Zootopia: Grind To Halt (WildeHopps)

Chapter 15 - The Downward Spiral

Nick Wilde was stuck.

Stuck in a hospital, six in the morning, all alone.

Quiet. It was so quiet, even with doctors buzzing in and out periodically doing check ups on his shoulder, it felt like he was in a cold, lonely wasteland.

The sun gently shined through the small cracks in the closed blinds, providing minimal light, only dampening Nick's mood.

Nick inhaled sharply, then sighed just to hear some noise in the room. T.V. was available to him, but the fox was just to tired, rather, lazy, to go and turn it on. Couldn't the idiots have remotes or something?

Nick plopped back onto his side, sighing. There was nothing to do in this godforsaken hospital. Then his stomach grumbled. A knot of pain caved in his belly, and Nick was left with a feeling that he was too familiar with. Hunger. The simplest feelings now seemed to be amplified tenfold with the morphine coursing through his veins. Everything was so fuzzy.

He smacked his thin black lips, and shifted his eyes to the door, where it popped open with his now familiarized nurse, a young Fennec fox by the name of Eric. Pretty tall for a Fennec fox as well, considering he was Nick's height. Maybe the guy was a mutt.

"Wilde?" He called out with his deep voice, making sure he wasn't in the wrong room. Nick held his finger up to signal he was in the correct room.

The Fennec smiled, and pushed through the doors with a tray and silver top were in his left paw, presumably breakfast. Nick couldn't be anymore pleased, well, maybe if they took the dizzying morphine out of his body.

After grabbing a table that would over hang over the bed, the nurse told Nick to enjoy his food, and left with no other emotion. Nick rolled his eyes.

Thanks a lot.

Painfully, he sat up in the bouncy hospital bed, yanking the silver top off of his tray.

He was greeted to the blandest bowl of oatmeal he had ever seen, two pieces of buttered white toast, burnt eggs, synthetic bacon, and watery orange juice. Nick frowned.

What a breakfast, he grunted deep in thought. Picking up the plastic spoon, he stuck it straight into the oatmeal, where it was so thick it stood straight up. The fox just decided he would eat the toast and synthetic bacon. Nothing else looked very edible, much less taste good.

"Can I have a piece of toast?"

The fox froze, eyes fixed on his tray. There wasn't anyone in his room before, was there? His eyes thrust upward to see the most hideous sight in his life time.

Bucky. His brother. His dead  brother, standing before him, body burnt to a hideous crisp, pieces of flesh missing, and a smile on his face.

Nick pushed his body against the back of his pillow. His throat quivered, and palms sweated. His brother was standing alive, no, undead, in front of him! His eyes were glossed over, every inch of him was charred, and his cheeks were missing! His little brother wasn't so little anymore either, he looked like he was sixteen! Burnt in the exact way he was when Nick peered into his coffin at his funeral!

"You're not real," Nick tried to firmly ward away the awful dream plaguing his head. It was no use, for his brother proceeded to plop his body on the bed next to him, sighing in relaxation.

Giving Nick a playful eye, he reached over to grab a triangle of toast, before chewing it loudly. "I realize I don't look so hot Nick," Bucky loudly snickered, before staring at Nick like he was expecting something back. All Nick gave back was a gulp, shudder, and shiver.

"Get it? Hot? Fire? I'm not on fire anymore?" His brother began to laugh like any normal day when they were children. Nick wasn't in the slightest way amused. Bucky plopped his hands into his lap, where flakes of charred fur fell everywhere, also unhappy with Nick's fear.

"C'mon Nick, I thought you'd be glad to see me! Brother to brother, eye to eye? This is kinda like a Christmas Carol! Where the ghosts come to visit Ebeneezer Scrooge!"

Nick was none the more happy. "Isn't it a little concerning, to see my little brother rise from the grave, to come and visit me?"

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Ah, Jesus, you really think I walked out of my grave like a zombie?" Nick nodded.

"No, Nick. You know that guy you don't beleive in? Well he let me down here to talk to you. I tried being all friendly now, but I have to really talk to you." Bucky explained, putting his crispy paw on his shoulder. Nick winced, it was the reattached part.

"So you mean to tell me, God sent you down here to warn me or something?" Nick trembled, before trying to regain his confidence. "I call bullshit. This is a dream and I just have to wake up."

Bucky sighed, before swinging a harsh slap into my Nick's cheek. "There, that wake you up?"

Nick was petrified. This was really happening. Oh Jesus Christ this was really happening! The blood in his veins grinder to a halt, and froze in place. Flecks of his burnt fur stuck to Nick's whiskers, a reminder this was no dream.

"I have to hand it to you Nick, the way you whooped Dad's ass last night was awesome," The blackened fox commended Nick, implying to the events of last night, at the graveyard.

"Bastard dug up ma and I's grave just to tick you off."

Nick gulped. "I don't know what you're talking about!" In all honesty, Nick was completely lost, thrown into a situation with no knowledge of what was going on.

"You damn well know what I'm talking about Nick. You know what you changed into at the graveyard." Bucky remained eye to eye contact with Nick.

"The Z28. Dad killed your buddy at the police officer at the station, Clawhauser. He stole it, and modified it so he could become what you saw. It only changes you when your heartrate goes apeshit. He's trying to institute a anti-prey revolution Nick, and he's trying to kill off the last bit of our bloodline." Bucky jutted his finger out at Nick. "You."

"Judy doesn't know yet. I've been watching you since I died from heaven Nick, I know everything that happens. See everything. Clawhauser, Assilli, Mom, Bellwether, everyone dead, is rooting you on Nick. I'm giving you this message right now," Bucky paused to calm his tone down a bit. "Nick, you need to kill dad. He is in no way going to heaven, and his life needs to be erased from existence. No matter how brutal or messy."

Nick had enough, he flipped around, and slammed the nurse button behind his bed, screaming for the nurse to come. Hot tears started to stream from his eyes, and Bucky was not happy about that.

"Damnit Nick! Listen to me! I'm leaving right now, but mom is coming to visit you tonight," He snarled, then slowly began to fade like nothing was there at all.

"She's been wanting to see you."