A/N: Hello everyone! I just wanted to thank all of my readers for the response to the first chapter of Saving Wilde. This is my first ever attempt at writing fiction beyond some very short stories and I have been absolutely floored by how well it was received. Thank you all, I really appreciate it.
Also a little house keeping: My plan for this story is to update about every two weeks. I am not a fast writer, and I travel a lot for work, so I don't want to get behind on updates and keep everyone waiting for ages and ages on the next chapter. I have the next couple of chapters ready to go though, so know that I do plan on keeping to that schedule.
All reviews are most welcome, as I said this is my first ever real attempt at writing fiction of any sort, and I am still learning. With Judy especially I feel I am still trying to get her character down, and I think that that is a bit obvious in this chapter. Nick on the other hand just seems to flow from my fingers. So any advice is welcome!
And so without further ado, Here is chapter 2 of Saving Wilde. Enjoy!
Beep Beep Beep Beep
This time Judy waited until her alarm had gone off before getting out of bed. She was still exhausted, but at least for the last hour and a half she had slept like the dead. She was by no means refreshed of course. She had probably woken up once an hour until she had misread her clock and prematurely rushed to get ready for the day she thought had long since started. But she felt better than she expected and that was certainly something.
As she slid out of her bed she pondered the alarm clock, still confused as to how she could have read 2:30 as 7:30. It read 5am now, and she repeatedly glanced back at the clock while she got ready just to be sure it wasn't playing tricks on her again. It clicked over to 5:01 as she watched it and she smiled inwardly. Ok, she wasn't going crazy; it really was 5:01.
With that, she fell into her normal morning routine. Already she could hear sounds of stirring around the burrow. Her mother would already be up, preparing breakfast for her huge family. Her father would be outside checking on equipment before the day began. As Judy walked down the hall she listened for signs of activity on her wing. It was her responsibility to be sure that all her siblings on the wing were up at the crack of dawn for the long day ahead. They still had a half hour till they needed to be up, but she liked to keep tabs on everyone. Judy was the oldest Hopps daughter still living at home, all her sisters long since married, and her room was in the one of the wings of the house with many of the younger kittens. In some ways it felt like she was back living in the dorms in college. She had been an RA then, and this wasn't that different, better in some ways actually. Mammals are easier to deal with when they aren't constantly drunk.
After doing a sweep of a the wing she entered the bathroom which was blessedly empty. There had been other times in other years where she had had to fight to be the first to use the bathroom. Thankfully, those days were long past and she could enjoy the shower in peace. Judy needed it after everything she had gone through the previous 24 hours, and for those 10 wonderful minutes everything was ok again. All of her problems borne away by the caress of the hot water.
That was it, she was ready for the day. Ready to complete the rest of her morning list. What was next again? Thats right, get dressed. She chuckled to herself as she dried off. She would lose her head if it weren't for her lists. Perhaps that was a bit unfair, but they certainly kept her grounded, kept her focused. Not so easy as thing for a young rabbit. But perhaps that was what set her apart from her peers in Bunnyburrow. Ok Judy, enough. Too much more and you will have trouble fitting your head through the door. Her good humor surprised her. Last night it had felt as if her world was spiraling out of control and yet here she was trying to keep her ego in check. She would need every bit of that ego to confront her parents again she realized. Revisiting this topic with her parents would not be easy. Everything she had tried so far had failed, and last nights attempt spectacularly. To make matters worse, despite all her bluster, she was now terrified of the prospect of bringing it up again. Repeating the previous night's pain was just not something she could handle again so soon. She was a strong and willful rabbit, but everyone had their limits, and she had certainly reached hers the previous night. She sighed, perhaps today wasn't the best day to try again. Just seeing her parents this morning was slightly terrifying, and she found herself hoping they wouldn't speak to her about it, or speak to her at all.
Sighing for a final time, Judy proceeded back to her room to finish getting ready for the day. Her wing still wasn't up, something she would soon have to correct, and dallying in the bathroom would only cause her more problems.
