Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 10
Chapter 10: I spend the rest of the night on site, though not with Captain Whitebuck. Lieutenant Longenecker, who works in the detective's bureau, is who takes charge. Like most of the other officers here, he is stunned silent by this entire...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Happy Town. I've always thought that 'Happy Town' had to have been a mistake. And it sort of was a mistake. The neighborhood was originally named Highland Terrace, back when it was being constructed maybe sixty or seventy years ago. But...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 8
Chapter: 8 The Aries sign rises bright through the night, it's red and yellow neon tubing cutting through the darkness: A-R-I-E-S, hung vertically, flashing and then lighting up sequentially. Below it, a movie theater-like board lists the upcoming...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Quartz, oh, so helpfully, finally suggests hitting up a few bars in the area to try to scrape up some leads, since the precinct couldn't provide us anything more, which is an idea I had as well. He says that everybody needs to socialize,...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 6
Chapter 6: It's so hard to think in here. The bullpen back at the precinct is supposed to be the officer's home base, their home-away-from-home. I've never once felt that way, that this is a home-away-from-home. This place feels more like a high...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The station is all but dead when we get there, just a half dozen blocks east of the apartment building. The docks and riverfront businesses are all but closed, so all of the evening traffic has dispersed. And because it's still much too...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Voices begin to sing out and camera bulbs snap and crack as the remaining force of police officers exits the building. The captain raises his hands above his head to gain their attentions, his antler-dominated silhouette towering above...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 3
Chapter 3: "He wants _what_?!" The captain bellows down at me. When I came out and told the captain that I had gained something, he was impressed. But when I informed him that the coyote wouldn't freely give up anything until he had certain...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 2
Chapter 2: "Jesus, what happened here?" Captain Whitebuck asks as we enter the room. It's been just under an hour since I called in the murder and already this apartment is swarming with police of every shape, color, size, and rank. Sheep and rams...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 1
Chapter 1: The radio at my hip chirps and barks its quiet chatter, disseminating information on arrests and crimes in progress. My ears stand on end, intrigued, but, resume scanning again when nothing of interest comes through. The majority of calls...
Zistopia: Inner City Blues Chapter 15
Chapter 15: When I was thirteen years old, my parents took me to a party. It was for Father's work, so it was in the Downtown district at a hotel called The Oak Grove. The owner was a red deer who had a son my age and I think my father wanted me and...
The City of Lost Heaven: Chapter 20
Chapter 20 Confidence. That's the only thing that I can feel rushing through my veins, making my fur stand on end, coursing with pure electricity. Jackie beams similarly, though his is also mixed with the distinct feeling of pleasure that can...