A/N: We now return to this story with a new update! In the last update, Eli had a nightmare concerning a man wearing a navy blue one-piece jumpsuit, and an old worn out latex white William Shatner mask. And that nightmare was so bad that his adopted animal parents had to wake him up and comfort him. Officer Grizolli was also murdered the same man in Eli's dream, and made off with his patrol car after ripping the radio out and tossing it out the window. Now, we'll get a full explanation as to what Eli's dream was about, as well as many other things as well. Enjoy!
October 30th, 2018
One Day to Howl-O-Ween.
The next morning, Eli was sitting at the kitchen table and holding a can of ginger ale. Usually his parents wouldn't allow him to have soda so early in the morning, but they figured today would be an exception because of that horrible nightmare he had last night. Nick and Judy sat at the opposite end of the table, and were waiting for the right moment to speak up.
"So uh... Eli, that dream you had last night..." Nick said after clearing his throat and deciding to break the silence.
"I know, I'm sorry about all that screaming. I didn't mean to wake you up" said Eli, feeling apologetic for waking up his parents because he couldn't handle a silly nightmare. Judy shook her head and placed her paw on Eli's hand.
"You have nothing to be sorry about. And we know you didn't mean to do that, parents comfort their kits from bad dreams all the time. Besides, you have bad dreams from your past all the time, so this isn't anything new for us, sweetheart" said Judy, trying to reassure her son that he wasn't in trouble in any way for waking her and Nick up.
"Well, yeah, but they're not usually this bad" Eli stated.
"That's why we talk about our dreams, kiddo. Getting things like that off your chest makes you feel better, and keeping stuff like that bottled up just isn't healthy for you" Nick told him.
"Your father is right, if something's bothering you, you can always talk to us about it. Or you can talk to Dr. Snowson if you felt like you couldn't be able to tell us" Judy added. Dr. Barry Snowson was a member of the ZPD as well as Eli's therapist who also dealt with another human named Russel, who was living with the Spitz family in the foster care system. Eli had been having weekly visits with him to help overcome his shyness and past emotional scars, and it usually helped.
"Well, the thing is... I haven't been... completely honest with you about where I came from" said Eli. This confused both the fox and rabbit.
"What are you talking about?" Nick asked.
"There's some stuff concerning my past I never told anyone about. Not you, or mom, Dr. Snowson, Mike, Isaac or even Lyla" explained Eli. Judy now felt terrible, she felt like something about Eli's past was so bad that he couldn't even share it with anyone.
"Honey, there is no need to be ashamed about that. The past is the past" Judy told him clutching onto her kit's hands tightly for reassurance.
"She's right, sport. All you gotta do is tell us everything and we'll help you any way we can" Nick said in agreement with what the rabbit had just said earlier. Eli then took a sip of his ginger ale and then cleared his throat. He felt like he should tell them, especially after how much the two had been there for him since the beginning.
"Okay. When I was living at the orphanage, a man named Dr. Loomis came over to visit me. He told me he knew who my mother was... and that I deserved to know why she gave me up" Eli began. Nick and Judy now felt like they had to dedicate their full attention to this story, seeing how it could help him overcome all his past emotional trauma.
"And what did Dr. Loomis tell you?" asked Judy.
"My mother's name... was Laurie Strode. And... back in 1978... she had been through something so traumatic, that it made her feel like... like... like she couldn't protect me. Laurie had... two failed marriages... I was a child from the second marriage that failed. I was... only a few... months old when Laurie decided to give me up. When I asked what made her... do that... he told me that it wasn't 'What' made her do it... it was 'Who' made her do it" Eli explained. Judy and Nick continued to listen to the story.
"Who?" Judy asked.
"He told me the story of... M-Michael Myers" Eli answered. Now both fox and rabbit were confused, they had never heard that name before.
"Michael Myers?" they asked in unison all at once.
"Dr. Loomis said Michael was a patient of his. And that... in 1963, on H-Halloween night... he stabbed his older sister to death when he was... six years old" Eli explained. Judy was in shock to hear something like this, she didn't understand why a six year old boy would want to murder their own sister.
"Why did he do that?" asked Nick.
"Nobody knows why... some said... he was born to be a killer. Some even called him... the boogieman. You can't catch the boogieman, you can't kill the boogieman. He was locked away... for fifteen years before he broke out again... in 1978... on Halloween night" Eli continued.
"He got out?" Judy asked, her ears drooping and eyes widening in horror. Eli only nodded before continuing the story.
