Hello everyone, don't worry I haven't forgotten about this story. I've been real busy and been taking some time off from this, I just didn't feel motivated to continue. Plus, college finals so ya know, lol. Anyway, here's chapter 7.

Assume the Worst

It was late afternoon, just about a day after the Cliffside incident. I laid low for a while, using the van as my temporary home. I caught some much needed shut eye after the past 24 or 48 hours were hell. The van was shady, but it was better than sleeping on the street and getting mauled away. I assumed that Lionhart was after me and his goons were trying to find me and a black van is pretty easy to spot in the day, especially when you live in the vibrant, colorful world of Zootopia. I had to find something to eat, and luckily there was a Discount Starbucks right by. It was actually Zootopia's Zest Coffee, but Discount Starbuck's had a better ring to it. I mean, where I come from, who wants to put Zest in their coffee?

I got out of the van, looked around and saw that there was no one around in the alley. Good. At least no one's waiting for me… well, except for Judy and Nick. I went inside and ordered a toasted plain bagel with some cream cheese, a bottled water, and their daily newspaper. Thankfully, I had enough cash on me. Taking the guards down at the asylum made it easy to pickpocket any cash they had. It was wrong, but hey, eat or be eaten.

The guy that was handing me my change was a flamingo, who looked at me like if I had a rough night.

"You look quite tired."

"Yeah. You know… partying and what not. It was one crazy night."

Of course I was lying, but technically I wasn't. It was one hell of a party from what I was doing. I thanked the cashier and went back outside and into my van. I grabbed a newspaper on the way out since I was treating this as my morning routine, even though it was late afternoon. I sat down and started to read while I ate, and well… apparently I missed a whole lot.

"AAL, come online, you need to see what I'm seeing."

"Here sir."

The opening headline read: "MISSING MAMMALS FOUND AS MAJOR DETAILS ARE EXPOSED" with the subtext below stating: "Mayor Lionhart arrested as bunny cop Judy Hopps releases horrifying details." I kept reading into more of it and apparently she said that some predators are going back to their primitive state. Shit. This wasn't good. I didn't tell her that it's not a natural occurrence, more than likely a drug. I had evidence and she was the only one that I knew who had a connection to the ZPD. She freakin' worked for them, so I had a chance.

"AAL, pinpoint her address. I'm not wasting anymore time."

"On it sir."

I got into the driver's seat and made my way down the street. Along the way, protests were being gathered in any public place that allowed. Some were pro-predator, while some wanted them to be exiled. It gave me time to think about what's been transpiring the past couple of days. Why put yourself into the fight Howard? You're unknown here. Why help the city? I asked this many times to myself and couldn't really find an answer. I only ended up thinking "Why not? What else is there for me to do? You're dead in the old world and you have to start over. Why change." It was always something that's been in my mind for a while, knowing someday I was going to be asked that by someone.

I made my arrival and parked the van close to curb. It was an old apartment, so trying to figure out what room should be fun to navigate. I went inside and there was an older "lady", if I could call it that. She was an armadillo, and by the look of her face, she wasn't pleased to see me. "What else is new?" I thought. I've been getting this type of treatment before and I'm kinda used to it. It didn't bother me one bit.

"What do you want? If you're a predator, I'm not selling you a room. This is a predator free zone."

"I'm not looking to buy, I'm simply looking for someone. Her name is Miss Judy Hopps."

"Ah the former cop, eh?" Spoke the landlady. Former cop? What former cop, she just took down the mayor...?

"Former?"

"Did I stutter, raghead?" Gee, that's a new one. "Yes, former. Former Cop of Zootopia. She just left about 4-5 hours ago."

"Where?"

"Look, are you a cop? Because if not, I don't have to stand here and play 20 questions. Now, exactly what are you, because if you're predator, I'm not selling you a room."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, simply in disbelief that Judy wasn't here with no explanation. What happened to her? Why did she leave? The landlady wasn't helping me out one bit.

