《疯狂动物城》第19章

Nick and Judy found the mysterious road and followed it. They stopped and watched from a distance as a van drove past a gated checkpoint. Beyond the gate was a creepy old building called Cliffside Asylum¹ that perched high on a cliff over the ocean.

 

"Why couldn't you be a Beaver² Renaissance³ Faire?" Nick said quietly.

 

The two slowly ventured toward the asylum, sneaking⁴ up to the guarded gate. They could see two wolves stationed inside. Nick motioned that he was going to try and tiptoe past. He started off, but as he got closer, one of the wolves sniffed⁶ the air, picking up on his scent⁷. Nick grabbed a piece of driftwood to use as a weapon as the wolf began searching for the source of the scent. But before the wolf could find Nick, a howl sounded in the distance, grabbing the wolf's attention. "Ooooooooo!"

 

It was Judy, hidden beneath the cliffs!

 

Hearing the sound, the wolf couldn't help but howl back.

 

Another guard approached and said sharply, "Quit it, Gary. You're gonna start a howl."

 

"I didn't start it. Ooooooooo!" said Gary.

 

Unable to control it, the other guard howled back. Soon more and more wolves joined in, howling away.

 

Judy whispered to Nick, "Come on!" They used the distraction⁸ to jump the fence and sneak⁵ by the guards.

 

"Clever bunny," said Nick, impressed.

 

As they scrambled⁹ over the slippery rocks, Nick nearly slid down a waterfall. They searched for a way into the building and spotted¹⁰ a large pipe. Climbing inside, they walked until they emerged in the asylum. The dark cavernous room was full of old, rusty¹¹ medical equipment.

 

"Looks like this was a hospital," said Judy.

 

She shined her light down a corridor and saw a metal door at the other end. They walked toward it. "You know, after you," Nick said, motioning for her to open the door. "You're the cop."

 

Judy slowly pushed the door open to reveal a room with shiny, modern new medical equipment. They cautiously walked in and looked around.

 

Nick pointed¹² to scratches crisscrossing the floor. "Claw marks?" Judy said, taking in the sight. There were deep grooves¹³ in the door, too.

 

Feeling a little scared and intimidated¹⁴, Nick started to back up. "Yeah, huge, huge claw marks. But what kind of anima—" A growl¹⁵ interrupted him, and then a locked-up, savage¹⁶ tiger grabbed Nick and pulled him toward his cell. Judy yanked Nick away, freeing him from the tiger's grip.

 

Judy held up her flashlight and swiveled it around the room to reveal...dozens of eyes! They walked along looking at each of the locked-up animals before finding a jaguar¹⁷ on all fours, pacing his cell. "Mr. Manchas," said Judy.

 

They continued past three, four, five cells, until finally, in the last one, they found a feral otter¹⁸. It was Emmitt Otterton!

 

"It's him," said Judy. "We found our otter." She turned and spoke¹⁹ to him gently. "Mr. Otterton, my name is Officer Judy Hopps. Your wife sent me to find you. We're gonna get you out of here now."

 

Otterton screeched²⁰ and lunged toward the glass wall, as if trying to attack.

 

"Or not," said Nick, backing away. "Guess he's in no rush to get home to the Mrs."

 

Judy looked down the corridor of cells, counting, "Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Plus Manchas." She thought for a moment, then said, "Chief Bogo handed out fourteen missing mammal files...All the missing mammals are right here!"

 

Click! A door started to open, so Nick and Judy quickly hid next to an empty cell. They heard footsteps approaching, and soon they could see someone...

 

It was Mayor Lionheart!

 

"Enough!" said Lionheart. "I don't want excuses, Doctor, I want answers."

 

Lionheart looked serious, intense, and tired. Judy whipped out her phone and started recording²¹ as Lionheart talked to a badger²² doctor.

 

"Mayor Lionheart, please," said the doctor. "We're doing everything we can."

 

"Oh, I don't think you are," said Lionheart. "Because I got a dozen and a half animals here who've gone off-the-freaking-rails crazy, and you can't tell me why. I'd call that awfully²³ far from doing everything."

 

"Sir, it may be time to consider their biology," said the doctor.

 

Otterton, in the cage behind them, slammed against the glass walls of his cell.

 

"Biology, Doctor? Spare me."

 

"We both know what they all have in common. We can't keep it a secret. We need to come forward," the doctor said.

 

Lionheart snarled²⁴ and turned on the doctor. "What do you think will happen if the press gets ahold of this?"

 

"What does Chief Bogo think?" asked the doctor.

 

"Chief Bogo doesn't know. And we are going to keep it that way."

 

Brrring! Brrring! Judy's phone broke the silence. It was her parents calling.

 

Lionheart looked up, startled. "Someone's here!"

 

"Sir, you need to go now," said the doctor. "Security, sweep the area!"

 

Nick and Judy ran as an alarm blared throughout the asylum. Wolves swarmed²⁵ the halls.

 

"Great, we're dead. That's it. I'm dead. You're dead. Everybody's dead," Nick declared.

 

"Can you swim?" Judy asked Nick, ducking into an empty cell and putting her phone into an evidence bag.

 

"What? Can I swim? Of course. Why?" Nick watched Judy dive into a large hippo toilet. He closed his eyes and jumped in after her.

 

They slid through the pipe, twisting this way and that until they finally shot out, cascading²⁶ over a waterfall. After a gasp²⁷ of air, Nick swam to the riverbank. But Judy was nowhere to be seen. "Carrots? Hopps? Judy!"

 

He sighed when her saw her emerge from the water, holding her bagged phone over her head. "We've got to tell Bogo."

