A Walk In The Woods | A Zootopia Story

Part 2 - Strict, yet Stricter...

Nightshade jolted awake as the bus hit a wide turn and slowed, that was when he remembered where he was. He looked over to see Shawn cuddled in Bri's lap, Speed and Endie leaned against one another. Most of the people on the bus were asleep, Nightshade figured it must have been a long bus ride. He looked out the window and the familiar sights of the suburbs were gone, replaced by the untamed wild of the woods and trees as far as the eye could see. It confused Nightshade even further when the bus stopped abruptly, there weren't any buildings around as far as he could see. So why did they stop-

There was a thunderous boom of a footstep rocked the bus, frightening Shawn and sending him into Bri's arms and waking everyone on the bus. A large black bison stormed onto the bus with a scowl on her face and fire in her eyes. The black and green shirt she wore tucked into her jean shorts fit tight on to her full and mildly muscular form, there were light scars all over her arms legs and face. Dog tags hung from her neck, glinting in the sunlight.

She slicked her buzzed tuft of black fur before producing a whistle from seemingly nowhere and blew into it, scaring the entire bus awake and earning a sharp glare from the driver. "Rise and shine buttercups! That's more like it. Now get your buts into gear and start getting your luggage off the bus, we have a fun evening planned for you all."

Nightshade didn't like the evil chuckle she let out as she stepped off. Seeing no other option he and his friends, along with the other mammals on the bus, grabbed their bags and filed out of the bus in collective confusion. By this point it was mid-afternoon and starting to cool off, it was decent weather to Nightshade.

The bison blew into the whistle again standing at the head of the group, "Hope you marshmallows didn't pack too heavy, cause we're hiking up to the campsite."

There was a shrill 'What?!' from somewhere inside the crowd before a cheetah bolted to the front of the group looking quite embarrassed. She wore the same black and green shirt as the bison, but wore a friendly smile rather than the bison's unimpressed grimace. She shot her a hard look before smiling at everyone.

"Hey everyone," Her voice was soothing and almost musical, "My name's Hika Voltare, but you can call me Struck. This grumpy behemoth is- Well, I call her Sarge but you can call her Strike."

"That's Captain Strike, Princess."

There was something about Strike when she spoke to Struck, ignoring the similarities in their nicknames, the snarl in her voice didn't reach the soft look in her eyes at the cheetah.

"Anyway, I hope you all had a pleasant ride to our campus. Don't worry, we aren't going on a long hike. Ole' Cap is being dramatic. The camp grounds aren't accessible by vehicle so you're gonna have to hoof it to the grounds, okay? You can help out the smaller mammals, okay love?"

"Don't call me 'love', love."

"No worries, mate." Struck chirped with a shit-eating grin.

Strike huffed and began to make her rounds on the small mammal luggage while Nights and his friends looked at one another with raised eyebrows.

Speed was the first to speak up, "There's no way those two aren't smashing. Do you see how they get on each other?"

Shawn scoffed, "Of course, the first tigers Ah meet 'n they're purrr~"

He shuddered where he stood as Endie ran the tip of her tail up his ear, "You're calling us perverts? You're quite the deviant yourself. Our little predophile- "

Shawn defiantly slapped her tail away, "Hey! Ah don't have a pred fetish! A bunny's ears are sensitive is all! You caught me off-guard."

"What about you cuddling up with Bri on the bus?" Nights chimed in to Endie's delight. "I didn't take you for being into predators, let alone males- "

"Th-that's not how it happened!" Shawn and Bri croaked sheepishly and they all shared a laugh.

By the time the embarrassment subsided they noticed Struck leading the group up a path and Strike holding up the middle carrying a decent load of bags.

"See guys? Cap' can be nice if you ask nicely and follow rules."

"Or if you're fucking her," Endie giggled just out of earshot of the lumbering bison, who begrudgingly shrugged at Struck.

"We should follow along," Nights said slinging his bag over his shoulder, although he was a bit lanky natural wolf strength usually came in handy at times like this.

Bri grabbed his and Shawn's bags, Speed and Endie carried their respective bags. They collectively decided to trail behind the group just enough so then nobody could eavesdrop on their conversation.

"So," Shawn decided to break the ice as he climbed up onto Bri's shoulders, "Anybody know any catchy work songs? Gonna be mighty boring to walk in silence."

Speed got a devious grin on her face that Nightshade knew all too well, "Well, there is one song..."

"There is no cock, like horse cock- " Speed, Endie and Nightshade sang in unison while Bri and Shawn looked like they were ready to die of embarrassment.

When Shawn asked about a song, this wasn't what he had in mind.

"How could you sing such an unladylike tune," He asked in digust.

Speed chuckled lightly, "See, my mom runs a sex shop and- "

Struck cleared her throat and that's when they realized they had been standing there outside the mess hall for a while now, "You know I figured I'd let you guys linger behind for a bit but you're ten minutes late. Before you ask, yes, I did hear that song... It was very inappropriate... 

"Ah told ya-"

"-and catchy- "

Shawn scowled at the ground.

"Familiar too. Swear I heard it before... I'll let it slide this time, just get inside and get some food. Your cabins will be assigned after dinner."

They muttered apologies to the cheetah and walked in. Speed jittered excitedly.

"She knew the song!"