Beep, beep, beep, sounded an alarm that was quickly stopped, as a grey, furred finger pressed the turn off button. The clock said 5:01 AM while a young female rabbit hopped out of bed, literally and looked around as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room that she awoke to. With a quick stretch she headed over to her drawers as she began to rummage through the clothes for a clean dark blue shirt that she could use, followed by the pants and other garments she would wear for the day.
After a few minutes did she head down to the public showers that her floor shared. Since she was up before everyone, she was always able to get some privacy and despite having first dibs she never used any hot water, only cold water as it would perk her up more to get her ready for work. After a quick ten minute shower did she get out and quickly head back to her room to get dressed, making sure to take her bathrobe with her. She quickly got dressed, put her vest on over her shirt and gave her badge a quick brush to take off any dirt or grime on it. She took a look at her mirror and felt very proud of herself. She took a quick gaze over and saw a picture on her nightstand, on the picture was a fox and a rabbit wearing matching police uniforms smiling as they had their faces pressed against each other cheek against cheek.
"I hope you're ready Zootopia, cause today Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are here to keep you safe!" whispered Judy joyfully as she enjoyed the sight of the picture.
"Hey keep it down over there, people are trying to sleep," yelled Bucky from the other side of the wall. Judy only nodded as she headed over to her door and stepped out and began to leave for another day as ZPD's top officer. Judy walked outside pulling out her keys as she headed over to a police cruiser suited just for her and Nick as they were a different size than most others police officers. She got in and turned it on and began to go through her driving sequence, she checked her seatbelt, all over her mirrors, fixed her rearview mirror as it was tilting to the right side.
Judy finished up and started to set the car in motion as she began to head to Nick's new apartment, as he finally was able to save up enough money to move out of from under that bridge, after nearly a year of working on the force. It was nearly a twenty minute drive to pick him up from his new home. Which she found was surprisingly close to ZPD's precinct one. As she pulled up, she took a look up to the sky and could see that it was getting cloudy very quickly even though it was still dark out and the sun was just pushing some light into the sky off in the distance.
"Looks like it's going to rain hard today," thought Judy as she gazed for a few more moments before a knock on her passenger side door made her jump. She looked to see Nick in uniform as well and wearing shades of all things.
"You ready for another day in making the world a better place Slick Nick?" asked Judy as Nick opened the door and began to climb in.
"You know it Carrots." Nick smiled as he buckled himself in, leaned back and began to thumb through his phone for the daily weather report as usual.
"So what does it say about the weather Nick, because to me it looks like its going to be a big storm today," said Judy after a quiet minute in the car as she began to navigate the sparse traffic on the roads.
"Well you essentially nailed it on the dot Carrots. It's going to be the biggest storm of the year. Gonna be a lot of wrecks today." scowled Nick with a heavy sigh at the end of his answer to Judy.
"I hope not, so how is your morning going Nick, you seem a little off today." commented Judy as she noticed he wasn't wearing his signature grin this morning.
"I don't know Fluff, I feel something in the air, and I don't like it." Nick voiced his concern as he took his glasses off and looked over to Judy. His eyes were tired looking as though he didn't get much sleep.
"Nick! What did I tell you about staying up all night watching movies!" berated Judy as she glared at him.
"I'm sorry but they were showing a back to back documentaries on the most influential con artists ever," Nick argued as he gave her that smile of his. Judy met his gaze as they reached a red light and they stared at each other with Judy very obviously annoyed with Nick while he himself just smiled at her like he did nothing wrong. After a few seconds did she finally give in and smiled back at him.
"I hate that smile of yours Nick, I really do, I can't stay mad at you when you do that," said Judy begrudgingly as she moved the cruiser forward as the light turned green.
