The Fire Triangle -- Part II, Oxidizer

The Fire Triangle: Book II - Chapter 51

Disclaimer: Zootopia stories, characters, settings, and properties belong to the Walt Disney Co. This story is written under Fair Use Copyright laws.

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The Fire Triangle

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Part Two:

Oxidizer

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Chapter 9: Conor's Story
(Continued...Part 3)

♪ "Silence in the front seat
Tryin' not to start a fight
Quiet, half-hid cryin'
And then we'd ride." ♫

David Bromberg - The New Lee Highway Blues

Erin Hopps couldn't help laughing; it was so stinking obvious; a fully loaded truck would be outbound from its home base, not headed back IN. Ohhhh, she'd known something like this was going to happen from the moment Conor described the logo on that truck cab.

Meanwhile, he had completely missed it. Sweet cheez n' crackers, was THIS the same young silver fox who had thrice eluded capture by the ZPD? Well-l-l, that was then and this is now, and it wasn't as if Charcoal-Boy had tried to deny his mistakes, but still...

Glancing down at Vern Rodenberg, she saw that the grey rat's face was a marble mask. But at the same time, his tail was shivering, as if he was barely managing to hold something inside.

But then another thought struck her...and at once, she felt the humor drain away from her face.

She knew where the story was going from here-to a wrecked muzzle, and a juvenile hellhole named Granite Point.

And if Conor's plans to get away from Danbeary for the summer had been poorly conceived, well...who knew better than this young doe-bunny about wanting to escape from a stifling environment?

And he'd been right about something else as well. No, he and his friend hadn't been treated fairly...OR wisely. The policy of keeping them separated had been ten times stupider than all their missteps put together. In point of fact, that rule had driven them into exactly the type of behavior it had been intended to prevent. Had Conor and Jimmy Sanchez not been ordered to keep away from each other, they would never have ended up hustling drunks in the wee hours of the morning. Of that, Erin was 100% certain.

She was also aware that while Conor and his friend hadn't made it to Wildwood, they HAD gotten as far as...Mmmm, some other town in Zoo Jersey, where things had taken a very dark turn. No, it wasn't very funny when you thought about it.

Unable to come up with anything better, she coughed into a fist. "Sorry...but the way you tell it..."

Not very good, but all she could manage. It didn't matter, Conor was already raising a paw.

"Don't apologize...please. Looking back on it now, I can almost laugh about it myself." The corners of his mouth turned in opposite directions. "Or I could, if it wasn't for..." By way of conclusion, he patted the side of his muzzle; Erin understood.