There is a small, two-room shack in the worst part of a small city, and in there a family of four lives: A son, a daughter, a mother, and a father. They live far, far away from Zootopia and the cities that are similar to it. Their influence has yet to reach this part of the world, for the most part.
The kids rarely see their parents. They are always gone. Always away. As predators within this city, they earn very little money on the hour and must make up for that by working extended shifts for everyday of the week. Every predator does. They're hated here.
The father works in a mine. He spends most of his day hammering away at whatever specific portion of rock his employers tell him to. The predator doesn't get a mask; those are reserved specifically for the prey that conduct the operation. Thus, he nearly suffocates with each passing minute. But he is earning money. Money that will buy his family out of the wretched city they are imprisoned in.
The mother tends to the crops of a rich elephant family. Day after day, she endures the burning waves of the Sun. Day after day, she nearly passes out from the exhausting heat. Do the elephants appreciate her work? Not at all. They laugh at her. They pay her little. She doesn't even get a share of the crops.
The son takes care of his little sister; the cutest two-year-old you'll ever meet. He is everything to her. More than a brother; a protecter, a friend, and a helper. She looks up to him with eyes far too big for her head. And he smiles. He smiles with a smile so big that, if you see him making that smile, you'll know that she is his everything. She is his world. His reason for living.
The family has several thousand dollars saved up. It took them thirty years to accumulate such a great deal of money. Why, you ask?
They're moving.
Thev've heard the stories. A great city. A great city where predators stand as equals to prey: Zootopia. The city that started the gradual change in predator-prey relationships.
These stories are old. They are from years ago.
They do not know the truth. This family had heard these stories from their fellow co-workers whom had heard these stories from their fellow co-workers. It's a chain of stories. Old stories. No predator in this part of the world has any knowledge of what is going on in Zootopia. How could they? They are refused the ability to buy cellphones, televisions, newspapers... anything that could tell them the truth. They are not meant to even know of Zootopia. It's a secret… albeit not very well hidden.
In a month's time, they will board a plane to Zootopia. There, they will buy a house. There, they will find a job. There, they will be happy.
That's what they think.
…
Judy watched Nick finally burst through the doorway and into the crowd of prey, his collar beeping a frantic warning. She followed after, but was caught by an elk and thrown against a wall. Out of the corner of her eyes, as she swiftly dodged punch after punch, she watched as they bashed the very tip of Nick's muzzle with a baseball bat. She watched, having dodged a new flurry of attacks and having kicksd the throat of her attacker, as her fox fell to the ground and twitched from the violent surges of electricity his collar shot out at one second intervals. By the time it stopped, Nick had already passed out.
Anger only leads to pain and misery.
Nick's mother, tearing away from the clutches of the prey, crumbled to her son's side as she desperately attempted to break off his shock collar. It did not help. She, too, felt electricity jolt throughout her body. Every muscle of her body convulsed in reaction to the electricity. The pain felt like a thousand needles stabbing into her flesh.
Soon after, Amber fell unconcious herself. Her body was too old to handle this sort of treatment.
A gazelle politician, having gained the ability to collar a predator of her choosing three times a day, whipped out a collar and placed it around the limp neck of Amber Wilde.
Having finally broken free from her own engagement with the angry elk, Judy ran to the two foxes on the ground and pulled out her taser. The mob of prey were moving in and she had to protect Nick and Amber.
Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger three times. A zebra, a deer, and a gazelle fell to the ground. The rabbit inserted new batteries whilst her paws shook vigorously. Another three prey fell victim to the tazer. She reloaded again and shot off once more, but this time, a sheep reached her and plowed through her.
Her head was spinning. She remembered laughter, the smell of gasoline, the zapping sound the shock collar continued to make, the heat of what had to be a newly-born blaze of fire, the misery she felt for her lover and his mother, and the overwhelming pain she felt from the beating she took as she lied there helplessly; a punch, laughter, a kick, snickering, a thrown rock, soft giggles. Punches, kicks, laughter. Laughter. Kicks. Punches. Happiness, pain. Anger, misery.
