One hour earlier, Benjamin Clawhauser was lying across a plush couch in a luxury penthouse, relaxing at the lack of inflammation in his arm. Maybe, just maybe, his bad luck had finally run out.
He still couldn't remember anything after being hit with the dart that caused him to collapse into a garbage bag full of pilsner glasses, not that he wanted to. Nick had told him he was finally giving up a life of crime with his new venture as a small-time medical practitioner, and asked for Benjamin's help in persuading his employer to provide the rest of the funding. The cheetah had fallen for it hook, line and sinker, and his lacerated arm was the price he'd paid for falling for Nick's lies.
This would be the last time he'd have to change the bandage, for tomorrow his stitches would be removed and he could move on to the next step of caring for his scar for the next few weeks until the healing process completed. He was looking forward to that. A shaved white patch marred by a line of black crosses holding his wound in a dark red slit was not a pretty sight. Benjamin wondered how he was going to get them removed tomorrow. Would the ZPD arrange a home visit, or would they escort him to the nearest hospital? Benjamin supposed that it didn't matter, so long as the stitches were gone by the end of the day. He'd still have the scar, of course, but even that would disappear once his fur grows back. Then there would be nothing left to remind him of the second night he'd almost died.
Maybe Captain Bogo would be there. It was a cheery thought. The barrel-chested Cape buffalo with the intimidating scowl was quite likely the only reason Benjamin had been able to cope over the last week or so. He'd seen to it that the investigation had been thorough enough to absolve Benjamin of any wrongdoing. The cheetah would probably be stuck in a cell on suspicion of murder if it weren't for him. No, scratch that. If it weren't for him, Benjamin would be dead.
Benjamin had seen something he shouldn't on that horrible rainy day in the Tundratown Bug Burga, when he'd walked up to the manager's office and caught Sedor Valentino in the act of devouring Assistant Mayor Woolton. Devouring. And now the massive grizzly bear was hunting him. He wasn't the only one. Benjamin glanced at the windows overlooking the sparkling city skyline. Bogo had promised him that the windows were resistant to bullets, just like the windows of Koslov's armored limousine. But the two bears up front had still died horribly. Messily. The sniper had yet to be identified, but the ZPD already had a small suspect list. Mr. Big or any of his associates could have hired the sniper to eliminate Koslov, who may have been the true target, but the incredible number of bullets directed at Benjamin laid a shadow of doubt over that theory. Bogo could only tell Benjamin so much about the ongoing case, but he knew that there was more to the suspect list than the buffalo was letting on.
Benjamin walked to the bathroom to dispose of the old bandage, thinking over his own suspect list. At the bottom of the list was Mr. Big, who Benjamin had never crossed paths with. Sedor and his lethal new partner with the gas mask were in the middle, considering that Benjamin was the key witness to the murder they had committed. At the top of the list was, and Benjamin did not dare say this out loud, Mr. H. P. Pottermass.
When Benjamin had been essentially transferred from cleaning duty at the Savanna Central Bug Burga to cleaning duty at the mansion of the CEO of Bug Burga's holding company Zoocell, most of his friends had warned him that the higher paid job was too good to be true. Benjamin had simply assumed that Pottermass had hired him as a PR stunt. It had soon emerged that Pottermass had more to gain from Benjamin's death than any of the other suspects on his list. Benjamin had survived the accident that killed his parents and Meredith Pottermass two years ago, and the hippo may very well have tried to correct that injustice by orchestrating another traffic accident. That theory frightened Benjamin more than any theory the ZPD had come up with, because Pottermass had more than enough wealth and power to keep trying.
The cheetah dumped the bandage in a shiny steel trashcan and switched off the light on his way out the bathroom. The lights of the city skyline shone through the blinds of the single window, projecting a silhouette that was not unlike bars. Thinking about his predicament had chilled Benjamin's feelings toward his fancy new dwellings, but he tried not to hate it. The ZPD had decided against putting him in a traditional cell, so he had better be grateful for a gilded one. Benjamin suspected that putting him here had been Bogo's idea, something the cheetah intended to thank him for the next time he came to visit.
Benjamin looked through the large living room windows, his eyes turning down to the streets far below, hoping to see a cop car come to a stop beside the skyscraper at any moment. He didn't see any, not that it surprised him. He did see a multi-colored van that reminded him of Finnick, Nick's partner in crime in the Wild Times scheme. Both were still on the run, but Benjamin had a good idea where they were. Honey had been careful enough to use a fake identity for the email's she'd sent to the computer at Wild Times, and the ZPD were still looking for an accomplice named Cass Tiles. In spite of all the lies, Benjamin couldn't bring himself to reveal the existence of Honey's bunker. The ZPD had treated him well, but Benjamin doubted they'd show the same courtesy for the shifty foxes responsible for the savage attacks still ravaging the city.
