Chapter 57: Survive

"Ugh...my head...where am I...what, what happened?"

Judy was slowly starting to regain consciousness after receiving the poisonous drink from her 'colleague' at work. With a headache, she stood up slowly from the ground trying to look around to see anything. She felt something cold underneath her...hard and metallic. All around her she couldn't see anything much. It was terribly dark around her, the only source of light being a small gap from the underside of the iron door, through which an unpleasant hospital light came through. It took some time for the doe to realise what had happened to her and where she was now (although she didn't know where she was), she had to remain calm and try to look around. Impulsively she reached into her pocket to take out her phone, it was gone! Just as her handy torch was gone, which she always carried in her uniform, but it was also gone!

"They must have taken everything from me...the question is what is this place? Awful little to see" thought Judy. The headache that was still present did not help her, but at least she tried to console herself with the thought that Nick had most likely wandered into the same place making her feel even more likely that Nick had managed to escape from here somehow. The question was how? And was he even here? Nevertheless, Judy needed to come up with a plan to get out of here as quickly as possible. The primary choice, of course, was to try to open the iron door, but it soon became apparent that this attempt was for naught. The doe lay down on the floor and out of the corner of her eye looked at what was on the other side of the door, everything looked terribly bright. The white light was hitting her eyes, but that didn't stop Judy from being able to see some of the hospital beds, some were knocked over and some were...soiled with red stains. Some of the lamps shone less brightly, some looked like they were damaged at all.

"What an unpleasant place. It looks a bit like it's been abandoned" Judy thought. She backed out from under the door to see if there were other ways out of the room she was in. Beside her in the rather cramped room was only a bed and above it, as it turned out a moment later, a grille from the ventilation.

"If it's not on the bolts I'll manage to get out this way" thought the doe. She approached the bed and, trying to jump out as much as possible, tried to pull the grille out, luckily for her the grille vibrated which meant it wasn't screwed on - someone must have already escaped from here.

"The grille can be removed, but it will be worse to jump onto the shaft," Judy thought. Rubbing her hands together to gain more grip, Doe jumped up to the height of the grating with a quick flick of her paws removing the grating which landed on the soft mattress of the bed. Continuing on Judy tried to jump up onto the ventilation shaft, she got a little tired in the process but managed to grab onto the edge of the ventilation with her paws on the 3rd time. Her strong legs braced against the wall and she slowly managed to climb into the ventilation. She needed a bit of a break. She lay down on the ventilation and listened in. It was suspiciously quiet, no one could be heard, only occasionally the doe would hear something like laughter...only it was a bit uncontrollable. It was creating a feeling of dread in Judy, who had to move forward if she wanted to unravel this case and find Nick. Unfortunately she didn't have anything on her to be able to take notes on what she was seeing, but that wasn't what was most important to her.

Moments later Judy slowly began to crawl forward towards the corridor. She didn't know where she was going to be honestly, but she couldn't stop in this cell. Most likely the doe wants to find Nick, she was sure he was here somewhere. As she made her way through the cramped ventilation, a feeling of uncertainty and in a kind of fear that she might fall abruptly in the most uncomfortable place - she knew no one could see her. There was a reason she was locked in here right?

At one point one of the ventilation bars opened underneath her causing Judy to fall into the examination room where a single fox dressed in a white doctor's uniform was sitting. Before the doe could get up, the opponent quickly grabbed the doe by the neck and covered her mouth in an attempt to muffle her screams. Judy tried to push her opponent away from her, however, he was too strong for her to do anything. Judy continued to struggle until he approached her and said something that startled her.

"I don't want to hurt you, stop shouting," the man said quietly. Judy struggled for another moment, but felt she was too weak to offer him any resistance. She agreed to his proposal and stopped fighting. She fell silent and then the fox let go of her grasp. A normal-looking staff member, the fox looked like a doctor as he sat in a small chamber with medicines, a fox anatomy chart (which he had on the wall behind him) and in a classic doctor's outfit.

"What is this place?" Judy asked quietly. The fox didn't answer. He took a small memory card out of his pocket and handed it to Judy.

