Chapter 27
.
.
"Wake up!"
"Huh?"
"Good," Lt Vixen said, grabbing Skye and pulling her up onto her feet. "Wolves spotted on the move. We need to be there five minutes ago!"
Shaking her head, Skye jolted herself awake and took off after her sister, grabbing their clothes and non-lethal weapons before making for the door.
"I know it's not going to make you reconsider your opinion of me, you being the oppressors benefiting from it," Doug began, stepping out of a room, casual clothes still on and a laptop in hoof.
"No, we're at code red," the red fox vixen snapped, racing past.
The sheep placed his laptop down and grabbed his gear too, slipping them on as he raced past them. "Jack!" Skye yelled, as the hare hopped out of a door, foot half in a pair of fatigues.
Skye leant in and picked him up with one arm, carrying him as they reached their vehicle and throwing him in.
"We have a surveillance drone circling the city," Lt Vixen began, as she suited up, glove compartment open and her own high powered tranquiliser rifle coming out. "Thermal imaging and a filter AI is designed to spot any unusual movement and flag it for us. A few minutes ago it spotted three large groups hiking across the snow in one of the empty parts of TundraTown, all converging on one spot."
"How do we know it's not normal wolves going out in the middle of the night to do normal wolf things?" Skye asked, pausing as she registered that she was in the drivers seat.
"Well, we don't," Sweetie said, turning to look at her and shrugging. A little smile grew on her muzzle. "That's why you're going to drive us there to find out."
Skye frowned."Why am I the one driving?"
Crossing her paws as the roller gate ahead opened, Lt Vixen cocked an eyebrow. "All paws up who's got medals in amateur racing sports."
Skye raised a paw to object, only to stop as she saw her sister smirk. "Ask a stupid question," she said, turning the vehicle on. Her fur fluffed as it purred, and various unusual options appeared on the screen. "What the…" she began. "Gas release? Nitro? Uber beam headlights…"
"This is a spy car!" Jack gasped.
"Armoured up, and gadgetted out," Lt Vixen said, pausing as she saw Skye's tail wagging furiously, and a hungry look on her face. "You know, there's the look I expected back when I first offered you this gig in the first place."
Skye broke off from her pre-hunt excitement to give her sister a half-death glare, half 'really' look."Don't you start," she lightly warned, moving the shifter down and taking manual control of the gears.
"I'll just list all the features and see how much I can get your tail wagging instead," the red fox teased as, lights on, they raced out into the darkness of the early morning, to wherever they needed to be.
.
.
Kozlov's eyes opened.
Paw holding the necklace at his chest, he closed them again and breathed in. "You're scared," he said, smiling for a second. Only for it to fade, fast. "But so should I."
He kicked himself up and raced on down the ice tunnel, slamming his paw on a door. "Vasiliy! We go, now!"
He turned down and began racing off, only to freeze and turn back, slamming on the door once more. "VASILY!"
A second past, before he kicked the door in, marching over to the bed. The other bear sat there, staring off into the distance.
"VASILY! WE GO NOW!" He just let out a long, sullen sigh, Kozlov facepawing in response. "Why I ever tell you that?"
"Because I need to know that world is fundamentally horrible and terrifying," the other bear said, shrugging. "And we just insignificant…"
"No, we may be small but we still fight! We still fight!" Kozlov yelled.
Vasily looked up at him. "And how many others die for your fighting?"
The larger bear's muzzle rivenned up with folds of rage. "That was then, this now! Everything is different!"
"Da," Vasily mumbled, looking back down. "Da…"
"Cyka," the older bear hissed, lunging down and grabbing Vasily with his claws. The response was pathetic, but that did not matter. All Kozlov needed was to get him to his feet and push him on, get one foot in front of the other before…
BANG…
A blast of air ripped down one of the tunnels, tearing shards of ice from the walls and sending them in a blizzard towards them. Finally though, Vasily snapped awake and jolted into action, racing the other way. "Is way out," he said, as Kozlov slipped back to the door to the room the other bear had been in.