He looked at his faded reflection in the glass and giggled at the irony. He'd been taught to fear the brutal and biased ZPD for most of his life, but now he didn't know what he'd do without them.
Benjamin and his reflection jolted in fright at the rapid chatter of machine gun fire coming from outside the penthouse. He spun around and saw something he hadn't initially noticed when he'd exited the bathroom; the front door was open. His heart plummeted as he remembered the last time he'd seen a door open when it shouldn't be. There were footsteps too, rapidly approaching the open door.
Benjamin put the biggest couch between himself and the door, praying it was the ZPD. An officer indeed appeared in the doorway, one of the guards assigned to protecting the safe house. The reindeer locked eyes with Benjamin and started into the room.
Blood spurted from his temple, the unseen bullet shattering a wall lamp. The machine gun flew from his hooves and skidded to a stop beneath the small table beside the couch as he collapsed to the floor, dead.
Benjamin heard footsteps again, slower and deliberately quiet. He held his breath and ducked down behind the couch.
There was a sizeable gap between the bottom of the couch and the floor, and Benjamin peeked through it. He saw the body of the reindeer, the bottom of the doorway, and the dark feet of the wolf who walked through it.
Oh God… oh God…
Benjamin was scared stiff as he watched the wolf venture into the room, stepping over the dead officer. He was moving slowly, quietly. The cheetah realized with a thrill of terror that the wolf was hunting… hunting for him. The wolf stopped beside the legs of the coffee table, his ankles turning left to right as he scanned the room. Benjamin tucked his tail around his knees, begging the wolf not to come this way.
The door swung closed, and Benjamin heard the wolf slide the lock in place before he stared to cross the room in search of his quarry. Benjamin thought of the machine gun under the table less than three feet away. If he could get his paws on it without being seen or heard…
The feline began to crawl along the back of the couch, lowering his head and peeking through the hole when he was halfway to the gun. The wolf was making his way to the wide open door to the darkened bathroom. That put his back to the gun on the floor. Benjamin reached the end of the couch and stretched his uninjured arm under the table for the gun. The long barrel was barely within reach. The bruises from the limo crash protested as he pressed his body to the floor, straining to get his shoulder under the table just enough to reach the weapon. Through the gap between the couch and the table, he saw the rest of the wolf. He spied a tan trench coat and a silenced pistol. The wolf stepped into the dark bathroom. Benjamin's fingers closed around the barrel and he began to pull it from beneath the table.
The wolf turned round in the middle of the bathroom and stiffened when he finally spotted the cheetah through the gap. Benjamin froze, one paw on the gun's stock, as the wolf aimed the pistol straight at his face.
"Stand up." His muzzle barely moved as he spoke.
Benjamin slowly got to his feet, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from blubbering. He'd have peed his pants if he hadn't already relieved himself less than an hour ago, he was sure of it. This was it. This was finally it.
"Where's the fox?" The wolf said.
Benjamin immediately shook his head. "I don't know."
The wolf lowered the gun to Benjamin's gut. "Tell me and I'll spare you."
Benjamin had enough of his wits to see right through his future murderer. "No, you won't."
He braced for the worst as the wolf began to stalk toward him, so when the open door suddenly swung shut, the beast in black concealed behind it sliding a chair under the handle in a swift movement, he didn't register the sudden turn of events until the loud bang of the door startled him.
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened when they fell upon the slasher film icon known as Ghostface. The figure had the complete ensemble, black hooded robe, ghostly mask, the works. The only exception was that the knife in their gloved paw was much smaller than the carving knife from the movies.
Benjamin stared in horror at the new intruder. The real life Ghostface stared back, poising to charge at him with their blade. Three visions flashed through Benjamin's mind in that instant; Sedor in a similar ensemble ripping off a warped limo door and dragging a screaming Benjamin to his doom. Bogo launching himself at the mad monster to stop him from catching the cheetah in the burning street outside the Arctic House, putting his life on the line for a lowly predator. Finally, Benjamin picking up a revolver bigger than his paw and putting three bullets into the monster, and then firing a fourth to stop the monster from killing one of Bogo's friends.
Benjamin remembered the machine gun at his feet and picked it up faster then he'd ever moved before.
"Not this time." He growled as he aimed the gun just to the side of the approaching Ghostface.
