rotted graffiti.

Alex opened up the window on the train car's entrance door, and was taken aback by the interior of the place. Purple lights lined the ceiling of the passenger cabin, and each of those purple lights shone down on dozens of Night Howlers. There had to be at least one hundred of them in this part of the railway coach alone. "The weasel wasn't lying." Judy noted.

"Yeah, it looks like ol' Doug's cornered the market on Night Howlers." Nick agreed.

Alex then heard footsteps from the adjacent boxcar and his blood turned to ice. " Hide! " The white wolf urgently hissed, diving underneath one of the night howler mini farms. Nick and Judy followed suit, ducking under the mini farm across from Alex.

A ram, presumably Doug, came inside the room and put on a gas mask before dumping a pot full of Night Howler flowers into a vat. With the adjustment of a dial, the contents of the vat started to flow up through a tube as a blue liquid. The liquid then flowed through a series of beakers and test tubes as well as a chemistry set before finally filling up a small glass pellet. The liquid was darker now- the same color as the stain on Manchas's fur. Alex realized that this had to be how they turned all the predator victims savage.

Doug then got a call on his cell phone and answered it. "You got Doug here. What's the mark? Cheetah in Sahara Square, got it. You serious? Yeah, I know they're fast, I can hit 'em. Listen, I hit a tiny little otter through the open window of a moving car." Doug spoke into his speaker. Taking a closer look at the nearby wall the canine's eyes widened as he saw pictures of every single one of the animals who had gone savage, both the fourteen missing mammals who had been found at the asylum and the animals who had gone savage after Judy's interview.

"I'll buzz you when it's done. Or when you see it on the news, whichever comes first." Doug said as he loaded the dart gun into a case.

"Doug, open up! We got your latte!" A voice yelled. "Allright, Woolter and Jesse are back so I'm leaving. Doug, out." Doug announced before leaving. He left the case behind. Judy eyed the train controls, and Alex knew what she was thinking.

"NO! WE ARE NOT MOVING THIS TRAIN, JUDY!" Alex hissed.

"How else do we get out of here!?" Judy asked.

"Don't ask me, I haven't got a clue!" Nick argued.

"We fight our way out. Three of us, three of them. Plus, we have training, and they likely don't have combat training." Alex suggested.

Judy sighed as she nodded, a bit unsure of the plan. Grabbing the case, Alex charged forward, keeping low to the ground. "Better have the extra foam this time-" Doug was saying to his accomplices as Alex slammed the case into his head and kicked the ram in the behind, sending him flying and making him land on top of his two partners in crime. "Let's move!" Alex yelled as he, Judy, and Nick ran out the door of the train car with the case in hand. They had the photographs and the dart gun, which would be enough to incriminate them.

Running out of the subway, Alex hopped on his motorcycle and motioned for Nick and Judy to get on. "Isn't it against the law to ride a motorcycle without a helmet?!" Judy yelped, looking at Nick.

"Maybe in Bunnyburrow, but not in Zootopia! At least not yet! Kimba had that as one of his goals in case he ever became mayor." Alex told the fox and bunny as they got on the motorcycle seat, barely squeezing in. It was a tight fit but they managed to all stay on the motorcycle safely as Alex revved up and shot out on the streets.

Unfortunately, those three rams were following in their own cars. Thankfully, they weren't armed. For a moment there Alex was afraid this would turn into some crazy action movie chase scene where the rams would shoot heavy artillery machine guns at them while somehow managing to maintain control of their vehicles and not crash. However, that didn't excuse the fact that the cars were gaining on them, and they were clearly intent on smashing into Alex and his companions.

Alex could feel Nick's arms wrapped tightly around his stomach, and he knew Judy's arms were wrapped around Nick's. For just the slightest moment he felt a twinge of jealousy at the fact her arms were wrapped around Nick and not him, but he pushed that thought aside as he turned into a narrow alleyway where they wouldn't be able to follow.

"YEAH! WE DID IT!" Judy whooped, suddenly feeling a lot more confident.

"Yeah, this beats trying to operate that old train car and possibly dying in a train crash, or causing thousands of dollars of damage if we turned too fast in that train!" Nick added.

"Hell yeah, it does." Alex smirked as he glanced at his passengers behind him and gave them a wolfish grin. That was something he instantly regretted, as he neglected to see a sharp rock in his path that caused his tire to pop.

Groaning, Alex hit the breaks on the motorcycle, managing to slow his vehicle to a halt before it got on the road. "Well, Mom's not gonna be too pleased. We'll have to make the rest of the journey to the ZPD on foot." Alex groaned.

"We can cut through the natural history museum! There's a backdoor entrance." Nick suggested. Having been a Zootopia native all his life he knew his way around the city and as such had memorized many of the secret paths and passageways in the city.

"Sounds like a plan." Judy enthusiastically said. The three of them went down into the subway station that connected to the museum. At that moment Alex realized that they would have ended up here if they had taken the train anyways. The white wolf let out a chuckle before following Nick and Judy into the dark subterranean train station.