"We don't have much time. Have a quick one, this is a memory card that needs to be brought out of here in a whole piece. There are materials in there that will finish it all," the doctor replied. Judy stared in confusion at the memory card, which looked like this, a microSD.

"What will end it? What is it about?" Judy asked, not quite realising what the man was trying to tell her.

"Research. They're working on something...it's sort of an adrenaline shot, but things have gone too far. If you want to leave here continue straight down the shaft, turn left at the first intersection, there the corridor will end and there will be a descent to room C14. Exit it and take the lift downstairs. There will be the director's room where there is an emergency exit. We don't have much time, now go!" The fox replied. He took the ladder he had prepared from under the desk top and placed it under the ventilation shaft so Judy could get in.

"Wait...why should I trust you? You look like you just worked here," asked Judy uncertainly.

"Because it is, but that's not what we were supposed to achieve. I want to stop this, but I can't do it myself...you have to go, some patients with failed injections have escaped from the cages, watch out for them! They are not friendly to anyone" The doctor replied. Judy nodded with a movement of her head, then climbed up the shaft. The doctor closed the entrance behind her by putting the grating on, then put the ladder back and went behind his desk.

"Doctor!" Judy called out when she heard a knock on the door. This gave her a clear sign not to ask anything. The doctor showed her with a gesture of his hand to go to his destination, and he himself opened the door saying: "Come in!"

"What is all this supposed to mean? Could it be that under the pretext of kidnappings there is something even bigger hidden? What experiments, what kind of place is this anyway? It looks a bit like a hospital...but we don't have one in Zootopia...never mind. I need to get out of here as soon as possible, I'll know what Caroline AND their company are up to. Maybe we can finally find Nick..." The doe thought as she crawled along the ventilation shaft. The information the doctor revealed for her made Judy herself no longer understand what this was all about. If this is some kind of research then why were the rich ones being kidnapped, the ones whose disappearance news would quickly spread about, rather than the plebs who nobody cares about? Few things were sticking. At the moment nothing made sense to Judy, which may also be why, without much suspicion, she decided to trust for the doctor who wants to supposedly help her.

Judy soon reached the first intersection in the ventilation shaft, according to the words of the fox she met she turned left, then continued to crawl along the metallic panels of the shaft, as quietly as she could. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, she knew that whoever saw her would try to chase and catch her, but she still didn't know who the patients of the "failed experiment " were. She couldn't imagine what it could have meant more precisely, nevertheless. She expected it to be nothing good for her.

Soon, the doe arrived under the first ventilation cage; according to the doctor's words, she was to descend here so that she could reach the lift that led to the surgery. First, however, she decided to look at the room through the ventilation bars. At first glance, it looked like some kind of living room, there was a TV set, a couch, out of the corner of her eye she probably saw a bookshelf. Apart from that, there was no one inside. She slowly opened the ventilation grille and put it next to her then jumped off the grille onto the sofa. The room was also as dark as the room she had woken up in. Again, the only source of light was the door, but this time not from underneath it but the gap between them - the door was slightly ajar, which gave enough light to be able to see what was in the room. The doe took out the memory card she had received from the doctor, there was a small, barely visible inscription on it: "Evidence". Which surprised her even more.

"What must this place be to not be able to send anything?" Judy thought. She was slowly beginning to understand that this was more than the usual kidnappings, it was already a game with bigger stakes. Maybe this was why the 'ordinary' kidnapper had access to such sophisticated artillery and was so experienced in what he was doing. It was all planned.

"Target 023 located, we have an order to incapacitate him!" A male voice called out from the corridor. Hearing the sound of two foxes running, Judy quickly ducked behind the couch so that she couldn't be seen through the door gap. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two foxes, dressed to resemble bodyguards, run past the room she was in. Moments later, she heard several gunshots, followed by a loud scream. A scream that was not a sign of total pain. It was something like a mixture of pain and adrenaline and partly joy. A howl that was not caused by pain, but must have been emotionally based.

"Target 023 neutralised, however this floor further down is the most unsecured. Check other floors, there are still 4 cells left" Judy heard a voice across the corridor. The shadows of two figures passed by her door like streaks penetrating the doorway slowly. Hidden behind a piece of furniture, Judy prayed that no one would notice her. Luckily for her, the room she was in was probably not used for a long time judging by the dust that had settled on the furniture she was hiding behind and the general dirt.