It was an igloo-like dome, one of many in this labyrinth-like network of carved out chambers and tunnels Vasily had created over the years, hidden under unassuming empty snowfields. Only the secret was now out and they were under siege, by someone. Kozlov pushed past through the other door of the domed chamber, as it opened up into a long arched corridor, only to turn and make sure they couldn't be followed. He smashed himself into the dividing wall the door was built into, first once, then twice, then a third time and…
It gave way, and the two ceilings above it, robbed of their support, began to crack. Odd blocks of snow and ice began breaking from it and tumbling, before the whole area caved in in an impassible snowfall. Looking back, the large bear made out a few white clad figures racing toward it and halting, before their route was blocked for good.
"This way to the Blyatmobile," Vasily was yelling, as the whole area was shaken by blasts.
The snow blocks of the room jiggled against each other, the seams working open and puffs of snow streaming out.
Turning a corner, Kozlov felt the ground shake with a muffled roar, and tumbled to one side as a stream of snow hit his muzzle. Getting up, hissing, another far louder bang pierced the air, bringing another gust of wind and powdered ice.
And the scent of wolf.
"You then, whoever you are," Kozlov muttered.
"I smell wolf," Vasily said from up ahead, pausing as he looked down a corridor from where the last blast had come. He sniffed the air a few times before racing forward and smashing in another dividing wall like before. It wasn't nearly as complete as the last attempt, gaps in the pile of snowy refuse still showing the path beyond, but it was enough to block the latest attack.
"Da," Kozlov muttered.
"You think ZPD wolf team?"
"No," Kozlov growled. "There was wolf at meetup." He began marching on as fast as he could. From behind him he could hear the barking of orders and the shuffling of paws on the hunt. "Trick by Rattigan or other fool, I not know."
"Da, and even if cop," Vasily said, flinching as the sharp crack of a grenade going off sounded out from behind. "Who trust cop, huh?" He threw his paws out, and turning to him Kozlov saw his eyes strained in their sockets and teeth trying to bite back who knew what. "Who can we trust. You say yourself, us against world. No hope, no help…"
"There is one I trust," Kozlov grunted. "One in whole world."
"Oh good!"
"I saw her, on that day, through its eyes."
"Da, all good!" Vasily barked. "So, how we get there?"
"You tell me!" Kozlov roared back. "But first let us not get hunted down by wolves."
"Ha, that 'easy' part," Vasily snorted, as a blast roared and the tunnel shook again, the walls shifting and cascades of snow falling down in a blinding mist. Kozlov felt a slam of cold ice try and knock him over from the side, and leaning out his paw towards it he felt the tumbling blocks of ice coming down. There was a flicker as the lights went off, replaced by a scant few battery powered emergency lamps, giving the cloying mist a ghostly glow.
He pushed on harded, feet stumbling against the now rough ground and head hitting blocks of snow fallen at strange angles. It cleared enough for him to see that the bottom half of the wall to one side had caved in, snow from outside undercutting it and then getting added to as parts of the now unsupported ceiling fell down.
He ducked through a crook where the other side had tipped in, the tunnel almost tilted halfway to the horizontal.
Still, it had its advantages, as he gave it a few knuckle tearing punches and watched as what impromptu strength the rubble pile had built for itself came apart once more.
He took off, ears flicking as he heard it all come down on them.
"Stay low," Vasily whispered. "Is other way around from other side, probably unblocked, they might be flanking us. Let us hope they are lost."
"Let us hope," Kozlov said, freezing next to the junction in question. There didn't seem to be any other chambers on the other side of the walls, so no chance to knock it in and cut it off. He just had to hope they hadn't found it.
Vasily peaked around, then raced past it, Kozlov following.
"Ha!" the bear said. "World might be hopeless nightmare now, but at least I still now we are best predator."
"If you say," Kozlov said.
"Ha, wolves and their 'pack hunting,'" Vasily snorted. "Already, we are almost at the garage. We take Blyatmobile and…"
"Wait!"
Vasily froze. "What? It just down there. We race out onto streets, lose them in traffic, I dump you for crazy quest them drink myself stupid."
Kozlov shook his head. "Vasily, what if they have found it?"
"It's not obvious. Covered, disguised…"
"Vasily, I think wolves not bad hunters. They are great hunters. This tunnel crazy to find us in, da?"
