Judy worked to force the memory of that horrible first encounter below the hotel from her mind. If she didn't, she would fly into a panic, she knew she would. Instead she turned away from the corpses and focused her attention on the other open door, through which she could see the orange hull of the tender.

"So, do either of you know how to drive a boat?" She wished her voice didn't tremble.

There was a clacking sound behind her- Alyssa was checking the pistol she'd retrieved from the bloodied pig, the smaller of the two guards. Jack was still stuck with his letter opener, but he was lethal enough with it.

"I can drive it." Alyssa said. "But it's not meant for crossing the pond, so to speak."

"Then I suggest we find out where we are before we do something stupid." Jack said.

"And find Nick and the others, while we're at it." Judy added. "If you can read coordinates, we'll head to the bridge first."

"Then let's get to it. And no splitting up." Jack eyed the hole in the floor.

They found their way up the decks to the bridge almost without incident. They'd hidden from the enemy twice, NEST agents searching the ship for the escapees. Aside from those close calls, Judy kept every eye and ear open for the creature. The windowless halls, with their dismal lightning and plain metal features, felt more claustrophobic than ever. None of the smells she smelled here were strong or organic. She kept looking up at the vents in the ceiling, constantly telling herself they were too small and fragile. All the while her heart thumped at a fast, painful but steady beat. It was a wonder that first encounter hadn't killed her from sheer fright.

After taking the elevator and ascending a stairwell to the main deck, Judy realised that something else wasn't right. They'd passed at least a dozen cameras on their way, yet it seemed that NEST had no idea where they were. No alarm was sounded, no goons closing in on their position. She told herself that they were avoiding any audio or visual disturbance that could disrupt their search.

Yet she couldn't stop thinking about how effortlessly the creature had snuck up on her.

They reached the kitchen at the top of the stairwell. Tired of being the only one without a weapon, Judy grabbed a kitchen knife before they snuck through a couple of doors to find themselves in the dining room. The theme was diamond and ruby, if the colours were any indication. A quick look through the windows indicated that it was later afternoon. Judy had never been on a ship before, as a tourist or a prisoner, but Jack had told her that the bridge was typically located on the upper deck. If they steered clear of trouble and followed the directions on the walls, they should get there soon.

All three pairs of ears pricked. "Under the table." Alyssa hissed.

The tables were adorned with old tablecloths, so they ducked underneath and climbed atop the chair seats. Soon after the doors opened, and the footsteps of several larger mammals crossed the room. They stopped every now and then, and Judy heard the rustle of cloth as they searched under the tables.

She froze and held her breath when one of the agents approached the table where they were hiding. She saw the barrel of a gun lift the cloth. She covered her mouth. Alyssa gripped her gun. Jack crouched with his knife, as poised as a viper.

The gun disappeared, and the agents moved on, disappearing into the kitchen. Judy shook her head with a sigh. It was times like this when she was glad to be smaller than the typical officer.

They encountered no more trouble when they reached another, fancier elevator, which took them straight to the upper deck, into the last L-shaped hallway leading to the bridge. Alyssa took point, heading to the door and climbing up its ribbed surface to see through the small round window. She looked back and held up two fingers. Two mammals inside. She dropped back down and held up her gun as she tried the handle.

It didn't move. Alyssa scowled and crept back to the others. "Locked from the inside." She whispered.

"Crud." Judy muttered.

"On the plus side, we're not too far from land. We're heading right for an island. I saw it through the front window."

Jack paused, thinking. "We still need to get to the radio. Alyssa, come with me and we'll find another way in. Hopps, you stay here and-"

"No!"

"And if you'll please listen, you'll provide a distraction if we need one. If we can get in, it'll be easier to pick them off one at a time. That's where you come in."

Judy found that task much more suitable. "Make some noise if I see you, got it."

Jack and Alyssa strode past the elevator and around the corner. Judy hopped onto the door handle and lowered her ears as she peeked through the porthole.

Two mammals, just like Alyssa had said, one deer, one tapir, armed and manning the controls for the bridge. There was indeed an island they were approaching, a rugged one draped in greenery. In between a taller mountain and a shorter one lay a small city. It hit her like a hay bale when she realised where they were going. She should have known, was stupid to never have guessed.

The former seat of the Swineton family, before disaster struck and they started anew in Zootopia. A place with strong connections to the artefact she'd broken several laws helping Jack get close to.

Roarcadia.

Theodore Swineton was somewhere in that derelict city. He was probably watching the ship's arrival right now. The thought made her skin crawl.

They had to be less than a mile from shore when the tapir did something with the controls. Judy couldn't feel it, but she could see the ship turn very slightly to the port side, tilting its direction away from a coastal building and toward the beach. Seeing the equipment made Judy realise just how old the ship was. Probably as old as the city.

There were two other doors to the bridge, one port, one starboard, both almost certainly locked. The deer, who seemed to be keeping watch with his weapon while the tapir handled the speed and navigation, wandered toward the port door. Judy firmly gripped the cold metal beneath her fingers and watched the starboard door, the one her allies were most likely to enter through. Once she saw them, she'd knock on the window and hide. No need to over-think things.

But her agitation grew by the second. Clear the bridge, she thought. Try not to think about how Jack and Alyssa would have to kill the guards to do it. Clear the bridge. Call for help. Find Nick and Ben and Bogo. Get to the tender and escape to the jungle. Take care of Nick until they found a way home. Simple.

