Chapter 54
.
.
A cold silence filled the car.
Po, Panda King, Carmelita, Kozlov, Judy.
Nick.
The bunny looked up to him, squeezed up next to him as she was. Silent, face fixed down, she saw that his fists and jaws were clenched, working over each other as he sat there.
Small folds riven in his muzzle.
The bunny slowly worked a paw down to hold one of his, freezing as he shifted with a jolt, glancing down at her.
The awkward silence held for a second or two longer, the fox finally breathing out and speaking, lips pulled back. "What?"
…
He waved a paw with a tense flip. "Carry on."
Kozlov nodded and returned to his tale. "I expected it to be the first of many. Making a reputation for myself, cleaning up 'dangerous' elements." There was a chuckle. "Go into the police force, get into the service…" He shrugged. "You foxes believe in karma, da?" He gave a dark huff. "Like all gods, she was looking so far away that day."
.
Volegograd, 1971
.
The large display of weapons, banners and other memorabilia from the greatest battle the world had ever seen was laid out. Just as it had been in the room before and the room after that. On they toured, the group that had ascended up Mamontev Kurgen the day before… Absent one young, wide eyed, happy, harmless, kind, likely thoughtful, truthfully if not truth-truthfully innocent mammal.
Kozlov rubbed his brow, sighing, looking on as he walked up into a grand circular mural. Painted all around, the view from where the great statue now stood, back then. The river far off, the snow dusted land torn up by trenches and tanks, hoards of soldiers running across it, rifles in hoofs and paws.
Like before, all kinds of species.
Into the meat grinder, into their fate, into death.
He closed his eyes and opened them again.
It had to be done.
The sacrifice would be made.
To step forward.
One after the other.
That was the way.
As it always was.
And he'd do it to get to his brother's fate.
That was the way it was.
Nothing personal.
The rest of the pioneers walked up into the great mural room as he began to walk down. It somewhat kept the attention of them, something impressive given what else they had on their minds. Talking excitedly about how a traitor had tried to get into their ranks, how they'd forced out a 'weird one' as some others put it. They joked about how she'd cry and asked her fake god to have them turned into frogs or something, or how he'd just send down a new sheep son… To get nailed to a cross having done nothing.
The polar bear kept a glance on them, and those his age from his own troupe, as he turned and walked down the steps to the hall below.
He knew full well that plenty of the mammals around him still worshipped, if in private. A little visit to one of the remaining churches during Christmas or for the harvest festival could be… Paw-waved away.
Those that did go regularly wouldn't even bother trying to get into the institutions required for a good party approved life, happy to sacrifice that for their faith, and that little foxes deception would now lump her with the rest of them. Maybe her family too, he didn't know. Still, didn't she say they were workers in a grocery shop? Or was that someone else. That wasn't high enough to be torn down by this little scandal. Humiliated, yes.
But a one time thing.
An easy sacrifice to bring absolution and truth to those who'd died on that cold mountain.
"-So, still thinking about that little betrayer you found?" Kozlov jolted a little, turning around to see a well suited polar bear and bison standing there. A brief hitch in his throat, a flash of nerves, before he told himself that he was on their side.
"Da," Kozlov agreed, turning around and nodding. "I am just glad to do my duty to the motherland and the party."
The polar bear smiled. "Which one is more important, in your mind?"
Kozlov stood there, fixing his face muscles in place as they fought to twitch and pull back. "The motherland is the people. The party is the people. The party is the motherland. All is for the good of the workers of the world."
"Ha," the polar bear said, "with way of words like that, are you sure you are not sneaky fox like the one you caught?"
Kozlov shrugged, filing away the mammals' disregard for the official party policy on species equality. "No sir. I am a true blooded polar bear, like you."
A smile grew across his face. "Come, talk with me," he said, before waving off the bison by his side. The large bovine wavered a little before a firmer gaze had him sent off. And, with that, the larger polar bear put his paw around Kozlov's shoulder, thick heavy claws digging in ever so slightly through his clothes. They made their way through the displays until they found a somewhat quieter area. "So, how did you find her?"
"I used my nose, and this" Kozlov said, pointing at it and smiling before moving up to his head. He'd been expecting someone to ask questions, and had spent plenty of time the night before thinking back and putting together his answers. "I first noticed her at the oath taking ceremony. She seemed very eager to be the first to clap, to be the last to stop, to be the loudest, the most eager. Yet it was so very different from how shy she was, how she stuttered over her words. How unsure she was. She was plainly overcompensating, trying to hide her illicit faith under the guise of being the most faithful little Pioneer she could be."
