A/N Hey check me out, I got a new chapter out In almost record time. I kind of left y'all sitting with a cliffhanger of epic proportions, and I am truly sorry. Blame my Muse, the twisted f*ck.

Anyway, this is the Halloween Special, and yes I am fully aware its a bit short. It was a calculated risk, lol. As always, thanks to my friend and loyal editor Blkphoenix7 for the editing and what without him I probably couldn't do this.

x⁰X⁰x

Chapter 18

x⁰X⁰x

Judy, plus one.

She crouched in the deepest of the shadows she could find. She just hoped it was enough. She could hear the creature, and she used the term loosely, moving just on the other side of the door. A sort of shuffling, dragging gait that was reminiscent of the old zombie movies. She tried to control her breathing, to breathe slowly and quietly, but it still sounded harsh and raspy in her ears.

She quietly pulled her Mouser .45AP+ from its holster, and pushed the mag release. Quietly she slid the magazine free. Five rounds left. She cursed silently as she slid the mag back in and clicked it in place. She winced as the sound echoed slightly in the large room. The room itself was well appointed with chairs and rugs that were old, imported and most likely grossly expensive. Walls done in rich brown oak and walnut, with lighter accent woods. It even smelled old, sort of the way an old well taken care of book might. Shelves lined the walls, each shelf held hundreds of old books neatly arranged on them. An impossibly old desk stood in a corner near the windows. Rich and dark, and incredibly heavy looking.

She quickly looked around the dimly lit space and noticed another door on the far side of the room. She could no longer hear the dragging steps of whatever that .. thing was that was hunting her. She slipped out of the deep shadows and quietly, but quickly made her way to the other door. Pressing a long ear to the wood, she listened for a moment to see if she could hear anything moving on the other side. After a moment of silence, she was satisfied that it was safe. Opening the door, she slipped through it, and into a dimly lit hallway. Standing still for a moment she listened with keen ears.

Not hearing anything, she made her way down the hall toward what she thought were the main stairs and possibly freedom. As she came to an intersection of a cross hall, she heard the raspy wheeze of the creature that was hunting her. She moved back into the shadows of the hallway, readied her weapon, and waited for the inevitable.

The creature heaved its way into view, casting about for her scent, moving its head back and forth, sniffing the air in great raspy, wheezing breaths. Suddenly it stopped, and turned what passed for its head in her general direction. Sniffing much the way a wolf might, dragging in great lungfuls of air, it seemed like it had found what it was looking for. It began to move into the hallway where she was. She could see what might have been its face clearly. It had no eyes. It was blind, only enhancing its other senses.

She swore under her breath, took aim, released the safety, and prepared to die fighting. Not sure what damage she could do against this thing with only five rounds, but she figured that she could make it hurt, a lot. More of the creature hove into the hallway. Slug like and gelatinous, parts of its body looked to be made of other mammals, sheep, rabbits, even a few foxes, if the patches of red fur and wool meant anything. Its movements were like that of a worm, body slowly undulating back and forth as it moved. She took aim at what looked liked might have at one time been an eye socket, and pulled the trigger. The .45 barked, spitting flame and lead.

The round hit dead center of the socket. A small explosive charge in the hollow point of the round detonated, tearing through flesh and bone. A gout purplish fluid that appeared to pass for its blood, and oddly resembled something strangely familiar, erupted from the back of its head. It reared up in pain and let out a sound that can only be described as a cross between a wolf's howl, the sound mining equipment makes, and a tiger dragging their claws across a chalkboard.

As it reared up in obvious agony, she pumped two more rounds into the fat bulbous head. Both of which tore the skull apart. The creature slammed to the floor, and shuddered for a moment as its life blood spilled out. As it heaved a final breath, it just kind of collapsed, seemingly dead. She fired the last two rounds to make sure, both detonated inside the foul creature body, tearing great chunks of flesh and bone away.

Satisfied that the creature was indeed dead, she then ran past it and down the stairs. Just as she reached the front doors, they burst open. As they slammed to the side, she slid to a halt. It was her partner and friend.

"Nick? Oh by the gods am I glad to see you" she rushed to him and threw her arms around him. Glad to be alive. She suddenly realized that her cheek had become sticky and slightly wet. Leaning back she wiped her cheek with a paw, it was smeared with what looked like blood. Looking up at Nick, She saw that much of the flesh and fur on his chest and stomach had been torn away, exposing bone and muscle. Stepping back a pace, she looked into Nick's eyes right as he lashed out at her, almost at the same time as the lightning flashed just beyond the door, letting loose a peel of thunder that shook her to her bones. With a rabbit's death scream, her vision blurred, then went dark.

x⁰X⁰x

Judy snapped upright in bed, eyes darting around the room as if still looking for a way out of the nightmare she had just had. Looking at the clock to see it was just past 5am, she sat there, her breathing heavy and raspy in her ears. Her nightmares had been getting worse since she had returned to the city. every night, it was nearly the same dream every night. It had been long years away from those she loved and cared about. She had left without saying goodbye to anyone. Hugging her knees to her chest for a time, she calmed her breathing, and fought to clear her mind from the nightmare. After a while she reached over and gently shook the sleeping kit next to her, who mumbled something about "just 5 more minutes"

"Come on sweety, wake up, it's time to go." Said Judy

x⁰X⁰x

The eight year old kit skipped slightly ahead of her mother. The kit was obviously the hybrid of a fox and her rabbit mother. Mostly fox like, but a shorter muzzle, and shorter rabbit like ear with pointed tips. Her fur was red but seemed to have a silver sheen. The most notable and perhaps striking feature of the kit were her eyes. She had Heterochromia. One eye a deep, glowing amethyst purple with green flecks, the other bright, sparkling emerald green with amethyst flecks.