"He returned to Haddonfield, Illinois, his home. My mother was 17-years-old when this happened. Michael... killed a trucker for his coveralls to replace his... hospital gown he always wore. He then broke... into a hardware store and stole... some knives... and an unpainted latex... William Shatner mask to cover his face. Then, on Halloween, he murdered three people. All of them... were my mother's friends. Her two best friends... Lynda and Annie... and Lynda's boyfriend Bob. Then... Michael came after her" he said. Nick and Judy gulped in response.
"Michael had managed to give her a... cut on her arm. She fought back... she stabbed him in the neck with a metal knitting needle. She also stabbed him in th-the eye with a... metal coat hanger, and then stabbed him in the stomach. But Michael didn't die from any of that. Michael was about to choke her, but then Loomis came in and shot him six times in the chest and still managed to survive that... only to be taken back to the hospital he was locked up at" concluded Eli.
"So, your mother was living in paranoia thinking that someday Michael was gonna come back?" asked Nick. Eli's only reply to the question was a nod.
"How were you even able to deduce that?" Judy asked him.
"It's the plot of almost every slasher movie sequel ever, Carrots" Nick said before taking a sip of his coffee. Judy only rolled her eyes in response before turning back to Eli.
"She isolated herself from the rest of the world since that night. She lived in the woods a hundred miles outside of H-Haddonfield because of it. She was living in fear, thinking Michael would one day come back and try to come for her... and maybe even me" Eli told her. Judy now fully understood why Eli's mother abandoned him, she didn't know that all the abuse in foster homes and orphanages was going to happen, she was mainly concerned with making sure that the man who tried to kill her didn't come for her child too.
"Loomis also told me that people made up this... rumor that Michael was... Laurie's brother. And s-somehow the bullies at the o-orphanage found out. They teased me and shouted 'Boogieman! Boogieman! Eli's uncle's a Boogieman!', even though that was never true" Eli told them.
"Oh Eli, I'm so sorry. Your mother didn't deserve that, and neither did you" said Judy. Both now realized without even asking him, what their son's nightmare was. He dreamed that Michael Myers tried to kill him.
"I don't blame my mom. I blame the man who tried to k-kill her all those years ago. My life... was made a living Hell, because of Michael Myers" Eli said, tears about to fall down his face once more. Judy then got up from her seat and hugged Eli, Nick joined in on the hug as well.
"Shh, shh. It's okay, Michael's locked away. He can't hurt you" said Judy.
"Even if he did get out, there's NO way he'd ever get into Zootopia" Nick added, to try and reassure his son-to-be (even though Eli already considered him his father).
"You mean it?" Eli asked.
"Of course we do, pumpkin" Judy promised. The hug then was broken up and Nick heard his phone ring, Gazelle's cover of Michael Jackelope's 'Thriller' was playing as the ringtone. He saw Chief Bogo's face on the Caller ID and he answered it.
"Hello?" he answered. Nick's eyes widened and his smile was lost.
"A-Are you sure it's him?" asked Nick to the chief on the other end.
"I-I-I understand, sir. W-We were just about to arrive at the station anyways" said Nick. Judy now began getting concerned and looked over to her boyfriend with curiosity mixed with her concern.
"We'll just change real fast and be at the scene in a few minutes" Nick concluded before hanging up and putting the phone back in his pocket.
"What is it?" asked Judy.
"It's Grizolli, fire and medical workers found his body lying in the grass with his skull cracked open and bleeding in the Rainforest District. Coroner is labeling the death as a homicide" Nick told her. Judy gasped and covered her now-agape jaw with her paws.
"Sorry Eli, we won't be able to drive you to school today. Are you okay with taking the bus?" Judy asked before Nick ran over to their bedroom to change into his work uniform.
"Yeah, I can take the bus Ju... I mean mom" said Eli. Judy smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before running into the bedroom to swap clothes as well.
At an apartment complex, a young redheaded human named Baily Longmire had just woken up and had just poured some coffee for his guest. He turned behind him to see a beautiful lioness wearing a light gray tee-shirt, and black pajama bottoms come into the room yawning loudly. This was his girlfriend, Sophia, who worked as a registered nurse at Zootopia General Hospital.
"Good morning, sleepyhead" said Baily as he walked over to her, holding a mug of coffee in his hands to hand to her.
"Morning to you too, Baily" said Sophia as she took the mug out of his hands and took a sip.
"I wasn't sure how you liked your coffee, do I decided to let you without anything and let you add whatever you wanted" Baily told her.
