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Chapter Four: The Natural Order

The pit, oh gods she was in the pit again. Alone in the natural history museum, she called out for help. In response the nearby bushes trembled, causing the ewe to back away. As the faux fern parted, the hulking and twisted form of her savage self appeared. Its breath ragged and eyes hungry. Dawn stumbled and fell as her back met the enclosures edge. It snarled at the diminutive ewe, slowly creeping its way up to her.

"You aren't real! T-This isn't real." Dawn found the courage to shout. The beast froze as she spoke, staring at her with vacant eyes.

Dawn stood up, finding her footing. She was feeling bolder now as she stared at the apparent phantom.

"This is just a dream. You can't really hurt me!" She shouted at the slavering beast.

It silently regarded her for a moment, its nostrils flaring as each harsh breath escaped it. Suddenly its malformed mouth curled into a terrifying grin as a voice filled Dawn's head.

"Why would I hurt you? I am you Dawn, the real you." The voice spoke, causing Dawn to clutch head. Her legs began to tremble but she managed to stand her ground. It sounded like her, but guttural and raspy.

"Doctor Gnu told me what you are!" She shouted back. "You are just t-the manifestations of m-my inner guilt." Her voice began to tremble. "H-he said when I can forgive myself...Y-y." She stuttered as the beast began to move again.

"-I'd disappear?" It snorted steam and continued to move closer to her. "How can you forgive yourself? After everything you did. Surely if it had been so easy I would be gone by now?"

As Dawn's legs gave out she found herself slumped against the enclosure wall. "W-w-well." She sputtered.

"Maybe there's nothing to forgive. Maybe you were right Dawn. Maybe you need to embrace me, to finish what you started." Its face now inched closer to her.

Dawn stood up quickly, anger in her eyes. "NO! It wasn't just me! It isn't what I want! I'm not a monster!" Before she knew what she was doing, she futilely attempted to shove the beast.

Anger flared in its eyes as it slammed her back into the wall. Despite knowing it was a dream, the pain felt very real to her as she cradled her side.

"Nobody forced your hooves Dawn, the truth is that you wanted to do it. You wanted to be strong, make those predators feel weak like you did. Enjoy watching them squirm." It sneered at the wounded ewe. "Face it Dawn, it's in the Bellwether blood. Your grandparents fought for mandatory collaring, your parents fought for a predator registry. This is who you are! ACCEPT IT!" It snarled.

"NEVER!" She cried again, causing the creature to let out a roar.

It dove at the lamb, and Dawn closed her eyes waiting for its jaws to clamp down on her. Yet it never came, and after a few moments she looked at the beast again. It had frozen in mid strike, its jaw slack and eyes burning. Suddenly from deep within its throat bellowed an obnoxious and chirpy ring tone.

Dawn woke up on the couch with her laptop still on her lap. The movie had long since ended, and she couldn't recall exactly when she had nodded off. Her nightgown was soaked with sweat, and her breath was ragged. The cell phone rung again, breaking her away from her recent nightmare. She fumbled for her glasses, and after securing them to her muzzle she pushed herself off the couch and grabbed her phone from the nightstand.

"H-hello! Who is it?" She said as she quickly clasped the phone to her ear, worried that she would fail to catch the caller.

"Dawn, it's Don! How ya holding up?"

She let out a sigh of relief at the sound of the bear's voice. "H-honestly...I've had better nights." She muttered.

"Ah I'm sorry to hear that, but I have some news that may cheer you up." The bear was chipper in tone.

"O-oh?" Dawn asked in surprise.

"I got you a job!" She could practically picture the bear grinning as he said this.

Dawns face was glowing; she didn't expect to get something so soon, maybe even at all. "Oh my goodness! I-I can't believe it? How?"

"Well I came in contact with someone in the resettlement program who needs a good employee. He knows who you are and he's ready to hire you on the spot."

A look of confusion washed over her face. "Wait...he knows who I am...and he wants me to work for him?"

"Yes...ahem" The bear coughed uncomfortably. "He is very desperate to fill the position."

Dawn was silent; she could hear the bear's discomfort on the other side of the phone. There was an awkward silence, and Dawn went to speak only to be cut off.

"Dawn, I'll be straight with you. It's that fast food place. Bug-Burga." The bear sighed.

Dawn was silent, she couldn't think of how to respond.