Finally ready for the day Judy went downstairs to the kitchen to help her mother with breakfast. Today was a special day what with it being the opening day of the market season, and Bonnie was preparing a special breakfast, preparation for it had begun last night. That was when the fight started, while she was cutting up vegetables for the morning meal. She realized with a pang of guilt that once the fight had started that she had completely forgotten about helping her mother get ready for the morning. She briefly paused in the entranceway into the kitchen to work up the courage to enter. This wasn't going to be fun but she had no choice, she couldn't just abandon her mother, not after promising to help. Judy stepped into the kitchen and saw that her mother was already hard at work. She didn't notice Judy, too absorbed in preparing the meal for her enormous family, and Judy stood in the entranceway and watched her mother go about her various tasks.
Judy had always admired her mother for her ability to remain calm and under control no matter how bad things got. Right now she was preparing a meal for close to 220 rabbits, and yet she gave off an air of perfect contentment. She seemed not to have a care in the world as she gracefully glided around kitchen. This was her mother at her best. Even when everything seemed to be crumbling she managed to stand tall through all of it. She was the rock which the family clung to in the worse of times. Judy thought back to her older brother, Christopher, who had been killed in a farming accident five years ago. The family had been devastated, her father unable to bring himself to get back to work for nearly a week. She remembered how hard the funeral had been. Christopher was well regarded in Bunnyburrow, the funeral had been well attended, hundreds of bunnies had come to pay their respects. It had been an emotional event. The only part she clearly remembered though was her mother's eulogy for Chris. She remembered the steely defiance in her voice that day, the determination to master her grief. The Hopps family had fallen to pieces when Chris had died, and it had been her mother who had picked up them all up and put them back together again. Bonnie was a rabbit of iron when the chips were down, and Judy only hoped she could eventually have even an ounce of the fortitude her mother had. She would need it.
And now Judy had just the opportunity she needed to demonstrate the reserves of fortitude she possessed within herself. A wry grin briefly crossed her lips. This wasn't exactly the type of situation she had been imagining in her head where she would prove her courage to the world. Everyone has to start somewhere though, and so she said in a voice just barely above a whisper,
"Morning mother."
It was enough.
At the soft greeting Bonnie absentmindedly glanced at the door and final noticed Judy standing there. Her face immediately softened and she was almost instantly across the kitchen, embracing Judy as she had not been embraced by her mother in a long time.
"Judy, I am so happy to see you this morning. I hated the way we ended the night." She released Judy from the embrace and grasped her shoulders.
"Mother I-" began Judy, ready to make her apologies and move on from this particular episode.
"Judy, I'm sorry for shouting at you last night. We should never treat each other that way."
Judy wasn't sure if she should be happy that this whole thing seemed as if it would be smoothed over very quickly, or if she should be annoyed that her while her mother had apologized for shouting she had not apologized for the the things that were said. Actually, no, she was annoyed, but she realized that right now just wasn't a good time for this. The day ahead was going to be a tough one, and she still hadn't fully recovered from the night before. "I am sorry too mom, I don't like fighting with you guys." she said.
Bonnie smiled at her and pulled her back in for another hug, "No, I don't either. Now c'mon, we still have plenty to do this morning."
And with that the issue was apparently dropped, with her mother at least. But despite her continued annoyance Judy dutifully helped her mother prepare and serve the huge breakfast to the family. This was not something she had ever enjoyed. She was a poor cook, never really taking the time to learn, and it was only on special occasions she was asked to assist her mother in the task. As a result Judy was only ever asked to do the most simple things, mince an onion perhaps, take a pot off the stove, put a dish in the oven. She was certainly helping her mother at least a little, but that didn't stop her from feeling more like a burden, and she suspected that the only reason Bonnie requested her help on days like this was to teach her a little bit about cooking. Though if that was the case, these were probably the worst times to learn. She wasn't going to refuse her mother requests however, so she suffered through it.
