Haunting at Bullmoore Mansion
DreadRedDragon
In less than 24 hours, the city of Zootopia will have never existed. None will remember its towering skyscrapers or flowing aqueducts, vast diverse ecosystems and monumental civic projects. In less than 24 hours, an empty landmass that could have been something great will remain, but nothing else.
Despite this, today was not going to be an exceptional day for many Zootopians. Fears of savage predator attacks or the plots of scheming mayors had all dissipated, leaving room for everyday concerns about being late to work or failing that big exam.
The sky split open as rays of yellow and pink burst through the towering skyscrapers, bouncing from window to window and cascading down into the upper residential zones. Fleets of painted garbage trucks rumbled down the asphalt-paved streets, picked up colored bins from the concrete sidewalk, and dumped them into an oversized compactor. Train and trolley operators clocked in for a day of ferrying city-goers from place to place along the spiderweb of interlocking steel tracks. Watching this civic dance are nocturnal mammals that shuffled home at the end of their night shift like sluggish vampires fleeing the morning sun.
Rows of apartment complexes were stacked in neat rows—some small enough to fit inside elephant-sized microwaves—with address numbers engraved on metal sheets or painted on curbs. Earth-colored bricks and cement walls adorned with rusted fire escapes and dripping rain gutters. One building among dozens in the city center, home to one small unit. A beam of morning light crossed the windowsill to land on a lump in the bed within. A paw slithered free to check the bedside alarm clock moments before it went off.
<b>5:30 AM</b>
*-{~BEEP |BEEP BEEP |BEEP BEEP BEEP }BEE--*
A waking finger {~pushed|slapped|tapped} the alarm button, and a small mammal {~leapt|slid|shuffled} out from beneath the covers. A coat hanger drooping under the weight of a ZPD uniform relieved of duty, and a bronze badge placed above the heart. A small tag pinned to the opposite breast reads...