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It was unlike anything he'd seen before.
The ship had arrived at port, weeks ahead of schedule. Completely abandoned, at least he wished it was. His star officers were the only souls onboard, Officer Hopps was in the crow's nest, having wedged herself in-between the boards so stiffly she had to be carefully cut free. Officer Wilde was down in the engine, literally, the fox having been found hiding in its pistons. The engine was completely seized up, needing to be replaced in its entirety. Lending credence to his survival.
They were both in a state of shellshock, unable to respond to anything, even physical trauma. Anything but the presence of water, a severe hydrophobia that made the chief wonder, what the hell happened.
The camera flicked on, it's heavily damaged and water lodged frame making data recovery a fool's errand. But they managed. "Is this thing rolling?" The doctor asked, positioning it to stare it down. "Alright, I am Doctor Horn of the Savannah central hospital. Today I have Mr. Wilde with me, we are about to begin today's session." The camera was placed beside him, angled at the fox. Head low, and eyes closed. Just like they found him.
"Mr. Wilde, how are you doing?" He didn't respond. "I understand you're shy, but if you don't speak, we can't help you." Again, no response. "Would you like some water?"
The fox's eyes shot open, his breathing accelerated, making his chest look like it was about to burst. "No." He muttered. "NO!" He stood up, picked the chair up and threw it at the doctor. "NO!" He screamed, clutching his head, his eyes manic and slitted. He continued like that, screaming every so often and digging into his own skull. Drawing slight rivulets of blood. A group of staff came in, restraining the fox and sedating him. The feed cut forwards, repeating itself.
"Hello, I am Doctor Horn, today I have Mrs. Hopps with me. We are beginning today's session." Again, the camera was positioned, the gray rabbit was sitting in the chair, same as Wilde. "Ms. Hopps, how are you doing?" Again, no response. "I talked with Wilde earlier, he had a... bad reaction with the word Water. I was hoping you knew something about that." She... giggled?
"Water?" She started, her voice low. "Wet... Fur wet and cold and slimy and touched by the damned." She looked up at him, her eyes solid purple, a look she did not wear well.
"I see, you had a bad experience with it?" Silence, she just continued to stare at him, mouth slightly gaping. "Tell me more about it?"
"Eyes."
"Eyes? Whose eyes?"
"I know. I know. I know. I know. I know." She said, repeating it over and over ad infinitum.
"You know? Can you tell me?" She didn't respond, just continuing to repeat the mantra until her voice gave out. And even then, she just continued to mouth it. "End session." The next file began playing. "Hello, Doctor Horn here. Mr. Wilde is... still throwing a fit." The camera was levied up to the window, the fox was in the center of the room, screaming his lungs out. It was torn up, all sources of water thrown to the far corners. "This is the most severe case of Hydrophobia I've ever seen. Or read about, he just keeps screaming."
The camera looked down at the ground, the sound of a door and it being placed on a counter. Judy was sitting in the chair, seeming to have reset to the day prior. "I'm going to begin the session now with Mrs. Hopps." He pulled a chair up, sitting across from the rabbit. "Mr. Hopps, how are you doing today?" She failed to respond. "You need to talk to me, you won't get better if you stay clammed up." She just sat there, paws on her lap and jaw slightly a gap. "You mentioned eyes yesterday, but you didn't tell me whose."
"I." She said, looking like she was going to launch into another tirade.
"Your eyes?" Horn asked after a moment of pause.
"Not mine." Her face scrunched up as she reached to cover them. He'd read about this moment, but getting to see it sent a shiver down his spine.
"Hopps? Who's eyes are you talking about?"
"THESE AREN'T MY EYES!" She screeched, opening them wide before plunging her paws straight into the sockets. Blood gushed into her palms as she pulled the amethyst jewels from their orbits. Horn stood up, frozen, unprepared for what just happened. "Aren't they pretty?" She asked, tilting her head up to gaze bloody sockets at the pronghorn.
"Oh... Oh my god..." He looked like he was about to vomit. He reached for the door, calling for help. She stood there, and slowly turned to the camera. Her face mute. Eyes still clutched in her paws. It sent a shiver down his spine, how she turned to track things perfectly despite what she did. The recording ended, queuing up the next file.
"Doctor Horn here." He said, looking directly at the camera. His gaze was far, looking straight through the camera. "I'm scared of these too." It ended, the next file playing immediately after that. "Hello, Doctor Horn here. I'm with Wilde, he's calmed down." He pointed the camera at the fox. "I want to talk to him, but after what Hopps did, I'm scared. I don't want him to hurt himself, but I have a job to do."
"Don't we both?" Bogo muttered to himself.
"Mr. Wilde, how are we feeling?" He was quiet, almost too quiet. "I... I can't hear you."
"I won't be spared."
"Pardon?"
"I'm drowning." He sounded like he was crying. "I'll drown."
