Chapter 0 - Introduction
5th of June 2017, 11 p.m.
HMC Workshop, Bristleville, Boarderlands County
In Boarderlands county, five hundred miles away from the capitol Zootopia, between acres of farmland lies the small city Bristleville. Usually a quiet town, but not today, not this evening. What happened thirty minutes ago, was something this town had never seen before.
Neither had Charles. A buck, much too tall for his species.
He sat on the floor, leaning against the wall of the office of his mechanic workshop.
The office was dark, the inside only lit by dim moonlight. He didn't dare to switch on the light when he reached the last room he felt safe in. After all, he could not know if there were any pursuers left and the light could have given away his location.
So, he sat there in the dark, the right leg bent towards him, the other straight out. He couldn't move that leg anymore. The exhaustion of the escape and following pursuit and finally the bullet he took to his thigh had taken a toll on him. The other two bullets, one in his shoulder and the other in his abdomen were not helping his maneuverability either.
His good arm was resting on his knee, the hand gripping one of his two most faithful companions, a Smith&Pawsson 500 Magnum. His bad arm was holding the other companion. A glass filled with his favorite brand of beverage: Wild Turkey Whiskey. The half full crystal carafe was standing to his left.
He groaned as he lifted the glass to his mouth to take a sip.
This groan, alongside his shallow breathing and the ticking from the clock on the wall, were the only sounds heard. It felt as if he was in the eye of a tornado.
And as he lit a cigarette, his last one he thought, his mind started to wander. Wandering down the road on memory lane, as he tried to remember each step, that led him where he now was.
Slowly bleeding out, five hundred miles away from his family, on his own property, the Hammers Motor Cycle Mechanics Garage, that was once his dream, and turned into a nightmare a mere month ago.
Each sip numbed the pain emitting from his wounds as well as the effect of the alcohol gave passage to every buried memory.
With a chuckle and asked "How did it come to this?" to the emptiness of the room to no one in particular.