Turning to her mother the kit smiled. "Zootopia is an amazing place, mom. Is this really where you met dad?"

Judy Hopps nodded, almost sadly as they walked down a street near Savannah Central, towards where Jumboux's was once located so many years ago. They had been in Zootopia for nearly a week, in a seemingly vain attempt to locate Nick. A task that had begun to seem almost impossible. She had checked every haunt of his that she knew of, even tried to locate Finn. No dice. Finn had seemingly passed away a couple of years prior. The climate wall catastrophically malfunctioned and dumped 10 feet of snow on everyone of the districts, other than the one it was designed to work for. It was an absolute disaster for most of Zootopia as most mammals had no natural way of keeping warm. Hundreds of desert mammals had lost their lives, unable to stay warm.

Judy sighed quietly. They were having no luck finding Nick, and were running out of time. The kit had to be back in school the following Monday, and it was already Saturday. And with Halloween just around the corner, she knew her daughter would be highly miffed if she were to miss getting her yearly haul. Judy either needed to locate Nick, or head home. With all of that in mind, Judy decided to go back to where it all began. It seemed silly, given how long it had been and how that very first interaction went. Yet something, be it instinct, or a sense of nostalgia, brought Judy back to where she had seen the fox for the very first time.

"That's right sweetheart. In fact, we're headed to where we actually met for the very first time." Stopping in the literal same spot she had stood in when she first saw him all those years prior, and hit with a very heavy sense of Deja Vu, Judy looked across the street to the storefront that once held the megafauna ice cream parlor, Judy looked up at the sign and her heart dropped. Jumboux's was gone. Instead of what she was expecting, she found a 50s style diner. The entire building was polished metal. And was clearly set up to work with mammal sizes from medium to small, to the size of a shrew, noting a mouse leaving through a tiny door at one end of a small shelf like awning, and dropping into a tube that led to a covered parking area for tiny mammal vehicles.

Looking up again at the sign, she read it out loud,"Wilde Treats 50s Diner "Well I'll be," Judy thought to herself "Nick seems to have done alright after all."

Taking the kit's paw in hers, they crossed the street and entered the building. The inside was truly fantastic, areas set up for mammals of all sizes from rodents, to medium class. From the looks of it, someone on the smaller side of the large category could probably patronize the business without too much trouble. The tiniest customers had a raised platform for safety, as well as making it easy to talk to other customers, should they choose. Small and Medium customers intermingled as they chose. Signs here and there reminding the larger customers to always be aware and mindful of the smaller, and especially the smallest of customers.

The walls all had pictures of famous mammals like Rita Haywool, a gorgeous ewe from the 40s, or like Humphry Bogart, the famous crime fighting camel. Old vinyl records of famous songs and their artists, Notably Elvis Parsley, A cream colored bull, with jet black hair. Another of Jerry Lee Eweis, and of course Dean Martin, along with many pictures of old cars. The floor was tiled in a black and white checker pattern, and the booths done in chrome and red faux leather. The tables all held newspaper clippings from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. All gave the place a nostalgic vibe, that was sure to please young and old alike. Even era correct music occasionally played softly from an old expertly restored Furlitzer Jukebox that stood proudly in one corner of a large space that was clearly designed to be a dance floor.

Everything about this place was designed to look like it was pulled directly from a bygone era, right down to the employee uniforms with its striped apron and hat, for actual soda jerks, that made old time style soda with phosphate and seltzer, and "poodle skirts" for the waitress's.

Taking a seat in a corner booth, away from the hustle and bustle of the other customers, Judy and her kit waited for a waitress. Judy smiled as the waitress approached, a gorgeous, pure white arctic fox, whose name tag read Skye.

Hello, welcome to Wilde Treats, I'm Skye. I'll be your waitress today, what can I start you with?"

"Well, to be honest, I was hoping that the owner, Mister Wilde, might be available?" Judy asked sheepishly. "Let him know Judy is asking for him, I don't know if he will want to see me, but it is important that I at least try."

Smiling sweetly, Skye said, "I believe he is, "If you would like to wait for just a moment I will go see if he is free." Judy just gave a nod as Skye turned and headed for the back of the establishment.

x⁰X⁰x

Lightly knocking on the office door, Skye heard a muffled "enter." Stepping into the office she lightly closed the door.

"Boss, I think she's here."

Still working on something on his computer, Nick said with a quick glance to Skye, "Who is?"

"Judy. You made mention several times to keep an eye out for a gray bunny, extra tall black tipped ears, and with bright amethyst purple eyes, named Judy."

"So I did," Nick softly sighed. "Ok, thank you Snow. Please let her know I will be out in a few. And please make sure she gets whatever she wants, on the house."

"Will do boss," Skye said as she turned to leave the office.

"Oh and Snow, stop calling me Boss." Said Nick

Sure boss, just as soon as you stop calling me Snow." Skye snarked. "Oh and by the way, your Judy is at table 10."

Smiling as Skye closed the office door behind her, Nick knew the time had finally come to face his worst fear. The return of the love of his life, who he could only hope would shed some light on why she just suddenly up and left. Leaving him, and quite literally everyone and everything in the middle of the night.

Finishing up his weekly report to send off to his financial advisor. "Only 52 more of those," he thought to himself. Nick closed the book keeping program, locked the computer, shut off the screen, and made ready to face the past. One he had only till now dreamed would come back to haunt him.

Checking himself in the medium mammal mirror, making sure his slightly graying fur was laying properly, Nick made his way out to the restaurant. Rounding the corner and stepping through the swinging doors, Nick made his way to where Judy and an unknown kit sat.

"Hello, Miss Hopps, welcome to Wilde Treats. Long time no see." Said Nick.