six months 》junick

Chapter 9: The Hideout

That night, Judy pulled up to The Preds' hideout, tears in her eyes. She felt horrible for what she said to Nick earlier, and she honestly didn't mean it. She was just...so angry that he would even consider skipping out on a crucial piece of evidence in such an important case. She even tried calling Nick to apologise but he wouldn't pick up. It made her feel awful considering how fond she was of him.

Nobody had ever made Judy feel the way Nick did; he listened to her problems, made her smile when she was upset, and he was unbelievably sly and silly. He was a great friend while it lasted, and she honestly felt stupid now that she thought it would even remotely possible for a bunny and a fox to be more than friends. Judy actually thought Nick liked her back with the way they nearly kissed last night, but that theory was out of the window as soon as it came.

Wiping her tears away from her eyes, Judy stepped out of her car and locked it behind her. She tried to ignore the pounding of her heart and focused on getting into the hideout and getting enough evidence to prove that The Preds were indeed in action and hopefully get them arrested. The alleyway was dark and seemed like it was never ending, but when Judy heard a door creak open to her left, her head jerked in that direction, her breath hitching in her throat.

Red, eerie light spilled through the crack in the door and reflected off the moist cobbles on the ground. Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath before creeping into the hideout, leaving the door open behind her to make her escape more easy if she got caught.

It was dark in the room, and the red glowing light wasn't really helping. That was when Judy missed Nick the most. She wished he was right next to her, using his night vision to scope out anything dangerous around them. She wished he was there to hold her paw, and tell her it would be ok...but he wasn't.

Tears filled Judy's eyes again, but she furiously sniffed them back, sighing to herself as she wiped her sweaty paws on the fabric of her pants. She pulled out her phone from her back pocket and held it in her shaky paw, turning on the camera and starting to record and take pictures.

Papers - files presumably - were scattered everywhere, on the floor and on the tables. Ashtrays were parked in the middle of every tables, cigarette ends in each of them. Cards were scattered amongst the tables, and empty packets.

Shards of glass were everywhere, so Judy had to watch her step, and cracked mirrors were on the walls, some paintings of things Judy couldn't make out next to them. The atmosphere was unearthly, something that made Judy feel terrified beyond comprehension, and she didn't like it one bit - therefore making it her mission to get out of the hideout as soon as possible.

After taking the last picture she thought suitable, Judy nodded to herself before turning on her heel to head out. She couldn't wait to tell Nick how she busted the criminals. As she turned, she noticed a large figure in front of her. She gasped and jumped back, looking up at the face of whoever was towering above her. It was too dark to see, and the fact Judy was trembling didn't help her case. Her heart was pounding even more than before, knowing she had been caught.

Suddenly, the figure in front of her smiled a wide smile, exposing a set of pincer sharp white teeth - more like fangs - the eerie red light casting a menacing glow on them. Judy whipped her head round in an attempt to escape, but two more larger figures appeared from the shadows. Judy's eyes widened in horror, and just as she was about to scream, her mouth was covered, along with her eyes.

Terrified, Judy screamed into her captor's paw, banging her fists against it in an attempt to get it off of her, but the animal was too strong. She felt something grab her paws, claws sinking into them, and tears sprang into her eyes. Something was wrapped around her wrists and tied behind her as she felt something which felt like cloth go into her mouth. It tasted like blood.

Suddenly, she was being picked up, carried somewhere far off into the hideout and set on a chair, her eyes being uncovered. Panicked, Judy's eyes darted around the room, her vision spotting pools of red liquid around the black and white tiled floor. Grime stuck to the walls, smeared and spilled over the - once pristine - tiles and more papers were scattered over the floor.

"Who...who are you?" Judy asked through her gag, her voice trembling as much as her body.

"Well, I'm surprised a smart cop like you can't tell; after all, you have been cracking this case for a few days, Officer Hopps," a hoarse, British voice answered from somewhere behind Judy.

On instinct, she whipped her head around but there was nothing there, just the corners where two walls intertwined. She turned her head back to look in front of her, and there stood six animals. The Preds...

Suddenly, a light flicked on. Not a very bright one, but it still made Judy squint. The six animals she had hoped she'd never have to face again were standing in a straight, somewhat menacing, line in front of her. She didn't know what to do, or think. Quite frankly, she couldn't do anything, and she couldn't think. It was all too much for her, and in the heat of the moment, she found herself missing Nick.

"Seeing as you're a cop, I'm guessing you'd like to see our plan," Harry suggested, breaking the silence between the animals.

Judy couldn't move - she was frozen with fear - and Harry took that as his opportunity to grab a piece of paper from the table next to him and shove it under Judy's nose, her eyes taking a few seconds to adjust to what was in front of her.

There, written in black and white, was her name. On a list, along with other names of animals she didn't know, the ones above hers crossed out with red ink. She was on their hit list. Suddenly, Judy felt like she couldn't breathe. They were going to kill her, and she didn't even get to say sorry to Nick. Her breaths were becoming more rapid and short with every second, the anxiety and horror all building up into that moment.

Harry snatched the paper back and Judy looked up, her purple eyes darting from animal to animal, trying to find any signs of remorse in their eyes. But she couldn't find any.

"Whoo, did Christmas come early this year or is this bunny just as dumb as she looks?" Someone - a female cackled and the others chuckled along.

"Well, why don't we just kill her and get it over with?" Another, a male who sounded quite excited asked, jumping up and down and clapping his paws.

"Oi!" Harry barked, and everyone in the room - including Judy - whipped their heads around to look at him, Judy noticing a knife in his right paw.

Her eyes widened in fear as the wolf stalked his way over to her, taking slow and menacing steps until he was right in front of her, kneeling down to her height with a devious grin on his face.

"Nobody touches her until I give you the ok," he exclaimed, holding the knife up to Judy's cheek, her eyes instantly wavering to it. "I'll make sure to make Officer Hopps' stay slow and torturing," he whispered in her ear, causing her to shake in fear as a sob escaped her mouth.

The others nodded and left, leaving an eerie silence to linger in the air as Harry shamed.

"Such a shame," he tutted, running a finger down the side of Judy's face, eliciting a whimper of fear from her "You would make a beautiful rug. Too bad your boyfriend isn't here to save you."

And with that, he dug his knife into Judy's cheek, eliciting a muffled scream of pain to spill out of her mouth as blood trickled down the side of her face. Harry continued to dig in, only stopping to turn the knife inside of her skin and continue drawing the signature "p" on her cheek.

Once he was done, he took a step back to admire his work of art, which was a little bunny tied to a chair trembling like a leaf with her mouth gagged and tears running down her furry little cheeks as blood mixed with the salty water.

"Now, let's get started shall we?" He asked teasingly, smiling a smile that wasn't sincere in the slightest.

~*~

Phew! This took me ages to do for some reason. Probably because I was on holiday.

Also! I'm working on another Judy x Nick AU fanfiction called "Trouble". It's basically reverse Zootopia where Nick is the cop and Judy is the sly bunny. Pretty much, it tells the tale of Zootopia but from a completely different perspective as we find out why Judy is so troublesome. I hope that gives you guys a good idea of what it's about.