kubo
first story in the series, this one is about Kubo a member of the Zootopia SWAT team
Kobu a younger hyena sits in the swat van the team checking their gear, all of them preparing for the call. A hostage situation possible drugs and firearms involved. All of them are dressed in their full combat gear, heavy armor ballistic body armor on the chest, arms legs, full helm with masks over the face for gas. In bright white on the chest is the letters ZPD. These are the men of hard calibers, the ones that go for the big guns. Oh, the police keep the peace and make sure things stay straight but when things get bad, real bad, these are the boys that they call. Kubo pulls the receiver on the rifle back making sure that he is now locked and loaded. The others do the same, there is a team of six this time, himself, the two wolf brothers Timber and Stump, the tiger Johnny a panther Ace and the commander a grizzly Jake Soon the van stops and the team pours out. The police making way, the target is in a simple low-income house. They heard screams and he shot at some of the cops. Jake walks up to the officer in charge a rhino
“officer Mchorn, what’s the situation” Jake asks signaling to his team to stand ready
“rabbit wacked out of his mind on drugs, Nabors heard screaming and called it in, we got here he fired on us. He’s locked in tight. Wife and kids are still in there.” Mchorn says shaking his head, a bad situation but that is why they called swat.
Jake nods then points to timber and stump makes a circle in the air with one finger, and the two wolves drop low and move to the back of the house. Ace reaches into the van and grabs a sledgehammer then stands to one side of it, in front of the door ready for action are Johnny and Kubo. With a single swing of the sledge the locks are snapped on the door and it swings open. As soon as the door is breached Jake tosses two grenades in, a flash bang and smoke. The grenades go off and they all hear screaming inside. Ace Jonny and Kubo rush in low to the ground rifles at the ready. What they see is more then they expected. Two rabbits both female, one in her thirties they would guess, the other in early to mid-teens both with the younger has her throat cut, the older looks as if she was gutted. The three of them move slower into the house, jack coming in behind with ace at his side. As they search the house the team slowly splits up but maintains radio contact, Kubo is the one that finds the rabbit, he stands with his back to a wall, held against him is a boy of maybe six, held to the boys throat is a large kitchen knife.
“Drop the weapon” Kubo says and raises his rifle lining up the sights.
The rabbit is obviously out of his mind, too many drugs or just the wrong combination, it is clear to anyone who looks at him, he is nervous and twitchy, his eyes twitching his pupils dilated. A sneer on his face, this will not end well, and he knows it.
“Drop your cop” The rabbit says and pulls the knife closer to the boy’s throat.
“Not going to happen, let the kid go, your not getting out of this but you might at least walk away” Kubo says and flips the safety off of his rifle.
Already he knows how this is going to end and he is right, the rabbit cuts the boys throat deep and wide, but as he does Kubo lets out two rounds, both going right into the rabbit’s head. The man down Kubo tosses his rifle and rips off his mask rushing to the boy. He’s no medic but he knows a few things quickly he presses on the wound and begins to breath into the boy’s mouth.
“Get the medics in here now, back room we have wounded” Ace says putting his fingers to his radio in his ear.
Medics rush the house and spit into two teams. One rushing to the back room. Lioness gently pushes Kubo to the side and begins to work on the kid, keeping pressure on the wound and begins to seal the wound, just enough tell he gets to the hospital
Ace gently places his hand on Kubo’s shoulder and the two leave the house Kubo grabbing his rifle and mask on the way out. The job done the team meets back at the van and Jake walks over to an otter who looks to be the lead medic as they load the older female and the boy into an ambulance. The others are left in the house for forensics.
“What are their odds” Jake asks looking at the team, he hopes the news is good, too many times his team come into something like this and the news is bad, for too many times.
“The mother might make it, the son has a better chance, that hyena acted quick and the knife only cut the windpipe, no major arteries” The otter says and slaps the side of the ambulance and it takes off sirens blasting.