"You have any French Vanilla creamers, or even some Sweet-N-Low's?" asked Sophia. Bailey then nodded and walked over to the fridge and pulled out the creamer, and to the spice cabinet for the Sweet-N-Low's.
"Here you are" said Bailey before placing the items on the kitchen counter. Sophia smiled and put her creamer and sweeteners in her coffee before she looked over to her boyfriend.
"So, any plans for Howl-O-Ween this year?" asked Sophia as she watched Bailey sit down on the couch and turn the TV on. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays were his days off, and Howl-O-Ween this year was on a Saturday, so that meant he didn't have to work at Ivory Tusks today, and could do whatever he wanted to do on Howl-O-Ween.
"I do have one idea..." Bailey said before walking back into the kitchen and pulling something out from one of the drawers. A large brown paper grocery shopping bag.
"First, I figured we could watch the 'Horror-Thon' on TV tonight. Ya know, watch some old cheesy horror flicks with some popcorn while he hand candy out to trick or treaters. And maybe, we could carve this" Bailey said before pulling out of the bag, a large pumpkin. Sophie gasped at this and smiled.
"You're never too old to carve a pumpkin, you know" Bailey said, shrugging his shoulders with a small.
"Well that sounds like fun" said Sophie, loving the idea of carving pumpkins, watching scary movies, and handing candy out.
"But what about costumes? You've gotta have a costume on Howl-O-Ween. As is tradition" said Sophia, remembering that a lot of animals and humans were going to be dressing up for that night.
"I actually had some ideas about that" said Baily before walking over to his closet and pulled out two packaged costumes.
"These were on sale at TarGoat. I figured I could be Frankenstein's monster, and you could be Frankenstein's bride" Bailey suggested.
"I love that idea. I was gonna suggest we go as giant pizza slices, but your idea is way better. It's much more appropriate too since this is the one day a year where you see goblins and ghosts running around all over the place" said Sophia as she took the Frankenstein's bride costume from his hands and began to stare at the picture on the package. It came with a wig, makeup, and the dress as well.
"I knew you would" said Bailey before both human and lioness' attention was turned to the TV after the news had just caught their attention.
"We interrupt this program to bring you this important news flash from ZNN. ZPD officer John Grizolli was found brutally murdered today in the Rainforest District near the remains of a burning house. The coroner says that it appears that someone bashed his head against an ironwood tree repeatedly, and cracked his skull open" said the reporter on the TV as live news-chopper footage of the crime scene was shown.
"Oh geez. That sounds awful" said Sophia.
"I know. Some real psychos out there. Especially during this time of year" said Bailey. The two continued to have breakfast together while watching the news coverage of Grizolli's murder.
Russel Alexander, another human was walking to school with his two friends, a hippo named Roger, and an otter named Erik. They had decided to walk to school together today to enjoy watching the leaves fall from the trees out onto the streets. Each of them holding a plastic smoothie cup they had gotten from a coffee shop run by their high school's language arts teacher as they walked. Russel had ordered a Wild-Berry smoothie, Erik had ordered a Mango-Peach smoothie, and Roger ordered a Strawberry-Banana smoothie which they sipped as they walked and talked on their way to school.
"So Russel, you gonna be going to the Howl-O-Ween dance tomorrow night?" asked Erik.
"I'm not sure. My family was never really close, so we never got to do things that you guys would usually do on Hall... I mean Howl-O-Ween. No trick or treating, no scary movie marathons, no costume parties, no nothing" Russel replied.
"Are you serious? You've never been trick or treating?" asked Roger.
"Nope" Russel told them.
"Okay, now this is a problem that MUST be rectified" Roger said in a tone that made him sound like he was in the military.
"I agree. We're so going trick or treating before the dance" Erik told him.
"But I don't even have a costume. Nor do I have a ticket" said Russel.
"Don't worry, we can just go shopping after school. I'm pretty sure the Howl-O-Ween store's having a big costume clearance sale since tomorrow is the big day after all" Erik pointed out.
"And I just so happen to have an extra ticket. One of my other friend's who had this ticket caught mono, and won't be able to attend the dance without spreading it to everybody in school. So he handed it to me and told me to give it to whoever wanted it. Now I guess it's going to you" Roger told him, pulling the extra ticket out of his wallet and handing it to Russel.
"Thanks guys, you really are great friends" Russel said smiling as he stared down at the ticket before putting it in his pocket.
"Hey, that's what friends are for. Don't even mention it" Erik told him. Roger's ears perked up, remembering something that had happened recently and wanted to talk about with the human and otter.
