Chapter 3: Past Mistakes
Nick had been walking for about 7 minutes, he was all alone on the sidewalk just as Judy had been. As he was walking he suddenly had a flashback of an artillery barrage from his service in The Great War. It was his shell shock acting up again, he then had another flashback, this time it was during a trench run, and Nick had stabbed another fox right through the chest with his bayonet. Nick was starting to feel like he was back on the frontlines, the overwhelming amount of fear he felt during those times. He had one more flashback only this time it wasn't from the war, it was from his childhood.
It had been from the time when predators were still trying to fit into society after the civil war. It was 1896 and Nick was the son of a former slave and was lucky enough to be educated by his mother, who was one of the rare predators who had gotten an education at that time. But when he was younger his mother mostly kept him inside their new Zootopia apartment to keep him safe. But Nick had always wanted to go out and make friends with other mammals, his mother finally allowed 9-year-old Nick to explore the city and make some friends. Nick was surprised to see the city all the mammals walking around and all the various buildings too. He also noticed that there had been more prey mammals then predator, this, however, did not bother Nick and he carried on. After walking for a bit he saw a group of mammals playing together in an alleyway, all of them had been prey but Nick didn't care.
There were 4 mammals in that place: a woodchuck, a giraffe, a zebra, and a Yak. When they all saw Nick they got kinda scared because they'd never see a fox so close. They were mostly in workplaces or plantations for rich people, not roaming around the streets like normal animals would. But Nick didn't see anything in them, he just wanted to play.
"What are you guys playing? Can I play too?" Nick said enthusiastically, he would finally be able to play with some people his age. He loved playing with his mom, but she wasn't as energetic anymore. The kids then looked at each other with malicious intent. They then started talking really quietly so Nick couldn't hear them. He looked at them weirdly but instantly shrugged it off, they were clearly thinking about what to play. His mom always said to see the good in everybody.
The kids stopped talking and the woodchuck(who seemed to be the "leader" of the group) looked at Nick with a very bright smile that was clearly fake, but Nick couldn't be able to notice it. "Well, what's your name, fox? We ought to know you if you want us to play with you," the woodchuck said in a very demanding voice, and Nick just wouldn't notice it.
"Oh yeah, sorry. My name is Nick Wilde, but you can call me Nick". The woodchuck began to move closer to Nick and the other kids followed. They were getting closer and closer in a very strange way, like if they were zombies. After they got reasonably close to Nick the woodchuck raised his hand to give him a handshake.
"Welcome to our group, Nick. We're the renegades, the outlaws of the south!" the woodchuck said in an exciting manner.
"That name is awesome. W-what do you guys do?" Nick said in amazement.
"Eh, nothing much, it's mostly playing ball, catching some bugs, or even trying to annoy the girls that live by our street and are always being annoying. So we pay them back, by throwing them rocks" the giraffe had spoken for the first time.
"That sounds awesome, when can we start?" Nick couldn't contain his emotions anymore.
"Woah Woah Woah calm down there, Nick. All things to its own time. You first gotta learn our code names and make one for you" the zebra started speaking in a comical way.
"Code names?" Nick was confused.
"Yes, we need code names because the government wants to prosecute us because we've done good things for the people and they don't like that"
Nick, understanding now that it was all a very ingenious game, he said: "Ohh, then may I know all of your code names?" Nick said, getting the hang of the game.
"Okay, you're worthy of knowing our special and secret code names. I'm Woody, the giraffe is Necky, the Zebra is Sprites and the yak is Yakson" Woody said with a slight grin as he winked to his friends.
"Then what's my code name?" Nick said impatiently.
"You, my dear comrade, will be called Orange" Nick liked it. He clearly didn't know what many people use the word "orange" for. It was a derogatory way to call a fox at the time. For the white foxes, they would be called Snowflakes. Those terms were used by speciesist people or slave owners.
"But wait, we are still not finished here, Orange. We still have to go to our Initiation Lair. In there you will say something that will grant you the title of new member of our special society" Woody said. Nick was curious about where the supposed Lair was located.
"Where is that, exactly?" Nick asked
"It's not far from here. Come on, Orange. Are you too scared to go?" Woody challenged the fox as all of his friends were expecting an answer from him.
"Uhhh, o-okay I guess," Nick said, and Woody congratulated him.
"Orange, this is a choice that you won't regret" Woody spoke as if he was a sales pitchman from the streets at the time.
"Follow me, Orange. You don't wanna get lost in here" said Woody and Nick obeyed his orders. He was the leader, after all.
They started walking to the Lair as Nick followed. He was seeing places he had never seen before because of obvious reasons. He had never seen that much prey in one single place. He was in awe at the amount. They kept walking until the vicinity was very far away and Nick was unaware of the horrors that would happen to him on that shack. They finally arrived at a small wooden tool shed that was close to a shallow river and surrounded by trees.
The shed was very old. The windows were nonexistent with some broken glass on the floor. The door was a mess, it had a big part of it destroyed and the wood had big openings because of termites. There were many traces of vandalism too. It seemed like too many kids had found the place and trashed it. No one knew where or who had made that shed, or for what purpose. The police never cared to destroy it since it didn't exactly break any laws. The land wasn't owned by anybody and that shed was legally placed. It also served as a shelter for some homeless mammals.
"Is that the Initiation Lair?," Nick said very frightened. He almost started to regret his decision. Woody and the others noticed.