There was a snort by the other bear, cutting in. "Layer on the praise, the seduction, you name it, plenty of stupid mammals still fall for it." He looked off with a sneer.
To which Kozlov nodded, starting forward, words placed one after each other like other mammals would place their hooves forward when moving on thin ice. "But us, we mammals who protect the honest and the faithful." A slight upturning smile on the older bear's face and Kozlov pushed forward with newfound confidence. "We know better. Of course, what she was hiding was the question. Were her family old money, seeking to claim back their stolen wealth. Traitors? Nazi?" There was a pause and a shrug. "Or just irredeemable bad guys. Enemies of the people. Willing to rob a hundred to improve their own lot. Greedy…"
"And vain," the other bear cut in, holding Kozlov by the shoulder again. "It is something they hide very well, the inherent vanity of the vulpine kind. Their scheming, their conniving, their view of superiority, a right to rob and profiteer off of those under, equal and over them."
"Petite Bourgeoisie," Kozlov noted, "in the fur."
"Da," the other bear said, smiling as he shook Kozlov firmly at the shoulder. "That…" he chuckled. "Is the political way of describing such filth. Those that pertain to follow Barx cowardly shy away from embracing his true observations on their kind, ignoring the whole essay he wrote on them and their greedy, thieving, exploitative ways. On the fox question? Pah, our party leaders are still entranced with vulpine thought, as much as any of the capitalist westerners."
"And if we make hustling and cheating and exploitation impossible, we make foxes impossible," Kozlov chimed in. "Literal, or metaphorical."
"Ha," the bear liked, smiling before sneering. "Did you see her fur pattern? Deliberate breeding by past generations, all to mark out their family dynasty as they inbred and inbred, keeping their acquired wealth forever in their paws. Hah, a family that really did need abolishing."
"Ones like that just make it obvious though," Kozlov cut in. "It is those with normal red fur, in the factory jobs, who seem to be normal workers that are the tricky ones. To find their guilt. Uncover it."
A smile grew across the older bear's face.
"-And this one was making it obvious in hindsight," Kozlov carried on, rubbing his snout. "Trying to hide herself making the sign on the cross on the steps of Mamontev Kurgen."
There was a sharp spit on the floor by the bear, a grumbled set of swears coming out of his muzzle.
Kozlov layered on even more righteous anger to match. "Of course I had my suspicions so I waited. I made sure to ply her with…" He chuckled. "A fair amount of water during the night and, when she left to do as one would do…" He waved a paw. "Let us just say that that fire alarm was not an accident." He watched as the older bear quirked an eyebrow before carrying on. "So, while others were fleeing, I snuck back inside and quickly sniffed out her illicit prayer book. I then went out and, when we went back in, took the time to confirm it all. And then…" He shrugged, smiling. "Justice was done."
"Nyet," the polar bear said, dismissively. "As long as there are enemies of the revolution, justice is not done."
"Da," Kozlov agreed. "I want to fight for it."
"Justice?"
"The people, the motherland, the party, the revolution. However I can."
The older bear paused before nodding. "You are from Svin'yalosk, Da?"
"Da, I know it well. Like back of my paw. The mammals there trust me."
"And here we are in Volegograd," the older bear said, thinking. "But I do know mammals. Words can go around, favours can be paid… If you can prove you're willing to do your duty."
Kozlov breathed in and out before gesturing over to the pictures on the walls. Troops of soldiers from the various divisions that were sent over on the boats, across the river. To hold the factories and streets, brick by bloody brick. Bullet by bloody bullet. Life by extinguished life. "They were willing to do their duty, whatever it was, their lives insignificant in a way but adding up and up to one great cause," Kozlov said, before pausing. He walked over to a small grayscale photograph, keeping one eye on it and the patriot and hero pictured inside and one at the bear. "Even if some needed bayonet at their back for motivation. Not one step back." He smiled, eyes watching as the older bear nodded in appreciation.
"I should have never questioned you," he said, walking forward and giving a sneer at the small greyscale vulpine figure. He looked up, held Kozlov gently by the shoulder and carried him off. "After all, we are true mammals. Come, I have test for you." They wandered away from the group, Kozlov and his guide giving a wave to the concerned pioneers guide, the bison officer standing by her and explaining that things would be fine.
