Chapter 2: Please Believe Us

Nick had woken up at 6:30 but hadn't gotten out of bed because Judy was still asleep. Nick didn't mind because he felt warm and comforted with the small rabbit holding on to his bare chest. He looked around the room, all he could see were small patches of the motel carpet that were illuminated by the warm morning sunbeams. Nick had then decided to reach over and open the blinds, trying his best not to wake the sleeping rabbit as he knew what she could be like if woken up mistakingly. He was able to open the blinds halfway before giving up as he did not want to have to face the wrath of Judy after she would've fallen off the bed and hit the floor, Nick then looked out the window to see the city as active as it always was, cars and buses going to various places and mammals walking to work or shopping. As he was looking around he noticed a mammal who looked like it may have been a wolf staring directly at him, the wolf was wearing a large beige trench coat with sunglasses, he was also wearing bandages on his face hands and feet almost as if he were hiding something. Nick then felt Judy start to wake up and he turned his head toward her, "Morning sleepyhead, how was your night" Nick said to Judy in a joking yet compassionate voice.

"It was horrible Nick, I couldn't get those horrific things out of my head, I probably wouldn't have even been able to sleep if it weren't for you"

"Well, I'm happy that my foxy goodness was able to put you to sleep" in a comical sly voice. " Shut up Nick," Judy said tiredly.

"Come on, I know deep down you secretly want to cuddle my tail 'till it falls off". Judy blushed because Nick was correct. She had always wanted to cuddle his tail as it was perfect for her size and could only imagine how warm and comfortable it would feel wrapped around her, but he was always very protective of it. Judy then got out of bed to go shower and get some coffee, Nick proceeded to look out the window again and noticed that the wolf was gone. Judy was still terrified of the previous night's encounter and just let the warm water from the shower comfort her, she liked the feeling of hot water on her fur and skin as it always relaxed her. Putting her head on Nick's chest last night reminded her of that warm feeling. His fur soft, his ascending and descending chest as he breathed, all so relaxing and comforting. If only she could tell him how she really felt. She phased out of her twitterpated state before she could start having bad thoughts and finished cleaning herself as fast as she could. She then got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body and got a cup of coffee, Nick was still on the bed, "So, you ever gonna get out of bed today?" Judy teased.

"No, I was thinking of staying here all day while you went to the police to get help" Nick replied in a smug voice, "You really think we should go to the ZPD?" Judy said in a questionable tone."Well, who else has the supplies to wipe out all those monsters, because of we sure as hell don't" Nick said as he sat up from the bed. "You go take a shower, Nick, I'll get our clothes ready," Judy said. "Boop" Nick said as he touched his pointer finger to Judy's nose, Judy rolled her eyes, she always hated when Nick did that, "Sometimes I wish you didn't always act like a child" Judy said annoyed, "Come on, I know you love it" Nick said on his way to the shower.

Judy went to where they hung their suits, they were still damp from the night before but would dry off, Judy finished her coffee and proceed to remove the towel so she could get dressed. Nick was still in the shower when she finished getting dressed, "Come on Nick you've been in there for almost 30 mins" Judy yelled, "I'm not finished yet" Nick yelled back.

"What are you even still doing in there," Judy asked.

"I'm still grooming my tail" Nick responded, Judy always thought that Nick had a strange attraction to his tail as he always made sure it looked its best and was always super protective of it. One time she thought she heard Nick talking to it, "If you don't come out soon I'll cut it off" Judy yelled. Soon after she heard the shower turn off and Nick then exited the bathroom, he had a towel around his waist and wasn't completely dry, "here are your clothes" Judy said as she handed Nick his green suit. "aww it's still wet" Nick whined.

"Don't be such a baby and just put it on" Judy responded. After Nick got dressed they proceeded to walk to the hotel lobby and check out. "I'll go check out," Judy said.

"Ok," Nick said, as he headed for the door. When Judy was finished she heard a loud groan from Nick, "What's wrong this time?" she asked.