"It's a night shift position. The guy can't keep more than one night shift employee for more than a month at a time. He told me the past employees found it far too boring to keep it up."

Dawn was torn; she knew her job options were limited considering the circumstance. But if you weren't a teen mammal, working at the Bug-Burga was seen as somewhat pathetic. It was probably the lowest job she could get next to waste disposal, and at least that was during the day. Sheep weren't nocturnal by nature, and so the hours added another level of difficulty. 'Beggars' can't be choosers' Dawn thought to herself. Don must have sensed her reluctance as he suddenly spoke up again.

"You will have a co-worker though, so you won't be alone. Mr. Hornsley assured me he's quite friendly."

"I'll do it." Dawn said coolly. She could hear the bear sigh with relief.

"Great! Great...I'll be honest Dawn, I was sure you'd say no. But this position just fell in my lap and I never thought I'd be able to find you something so easily again. I know it's not the best, but it's quiet and you most likely won't get hassled while working there-"

"It's okay Don, you don't have to explain. Thank you." She cut him off.

"No, thank you. I appreciate you making this easy for me." Dawn smiled hearing the relief in his voice. "He wants you there at nine forty tonight; he'll set you up with the uniform and discuss the ins and outs of the job."

"I'll be there, thanks Don."

"Have a good day Dawn."

"You too." And with that she hung up the phone and sighed.

"Bug-Burga." She fell back on her bed. "All-right, I can do this."

That night Dawn entered the quiet restaurant nervously. It hadn't been a long trip from her house, but being outside still put her on edge. While she already had the job, she wanted to be dressed at least somewhat nice for her first meeting with her new boss. But her fear of being seen and harassed on the trip out led to her throwing her hoodie on top of it and doing her best to cover up. As she entered she removed the hoodie, tied it around her waist and straightened her skirt.

The restaurant was the standard fair for a Bug-Burga, orange and red color scheme, cut stump slab tables, and faux ferns everywhere. Dawn turned her attention to the counter to find a particularly bored looked vixen leaning on it. Her eyelids hung at half mast as her blue eyes stared dully into space. The deep russet fur of her natural coat barely clashed with the orange and red of the official Bug-Burga uniform, and Dawn could see her white tipped tail swishing idly behind her. As she leaned on the counter with her blackened paw against her cheek a large pink bubble slowly bulged from her muzzle. Seconds later it burst, and the vixen sucked the remnants back in without so much as a flinch. Cautiously Dawn moved to the counter and tried to get the girls attention.

"Um...excuse me?" She muttered.

"Hmm? Oh heya! You're here to see Gus right?" The vixen asked looking down at the ewe as she loudly chewed her gum.

"Is that Mr. Hornsley?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, yeah, he's in back. I'll get him." She responded.

Dawn expected her to walk into the back room, but instead the vixen turned and shouted.

"HEY GUS! THE PSYCHO IS HERE!" She yelled bluntly.

Dawn's sudden start turned immediately to shame; at that moment she wished she was invisible. The vixen meanwhile had turned back and gave her a smug grin.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT BEING RUDE TO PATRONS AND CO-WORKERS VAL?" Dawn heard the reply, as a lanky goat appeared in the backroom door looking mildly irritated.

The foxes ears dipped, but she kept her grin. "Hey relax, I'm just ribbin' her. I'm sure she get's it all the time." She leaned closer to Dawn, throwing her a playful wink. The goat meanwhile had made his way out into the kitchen, and was now working his way around the counter.

The manager was a rather gangly billy goat. He too wore a similar uniform, but on the lapel in bore the word 'manager' in golden letters. His yellow eyes were tired, and beneath them his face sported a few stray pock marks of lingering adolescence. Like most billy goats he sported a beard, which was long and well maintained. But his most notable feature was his horns, which were seemingly miss-matched. His right horn was large and curved, as you would expect with most adult male goats. But his left was stunted and broken, and had bandaging covering the broken tip. As he rounded the counter he extended a hoof to Dawn.

"Hello Dawn, glad you came. Sorry about Val, she's like that with everyone." He said coldly.

The vixen simply rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry; you won't be working with her I can assure you." He smiled as Dawn took his hoof and shook it.

"Hey, now that she's here I'm gonna clock out a'ight?" The vixen chewed.

The goat gave her a stern look. "You'll wait till Vernon gets here at least Val."