"Oh come on Nick don't be scared. It may look creepy but it just stinks to rotten eggs inside. Besides, we're gonna be there too, remember? Nothing bad will happen" said Woody in a positive tone. It gained Nick's motivation and now he had bitten the bait and got caught in the fish hook. Nick walked inside the run down shed. It had a pungent and musty aroma, then when he finally walked inside he noticed something. There were chains and shackles hanging from the walls, he also saw rope and even some bullwhips but what stood out to him the most were the muzzles. Nick was afraid and confused about why his new friends had brought him to such a horrible place.
It was a morbid torture dungeon. Since the police never checked the shed again to see if it was secure, it led to Woody and the gang to find it and turn it into a full-on madhouse. They got all the equipment from Sprites' grandfather. He said that he had thousands of them in his basement and he secretly stole some of it. They started building the place 2 years ago and so far it had 2 victims. Nick was gonna be the 3rd.
"Guys w-what is this place?" Nick asked in a frightened tone.
"This shed holds the equipment used to round up monsters like you long ago when it was legal," Woody said in a malicious and blunt voice.
"Yeah it was used to protect us from beasts like you," Sprites said in an evil yet gleeful voice. Nick was now frozen with fear and couldn't do a thing as his newfound "friends" gathered a rope and muzzle and surrounded Nick on all sides.
Necky tripped him over by kicking him in one leg as he let out a whimper. He fell and bruised the right side of his face. Sprites took a rope and started tying his arms so tight it was ripping part of his skin and fur. He started screaming for his life but Yakson acted quick and punched his snout so hard it made him stop screaming. He was suffering in pain.
Woody took the muzzle and tried to put it on him as the other guys were holding him really tight with with the rope. He was a fox, after all, and even though he was a 9-year-old kid his strength was already to the point that he would be able to handle a group of prey mammals like them. As Nick got tired of trying to escape from their grasp Woody took the chance and put the muzzle. He tightened it really hard and he could tell that he was suffering.
"Mmmfmm" Nick couldn't say any words as he had tears running out of his eyes.
They managed to lift him up. "Oh, you've tired already, Orange? I'm really disappointed. I thought you were strong," Woody mockingly stated. "Don't worry, we're not gonna kill you, we're not savages like YOU" he punched Nick in the jawline and loved the muffle screaming that came after.
"Give him the whip!" Stripes said, then Necky followed, "Yeah, the whip! Make him suffer like the demon he is!" Yakson started screaming and then the three chanted, "The whip! The whip! The whip!". Woody then picked up a small whip from the table right behind him. He then proceeded to violently whip Nick, the only thing that could be heard was the gunshot-like sound coming from the whip as it cracked and the muffled screams from Nick. This had been the worse pain Nick had ever felt both physically and emotionally, the pain would only get worse when he was drafted to fight in the great war many years later.
The prey kits kept laughing as Nick kept being whipped and whipped nonstop. Each animal took their turn to do it. They didn't just whip his back, they whipped his legs, arms, and face. They even messed up some of his tail. After having all of their fun, they put a bag on his face and each one gave him the "Finishing Punch" as they called it. Each one chose a part of his body to punch for the last time.
The woodchuck chose his bagged face. He gave it a strong kick. He had also hurt himself a little since he had also kicked the muzzle. Necky kicked his spine where he had most of the whip bruises. Stripes went for the gut and Yakson chose the worst, or the best part, depending on perspective. He had given him a kick in his crotch. Nick screamed with all his might and was surprised that he didn't break any of his vocal cords. He couldn't handle the pain anymore and fainted.
He woke up an hour later with the bag still on his head. He felt water and immediately knew that he was in the shallow river to the side of the shed. He couldn't move. It was being very difficult for him to even move his fingers. Nick then tried to weakly squirm out of the river but every time he tried to move pain shot through his body. After he finally made it to dry land he tried to shake the bag off his head so that he could see again.
As he took the bag he noticed it was wet, but instead of water covering all parts of the bag, there was also blood. His blood. It was a lot. He knew he had many things broken on his body, but it wasn't time for that yet. He needed to take the muzzle off. His face was in deep pain and it was a challenge to take the muzzle off because of all the pain it was causing. His neck, snout, and ears hurt immensely.
He managed to take the muzzle off and he was more relieved. He saw a letter beside him and it read "If you tell someone about us, you're gonna get it" signed by The Woodchuck who kicked your ass. Nick was furious, but couldn't do anything about it at the moment. He just wanted to go home and cry, but he knew he wouldn't last that long and cried right then and there. All of his hopes for a great life shadowed by a stupid woodchuck and his gang of friends.
Nick had finally snapped out of the flashback. His eyes then started to water and moments later he felt the warm tears streaming down his cheeks, he also began to shake violently with fear. He then started taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down but it had no effect. Nick was usually a master of hiding his fear and emotion but that had just gone away and all the poor fox could do was let it all out, standing in the middle of the sidewalk all alone.
"Psst," said a mysterious whisper. This had made Nick Jump and draw his pistol," who's there!" Shouted Nick as he aimed his gun in the general direction of the whisper. "Relax, I'm a friend," said a somewhat deep and smooth voice. "My friend and I can help you, we'll meet you tomorrow morning at your place of business," with his guard down Nick walked in the direction of the voice and found nobody there. He started walking home again, getting there in 5 minutes. Minutes that seemed too long to Nick. As he laid on his bed to sleep he hoped that he would finally get the answers he and Judy desperately needed. Who was that mysterious guy, what did he know? Best not to dwell on it too much. He would get the answers tomorrow. Tomorrow.