Walking out of the complex, the older polar bear guided Kozlov towards a large, long black car, its shining black carapace gleaming in the light as mammals avoided it like it were a dung beetle. Kozlov could only feel his fur stand up on end as he noticed the mammals stepping away, avoiding any looks, as if knowing this wasn't what it was.
As if knowing that Kozlov was a bunny walking into a lion's den as if it were a warm log cabin.
There was a clunk, the guiding bear opening the passenger door, Kozlov feeling a small wash of relief as he got in. The bear got in at the side and, turning the key, the engine rolled and rolled before igniting. The bear in the driver's seat pushed in the drive button on the gearbox and, with a clunk, they jolted forward, rolling off onto the road.
"Mammals in intelligence," The driver spoke, looking down at Kozlov, a finger up. "Little ones have always been more useful for collecting information. Listening in. Us large mammals, we collect information too, in our own way. And unlike them, we act on it."
.
.
"You…" Judy said, nose twitching. "You don't have to say what comes next."
"For their sakes," Kozlov said, an anger in his voice. "I must. Do you know why, when all fell apart, I took up the faith I had persecuted?"
"To… To be forgiven?" Judy asked, nervously.
He shook his head. "Because I know I deserve to be judged, for all I have done. So I will tell them, however painful it is. And if you don't want to listen… I don't blame you. It is evil thing, it is cruel, nasty, painful. So if you don't like it? Just stick fingers in ear and try and skip past next bit. I do not care. After all, I am not the one here to judge."
.
.
.
.
"PLEASE! Not the…"
CRASH…
Kozlov looked on at the splintered ruins of the wooden shelves, the thin timber planks broken apart, glass frontage shattered and spilled across the carpet. Picture frames and ceramic pots and other little trinkets that had been on the shelves were crushed and ruined by the force of the mid-teen polar bear.
Kozlov dusted his paws before walking over to the next set, seeing the little pictures of the fox family lined up on it, along with old hand painted babushka dolls and stacked up decorative plates.
"Listen, I'll give you…"
The bear paused, turning back to the pleading white and black fox vixen, paws on her chest as she begged. "You'll give us what?"
Her lip trembled as she looked down at the trembling kit at her side, head buried into her chest. With a sigh, she looked up. "I… I will confess," she said, ears going back. "I forced my daughter to pick up the faith! I told her that if she didn't pray she would burn in the fires of hell, I…" She closed her eyes, choking in a sob. "I was the one who…"
Kozlov turned, gripped the chest of drawers, and pulled it down, watching it shatter and rip apart, hearing the pleading cry of the vixen, letting it wash over him and away.
A glance up at the smiling bear and he turned down. "We want more than that," he said, pausing as a door opened up. Kozlov turned to see a well clipped sheep in uniform march in, frogmarching a terrified marble fox tod who buckled at the sight of the room.
"Mila!" he cried, lips trembling as he looked at his wife, and then buckling as he saw his daughter. "L-l-lisonka…"
The sheep spoke. "We know which schools the other kits are in at the moment. We'll be ready to take them into the care of the state, if that is what is best for them and their raising as good citizens."
"N-n-no, please!" the male fox cut in. "L-listen, we are religious, yes. But we served the country, always, we…"
"The party is atheist," Kozlov spoke, matter of factly. "We abolished god. Yet you still pray to this king's fable in the sky." He shook his head, laying on the act. "You betray the party…" He walked up, pushing a claw into the terrified fox's chest. "You betray the country. You betray the motherland."
The small vulpine welded his eyes shut and buckled to the floor. "I'm… I'm sorry, what do you want, what do you…"
"A confession," Kozlov shrugged. "That you… Or your wife, were involved in the creation and promotion of dangerous counterrevolutionary religious propaganda, with the direct aim of spreading this misinformation using your kits. You…"
"No…"
"-Instructed them to infiltrate key institutions in order to disseminate their propaganda, while also using your job at a local department store to communicate and dispense it to fellow adults."
"No, I…"
"You are a ringleader of a dangerous gang, composed of other mammals who…"
"No," he pleaded again as Kozlov looked up. Up at the other polar bear, the gatekeeper to the truth for all of them, looking in disdain at the foxes, lines of disgust on his face. "-We kept to ourselves, believe me. We kept it private, small, we…"
"Grab the kit," Kozlov forced out, looking at the older bear. He looked back, eyebrow rising and a growing grin on his face, all as the protests and pleading from the parents began to rise. It didn't matter. The foxes were too small. The ram had a job to do. Kozlov couldn't backtrack now.
