Nick trudged up the two flights of stairs and past the plain, faded doors to his apartment. Pulling out his keys, making a jingling sound with it, he unlocked his door. It opened with a squeak that went through the hall. He quickly popped in and shut the door behind him trying not to make too much noise and possibly be yelled at.
Nick looked around his modest apartment. It was small, having only three rooms. The main room doubling as a kitchen and living room, then down a hall to a bathroom and bedroom. It wasn't much but it was all he needed, a stove/oven to cook, bathroom to wash up, table for his guests (only Finnick), and TV for procrastination.
He walked over to his couch and plopped down with a sigh. He was only half joking when he said that almost dying a couple times was tiring. Not to mention that he was famished, having only eaten a slice of mouse sized wedding cake, before running (and falling) through half the jungle.
Nick groaned, getting back up to walk the short distance to the fridge and scrounge for leftovers. Opening it up, he found a concoction of his own making; salmon drizzled with lemon, sprinkled with parsley, and a side of peas.
It didn't look that appetizing after two days in the fridge, but the smell overcame the sight after a few minutes in the microwave.
Nick, now feeling a bit better after a bite or two, sat back down on the couch and started up the TV.
He was flicking through the channels, starting to feel a bit sleepy, when he was shaken awake when the news came on, sporting the message "Missing Mammals". Nick stopped and watched as a snow leopard gathered her papers then looked up.
"We've just got information from an anonymous source giving the names, and information of 16 missing mammals" the snow leopard said to the TV then turned to face her fellow reporter, a moose wearing a sharp looking blazer.
The moose then turned to the camera "we've already made sure that the information was sound and have confirmed the absence of all listed. This is the letter that was dropped off only 20 minutes ago."
To the Newstopia station,
Enclosed is the information and place of disappearance of sixteen different missing mammals. I got this information from the mayor's files that he had been keeping from the People of Zootopia for the past three weeks.
The message came down to reveal the moose again "for the purpose of protecting the unfortunate mammals' private information were only going to release the name, age, and species of the mammals."
The list spoken of, suddenly popped up and Nick tried to read them all before it left.
Geoffrey, age 31, bear.
Roxanne, age 21, wolf.
Otterton, age 40, otter.
George, age 47, mink.
Edgar, age 25, raccoon.
Kamren, age 50, coyote.
Chuck, age 19, tiger.
Evangeline, age 22, tiger.
Jonathan, age 33, fox.
Brian, age 35, wolf.
Minho, age 36, leopard.
Thomas, age 55, Bengal tiger.
Harry, age 47, bear.
Owen, age 27, lion
Lilah, age 19, wolverine.
Manchez, age 34, panther.
"As you can see there seems to be no connection between any mammal except that there all predators." This was from the leopard who, for the first time since Nick got on, grimaced.
The moose took over "the other alarming factor of this letter being the seeming connection between the mayor and the disappearance-" the reporters voice was suddenly cut off as Nick turned off the TV.
He looked down at the controller clinched in his hands. He was fuming and he didn't even know why.
No, he did know why. It was chief buffalo butt's stupidity at firing Judy when there were sixteen missing mammals and Hopps was just trying to do her job. He hadn't even fired her for a valid reason seeing as she needed help to get out of there tight spot, and she hadn't even run out of time for their stupid bet.
Nick heard a pop and looked down to see the remote still clutched in his hand so tightly that his hands were white. He dropped the remote letting it hit the floor beneath.
Why was this getting to him so much? It wasn't even him that had been fired, but the bunny cop that had blackmailed him. Shouldn't he be happy that he was off the hook.
Nick pulled out the recording pen in his pocket. He looked at it a bit seeing how the pen recorded and the button to do so.
He tapped it once and his own voice came back out at him.
"200 dollars a day, Fluff, every day since I was nine"
Nick suddenly felt tired remembering everything that had happened after that. Sighing, back popping as he got back up, the fox walked over to the sink, dumping off his plate and fork before making his way to the bedroom.
Maybe everything would go back to normal tomorrow. No blackmailing rabbit cops, no getting chased by savage panthers, No falling through trees. Not anything. And with that happy thought in mind, he fell asleep.