Judy, Finnick, and I search for another hour through the rubble, hoping that whatever animal lived here kept a spare around.
No such luck. But I've learned to not trust luck.
Finally Judy tugs on my elbow. "We have to start heading back, love. It's getting dark, and Bogo will start worrying." Her purple eyes smile at me even as her lips do. I kiss her for no particular reason except the one where I want to.
It feels more real than anything else, her and I. I never loved her more than when the world was ending.
I smile lopsidedly at her. "We did pretty good today, huh, Carrots?" I hold up the regulator just to see her eyes sparkle again, and hope flit across her face.
Fin comes and stands wordlessly by us. He was affected most of all, I think.
He hit his head pretty badly during the quakes, and with the sedative on his system, it took him a while before he could think straight. But when he did recover, he was more silent. He stayed closer to us, and he rarely laughed. But he's Finnick, my best friend, aside from Judy. We stuck together, the three of us. And try to survive the Apocalypse.
Judy leads us through the twisting streets of Zootopia, and we tried to avoid the broken glass as best we could. We were headed home, or to the base. It was hard to call anything home anymore, but you do what you can.
The base was one of the few buildings to be relatively untouched by current events, a warehouse. We lived there with a couple dozen civilians and officers that had pulled together after the end. Bogo led us, and we were slowly trying to fix the problems that besieged us, one by one. Thanks to us, the city had power now, for those that had an outlet to plug into, and the refrigerators and freezers were working, saving the food.
We were slowly but surely pulling the animals back into a community, assigning jobs to clean up the streets, salvage from the houses, nurse the sick, and bury the (thankfully) few dead. Apparently the rehabilitation efforts hadn't reached this part of town.
Judy led us through the outskirts of Little Rodentia, and into the industrial district, which was full of warehouses in varying conditions. She knocked on the least battered door. "Har, open up."
The door opens, and a deep, dark black wolf with a black hoodie, grey eyes, and a slight scowl squints at us. Harold. He hates his name, so everyone calls him Har. Makes life simpler.
He manages a tiny smile. "Welcome back."