"The concrete is still cold and wet from last night's storm, Nick replied, Just about every non-amphibious mammal in Zootopia hated the day after rainstorms due to the fact that their feet would be cold and wet after walking on the concrete. "Of course it is," Judy said annoyed, they then made their way to the ZPD. The city was drab with cold winds and a slight fog but this didn't stop much of the activity that always went on it. Judy and Nick were headed towards a nearby bus stop so they could get to the center of town where the 1st precinct of the police department was located. Nick looked at all the differently sized mammals surrounding him and Judy when he then noticed the same wolf who had been watching him from earlier. "Judy," Nick said as he tapped her shoulder, "What is it, Nick?" Judy replied.

"You see that wolf in the trenchcoat?"

"Yes,"

"He was watching us from the motel window, so we should keep our guard up," Nick said sternly. When he looked back to the wolf's position he was gone. They finally got to the bus stop and waited about 20 minutes for the bus to arrive. It took about a half hour to get to Sahara Square, Judy and Nick were mostly silent the entire ride as they were still disturbed by the previous night's events. They finally got to Sahara Square they got off the bus and headed for the ZPD, "So what are we gonna tell the chief?" asked Nick.

"I'm not sure yet but I'll think of something," Judy said nervously. They arrived at the ZPD 5 minutes later and proceeded to walk through the large doors. As they entered they heard a loud squeal, " Judy, Nick!" shouted Benjamin Clawhauser in a light-hearted and jovial Voice. Clawhauser was the main maintenance mammal of the ZPD and one of the few predators who worked there, however, the only jobs predators could get at the ZPD were maintenance and custodial, the rest was filled with prey. "So you guys working another big case that requires the help from the ZPD?" Clawhauser asked.

"Why yes we are," replied Nick.

"Do you know if the chief is busy?" Judy asked Ben.

"I don't think so but you should be careful he's pretty grumpy"

"When is he not Grumpy?" Nick deadpanned. Ben laughed at that then proceeded to go back to his work. "I'll see you guys later," he said. Judy and Nick then went to the chief's office. When they arrived Judy knocked on his door, "don't screw this up Nick," Judy said to Nick in a serious tone. "When have I ever screwed anything up," Nick said back. Before Judy could reply Chief Bogo had opened the door, "Well if it isn't Hopps and Wilde, what did you mess up this time?" Bogo said in his usual grumpy tone.

"We need help with something Chief," Judy replied.

"Since when do the two of you need help?" Bogo said in a curious tone.

"Well we were hired to find a fox who had been kidnaped, and when we found him he," Judy had stopped because she was still traumatized by the events and didn't even want to think about it let alone talk about it. " He was?" Bogo replied in an annoyed tone.

"He was violated and ripped apart by monsters!" Nick blurted out.

"Very funny Wilde how long did it take for you to come up with this one?" Bogo said with an aggravated tone. "No chief he's telling the truth," Judy said with fear in her voice.

"So Hopps is in on it too I see, come back when you have a real problem next time," Bogo said with anger in his voice. "This isn't a joke chief we know where they're hiding," Nick said aggravated. "Alright Wilde humor me, show me where these creatures hide then," Bogo said with a hint of sarcasm. "Alright I will come on Judy we're taking Chief Buffalo Butt to the bay," Judy froze at the thought of going back there. "Judy are you ok?" Nick said concerned. Because of this, he didn't notice the curiosity in Bogo's eyes.

"I don't want to go back Nick," Judy whimpered.

"Judy, if we show the police they can help us put an end to this," Nick said compassionately. "Alright Nick," Judy replied. Bogo agreed to go with them since they're good detectives and respects them, but he didn't believe what Wilde said. There are no monsters, he said to himself. They headed out to the bay.

After about an hour and a half, they got to the bay area of Zootopia. "Come on Chief they have a meeting place in between these two buildings," Judy said pointing.

"This doesn't look like a good place to hide," Bogo said.

"There's a secret entrance to their underground lair under the bay," Nick responded. He then took Bogo to the area where the white brick that had opened the door was. "See that patch of moss covering that white brick?" Nick said to Bogo.

