Beginning Summary: Nick is heavily wounded and gunshots are heard, is this the end?
As the distant sounds of running came closer and closer, I grabbed Judy by her body and pressed her onto me, hugging and embracing as tears fold. My knee was heavily wounded and I cannot move, Judy could've escaped but the slight thought of it made her sick. She was not going to leave me behind, even if it can lead to our death, she was always there with me. The only person to have full trust in me…a-and I wish I can save her, b-but I can't. I just can't. We were so close, we were engaged, we were getting married, we were having kids…now…all that is gone….or so I thought.
I hugged over her shoulders, embracing each other tighter than ever before as tears stream and silence accompany us. Finally, I heard a rustle in the bushes. I didn't bother to look; I wasn't going to look at our killer's face as me and Judy closed our eyes. Then we heard a voice, although not a voice of a killer.
''What in tarnation are you city folks doin' out here?'' An southern-accent elderly rustic voice cried from the bushes, surprising us and making us look. We stared at the bush for a few seconds before we saw a scrawny elderly dark orange-furred fox, somewhere in his late 50s, with a scraggly and dirty silver-colored goatee, blue-eyes and looks very concerned. He was wearing a denim farmer's bib, stained with fluids of different unusual colors and under it a red checkered lumberjack's shirt. He was carrying a worn down double-barrel shotgun on both of his paws.
The first thing that came to my mind was if he's a lumberjack? No, he's carrying a rifle so he must be hunter and by the looks of it, one that hasn't learned the term of showering. He smacked his lips before he squinted his eyes intensely, trying to see what's in front of him. He pointed the rifle upwards and passed it to one of his paws, grabbing a small walnut from his front pockets and tossed it up in the air, into his mouth. He crunched it loudly, revealing his yellow and missing teeth with black spots splatter across his remaining teeth. After a while he looked up to the sky and sniffed the air with his nose; his ears were scanning the area for life signs. We were watching this quietly as we froze like a statue, staring at the old man although it seems he doesn't detect us. After much sniffing he grumbled something about blood .Then out of nowhere, both his ears pointed at me.
''I can hear ya from a mile away sonny.'' He remarked as he stared at us. Judy spied on the man, trying to stare into his eyes and was surprised after much staring. He turned to me and closed on my ear, which flickered as I was trying to get it nearer to her.
''I think he's blind.'' Judy silently whispered, while still watching at the old man curiously. I was confused at first but after a while she told me to look at his eyes which, after much observation, I found out that his pupils were not indeed blue but instead a more whitish shade, this clearly indicates that he's blind.
''Yer god damn right li'l missy. How'd you know that?'' He surprised us, showing that he was thoroughly listening despite our hush voices. We looked at each other for a blacnk second before staring back at the man, expecting some sort of response since we were speechless by his ability of natural hearing.
''I-I'm a cop.'' Judy blurted out without thinking. She immediately covered her mouth and her pupils shrink in fright, not believing she just said that to a possibly-harmful country bumpkin.
''Oh! A sheriff ey? A female one too.'' He commented on Judy as he cackled a small unattractive laugh, slapping his knees as he bent over to laugh some more. We were terrified at his laugh, it's not evil but it sounds like a crow scratching a chalkboard; still, it's pretty horrifying to hear.
''Back in mah day, girls like you would be workin' at the saloon, pleasurin' all types of men from all the four corners of the earth. Haha!'' He remarked again, laughing louder than before. Judy frowned, she was very angry at this sexist remark and was about to stand up and insult the old fox back, only to be stopped by me when I pulled her down and pointing to the rifle he's carrying and shaking my head. She crossed her arms madly and sat back down. He stopped laughing when he produced a tear of laughter, which can be seen forming at the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath as he looked back at us.
''But with all due respect ma'am, Ah think we should take your friend somewhere where he can patch'em wounds.'' The old fox noted, reminding myself of my wound, which was occupying my mind with pain but not so much now. Still, it was covered in blood and I can't seem to stand up. I growled at touching the scarred knee, trying to cover it. The old fox seemed disgusted and had a concerned face.
''That doesn't sound well sonny. Tell you what, Whadontcha hitch a ride on my truck. I know a friend who knows a doctor in these parts.'' The old fox pointed out concernedly, whilst popping another walnut to his mouth, crushing the hard nut with his rotten teeth. He placed the shotgun down slowly to reassure us as he walked to us casually. He bent over to sniff the area near me once, thinking and analyzing the location with his senses.