"Did you see what happened on the news this morning?" Roger asked.
"I know, brutal. ZPD officer brutally murdered around Howl-O-Ween time. I don't understand why certain mammals got their sick kicks off of killing others, it's just sick and wrong" Erik replied to Roger's question.
"It's kinda... convenient too" said Russel. Erik and Roger looked confused. The three friends had approached a crosswalk and waited patiently to cross the street.
"What do you mean?" Erik asked.
"Well, back in my world something kinda... happened on this particular holiday that gave people a reason to be afraid of that night" Russel told them while they waited.
"What happened?" Roger asked.
"Well, in 1978 this guy broke out of an insane asylum the day before Halloween. And then on the night of Halloween itself, he brutally murdered four people. He killed a dude just to take his clothes, and then stole a mask and some knives from the hardware store before murdering the other three" said Russel. Roger and Erik winced at the sound of that.
"That sounds awful" Roger said.
"Tell me about it. Must have taken the neighborhood by storm too. I mean, four people get murdered in one night? That's on the news" Erik added. Russel nodded in agreement.
"Then his own psychiatrist came out of nowhere and shot the dude six times in the chest as he was about to strangle this other girl, after he stabbed him in the neck with a long metal knitting-needle, a coat hanger jabbed into one of his eyes, and knifed in the stomach by her as well" the human continued.
"He really survived all that? Is this guy immortal or something?" Roger asked. Russel just chuckled and shook his head.
"No, he was just some regular old guy who was very difficult to kill. Not to mention he murdered his own sister in 1963 by stabbing her to death with a kitchen knife on the Halloween of that year too" he said.
"What happened after he got shot? Did he die?" asked Erik, curious to know what happened.
"No, he lived but got sent back to the asylum he broke out of after that. His doctor tried to argue that he should be put down and killed, but everyone else was in favor of studying him for scientific purposes. Now he's 61 years old, living the rest of his days in that hospital in the maximum facility ward" explained Russel.
"And nobody's ever forgotten that night?" asked Roger.
"Nope. I used to think that Michael Myers was just some scary story that parents would tell their kids to make them behave themselves. But, as I got older I came to find out that he was real" Russel told the two of them. The light turned red, and the three friends crossed the street together until getting to the other end of the sidewalk and the school came into view.
"Michael Myers?" Erik asked.
"Yeah, that was the guy's name" replied Russel.
"Dude, maybe that's who you should be for Howl-O-Ween. You should go as Michael Myers!" Roger suggested.
"Probably not a good idea. The mask that Michael stole from the hardware store in 1978, I don't think they'd sell them here. Not to mention, nobody else in Zootopia knows who he is. I don't wanna go up to a person's door dressed up as somebody that they've never heard of before asking for candy" said the human boy before taking another sip of his smoothie.
"Good point" Roger said.
"I'm sure we'll still find a good costume after school at the Howl-O-Ween store" said Erik. The three then walked into the school building together and attended their classes.
Outside a gas station in Sahara Square, a small Sheep wearing an orange prison jumpsuit was getting out of a car that she had stolen. This Ewe's name was Dawn Bellwether, and she was the one who was poisoning innocent predators with her own special Night-Howler serum to make them savage and turn the public opinion against them. Her plans were foiled by Nick and Judy many years ago, before the humans came to their world and she was sent to prison.
"Stupid crappy car" she growled before slamming the driver's door behind her before she walked inside the establishment. Little did she know, Michael Myers had just parked the car he had stolen from Grizolli after murdering him and watched as she went inside. He spotted a wolf mechanic working on a mini-van that had a smoking engine and walked inside the garage. Another ZPD cruiser had just parked across the street and out of it's driver's seat came officer Delgato, a lioness who was assigned to track down the escaped Bellwether.
"Well what do you know" she smugly said as she saw a car that looked exactly like the one that the report said was stolen from an innocent family of zebras coming home from a family reunion. Just as she was about to radio dispatch, she noticed that Grizolli's stolen cruiser was parked there as well.
"Dispatch, this is Delgato" she said.
"Go for dispatch" the voice on the other end replied.
"I managed to find Bellwether. I also found Grizolli's stolen car, so it means his killer is probably in that building as well" said Delgato, still staring directly at the gas station.
"Roger that, Delgato. What's your 20?" asked the dispatch animal.
"Dinoco station, Sahara Square. Just right across the street from the Arco gas station" Delgato replied.
