Third Person P.O.V.:
Zazu was walking through the park area in the direction of his bus stop. He began to hear the footsteps approaching closer and closer.
He turned around to find that someone was wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood on, starting to slowly approach closer to him. The figure had a mask covering their mouth and nose, but Zazu was able to see their eyes. They were a hazel or brown color.
When Zazu was able to take a good glimpse at the figure's eyes, he had a sinking feeling in his chest.
He soon started to speed walk away from the figure, which eventually turned to running. The figure behind him started to follow suit.
Zazu then was running towards the tunnel that connected the Museum Campus to Grant Park.
All of the sudden, the figure pulled out a small black handgun from their jacket pocket.
As Zazu was running into the tunnel, he heard a bang, then a sharp pain in his leg, which caused him to fall. He realized that he just got shot.
He tried to get up to continue running, but all he could do was stumble his way towards the other end of the tunnel.
"HELP! I'M SHOT! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!" Zazu yelled as he stumbled
He then tried to crawl out of the tunnel, but then he felt another sharp pain in his lower back after another bang sounded out.
This caused him to fall down again. He groaned in pain and struggle, as he tried to drag himself towards the tunnel exit. The sound of footsteps starts to become louder and louder. The shooter was approaching the struggling Zazu.
"HELP! ANYONE PLEASE! I'M BEING ATTACK- NO! NO!" Zazu pleaded before he felt hands on his shoulders that turned him around.
Zazu was now looking directly at his attacker as he was being pinned down.
"You…" Zazu said before he was able to get out of his attacker's grip and tried to push him away.
Zazu's attempts were futile but was able to pull out a few hairs from his attacker's hair.
"Aggh! Fuck!" The attacker said in pain after Zazu yanked out some of their hairs.
With an angry expression visible in their eyes, the attacker pulled out his gun and held it to Zazu's forehead.
"No….please…..you don't have to do this….please don't hurt me anymore…what have you be-" Zazu said as he was trying one last attempt to plead to his attacker for mercy. Until.
BANG!
The killer gets up and stands over Zazu's body after they fires the last shot. The attacker, with his hood and face mask still on, ran from the tunnel and through the park in an eastward direction.
At their apartment in Lincoln Park, Kiara and Kovu, in their anthro lion forms, were doing work on their laptops. At a table near their living room TV.
The TV was on a network station that aired local news at 10:00 at night. As part of their usual routine, Kiara and Kovu had started to watch the news right after the Tuesday night show before it finished airing an episode.
The broadcast started with brief introductions involving a male and a female co-anchor, along with the weather forecasts. The female anchor has shoulder-length reddish-brown hair with green eyes and wearing a cerulean blouse. The male anchor had short black, curly hair, with green eyes and wearing a gray shirt under a black suit jacket with a purple tie. Before showing the title of the first news story and what looks like a small map of the area where it occurred
"Now with a breaking news story, an incredibly recent development, a man has been shot and killed in the Museum Campus area. The deceased was found under a tunnel that connected the Museum Campus to Grant Park, located near the corner of DuSable Lake Shore Drive and East Roosevelt Road. So close to the Field Museum of Natural History and on the Pete Chicago Memorial Walkway. To talk more about this story is our on-site reporter Christopher McDonald, who is on site at the corner of Roosevelt and Columbus, near the site of the incident. Chris." The female reporter said before the screen transitioned to that of a male reporter near the site of Zazu's murder. He wore a black jacket over a green shirt.
Kiara and Kovu became surprised and intrigued when they saw the museum close in distance. But shortly, they began to internally worry if something happened to anyone they know or what not.
"Thank you, Ann., So in the tunnel where a man was shot and killed in the tunnel connecting the Museum Campus and Grant Park along the Pete Chicago Memorial pathway relatively close to the Field Museum. The victim was found by two cyclists who were riding along the walkway. He was shot between three or four times. It was initially suspected to have been a robbery, but no money, valuables, or documents were found to be missing. Authorities suspect that it might have been a robbery attempt gone wrong, but the case is still under investigation….." Christopher said to the camera.
As Chris was speaking this, brief snippets of crime scene investigators at the scene. After which a picture of Zazu, presumably from his driver's license or museum I.D. was listed with his name and age on a blue background
"The victim has recently been identified as an employee at the Field Museum. 59 year old Zazu Hondo, was identified as the victim through his work I.D. and other items in the scene…" Christopher said as he continued the story.
