Chapter 22
A/N: Hello all! Hope you've had a great week! This one was a little later than I thought it would because I actually injured my hand this week and I couldn't write a lot because I didn't want to put more strain onto my hand. In this chapter, a massive warehouse shootout has been triggered and our officer friends try to escape after Nick spotted something fishy. HEADS UP there is some more descriptive gore and violence in this chapter! Hope you like it!
The two cops flew out of their protective cover and Judy started to fire her pistol. She aimed her sights at a wolf aiming at Rhinowhitz who was trapped in a corner. The fearless bunny pulled the trigger and the bullet streamed across the damp air and hit the skull of the wolf. The bullet exited from the other side, leaving a clear mark where it hit and exited. The predator whimpered loudly and dropped dead to the ground, gruel scattering across the floor. The sight of it made Nick feel queasy. "Oh, gross man!" he stammered, covering his mouth. "Nick!" Judy screamed. "Get over here otherwise you'll be in a hospital bed again! I told you if we stay together, we won't get hurt!" The fearless fox clenched his eyes tightly and ran through the stream of bullets. He slide tackled another henchman as he fell to the floor, all of a sudden he had a bullet in his chest. Screaming in pain, he laid on the floor lifeless. He smiled and ran towards the shelf that Judy was hiding, loading in a new clip into her firearm. Nick tapped her soft back. "You are a clean shot, carrots." he said with a smile. Judy smiled strongly back. Bullets suddenly ricocheted off the wall and hit an oil drum next to them. They both flinched at the thought that they were going to be in the line of fire. Judy bumped Nick's waist for his attention. "Quickly! Peep over the shelf and see what's going on out there!" Nick did as he was told and looked from behind the obstruction. He eyed a tiger tapping on a mysterious device and hid it inside an old, rusty oven.
Nick's emerald green eyes started to grow. Curious what he witnessed, he crouched behind the shelf where Judy was waiting for his report. "Well, what did you see?" "Something not good." he replied grabbing her paw tightly. "It looked fishy to me. I'm going out there!" Judy's ears flopped and her eyes widened in shock. "N- Nick... don't be stupid! Don't risk your fur coat or anything at all! I don't want you hurt again!" Nick grabbed her shoulders tightly making Judy gasp. "Look, remember what you said about unity? I won't get hurt if you stay close to me... and I want you to stay here and stay close to my soul and my mind." The bunny's eyes narrowed in awe and confusion. She would never want to see Nick get hurt again in all her living life. Everything went quiet in her mind just hearing those words repeat in her head. 'Carrots... don't worry. I'm going to be okay. You'll see...' Judy felt wobbly at her small kneecaps. Those words just made her feel dizzy and a wee bit sad. "Judy?... Judy! Stay close to me alright?" All of a sudden, the treacherous noises were leaking into her ears again. Nick gave his lover a small peck on the forehead as his paws left the grip on her shoulders. The fox ran out of his cover making the bunny cry on the inside. It filled her inside so fast that it is starting to come out of her eyes. The fox went on all fours, a bullet whizzed past his fluffy ear and he felt the force go past. 'Jesus, that was close!' he thought. The fox took cover behind the rusty oven and quickly opened the door. His eyes then widened and his jaw dropped in disbelief. The oven was rigged with a digital display counting down in minutes, accompanied by fearful beeping and was wired to some powerful explosives bolted to the appliance. "Two minutes and forty-one seconds..." he thought to himself. 'That's not enough time! But I cannot waste a second more! My buddies and my Judy are counting on me to get us out of here!'
In a split second, he felt an object push into his head and his ear perked up as soon as he heard... a gun cocking. "You aren't going anywhere you sly fox..." a shadowy image said to him. Nick's eyes closed and said his possible final prayers. His paws slumped to the rough ground and he felt something scratch onto his metacarpal pads. He opened one eye slowly and saw a brick. He tightened his grip on it and shouted; "Quickly, shoot him!" pointing his finger past it's shoulders. The anonymous figure looked behind him expecting to see... nothing. "H-huh?" he uttered in confusion. Nick quickly got to his knees and whacked the brick on the skull on the animal. CRACK! The shadow sunk onto the hard floor. Laying lifeless was a grey rabbit with black stripes running across his face, with a huge gaping crack on it's head. "Gotcha, ya bastard..." uttered Nick. The beeping got faster. 'Shit! Two minutes left!' he cursed to his sub-concious. Nick took in a deep breath and shouted with all his might; "THERES A BOMB! ALL OFFICERS RETREAT!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The shock wave of the shout was so intense that the ceiling started to give in on itself. "Wilde, we are at the back getting the van ready but Hopps isn't with us! We haven't got much time until this dump implodes on itself!" shouted Grizolli on his earpiece. Nick gasped loudly at the thought that his loved one might be hurt badly. "I will be out ASAP! Going to search for Hopps! Over and Out!" Nick clicked his earpiece off and ran once again through the swarms of bullets and sea of corpses. He suddenly tripped over a dead body and fell onto his kneecaps. "Ow! Fuckin' hell that hurts! JUDY! WHERE ARE YOU?!" "Nick?! I'm behind the shelves!" cried a distinctive voice.