Judy didn't stick around the burrow to eat breakfast with her family, the moment it was ready she grabbed what she could carry and left to go to the stand, ignoring her mother's protests. As she was leaving she walked by the family TV room. The news was always on in the morning and she usually took a few minutes to see what was going on in the world, and especially Zootopia. Much of her family was there, even her father, and Judy hovered just outside the doorway into the room so as not to be noticed. The news was playing a video of a massive explosion, bigger than anything she would have ever imagined, it lit up the night sky. The camera mammal looked to be pretty far from the blast, and there was a wide river in between him and the explosion. She watched in horrified fascination as the water in front of the camera was torn up by the shockwave at it approached the camera mammal's location. Suddenly there was a loud crack followed by what sounded like the wind during a tornado, and the sound of shattering glass, a lot of it. The camera was upended, seemed to tumble for a moment, and stopped recording.
"-The explosion occurred at about 1am last night in the warehouse district of the Zootopia docks." The anchor, a snow leopard, said impassively. "City records show that the warehouse had been abandoned since 2017 so city officials are hoping that any casualties will be minimal. Police are still trying to find the cause of the blast, but fires still raging all across the district are hampering the investigation. So far 10 firefighters have been injured trying to contain the infernos, though none seriously. Four blocks around the epicenter of the blast have been nearly razed to the ground."
Then the report cut away to an aerial shot of the block where the old abandoned warehouse once stood. There was really nothing left, just a smoldering crater, and she could see emergency workers picking through the debris.
"The explosion has caused major damage to surrounding area, seven mammals have been reported admitted to hospitals for injuries caused by falling debris, and one has apparently been killed. Our hearts go out to their family. The head of the ZPD, Chief Bogo, is planning to hold a press conference in an hour and will present the preliminary findings of the investigation to the public."
Wow, thats not good. Judy thought as she got into her car. As terrible as it was, Judy could think of nothing but the fact that this event would just give her parents more ammunition against her. But even she had to admit that she was a little shocked. She never thought something like that could happen in a huge city like Zootopia, though at least very few mammals had been hurt. She didn't have time to dwell on it though, working the stand demanded her full attention, and that is exactly what it got.
The first day was always the worst. No matter how much prepping they did in the weeks prior there was always something missing, or not setup right, or broken. And Judy spent much of the early hours of the morning putting out fires. One of her younger brothers had forgot the bring the dandelion greens from storage the night before and Judy had missed their absence when doing her final checks, one of their carts blew a tire, and a local kit wrecked a viewing rack by climbing on it. So, all in all, a pretty typical opening day. At the very least it went by quickly. The first day always did, not like those long hot days in the late summer when you might only have two customers from dawn til dusk. And being so busy had the added benefit of giving Judy no time to dwell on the problems she had been having. Her mind was filled with nothing but the task at hand, and it was one she was good at, despite her disdain for it.
Things started to calm down at around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when there was a bit of a lull in customers. It was then that she saw, to her horror, that her dad was driving up to the stand.
"Hey Jude!", called from the open window the the truck, "You mind help'n me get these greens unloaded?"
"Sure thing dad." she replied, with not an inconsiderable feeling of trepidation. Hopefully this would go no different than the apologies with her mother had gone, or even better, he would pretend like it never happened. That wasn't Stu though, he wore his emotions on his sleeve. Where her mother was the stoic anchor of the family, her father was the emotional center of gravity. You had a problem? Go talk to Stu, he would help you sort it out, and make you feel good about yourself along the way. She wasn't going to get out of this without having to talk to her father about the fight, and she steeled herself for what she fully expected to be an awkward and uncomfortable few minutes.
Stu met Judy behind the truck and lowered the tailgate. "So, how're things going today?" he asked as he pulled a crate to the end of the bed. "Fine dad," Judy replied, "we have been very busy today, better than last year actually. Mammals can't get enough of Gideon's cakes."
Stu sighed, it was clear that that wasn't what he had wanted to know about, but Judy wasn't going to make this so easy for him. She was still quite mad with him, and while she was by no means a vindictive rabbit, she felt he deserved to squirm a little after what he had said.