Kiara and Kovu's eyes widened, and their jaws dropped in shock at the news.
"No…..No…..Zazu's gone?!" Kiara said in quiet shock and sadness over the loss of their friend.
"Wait, how is this possible? Is there some kinda mistake? Zazu's one of the most cautious individuals I know. How can we lose two friends in less than two months?!" Kovu said.
Soon, they began to hear a bunch of vibrations and text tones from their phones.
"Uh Kiara, I think that was from our phones." Kovu said as the two took out their phones.
"Yeah, they're really blowing up. Texts and everything." Kiara said while looking at her phone.
Soon Kiara's phone started to ring, she saw it was a familiar contact on her phone.
"Oh Jasiri's calling." Kiara said as she pressed the accept call button, then placed the phone to her ear.
"Hi Jasiri, did you hear the news too?" Kiara asked.
"Yeah, Edwin and I saw it on the Channel 2 news. We…are…just….shocked…" Jasiri said.
"Us both, Kovu and I caught it on Channel 7. I can't believe that Zazu's gone. Something's definitely off. Two people we know closely die unexpectedly within a two-month period. It's just odd." Kiara said.
Kiara and Kovu continued to talk, they were also getting messages from other people from the museum, and even Rani sent Kiara a text. Everyone said that they found out either through Channel 7 news, Channel 2 news, Channel 5 news, one of their apps, or even hearing from someone else watching one of the news stations or whatnot.
The next day, the museum had a quiet atmosphere of grief, suspicion, and shock. Edwin, Makini, Bupu, Vuruga, Pete and Ma Tembo were in the genetics lab cleaning the lab benches and equipment, along with organizing supplies in both the labs and their offices.
Edwin, Makini, and Bupu were cleaning their lab benches, Vuruga and Pete were organizing lab equipment in the storage cabinets, while Ma Tembo was organizing her office.
"Can you believe that Zazu is gone guys?" Pete said in a solemn tone.
"I know…I still just can't believe that two people we know suddenly died within less than a two month period…" Vuruga said.
"Yeah, it's incredibly suspicious. Two people that we know who have a common past, work in the same department of the same museum die within a two-month period. I'm sensing a pattern or more here…" Makini said.
"Oh come on Makini, I think you're reading too much into stuff. It's probably just a coincidence…a tragic one….but a coincidence. They happen sometimes in the oddest ways." Bupu replied.
"I'm not sure, I actually agree with Makini. There is something suspicious about both Zazu and Rafiki both dying within a month of each other. With both of them having a shared past in the Pride Lands, working at the same museum, and even the same department. There seems to be a fair number of similarities that potentially links the two deaths. The two deaths just seem so connected." Edwin said.
"Oh, come on ... .not you too Edwin…We all lost a colleague and friend, the last thing we need right now is you two discussing something that's just a mere hunch. Next thing you know you guys will try turning this to a whole conspiracy theory or something." Bupu said.
Eventually they finished cleaning and organizing their lab and offices, and they began to do some bench work for another two or three hours before they went on their lunch breaks.
Edwin P.O.V.
Me and a few others decided to have our lunch break outside today.
At the picnic table with me was Jasiri, Beshte, Makini, Makuu, Ma Tembo, Vuruga, Pete, Kiara and Kovu.
"I can't believe another one of us is gone. Zazu was really a key figure in aiding communication between different groups within the Pride Lands, along with communications between the different herds and the royal family. He even helped mediate conversations between Pride Landers and occasional visitors from outside lands and kingdoms." Ma Tembo said.
"Yeah, all those savannah summits, every morning report, every Pride Lands celebration, museum function and occasional conversations in the hallways. I can't believe we won't be able to hear his voice again. Although there were times where I thought he might have been annoying, he was always still a good-intentioned and consistent presence." Vuruga said.
"Zazu was pretty consistent all those times. I'm gonna miss him." Beshte said.
"Yeah, he was present practically all of my life in one way or another. I think I even remember him briefly as a babysitter in at least one point during my cubhood." Kiara said.
"Is it just me or is there something suspicious about Rafiki and Zazu dying just within a month of each other?" Kovu said.
"We were recently talking about that actually; I am suspecting that the two deaths are linked somehow." I said.