Not one step backwards…
Onwards to the victory, whatever the cost.
The older polar bear officer eagerly took the order the apprentice school cub had given him, almost curious to see what was coming next. Whether the younger bear could stick the landing. Or just how much like him he really was. He ripped the little former Young Pioneer from her mothers arms, tossing the screaming and pleading mother vixen to the sheep who held him tight.
"MAMA! MA…" She was silenced as she was picked up by her scruff and held high, limbs going limp and voice silent. She still panted, her misting eyes looking desperately to her parents.
All as Kozlov avoided eye contact and drove away any dissenting cowards screams from the back of his mind, turning and picking up a small set of electric clippers he'd seen hanging next to some other fur care equipment. He grabbed it and stuck in the lead, finger holding over the button for a second or two before the shaking pad was pressed down hard. The loud rhythmic clicking of the device sounded out, filling the silent room like an executioner's machine gun fire.
Like the ones that had cut down his brother for whatever sin he'd committed?
Well… There was only one way to find out.
Not one step backward. Only forward. And with that he turned around, walking towards the mammal he had to impress, and the one he'd impress him with.
For a second his eyes looked into those of the pleading little vixen, the front of her dress rapidly darkening, earning a new round of sobs. "Hold her on the floor," Kozlov said, laying it out like a simple pair of instructions. "Pinned so she can scream, and with her tail exposed."
Within a second she was slammed onto the ground, polar bear foot against her back as her arms began to flail, scrabble, dig in pointlessly against the carpet as she wriggled and writhed trying to get out. "M-m-MAMA! MAMA! PAPA! PAPA!"
"Stop it please, she's just a kit!" her mother begged.
"This is too far," her father said, trying to writhe free. "What do you want from her!? What could she give you!?"
"You know what we want from you," the bear holding his daughter down laughed. "It's very easy."
Kozlov walked over to her and grabbed her tail, pulling it tight as she begged out. "Please… PLEASE! I'M SORRY MR KOZLOV! I'M SORRY I LIED! I'M SORRY I LIED! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!"
He looked at her, trembling, begging, screaming. Helpless, innocent, not deserving of this… That was the truth.
But what was the truth behind his brother's death?
He looked up at the other polar bear, holding her down, a growing grin on his muzzle.
And Kozlov pulled her tail tighter and began running the clippers down it as she let out an ear wrenching scream that dissolved into haggard sobs as he carried on. Clippers up, down her tail, up again, down again, up again, down again, on and on, the white fluffy fur falling down and down as he quickly rendered the limb bare. Exposed. Naked. An ugly pink worm, specked red from nipped skin, a disgusting ruin.
His stomach quivered, the job was done, he put down the clippers and looked at the parents. Collapsed, crying like their daughter. "I'm sorry baby," the mother said. "I'm sorry baby, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
"We can't confess to what we didn't do," her husband said, looking up, body shaking. "And if you'll clip our tails to make us prove it, so be it. We did not…"
"I want a confession," Kozlov said. "For the dissemination of religious propaganda to…"
"WE WEREN'T DOING THAT!" The father yelled. "PLEASE! You're not going to get a confession to something that didn't happen."
There was a loud spit from the other polar bear. "It did happen, you lying lisky! And me and my little protege will get our confession." There was a pained whine from below his feet, Kozlov feeling an ache of disgust that cut through his previous ray of relief. "And me and my protege will extract it like a dentist pulling a rotten tooth. Isn't that right?"
Kozlov took a breath in and nodded. "I saw a kit's highchair in the corner. Bring it out and put her in."
He heard the bear walk off to grab it, screaming child in his paw as he walked over, past the fox couple.
"You sick, sick…"
"-I am only doing what needs to be done to get to the truth," Kozlov spoke back, matter of factly.
"Please," the wife carried on. "We didn't do…" She froze in horror as Kozlov picked up a pair of nutcrackers, looking over to see the screaming kit getting forced into the undersized chair, naked tail out and exposed.
He turned, walking the long steps towards her, her eyes looking down and realising what was going on and widening in terror. She began to struggle, trying to get out, all as the ever more excited older bear held her down, eyes flicking between her and the parents as Kozlov grabbed and pulled her tail tight, moving the cracker over it and gripping it in his paw ready to...
"-I CONFESS!"
He turned, looking at the father fox. His wife was hugging him, crying into him, as he looked up, trembling. "I… I confess," he said. "I confess to it all."
