Chapter 1: The Start of a New Life

Luke sat with a sigh as he waited for his turn at the customs and clearance terminal. He was being held up at the border to Zootallia, a country neighboring his that was predominantly inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. He wanted to visit Zootopia, the capital city of Zootallia, in an attempt to clear his mind and maybe get his life back on track. Things had not been going well with his life and he was hoping that this trip would be everything he needed to get himself back together again.

"Lanski." A voice called out. Luke stood up and made his way up to the clearance desk. "Do you have your passport and paperwork?" the man working the desk asked.
"Yes, sir, I do." Luke replied before handing the man all his paperwork.
"Alright, just give me a moment to run your paperwork." The man said before turning to start typing things into a computer. While he waited, Luke turned to look out a nearby window. His truck was currently being checked by an anthro wolf. The wolf circled his vehicle, trying to sniff out anything that may have been trying to be smuggled across the border.

Luke wondered if the border workers ever had any problems with one another. He knew that not many humans actually traveled into Zootallia, and vice versa with the anthros traveling out of their country. He did know that there was a signed agreement that both humans and furs would work together at the border so both sides would have equal agreement as to who was allowed across the border.

Just then, a small alarm sounded and he looked over to see another worker sliding his bags through a scanner. Another third worker made their way over to look at what was making the alarm go off before pulling his bag aside and made a call on his radio. The man checking Luke's paperwork made his way over before waving Luke over.

"Sir, can you please step this way?" the man asked. Luke nodded and complied. The pulled him off to the side with his bag and started going through it. Eventually, they pulled out a handgun that Luke had in his bag. "Do you want to explain this?"

"That is for personal defense." Luka explained. "In the past, someone tried to mug me during one of my past trips. So now, anytime I travel, I bring that for defense uses only. I have the paperwork and permit allowing me to carry it if you wish to check those."
The man nodded and Luke got the papers and gave them to him. He checked all the papers as well as Luke's valid permit before handing them back. Those seem to be in order. They put everything back into the bag and finished scanning his luggage while the first worker finished going over Luke's paperwork.

After a little more waiting about, Luke found himself finally moving along. Once his passport had been stamped, he made his way outside to where it truck was waiting. He nodded to the wolf that had inspected his truck before tossing his bags in the back and climbed in. He then started up the engine and went off on his way.

A short time later, the boarder facility disappeared in his rearview mirror. The landscape was mostly gentle grasslands and rolling hills. After driving for what seemed like thirty minutes or so, Luke pulled off to the side of the road and put his truck in park. He pulled out a map that he picked up from the boarder facility.

He opened it up and unfolded it over his steering wheel. His eyes scanned the map of Zootallia, following along the roads and highways. Closer towards the center of the county was the sprawling city of Zootopia, the capital city of the country. According to the map, Zootopia was still many miles away and Luke wouldn't be reaching it any time soon.

There were several other smaller cities and towns along the way. Hopefully he could stop in at one and find a place to settle in for the night. Cause the last thing Luke wanted to have happen was to be stranded in an unfamiliar country in the middle of the night. He followed the main road he was on along the map until his finger came to the first town.

It looked like a small little sprawl that was labeled Barkersville. It didn't seem like there were any other stops closer. He couldn't help but notice that most if not all of the cities and towns had animal-like names such as: Wolfendale, Bunnyburrow, Sparrowville, and the seeming simple yet large Paw City. After plotting the route to take, Luke folded the map and put it away before he continued on his way.

As Luke drove along, the soft fields and rolling hills gradually turned to lightly wooded forests. Aside from the occasional vehicle traveling the other way, Luke didn't really see any other signs of civilization. Slowly, the light in the sky started to fade as the sun started to set. Thankfully, he made it to Barkersville before the sun set completely.

The town itself was a small country sprawl. There seemed to be mostly the basic necessities: a gas station, a small town market, a motel, as well as a few other businesses and residential places. He pulled into gas station and stopped at one of the few gas pumps.

Luke made his way inside of Greyson's Gas and looked for something small to eat. He wasn't super hungry so he grabbed a couple of small things as well as a drink. As he browsed, an old grizzled wolf watched him from behind the counter. Once Luke had his things, he made his way to the counter to pay for them.

"Evening." He said as he set the items on the counter. "Can I also get $20 on pump 2?" The wolf eyed him for a second before ringing up everything.
"$28.50." the wolf replied in a tired, gruff tone. Luke nodded and pulled out his wallet, pulling out 30 dollars and handed the money to the wolf. The wolf took the money and eyed it. He then rang it up and hit a few buttons on the register before handing Luke his change and his bag of items.

"Thank you." Luke said as he took the items and made his way back out to his truck. He set his items in the cab before he started the pump up and opened up his gas tank. He waited a moment for the pump to click before he started pumping the gas.

A short moment later, a car pulled into the station, "Sheriff" along the side of it. A brown bear got out of the car and looked at Luke before making his way inside. A short time later, he made his way back out about the same time Luke finished filling his truck up.

"Long way from home, ain't ya, son?" the bear asked, strolling up.

"Yes, sir." Luke replied, not wanting to be disrespectful or rude.

"What'cha doin' here in Barkersville?" He asked. "It's a small town out of the way, not many folks come through often."