"Plus, the explanations of 'accidental fall down the stairs' and 'robbery gone wrong' never really sat right with me for some reason." Jasiri replied.
"Yeah same, I think something else is at a foot. Something amiss…." Makuu said. This caused Pete to turn his head towards them.
"Wait…..are you suggesting more intentional foul play?..." Pete replied.
"Not a hundred percent…but I'm not entirely ruling it out either." Makuu said.
"Yeah, I'm not ruling out intentional foul play either. Rafiki's death just seems too weird to be considered an accident. And Zazu's death being labeled as 'attempted robbery gone wrong', because I read one story covering it where it said he had multiple gunshot wounds, and something from a robbery gone wrong would probably only result in only one or two wounds." Makini said.
"I admit, it is kinda odd that a person normally as cautious as Zazu would end up dying from a robbery. He has actually told me a few times that if he ever got mugged or robbed and demanded money from him, he always advised just to give the robber money he would have. And none of the news stories or reports I have read and watched said anything about any money and personal items were stolen. It just seems suspicious." Makini said.
We continued to talk until we went back into the museum to continue our work.
Third Person P.O.V.
As Beshte walked into the museum's lower-level entrance to continue his security shift. As he walked to his assigned station, he noticed Kion at an adjacent station.
He saw that Kion had his hair tucked in a navy-blue baseball cap. He thought that was unusual because Kion doesn't typically wear hats frequently.
Kion saw Beshte and looked at him with an irritated expression on his face.
"What are you looking at?" Kion asked Beshte.
"Oh nothing, just noticed that you were wearing a hat, and I don't normally see you with a hat on, let alone a hat indoors…." Beshte said awkwardly.
"So, I didn't have time to fix up my hair this morning. Why does it matter to you? Get back to your station." Kion said irritably before Beshte returned to his assigned area.
Edwin P.O.V.
Over a week had passed since Zazu was killed, and we helped organize a celebration of life for Zazu at our next Human-Hybrid Alliance meeting. There were many eulogies given in Zazu's name, ranging from former Pride Landers and Outlanders, human employees in the museum, and even a couple of former neighbors and friends of Zazu who we invited.
After the event, Jasiri and I were talking with Zazu's former neighbor and close friend. He is a man in his early fifties that was over six-feet-tall, had short dark brown hair that is gray in some areas, gray-framed glasses, blue eyes, wearing a lavender shirt with beige pants and brown shoes.
"We really appreciate that you were able to come, Mr. Zamora." Jasiri said.
"Please, call me Hernando. And I am glad to come. Zazu was not only my next door neighbor, but he was a dear friend of mine. I remember that we have been friends since he first moved to Chicago. He was such a great individual and I can't believe that he is gone. And so suddenly too." The man said.
"It was surprising to us too, he was a positive presence for many of us who work at the museum." I replied.
"I found it odd that he ended up passing the way he did because from knowing him, he was typically very cautious. I was also shocked when I first heard about his death from the news." Hernando said.
"Yeah, that's about how we found out about it too. Pretty tragic." Jasiri said.
"I remembered just talking to him a few days before he died, we were just talking about our jobs. I remembered him talking about even potentially leaving his job here because of disagreements he has been having with higher ups. He even told me that he was working on a draft of his two-week notice if or when he reaches his limit with his boss." Hernando said.
Jasiri and I both raised our eyebrows a little bit before we looked at each other with surprised expressions on our faces.
"Wait, you said that he has been having issues with a boss of his?" I asked.
"Yeah, I remember him talking to me about the displeasure he has been having with his work recently. He was fine with the majority of people who work at the museum, he has just been increasingly bothered by one of his bosses recently, partly because they were giving his department budget cuts recently. I remembered that he said a boss of his was driving him so crazy that he was looking at other jobs to potentially apply to and even drafting a two-weeks' notice for when he finally had enough of this boss." Hernando said.
This intrigued both Jasiri and I, this made Zazu's death with these circumstances being revealed. Plus, we remember Muhimu telling us Zazu has been kinda stressed with meetings he had with Simba for the past week.
Jasiri P.O.V.
A week passed since Zazu's celebration of life, and his funeral had taken place. To Rafiki a month ago, Zazu was cremated, but before the cremation, he donated a couple of his organs to science.