With a "Tch." The vixen turned back toward the kitchen and began to take an order on her headset. The goat then turned back to Dawn.

"Please, please, let's sit down. We'll get you settled in as quickly as possible." He motioned to the nearby table.

As the goat sat, Dawn carefully made her way over to the table. She couldn't help but stare at Gus' broken horn. As she sat he seemed to finally notice the stare.

"Oh this, it doesn't hurt." He said rubbing the covering. "The bandage is just to keep insects from making a home in there." He smiled.

Dawn looked down at her hooves. She really wasn't sure where to begin. The goat seemingly picked up on this, and started talking for her.

"I know you're nervous Dawn, don't worry. You'll find the Bug-Burga family is very friendly and welcoming." He kept up his smile, but Dawn couldn't seem to respond. The goats smile faltered and he sighed.

"I know what you are thinking, 'Why' right?" Dawn looked at him in shock; he had taken the words right out of her mouth.

"Look, what you did was horrible. But you are trying to move on right? And I need someone who will fill this position without leaving in less than two months. So I'm willing to ignore what you did if you are willing to take this job." The goat brought his hooves together.

Dawn nodded briskly, anyone willing to move on from what she had done was the kind of mammal she was willing to work for.

"Good so, I have a spare fox sized uniform that should suit you in the back. I'm sorry but you'll have to make due until I can order you a proper size. I'm starting you ten bucks an hour, four days a week, ten P.M. to six A.M. You'll be taking orders, serving food, cleaning, yadda, yadda, yadda." The goat prattled off, waiving his hoof as he spoke. Dawn simply nodded with each bit of info.

"So, with that, do you have any questions for me?" He leaned in expectantly, clasping his hooves together tightly.

"Um...well, how do I do all that? F-forgive me, I've never done this before." Dawn shakily asked.

"Oh." Gus laughed. "Sorry, sorry. I've been through this so much I'm used to breezing through it." Gus cleared his throat. "The night shift is rather slow, so you'll be training as you go along with the help of Vernon."

As the goat finished his statement, the door to the restaurant opened and Gus' attention turned to it.

"Ah speak of the mammal! Vern come here please." He waived.

Dawn turned to look and was mortified. Entering the restaurant was one of the largest wolves she'd ever seen. She could tell even from where she was seated he was almost double her size. His coat was a silvery grey, with white adorning his muzzle and face. As his eyes fell on the goat he smiled broadly. She swallowed hard as he approached and leaned on the table between the two.

"What's up little big horn?" The wolf ruffled the goats head fur while smiling at him.

"Vern, please keep it professional in front of the new hire." Gus groaned as he gestured to Dawn.

The wolf turned his green eyes on the small ewe and she could feel her heart beat grow faster. If there were any mammal that had more of a right to hate her than normal, it would be her natural enemy. Yet despite this his demeanor seemed cool. He reached a grey furred paw out to her.

"Pleased to meet you Ms. Bellwether, I'm Vernon Hunter." He grinned revealing his fangs.

Dawn nervously took his paw, and couldn't help but tremble. The wolf's smile dropped.

"Sorry, I must be kind of scary looking. I can assure you I'm far from it." He shook her hoof gently.

"Yeah, Vernon is probably the softest wolf I've ever met; he doesn't have a mean bone in his body." Gus weakly punched Vernon's arm.

Vernon turned back to Gus. "Now what happened to keeping it professional Gus?"

The wolf released his paw and ran it through the grey fur on his head as Dawn continued to stare. Gus simply chortled.

"Alright, I'm gonna let Val off her leash, that is if she hasn't booked it by now. Then I'll get my uniform on and be back in two shakes of a-" The wolf stopped himself as he realized the potential offense the turn of phrase could carry.

"Erm...I'll be back quick." He coughed awkwardly.

Then he smiled again, this time doing his best to hide his teeth. "Looking forward to working with you Ms. Bellwether, see ya in a bit." And with that, the wolf made his way behind the counter and out of sight.

Dawn's eyes had still been locked on the disappearing wolf when Gus coughed sharply grabbing her attention.

"I can see you're still scared." The goat sighed. "That natural fear runs deep. But I can assure you. I've known Vern since high school and he's the nicest mammal I've ever met. He used to look out for all the odd and weak mammals like me and stand up for us." The Goat smiled. "We used to call him the sheepdog."

