Hey all, DLW here with a new chapter. Thank you to all my readers (5.5k+ views on FF, 1.1k+ on DA and 1k+ on AO3), follows, fav's and reviews and for your feedback it makes writing all the more fun. I apologize in advance for the long chapter, but I couldn't cut it as it's emotionally complex, more at the bottom. Disclaimer: Zootopia and its characters are copyright Disney. (I own none of the characters in the story aside from the O/C's.).
The Dystopian Society
Chapter Five: Endeavor
'Cold Snap'
"I stand before you and ask. 'When facing our mountain, what is the most important thing to remember?'"
[Location, date, time Unknown]
He couldn't remember when the last headache he had left him paralyzed and unable to feel even the slightest pain or even see. Then again, not feeling anything was preferable to the constant shocks and dull pains he felt on a daily, so it was a plus... for now.
While still in this state of painless bliss, or at least painless drifting, all he could do was hear faint voices and tell when he was moved to and fro as if being rocked to sleep by some lullaby.
'them?' He heard muttering of some kind, too deep to tell who, and he was far too relaxed to try.
'Search-' He felt himself being rolled, poked, prodded as though he were some kind of reynard rag-doll. He could even be buddies with the fox doll he had seen earlier, matching neckwear and all.
Before he knew it, not that there was much for him to gain knowingly, he was being lifted. Though lifted is a strong word for what he felt. It was more so of a glorified dragging that he felt from what his footpads could still barely feel.
There was a moment where he felt completely weightless, followed closely by a hard press against his senses, gravity had returned to meet his form in full. If that wasn't bad enough, he felt a weight press against him, landing squarely on him and force whatever he had left of a breath out of him.
Shortly after, there was complete silence, just the rocking of bumps and his head being jerked left and right from quick turns and skids. Had he not been so utterly out, he could have certainly asked to be taken to a hospital for a look at potential whiplash from the constant twists and jerks he could feel from the tip of his nose.
Though not particularly enjoying it, not that he could complain, the simple bliss that came with not feeling pain was tolerable, to say the lease. Eventually, however, a loud noise caused his semi-conscious body to shudder. He could feel the ground around him come to a sudden halt, followed by the weight on his chest rolling off him.
'sound-' He heard deafened yelling.
'kill-' Not good, but at least he didn't have to feel pain if it was him. At least the sound was gone.
'caught-' Certainly, though by who?
'route-' He groggily thought shady dealings.
'key-' If it was for his freedom, where could he sign?
'lov-' Uh?
'ten' Thing were making less sense by the second to him.
'collar-' Yes, he had his on. Two, in fact, they were on special.
'drop off-' Yep, definitely a cartel in need of a vet.
'always cold here-' He could hear a little better?
'Doesn't make it eas-' Definitely better, he could vaguely twitch his eye.
'Almost had that one dow-' He peered one eye open, seeing grey just beyond his muzzle.
'Ten-thirty, they'll be-' He could move his head, and his arms felt lighter.
'Good cause we've got anot-' Still could feel a bump behind his ear, though.
Shakily, he forced himself on his elbow. Through the faintest glimpse of sight, he managed to look up. He knew or rather didn't know, that he made an immediate mistake. For just beyond what his vision could allow, a shadowed figure happened to look back.
'He's gettin' up!'
It shouted, forcing the momentum to come to a halt once more. With him too weakened to do much, he tumbled forward muzzle first into a mass of grey. He would have writhed from the dullness in his neck and the force of impact, but he was in no pain whatsoever.
'Dose em. DOSE EM!'
He heard a door open behind him as soon as the other called. Curious to see who or what they were, he cast his head forward. To his dismay or current lack thereof, he could make out the faint outlines of a wolf hovering above him with something clutched in their paw.
He couldn't react, but barely felt the pinprick of pain in his neck. It wasn't half bad, at least his collar didn't shock him, or did it? He couldn't tell either way. As he felt himself slowly slip back down, he saw the faintest sliver of grey before he shut his eyes. Just in front of his muzzle, was a sleeping grey rabbit.
'carrots...' He whispered and drifted off to sleep.
'carrots...' He mumbled over and over again, never questioning why he even called to the rabbit in the first place.
'Beep.' He heard.
What was the point? What was the purpose? Did he pity her? Why would he? Why did he even care? Was it because she listened to him? Because of his creed?
'Beep.' The sound came again.
He didn't know how long he continued this, calling her and questioning himself, whether in his mind or embedded tastelessly in his tongue. All he knew, was that he couldn't shake the rabbit out of his thoughts.
'Beep.' His ear twitched.
Though she didn't leave his mind, he did begin to feel something. A tight grip around his chest and stomach, dull and suffocating. He felt as if he were floating, rocking, drifting away. Still, above any of this, he felt... cold. Cold enough to force his breath to chill with every intake, cold enough to make him shiver. He could shiver again?