So far, there has been no publicized or definitive leads in Zazu's murder.
I did report to an anonymous hotline about the potential motive of Simba being possibly involved somehow, but that didn't seem to go anywhere because he is at the funeral, delivering a eulogy in a similar tone to the one that he delivered for Rafiki a month ago.
Kion delivered a similar eulogy, but the most distinguishing detail from his appearance at the funeral was not his eulogy….it was his hair.
Instead of the usual red hair that we know him to have, his hair was now pitch black.
I am now even more suspicious. Why did Kion Kion dye his hair black? Is it just a hair experiment? Is he insecure about his appearance or hair somehow, or just wants to change his appearance? Is he trying to send a message?...Or is he trying to hide something?
I listened to the rest of the eulogies and the rest of the proceedings, they eventually ended, with Hernando eventually retrieving the urn containing Zazu's ashes, as Zazu designated his ashes to him before his death.
Soon, I exited the funeral home along with Makini, Beshte, and Makuu after the funeral ended. Edwin picked us up in his car and we headed to the same place we ate after Rafiki's funeral. Ma Tembo was already meeting us there.
We ate lunch there and we began another conversation about the events that transpired within the past two weeks.
"Wait, why did Kion dye his hair black?" Edwin asked.
"We're still trying to figure out why, but something still seems off about it?" I replied.
"Yeah, he had never expressed any direct desire of changing his appearance drastically before recently…..but starting on the day after Zazu was killed, he started to wear a baseball cap where he started to tuck in his hair. Has anyone else noticed that as well?" Beshte replied.
"Yeah, I've seen that when passing by security a couple times. He never did it before, why all the sudden…" Makuu said.
"...Also, like Beshte said, it is suspicious that he started doing that the day after the murder." Ma Tembo said.
"Who are we kidding? Kion is definitely involved in Zazu's death in one way or another. Probably the one who directly killed him or was there when it happened. Probably dyed his hair to avoid suspicion of some kind. And Simba has probably been involved to some degree, most likely planning and giving orders to Kion. I think Simba also had something to do with Rafiki's death as well. " Makini said.
"I admit, their eulogies in both funerals did seem a little off." Ma Tembo said.
"Plus, when comparing the memorial videos Simba sent to us almost seemed so similar." I said.
"Yeah, it was as if they both had the same script or something, only with the Rafiki-specific parts changed to Zazu-specific details. It definitely looks like that Simba and Kion seem to at least be hiding details between the two deaths….or even their potential parts in the deaths….." Edwin said.
We continued to talk about our suspicions until we all finished our lunch and left the restaurant to drop off everyone. Edwin and I drove everyone back to their places.
Third Person P.O.V.:
Two weeks have passed since Zazu's funeral, and the atmosphere around the museum has been even quieter between staff. Many individuals at the museum were suspicious of Zazu and even Rafiki's death. There has been chatter of potential theories. So far, one of the most popular is that Simba, and his son Kion have some kinda involvement in the death. These suspicions especially rose after Kion dyed his hair from red to black. On Zazu's death, so far there still have not been a significant amount of leads, but investigators started talking with some of his coworkers to learn more about him to see if there is anything that could lead to resolving the investigation. But so far, it seems that investigation still leans towards an attempted robbery-gone-wrong since there has not been any concrete evidence found that ties to any other explanation….or at least no public ones yet.
One Saturday evening, a green-colored sedan is pulling up to the front of a brown-brick apartment building in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.
Four people got out of the car, one was a woman in her mid-forties with green eyes and brownish-black hair tied in a bun. She was wearing a dark green short-sleeve shirt with black pants and white tennis shoes, while also carrying a teal bag on her shoulder. Another was a teenage female, approximately fourteen years of age, with wavy shoulder length hair that is the same color as the adult female but with brown eyes. This second female was wearing a beige T-shirt with light blue shorts and maroon colored sneakers. There is also a young male, also around fourteen years old, who had brown eyes with short, dark-brown hair, wearing light green T-shirt, black shorts, and gray shoes. There is also another young male at age twelve that has brown eyes with thin, black-framed glasses, black shirt, dark green pants, and green shoes.
The four individuals were carrying cloth and paper bags with them, having just returned to their apartment building from grocery shopping.