"Da. Of course…"
"But no need to if we go out to vehicle."
Vasily paused. "They flush us out."
Kozlov nodded. "They flush us out. Is there other way out Vasily?"
The bear closed his eyes, thinking.
"Even if only place we can tunnel out, is there way out!?"
"There is," Vasily said. "But it is dangerous. They might not be at blyatmobile, we…"
"Take me there!" Kozlov ordered.
The other bear nodded and raced off, Kozlov following as he turned down the flanking tunnel and went deeper into his snowy warren.
.
.
"Okay team three, give us another one." Out in the cold, an eyepatch wearing wolf pulled down his walkie-talkie and waited, nodding as he heard the far off thud of a small buried explosive going off. Raising his muzzle, he saw a far off geyser of snow jet out of the ice patch and then get carried away by the howling wind.
"About the only thing it's good for," he grunted, wrapping his winter jacket up tighter. He'd been genuinely impressed by the size and scale of the bunker this bear had dug for himself. Originally they'd assumed that their target would have just been buried there for safekeeping, the ice and the snow a perfect haystack for the needle.
Well, at least until you brought out a metal detector.
His teams had soon found the area littered with underground readings, spreading far and wide. Time was far too pressed to actually survey it and then do a professional hit, so he'd done a handy bit of improvising and now awaited the results.
After all, when you acknowledge that they had to have driven in and out, the process of elimination handily narrowed down where their vehicle, and thus main exit point, were. Looking down from where he was standing, the little concrete retaining wall and its rusty metal cover could have been anything.
And right now, with his mammals peering over the edge, weapons a-ready, it was the perfect trap.
"-Team four. We have one grenade left, sir," chirped in a report, the wolf raising his radio to his mouth again. "Ay-yup. Save that for if you see them. Team one, how many you got?"
"Three sir."
"Well get your auger, and stir up some more. I want this place ka-boom-boomed out."
There was a pause. "Uh, what sir?"
The wolf rolled his eye. "Just blow it up already."
"Yes sir."
The wolf slipped back his radio. "Tch… Have fun with the language why don't you?"
.
.
"Keep going!" Vasily yelled back to Kozlov. "We almost…" He didn't get to finish it, instead slamming his head hard against something. Stumbling back, Kozlov caught him and the pair looked forward, their eyes widening as a metal corkscrew hung halfway through the ceiling.
A few jiggles, and it shot up. Eyes widening, Kozlov raced towards it, grabbing the end and jumping up, letting his weight hang off it and pull it down again. Snow peeled out of the groves and fell around him as it was yanked up again, he held it down, and a tug of war played out. "Vasily, get to other side. I let go, we keep running."
The bear nodded, breathing out as far as he could and squeezing past. A smile, a thumbs up, and he turned and slammed his head into another auger, just breaking through the ceiling. Up it pulled again, as Vasily grabbed at it, his fingers getting jammed to its sides in the hole. He let out a roar of pain as it jiggled, yanked, and then began turning in place. A rain of snow, turning pink in colour, flowed down onto him as he let out a string of profanities.
"When I say let go," Kozlov urged.
"Can't let go!" Vasily yelled back, eyes bulging in his sockets. Another twist of the auger as it tried to screw up, and another yell of pain from the trapped bear roared out.
Kozlov grit his teeth, only for his mouth to then gasp wide open as he saw a crack grow in the ceiling between them. Snow fell down, and then the auger burst through, dropping down and then pulling back up before any of them could do anything.
Thinking on instinct, Kozlov ran forward, yanking his own auger so hard it snapped at one of the joints. Holding the broken end he stuffed it up the hole just as something clinked on top of it. He gave it a punt up, hoping that…
The explosion screamed and the world went white, shaking and echoing as his ears rang and snow began pouring down onto him. Shaking his head to try and clear it, he looked back to see the first auger cave in, a belching yaw that kept growing, filling everything in.
The bear turned and pushed forward as the whole ceiling above started to come apart. With a final screaming pull that dragged the auger and the blocks around it down with them, Vasily got free and raced on with him. The bear was drawing in his breaths through gritted teeth, his paws fisted and leaking hot steaming red blood constantly.
"You ahead," he groaned. "Left here, then left again."