"It's called a hustle and you will always fall for it," chuckled Nick as he leaned back into his chair while putting his shades back on. Before Judy could respond a flash of light lit up the sky and was soon followed by a loud boom with the downpour of heavy, fat raindrops. Judy quickly turned on her windshield wipers so she could see the road as her window was thoroughly soaked and unable to see in mere seconds. After a few more minutes did they arrive at the station and quickly turned the car off, grab their belongings and ran inside. When they made it inside they looked at around to see other officers ranging from soaked, to slightly wet, to completely dry. They walked up to the reception desk to see Ben Clawhauser eating his favorite cereal, Lucky Chompers, as he usually does. Judy and Nick both greeted him but couldn't stay to long as they were already late as it is. They waved goodbye as they headed off to the "Bull pen" as it was known.
They entered the room and quickly got seated and just in time to as Chief Bogo entered the room just literally a second after they both had sat down. There was no cheering as he entered the room as he was still recovering from a serious sinus infection and was very sensitive to sound at the moment.
"Ok so I have two things on the agenda today, first is that you all must know by now that we are in the middle of a massive thunderstorm and it will be causing many traffic accidents and because of that we are on extra alert for any calls for automobile accidents so be ready for those. And second on the agenda is next week we will be having our annual bring your son to work day, so if you want to bring your kid in, just sign this sheet before the end of the day and leave it on Clawhauser's desk, so I can get a estimate of what we will be dealing with next week. That's all, dismissed!" said Chief Bogo with a voice of dominance and laid the paper down on his little podium before leaving the room. With his morning assignments down everyone was either leaving or heading over to sign it with officer McHorn one of the first to get to the paper which surprised almost everyone in the room as he never told anyone he had a family let alone kids.
"Woah hey there big guy since when did you get a family?" Asked officer Fangmeyer as he took a couple steps back.
"He's not mine but I really like this lady I've been seeing for a while now and her kid just looks up to me like you wouldn't believe, so I thought why not show him what I do for a living." replied the large rhino as he turned to the smaller wolf.
"Hey good for you buddy, glad to see you dating!" Judy was smiling as she found it kinda cute that this big guy has a soft heart.
"Yeah I hope she likes the idea as much as me," said McHorn as he turned to Judy.
"Come on Carrots we better get out there and keep the city safe," said Nick as he and Judy casually tossed their hands over their heads to say bye to everyone left in the room. They walked by Ben's desk and quickly let him know that they were off to patrol the border between Sahara Square and Zootopia's city center.
"Good Luck and drive safe you two!" yelled Ben as they headed out the front door right before they began to run for their cruiser as they attempted to avoid as much rain as possible. Luckily they didn't get to wet this time around as they got in the car. This time Nick was driving as they began to back up and leave their parking spot carefully. It was not even two minute before on the road before their radio began to blow up with calls for wrecks with many officers responding to help with the crashes. After responding to a few minor fender benders did they finally decide to stop and get some food.
"Ughh I'm starving Nick, where should stop to eat?" asked Judy after nearly five hours into her shift without a break for the two of them. It was still pouring outside and in fact it was getting even worse with lighting and thunder just cracking the sky in half.
"I was thinking that one deli shop near here, uhhh Deli's Delights." Nick answered without hesitating.
"Ooooooohh good choice that sounds amazing right now. Let's call it in and we can go eat real quick." Judy reached for the radio when a call came through.
"224 in progress on the west side of Zootopia center at Zootopia's First National Bank, shots fired officers McHorn, Fangmeyer and Terrial in need of assistance, one officer down. I repeat 224 in progress on the west side of Zootopia center at Zootopia's First National Bank, shots fired officers McHorn, Fangmeyer and Terrial in need of assistance, one officer down." sounded from the radio and without a moment's hesitation Judy knew what she had to do. She picked up the radio, looked over to Nick and saw he nodded, and pressed down on the button.
"This is Sergeant Hopps responding to the 224 and is four minutes out! We are heading over there now!" responded Judy as Nick reached for the guns behind their seats nervously as this was both of their first time responding to a shoot out of any kind.