"10-4, Delgato. Backup should be arriving within three minutes" said the dispatch animal before ending the call. Delgato then drew her pistol out and made her way up to the garage and saw that two mechanics were lying dead on the floor in a pool of their own blood. One of them was a wolf, wearing just a pair of tighty whities, and their coveralls were stolen, while the other one was an elephant with his navy blue coveralls still on his body. She also saw another pair of coveralls with bloodstains, gun-shots, and knife-tears were lying on the floor next to the toolbox.
"Hello? ZPD! Show yourself!" Delgato shouted, holding their gun up in front of them, thinking the killer was still in the garage. She then ran inside the convenience store to see that the clerk working the front desk, a dingo was lying on the desk itself, blood dripping down from the edge and onto the tiled floor. Delgato then pulled out her radio and called for dispatch while still staring at the corpse.
"Dispatch, this is Delgato. Send an ambulance and the coroner. We have a 187, three dead bodies inside the Dinoco gas station in Sahara Square. Send as many nearby officers as you can, the killer is still inside the station. I repeat, killer is still inside the building!" she said frantically into the radio's mic. She then saw that a glass container for a fire-ax hanging from the wall near the storage room had it's glass broken, and the ax was missing.
Bellwether was sitting inside one of the bathroom stalls, changing out of her prison jumpsuit into some new clothes that she had just bought from the coyote whom she didn't know was just murdered. While she was getting changed, she heard someone come inside the female mammal's restroom, and could hear their footsteps echo throughout the room. She had just put on a black sweater as she felt her stall door jiggle.
"Hey! Somebody's in here!" Bellwether called out in a very rude and impolite way. The mystery mammal's only response was to try and open the door again, which made the ewe even angrier.
"Are you deaf!? I said somebody was in here! Go use one of the other stalls you idiot!" shouted Bellwether. She then looked up and saw a human hand reach up from the top of the door and opened itself up to reveal several bloodied wolf teeth that make little clacking sounds as they hit the floor. Now, her anger was replaced by pure fear and began to gasp.
"O-Oh my God!" she stuttered. The hand then began shaking the stall door violently, and managed to break down the door to reveal Michael Myers holding the fire-ax from the convenience store in his right hand and swung it towards her, only for her dodge it and break the toilet to pieces instead and water started to flood the floor.
"Help! Somebody help me!" Bellwether screamed as she was crawling away from Michael to avoid any chance of death. Michael then saw Delgato standing in the middle of restroom exit holding her gun at him, and then turned his focus towards her.
"ZPD, you're under arrest!" the lioness barked. Michael then swung his ax at her and knocked the gun out of her paw and then struck her right in the neck with the weapon's blade. Delgato cried out in pain as she fell to the floor and pulled the ax out of her neck, placing her paw on the rapidly bleeding cut.
"Please... don't hurt me" she begged as Michael now stood above her. Her bravery was stripped away the very minute Michael struck her with the weapon and now was staring at the bringer of her death. She wasn't a ZPD officer in that moment, now, she was just a scared little lion. Michael then grabbed Delgato's body and then wrapped his arms around her and began squeezing her so hard until her spine made a loud snapping noise and her body went limp.
"Oh sweet baby Mufasa!" Bellwether whispered with her hooves covering her mouth. The sight of that poor lioness being murdered by a bear-hug almost made the poor ewe want to vomit. Michael then dropped the corpse down to the floor and then he turned back to Bellwether, who was now backed against one of the toilets in fear for her life.
"Please, sir. I am worth so much more alive than dead. You let me live, and I will give you WHATEVER you want. Just name it, and I can get it for you. I used to be this city's assistant mayor after all" she begged. Michael just turned to the mirror and punched it, causing large shards of broken glass to fall to the floor. He then picked up a large one off the floor and walked into the stall that Bellwether was cowering in and began to stab her repeatedly until she stopped moving. Once Michael was done with Bellwether, he dropped the shard and took the keys to her car from her pants pocket and then walked out into the parking lot. He had ditched the ZPD cruiser for the car Bellwether took, and just fled the murder scene.
A/N: Chapter two is done! So now the news of Michael killing Grizolli has just taken Zootopia by surprise. He's even now added an innocent gas station worker, two mechanics, Delgato, and Bellwether to his body-count. Eli has also revealed that Laurie Strode, the girl who survived Michael's 1978 killing spree on Halloween night is his mother, and that she gave him up out of fear that Michael would try and come for him and she did it to protect her baby. Eli's life was made awful all because of one man, and now he's in Zootopia. More will come in the next update. Please review, thanks!