Yet, even as the bitter cold nipped at his front and made him shake lightly, he felt a warmth at his back. He smiled a little, groggily and still trying to figure things out. If it weren't for the small warm sensation at his spine, he could swear that he would freeze to death eventually. It was soft, comfortable, relaxing... moving?
'Mmmnnn.' He groaned, forcing himself out of his daze and back into a semi-conscious state.
It took him a moment to willfully open his eyes to even a squint, but as he did so he saw a faint hue of red surrounding him. Not that he himself wasn't already red enough, but the whole area, emanated with the menacing color.
His eyes shot open after, fully immersing him in the situation he was in with horrid realization. Though he didn't know what to think to begin with as to where he was, it soon dawned on him that he was indeed alive from the sheer fact that it was cold, or so he hoped.
"W-where?" Was the first thing he managed to wheeze, breath still cold and eyes adjusting to his new surroundings. He weakly scanned around him, surprised at the near barrenness of the room he was currently in.
Concrete walls with a matching floor, worn barrels and glass jars near one side of a room and a grimy looking machine adorning another. Cooling vents and red overhead lights huddled together on the ceiling in a display that rivaled modern art in its obscurity. A large metal door to the far side of the room seemed to be the only exit.
Grateful that there was an exit, he took to look after himself. He breathed deeply, gaining a chilling feeling in his lungs as well as a strong scent of freezer-burn and saltwater. Strangely familiar with the scent, he associated it with fish, but there was something else there, something... closer.
He looked down to his chest where he felt pressure being applied to him to see several coils of chain crisscrossing his form in each layer. He raised a brow and followed the chain, moving a paw to find that it indeed went around him completely. Unaware of where it lead to, he looked up to find that its end was suspended from a vent in the ceiling; it made sense now that floating feeling he had, his toes couldn't feel solid ground at all.
It was then that he was rethinking the whole 'being alive' part that made this situation good. He shook his head, he had to find a way out of this.
"Hello, anyone?" He called out, shaking his chains and feeling their cold sting restrict him.
He hadn't accounted for how he would even attempt to contact someone that wasn't there, but it didn't hurt to try. Even an empty reply was better than what he had silently hoped would be a swift end.
'mmm'
Then again, maybe it wasn't so empty.
His ears perked up at the sound just behind him, the one place he didn't truly look for an answer. The warmth at his back called for him to awkwardly crane his head to see a mass of familiar grey chained with him.
"Carrots?" He called out, surprised that she was there this whole time.
While not responding at first, he could hear her faint draw of breath and puffs of cold air with each exhale. He huffed as well, figuring that if they were tied together, then someone must want them for something. Nothing he could think of was good.
On the verge of panic, he chose to wiggle and flail against the chains in an attempt to free himself. At first, it seemed futile, only feeling the bind tighten on him, but he didn't stop. Eventually, he felt it looses a little, then a little more, until finally the chain gave way... but not how he had imagined.
It started with him dropping a foot or so and the rabbit doing the same. It turned into him being held up dangerously by one wrist and feeling the cold metal grasp at him, forcing him to hiss at its unwillingness to let him free. He looked at the chain with hatred, finding that it was different from the others, a cuff attached and winding around others. At its end was the rabbit who was now dangling dangerously as she was upside down.
"Are you okay?" He whispered, finding that she, in fact, wasn't speaking.
A sense of worry filled Nick's mind. With her unconscious and blood now rushing to her head in the cold, it wouldn't take long for her to potentially suffer longterm from this. Again, he resumed his struggle of unraveling the chain and careful not to jostle her too much. It was difficult as they were still midair, but he hoisted himself up and peeled off the freezing chain layer by layer until gravity finally freed them both.
He was the first to come crashing down, square on his back at that. The chain noisily fell along with him, narrowly avoiding crushing him altogether. Lastly, he heard nothing more than a squeak from the rabbit who had landed on the cold unfeeling metal.
Whoever tied them up, didn't do such a great job if he was able to free himself. He even had his coat with him as a potential oversight, or just laziness. He couldn't feel or find his glasses though.
He huffed for a moment of relief, feeling the bump on his head and the cold sting that he drew with each breath. His left paw chained to her right, he stood, dragging her away a little as the cuffs weren't too long.
He swallowed hard as he placed his digits to the side of her neck, and while still slow and hard to tell, he could feel the rhythmic beating he had hoped for.
"Still has a pulse." He said, relieved to some fashion as the fact that they were still chained dawned on him.
With her unconscious, he thought about their course of action. "First thing's first, cut the chain."