Kozlov turned, coming to a corridor that led to one single door. He sighed with relief, while also holding back his fear. If it simply led to the surface, no matter how hidden the exit the wolves would be onto them and capture them in an instant.
But still, it was his burden. Fight. Fight on. Until the end. Until the…
He opened the door and froze. "Spa?"
There was no mistaking it, that was what it was, or at least was going to be. Several pools of iced over water lay about, chunks of snow turned into blocks for seats and sitting areas but not yet fully moulded or arranged.
"Is work in progress," Vasily offered.
"Where is way out?"
The wounded bear walked over to one of the non-iced pools and pointed at it. Walking over, Kozlov noticed that it was spinning at a fair pace, and that a metal grill was present at the bottom. "Meltwater drain stream," Vasily said, shrugging. "Used to have little under-snow waterfall here, I modify."
"Is way out?"
"Tunnel wide enough, at start."
"At end?" Kozlov pressed.
Vasily shrugged. "Is Zootopia bay. Very wide."
"In between," the bear growled.
"I do not know. I do not know if caved it. Not sure how long it is."
Kozlov slumped down on one of the ice blocks, cradling his head.
"Ivar did get up here once, said it wasn't that long and I could probably do it."
He stood up again, eyes lighting up. "Then should be no problem going down!"
"Apart from explosions," Vasily said, as another light rumble hit the complex.
Kozlov's elation faded. If it had cracked or suffered a cave in or a block, then if he went in he could get stuck.
There was a flicker in the emergency lights, the room getting darker, and the polar bear held the necklace in his paw. "Even if I get out, where to go…" He grimaced a little, before an odd look came over him, paws holding the necklace tighter. "And why should I even trust you?"
"Huh," Vasily began. "After all…"
"Not you," Kozlov barked, holding a paw out. Finally, wearily, he stood up and walked over. "As if I have anything to lose." He held his head up tall as he went to the pool. "I keep on fighting. Vasily, wait five minute then follow. I go right, you go left, they will smell your blood and follow so… So stay safe, friend. And thank you."
"Survive out there," he said, raising a blood red paw in salute.
Kozlov nodded, tore out the grill, took a deep breath and dove in head first.
The water was balancing out at around freezing point, and while it tingled his nose a little, he didn't feel any chill.
He didn't see anything either.
The blackness was all consuming and, paws out to the side, he felt his way down the shaft until it started bending at the bottom. Tapping around, he felt a large gap to his right and, gripping the walls with his claws, he pulled himself along.
Or at least tried to.
A yank back with his arms and he felt them slip off the walls and pull behind, a fraction of the grip he'd have expected from ice.
Was it concrete?
Rock?
Either way, at least it suggested that the tunnel was sturdier than he'd have imagined, so less of a chance of the blasts knocking it in.
It also meant there was less of a chance for air pockets.
His lungs held steady, for now.
Pawpads firmly placed on the smooth, if slightly gritty, surface, he pulled himself along, racing ahead of the current.
Again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
He opened his mouth slightly to taste the water.
Still fresh.
He raised his head a little, until he felt his top fur graze against the roof up above. Flat, smooth, the occasional small chunk of ice growing down from it like cholesterol clogging a vein.
Still he travelled on.
How long had it been?
A minute?
Half of his time up already.
He pushed on harder, making sure his fur was always near the top, searching for any little nook of air or something.
A slow glowing burn was lit in his lungs now, and he could feel it pulse and grow with each second.
He supposed, at least, it would be quick if it came to it.
There were worse ways.
Far worse.
Though a chill went down his spine as he imagined Vasily coming down here after, lungs screaming, only to collide head first into a mass of fur and blubber.
Keep pushing.
Keep swimming.
Breath out a little, clear the lungs of some of the bad air, make it last for as long as he could.
His nose was smashed in, sending the bear wincing in pain, bubbles of air flowing from his mouth as he screamed into the icy depth. The whole front of his muzzle throbbing, ice jets of water piercing their way up his nostrils and halfway to his eyes, he felt around.
The tunnel took another dive here, going down in a straight drop.
