trouble 》junick

Chapter 3: Danger

The wind bit and spat at Judy's face, piercing into her skin like daggers. She shivered and rubbed up and down her bare forearms, trying to rid herself of her goosebumps. Her hoodie got burnt by some bullies from her school shortly after her encounter with that fox earlier, and the sleeves on her pink plaid shirt only went down to her elbows.

The stars weren't visible tonight, as the mist in the air served as a barrier for them, protecting them from animals like Judy. Troublemakers, mischiefs, hooligans. Even though Judy wasn't any of those things. Well, she did get into a lot of fights in school, leading to the exclusion, but she was actually a really nice girl. Perhaps just a little misunderstood. Besides, the animals she got into fights with deserved what was coming to them.

Judy had a checkered past. Everyone knew that. Teachers, students, shop owners. Everyone who she encountered seemed to know some detail about her past having to deal with domestic violence at home, and it changed Judy - made her see what the world was really like. Broken. But she hated it when people started laughing at her about her past, teasing her for having an abusive father from the age of seven, so they were asking for it when they crossed that line.

Judy shivered as the feeling of her being watched daunted over her again. It was no surprise that Zootopia was riddled with crime, and it was no surprise that another criminal gang was on the loose. This gang called themselves "The Black Gulls" and Judy just didn't know why. She knew quite a bit about them, as one of the gang's members was an old friend of hers.

They were basically a gang of five tigers, all brothers, from Sahara Square and, to be honest, they didn't really have a reason for tearing the city up, they just did. Judy never told the ZPD that she knew one of the members as for all she knew, he might not even be a member anymore. Plus, she was already hated by the kids at her school, she didn't want to be known as "the dumb bunny who snitched on The Black Gulls".

Turning a corner on the street, Judy felt a paw cover her mouth as another one grabbed her by the arm and yanked her into a nearby alleyway. She let out a muffled scream as she was shoved against brick wall behind her, her back hitting it with such force it made her feel dizzy.

Judy kicked her legs out and flailed her arms around, trying to dig at the paw covering her mouth or hit her captor's chest but to no avail. The fear was rising from her chest as a nearby street light illuminated the bodies of whoever had caught her, revealing - not one - but five masked animals wearing black coats. Judy's eyes widened in terror as she recognised them as The Black Gulls, the white masks stained with - what she presumed to be - dry blood.

Judy grabbed at the paw covering her mouth, managing to pull it away for one second to scream help before it clamped over her mouth again.

Someone crossing the street at the time heard Judy's scream for help, and was already calling the ZPD when The Black Gulls tried shutting Judy up.

"Hurry up!" One of the masked figures hissed behind the mammal covering Judy's mouth, and he turned his head to give the animal a pleading look through his mask before turning back to Judy, who was still resisting against his grasp.

"I'm trying!" He whisper-shouted. "She won't stop squirming!"

Judy recognised that voice. Could it be...? No, it wasn't. He wouldn't do that...

"Max, hurry up!" A different figure yelled, not caring about the people around them, and Judy felt her breath  hitch in her throat.

She didn't believe it. She had to know whether it was real, whether this "Max" was the Max she knew. With one last feeble yet strong attempt, she clawed at the mask of her captor, knocking it off of his face from the side. The plastic mask fell to the floor with a clank and it was revealed.

Judy started at the face of her captor, her eyes wide with fear as he stared right back at her. It was true...

Suddenly, sirens sounded in the distance, attracting the attention of all five Black Gulls as ZPD cars pulled up outside the alley.

"Shit, guys, we gotta go!" One of the other four members yelled, and the other three followed him as he ran towards the dead end of the alleyway, climbing up the wall as they reached it. However, the tiger holding Judy against the wall refused to let her go, isolated in fear and shock.

"Max, forget her, we gotta go!"

Max suddenly snapped out of his daze, giving Judy an apologetic look before letting go of her and picking up his mask from the ground, sprinting off towards the wall where his brothers were waiting for him and climbing up it with ease.

Soon enough, they were gone, and just as the cops turned up. Judy's chest heaved up and down with heavy breaths as she doubled over, pressing her paws to her knees. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and coughed, desperate to get the air back into her lungs.

"Hey!" Someone called out to her, and Judy looked up to see the same fox from earlier jogging towards her.

'Great,' Judy thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.

"You ok, kid?" He asked, bending down to her height and placing a paw on her shoulder.

Judy immediately shook his paw off of her shoulder and stood up straight, avoiding eye contact with the fox.

"I'm fine," she muttered, pushing past him, but he grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

She whipped her head around to see him with worry in his eyes as he stared down at her, so much worry that it made her want to cry.

"Are you hurt? Where did they get you?" He asked worriedly, eyeing Judy up and down for any injuries, but he couldn't find any.

Judy yanked her arm away from Nick and scowled at him.

"I said I'm fine," she snapped, straightening out her pink plaid shirt before storming off round the corner quickly, slipping away undetected.

Nick was about to go after her, but he knew it was no use. It was too late to bring her in for interrogation and Chief Bogo was just going to assign him to finding her and bringing her in tomorrow anyway, so why make more work for himself to do? He would surely get her tomorrow.

~*~

I'm starting to feel like my writing is getting worse. Is it? To me this chapter felt really shit.