Agreeing with himself, he picked the rabbit up carefully as to not cause her further harm. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the door. Cold nipping at his toes and feeling it get significantly colder since their escape, he hurried forward. Once there, he cradled her close to him in one arm and fumbled the slightly higher door handle with the other.
"Locked..." He mumbled, not knowing what he had expected to happen to make his life easier.
He shook his head at the lost opportunity, if he wasn't going to get out anytime soon, then he'd have to at least get them loose. He frantically looked around the room, from the barrels to the machine and soon an idea formed in his mind.
He raced towards the menacing contraption, fully intent to see what it was and if it had something to cut their bonds. Upon reaching and inspecting it, he found that it was a kind of processing machine, built with blades and grinding tools to get its job done.
Smiling at this, he looked carefully for a way to cut it on and effectively cut their chain. He knew that the grinder at the end wouldn't do, but maybe the blade would.
Clutching Judy in his arms, he found the button he was looking for near its face. He switched the machine on, causing it to roar to life and resume its daily job of attempting to process whatever lay on its conveyor.
With it running at full force, the machine went to work. Its momentum was steady, blade pacing up and down and screeching as it found nothing to sink deep into, belt humming and carrying what would be processed through its final moments, and the grinder would ensure that nothing would survive.
Nick was having second thoughts about this now. Sure if it was just him, he'd maybe attempt to defy his instinct to survive and cut the chain then and there, but with an unconscious rabbit in tow, it was a bit dangerous.
Still hanging onto her, he felt her move a little as if to protest her thoughts about it. How he would even get her positioned on the conveyor without being cleaved by the blade or falling into the grinder was a whole other thing entire.
Frustrated, he sighed at the sight and thought to himself. There had to be some way to not endanger the both of them, he wasn't foolish enough to try that, he wasn't heartless either. He had to find something to cut their chain, but nothing he could think of would suffice.
While he yet thought, the rabbit shifted in his arms more and more. Startled at the sudden movement, he tore his gaze downward to see her begin to open her eyes. She breathed deeply, groaning from exhaustion and pain. He, however, chuckled at the fact that she was waking up.
"Oh good, you're awake." He announced, startling her and hearing her gasp.
Her eyes fixed on him, now fully open and staring in horror. She didn't know what to think aside from how cold it was, how noisy the room was, how dark and red her vision was. The overload of her senses came to her in a moment when she felt a sharp pain in her head. She cringed at the sensation, trying to recount the plethora of things that happened.
She remembered that she was on her way to her car with Nick, then she felt pain when he was behind her. There were shadows... and then there was him in front of her. Piecing all of this together was causing a headache, to say the least, and the noise didn't help.
She turned her head to inspect it and her countenance dropped at what she saw. A machine in the red light, menacingly inviting her to its inner workings. A blade flashing and screaming at her without care as to how close they were. Her breath hiked from the sudden realization of what was going on, and Nick was holding her towards it.
"You may have a concussion," She heard him say, forcing her to look his way in terror. "So I suggest-"
He would never get to finish his sentence as he felt the rabbits strong feet collide with his chin. Thankfully he had his tongue inside his mouth or else he would have definitely been seeking medical aid from the impact.
The instant Judy kicked him, several things happened. Firstly, Nick fell back, twisting and landing on his stomach; taking her with him. Secondly, Nick's collar set off and shocked him, with her receiving a jolt of her own medicine. Thirdly and lastly, Judy scrambled to get on his back and hold one of his arms behind him, wary of stray claws.
Still breathing heavy and feeling the shock that came with her preemptive attack, Judy stared daggers at the downed fox.
"You-"
He barely managed to open his eyes, coughing as the force of the shock left him winded.
"You were trying to kill me!" The doe shouted, clutching his arm for dear life.
Though Nick was tall, she was definitely the stronger of the two. Years of police work and exercise had forced her to know how to pin her target with precision, he wasn't going anywhere without her say-so.
He, however, instead of struggling, tried to breathe and calm them both down.
"I was just-"
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!" Her voice echoed throughout the room and straight to his ears, cutting off his protest. It carried a deep hurt to them both, though neither could see the single bead forming in her eye. "You're just like every other pred in this city!"
Nick didn't know what to say, he could barely register what was said. Had she not remembered what they went through? Was her concussion speaking to her? Or... was she just pretending to care from before.
Gasping for a breath, he responded. "I know you're upset, but would you just-"
He felt his arm move, painfully cutting him off from any further form of speaking. He heard the beep of his collar warn him, but Judy refused to relent. Defeated, he sat in silence.
During this time, he felt the rabbit shift several times on his back. He heard her pad through her coat, looking for something but coming up empty pawed. He could swear he heard growling.
"Where's my gear?!" She shouted, her grip on him becoming tighter.
Nick hadn't even thought of that. He didn't think of the key on her, but just to get them out of there. Thought the question arose, what else was she missing?