"You aren't drowning, you're miles from the nearest body of water. You're safe." Then, the fox wretched. "Are you going to vomit?" He wretches, watching something large crawl up his throat and into his mouth. Something leaked from between his lips, parting them as their contents were dumped in the trash. "What the hell?!" The doctor walked to the camera, focusing it into the trash to see a small puddle of water and blood, and a fish. A live fish. "This is too weird."
"I'm drowning."
"You are not drowning." There was a jump, and the camera was sat in front of the Pronghorn. "C'mon Horn, you can do this. You'll be a world renowned psychiatrist if you can break through to them... Alright... I'm going to talk to her." Another jump, and Judy was now in frame. Her face had been bandaged up, two red blots over her eyes. "Hopps, can you hear me?" And, as per usual, no response.
"Would you like to talk about water or eyes today?"
"I haven't seen the bottom. What's down there?" She asked, her voice was small, terrified.
"I can pull up a video from a submersible if you'd like. Although, you wouldn't be able to see anything."
"I know." She said, plainly. All hints of fear lost. "I've seen the bottom. It's deep. So much deeper. And deeper still. And at the bottom, eyes. So many eyes." The fear was back. "And they're mine. They're all mine."
"Hopps, how many eyes do you have?"
"One million, twenty four thousand, five hundred sixty-two." She smiled at him. "And they all see you. Adrian." Horn raised his eyebrow, following the chief.
"I don't understand, you just tore yours out." He reminded her.
"They didn't belong to me." Her smile vanished. Horn gripped the bridge of his muzzle.
"Wilde threw up a live fish, did you know that?"
"He was hungry. I'm hungry."
"Oh? What do you want? And don't say the flesh of the innocent."
"A burger." Horn sighed, reclining into his seat.
"If I get you a burger, will you stop maiming yourself?" She nodded. "Alright, what do you want on it?"
"Angler Fish." He punched through his notepad. It was the exact fish Nick threw up. He looked up at her, packed his things up and left.
"I don't get paid enough for this." The file ended, the buffalo didn't que another. Leaving to get a cup of coffee, playing the next file when he got back. "Doctor Horn, it is November Twenty-second?" He looked up at his phone. "I've been on break, those two were just too much. So far, Wilde has thrown up more seawater and deep sea fish. Hopps has gone completely braindead, not literally, she just doesn't say anything unless she's been fed whatever comes out of that fox." He burped. "It's horrifying, watching a rabbit consume a fish like that. She doesn't eat anything else, and we've stopped bothering with cooking it. I don't understand, how is this possible? I just don't understand it." The video skipped forwards, placing the camera in front of the fox. He was gaunt, a constant stream of seawater flowing from his lips into a bucket. "I mean, look at this! His stomach is just, making it from nothing. I'm going to check on Hopps." The camera gazed at the floor, then found itself angled at Hopps. She looked mostly normal, sans the odd bulk in her stomach. "She just ate an entire shark pup. That's not normal! Whatever happened to these two, it wasn't normal! This is some paranormal type shit!" The file ended, Bogo taking the interim to caress his horns. Stressed, before playing the final file.
"I am Doctor Horn of the Savannah central hospital. Today is November 30th, I have Mr. Wilde with me. We are about to begin today's session. I think we're really getting somewhere this time!" The camera was refocused, pointed directly at the fox. His head hung low with eyes half lidded. He couldn't see the pupils, he just knew they were focused directly at the camera.
"Mr. Wilde, how are you today?" There was a long moment of silence.
"I'm called..." He said, making the buffalo raise his eyebrow.
"Called, to where?" Another pause.
"Drown."
"Do you mean, downtown?" Horn asked, stepping into frame. "You can go there soon, if you want."
"He sees me... I am... Taken..." There was a scream, not from the fox, it was too feminine.
"Oh dear, it appears she's having another fit." The doctor said, looking out of frame.
"He sees you." Nick said, refusing to move. "Drown."
"Excuse me? Who sees me?"
"Drown." His voice was... odd... gurgly as if he was underwater.
"Nicholas, we are miles from water deep enough. There is no danger of drowning." The fox's head slowly tilted up, giving the buffalo a clear look at his eyes. Trained directly on the camera, glowing pale blue slits that pierced the monitor.
"Drown." The voiced was behind him, before the fox erupted, his face torn open with a mass of tentacles that latched onto the Doctor. He drew the pronghorn in, the camera glitching to unrecognizability. Only his screams were left as purple, yellow, black, green and red artifacts danced along the monitor. Bogo rewound the footage, pausing the moment Nick's face tore open. He was staring at the monitor, no, HIM. Bogo slapped the laptop close, turning around to see nothing behind him. He sighed, now understanding why forensics was so freaked out.
"Drown." His eyes shot open, looking up slowly to see that pale blue glow directly in front of him.