''Oh boy, you're in a hard place now sonny, I smell blood, lots and lots of 'em.'' He sadly commented. He shook his head slowly as he bent down and ran short grass around his fingers before it reached my arm, in which he grabbed tightly and I flinched by taking it away. Judy responded by nearing the old fox, giving him a fierce look and observing his every action, still thinking that he is dangerous in some way.
''Oh! Sorry there pardner.'' The fox replied shortly as his hand made his way onto my bony shoulders, in which he carried my arm over in a surprise and carried me as my left arm was on his shoulder. He got up and started walking, easing my worries and slowly helping me limp back to his truck. Judy's concerns had faded away by now, changing her perspective of the fox to a more positive view and tried to help me by carrying my right arm but only flopped down whenever she tried.
When we reached out of the forest, an asphalt road can be seen and in the middle, an old rusty blue truck. I cannot identify its model or the company who made it since it was so run down and clearly was using parts of other cars which gave its appearance to look like mechanical Frankenstein. We hobbled over to the back where he put me on the open back of the truck, reluctant to throw me on the back of his hard metal automobile.
''Mother of Mary, what're those city folks feeding their children, they weight like an entire buck.'' He expressed in exhaustion as he bent down to take huge gasps of air; feeling like he's going to have a heart attack any minute by watching him. He wiped a sweat off his brow and I quietly thanked him as Judy hopped on with me unnoticed by the old fox.
''Yer welcome. The name's Ezekiel but you can call me Uncle Sam.'' Uncle Sam informed us. I tilted my head in confusion by the unusual difference of his real name and nickname but I shrugged it off. I cuddled in the back of his rusty truck with Judy as we listened to the old engine spewing out coughs and wheezes of smoke and leaky oil pipes paint the asphalt road with black spots from time to time. Road bumps would be an issue, since it would move my fragile leg, making me moan and groan in pain as Judy was there to comfort me. After around half an hour on the road, the trees start to lessen and the grass becomes slightly yellower creating a more prairie-looking area, later realize we were on the outskirts of Zootopia, just across the river which separated the city and the farmlands as the figure of the tall skyscrapers can be finally seen in more detail. We stopped at a local ranch, a very peculiar farm.
At first it looked like a normal farm. It has fields, silos, chicken coops and a country house; just like every traditional farm would look like but I felt something…I felt like I've been here before…I-I just can't put a finger on it. I looked over to Judy who has dozed off in the short period of time to clear my mind. She always had a habit of sleeping in cars when her parents took her to cross-country travelling. She says it's the best way to past time once you have to tolerate 100 siblings constantly bickering at each other. Then the car door slammed onto the body, rattling the entire car as the old fox got out.
''Yer pardner there sure does snore a lot.'' Uncle Sam commented as I softly nudged Judy until she was awake. She yawned and instantly jumped off the car in enthusiasm only to be disappointed that they were not back at the HQ as she expected. I was helped down by Uncle Sam as I looked around my surroundings. The greenish tallgrasses sprinkled around the fields in the sea of yellow grass, the wooden arch on the gate says 'Vulpine Farm' and a smaller writing saying 'Serving Quality since the beginning of animalkind.' I read it to myself silently in my head but voices in my head says I've been here before, I vaguely remember the place somewhere in my memories like a bad case of Déjà vu.
''There you go, Vulpine Farm, you'll be able to find a doctor here. Also, take mah cane, I dun need it no more and a pal like you probably looks like you need it.'' Uncle Sam said as he passed a rickety wooden cane he'd brought out from the car, it looks very frigid and weak; I bet only a mice is needed before it would break in half. I nervously took it and before I know it, Uncle Sam was back in his driver seat, giving me a farewell.
'' W-Wait! I-I think its better if we head on to Zootopia.'' I suggested nervously as tried to persuade him to take us further into the city rather than be stuck on a mysterious farm. Uncle Sam just shrugged and gave me a reassuring smile.
''Don't worry sonny, this one can fix you good like any other. Real good.'' Uncle Sam encouraged as he left with a reassuring but somewhat creepy smile as he left that last cryptic message. Before I can respond, Uncle Sam already left, leaving a trail of dust that sent us coughing and Judy gave the back of the car an angry look. Then I heard a voice…a familiar voice behind me.
''Hey Nicholas! Over here!'' The voice shouted from afar. I turned around to the farm gate and from afar I can see him. It all makes sense now. Why this seems so familiar, why I feel like I know every corner of this farm. Where I discovered the secrets of my youth…where I discovered the true him.