 

尼克和朱迪找到了那条神秘的路，沿着路向前走。远远看见一辆小货车开过门岗，他们便停了下来。门的那头是一栋阴森森的老房子，立在海边的悬崖上，叫作“悬崖精神病院”。

 

“我们为什么不装作是比弗康复中心的工作人员呢?”尼克轻声地说。

 

他俩试探着摸向门岗，慢慢向精神病院走去。他们看到两只狼在里面站岗。尼克示意他要踮着脚走过去。但当他靠近时，其中一只狼嗅了嗅，闻到了他的气味，警觉地寻找起气味的来源，尼克抓起一根木棒当作武器。那只狼还没发现尼克的时候，远处传来一声狼嚎，引起了他的注意。“呜……”

 

那是朱迪叫的，她正躲在悬崖下面!

 

那只狼听到声音，不由得回应起来。

 

另一只狼走过来，厉声说：“盖里，不要叫了。你会引起整个狼群长嚎的。”

 

盖里说：“我没有。呜……”

 

那只狼闻声也忍不住长嚎了一声，很快，其他的狼也开始嚎叫起来，此起彼伏。

 

朱迪小声对尼克说：“快走!”他们在狼群分神之际跳过栅栏，躲过了警卫。

 

尼克钦佩地说：“你这兔子真聪明!”

 

他们在湿滑的岩石上攀爬时，尼克差点滑倒掉进下面的瀑布里。他们试图找到进屋的路，结果发现了一根大管子。他们爬了进去，顺着它一直走直到进入了精神病院。屋里像山洞一样，黑乎乎的，摆满了生锈、破旧的医疗用具。

 

朱迪说：“这里看起来像家医院。”

 

她打开手电照向走廊，发现另一头有一扇铁门。他们朝那儿走去，尼克示意她去开门：“你先走，你是警察。”

 

朱迪缓缓推开门，门后的房间里满是崭新的现代医疗器械，泛着金属的亮光。他们小心翼翼地走进去，环顾四下。

 

尼克指着墙，上面布满抓痕。朱迪望去，问道：“是爪印吗?”接着他们发现门上也有很深的凹槽。

 

尼克怕得浑身发毛，不由得一边往后退，一边说：“是的，是很大很大的爪印。但是是什么动物的——”一阵咆哮声打断了他，一只关在笼子里的发狂的老虎抓住了他，把他往笼子那儿拽。朱迪见势赶紧把尼克从老虎爪中拉了回来。

 

朱迪举起手电在屋里转了一圈，发现……屋子里还有许多双眼睛!他们边走边查看每个笼子里都关着什么动物，最后发现了在笼子里来回踱步的美洲虎，朱迪喊了一声：“麦岔先生!”

 

他们走过第三个、第四个、第五个笼子，走到最后一个笼子的时候终于找到了野性大发的水獭——艾米·奥獭顿!

 

朱迪说：“是他!找到我们要找的水獭了!”她转过身对他轻声说：“奥獭顿先生，我是朱迪·霍普斯警官。您的妻子托我来找您，我们会把您救出去的。”

 

奥獭顿对着玻璃尖叫着，像是要发起进攻。

 

“或许不救，”尼克边说边往后退。“我猜他没那么着急回家见他妻子。”

 

朱迪顺着走廊数了一下笼子：“11,12,13,14。麦岔也算上。”她想了想，说道：“牛局长列出了14宗失踪案……所有失踪的动物全都在这儿!”

 

咔嚓!一扇门打开了，尼克和朱迪迅速躲在了一个空笼子的旁边。他们听到脚步声越来越近，很快一个人出现了……

 

竟然是狮市长!

 

狮市长说：“够了!医生，我不想听解释，我想要答案!”

 

狮市长看起来既严肃又紧张，还很疲惫。朱迪掏出手机，将狮市长对獾医生说的话录下来。

 

医生说：“狮市长，求您了，我们已经尽力了。”

 

狮市长说：“是吗?我可不这么觉得。因为我弄了这么多动物来，个个都发狂到完全不正常的程度，你却不能告诉我原因。我觉得你远远没有尽力。”

 

医生说：“市长先生，也许是时候考虑一下他们的生物特性了吧。”

 

他们身后的奥獭顿猛撞了一下他笼子的玻璃。

 

“生物特性?饶了我吧，医生。”

 

医生说：“我们都知道他们有个共同点，我们不能一直守着这个秘密。我们得提出来。”

 

狮市长转向医生咆哮道：“你觉得要是媒体知道了这个秘密会怎么样?”

 

医生问：“牛局长怎么想?”

 

“牛局长还不知道，我们也不想让他知道。”

 

铃铃铃!朱迪的手机突然响起来，是她父母打来的。

 

狮市长抬起头，大惊失色：“有人!”

 

医生说：“先生，您赶紧离开。保安，搜索现场!”

 

警报响彻精神病院，朱迪和尼克迅速往外跑。大厅里聚集了一群狼。

 

尼克表示道：“这下好了，我们死定了。就是这样。我死定了，你死定了，我们都死定了!”

 

朱迪问尼克：“你会游泳吗?”说着她钻进一只空笼子，把手机装进了证物袋。

 

“什么?我会不会游泳?当然会。怎么了?”尼克见朱迪潜入了一个河马用的大马桶，他也闭上眼跟着跳了进去。

 

他们在顺着管道蜿蜒滑行，直到最后冲了出来，从瀑布上落下。尼克深吸了一口气，游到了岸边。但朱迪却不见了踪影。“胡萝卜?霍普斯?朱迪!”

 

当他看见朱迪从水里浮了起来时，终于舒了一口气。她把装在袋子里的手机高举过头顶。“我们得去告诉牛局长!”

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