Once the situation had calmed down, Judy decided to move forward so she could escape from there. She swung the door open further, then checked to see if it was clear. Once she was satisfied that she was in no danger, she went out into the corridor, which was full of hospital beds, some of which even had traces of blood on them! Although despite this fact the walls, floor and ceiling looked brand new. The beating white light made it take a while for Judy to get used to it, although despite this fact, the doe noticed something like a fox's tail at the end of the corridor. Her imagination was showing her a lot of not very tasty images in her head, but she had to go there nonetheless. After a while Judy moved forward, she had no other choice not to go there, on the other side were her opponents. She had to find a way out, that was her priority. At the end of the corridor just as Judy had seen, there was a fox tail. The doe prepared herself for the worst sight. She slowly leaned out from behind the wall where she saw the fox, shot twice in the chest, already dead.

"huh! What the hell is this place..." Judy thought in horror, shocked by the sight. She walked closer to him, as much as the blood already spilled next to his body allowed, her attention was immediately drawn to the protruding veins on his hands and the bloodshot eyes. The sight was terrifying, but at the same time giving many signs that something had been injected into him.

"They said it was subject 023...maybe it's related to what the doctor told me" thought Judy as she managed to calm down. She stared at the shot-up corpse for a few more moments, then decided it was a good idea to look away. Behind her was the entrance to the lift the doctor had told her about. She stepped into the lift and, following his instructions, selected the lowest floor - the ground floor. She pressed the button, whereupon the lift doors closed and the lift moved downwards. Judy felt fear, an uncontrollable fear that she hadn't felt for a very long time. This was something new for her, she usually knew what to do, now that she didn't know where she was she decided to trust someone she didn't know! However, his voice and likely sincerity meant that Judy felt she could trust him...or at least she thought she could. She honestly had no choice but not to trust him. She didn't know who he was, but in the end, if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't even know how to escape from here! Unless he had lied to her and the whole thing was a farce.

In time, as the lift approached the ground floor, Judy heard strange sounds just coming from below, as if from the ground floor, which further quickened her heart rate.

"It's okay Judy. Just get out of here and you'll get back to this place with help" thought Judy to add to her anxiety. She feared that these strange sounds were being made by a "failed experiment", whatever that meant. Soon the lift doors opened and Judy stepped out into the corridor, beneath the corridor was something of a reception area. The paneled walls of the room and the carpets on the floor symbolised that this place had something akin to a hospital, this floor, however, looked much less dilapidated and bloodstained than those above. The doe opposite the reception desk noticed a bricked-up exit from this building, which puzzled her. Why was the exit bricked up?

"There must have been something going on here if it's not that easy to get out," thought Judy. She didn't have any more time to ponder though, the mysterious sounds were heard by her again, she slowly walked up to the corridor railing from where she could lean out so she could see what was going on downstairs. The doe saw some kind of fox standing in the corner of the room and gesturing with his hands. His hospital apron immediately let her know that this was most likely a patient who had managed to escape and should be protected from him. However, the policewoman was tempted to check out what he was doing more closely, she walked as quietly as she could down the corridor to get a better angle of view of what this fox was doing. Soon Judy's eyes opened wide when she saw this fox punching one of the security guards, who was already on extinction trying to defend himself.

"Oh!" Shouted Judy in horror at this sight. To her misfortune, the attacker heard it. He jumped away momentarily from the already dead bodyguard and, with blood in his mouth, looked around for the source of that moan. Judy's reflexes allowed her to hide behind the railing she was leaning over, but she knew that wouldn't get the job done. She leaned gently out from behind the railing again to see where the fox was - he was coming up the stairs to the corridor where she was. He was looking for her. He knew she was somewhere and didn't make too much noise so as not to inform a potential victim that he had someone on his back. Judy, however, did not waver in her intelligence either and, looking at his position, moved in line with his movement so that they circled around all the time. The doe thus had a safe advantage allowing her to look for the right door leading to the headmaster's room, which was supposed to be here somewhere. Apart from the doors to the toilets or staff rooms, she didn't see any that led to the headmaster's room.