The gun trembled violently in his paws as he pulled the trigger and the ratatatatat of the bullets was torturously loud. Ghostface ran for it, a trail of bullet holes following them as they fled. The knife dropped from their paws as they kicked the door open, the lock's chain snapping from the force. Ghostface disappeared into the dark hallway just as the gun clicked empty, and only then did Benjamin lower the weapon, panting from the exertion it had taken to keep his grip.
A bang jolted the cheetah, and he looked to the blocked bathroom door. The wolf was kicking at it from the other side. Benjamin's dry mouth struggled to swallow. With the gun empty, he couldn't stay in the penthouse or the wolf would kill him as soon as he escaped. Hoping the Ghostface was gone and they hadn't realized the gun was out of bullets, Benjamin ran around the couch, avoiding the sight of the officer's corpse as he entered the hallway.
He spotted the back of Ghostface at the end of the hall and raised the gun, but then his would-be attacker vanished around the corner. Benjamin exhaled and lowered the gun again, and that was when he heard the snort of a bear behind him.
He spun round, found himself facing a massive, living wall of black and cried out in terror as he recognized the plague doctor mask. Benjamin staggered backward down the hallway, Sedor Valentino following like a breathing shadow. The cheetah held the gun in front of him like a thin shield, on the verge of panicking until he saw light emerge out the corner of his eye. It was the open door of the only other penthouse on the floor. Benjamin's heart leapt and he pulled himself through the door, slamming it shut and sliding the lock in place. A second later Sedor slammed against the door, the force nearly sending Benjamin to the floor. He pressed his small, wide body to the door, his stomach lurching with each blow as Sedor continued the assault, growling like the savage he was. Benjamin dropped the gun, clasped his paws together, and began to pray. The hinges loosened with each jolt. Benjamin felt the door buckle against his back. At any moment the door would break loose and he would be crushed or dismembered.
Then the blows stopped coming at the same time gunfire filled the hallway outside. Benjamin heard pounding footsteps, and the gunfire stopped. He pressed his back harder against the dented door and listened. He heard slightly quieter footsteps, then voices. They sounded familiar, but too muffled to recognize. Benjamin was too afraid to open the door. He wasn't leaving this penthouse until he knew exactly who was outside.
The footsteps stopped, and then there was a crashing sound that may have come from the other apartment. It must be the wolf with the gun, finally breaking out of the bathroom. Benjamin shrank against the door at that frightening thought. More voices, then footsteps that faded away down the hallway. The cheetah thought he was finally alone, but still couldn't bring himself to turn around and open the door.
"BASTARD!"
Benjamin gasped softly. That had definitely been Mansa Bogo. There was rage in that cry, but it was the anguish that had the feline pulling the door open.
The hallway was empty, but the safe house door was slightly open. Benjamin made his way back to his gilded cell, becoming aware of the smell of blood for the first time since the terror had begun. He hoped to God it just the blood of the reindeer officer he smelled.
That hope shattered into pieces like a glass bottle on concrete when he pushed the door open and almost choked at the sight of the buffalo lying in a pool of his own blood.
"NOOO!"
He staggered in the room and collapsed to his knees beside Bogo, and that was when he saw that Bogo was still feebly stirring, trying to keep a hoof on the side of his neck. Benjamin saw the seeping cut and burst into tears, even as he grabbed the roll of bandages he'd left on the couch, violently unrolled two feet of it and pressed the rough cloth to Bogo's neck.
The buffalo's eyes flickered open as he winced and grunted weakly. Benjamin sobbed in relief and terror. "It's gonna be okay, Bogo." He whimpered as he grasped for the phone on the other end table. He strained to reach it without taking the other paw away from Bogo's jugular, but it was impossible to reach. He bit his lip, lurched to close the remaining distance, and pressed the cloth back to Bogo's neck the second the phone was in his fingers. "It's gonna be okay…"
He put the phone on speaker after dialing nine-one-one and placed it on the floor, tearfully explaining the situation as best as he could while continuing to hold the bloody cloth to the cut. On the dispatcher's instruction he turned Bogo onto his back and used his spare paw to grab cushions from the couch to elevate the legs. Before he knew it, he was leaning over Bogo and caressing his bloodied face, begging him to stay awake. Now facing up, Bogo's weary reddish brown eyes seemed to see Benjamin for the first time. They widened slightly, as though he was surprised to see him. "Hang in there, Bogo." Benjamin whimpered. "Please…"
He thought he saw Bogo smile faintly. His voice was even fainter. "Thank… God…"
When he closed his eyes and lost consciousness completely, Benjamin felt like the world had ended.