Blowing some more bad air out, lungs on fire, he used his front paws to pull himself downward and coiled his legs, walking them along the roof to tilt himself head first and kick off against the metal rung and…
His eyes openned, suddenly seeing a faintest glimmer of light in the water, all while his right paw kicked out and broke from the surface into air.
As fast as he could he reversed the process, arms pushing him back up, feet hooking down below the old roof but unable to pull him back in. His lungs screamed and clawed as if they were trying to claw their way out of his throat and streams of bubbles billowed from his face as he turned himself over and kicked up and broke the surface, pure blissful oxygen roaring into his lungs.
He gave just as large a breath out, then in, then out.
Deep breath after deep breath, until it was steady once more.
He spared a glance around and up.
The light truly was as meagre as possible, from what looked like a mammalhole cover far up above. The access hatch up with its rungs would be a struggle to get up, but it would be possible.
He thought about it for a second, paw coming up to feel his nose. It was still sore, but not bloody. He blew out of it hard to clear the water and snot his impromptu collision had let in, only to pause on the inhale.
Salt.
A taste of the water confirmed it.
Only mild.
But salty nonetheless.
And, straining his nose up the shaft, he took in other scents. Fish, diesel, the oily musk of mink and rich fatty blubbery fur of seal. He was by the coast, having come most of the distance.
That decided it for him.
He began taking deep breaths again, in and out, in and out, letting the free oxygen flood into his lungs and then saturate his blood.
Finally, he pushed himself back down into the pipe he'd come from, ducked his head down and kicked off from one of the rungs. He felt it bend and give, not that it mattered as he still boosted himself with plenty of speed. He just carried on swimming. Down the pipe, which soon bent horizontal once more, all as the water got saltier and saltier until finally, paws reaching out to push him on again, they expanded out into nothing.
Kozlov opened his eyes to see the pale lit rocky seabed in front of him. He swam up, head immediately cracking through a thin film of sea ice, and looking around he saw the rolling white hills of Tundratown behind him.
Checking around his neck, feeling his necklace still on, he began swimming out to the right, pausing as smelt the air and picked up wolf.
Looking over, he couldn't help but notice a couple of fast inflatable speedboats pulled up onto the snowy shore.
"That's how you came here," he snorted, wondering if he should go over and pierce them with his claws.
A look closer, and the sight of half or dozen or so wolves, and from the looks of it other mammals, dissuaded him. Instead he kept on swimming, going out further into the water. The cold sinking air in Tundra Town thankfully meant it flowed down and then out, from the shore and over the water. He could keep nice and clear, and they wouldn't know where he was in the slightest.
But then what?
They were bad mammals, and certainly not the police, yet…
Yet it had been afraid of them.
The temptation gnawed at him. Be done with it, cast his enemy to their enemy, even if they certainly weren't friends.
But still, he couldn't bring himself to.
His burden, his to carry.
But where to?
There was that other place, that… image… No, that idea. High up, where the warm and wet danced with the cold, where fire lit up the sky from.
The bear felt that even considering something that it thought of, that it wanted, was an insanity beyond comprehension. One that passed the event horizon of madness.
And yet, still…
It wasn't a mammal or a firm place, but an idea. One he'd have to research, to work out where to go.
But then?
What if it was a missing link in the puzzle?
A chance to work it out.
"Nyet," he muttered, eyes closed. It was foolish, madness, maybe it was it at work, just more subtle, speaking to him without making a sound…
And yet…
And yet…
He didn't know.
He just kept on swimming into the night.
He didn't even worry about how and where Vasily was at that moment.
.
.
With a loud bang, a metal disk flew into the air, catapulted by a red drenched white fist. Pulling himself out, hissing as he went, the bear popped out of the tight shaft and shook himself off in the fluffy snow.
And then he ran.
Go left, he remembered, racing on all fours as fast as he could. Now, which way would that actually take him. It was towards the main exit of his underground palace, wasn't it?
A sudden howl piercing the night confirmed it, as did a second, then a third, then a fourth. Grumbling, the bear pivoted on the spot and made his way down the slope and towards the sea. A wolf had nothing on a bear in arctic water, after all. Not even bullets could…
Whipping noises snapped through the forest and cascades of snow fell down from the trees. Vasily ducked down in response, never mind the sting on his cut up front paws. Lower, faster, aliver!