"I... don't know." He barely squeezed the words out.
"LIAR!" Her grip increased with the tone of her voice. Even the sound of the machine was no match for her.
Nick couldn't respond, the rabbit he had met back at the prison was back. The one that refused to listen to even the slightest detail.
"You stole it, and cuffed me," She accused, shaking the cuff to press her point. "You did this!"
He thought quickly on how to correct her, but nothing seemed to work. Though... maybe a showing her that she was right-
He began to chuckle, feeling the atop him shudder. "You got me, I did this," He admitted, lying through his teeth. "Obviously."
His words seemed to sting Judy to her core, she didn't move or flinch. However, as he felt she was about to say something to stake her claim to the argument, he resumed his.
"I drugged us, knocked us out, drove us to... wherever this is," His words mocking and his tone saturated with sarcasm. "Took your gear, tossed it, locked us in here, cuffed us, and chained us together from the ceiling."
For a moment, nothing was said between the two as the machine hummed. He felt the rabbit lessen her grip and breathe deeply, something he had been waiting for.
"You figured it out, Carrots," He approved before looking up. "Good detective work."
He took the opportunity to roll to his side, forcing Judy off of him and allowing him a chance to at least sit up on his elbows. With the rabbit rolling to the floor, he had a good chance to look at her. She seemed a little calmer than before, but definitely still upset and angry.
Her ears stood up, her brow furrowed. He could see her nose twitch every few seconds as she never took her eyes off of him. The only common ground between them was the icy mist of breath that showed with every exhale.
"Then where are we, and why are we chained?" She asked, her tone nothing but accusatory.
Nick felt his ears drop. Despite having the rabbit back, for better or worse, he still had no clue as to where they were. "I don't know, I was just trying to solve that myself."
Judy sighed, forcing icy mist away from her and gathering her thoughts. She rubbed her head a little, feeling the sting from earlier. When? She didn't know, but it was there now and she was more than upset at the turn of events.
She surveyed the room, from the screeching contraption, to the far door. The only problems were that it was cold, she had no gear or way to contact anyone, and most of all, the fox was there with her in a darkened room.
With a quick breath, she stood up, feeling achy from her ordeals. "Let's go..."
She began to walk towards the door only to feel her chain pull and stop without warning. Her head craned back instantly, and her eyes narrowed at the fox.
"Can't," He shrugged and pointed ahead of her. "Door's locked."
For a moment's hesitation, she forgot that he was behind her. Not that it would matter much as they were chained, but nevertheless, it disturbed her at how calm he seemed.
Her eyes narrowed at the door and him, but soon enough she sighed and looked around the room more. Not before hearing him rise to his feet and walk closer. With every step he took forward, she knew she took a step back.
Nick, not a fool of a fox, caught onto this. "Okay, what's your problem?"
He stopped moving forward, waiting to hear her response. There was something deeply wrong and he had to know.
The walls appeared to close in on her as his question came by. It wasn't as simple of a question as she thought as her mind raced over everything that she just experienced. "I was attacked, thrown in a freezer and had my gear stolen."
Her list given, Nick nodded with each word. Though he silently knew it was all a front for something deeper seated than that, her actions spoke volumes higher than her coverup.
Crossing his arms, he dared a step forward, netting him the same response from Judy from before. He knew what was wrong.
His advance stopped, he looked her in the eye. "No I mean really, what's your problem," His arms fell to the side, his cuffed paw waving towards her. "Why are you still afraid of me?"
Judy couldn't tell whether her blood ran hotter or colder. He was accusing her of something he didn't understand about her. He had, in two sentences, questioned her state of mind and renounced his status according to the law.
"Have you..." Her ears focused intently on him as she formulated the words for 'criminal' and 'currently'.
"Forgotten that you're on parole?" She didn't take her eyes off of him as she tried to explain her reason for caution and his reason for imprisonment.
"And that still makes you a predator?"
A small gasp elicited from them both. She had the word 'criminal' on the tip of her tongue. She imagined that she said 'criminal' to end her sentence. She did say 'criminal'... right?
The ruddy fox's mouth hung wide when he heard this. He finally understood what the nature of her problem was, the foundation of it all. He hung his head low and looked at his chained paw.
"Yeah," He began, voice monotone and decisive. "Like I could be anything else than what I was born as."
She didn't mean to say that. "I-"
"I don't know, what your problem is with predators, but," Nick continued, cutting her off and looking her straight in the eye. "I... I'm not a monster, Judy."
She could hear a rattle in his voice. It was soft, pained, and resounded of grief and misery. It took her a moment to look at him, she noticed his ears were to the side of his head.