"Matter of fact, it looks like you have something else to deal with" said the landlady, having no idea what she was referencing too. She nodded her head to the direction behind me, and I could see two police cars blocking me in. Apparently I was getting ticketed for illegal parking, not knowing that where I was parking happened to be a fire zone. Great. Good job numb-nuts. My day is getting better. I walked outside to see a rhino and a turtle both inspecting my van, as they were trying to get it in as it appeared. When I finally made it outside, I shouted,

"Hey! Why are you guys doing?"

"Parking in a fire zone, probably one of the dumbest things anyone could possibly do" said the Rhino, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Judy Hopps, I have vaula.." I was interrupted by the turtle,

"Really? Then why is there a rifle and a pistol in the back of the van?"

Instantly a shock went through my spine. Shit. I knew what was going to happen next. I could see the next 5 minutes playing out in my mind, and I had to accept it. They thought I was going to murder her, and I was going to be on the run.

"What? What, are you implying that I'm looking to kill her?"

"With what we're seeing, and especially looking at you, no doubt," said the turtle, "Just… what are you, anyway?"

Lying, I simply said, "I don't know to be honest…"

"Look, I don't know if you've heard but that rabbit released details about predators, so if you don't know, the best thing we can do is lock you up."

I was in disbelief. "Why? What have I done wrong?"

The rhino chimed in, "Well, parking in a fire zone and not complying with an officer. That seems just about right, what do you think Dean?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Fine, look… Just, let me get something from my van that'll make this easier to explain."

They allowed me to go check my van, and as I started to open the doors, I grabbed the rhino's head who was to my left and slammed his head on the door. Then without missing a beat, I kicked the turtle in his chest which knocked him back quite a few. This gave me enough time to grab my TDR and pistol as I tried to escape. I made my way around the van and ran as fast as I could, as I could hear in the background "This officer Jenkins, I have a suspect running on 4th street in southside Zootopia, I need backup, NOW!"

I turned the corner of another street and decided to free-run it. No plan, no path. Just, escape. AAL then came on in my ear,

"Sir, may I ask… why did you do.."

"Ask later, I'm busy."

I could hear a squad in the background, and I looked back to see the rhino and the turtle making the corner, hot on my tail. I had hundreds of onlookers from up close and from afar, seeing their puzzled looks as I sprinted by. Up ahead was a bridge which had a river below. Without thinking, I jaywalked across the street. I wouldn't call it jaywalking, since I was running as fast as I could. I could hear more and more police sirens coming closer and reaching me, so I had to take this off course. There was a little dirt opening on the side of the road where it lead down to the river and a trail was aside of it. I made my decent hoping they wouldn't follow, but when I looked back I could see that these guys were persistent, well… at least the rhino. He was determined to bring me down.

I decided to bring out my TDR. I wasn't going to shoot the rhino out of his seat, but try to take out one of his tires. The TDR wasn't really made for stuff like that, but the sharp point on the bullet was enough to deflate. I stood there, knowing I couldn't waste any more time. I looked through my scope, held breath and in an instant…

*Click*. Pop, tire down.

My next worry was he was aiming his car towards me. Knowing that he had no control of his car, I spoke into my coms.

"AAL, power down."

And with that, I jumped into the river and held my breath underwater for as long as I could. Maybe, just maybe, they might think I drowned, calling off the chase. The river was more intense than I initially thought it was going to be. On the surface it look pretty harmless, but it was much more different below. The sound of the sirens and gunshots, which was a surprised to me that now was the right time to start shooting and not, oh, when I assaulted two police officers. Right then and there they should of at least taken one shot.

For about a minute, I ducked my head up to see if there was anyone around and to my luck, which has been very shitty today, I saw they called it off. I wasn't in the clear yet, thinking that they would find me at a point in the river. I decided to swim to a bank that happened to be on my right side, but the force of the river made it a bit difficult. I wasn't hurt, just sore from the adrenaline rush I had. As I finally made it to land, I laid down on a hill. I didn't know where I was, but I knew I was just on the outskirts of Zootopia. To me, it looked like I landed up in some large park, totally isolated from the rest of the city. I decided to turn on my coms. and allowed AAL to speak. Luckily, they're weren't damaged.

