Zootopia: Secrets And Deception

Chapter 7. An Understanding

It was an early Friday morning, Judy couldn't sleep the night before, not after the drugs the nurse gave her did. Judy felt uneasy, almost as if something was wrong with.....Nick. Just the thought of him being taken away on the bridge, away from her, brought tears to her eyes even though there were already trails down her face. She tried wiping them away, but her arms still hurt from all the chaos and could barely move them as it is.

It was almost nine-thirty in the morning when Clawhouser came to visit her while she was hospitalized. He bought some flowers for Judy to brighten her day, and maybe a box of doughnuts for himself as well. "Hey, Judy. How are you feeling?" he asked with a smile on his face.
"I'm still a little sore, but doing well. The doctor said I should be out of here in a couple more days." She replied sweetly.
"Yeah, that's good." He said.
"What's all happened since I've been in here?" she asked. Noticing something was bugging him.
"No, nothing's happened." He said and tried not to make eye contact.
"Clawhouser?" Judy asked.
"Okay, I'm not supposed to talk about it in the open until Bogo releases it to the press." He said and made sure the door was closed all the way. "Two days ago, when Gazelle was preforming on stage. Someone raced up there in a flash, and I've never seen any animal move that fast, not even a cheetah. He took her and disappeared in an instant, we don't know her location or where they went." His story was so interesting and full of suspense, that Judy was sitting upright and wide eyed. "At first we thought he was holding her hostage, but after no phone calls or messages of any kind, we got suspicious and looked through the videos and security tapes. It was after a few minutes of combing through all the footage that we discovered, Gazelle was shot at while on stage. The abductor grabbed her and moved her just enough, that the bullet missed her, but struck him in the arm." This was both confusing and interesting to Judy.
"Why would someone want to kill Gazelle? She was an important public figure that loved Zootopia, and the people who lived there." Judy said.
"That's what I wondered too, but we recovered the round that was fired at her. It is an armor piercing round made to go through Kevlar and other armors. It can only be fired from a special sniper that went illegal ten years ago, it isn't even in any system anymore. The round has teeth around it to rip, tear, and cause maximum damage to anyone. Including Kevlar vests, it can go completely through the vest, the one wearing it, and hit whoever is behind them." He said as he was eating the third to last doughnut.
"It almost sounds like whoever wanted to kill Gazelle, they didn't want her to survive and walk away, just in case it wasn't instant." Judy said.

After talking for a few more minutes, Clawhouser put the flowers he got her in a vase and set them on the nightstand by the window. Before he left, she thanked him for the flowers again, and may have had a taste of a chocolate doughnut to get rid of the hospital food. "Oh, I just remembered....." Clawhouser said and reached into his pocket and pulled out Judy's phone. "I snuck this from the front desk. Just in case the department calls." He said as he put it on the nightstand next to her bed.
"Thank you, Ben." She said. When he left, she looked at all the gifts and goodies that the entire ZPD, her parents, and the mayor had left for her. Flowers, cards, and some chocolates for her to get better with. After a long day of visitors, and maybe the drugs that the doctors had given her hadn't fully worn off. "Thank you everyone." She whispered to herself before drifted back asleep.

Two more days went by before she was cleared and was able to leave the hospital, with minor stitching and bruising, and walked out of the hospital. Bogo ordered her to rest and heal at home before returning to work. He wanted her at 100% before coming back to the force, plus the shock from the attack on the bridge nearly three weeks ago. He didn't want everyone crowding around her and ask her dozens of questions, especially about Nick. It was a painful walk home, the drugs that the doctors gave her finally wore off, but that isn't the only thing she was in pain about. It was the thought of Nick, not by her side, or by her hospital bed. The explosion that he took completely, so that she wouldn't get hurt, and remembered the bullet wound on his arm. "It's nothing that won't heal, carrots." Remembering what he said before he was taken from her, still bleeding as they dragged him across the hard pavement.