"Judes, I have been thinkin', I am sorry for what I said last night. It never should have left my mouth. I just don't want to see you hurt, you know? Zootopia is big and scary place, heck just this morning half the city blew up!"
"Dad! I saw the news, it was just a warehouse."
"Yeah, but did you see how big that explosion was? They don't even make 'em that big in movies! And I would know, I have seen a lot of movies Judy."
He gave her a warm look and Judy found herself suppressing a giggle. He was getting off way too easy, she should still be mad with him, but she felt it beginning to slip away. The hurt was still there, but her anger ebbed further and further with every word he spoke.
"Dad… It's what I want... what I've always wanted, ever since I was little.," she said softly.
Again Stu sighed, the warm look leaving his face, replaced by one of worry and sadness, "I know Judy, I am just worried about what would happen to you if you became a police bunny. There are big and dangerous mammals in the city. And it's chock full of predators! Lions, tigers, bears, even foxes! I don't want you going off to the city and getting yourself hurt, and I don't want you to leave only to come back with your tail between your legs. My brother Mort lived in Zootopia for years, and when he came back he was so different than the Mort I knew before he left that I hardly recognized him. It was like the city broke him Judy."
"Your sister Sylvia still lives there dad, and she is doing just fine." Judy replied.
Stu blinked, and then looked off into the distance, chin held in his paw. "Well… I suppose that is true, Sylvia was always an odd one though, so restless. Most incredible green thumb I ever saw too, it was always such a shame when she left, the carrots were never quite as orange afterwards."
Judy sensed that her father was about to go off on a tangent, but he surprised her when he suddenly veered back to the topic at hand.
"But Sylvia sure did change for the better once she moved to the city. So much happier. Maybe you are the same way? I don't know Judy, I don't like the idea of you being a police bunny, but I will think about it."
Judy stared, shocked, at her father. Had he just talked himself into considering allowing her to leave to go to the city? Yes, yes he had. She felt herself tearing up.
"Anyway, Judes... Jude the Dude," he gave her a concerned smile, "what I am trying to say is that I am sorry for what I said last night. I bet that if you became a police bunny, you would be the best one ever." He paused for a moment, considering, "Though I suppose you would be be the only one ever! So you would be a shoe in, ha ha!" He laughed wholeheartedly, and gave Judy a light jab on her arm. She found his mirth irresistible, and she was swept up right along with him, laughing even as tears began trickling down her cheeks.
Stu spread his arms and said, "C'mere Judy." And she eagerly accepted the embrace.
"I love you sweetie."
"I love you too dad"
Releasing her, he gave her another warm smile before turning and picking up the crate sitting at the back of the truck. Judy reaching into the bed and pulled out the next crate, following her father back to the stand. As they walked Stu looked back at Judy and said,
"You know Judy, I actually have a special task for you. The soy field isn't growing as well as I think it should be. I think the nitrogen content of the soil is too low , but it could be something else. I need you to take Ol' Johnny and get some soil samples. We may have to hit the field with fertilizer again. It should only take about an hour, and then you can take the rest of the day off. I think you have earned it. I can take care of things here. I certainly have plenty of help."
For the second time in as many minutes Judy stared at her father, at a complete loss for words.
"O-of course!" She finally stammered out.
He smiled at her, "Well times awaistin' Judes! I can take of the rest of this stuff." motioning back to the truck.
Judy hugged her father again, "Thank's dad, you're the best."
Stu chuckled, returned the hug and wished her farewell. Judy rushed back home, soil samples would take no time at all and she didn't want to waste a moment. Now she was in an excellent mood, even the sting of her father's words from the night before beginning to disappear. She couldn't believe how the day had gone so far. She thought it would be hell, but somehow it had turned out alright after all.
Her good mood didn't last long. As she pulled back into the driveway at the burrow she saw her mother storming out the front door and approach her car. Bonnie looked furious, and she was very clearly shouting Judy's name as she approached. Judy got out of the car, a mix of confusion and worry in her eyes and heart.
"What wrong mom?" She called out.
"JUDITH! What did your father tell you?!" Bonnie shouted back, though she was so close now Judy could have heard her if she had been speaking barely above a whisper.