A gunshot ran out. Several more followed. The mob dispersed, and Judy was picked up by large, white arms and carefully tucked away into a white limousine.
…
Rarely do mammals realize just how much of a friend darkness actually is. How it is there in your time of need. How it softly carries you away into a secluded place deep within the confines of your mind.
There, it puts you to rest. To sleep. It watches over your fragile form and protects you from every thought, every memory, every pain your physical body feels. Darkness brings much needed relief when we cannot take reality anymore. The removal of reality keeps us sane.
Judy welcomed it. Nick welcomed it. Amber watched it.
Nick mostly suffered injuries from the repeated shocking that came from his collar. Even in his sleeping form, his muslces are tensed and agitated. The pain he felt, before he passed out, was something he never imagined was possible.
Judy was bruised. No broken bones, but substantial bruising. It was enough to put her down for a day.
Amber got off relatively okay if you forget about the collar.
She was their guardian while the fox and bunny slept side-by-side in a mansion she despised. Mr. Big's mansion. She knew of Nick's work with the shrew. Amber couldn't comprehend how her boy ever began working for the tiny crime-lord, but somehow, he did.
And there she was, inside his mansion. But she was taken care of. The Big's fed her a dinner so delicious she had to stop herself from devouring it too quickly. And all the while, a polar bear - a member of Mr. Big's family of crime - took very good care of both Nick and Judy. Of course, Amber never truly left the room and always kept an eye on everyone and everything, even when the food was presented to her, but she did find herself actually relaxing. She even felt a tiny, tiny tinge of trust for them.
Not that she ever spoke a word to anyone. After the initial sobs had come and gone, she found refuge in her silence. Questions would be asked, attempts of conversation would be made, be she didn't want any of it. She just wanted her kit to wake up. Her kit and his mate.
She even lost track of time. By then, it was two in the morning, but Amber had no knowledge of that. If you had asked her the time, and if she answered, she would've told you to go take a hike to a store that sells clocks.
One could say she was feeling an intense mix of anger and sadness.
Finally, though, twenty minutes later, Mr. Big made an appearance in the room. It startled Amber. He startled her with just with a knowing, sad smile and a disheartened sigh.
Then he spoke.
"I never liked Nick." Amber remained silent while the shrew gazed at Nick. Well, it looked like that. She couldn't see his eyes thanks to the shrew's insanely large eyebrows. "He was always up to something. He got the job done, yes, but there was always a spark in his eyes that I could never fully trust. One day, he proved me right... he sold my family and I a rug. A skunk-butt rug. It was… demeaning."
Amber shifted slightly in her seat, a soft beeping coming from her neck.
"Then he came to me with that bunny beside him. Judy Hopps. At first, they accused me of a crime, a certain crime I'm sure everyone in this city knows about by know." Amber was beginning to get very uncomfortable. "I'm glad I didn't kill them."
"I…" the fox choked out.
Mr. Big cut in. "Those two saved the city with the help of my tip. I even began to like Nick again… to an extent. Throughout their time together, I watched them closely and learned that I had greatly misjudged Nicky here. Would you believe me if I told you he is considered family?"
"What?" she coughed.
"Yes, family. Neither visit often, but they are both considered family. My daughter even named her daughter after Judy. Funny how the world works."
"Funny… ha.. ha.."
"The city is killing itself. Without these two, there is certainly… no hope. Go to sleep, Amber. I'll make sure they are both tended to. They will be alright. I wouldn't let anything happen to either of them. Somehow, they have both found a place within this family's heart, and family protects family."
Amber jumped out of her seat when a polar bear waltzed into the edge of her vision. Calming herself down, she was told that he was to lead her to where she'd stay for the night.
And Amber did sleep… after fighting off countless nightmares.