"You think I didn't hear... what you said about the park?" She felt the chain rattle, his paw clenched and his breathing slow and even. "A cesspool... for lawbreaking preds?"
His voice creaked from the last words, but she clutched her paw. She wasn't about to let him have the last say in what she experienced back then.
"Y-you... you attacked me!" She pointed at him with her chained paw, gritting her teeth and narrowly eyeing him.
Nick huffed and threw up his paws, forgetting that they were cuffed together and dragging her forward. "I don't even remember most of that day, fluff!"
Being drawn closer to him, her eyes shot open. She forced herself back before she was too close to fight back. Still, his words made her angrier.
"Don't call me fluff, fox!" She rebutted.
Stopping her advance, she composed herself. She made it so that she could stand her ground if her so much as inched forward.
"And how could you not remember?" Her question forced him to raise his brow. "I walked in to have you nearly at my neck, and clawing at me."
Her arms crossed, and one paw on the chain, she waited for an answer. Sure enough, Nick shook his head.
"Before today, I only remember seeing you three times," He looked her in the eye and held up his paw. "When you gave me that ticket, for an accident I didn't cause."
"Traffic cams don't lie." She replied.
He felt himself become frustrated, his collar beeped when he resumed counting. "When you accused me for shady dealings at the clinic."
"That was justified." She recalled.
Again her answer was ineffectual fact. "And when you nearly gunned me down, defenseless, and in the rain."
She tapped her foot and eyed him as though he were crazed. "You weren't defenseless."
Nick returned the look with one of his own. "You really think I could have attacked you so easily while being shocked half to death in the rain?"
She placed her free paw on her hip. Surely he didn't say that.
"Like you didn't try to bite me." Her tone seethed with anger.
Nick, however, felt a lot calmer when she said that. Surely she truly didn't know anything about him.
"No, I didn't," He answered with a smug grin. "You'd taste terrible," He leaned in, forcing her to shift back. "Besides I'm a vegetarian."
Had she never known a predator before, she may have fallen for it. She wasn't a fool, she knew what a fox's diet mainly consisted of; various bugs, and mostly meat.
"And I'm supposed to believe you?" She asked sarcastically.
Nick nodded in agreement.
"Oh yes, I very much am," He stated as pure fact. "In fact I-"
"You weren't very vegetarian when you tried to bite me in your office." Her voice boasted above his. Condescending it in every sense of the word and seeing to its invalidity.
Nick paused, he didn't know how best to approach the statement from what he remembered. Still, he had to try something.
With his head cast towards the ceiling, he spoke. "Look, I remember getting into my office because someone wanted to see me."
His memory hazy, he let his head fall so he could scratch his ears. "By the time I closed the door, I..."
He froze, barely anything was there. "I remember a wolf..." He cringed, feeling the blurry past catch up to him. "And then I woke up in a jail cell and was told I had an altercation with an officer."
Judy stood still, only tapping her foot to pass the time. He was lying, and she knew it.
"None of that is in your confession." She avowed.
Nick felt himself quiver with anger. This was the same rabbit he helped moments ago. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was wondering if it was all worth it to not have tried to cut the chain.
"Yeah, but my so-called 'prison fight' is?" He asked in air quotes.
Never flinching, Judy responded. "Yeah, and I'm starting to see why."
The machine rattling in the background did nothing to silence his collar warning him.
"I didn't get into a fight," He defended, seeing no change in stance from the bunny. "I tried to stop one."
She eyed him in a manner that told him she had no intent to believe it to be true. He grit his teeth as she tapped her toes.
"You know what, don't believe me. I don't care if you don't." He reasoned. "Those prison guards are the reason of why I'm on pain meds." Taking a moment to catch his breath, he thought and placed his right paw on his temple. "Which you don't have anymore, I'm guessing."
Eyes narrow, she recalled that she had nothing left on her and shook her head. Immediately, she tried to turn the situation in her favor. "And the list?"
It was Nick's turn to fumble around for something he had or didn't have. He felt only a smushed pastry in his coat pocket, and the ring hidden deeper down in another. Empty-pawed, he shook his head as well.
Judy huffed, knowing that they were back to zero. "Besides, that's not possible," She denied his statement, brushing off the fact that even his pain medication was stolen. "They wouldn't attack a prisoner for no reason."
After her statement, there was an uncomfortable silence that lingered in the air. Neither of their ears moved in the direction of the machine, and neither felt cold from their anger and heated argument.
Soon, however, Nick was the first to move. He bared his teeth, clenched his paw and stared the rabbit in the eye. "Do you even hear yourself talk?!"
His voice deep and weighted with intense fury, a flash of yellow brightened the room.
"That me, a predator..." He pointed at himself. "A fox," His paws gripped at his chest. "Wouldn't be hated by them?"