“Bogo’s going to hate this one.” Jake says and taking a deep breath nods to the team who load back into the ban.
The team makes their way back to the station, once in the locker room they strip off their gear and shower. All that work and still two dead. Kubo places a hand on the wall and lets the hot water rush down his back, closing his eyes he still sees that knife slice into the young boy’s throat. He shouldn’t have hesitated; he should have just shot him. But you must give them the chance to surrender right…. that’s what the books say, but the books didn’t see that look in that damned rabbits’ eyes. Hell, he already butchered his whole family, his wife daughter and son. He is snapped out of his thoughts as a hand grips his shoulder.
“shifts up, hit the bar, you look like you could use a drink” Ace says cocking his head, they could all use a drink after today.
“Nah, I’m just going to head home.” Kubo says and gives his friend a false smile.
“well we’ll probably be there a few hours, so come on down if you want, always room for one more grunt” Ace says and steps to a bench to get dressed.
Kubo towels off then dressing in his plain cloths steps out of the station, Clawhauser says something but he doesn’t hear and only waves a hand at him to be polite. He can hear Bogo shouting at Jake, he’ll probably get called in tomorrow, but for now he just wants to go home. He walks down the streets his mind a fog of memories, he’s done this job for almost 6 years now, he’s seen a lot, he would have said he saw it all, but every time he says that some new shit happens and his team always seems to catch it. he walks for a good twenty minutes before he comes to his place, a shitty little apartment building in the slums, the place is a mess, stains on the carpets, parts of the plaster coming off the walls, a few loose stairs and in the hall on the second floor is a hall lamp hanging only by a few frayed wires. As he moves up the stairs, he can hears one of the couples begin their usual fight, wonder what she did this time, probably breathed wrong or looked at him. He flips the keys in his hands and opens his door, his apartment is only a flat, 6ft by 8ft, shutting the door he thinks of this and chuckles, the same size as the average prison cell, he doesn’t even have a stove, just a counter with a sink and one of those mini fridges. Opening the fridge, he stares in it and lets out a sigh, come condiment packets, what looks like last week’s Chinese food, a bottle of whiskey and his prescription. He takes the whiskey and the meds. Rolling the container in his hand he looks at the med’s instructions, Trazadone, take one a day, do not take with alcohol, take with food. With his thumb he flips the top open and pours three into his mouth and chews them, then takes a swig from the bottle. He then sets the prescription and the bottle on the counter, then picks the bottle back up and takes another swig, then sits on the bed that doesn’t even fit.
His mind then begins to drift, he doesn’t’ want it to, but he can’t stop it. first it is the kid today, then it flashes to a fox kit that he dealt with when he was still a rookie. The kit wasn’t much more then twelve, but he drew a gun and fired on the cops. Like the rabbit today he was high on something, he didn’t care, didn’t think, just fired his own sidearm, right between the eyes. His partner was injured, a simple in and out on the shoulder but enough to get him a desk job for a few years before he took early retirement.
He takes another swig of the whiskey and closes his eyes, voices begin to sound in his head, the same old voices. His mother screaming, shouting, his father doing the same. His sister crying, she was older, the sound of the door slamming, things breaking. Then his fathers voice, ‘you’re just a piece of shit, a waste, and you’ll never be anything else, then the bang. He was the only one in the house when his father ended it. he’s not sure where his mother is, lost contact with her when the state took him away. By then his sister was turning tricks on the street, six month later she was found dead, killed. Tears roll down his cheeks but he doesn’t make a sound, instead he takes another drink.