If only they would show up.

Come on, guys… Where are you… Please tell me you didn't run into that thing…

Her heart leapt at the sudden crash to the port side. The tapir also tore his focus from the controls, and recoiled he too saw that the port door had been half-torn from its frame, the deer nowhere to be seen. Nothing there but the reddening sky outside.

But the tapir saw something she couldn't. He was staring to the ceiling, mouth agape, eyes nearly bulging. He reached blindly for the gun he'd left on the control panel, but his fingers knocked it out of sight. Panic took control and he ran straight for the central door Judy was staring through. She was too focused on trying to see what he saw to realise what he was doing until he was right in front of her face and scrambling to unlock it.

A split second later a flash of grey tackled the tapir. Blood splattered the window before they even fell out of sight.

Judy threw herself back with a shriek, and the floor nearly knocked the wind out of her when she hit it. She lay there for a few seconds, wanting nothing more than to curl up into a ball of fluff and weep. She heard the slightest crunching sound as the creature finished off its prey. She stared in blank terror at the window, waiting to see its bright yellow eyes rise up to stare back at her. She never saw them. Instead, her ears caught the slight sound of scratching as it slunk out the way it came in.

For a long, agonizing moment, she knew for sure that they weren't going to make it. They only had one gun between them. Armed thugs were everywhere. That creature was hunting them all one by one. What was the point of getting up?

Nick. That was the point. Nick and every other mammal NEST were out to hurt. She'd make the world a better place just by keeping Nick in it.

Judy rolled onto her paws and knees. She swallowed back bile and got to her feet. Did Jack and Alyssa know? She couldn't leave her post to warn them. If it was still in there when they showed up, they'd definitely need the distraction.

Judy gradually and quietly made her way back up the door to the porthole. She had to see through the gaps in the blood spatter to take another scan of the bridge. It seemed empty now. The blood spatter made it impossible to see the starboard door, but she could still see the front windows. The ship was still heading straight for the island, with no sign of stopping.

Judy's draw dropped like the tapir's had done. The ship wasn't stopping.

It was less than a mile from shore and it wasn't stopping.

"Oh, sweet and sour chicken!"

She'd left the kitchen knife on the floor when she'd fell. She jumped down, retrieved it, and leapt back and began striking the glass over and over with the handle. She gave up after a half-dozen strikes without so much as a crack. Alyssa's bullets could get through. She had to find her.

Judy ran around the corner past the elevator, the hallway taking her to a small office. There was an open porthole left behind by her allies. She jumped off the desk to reach it, finding herself on a wooden walkway along the upper deck of the ship. The moment she was outside the sound of the sea far beneath hit her ears, and the smell of brine doubled in strength. The island ahead was getting closer by the second. Judy ran toward the bow, a new fear setting in. Even if they could get into the bridge, what could they do? Even a secret agent wouldn't have the training to drive a cruise ship!

She found Jack and Alyssa crouching beside the starboard door. They both glared daggers when they saw her approach. "Hopps, what the bloody hell are you-"

"They're dead!" Judy furiously cut Alyssa off. "They're both dead!"

"What do-" Jack cut himself off as he realised the obvious answer. "Well, I suppose that's one problem solved. I suppose the creature's left by now."

"Yes, but now there's no-one in there to stop the ship!"

All three mammals spun to take a good look at the island, bathed in dying sunlight, and the rapidly closing distance between it and them.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Alyssa rattled the door handle, but this too was locked from the inside. She switched to the window and fired two shots, not caring if anyone heard them- the bullets got trapped in the bulletproof glass.

"The porthole!" Judy gasped and pointed to it. Alyssa gave it a go. One shot punched out every shard of glass.

Jack hopped onto the handle and lowered his paw to Judy. "Get up!"

She let him pull her up and boost her up through the empty porthole. She dropped to the floor close to the body of the tapir. She forced herself not to look, instead unlocking the door before charging right through the puddle of blood to the controls. She barely heard Jack opening the door behind her, followed by Alyssa not long after. Judy was standing on top of the central console, staring at the levers and dials. All she knew was that they controlled speed and steering. She looked out the window to see how far they were. They probably had less than a minute before they hit the coastal building, which was now close enough to be identified as a warehouse. In the water was the orange shape of a tender, aiming for the small dock beneath the structure. The tender was right between them and the dock. Did the mammals driving it know the ship was out of control?

Jack joined her on the console. He quickly scanned the controls and cranked one of the levers. Alyssa was at the steering wheel, which was almost comically small for running a cruise ship.

The ship slowly began to turn right. It wasn't slowing down. Jack muttered something about thrusters and began checking the other controls. Alyssa urged the ship to keep turning, whispering through gritted teeth. By now Judy was at the window, paws pressed to the cold glass, staring at the tiny tender.

They were catching up fast. Judy prayed for the tender to get out of the way. Part of her hoped they would run aground in the shallowing water before they hit the vessel. They drew closer and closer. The tender itself began to turn. The mammals inside must have finally realised the ship was heading right for them. Judy realised they'd spotted the danger too late just as she caught a glimpse of a boar holding a gun to the head of a smaller mammal with a bushy tail.

Her paw flew to her mouth as the tender disappeared from sight beneath the cruise ship's bow.

That was when the hull met the seabed. The near-sudden stop propelled her into the glass. She knew nothing of the chaos that ensued.