Dawn felt a small amused smile creep to her lips. "The Sheepdog?"

"Yeah, he was like our flock leader, king of the losers. But you'd never find more loyal and kind friend." He laughed, and Dawn chuckled lightly in response.

If Gus spoke so highly of him, than maybe she could relax a little. After all she knew that predators weren't bad like she had once thought. They, like her, were just mammals trying to survive. Her sessions with the good doctor more than revealed that to her. Then again, she was still the infamous Dawn Bellwether, and how could Gus know how Vernon would react to working with the Zootopia's greatest threat to predator-kind.

"Oh and free food." Gus interrupted, bringing Dawn back.

"I mean, our menu is largely predator. But we do decent prey options. We've been really expanding our menu." He gestured at one of the various signs advertising the 'new meadow menu'.

Considering how much of a hassle getting food was the other day, Dawn could only see this as a boon.

"I'm out, seeya herbs." A blur of red fur sped past the two and out the door. From what Dawn could tell, it was Val. Gus simply sighed, before giving Dawn a knowing glance.

"Teenagers, am I right?" Gus chuckled.

"Herbs?" Dawn asked quizzically.

"Herbivores, slang you know?" Gus said with sarcasm.

Dawn nodded knowingly and the two shared a brief laugh before Vernon re-entered now fully clad in his uniform. The wolf walked up to the pair pushing a cleaning cart in front of him.

"So, want me to hold off on locking up or..." He lingered as he asked the goat. Gus stood up quickly.

"Oh, no, no Vern, by all means." Gus said, brushing off his shirt. Gus reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys, then turned back to the ewe.

"Well, with all that settled it's about time I get going. I'm sure you will do swimmingly with your first shift Dawn."

Dawn's eyes widened, she couldn't suppress the sudden jolt of fear. Gus was about to leave her here, leave her with the wolf. Her mouth opened but the words failed to escape. Gus hadn't noticed the ewes face as he had already turned back to the wolf.

"I leave the new trainee in your capable paws my friend." The goat said, patting the wolf's shoulder. The wolf flashed his teeth as he leaned on the edge of the cart.

As Gus made his way to the main door the ewe began to stutter.

"B-b-b-ut, but-" It was low and inaudible, and the fear on her face only grew as she saw him reach the door.

Without turning the goat spoke one more time. "Don't forget to change into your uniform, it's in the back! Have a great night you guys!" And with that he disappeared into the night.

For a few moments she just stared at the now vacant doorway in disbelief. Only when Vernon coughed did Dawn even register that time hadn't frozen. Dawn slowly and uncomfortably turned back to face the wolf again. He simply continued to lean on the cart, but concern now framed his face.

"You alright Ms. Bellwether?" He asked. "You look kinda peaked."

Dawn slowly shook her head, still somewhat scared of being alone with the hulking hound. It was easy to read, and it was obviously starting to make the wolf uncomfortable.

"Well...uh- I guess you should change then. I uh..." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm gonna-uh..." He looked around awkwardly. "Lock up I guess." He looked over to the door, then back to Dawn before raising a paw to point at it. "O-over there."

And with that the wolf slinked away from her, leaving her slightly relieved but also ashamed of her behavior. After taking a moment to compose herself she shoved herself away from the counter and trudged off for the back office.

When she returned, now clad in an oversized uniform and dorky hat, she found the wolf mopping the floor. He stopped as he felt her approach, causing her to freeze.

"First thing we do is-uh." He was quiet for a moment. "Clean the place." He didn't turn around as he continued. "You can grab some spray and a rag from the cart and do the tables and chairs. It's uh....real simple." Vernon's change in demeanor was a clear indicator to Dawn that he was very aware that she was still scared of him.

And so the training went with little speaking outside of Vernon's basic instructions. After cleaning, he went over the basics of how to cook the various meals, taking drive through orders, and working the register. The whole affair felt very awkward and confusing to Dawn. Vernon was hard to read, and the ewe didn't know what to expect. Any minute he could lash out at her, then again maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he was as soft as Hornsley described, and her palpable fear hurt him. Either way, what little conversation they had remained stilted as the hour went on.

"And I think that's...about it." Vernon said, canceling the practice order from the register. "You know everything I can teach about this job. So um-" He scratched his chin. "yeah."

The two stood next to each other in silence briefly.