"Copy that Sergeant Hopps proceed with caution more officers en route to their location." sounded a voice from the radio again. Judy flipped a switch on her dashboard and instantly her lights and sirens came to life as they began to speed down the road to get there as soon as possible to help their colleagues and friends. As they sped down the road Nick was also able to get out their body armor and put his on and sat Judy's armor on her lap. As they drew closer they began to hear the gunshots and Nick pulse began to quicken as he began to load up their pistols and shotguns along with two more clips of pistol ammo for each of them. Judy turned the corner to see that McHorn was hiding behind his large cruiser as officer Fangmeyer was kneeling over officer Terrial the tiger applying bandages to his leg as it was bleeding horribly. They pulled up behind McHorn and Nick immediately jumped out with his first aid kit in hand and ran over to them to help with the situation. Judy quickly put her armor on before she got out of the car as well and carefully got over to the rest of them.
"What's going on? How bad is he hurt? How many of them are there? What guns do they have?" asked Judy without waiting for a response to her questions as Nick helped officer Terrial get behind their cruiser to get him out of harm's way.
"Well we just happened to be driving by when they came shooting out of the bank and so we pulled over and began to return fire as soon as they began to shoot at us. Terrial was hit as he was getting out and was able to get behind the car and Fangmeyer was able to get the bandages from the first aid kit before it got lit up and filled with lead. There only appears to be four of them and they are armed from claws to fangs with armor and military grade assault rifles. So far all we managed to do his hold them inside as this is the only way out," answered the large rhino as he ducked down to talk to Judy. By now everyone was soaked all the way down underneath their fur as they tried to assess the situation. Before they could continue two more police cruisers showed up and out hopped some of the finest officers in Zootopia along with Chief Bogo himself in body armor and holding a pistol.
Soon the cruisers were set up in a way to barricade the entrance of the bank and during the time the criminals had let all the children in the bank to leave along with all the elderly, but they kept the rest which was numbered to be around twenty civilians left inside with four heavily armed robbers also. During this time one of the gunners unloaded onto the officers just as the elderly reached the cruisers as they began to help them causing the officers to body block as many shots as possible to protect the civilians. Three officers were severely injured including Chief Bogo as he took three shots in the back and two in his right leg.
Nearly thirty minutes has passed since Judy and Nick arrived on scene.
It was quiet for nearly ten more minutes when suddenly the gunmen came running out with using one civilian each as a meat shield as they began to open fire on the officers. They all began to take cover behind their cars to avoid getting hit as the bullets began turn all their cruisers into swiss cheese forcing the officers to take cover behind the next row of cars. Judy began to follow suit but slipped on the wet asphalt, before the sound of bullets colliding with metal echoed all around her. Because her ears were so sensitive she was forced to cover her ears with her paws. She was getting back up when a stray bullet hit the car next to her and shattered, causing the fragments to tear through her right leg. She cried out in pain as she fell to the ground once again. Nick didn't notice as he dove and slid under one the cars and got up on the other side expecting Judy to be there already.
He looked around as everyone began to do a quick role call to make sure everyone was ok. After a few seconds did everyone notice that Judy was crawling over to get behind McHorn's cruiser as it was the closest one to her. Judy wobbled as she stood up quickly pulling out her pistol as her heart raced with fear, adrenaline, rage and other feelings she couldn't comprehend, as the gunmen got closer and closer judging from the sound of the rifles firing at her friends. She could see the bright, metal objects fly over her as they pinged off of the cruisers in front of her. Her eyes came in contact with Nick's as he looked at her through one of the cruisers windows.
"Judy!" cried Nick as he tried to jump over the car but was held back by a severely injured Bogo.
Judy looked down and could see that the fragment that hit her had tore completely went through her leg and was bleeding profusely. Judy heard one of the gunman slam into the car as he reached it and could hear him reloading his rifle. Judy using her good leg took a chance and jumped up just enough to look through the window to see that he no longer was using a civilian as a hostage and was looking down as he reloaded. When she landed she looked under the car and could see armored legs moving towards the other cruisers to take cover and was terrified when one of them stopped and began to kneel down.
