Zootopia: Where The Wild Things Are

Chapter 2 - Dead Skin Mask

The cold muzzle came behind Nick, the real Nick, the cold muzzle of his damning voice. "You see Nick, God hates you and people like you. He wants you to die, there is no place in heaven for you. I am eternally chained to you Nick, this isn't real, but I'm a voice in your head. You've made yourself believe this is real, it might as well be."

Nick knelt there, as the hot wind turned cold, and finally, the skeleton of himself erupted, letting out a shriek as the last pieces of his flesh dripped from his skull. Judy's skeleton propped up against his, screeching in horror, holding his bone hands, as her face dripped away and burnt up.

...

...

Nick screamed at the top of his lungs, cold sweat sticking to his fur like ice water.

His chest heaved up and down, eyes watered with horror, his dream was still burned into his retinas, faint highlights played over his eyes like a distorted projection. Even when he clamped his eyes shut, hell was still there; his and Judy's gory skeletons still interlocked, frozen in death.

"Judy!" He cried, like a child who cried for his mother in the night, afyet he had a bad dream. His breath wobbled and cracked, he dug his paws and claws into his temples, unable to bear the horror of the dream in his skull.

"Judy!" He cried, curling into his knees, trembling with isolation and terror.

The sky outside was an even deeper hue of blue, the early hours of night had set in, with the moon casting a faint reflection through the dense clouds.

The cracks of moonlight shone through the blinds of the room, and his mouth wobbled in absolute terror, terror that cast icy fear in his bones.

He sobbed again, clutching his skull tighter, claws piercing skin and drawing thin droplets of blood.

"J-J-Judy!" He screamed, his skull exploding into raging heat, throbbing with pain. .

His fever had gotten worse.

After moments longer, his sobbing fell to sniffs and groans of pain, curling alone on a cold bed, all alone.

"Judy.." He croaked, and clutched his pulsing head.

"Judy..."

XXX

Judy closed the door to her car, and groaned, pressing her paws into her temples.

The rain outside was beginning to fall, and her brain ached with stress.

"Fuck." She groaned, looking back to the passenger seat, where her fair share of files where laid out. Jimena and Diego had split up the files between the three evenly, so they could study to a further extent, the secret content the D.P.C.U. withheld.

They went off together, God knows where. Judy could care less at the moment. Her small body was bleeding with stress and exhaustion.

She put her keys in the ignition, and just as her paw turned the key, a trembling shook through her stomach.

It pained with hunger.

I've got no food at home; her eyes furrowed with frustration, and turned to her purse, which resided by her feet.

Groaning with the knowledge of having very little money left, her paws reached for her wallet, and unzipped it to find a single, crisp, ten dollar bill left.

She pounded her paw against the steering wheel, growling, "damnit."

Controlled by nothing more than her hunger, her paw picked up the phone again, and dialed the number in her contact from the last time she ordered Pizza.

There was a momentary buzz, before the static of an old telephone crackled, and the voice of an angsty teenager rang over the phone.

"What do you want."

Judy clenched the phone in her paw, grinding her teeth together, beyond annoyed. She wasn't up for anyone's bullshit.

"What was that?" She growled warningly, imagining her punching the lights out of whoever was behind the phone.

She heard his voice shrill up instantly. "I meant hello, what could I do for you m'amm?"

That's what I thought, Her mind spoke smugly. "Can I order a medium cheese pizza?" She yawned, and held the bill in her hand.

"Sure m'amm, pickup or delivery?" He asked hastily through the poor quality phone signal.

Judy wasn't thinking straight, her head was fuzzy and eyes threatened to shut from exhaustion. "Yes." She mumbled, feeling her consciousness threaten to slip asleep.

"M'am, I asked pickup or delivery?" He asked, the voice was confused at her answer.

You said yes, Judy. You must sound so stupid, She mentally smacked herself, and afterwards, did so physically. She made sure to get her palm flat and hard against her cheek, so it'd hurt harder, to wake her up. It worked for the most part, and she whimpered when her cheek burned with fiery pain.

She squished her eyes shut, clenching her hands into fists. "Uhm, pickup." She had to think of what to say, her head was that mushy from today's work. Not only was it overclocked from going through and memorizing some of the papers in the ZPD, but there was still, freshly branded and cut into her mind; the memory of what she saw in the D.P.C.U.

She couldn't look at a predator the same, without thinking of the bodies being tossed into the grinder; blue steel jaws of death that created an ocean of pulpy, bloody nightmares.

The whole thing was nightmarish.

"M'amm? I said $10 on the dot, tax included. It should be ready in.." There was a short pause, "Ten minutes."

Judy sighed with a little relief. At least it'd be done quickly. "Thank you," The rabbit said through a sticky, tired throat, slumping in her seat.

There was nothing more from the other line, it just hung up.

She tossed her phone down on the other seat, and massaged her temples a bit more, listening to the pitter patters of rain against the car. "Alright big girl, wake up." She spoke to herself encouragingly, and sat up straight, yawned, then pulled the car out of parking, taking off down the misty, deep blue night.

XXX