"Sir… Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Sore, but I'm good."

"May I just ask… why?"

"I set myself up on that one, that's my fault. I was stuck between a large rock and a hard place so the only way out was, well… that. I couldn't let them arrest me AAL, they would of for sure taken my gear away. Besides, they think I was going to kill Judy."

"Well… that certainly explains everything."

"Where am I exactly?"

"Longview Grounds, it's a remote area in the middle of Zootopia. A large park I might say, so as long as you hide and stay out of sight, you should be good."

"For now."

I sat up and saw the sun setting. I had to find a place secured enough so that when I woke up next morning I wouldn't be waking in a jail cell. It was a risk to become Zootopia's new fugitive, and now, well… here I was. As I walked uphill, I could finally see some of the layout of the grounds. It was park, but it was much undeveloped. It was either that, or abandoned, and I was sure hoping it was abandoned.

"AAL, how cold am I from the police?"

"Considering you lost them minutes ago, very hot. I would find cover and lay low right now."

As I searched the grounds, I realized that I still had my active camo. to my disposable. What a time to be alive. I saw a bridge that had a path go right underneath it, and decided to camp out and wait and see next morning where I was going to end up.

I woke up around 9am, and to my surprise, I was still where I was initially. Sleeping on the ground would of made me looked homeless, but thanks to my active camo., I blended right into the environment. Well, the wall actually, since that's what I was up against. As I looked to my left, I could see that no one was waiting and looking for me, but when I looked to my right, well… I didn't know whether to be glad or scared shitless.

It was Nick, and I was happy but scared to see him.

"Nick?"

Nick was sipping on his drink, what he was drinking I don't know. He was just sitting in his lawn chair and soaking in the sun. I don't know what he was up to since the days that followed the asylum, but when he heard me, it startled him.

"Holy fuck! Don't…" He looked at me and dimmed his shades down so he could make eye contact with me, in disbelief. What he was in disbelief I didn't know. "…You're… that thing, that thing from the asylum."

"That 'thing' is me, a human may I correct you."

"Human, thing, same thing." Nick said in very curt manner. "What are you doing here?"

"You don't know..?" I said, asking very slowly. If he knew I was a wanted man, then I wasn't afraid of using fear to persuade him out of it, even though that was going to be a last resort.

"No, I don't. I've been pissed off ever since that damn rabbit singled out the predators."

"Oh, okay. Well, if makes you feel any better, I'm currently the most wanted creature in Zootopia right now."

Nick came back with a perplexed look and looked right at me. "What? I mean, no it doesn't make me feel any better but… how?"

"Assaulting a police officer and then out running them."

"Ah, that's one way to do it." Said the fox very sarcastically. "I could turn you in but I probably would get incriminated with you, so… you better run along."

"Incriminated with you?"

"Yeah, incriminate. Since that rabbit made that speech a while ago, she singlehandedly singled out the predators of Zootopia, which includes me. Probably you too, since no one knows what exactly you are, but I assume they would think that you're like us."

I gave a pinched look to Nick, and sarcastically responded, "Because they might think I've gone savage, right."

Nick snorted, taking the curt response with ease. "Hey, at this point, anyone will believe anything with the way how things have gone."

What first turned into a serious conversation was coming down to simple banter between us. I guess I could relate a little bit with Nick and his kind, but I was different subject at hand. I wasn't being scrutinized for who I was, I was being chased after the law.

"This situation reminds a little bit like where I came from." I said, grabbing Nick's attention again.

"Huh?"

"Well, I don't know if I told you or not, but I came from a different world. It's just like this except my kind, the humans, dominate the planet. Then there's you guys. Not just foxes, every living and breathing animal here in Zootopia lives on that planet except they live in their natural habitat, not brokering on some executive."