"Oh, I was just looking for a place to stop and rest up for the night." Luke explained. "Made the trip from cross the border today, was looking to make my way to Zootopia for a visit. But I didn't want to be driving around at night so I thought I would stop as soon as I could."

"Is that so?" the sheriff asked, seeming a little suspicious. Luke nodded.

"Yes, sir." He replied.

"Zootopia's long way off…" the bear said looking over Luke's truck with a glace. "What you headin' to the big city for?"

"Well, I heard it was a pretty nice place. Figured it might be a nice place to take a little vacation to, de-stress from work, see something new…you know how it goes."

The bear looked at Luke a little longer before nodding. "Well then, guess I better not keep ya." He said. "If you are looking for a place to stay, the ol' motel up the road past the market would be your best bet. Old Cass is pretty nice and she likes meeting no folks."

"Well I thank you, Sheriff." Luke said. The bear nodded and made his way back to his car. A brief moment later, he was driving off. Luke finished filing his truck up before he continued on his way.

He followed the sheriff's directions and soon pulled in to the Coyote's Den Motel. Luke parked his truck off to the side and made his way in. There was no one at the front desk, so he rang the small bell on the counter.

"Just a minute." A woman's voice came from a room in the back. A minute later, an old coyote made her way up to the counter.

"Well hello, stranger." She said with a surprised look on her face. "We don't get many humans in the parts. Welcome to the Coyote's Den, what can old Cassidy do ya for?"

"I'd like to rent a room for the night." Luke replied. The coyote nodded.

"Anything in particular you needed?" she asked. "Number of beds all that jazz…"

"I'm good with one bed." He replied. "It will just be for tonight so I don't need all that much."

"Alright, hun, I think I have just the room for you." Cassidy said as she grabbed a key. "The room is 45 bucks a night."
"Sounds good." Luke replied before pulling out his wallet. He set the money out the front desk and watched as the coyote took it up and put it in a cash box behind the desk.

"Alright, please come this way." She said before she took the key and started to walk off down a hallway to her right. Luke followed behind her. The coyote led him down the hall pas a couple of other roomed before she came to a stop before the second to last door on the left. "Here we go." She said as she unlocked the door.

She opened the door and stepped inside, Luke following her in. The room was a small simple one. It had a single bed with a nightstand beside it. There was a small TV sitting on top of a plain dresser. There was a door that led to a small bathroom that had a shower, toilet and sink.

"Will this work?" The coyote asked as she turned to Luke with a warm smile.

"This will do fine." He replied. "I just need a place to sleep for the night."

"Well, would you like a wake-up call?" she asked.

"No, that won't be necessary." He replied.

"Well then, if you need anything else, just call the front desk and we'll see what we can do." She added before she left him to his room. Luke shut the door behind her before then took a look around his room. He was feeling much more tired than he realized.

Luke pulled out his phone and flipped it on. He had several missed calls and text messages. He had a strong feeling about who they were from or what they were about. After scanning through a few of them, his assumptions were proven true.

After deleting the notifications and messages, Luke set an alarm on his phone and set it on the nightstand by the bed before he kicked off his shoes and flopped down onto the bed. It was much warm and softer than he was expecting for some small town roadside motel. He then turned off the nightstand lamp and rolled over in the bed. In no time, Luke had drifted off to sleep.

Luke found him sitting at the dinner table eating breakfast. At the table with him were his mother and younger sister, who were both enjoying a bit of breakfast as well. As he ate, Luke scanned the kitchen. It was spotless as always, his mom made sure it stayed like that.

"What are you going to do today?" his sister asked him. "If you aren't too busy, maybe you can take me to the mall and we can hang out a little."

"I will probably be spending the day cleaning up around here," their mother said. "So if you two want to go into town today, that's fine with me."

"I guess we can go to the mall today if you want, Sis." Luke replied.

She cheered happily and finished eating her breakfast. As their mom finished, she took up the plates and put them into the sink to clean them up. Luke sat there for a moment, looking about a little more. Just then, the sound of screeching car tires could be heard outside.

Suddenly things about the room started to shatter and explode as bullets began to tear through the kitchen through the window. Luke threw himself down under the table and covered his head as the rapid and consecutive gunshots continued to ring out for what seemed like several minutes before the sound of squealing tired where the last thing he heard before silence.

After a moment, he slowly uncovered his head and looked up. From under the table, he could see broken glass and debris littering the floor. Looking to the left, his eyes meet his mothers. She was lying there, lifeless in a pool of her own blood. Climbing out from under the table, Luke quickly turned to his sister.

"Jess! Jess are you al-" but his words fell short.

His sister was slumped over onto the table, a gunshot wound to the back of her head. Luke stepped back against the kitchen wall.

"N-no…." he said softly as he slowly slid down the wall, down to the floor. "No…"

Luke suddenly woke with a start in a panicked cold sweat. He was shaking and it took a moment or two for his heart rate to calm back down again. He reached over and grabbed his phone. It was only 2am. He unlocked his phone and opened his contacts and started to scroll through them. He hesitated to make a call before he shook his head and closed his phone and set it back on the nightstand before rolling over and tried to fall back asleep.