The fox ran towards the voice and saw an unscathed bunny. "Oh thank god you are okay!" cried Nick. "Come on! We have to get out of here!" he ordered with urgency in his voice. He quickly wrapped his arms around Judy's waist and hoisted her up effortlessly cuddling her arms around the fox's coarse orange fur. "I'm with you always you sly, brave fox! Let's go!" Nick smiled and started to sprint towards the garage door all through crumbling walls and bullets. One bullet nearly caved through his leg as it flew between his strong calves. The two mammals heard something that they were dreading; "IT'S GONNA BLOW! GET OUT OF HERE MY COMRADES!" a wolf henchman shouted as threw his gun to the floor, slammed the exit door open and ran out. Nick reached the garage shutter and put Judy on the ground. He quickly put his hands under the small gap and with all his might, he began to open the garage shutter. "NGH! It's jammed!" he shouted as sweat started to break from his pours. Judy ran over to help the struggling fox and with the power of their teamwork, the garage shutter creaked open. Nick quickly grabbed her paw and held the door open. "Come on! Let's go!" Nick pulled the bunny out of the warehouse. All of a sudden, a deafening eruption came from behind and crashing sounds accompanied it. Flames exploded out of broken windows and sent a shock wave of force when a huge booming sound was heard. Nick and Judy ran for their lives whilst holding on to their paws. The shock wave threw them to the ground face first. The warehouse was non-existent in the bright flames and flying debris as it exploded. It then collapsed to the ground making Nick and Judy hug each other in fear and protection.
A few seconds later, the warehouse was just a pile of smouldering rubble with a few stray flames appearing now and then and thick smoke whirled into the clean air of Zootopia. Nick and Judy let go of each other and laid on their backs, breathing heavily in terror and relief. Nick looked towards Judy, she was covered in dust and a few scratches on her face but smiling that she was glad that she and him were still alive. Nick's fur coat was all scruffy and patches of fur was stripped from his neck. The most notable injury was a big graze on his right kneecap. They both grabbed their paws tightly and looked into each others eyes smiling. "Well Nicky..." Judy weakly said as she started coughing. "We done it. We are alive and we still have each other and our colleagues... well done." Nick smile grew wider and place his free paw on Judy's cheek making her radiate with heat and passion. "Thank you carrots... I could have not done it without you. We would be okay if we stayed close together and it sure as hell worked." Judy wrapped her legs around Nick's waist and stroked Nick's head. Her paws passed his fluffy ears that made him whine in comfort. "Wilde! Hopps!" a voice was heard booming. Judy let go of Nick's grip and slowly stood up. Her back and head ached. Nick just sat up on the floor. "Guys! We are here!" she shouted waving her paws in the air. The trio rushed to the two injured officers. "Are you okay?" said McHorn. His eyes quickly scanned Nick and Judy's body. "Wow... that looks nasty..." "Yeah," replied Judy "We are okay... just need some first aid." McHorn held his hand to Nick who was struggling to get up. "Ah! Thank you McHorn... god that was some showstopper huh?" he asked as he witnessed the site of the former warehouse. "Yeah, we were so close! It's not your fault though..." Nick held his paw on his head. "God... I need a drink at Tundra Town..." he whispered to Judy. "You up for it?" Judy looked to Nick and smiled and nodded in agreement. "Well, off to first aid for you two I guess." Rhinowhitz suggested. "Yes. We should..." said Judy and Nick in unison, whilst looking into their luscious pools smiling. They walked towards the van whilst holding paws tightly. They were glad to be alive and well, now they need time to wind down.
A/N: Wow! That was some chapter! I loved writing this one! In the next chapter, Nick and Judy head out to Tundra Town for the night and exchange some more feelings! Hopefully it will come out next week! Once again, a big thanks to all my readers, followers and fans alike for the support for the novel and my injured hand! Hope to hear from you soon! -RetractedEmotions