"W-" Dawn muttered. "What happens now?"

The wolf sighed, and in a swift motion that startled the lamb he sat himself on the front counter. He looked at Dawn with a dull expression.

"A whole lotta nothing, that's what." He sighed, removing his carrot phone from his pocket. As he began to play with his apps the ewe found herself confused.

"I-I don't understand." She scratched her head.

"You notice during that whole time we were practicing we didn't have a single customer?" The wolf was still buried in his phone.

"Yeah?" She nodded.

The wolf turned to look at her. "Welp...at most we get about nine customers a shift...maybe twenty on a Saturday, and that's if were really busy." He shrugged.

Dawn was struck dumb, that seemed crazy.

"Are you serious?"

"Ms. Bellwether, why do you think everyone quits? The night shift is practically dead. I have no idea why corporate insists on keeping this place open at night. But it's easy money, and the quiet is nice." He turned back to his phone, sighing as he tapped the screen a few times.

"So there's absolutely nothing to do?" Dawn bemoaned as she walked over to a lower portion of the counter and sat.

"You got a carrot phone?" The wolf halfheartedly joked.

Dawn removed her old brick phone from her pocket and frowned, the thing was far too old to have any form of entertainment. With a heavy sigh she placed it down on the counter next to her, and leaned into her hooves. Now plagued with thoughts of how painfully long the night was going to be.

"Whoa, now that's an old phone." Dawn looked up to see the wolf had walked over to her. The wolf picked the thing up and regarded it. "I haven't seen one of these since I was in middle school. Tails to teeth, I didn't even think they still made 'em."

The embarrassment of owning such a relic cause Dawn to slink into her shoulders. She stared at the floor in shame until the face of a carrot phone blocked her vision. She looked up to see the wolf was holding his phone out to her.

"W-what? " She asked.

"Here, you can keep yourself busy with mine. You'll need it more than me." He replied. "I'll find some other way to keep busy."

She looked at him in surprise.

"O-oh no, I couldn't possibly." She shook her head vigorously and tried to push the phone away.

"C'mon, take it. I got plenty of games. Platformers, rpgs, puzzles, more than enough to keep busy on a night like this." He pushed it back until he felt the lamb relent.

Dawn looked up at him with wide eyes, her interest peaked. "P-puzzle games?" She asked.

"Tons of em'." He smiled.

Dawn meekly smiled back at the wolf as she began to slowly scroll through the games. It was true, the wolf had a massive collection. Classics, modern, crosswords, Sudoku, she could keep herself busy for hours with these. She looked up at Vernon again, a friendly smile still spread across his muzzle.

"Are you sure your okay with it?" She asked timidly.

Vernon closed his eyes and waived his arms dismissively. "Go ahead, till you get your own; my phone is your phone."

Dawn looked back down at the phone and booted up the crossword. After a moment of filling in a few words she looked back up to see the wolf had moved to straighten various storage shelves. For a moment he caught her glance and smiled again. In that moment she felt her fear dissolve. Gus was right, Vernon was really as soft as he said.

"Dawn" She chirped up.

"Hmm?" The wolf turned back at her statement.

"Please, call me Dawn." She smiled softly at him.

The wolf flashed his teeth in response, before turning back to the shelving. He continued to straighten the various containers until Dawn spoke again.

"You know..." He turned to meet the ewes gaze. "Maybe we could solve the puzzles together?" She asked, slightly pleading. "I-it would probably be more fun."

The wolf shook his head and laughed. "I think most of those are single player. Doesn't that spoil the challenge?"

"It's just a game, we can play however we want." She patted her hoof on the counter next to her. "Please join me Vernon." The ewe gave the best sympathetic eyes she could muster.

"Argh, my one weakness." He clutched his chest in faux distress, acting the ham. "Did Gus tell you to use the eyes, that traitor? All right, all right, I'll join you." He smirked as the ewe giggled at the theatrics.

Dawn laughed as the wolf sat down next to her and peered over her head to watch her play, trying his best not to lean on the poof of wool on her head. Dawn tensed up slightly for a moment, a natural consequence of having the wolf so close. But she relaxed rather quickly.

"Thank you" She said with a soft smile.

"No thank you, to be honest I was gonna go crazy without that thing. "

Dawn laughed so hard she let out a snort, and soon Vernon joined in, the two laughing like old friends.