"Yeah what about it," Bogo replied.

"Scratch it off," Nick instructed Bogo. "You see it?" Nick asked.

"See what?" The buffalo replied.

"The writing on the brick," said Nick.

"There is no writing on this brick, Wilde," The chief replied, Nick then looked at the brick and noticed that the words were gone. "Well that's not the important part, This is," Nick said as he tried to push the brick in. "What are you doing Wilde?" Bogo said confused.

"Well this brick was the switch that opened up the secret entrance to the secret lair but I guess it's gone now, but how?" Nick said.

"Am I going to have to send the both of you to the Cliffside Insane Asylum?, " Bogo said in an angry and stern tone.

"No, Chief this isn't us being delusional, we were almost killed by these things," Judy cried out. "Oh really they tried to kill you, well you both look perfectly fine to me!" Bogo yelled. " This is a waste of my time goodbye," Bogo said to them angrily.

"No Chief wait, please just believe us!" Bogo left in his automobile as he left Judy shouting and starting to cry. "I knew this would happen," Judy said hopelessly. Nick then went over to Judy to hug her "Calm down, Judy. We need to be strong if we're gonna solve this case by ourselves," Nick said softly to Judy.

"What do we do now Nick? " Judy sobbed.

"I'm not sure, Carrots," Nick said as he squeezed her tighter. "But we have to do something," Judy and Nick then proceeded to walk to the nearest bus stop so that they could both go home. They walked silently for about 15 minutes until they found one, they then waited another 5 minutes for a bus to arrive. When they got on they noticed that there were only about three other mammals on the bus, they then found two empty seats and sat next to each other. Judy sat on the seat next to the window as she always liked to look around. She had finally calmed down for a little bit and started to look around the bus, she saw trash on the floor and one mammal she couldn't identify because they were hidden behind an open newspaper.

Judy then noticed Nick, his fur was standing up straight and he seemed to have constricted pupils. "Nick," Judy said but got no reply. "Nick," Judy said again this time lightly shaking the fox. This caused Nick to jump a little, "Nick are you ok?" Judy asked concerned. "Yeah I'm fine carrots, I was just zoning out," Nick replied. Nick lied, he was actually paralyzed with fear. This confused Nick because he hadn't frozen up with fear like this since his early post-war days, as he would often freeze up if something had reminded him of the war or even if he just thought about it. He had gone to many therapists about his mild shell shock and it helped a lot, but they said that he wouldn't completely overcome his disorder, but it would get better in time. He felt like he was going backwards into his recovery. What scared Nick was how these things were able to cover up their tracks so flawlessly. In a matter of a day they completely disappeared as if nothing happened, no secret lair, no dead body, no weird alien mammals, all gone. He knew it wasn't gonna be that easy, but he had hoped to find a little bit of evidence.

They finally reached a bus stop that was the closest to Judy's apartment, it was about a five-minute walk from the stop. "You want me to walk you home, Carrots?" Nick said compassionately. "No I'll be fine, besides you should probably start walking home yourself," Judy said sounding like her regular self. "See you tomorrow, then," Nick said as he proceeded to walk back to his apartment which was about 15-20 minutes away. The city was empty, there were no cars on the road or mammals on the street.

Judy had started to walk home when she suddenly felt an overpowering sense of dread, almost like someone had been following her. Judy stopped dead in her tracks and looked around, but nobody was in sight so she continued walking. She then felt that same feeling again only this time it was stronger, "Hello, is anybody there?" Judy cried out. There was no answer so she continued to walk. Suddenly Judy had a feeling of someone breathing down her neck. This caused Judy to freeze up, she then built up the courage to look behind her, but there was no one in sight. Judy then decided to run the rest of the way to her apartment. When she finally got there she locked the door and started to get ready for bed. Judy then went to her medicine cabinet to get some sleeping pills because she wouldn't be able to sleep without them. When she got in her bed all she could think about was what Nick may be going through on his walk home.