She was shaking as she lifted her gun and before she knew it she was looking into the eyes of one of the gunman. She didn't take to the time to read his features as he began to yell and aim his gun at her. closing her eyes she pulled the trigger and felt the recoil of her gun and slowly opened them to see that she had hit him in the head and he was now laying on the ground, dead. Judy could barely breath as she could hear the two of the gunman open fire on the rest of the police as one of them came running around the cruiser and take aim at her.
"You killed my brother! You Bitch!" scream the wolf as he pulled the trigger and shot at Judy. She barely had time to react as she rolled forward under the car and pushed with her good leg to slide to the other side and was now behind the car with the other two gunman. Judy could hear nothing but ringing and the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears as the gunmen ducked under the returned fire of the ZPD officers. she could see the legs of the wolf on the other side of the car began to do jerky movements for a split second before slowly slumping down as he dropped his gun.
By now one of the gunman noticed Judy and panicked pulling out a pistol and took aim at her. Judy rolled to her left and dodged the bullets as they hit the ground. She took aim and shot five times in quick succession and was able to hit him in the neck causing him to grasp his neck and try to stop the bleeding. But it was pointless as he began to twitch violently a moment later. The final gunman, to Judy's surprise was actually a rabbit of all things, saw his friend get hit and attempted to shoot Judy as he had just reloaded his rifle. Judy panicked and once again took aim and fired the rest of her clip into the gunman. She saw she had hit him every single time and continued to shoot even though nothing came out. Judy could only watch in horror as she had not stopped him as she only hit his armor but was only able to make him slump against the car and drop his assault rifle while doing so. Judy began to crawl backwards but she was frozen with fear as the gunman pulled out a revolver and took aim at her.
There was a slight moment between the two that seemed like an eternity in which the only ones who existed was only those two, locked in and endless stare, oblivious to the world all around them. Judy could only mouth the words "no," as he pulled the trigger causing the gun to recoil in his hand. Judy felt the bullet tear through her abdomen and out her back causing her to cry out with utmost pain. She fell backwards onto her back but not before the gunman could fire one more bullet that was aimed at her head. As she fell backwards she was able to dodge the fatal shot as it went through her left ear. Her head hit the ground hard and suddenly her vision grew blurry as she began to lose a lot of blood. From the corner of her eye as she began to pass out she could see Nick tackle the gunman and wrestle him to the ground. "Nick?" was all she could mouth and that was the last thing she saw as the darkness consumed her.
Nick finally managed to disarm and handcuff the final gunman and had to punch the rabbit a couple of times to finally get him down. Nick got up just as the rest of the officers got to him and gasped as they saw Judy lying on the ground bleeding and unmoving. Nick rushed over and slid to his knees and began to help her up onto his thighs as he attempted to wake her. Officer McHorn frantically began to called for an ambulance or medical personnel.
"Carrots, wake up! Wake up. God damn it Judy wake up!" called out Nick as he began to apply pressure to the wound in her stomach to try and stop the bleeding. Nick tried and tried to wake her up as he began to feel absolute pain in his chest as it began to sink into his mind that she might be gone forever. As it sank deeper and deeper so did the tears in his eyes begin to grow and grow until they began to run like a river down his cheeks.
"Judy! Please don't go! I need you! I NEED YOU! Judy! I... I... LOVE YOU!" screamed Nick as he let a out a the most feral, pain filled scream anyone has heard before. Nick was completely unaware that he was surrounded by paramedics until McHorn began to pull the two apart causing Nick to fight back scratching and clawing him as McHorn dragged him away from Judy so the paramedics could began to do their work. Nick let out unintelligible screams and howls as he kicked and clawed so he could back to Judy so he cradle her in his arms. Finally McHorn held him down as one of the other officers managed to sedate him with a tranquilizer. The last thing he saw was the paramedics hoisting Judy up on a stretcher and getting her in the back of an ambulance.
