The second chapter of Zootopia Tragic Miracle. The police chief explains the city's current situation to Cody, and offers him a place at the recently built Facility located in the First Precinct. We also get to see a bit of the side that the police chief presents to ordinary citizens.

Please, tell me what you think! Be civil though. But tell me your thoughts, it really helps me, and it also helps keep me excited to write, even if it points out flaws. I can only improve if my shortcomings are revealed to me, so your input is much appreciated.

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*Author’s Note: This takes place in september, 6 months after the release date of the movie, as well as my assumed timeframe of the movie’s events.

“Can I come in?” He says. The look on his face tells me that he’d prefer to get this over with, so I nod nervously. He’s carrying a black folder in his hand. I unconsciously lock my fingers together and begin fidgeting, an overwhelming sense of nervousness clenching in my stomach.

“The nurse told me that you came to just thirty minutes ago. How are you feeling?” the police chief asks, probably just out of politeness.

“Okay… I guess…” I mumble. In a normal circumstance, I would probably have pulled a witty joke like “I feel like I was just run over by a semi, which isn’t too far from the truth.”

But I don’t, because Bogo is one of my favorite characters and I’m shy as all hell when it comes to people or characters I like, but have never personally met. Bogo’s personality doesn’t make anything easier, and neither does his intimidating presence.

As he walks in, he looks at my face. Not angrily, just with the same serious expression as when he came in. I shift in the bed, looking out the window briefly. My fidgeting intensifies. He sits in the chair closest to me, probably also out of politeness again.

“Calm down, I’m not going to interrogate you.” He says, with slight exasperation. His face relaxes into a slightly less irritable look. “My name is Chief Bogo, I’m the chief of the ZPD. I just need to ask you a few questions before the city will allow me to help you.”

This surprises me, and I look towards him again for a moment.

“H-help me?” I ask incredulously.

He nods. “You aren’t the only person who’s just shown up around here lately.”

I didn’t expect that.

“You mean… there are more people like me?” I ask, a bit of the nervousness emptying from me. He nods.

“Quite a few. Most of them are the same species as you. Do you call yourself a human?” the police chief asks politely.

“Yeah…” that explains why he and the nurse aren’t freaking out because of my appearance.

“Now…” he opens the black folder. “Could you please tell me what happened before you arrived here in Zootopia?”

His voice is gentle, but firm. He wants to know about what happened to me, but he acknowledges how difficult it may be. I sigh and nod, trying to push away my emotions and tell my story without breaking into tears.

“Last night, back home… or I suppose two nights ago now, I was driving, my dad wanted me to get some practice on my own. I just got my license, but I hadn’t received the card yet and so I carried both the documents and my old permit. I was on one of the highways, which in Minnesota aren’t all that busy most of the time. I… was a bit frightened, but I knew the way home, so I kept a level head. However, when I reached the road that turned into my neighborhood, I was hit by… another car, I think. I don’t think they stopped. . It was raining. I remember flying, and then a sharp crack, and then nothing. That’s when I woke up in the Rainforest,” I take a breath. “When I came to, my leg was broken and I was pretty beat up. I tried to call 911, but my phone was damaged in the crash, and so I tried to walk to the nearest source of light. The pain was too much. When I got there, well… you know.”

I take a deep breath, trying not to think about everyone back home, but it’s too much. I shift in the bed, ignore my leg’s protests, and cover my face with my hands. I’m a mess.

Clutching my head, I lay back on the bed and stare at the ceiling. I hate myself for not being able to keep it together.

“... Sorry,” I croak. I’m embarrassed, ashamed at being so emotional. I’m probably annoying him, or making him angry, or maybe uncomfortable. “Sorry…”

He’s looking at me with a touch of pity that’s out of character and it’s making this all worse. “Sorry…” I say again. It’s too much. I hide my face, and I’m shaking.

“You don’t have to apologize,” he says. To my surprise, he lays a hoof-hand on the bed. “You’ve been through a lot. I’m not going to judge you for hurting.”

He stays for a few minutes, until the nurse comes back. I hear him say something to her, and then he turns to me to say, “I have to leave, but I’ll be coming back tomorrow morning. We’ll finish talking then… don’t worry about the medical bill. We’ll figure something out.”

He turns, walking towards the door.

“Thanks…” I say quietly. He pauses for a second before leaving.

I don’t pay attention to what the nurse does aside from giving me food, but I thank her as she leaves. Looking out towards the window, I find myself surprised to see that it’s night. The police chief must have been with me longer than I thought. I feel bad for breaking up in front of him- I probably got in the way of his job, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought less of me for being such an emotional wreck. He’s supposed to be doing his job as the police chief of Zootopia, not worrying about some teen with a sappy backstory. I hate myself for causing such a problem. I should probably apologize tomorrow when he gets here…

I spend some of the night looking out at the city lights, until a new nurse comes in and asks if she should put out the lights. She pulls the curtains, blocking the sight of the city at night, and I try to get some sleep.

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“...please be careful, your first trial is rapidly approaching.”