…
"Ugh… owwwowwooow," Judy said as she twisted and turned. Slowly, her eyes opened.
Two purple eyes, illuminated by a dull lamplight, scanned the dimly lit room. 'Relatively big,' the voice inside her head said. 'Comprised mostly of wood. Dull colors, lots of red and brown… looks rich. Many paintings… paintings of shrews and polar bears… what?!' She shot up in her bed but immediately flopped back down when her decided to tell her that was a bad idea with a very sharp pain.
She took a moment to let the pain go away. Slowly, she massaged her head and took notice of the pain she felt all over her body. Bruises. Had to be.
Slowly, she chech her limbs for any sign of substantial damage. She found none.
Then a thought came into her mind:
'Nick!'
Thankfully, before she decided to shoot herself out of bed and initiate a scrambled scavenger-hunt for her fox, an act that surely would not have healed her headache, she finally noticed that there was a second body beside her. A red-furred body, lean, very fox-like.
It was her Nick.
With no regard over her own pain, she looked over him. First, she checked his heartbeat and his breathing. All good, there. Second, she checked for any signs of broken bones and anything similar.
Thankfully, he was okay.
But she knew the damage was likely something else. He was shocked by that collar. He passed out due to the pain. Something like that can have permanent damage elsewhere. Damage you can't check for until he wakes up.
Slowly, she let herself lay back down beside him. She delicately reached her arm over his torso in a hug and laid her head just beside his neck, almost nuzzling him.
Her other paw found a place on his cheek.
The soft sounds of sobbing could be heard if you listened enough.
She fell asleep like that.
…
It was twelve twenty-three p.m., almost a day after what happened to them. Daylight streamed through the window beside the bed the couple shared. A white sunlight. Snow covered the window.
Mr. Big was had just arrived at the room and was watching his friend, Evan the polar bear, check their vitals. This act eventually awoke Judy, but the fox remained gone in a world of slumber.
"You're lucky."
"Huh?" Judy mumbled to Evan, clearly reaving from her ever-present headache that does not want to go away.
"They would have killed you," stated the polar bear. He left the room after that, leaving Mr. Big with the rabbit.
"Good to see you, Judy," said the shrew. Judy remained silent. "As I'm sure you know… you are a guest in my home, now. This might as well be your home."
"No… I need to get back out there. Stop this…" she attempted to prop herself up, "chaos. Preds are dying."
"And you will too, my dear, if you do not stop running headfirst into trouble. Especially without help."
"I have Ni-"
"There is strength in numbers," he said. "I want this city back to the way it once was just as much as you. That Mayor… I fear he may have already won. He's played you and Wilde both. Me, as well." Mr. Big leaned back in his timny, yet grand chair. "I am offering my services."
"Your… services?"
"My polar bears can and will accompany you from here on. They will protect you."
Judy closed her eyes and laid there in silence for a couple moments. Mr. Big took this moment to call one of his polar bears to find him a cigar.
A tiny thing, yet it was worth quite a lot.
"I know, this isn't how you wanted to do this. You do not want more death. More suffering." Mr. Big lit the cigar. A tiny wisp of smile shot up to the ceiling. "But it has already… begun."
"I don't even know what to do, anymore. We have no resources, contacts, anything."
"My dear, you have more than you realize. You have full use of my contacts."
"Contacts?" the rabbit questioned.
"A crime-boss is nothing without a carefully laid-out web of strings he or she can influence with a tug. A web of contacts, owed favors, hired mammals, et cetera. My web," Mr. Big gestured broadly, "expands across the entire city. I have always found it quite useful."
"Why are you giving me this?"
"I believe you and your partner would be more capable than I in this matter."
Judy squinted her eyes shut as another wave of intense pain washed over her.
The shrew continued, "And I'm afraid you'll have to act fast. I'm doing the best I can to smother the conflict, but not even I can stop this. During the short period you both have been out, every predator is now wearing a shock collar alongside some prey whom sided with the preds. The only ones not wearing collars are the prey, preds - mostly consisting of my family - in hiding, and pred-sided prey in hiding. It feels… bleak."
