Chapter 10 – Family reunion

With siren blearing and lights on, we raced towards Bunny Burrow. It only took us little over two hours, as Judy was pushing the pedal to the metal all the way.

We first did stop at the Professor's lab however and got another countermeasure from him. Luckily he made more than one, just in case.

All the entrances to the town were guarded by police, because apparently in the Night there was a Savage Mammal roaming the streets and after what happened to me they didn't want to take any chances. And because it was still out there the officials tried to advise the public to stay indoors.

Luckily Bunny Burrow was still part of the State of Zootopia and so Chief Bogo made some calls and told the local sheriff that he'd sent his two 'night howler experts' to investigate this.

When we arrived in the little town, we found it to be deserted. Nobody was to be seen. Only tumbleweed blowing through the street was missing to make it the perfect cliché.

We got out of the car and started looking around when I heard "Psst!". I looked up.

"Judy, over here." The voice came out of a little shop just left of us. I looked to the others and they seemed to have heard it as well.

Judy made a hand gesture for is to go to the shop.

When we got near the door sprang open and concerned looking bunny signed us to come in quickly.

The door closed. "Judy, I haven't seen you in ages!" She was hugging Judy.

"Nice to see you too, Anna." Judy wiggled herself out of the hug. "And this is my Partner Nick Wilde."

"Nice to meet you." Nick said and they both shook hands, although Anna had a somewhat surprised look on her face.

"And these are our two temporary … err, companions Oliver ..."

"Hello." I said and also shook her hand. And Anna whispered something into Judy's ears. She later told me it was "Wow who is that cutie. Is that your boyfriend?"

"No, he isn't!" Judy suddenly snapped, but realized her reaction raised suspicion.

"And this is Mike." she continued. He just waived and said "Hello."

Anna turned to Judy.

"I hope you are here to get 'it'."

"What do you mean with 'it'?" Mike asked her.

"That savage thing roaming the streets. It came after everything went down."

"So it wasn't a mammal?"

"Well, no mammal I know of."

"What did it look like?"

"Well it looked somewhat like a bunny but without the fur and savage.
And it had canines. Here I've made a photo of it roaming the street." She showed us a photo on her phone. It was a photo of the street we just came from, likely from the second floor of one of the buildings according to the angle. All you could see was a bunny like silhouette hiding in the dark.

Judy turned to Mike. "Any ideas what that could be?"

"Yeah, a few. Any idea where it might hide?"

"We haven't seen it since the sun is up. We were hiding in the buildings all day after the police warned us about that thing."

"We?" Judy asked.

"Well, I and the neighbors. At the moment communication consists of sticking your head out of an upstairs window and shouting across the street."

"It attacked only at night?" Mike asked before Judy could continue.

"Yes, I was woken up by noise from the main street. My apartment is above the store. Nobody was daring to get out with that savage animal out there, not after what happened in the city with those 'Night Howlers'. We tried to contact the Police, but phones didn't work. So I and some other neighbors watched it a while until it left the town in the morning. Then the sheriff drove through the streets, with his speakers on and the message that the town is under quarantine because of that thing and that all people must stay indoors for their own safety."

"So nobody had contact with it?"

"No, we watched it all night until the sun rose and it went to the north. It actually looked like the sunlight was hurting it."

"What is to the north?"

"The Hopps farm and that old abandoned military base."

"Military base?"

"Yes, Judy you know the place, right?" Judy nodded. "I heard they finally sold it to someone. Can you imagine somebody bought that?"

She chuckled, but nobody was joining her.

"That's sounds awfully like what we are searching for." Mike mumbled to himself. "Thank you very much, we need to go and catch a bunny. Good day." Mike said, turned around and went out of the store.

"Wait, you can't go outside. It is out there." Anna tried to hold him back.

"No it isn't. It doesn't like sunlight. It is hiding somewhere dark." Mike answered.

"So you know what it is?" Nick asked him.

"Yes, and we better hurry. It is a fucking miracle it hasn't infected others already."

We were back in the car heading up north.

"So what is it?" Judy asked him. We were sitting in the car again, but not jet driving. "You may tell us what is waiting for us there?" She added.

"It is a bunny, of sorts."

"But a bunny has fur and no canines, Mikey." Nick replied.