I wake up with those words in my head, the speaker bearing the voice of a young woman.

Was I… dreaming?

I yawn, and look towards the window. It still has the blinders over it, but I can see light seeping in from outside. The immediate thing I notice is that my leg is hurting, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Weird, normally you’d expect it to be about the same. I remember what happened yesterday, and I feel the pang of grief in my chest, as well as the self-directed frustration for being so… weak, I guess.

But I can also feel the warmth of getting my emotions out, so that’s good.

I’m partly afraid, and partly glad that the police chief is coming back this morning. Remembering yesterday, I suppose that his kindness was probably because of the fact that I’m not one of his subordinates, which makes sense. But I’m still trying to figure out what he meant by “help”.

My only guess is that with the appearances of new people within the city, the government must have developed a program to help keep them from causing problems. But why be so calm about it? Not that I’m complaining or anything, but… there must be some sort of fear, right? People are always fearful of the unfamiliar. Strange…

I’m interrupted in my thoughts by the nurse (Illya, again.) knocking on my door. “Mr. Voller? The police chief is here to see you. Are you feeling well enough to answer his questions?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Alright, I’ll send him in,” she says. Soon Chief Bogo is seated in the same chair as yesterday.

“Are you ready to continue?” he asks.

I nod. “Yes, sir.”

He looks down at his folder, marking a few things down before asking “How old are you, Cody?”
“17. My birthday was in July,” I tell him.

“Do you have any previous knowledge of this world, whether it be from a form of media or otherwise?” He asks.

I shift in bed. “Yes, a little bit. I know about the majority of the events that took place in the solving of the Nighthowler scandal. One of your officers, Judy Hopps, utilized a recording device hidden in a carrot pen to record the former mayor’s monologue about her evil plans.”

“Okay, then…” He says, recording it in his folder. “And what type of world is the one you came from?”

“It’s sort of similar to this one… it has technology, and a lot of the same concepts such as electricity and cars, obviously. However, the human race was the only species that evolved in the way that this world did. Most of our society is similar to this one, but there are a few… differences.” I sum up. “Ultimately, though, it's the same as here, but with just one species.”

“I understand. So it would be safe to assume that you haven’t exhibited any special or supernatural abilities, aside from appearing in Zootopia?” the police Chief.

“Yeah, that is a correct assumption… But since you’re asking that, I take it that there are people who’ve shown up with those kinds of abilities?”

“Yes,” the police chief explains, “but not all of them, at least not everyone’s abilities are obvious. Anyways, it would seem we’re done with the questions.”

He puts the folder aside, and relaxes his shoulders a bit. “There is supposed to be a large number of questions that City Hall wants me to ask you. I haven’t forgotten about them, I just don’t care. We’ll look them over later. What’s important,” he pauses, “is that you seem like a good kid, and the city does not want to have more people living on the street than it already has. Especially not wanderers- people like you, who would normally have no legal documentation nor any means to do basic things such as get a job, or find housing.”

“So what is the city doing?” I ask.

“When Wanderers first started appearing about three months ago, there was a panic. Mammals were scared, and so where the vast majority of the newcomers. The City Hall couldn’t keep up with it. Eventually, a group of wanderers came to us- it was a strange day After some deliberations between myself, the Wanderers, and City Hall, we were able to create an agreement: Wanderers can come to ZPD for a place to live, and in return must abide by our laws and some regulations,” Bogo says.

Regulations? “What do you mean, by regulations?”

“Wanderers living in the Facility at the First Precinct must do so under police supervision. Not intrusive, just safety. For example, you can visit the city, but you have a curfew of 10:00PM unless you have permission to stay out longer. As a newcomer, Cody, for the first two weeks you would be assigned an officer as an escort, just to help you transition.” Bogo explains. He looks at me inquisitively.

I am quite aware of how screwed I would be if I declined. A 17 year old introvert, who’s never had the courage to try for a job in his life? I would be as good as dead if I had to live on the streets. I couldn’t do it.

“Well… I don’t have any choice, do I?” I mumble, “I’ll accept your offer.”

The massive introvert in me creates butterflies in my stomach, and I shift, a little bit uncomfortable. This is an odd situation- one of my favorite characters is essentially inviting me, basically to live at his workplace.

It’s not as if I’ll be living in the department itself, I remind myself. He said that there’s a facility at the First Precinct- they probably added something on. Especially if there are enough wanderers to warrant any sort of facility being built.

“So, when is the Hospital releasing me?” I say, trying to sound casual. I’m nervous.

“The doctors want to run a few more tests before they release you. Your physiology is different than most mammals they treat frequently, so they don’t want to take chances,” the police chief states. “In any case, I’ll send some officers to pick you up after they’ve finished. Now that you’ve agreed to the facility, I have some paperwork to take care of.”

As he gets up to leave, the hospital bill bursts into my mind.

“Um, sir?” I ask, “I don’t have any money, so what’s going to happen about the hospital?”

“It will be taken care of.” He assures me as he leaves. Now I’m alone.