Nick walked down the long hallway carrying roses of the most brilliant shade of red he could find. He walked down the hall past people dressed in white and blue as he was on a mission to get where he needed, with who he needed to be with. After a few more rooms that he passed by did he finally reach his destination. Nick stood still for a moment before heading in and calmly sitting down in the empty chair next to the bed. He sat there for nearly an hour before speaking up.
"Hey, Carrots, how you hanging in there?" Asked Nick as he looked over Judy. Judy had a mask over her face to help her breath and was lying under a white sheet with tubes running out from under the sheets to help her stay hydrated and to monitor her condition. Nick could hear the background noise of the machine's beeps indicating she was still alive and kicking.
"It's ok you need to save your energy. You were amazing Judy, you know that?" Asked Nick as he began to look around the room and saw it as filled with flowers of all kinds with many colors ranging from blue to green to bright yellow.
"The guys at the station miss you, they really do. Bogo, Ben, McHorn, Terrial, Fangmeyer, all of them. It's just not the same without you there cheering everyone on and pushing us to do our best, to help the city before helping ourselves," smiled Nick as he tried to hold back the tears that began to swell in his eyes. Nick was quietly sobbing for a while before he was able to compose himself and continue to talk to Judy.
"They say you never know what you have until it's gone, that's something I've felt twice with you, the first time when you went back to Bunny Burrow leaving me to continue my old ways and the second time was that night when you almost died," continued Nick as he was still sitting in the chair while looking at Judy's face.
"It's a pain that is completely unbearable and painful for me. It damn near drove me into depression that first time and now it damn near costed me my sanity to see you there on the ground bleeding the way you were. You looked so fragile, so weak, I couldn't stand it, I never felt so much pain in my life." Nick cried out as he started to cry again.
"I never want to be without you ever again Judy, I never do," said Nick as he got up and placed the roses on the table and sat back down. Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object and began to toy with it has he held it carefully.
"Judy I wish you were here with me, by my side, for the rest of my life. I don't want to be with anyone else. Judy I don't know how to say this but." Nick paused as he got up from the chair and pushed it back and got down on one knee. "Judith Laverne Hopps, will you marry me, Nicholas Piberius Wilde?" asked Nick as he opened up the box to reveal and beautiful blue diamond that had two small green diamonds next to the large blue one on a pure gold ring. Nick kneeled in the silence for nearly a minute before he got up and spoke again.
"I see, you're not ready to get married, I understand Judy. Well I'll see you tomorrow Carrots," sobbed Nick as he closed the box and began to turn around and slowly walk towards the door. Just before he left he heard a small sound, he stopped to listen and before he knew it there it was again. He let his ears guide him as he followed the sound and was drawn back to Judy's bed.
"Judy? Can you hear me?" asked Nick as he realized the sound was coming from Judy. He stood there for nearly a minute before he gave up and turned to leave again, "Must have been nothing at all," thought Nick as he took one more step.
"N...ick?" called a weak voice from behind him causing him to turn around so suddenly that he got a tad dizzy from it.
"Nick... Yes... I... Will marry you." whispered Judy as she was staring at him with her big amethyst eyes as he stared at her with his big green eyes. Nick Could only smile as he went in to hug her. Careful to not hurt her he hugged her tenderly when Judy suddenly pulled her mask off and pulled Nick's face towards hers and gave him a deep kiss.
The end!
((((Author's Notes))))
So this story was originally a series of fan art picture that was absolutely stunning.
So amazing in fact I just had to write a story about it.
So much emotion behind it, so much pain it called out to me.
The cover image is called "Wake Up" by Neytirix over at deviantart.
This story is also dedicated to the officers of the world who risk their lives and put them on the line to keep us safe from harm and to you all I THANK YOU!
To those who have fallen in the line of duty I am thankful that you would risk your life to help those in need. You're true heroes that should never be forgotten!
This story was inspired by the artwork of Neytirix and I thank you for your art!
And as always have a great weekend!