Kozlov quickly pulled the nutcrackers away, body relaxing, before he jolted as the larger bear pushed the chair to the side, sending it crashing to the floor screaming kit still in it. He walked up to the mother fox, grabbed her tight, and threw her back before holding on to the father. "Now if only you hadn't made it that hard," he said, before gesturing to Kozlov and the ram to follow him out.
They walked out of the apartment and into the sunlight, the ram taking the silent mammal into the back, as Kozlov got back in the front.
The polar bear at the wheel began driving off and turned, looking at the school age kid next to him, a wide smile on his face. "I think you have a very promising future career ahead of you."
"Thank you," Kozlov said, pulling his muzzle up into a smile. "I look forward to it."
"Indeed," the bear said. "Just hang tight. I'll see what strings I can pull."
The young bear just sat in the front, not thinking about the mammal in the back. Only about the time, one day in the future, when he would be the one pulling the strings.
And if, as that mammal thought, there was a god?
Well, once he had the truth, he would be ready to face his judgement.
.
.
.
Carmelita wiped her brow.
They should have been at the Precinct now.
Any Precinct.
It turned out the reason the traffic was so bad was simple. She could see it several curves below. An articulated Lorry coming up the road with building supplies must have swerved to avoid some of the fleeing bears. It jackknifed, spilling some of its cargo and stranding itself in a gully.
The route was blocked.
If she'd known she'd have demanded that helicopter, but now…
"You sick cussing cuss…"
She closed her teeth.
It had only been a matter of time.
But she didn't intervene. Didn't interrupt. She held the wheel tighter as a growl grew from the fox officer in the back.
"You…" Nick said, staring forward venomously. Kozlov had just turned back, looking casually, almost bored as the vulpine threw a paw forward, finger out and ears back, teeth bared. "YOU SICK BASTARD! YOU'RE LUCKY THERE'S A DIVIDER HERE BECAUSE IF THERE WASN'T I'D BEAT YOU TO A PULP!"
"Nick…" Judy began, trying to reach over to him only to be pushed back, hard.
"What!" he yelled, turning back to her. "Live and let live? Just accept we spent the last few days running around in a panic to save this monster! This piece of mammalian filth! When we get back I want him in a jail cell three sizes too small! I want him cuffed, I… I want him muzzled! I want him to never see the light of day again and I want him to feel as small, as helpless, as tortured as those that he tortured!" He turned back, leaping off the seat and banging against the divider. "You hear that Kozlov! You're not the big shot now! All that time you looked down on me… I… Were you thinking of the ways you could hurt me too!? Was that it? Were you imagining ways you could throw the sneaky conniving fox who so deserved it into the ice box and…"
"-None of them deserved it," Kozlov spoke, cutting through the air, a simmering anger to his voice. For a moment Nick backed off, the bear then carrying on, regardless of whether the fox tried to speak or not. "I thought I made it clear. It was not hatred. It was not them. It was not personal, it was… expedient."
"Expedient…" Nick began, before shaking his head. "No, NO! If you think this was all for some greater good, screw that. If your brother could see what you did, he'd hate you for what you are! And if you think just coming out and saying it and putting in your sob story is enough to have you be forgiven, then you can forget it!"
His paw was raised and trembling as he pointed at Kozlov. The bear shrugged. "I spoke that all not to be forgiven. But to be judged. Those are all thoughts I've had before, back in those days, and as mob enforcer. All much the same. And if you want me to feel as small as I made them feel then I will carry on."
He moved to speak only to be cut off. "What?" Nick asked, turning to Carmelita. "Are you just going to let him describe in vivid detail how he made a career torturing and killing our kind!"
"Killing?" Kozlov asked. "I killed a few times. No foxes, but all actual criminals. As for foxes and non-criminals?" He let out a long sigh, sitting back and looking forward. "There were plenty. When working for the authorities I pick them up, I do my job. When I needed a leg up… Some fox would be taken. I tried to take those who were drunk, criminals, who beat their family. Many times I succeeded. Many times, I did not. And for my crimes against your species, I rose up the ranks. I really was prodege, and at just twenty had a string of successes against agitators. In many ways my youth was advantage. I was young superstar, going into youth groups across country, getting them earlier than anyone else could. Finding and removing those with negative potential. It could have gone on for so long, I suppose it's thankful that not long after I found my way back home. With enough clout to get the answers I had ruined so many lives to gain."