Judy found herself off balance, she had no idea what the problem was, and she found herself frantically racking her brain for an explanation.
" I uh…" she started, "I-, what do you mean?"
"What did he tell you?!" Bonnie repeated, still shouting despite having stopped just at the other side of the car.
"He just asked me to get some soil samples from the soy fields mother!" Judy replied incredulously. What the heck was going on?
"No, that's not what I am talking about. He talked to you about Zootopia didn't he?!"
Oh God.
She didn't need to reply, the look on her face gave her away, and Bonnie's rage increased.
"I don't know why this is so hard for you to understand Judith. You are not leaving! You are not going to Zootopia. I will not lose another one of my children!"
"But Dad said-"
"I don't care what he said Judy! Zootopia is no place for a rabbit, Bunnyburrow is where you belong Judy!"
No, this was too much, this was just like last night, except now it was coming from her mother. She wasn't going to put up with this, and she found herself matching her mother's anger.
"But I HATE it here mother! I hate farming, I hate working at the stand, and I hate Bunnyburrow!"
"Judith, this is what rabbits are made for! We are farmers! That is our place on this earth, and the sooner you realize it the happier you'll be."
Enough was enough, she had a task to complete, and she was sick and tired of this constant refrain. "You're a bunny, act like it." It was garbage and she knew it, and she wasn't going to listen to it anymore.
"I'm done mother." She said, no longer shouting, and turned around and walked towards the barn.
"Judy-!"
"No mother! I am not having this conversation with you right now. I am not!"
Judy didn't look back, but then there was no reason to. Bonnie hadn't responded, but instead had just stood there, watching her daughter's back as she walked away. The rage slowly seeping out of her.
That had been the wrong thing to do, Bonnie realized. She shouldn't have said all that, she had just been as bad as Stu had last night. She wouldn't have even been so mad if it hadn't been for Stu calling her to tell her he had spoken to Judy about moving to Zootopia, even after they had agreed to drop the issue for now. But that wasn't Judy's fault, and Bonnie kicked herself for talking her anger out on her daughter, it was Stu who deserved her ire. It wasn't fair to Judy. Bonnie had been young and idealistic once, and while getting past that phase as quickly as possible would probably be for the best, it wasn't right for Bonnie and Stu to forcibly beat it out of their daughter. She sighed, she would have to apologize when Judy returned. And with that she went back into the burrow.
Judy on the other hand was still furious, her good mood long forgotten. What was her mother's problem? It should be none of her business if she wanted to leave or not. She was 24 for cheese's sake! She was an adult, and she should be able to make decisions about her life for herself. It was long past the time for that, her parents should have let go years ago. So what if she failed? So what if she died? At the very least should would have tried to do something with herself. Should would have been more than a simple farmer just like the rest of rabbitdom. That just wasn't her. She would rise above, it was her destiny. Perhaps that was a little too grandiose, but it sounded good in her head, and it distracted her from all the arguing.
She entered the barn, and climbed up onto Ol' Johnny. At least she had the rest of the day off, and would be sure to use it to avoid her mother.
Ol' Johnny was an old model M John Deere tractor built in the early 50's. The venerable old machine had been in the family since her grandfather's time. It was really an old workhorse, of the era when John Deere still built quality, and its chipped and fading green paint was a testament to just how hard it he been worked over the years. She started it up and the old two cylinder engine roared to life. Any other day she may have appreciated that despite its age it still ran like a charm. But today was not one of those days, and she shot out of the barn just as fast as the old tractor could carry her, an admittedly sedate 15kph.
In hindsight she probably should have taken another vehicle. She had always loved this old tractor. It just had more character than most newer vehicles so she jumped at every opportunity to drive it. But these days it needed babying. Sometimes it would pop out of gear, close attention needed to be paid to the water temperature, and you certainly never ran it at full tilt. But as she ran down to the soy fields, she thought about none of these things, still fuming from the confrontation with her mother. She had just reached the first field when she noticed steam rising from the front of the tactor. Oh, crackers, was all she had time to think before she heard a pop and steam began pouring from the engine compartment. As the tractor ground to a halt, she felt her own temperature rising.