"They're probably downstairs somewhere...just where?" Judy thought. Again, she had to lean out from behind the railing a little more to be able to see where she was supposed to go. Going downstairs would cause the fox who was looking for her to spot her immediately and looking at his blood stained apron did not promise to be friendly. Leaning out as much as she could she searched with her eyes for any doors and finally spotted one, behind the reception desk a door with the sign 'Director's Office'.

"It has to be there, I just need to get down fast enough so he doesn't have time to catch me" thought Judy. The stairs were right beside her, she stopped at the end of the handrail so that she could see one last time where her opponent was. He was literally opposite her, on the other side of the stairs in the corridor, above the reception area. Judy took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest like a hammer, she was afraid to do it, what if she didn't manage to run? No one would help her, she was alone and fighting it was unlikely to be an option. She had to do it though, she took another deep breath to calm herself down and then decided to lean out of the railing by stepping out into the middle of the stairs. Fox, seemingly possessed by something, his black eyes stared at the doe, who, stunned by his state, stared back at him and didn't know what to do herself. It wasn't until his loud shout and rapid run towards her that the doe quickly broke off also to run up the stairs being careful not to make any mistake without falling. The fox ran terribly fast and possessively. Before Judy had time to get down he was already at them and you could tell he was jumping off them! The doe, running past the reception desk, turned behind her every now and then to see where the fox was - he was almost right behind her. She could feel his wild laughter behind her, which was a mixture of pain and joy. However, the doe managed to open the door leading to the headmaster's room and at the last moment closed it with a special wooden barricade blocking the door. However, the fox did not give up, he banged on the door several times trying to break the barrier that was blocking his access to Judy, who panickedly started to look for another way to escape. There was one window, but unbeknownst to him - there were bars too!

"Damn, I've got to think of something quick!" Thought the doe as she looked around for anything to defend herself. She noticed that there was a gun on the desk, she quickly picked it up and checked to see if it had ammunition - luckily it did. She aimed at the door and waited for her attacker to come out towards her. As she waited, however, the thumps grew more and more muted until finally Judy heard a loud scream outside the door. It must have been the sound of a failed attempt to catch her, because the blows stopped and Judy finally felt at least a little safe.

"What a choppy place...all right. The Doctor said there should be an emergency exit here somewhere, but it's worth looking around for some specific information about this place," Judy thought as she made sure she was alone. After all, she had to be safe here didn't she? She couldn't see any other entrance, the bars were on the windows so Judy finally calmed down enough to act on something. Unfortunately it was also quite dark here, the only source of light was the lamp on the desk, which drew Judy's attention to a document lying casually on the desk top. The doe sat down at the desk searching it thoroughly - she found nothing of interest. With nothing else to check she began to read the document:

"Patient 027 has received another dose of the injection...we're not sure exactly what has happened to his body, but it looks like we're in the right direction to receive something we're working on. Increased strength and greater mental toughness are just a few things we have noticed, his eyesight and hearing have also improved. There is also a noticeable resistance to pain and suffering. However, there are also serious drawbacks to this formula. One week after ingestion, the subject began to lose control of his body and lost the ability to communicate with the outside world. He is unable to follow commands or control his body. It gets worse every day, and two weeks after ingestion there is also a noticeable high level of aggression and lack of mercy. The subject has started to attack everything that moves. Despite this, we are close to our main goal. According to our doctors, within a month we will be able to assemble a ready and working preparation that we will need for our plan."

"Damn...I think I know why this doctor wanted to stop it " thought a shocked Judy upon seeing the contents of the document. The entries were abstract and at the same time frightening to Judy, who could not imagine what could be going on here!

"I'll take that with me too," thought Judy. She took the document out of the folder it was hidden in and bent it into a few pieces to fit in the pocket where she had the memory card. Finally, she was ready to get out of here. On the left side next to the desk there was indeed an iron door that opened with a button. Judy approached them and as she did so two tall figures emerged from the exit and immediately overpowered the doe.

"Welcome Hopps."