His lungs were screaming again now, and he felt his shoulders bash against the tree trunks as he cut it fast and tight, using them to shield him from any lethal attack.
Up ahead, through his misting breath and the thick trees, he saw the lights of some of the scant shoreline buildings in this empty part of the district. He was within striking distance, and just needed to push on and…
The whole ground opened up in front of him before he could react, the bear tumbling down the embankment and onto the same road he'd planned to escape down at the start. His head hit the rock hard as he went over, the glistening black tarmac coming up and his paws jolting out to meet it. They did, grazing along and shredding themselves even further, letting the recently laid salt and grit flood in.
Vasily bellowed with pain as he tried to force himself up once more, only for a molten sting of pain to lash at his stomach.
He slumped down as the air around him was sliced up by whistling screams, tears in his eyes as he saw movement far, far down the road, the wolves slowly coming into view.
He forced himself back into a small hollow, a bare modicum of cover, as the exposed parts cracked and blew apart with the impact of bullets. Flecks of frozen mud and stone hit him, as if taunting.
He was going to have to make a run for it, across the road and down again.
They'd been at the edge of their range and accuracy before, but with every second they got closer, his chance of getting loose became smaller and smaller.
His paw held to the stinging pain in his stomach, he felt two holes at the front where a bullet had raced in and out. Had it been a bit further back or he a bit further forward back then…
He closed his eyes, readying himself to race across, only to pause as the lonely road began to light up.
Car…?
Car!
He could race across right after it had gone past, use their headlight dazzle to blind them. They'd probably get shot to pieces anyhow, but it was all of them and just him, so he might as well…
He froze as the thing screeched to a halt, sliding just past him and then turning its already bright headlights into a blinding fury.
He could barely see, but made out a door opening. "Get in the back," a female voice shouted.
That door opened too, and with no other option in he raced as bullets flickered forward. He heard several smash into the front windscreen, only to bounce off, and felt one hit the door as he dove in behind it and onto the seat.
He slammed it closed behind him, looking forward and noticing something very odd through the front view. The screaming white fury of the headlights was practically absent, only the return glow from the illuminated trees present, if heavily faded from his own recent blinding. He could easily make out the blinded wolves, or blurs that he guessed were them, awfully close and slipping into the trees as they tried to flank.
"What are they armed with?" the first voice asked.
"Guns… grenades…"
"And a pack formation. Lights off and pull us out of here."
"Right on it," another voice said, immediately pulling the vehicle into reverse. The blinding light cut out, regular blackness outside, as he felt the car swing around with the squeal of tires and then race off.
"I see you're injured," a slightly… disinterested voice spoke from his side. "Cut up paws are mostly trivial, but that seems to be an entrance and exit wound of a bullet."
"Well, they were shooting at him," a fourth voice said.
"And we saved him," the second female one replied, taking a deep breath.
"Excuse me," the voice from next to Vasily said, the bear looking down to try and figure out what it was. Those lights were still playing up with his vision, and the blood his smell. "Anyway, do you think it's cut through the abdominal cavity, or just through the subcutaneous fat layer. I'm assuming the latter, in which case patching it to slow blood loss should see us through until we can sterilise and stitch it."
"Da, thank you," he said, before looking forward and making out… Fox ears?
He wasn't sure, and it became less clear as they jostled around as they bumped along the road. The bear felt something a bit like a sponge or something tap into him and immediately wiped his bloody paws on it, clearing them off nicely.
The thing then turned and looked up at him, with a pair of very annoyed ovine eyes. "Can you not?"
.
.
"Polarised light, huh?"
The one eyed wolf listened on to his radio.
"Urghhh, spy stuff. Give me boring and practical every day."
He then pushed into a button and spoke out. "We've been rumbled. Evac now." He then pressed a separate button. "Mission failed boss, they had help, but we have no casualties. Withdrawing."
"I suppose I should be thankful for you being straight to the point."
"Ah, one of my selling points," he smirked.
"A gimmick that wears very thin against repeat failures."
"Well," he chuckled, just a bit nervously. "We can still try again later."
"Let's just hope third times the charm," he intoned. "For your sake."