His father’s words keep echoing in his head, ‘you’re just a piece of shit, and you’ll never be anything else’. Over and over they repeat, Kubo takes another drink then setting the bottle on the floor he reaches under his bed and pulls a revolver, his 44, opening the cylinder he lets the rounds fall into his hand. It is always loaded, after all what good is home protection if it’s not going to go bang. He lets his fingers grip a single round then lets the rest spill onto the ground. Slowly he slides the round into the cylinder, then closing his eyes, tears still soaking his cheeks he spins the cylinder and snaps it shut. With one smooth move he brings the barrel up under his chin, making sure to aim it a bit back, then the snick sound as he pulls the hammer back, one final breath and then, clack, empty, not tonight. He tosses the gun to the floor and takes another swig….so badly he wants to just break down, let it all go, but he can’t, maybe the next time he will get lucky, it won’t come up empty.
Again, he is snapped out of his thoughts as there is a knock at his door. Not caring he opens the door to find ace standing in front of him with a smirk on his face, not waiting to be invited he only shoulders his way in and looks around. Kubo says nothing but only sits back on his bed and takes a swig from his bottle. Ace seeing the prescription on the counter reads the label, then taking the lid from the floor seals it and puts it back in the fridge, then shakes his head seeing the lack of anything in the fridge.
“Trazadone, Antipsychotic,” Ace says knowing the meds all to well, a lot of people on swat have problems.
“And depression” Kubo says taking another swig
“How many” Ace asks and sees the revolver on the floor with five rounds, but he also knows it holds six, one still in the cylinder.
“Two, three” Kubo says and watches as ace picks up the revolver and unloads it.
“Guessing it’s not working, and I’m guessing this isn’t either” Ace says taking the bottle and taking his own swig
“Bad day” Kubo says not sure ace cold ever understand.
“The kid is going to make it, mother too, they’ll have scars but they’ll live” Ace says and leans against the counter, putting the bottle back in the fridge.
“we all have scars” Kubo says and looks up at Ace.
“Ya we do, looks like you might have a bit more then your share. Get your ass up your coming with me” Ace says and smiles at his friend.
“I’m fine, I’m going to call it a night” Kubo says his voice calm, almost cheerful
“judging by the pills, the booze and that loaded 44, I would say your not even shouting distance from fine, hell probably not even in the same time zone. We’ve all noticed, and the guys and I talked, your moving in with me. We don’t like you alone anymore” Ace says putting a hand on his friend.
“I’m not an addict if that’s what your all worried about, an alcoholic definitely, but I’m always straight on the job…..always, that bottles old, perhaps six months or so” He says knowing he craves the whiskey but he has always kept it under control, he remembers all to well what it did to his dad.
“None of us thought you were an addict, but the pills aren’t working. As for the booze, shit every one of us drinks, if you didn’t drink in this job something would be wrong with you. We’ve all seen things, done things that still haunt us. Did you know timber and Stump are on Trazadone, Jake to for a bit.” Ace says letting Kubo know that the job gets to them all.
“You” Kubo asks with a smirk.
“Me, nah, I just drink to much.” Ace says smiling trying to keep everything light.
Kubo doesn’t say anything, but his eyes drift to the revolver now on the counter empty.
“Jonny, last year, you didn’t know. He hit a hard patch, girl left him, she couldn’t handle the job and what it did to him. Called into work one day, timber found him in the bathroom his piece in his mouth, talked him down. We all got problems, hell with what we do and some of the things we’ve seen, what do they expect. Why do you think so may of us take early retirement? Worst thing we could do is leave you alone, and we aren’t going to. Your moving in with me, at least tell we’re sure you got a grip on this.” Ace says and lifts Kubo to his feet.
“and if I never get a grip, it’s bad, really bad” Kubo says looking up at his friend his eyes watering again, a pleading look on his face.
“Then I got a roommate, your one of us and we always take care of our own.” Ace says and opens the door to the apartment.
“Thank you” Kubo says and with that the two of them leave his apartment, Ace making sure to snatch the med out of the fridge and takes the revolver, he’ll keep it for now, but leaves the whiskey.
“don’t thank me tell you’ve tasted my cooking, you might prefer the taste of that bullet” He says and the two walks into the streets, Ace to help a friend, Kubo to start a new life.