"Why?! Whhyyy?!" she screamed in anger and frustration before slumping forward onto the steering wheel, staring at her feet in an attempt to reign in her emotions. She felt stupid for not paying enough attention, she was usually so careful with Ol' Johnny, and now here she had blown the radiator. Deep breaths Judy, deep breaths. Today had been a rollercoaster, but it wouldn't do to wreck her favorite tractor, that would only make things worse. She sat up and reached forward to pat the engine cover.
"I am sorry Johnny, I should have been paying attention."
She climbed off the tractor and opened the hood, standing back to let the remaining steam flood from the compartment. The radiator cap had a safety release and it had blown. At least it would be an easy fix she thought while she grabbed a rag and unscrewed the cap, letting more steam out. Waiting a moment, she looked into the radiator. It was almost empty. Judy let out a sigh of relief. Yes, it would be an easy fix, she just needed water. Good thing she was right by the river. It wasn't a good idea to put unfiltered water into the tractor, but it would be fine for the kilometer back to the barn, she would just have to drain it when she got back. Judy went around the back of the tractor and grabbed the bucket hanging from a hook behind the seat and walked off towards the river.
The river in question was called the Vespa, and it was the largest river in all of Zootopia. It ran all the way from the great ocean hundreds of kilometers to the south, through BunnyBurrow, then about 150km north to Zootopia. From there it snaked it was way far to the north to its source. A massive lake fed by yearly runoff from the mountains. In years past the Vespa had been a vital road of commerce and Zootopia had been founded upon its banks to tap into that artery. Over the years, as other means of transporting goods became available its importance waned, and river traffic became far less common.
Judy made her way carefully down the bank to the edge of the water. The bank was rather steep there, and the last thing she needed at the moment was to slip and get herself covered in mud. Reaching the edge of the water she rolled up her jeans and waded slowly into the water. The less crap in the water the better, and she hoped that the farther from the shore there would be less debris and silt. As she stood in the water her anger began to return. Taking care of Johnny had provided a momentary distraction from the fight with her mother, but the relief was fleeting, and all her anger and frustration came flooding back. To make matters worse, wading out into the water hadn't reduce the amount of silt in the water and she looked about in frustration. She really had no choice, she had to get the tractor back to the barn so she could work on it, and so she resigned herself to extra work she was about to create. Trudging back up the bank she carefully poured the water into the radiator, using the rag as a filter to catch the worst of it. Pouring cold water into a hot radiator could be disastrous, and she didn't want to break Johnny and strand herself by the river bank. She checked the level, only half full, and she trudged back down the bank, her frustration rising.
She waded back into the water, thinking about what her mother had said to her.
"'This is what rabbits are made for, Judy. We are farmers!'" She quoted her mother aloud, voice quivering in anger. "Yeah right… You just never had the guts to do anything else."
She kicked at the water. Her parents had settled, and now they were trying to drag her down with them into the same uneventful, boring life. She realized her parents had been cowards, and the thought both saddened and angered her.
At that same moment she noticed a piece of cloth floating towards her and she snatched it from the water.
"Oh great. First my parents are trying to keep me from ever growing up, and now mammals are dumping their trash in our river."
It was a silly thing to be mad over, it was a single piece of cloth, and who knows where it could have come from, but right now her temper was on a hair trigger, that single piece of cloth was all it took.
She looked up the river, looking for the source of the offending item, scanning the shore expecting to see a clump of trash which she would have to clean up. At this point she was almost desperate to find somewhere else to direct her frustrations. The realization that her parents he been cowards in their younger years, and by extension most rabbits in Bunnyburrow, was unsettling, and she didn't want to dwell on it.
Her eye caught something, something a dull dirty red. She made to approach it but stopped dead in her tracks, breath caught in her throat, eyes wide in shock.
Laying there amongst the reeds, body half submerged in the water, filthy and bleeding, was a red fox.