Half past eight, Judy reached the apartment that both Nick and her shared. Once inside, she was starving and made a salad just like the one he always makes for her, but she wasn't hungry. Nick was all she could think about, worry and fear had gotten hold of her and wouldn't let go. Suddenly, her phone rang, and she hobbled over to the counter where she put it and picked it up. Who was calling her this late of night? When she picked it up, she saw it was Nick! She was both stunned and confused, but answered in excitement. "Nick, where....." she began to ask, but was cut off.
"Hello, Judy." Jeremiah! His voice was soft and gentle sounding, for a snake that is.
"What do you want, Jeremiah? Where's Nick?" she asked demandingly.
"Nickolas is fine, in fact he is right here and wants to tell you something. Here he is." Jeremiah said, followed by a slight pause.
"Carrots?" she heard. It was Nick, and he sounded weak.
"Nick! Are you alright?" she asked as she started to cry a bit.
"I'm.....I'm fine, carrots. I'm just fine. Listen, I know about the deal you made with him.....but I don't care. You know what Jeremiah wants, and he is holding me for ransom until you deliver the box and key." Nick said. Judy put her hand over her mouth in fear. "But.....but fail to do so....." Nick ended, as if he didn't want to tell her of Jeremiahs intension, who knew he wasn't going to tell her.
"It's okay, Nick. I will find it so I can free you." She said. Then the phone paused again.
"You have one week starting tomorrow. Bring me the box and key, or you will never see Nickolas alive again. Do you understand, Judy?" Jeremiah said cruelly.
"I.....I understand perfectly." She replied.
"Excellent, hang onto that phone so I can contact you with future instructions, and don't bother tracking this number or phone. I have put a code inside of it so it cannot be recognized except by your phone. It will falsify over three-hundred different locations all over Zootopia. See you soon, Judy." Then silence. Five minutes later she received a picture that made her cringe and start crying. It was a picture of Nick handcuffed to a couple of pipes, and bleeding from his head and the arm he was shot. This time she couldn't fight the tears and almost couldn't sleep that night, Judy hated seeing Nick in pain or worse.
"Will I ever see him again? What if I fail?" these questions haunted her all throughout the night.

That morning she woke early and fixed herself a cup of coffee, and was still shaken from the picture Jeremiah sent her. Judy sat down and began analyzing the map and key, though many attempts failed. She was frustrated and angry that these two don't go together, and held the map to the lamp to see if there was something she missed. There was nothing, except for a weird scent on the edges of the paper. She suddenly got an idea, and grabbed candles and matches, lit the candle, and held the paper just enough to feel the flame without it burning. After a few minutes, she pulled the paper away from the flame and looked all around the edge, but there was nothing. She was more frustrated and disappointed, set the paper down, and got up to get more coffee. She was still a little sore but was fine, and came back to find the edges of the map covered in sequences of codes and symbols all around. Judy was astonished, how could she miss this? But recognized some of these symbols, and got out her flashlight and key. Shining the light through the key and saw some of the same symbols in different areas, but thought there must be more. She's missing something? What could it be? "The map!" she exclaimed. But it was too small for all this, and went to get it enlarged on a big piece of board so she could pin and write on it.

At almost four, and finally retrieved the now enlarged map. Placing it against her wall, she took out her flashlight and saw that it was the perfect size for this, but didn't know where these symbols go on here. "The codes!" she exclaimed again, and began putting in these codes on her computer. Sure enough they were location codes, and began marking them on the map. Then she turned on her flashlight with the key now attached to the front of it, and shone it on the map. Lining up all the symbols with the points mark, she saw it was a perfect match. Like finding the next piece to the unknown puzzle. She noticed some of these symbols are too familiar to her, and looked at the side of the key. Only four symbols were above the notch in the side of the key, and marked those on the map, discovering that they were at four opposite areas of Zootopia. One of the locations she remembered all too well, for the first location was on the same bridge that they were attacked on, and Nick was taken from her. Just the thought of those painful memories started bringing tears to her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. She has a job to do, she has too. For the one she loves, his life depends on it. Nick.