Judy did not want to believe this. Throughout Mr. Big's speech, she kept telling herself that she wants to go home. Home, as in, the Zootopia she once lived in.
"Judy… there is something else."
"What?"
"My… my sources have told me that each collar is programmed with its own randomized timer. A kill timer that has is unique for every predator."
"How… do you know?"
"We saved Nick's life."
She sat straight up. "You told me that."
"No… Again, Judy. We saved his life, again. His timer went off while we transported you two to my home."
Hopps turned around and took a look at Nick, snuggling closer. She almost lost him again and she wasn't awake to help.
"My family was lucky enough to procure ourselves a remote given to high-ranking prey politicians. We actually took it from the gazelle that collared Amber… It allowed us to reset his timer - which is something we can do only once. We cannot do it again for his collar or anyone else's. His clock is ticking to his end if that thing is not ever removed between now and then.
She gave no reply, instead she opted to grab Nick's paw.
"He has more time than you think, however. You see, everytime a predator reaches a powerful emotion, he or she is shocked and a day is taken away from the timer. A shock literally takes away a day from your life. It's not just physical pain. This is why Nick's collar went off so early while we transported him here. He lost many days thanks to each of those shocks."
"I'm leaving."
"My dear, no! You must stay."
"I need to find a way to take his collar off! Everyone's!" she said as she plopped on the floor.
"Judy, if you leave now you'll end up only injuring yourself further and putting Nick's own life in Jeopardy!"
Her ears shot up once she heard this.
"You know how he will react when he wakes up. He'll be scared. He'll look for you. He'll freak out and get shocked again, especially if he found out you were injured again."
"How long does he have?"
"He has a long time. Over two months. He is lucky. He was given a longer timer by pure chance. His mother… she is not so fortunate."
"Amber? I… I tried to get there in time…"
"It isn't your fault she was collared. But we must still look at the facts: She is collared now, and her timer is short. She has two days left."
"What?"
"We do not know how to tell her. We need you to."
"No… No! I can go find another remote! We can save her!"
"Judy, you need to stay here just in case Nick wakes up. I already have several mammals out there trying to find a way to get another remote. But that requires finding another politician. We were lucky as it was to find one. I doubt we can find another. She needs to know of her potential fate and you need to stay."
"There has to be a way to take those collars off!" Judy yelled, not out of anger, but out of desperation.
"Only the Mayor can do that. Only he has the ability to unlock it. If we attempt to, we'll kill the wearer."
The rabbit has nothing else to say. She looked up at the shrew and sniffled quickly as she felt fresh tears form in her eyes.
"Judy, get some rest… we'll wake you soon. Hopefully Wilde will be awake by then as well."
…..
Hey, readers!
I know, I have been absent for… well, a long time. It is something I feel very guilty about. I promised the next chapter would be out quickly, but I broke that promise.
However, I could not predict a lot of thr things that happened recently.
It's been very difficult for me lately. I had a family member die, my grandfather is dying to cancer, and we recently moved. It's been an emotional rollar coaster. I wanted to get this out sooner, but I couldn't. I've been overwhelmed.
No worries, though. I am fine, and I am happy. Life moves on and my grandfather still has hope. Plus, the move has been great for my family and I. It's a great home. I'm happy to have it.
Still, I do not know when the next chapter will be out. My grandfather will be getting chemotherapy soon, and… it is dangerous for him.
But I won't give up on the story. I will finish this. It really is fun for me. Just… give me some time. I do not know what will happen. I may have a new chapter out next week… or it may be a long time from now.
I'm sorry, but please, understand. I'll try my best to finish this. I honestly want to finish it. It's been very fun. I'm proud of it and I'm very appreciative to every single one of you who read my story. For that, I thank you. And I thank you for the patience.
I love you guys.
Until next time!