She couldn't believe what she was hearing, it had to stop. "The law preven-"
"The law... The Law... THE LAW! What about the law?" Nick's shouting never gave her that chance. "That it's supposed to protect everyone?!"
He did, however, give her a minor jolt that stemmed off of the greater shock that he received. He lurched over from the pain, and Judy hissed at the static like shock that clung to her wrist.
Both sat there for a moment, gathering themselves from the shock. Nick more so as he had to pant heavily to catch his breath, but it didn't stop him from gasping out what he needed to say.
"M-my dad ... was 'lawfully' imprisoned... unfairly because of a mistake that I made when I was twelve, and I never saw him again."
He didn't care if she was watching as he tried to stand, he didn't even care if she believed him or not. So much weighed on his mind, and she seemed to be drawing it out of him.
"I've watched my friends suffer and die because of what the law says." He said somberly.
Standing, he looked her in the eyes again; his own faintly blurry.
"On top of that, we've all tried to fight it. We've all tried to find some way to get these things off secretly" His paw found its place atop the set of deadly devices. "But guess what, you still can't legally take your collar off anytime you want."
In a moment, Judy grit her teeth and waved her paw towards him in rage. "Because you pred's are dangerous."
Though she said this, a second voice echoed with hers almost on point. For the sentence was shared, and Nick had mimicked her as much as a fox could.
"Yeah, heard that before," He held up his paw towards her in a way that looked like he were offering something. "Yet, I'm not the coward walking around and aiming my weapon at everyone that I'm afraid of!"
Judy didn't say a word. Her breathing hiked, and she felt the cold stinging her. Try as she might to deny it, she remembered what Jack had told her.
"By your logic, every 'predatory citizen' is dangerous," Nick added, waving his right arm in the air. "But what's this? You didn't aim your weapon at Gazelle or run away in terror from her when she said she was more dangerous than her brothers?"
He heard a muffled gasp and crossed his arms. "That's hypocritical."
Judy trembled in anger from his misguided accusation. Sure she was afraid from time to time, but throwing a prey mammal in the mix was unjustified.
"She's, PREY!" She shouted her claim to correct the fox. "You can't put them in the same category, tame collar or not. She's not the one bearing claws and fangs."
Nick sneered at her comment. "Yeah? Well, that'd make Clawhouser only half a pred then," He pointed at her and narrowed his eyes. "He doesn't even have claws anymore because of suggestions by bigoted prey, LIKE YOU!"
Again, neither paid attention to the yellow light that soon turned red until it was too late. For the third time, the two had received equal amounts of shock and were left to nurse their pains in a manner that suited them.
Judy, would recover and answer first. "B-bigoted...Prey like me?!"
The tingle in her arm felt stronger than the last.
"Y-yeah," Nick wheezed, trying to find the strength to stand. "T-the ones that... fear predators for no reason."
Able to catch his breath, Nick continued. "Y-you think we're the scariest thing ever, right?"
Judy couldn't respond. She never had the words to answer truthfully.
Nick huffed and, knowing it was true "You ever try a glass of water against a pred? Works every time, Carrots!"
He saw no shift or change in her stance, but his own voice began to falter. "I've watched pred kids cry themselves to seizures when they wear these things."
Judy saw the opportunity to justify her stance, she had to at least try. "The law mandates that predators, twelve years of age, need to-"
Nick snapped back. "There you go, law aga-... Twelve?" He leaned forward, not sure if he heard her correctly.
Judy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like Cinnamon."
Nick could only blink. "She's nine, fluff. She's had her collar on before she started elementary school."
Judy's paw fell from her hip to her side. "That can't be right."
Nick rubbed his temple, if his headache wasn't going to end him, then this rabbit just might.
"I know it is because I had to put her collar on her," He added, pointing to his own set of collars. "When she was five!"
The yellow light appeared, warning him again. Judy, however, looked on in silence.
He hung his head as he recalled his tale. "Salt trusted me as the only vet to do it because I gave her time to take it off every day they visited."
She had no response, her memory of the small possum was clear as day. He hadn't lied about Salt being mute or Cinnamon being his interpreter.
"You don't know what it's like," Nick continued somberly, his voice rigid and tempo slow. "Not even a lot of tamed prey know what being born predatory is like."
He clutched the tame collars in his quivering paws. "You weren't born in an undignified cage like a predator! You don't know half of what your precious 'Predation Clause' even does to us!"
An immediate shock brought him out of his anger and to the floor once more. Judy grunted and held her arm closer, this wasn't going well.
Gasping for air, Nick felt himself weaken. So many shocks had drained him, the floor was comfortable to rest on for now.
"Most hospitals... they don't even allow preds to take them off for small procedures anymore," He refused to stop his momentum, Judy or no. "Blood draws, some scans, physicals, and shots... you just suck it up and hope they have steady paws."