Nick was intrigued by what I was saying, but it prompted me to ask him this, "So, what's your story?"

"Well, I grew up in a small neighborhood on the southside of Zootopia. My parents both raised me in a small apartment and I had dreams in my childhood to become the first predator boy scout, thinking 'I want to be known for something good for my kind."

"Deep thinking for someone that young." I responded

"Yeah, I guess you can say so."

"Did you make it though?"

"Yeah, but only for a short while. Everything went downhill after I successfully joined, I'm not gonna go into full details because I try really hard to block that out of my mind. Just… I try not to reveal my true colors around people and to show people differently. Hence why I took up being a con artist."

I could see the slight pain in Nick's eyes, moving away from my face and making contact with the ground. I could get the sense that whatever happened in his childhood wasn't up to me to egg into telling me. If it's too personal to tell, I know when to stop begging and just give in.

"Hear me out," I came back with, finally getting Nick's attention. "What if I told you that the predators are not going back to their natural state?"

"I would say you're full of shit to be honest" said Nick, giving me a glance like I was indeed making up shit.

"Really? What if showed you evidence that backed up that up?"

"Look Howard, I told you anyone would believe anything at this point, but that didn't mean that I'm going to believe in what you just said, so…"

"The animals are being targeted. Shot at, to put it more correctly. The night I was at the asylum I was in their holding chamber and found all mammals to have the same exact marking on their neck. Now, ask yourself… am I really making this up? Because if so, what other reason would I be at Cliffside Asylum other than finding the missing mammals? Hmmm?"

"...Good point. I'm still not fully convinced though. I mean, I'm gonna need more than you to…"

Before Nick could finish his point, police sirens started ringing in the background, and at this point, I had no time to listen to Nick. I quickly interrupted him.

"Tell me, right now, where I can go to disappear."

"Uh.." Uttered Nick, seemingly taking his time to respond.

"Nick! Now!"

"Tundra Town! Holy shit, why are.."

I cut Nick off and quickly responded, "If I stay here, they'll constantly come after me. I essentially need to go off the radar for a while."

"Okay, but… Tundra Town is exactly a safe haven. Trust me, I've been through a lot of shit with some people and somehow I turned out to be alive."

"I'm not going to mingle, I'm going cold. I guess you don't know what off the radar means, huh?" I said with a nod and a smirk.

"Whatever" Nick said as he turned around, seeing the cops in the distance getting out their squad car. "You better want to get g.." but before Nick could say anything, I was already gone and making my escape. In the background, I could barely make out the words "Typical" from Nick. I don't know what he was referencing to, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't too happy about it.

I made my way up the hill and interjected into my coms. speaking to AAL, "Tundra Town, find a way to the outskirts AAL."

"Will do sir."

It was already noon, surprising me how much time has passed between me and Nick. He was a good guy, maybe a little troubled but he needed to be shown the right way. That didn't matter to me right now, all what mattered was my run from the cops again.

I kept my distance away from the streets and followed a creek uphill that AAL said it would lead to Tundra Town. I wasn't going into the town exactly, just far away enough from there and Zootopia. Hopefully, it would pay off. The trail that I was on cut through the outskirts of Zootopia and eventually I made it out of the city. I didn't check to see if I was being tailed still, I just assumed the worst: someone was behind me, ready to gun me down. Thankfully, there wasn't.

After another hour of essentially hiking through wooded areas, I made to the outskirts of Tundra Town, or so AAL told me. There wasn't any indication of where I was exactly, so I just kept going and going. Eventually, the wooded sections I was traversing became very barren and cold, with spots of snow on the ground. Now I knew exactly where I was, and that was away from the madness that spurred behind me. As I kept hiking, I looked to my right to what seemed to be a snowy mountain in the distance. Bingo. That was where I was going to hold out until things finally blow over. And if anyone found me here, than I guess I would die a cold, harsh death.

Risk earn reward, and I was taking all the risks.