"It is infected with a virus. Makes you go savage, lose all hair and ultra-sensitive to UV light. That's why it is hiding right now. And it most definitely went to the place it came from to hide from the sun."

"And what about the canines?" Nick added.

"Don't know, but I think we'll find it out. If that's 'them', then it like came from another world and that means a bunny with canines is certainly not impossible. If you may remember what happened at the lab."

"OK, I get it, smartypants."

"Oh and we should find it rather quickly otherwise that could mean end of civilization as you know it, if it infects more people."

Nick and Judy gulped.

"And a military base? I thought you guys had no more military?" I asked Judy.

"It's from the time before they abolished it. But before we go there," She made a worried face "we first must stop at my parents' house. I want to see if they are alright." Judy said and pushed the gas pedal a bit further.

"Looks deserted. Like the rest of the town." Nick said as we got out of the car.

I was standing in front of the front door of the burrow which seemed to be the farm house. "Locked."

"Wait, I got a key." Judy opened the door and we got in.

"Anybody there? Hello?" Nick yelled.

No answer.

"Let's have a look around." Nick said.

We split up and searched the cave like burrow, which had quite a resemblance to a Hobbit cave.

I and Judy went one level up (the burrow itself was built in a little hill), while Mike checked the ground level and Nick went into the cellar.

"What are all these rooms used for? I thought you only had 12 siblings?

"They are storage for the farm mainly. Some stuff is better stored underground."

We wandered through the empty hallways, looking in each room, until we heard a thud from downstairs.

As we went to the entrance we saw Mike standing at the stair to the lower levels.

He pressed one digit in front of his moth and with the other hand he pointed down to the cellar.

We went down there one after the other. First Mike, then Judy and then me.

As we arrived at the bottom of the stairs, the corridor split up in three directions.

"Light switch is over there." Judy whispered and pointed to the right, while she tried to make out anything in the other directions. Mike made his way down there and vanished in the dark. Another thud followed. This time I could hear that it was something metallic hitting something.

Before Judy and I could investigate we were being attacked ourselves. Many small shadows came from out of the other two corridors, wrestled us to the ground and blinded us with flashlights.

"Wait a second." A young boyish voice said "That's Judy."

The lights were turned on. And these shadows were in fact Judy's siblings.

Judy's mom was standing over Mike with a pan in her hand.

"Judy?" she said "Oh, I'm so happy you're alright."

She raced over to Judy and gave her a deep hug only a mother could.

"I'm just happy nothing happened to you guys." Judy answered.

I meanwhile made my way to Mike who was lying there holding his head.

Mrs. Hops gave me a curious look as I passed the two. I heard her whispering "Who is that? Is that your boyfriend you told us about?" I just smirked at that.

"Hey, does it still hurt?" I asked Mike while bowing down to him lying on the ground.

"Yes. Should have expected something like this."

In the background Judy was explaining to her Mum what we did here and who that bunny, that wolf and that fox were.

Nick, who was lying a little bit down the corridor, now also got back consciousness.

"Well, Nick how does it go?" I asked him.

"Bad, I got the headache of my life, fluffbut."

"So Mum," Judy turned back to her mother "Where's dad?"

Mrs. Hops looked down and started crying.

"He is in the barn."

Under tears Mrs. Hops told us that her husband was attacked by the bunny when he wanted to do his morning routine. Which was right before sunrise.

Nick, Mike and I left Judy with her Mother to calm her down a bit and headed to said barn, which was behind the burrow.

And the view wasn't a pleasant one.

In there was a male bunny mainly without fur, attached to some heavy machinery inside the barn with a chain. He tried to attack us but the chain was too short and as soon as he came into sunlight he screamed and got back into the shadow.

"He must have noticed the changes and chained himself up in here." Mike said, still staring at Stu.

We then noticed someone entering the Barn. It was Judy.

The view of Judy gave me chills down my spine. She wasn't crying or sobbing. She was just standing there and watching, with this "I don't know who are, but I will find you and kill you."-face.


Last chapters references:

A lightsaber from Star Wars (If you didn't get that one, shame on you!) and Psychic Paper from Doctor Who.

By the way Mike's medallion was inspired by the Web Comic "Skin Deep" by Kory Bing (I just got the idea from there, it isn't straight up from that universe, but I still felt I should mention it.)