He heard no response from her but managed to rise to his knees and look the horrified rabbit in the eye. He started to open his mouth to say something more, but couldn't look at her as he said it. "Half of us are born prematurely."
He heard the chain rattle uncomfortably but didn't bother to look at her. He settled for staring at the machine instead.
"This city, just like you," He sighed, finally turning to face her. "Hates predators."
The lackluster look in her eye was a dead giveaway along with her ears dropping. It was the nail in the coffin, he had figured out her weakness. That didn't mean that he was done.
"And foxes... nobody wants a fox." His voice wavered when he said this, his tail went rigid from the mention. "We're the worst, nearly every prey mammal hates us," He motioned his head at Judy. "A lot of predators hate us," Then he pointed at himself, on the verge of yelling as though there were a mirror there instead. "We even hate each other most of the time."
The warning came, and he shut his eyes. "We're seen as untrustworthy, shifty, evil, filthy..."
His paws went slack against him, his tail fell without question. "We don't have great paying jobs or the same educational opportunities," The memory swelling inside, his ears fell with his head. "We can't get loans, but can always pile on debt."
Judy thought hard. She couldn't get over on the fox now, but how could he say that about his species?
"You, a fox, were one of the richest... predators in the city to have owned anything," She rebutted, her voice soft. "And you're telling me you weren't well to do?"
Nick looked at her from the corner of his eye. "That money allowed me to run the clinic for free and help other predators like Honey, Salt, and whoever needed more treatment than I could provide."
His vision narrowed, his fangs flashed. "But these things..."
His paw trembled as it tried to grasp for his collars, but hovered inches away.
"It's hard to sleep, it's difficult to eat," He muttered. "You worry when your next dose of 'equal citizenship' is going to come by."
Judy shivered from either the cold or what he had said. In her mind, she could see Gazelle's shock playing over and over again.
"We die, everyday," His tone trembled. "From drowning, choking, convulsing, labor... fear."
Her thoughts traced back to Jack telling her about the prey population that wore them the 'predatory' ones.
"Having to wear this... this curse." He wheezed, feeling a stray bead form in the corner of his eye. "You're likely to die from heart issues, burns, or asphyxiation than anything else."
Judy's breath slowed from the mention of the 'curse'. From everything she thought she knew, to what she learned earlier, she was wrong.
"And to top it all off," Nick stared her down, trembling as he watched her shake as well. "prey like you... don't care."
As he said this, a screeching noise emitted itself from his collars. It was the same as before when he had hit the six-hour mark. It buzzed on and on for a solid minute before vanishing altogether.
The two, having been close together both writhed from the sharp noise and equally felt the agonizing noise at their core. Sensitive ears and proximity were not their friends, but thankfully, it was over soon enough.
Taking deep frozen breaths, Nick had a blank expression on his face when he rose to his feet. Panic consumed him as he thought of what to do.
"What time is it?" He asked Judy hurriedly.
She rubbed her ears and shrugged. No phone, or contact, she had no clue. She did, however, share the expression with Nick when she knew what he was talking about.
"We have to get out of here." Nick shuddered, feeling the room get smaller and smaller. "Where's the key that buffalo gave you?"
Again, Judy shook her head. No gear meant no key, and no key meant-
"We have to get out of here." Nick reiterated, taking no chances and pacing to the door.
He felt the chain tug against him, but pressed forward. He didn't pay any attention to his warning beep, he was too focused on escaping.
"Would you calm down?" Judy spoke to him, gripping the chain and holding tightly.
If the door was locked, then what could they truly do to escape? She had to find another-
"Calm... CALM! This is my life on a timer, fluff." Without warning Nick turned to face her, shouting and dragging more on the chain. "The same life I signed away to help, YOU!
His panicked tone and posture gave way to another shock. He felt it in full, sending him to the floor and the rabbit soon after.
He barely even tried to calm himself this time, instead he grasped for the door in an attempt to free himself. Judy, though fallen, could feel his desperation.
"What if there's only an hour left..." He asked, eyes never leaving the door. "I need that key!"
He continued his act of dragging the rabbit with him, who complied by hopping just behind him. With his ensuing panic, he finally reached the door and furiously grabbed at the handle.
"We need to get out!" He called out again, focused intently and twisting the handle to no avail.
He tried scratching it without even thinking just before he heard his collar beep again. Now even more anxious, his baser instinct took over and he, for the first time that he could remember, tried biting at it.
Judy watched in despair as this fox tried everything he could to escape. His fang bared and nipping at the object, his mind gone, she took a step back as she felt fear grip her heart.
Inevitably, his panic caused him to be shocked to a higher degree. He felt his teeth sink into the door before he fell, wishing that he could only get it open before it was too late.