"Okay Kenia, when we get home, I want you to put all the cold items in the fridge and freezer. Gilberto, I want you to put the non-frozen stuff in the cabinets. I will clean the floors and counters, and Nestor, I need you to clean the dirty dishes." The older woman said.
"Wait what? Mom, I thought it was Kenia's turn to do dishes this week?" The youngest male said.
"It was supposed to be, but you skipped your turn last week, Nestor, so I need you to do them tonight." The mother replied.
"How come Gilberto can't do it?" Nestor said.
"Because he is already organizing the kitchen cabinets and he also has a virtual meeting tomorrow with one of the kids to whom he is a science tutor." The mother said.
"Yeah, and there is some chemistry material I still need to finish reviewing for our session. Plus, I need to review physics since I will be taking that this coming school year." Gilberto said.
"Okay fine, I'll do the dishes…" Nestor said begrudgingly in defeat.
"Good, glad to hear that you came to your senses Nestor. And I can't believe my twins are going to start high school in September." The mother said.
"Me neither. Although Gilberto and I will be going to different high schools, both schools are still in Chicago and we both pretty much know the CTA lines and directions to each of our schools." Kenia said.
They continued to converse as they walked towards their building. All of the sudden, two tall figures wearing all black with scarves covering their faces below their eyes, ran out the door. They nudged the mother and Kenia out of the way.
"Woah!?" The mother exclaimed.
"Hey?!" Kenia interjected as the two figures ran along the adjacent street into the darkness.
"The nerve of some people." The mother said.
The family of four entered their building after entering the appropriate passcode to open the building's front door.
They climbed up two flights of stairs, and as they approached the door to their apartment. Around the same time, one neighbor in her mid-thirties from upstairs and another in his late-thirties from down the hall came and approached the area.
"Eric. Ana. Hi, how are you doing? What are you guys doing here?" The mother asked.
"I came down because I heard some kind of commotion from downstairs. Did you not hear it, Reyna?" Ana said nervously. She had her dark brown hair in a bun and was wearing black pants and a gray shirt.
"No Ana, the kids and I just came back from grocery shopping…." Reyna replied.
"Kids, can you please put the groceries away and do your chores? I need to talk to the neighbors for a bit." Reyna said, looking towards her kids.
"Okay mom…" Kenia and Gilberto said as they and Nestor went back to their apartment with the grocery bags.
"What do you mean by a commotion?" Reyna asked.
"Well, I have been hearing screaming and banging coming from somewhere in the building. I checked upstairs and many people on the floor above told me nothing was going on, so far, I've been checking if people on our floor also heard it." Eric said. She had short wavy black hair while wearing a white short-sleeve shirt and gray sweatpants.
He then turned towards a door across the hall from Reyna's apartment.
"Hey, I haven't heard from Timon or Gary. Let's check." Eric said.
He, Ana, and Reyna soon approached the door and Reyna knocked it.
"Timon? Gary? It's Reyna. Eric and Ana said they heard commotion from somewhere in the building, do you guys know anything about it?" Reyna said.
She then knocked the door again to find that the door was actually unlocked…actually, it was partially open, which it further opened after the second round of knocking.
The three adults entered the apartment and saw a dark empty living room.
"Timon? Gary? Are you home?" Ana asked.
Eric looked for a light switch, eventually finding one on the wall near the front door.
He flipped the light switch on…only for the trio to make a gruesome discovery.
Reyna suddenly released a worried gasp, looking near the floor.
The other two looked around the floor only to find bloody shoe prints on the white carpet and wooden floors of the kitchen and nearby small hallway.
"Holy crap! There's blood on the floors!" Eric said.
Soon Ana went down the small hallway near the kitchen area where the closet, bedrooms and bathrooms were. She found more bloody shoe prints and other blood stains leading to what was presumably the main bedroom.
She takes a look in and sees two bloodied, motionless bodies lying motionless. Timon's body, in anthropomorphic meerkat form, was laying on the floor with his back against the bed, while Gary's body was laying on the floor. The room was covered in splatters and stains of blood on the floors, parts of the walls, and some of the bed.
Ana was shocked and disturbed at the sight, holding her hands towards her mouth. and started running out towards the living room and kitchen area. Attracting the attention of Reyna and Eric.
"CALL 911! I think they're both dead! Saw them unresponsive in their bedroom!" Ana yelled.