He somehow fell to the side of the door, his back pressed against the wall as he felt the sharp sting at his neck. He could taste hot iron and his stomach churned from the surreal pain.
This shock he felt lasted for a second, far longer than he had experienced before, but something else happened in the midst of it. A strange noise roared from his neck, a buzzing and clicking sound that told him it was about to get worse. It was what he had feared.
Judy, still clutching at her arm, squinted and watched as the fox sat still. He huddled in on himself, eyes glimmering in the faint red light. The noise persisted the whole time, wretched and unfeeling. She could see him shudder and hear him cough.
"I-I'm gonna die..." He wheezed, clutching his tail and staring blankly past her. "I'm gonna die in a freezer."
It wasn't what Judy was expecting to hear. She had never seen him tremble like this, yet, the sound continued louder and louder still.
His ears pinned back, his eyes widened, his breathing on the verge of spiking. "I-i'll never get to see my mom again."
There was a small pained sound that came from him, a high pitched and unhindered cry. For the fox, was whimpering.
Judy... froze.
Nothing prepared her for that. Not his speech about predators, not her training. Her years of arrests and what she had come to know about foxes, all of them failed to tell her how to approach this situation.
Her ears felt numb, even the missing piece didn't bother her as much now. Still stuck with the noise and the fox, Judy felt herself move.
The voice came to her again and again 'Never trust a fox.', but she didn't bother to hear it.
"Listen." She approached Nick carefully, watching him stare in horror and shiver on the cold floor.
He didn't move.
"Come on." Her shoulders went slack, she reached his side.
The noise got louder, yet she placed a paw on his shoulder. Her mind told her to stop, her thoughts screamed at her, everything she knew demanded her to run.
"Nick?" She called him, seeing the glimmer of green in his eye and hearing his breathing calm.
"We're going to get out of this," She assured him, and herself. "Alright?"
His breathing slowed down to a much more even pace. He just stared at her, unsure of what to say. Was there anything left for him to say with that infernal noise that... died down.
She heard it too, but why wasn't she running? Why didn't she step back?
"If there's more time, then stay calm and don't shock yourself anymore." She informed him, remembering the second nature of the kill collar that Jack told her about.
Slowly, he nodded, hearing less and less of the noise. It took a minute or so, but it died out completely, leaving them with the still noisy machine and the sheer cold of the room.
Not hearing the noise anymore, Judy sighed and scratched her head. If she was going to get them out of there, then she need a plan. She scanned the darkened room once more, but a sudden clicking sound diverted her attention.
Her ears honed in on the sound before her whole head turned to the door, Nick followed suit as well, craning his head up and staring in wonder.
Sure enough, the door creaked open, ushering in faint blue light to mix with the red room. As cold as it was inside, a rush of cold air blew in, carrying flakes of snow inside with them. Both dumbfounded at their luck, Nick braced himself against the wall and stood up with Judy standing beside him.
Thought, their luck soon soured as a figure soon entered; taller than them with smoothed grey fur and a trench-coat that made them more imposing, a wolf stood and surveyed the area. His eyes drifted until they caught sight of them. He clutched something in his paw that he quickly brought to his muzzle.
"Uh, boss?" The wolf spoke into the phone. "We have intruders here in the Borscht room."
The two looked at each other, knowing that this might not be the best place to be.
"A bunny and a fox," The wolf continued. "What should we do with them?"
There was a dead silence for all of them until the wolf turned to look behind him.
"I say we eat em'." Another voice called from beyond the doors threshold.
The thought alone made Judy cringe. She immediately took a defensive stance. Weapon or no, she wasn't going down without a struggle.
The grey wolf shook their head and sighed. "This is why you're required to be in therapy."
Though not sure as to what was going on, the two watched in silence.
"Alright, we'll handle it." The wolf spoke into the phone before putting it away.
He then turned to Judy and Nick before waving them forward. "You two, come with us."
They stood there for a moment, neither trying to move at all. Should they stay, it would be the end, and if they went, it was into the unknown. Shaking her head, Judy took a step forward, she'd plan for their escape once out of the room, and Nick followed behind.
With no option in their favor, Nick knew where they were now, and Judy could surmise from the weather; they had somehow made it to Tundra Town.
"Facing the treacherous path I answer 'To be honest with yourself, even if your fears hold you!'"
Hello there, and welcome to the end notes! Honestly, this chapter was gonna be named 'Frozen Heart' (cause I play league like a bosted animal [Support Morgana 4ever!])
But with this emotional rollercoaster of a chapter, I hope you've enjoyed it, cause there's more to come.
And I hope you get a chance to read this and the other at your leisure. Also, these stories can be found here as well:
fanfiction:
~dancinglunarwolves
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Till Next Time
-DLW