I was cold. So cold. I couldn't feel my arms as I picked up the lifeless form in my arms. A small rabbit was curled up and soaked in my arms. She wasn't soaked from the rain, but my tears and her own blood. My body racked with several shutters as I cried for my partner. "Judy. . ." It started as a dull whisper. I couldn't believe she was dead. I needed help. My hands shook as I reached for my com attached to my uniform.
"This is Officer Wilde. We have a downed officer on Furth and Mane. I repeat: we have an officer down. Judy is down." I choked on those last words as I waited for a response. None came. I let the com dangle off my chest as I cradled the lifeless rag doll. Judy's bullet wounds were bad. Two of them passed through her back and three of the bullets remained in her fragile body. Her ears dangled limply on the pavement. I choked as more sobs came to congeal in my throat. Her amethyst eyes gazed blankly at the night sky. I felt her heart pump.
Bum-bum
Bum-bum
Bum-bum
Bu-
That was it. I broke. I sat there with Judy's body. She was no longer in the fractured shell her soul once called 'home'. Finally another police car pulled up. Chief Bogo stepped out and looked at me in shock. His mouth stood open until he formed words on his lips. They stung more than anything ever did.
"What did you do?" he spoke. He stumbled away from me and grabbed his tranq-gun. He pointed it at me and fired. Then I did the best thing I'd ever done that day. I woke up.
In a cold sweat, I fumbled for my phone. I sat in my small apartment and hyperventilated until Judy picked up and I heard her voice.
"Nick? What's the matter? Why did you call?"
"Oh, no reason," I replied. "I just wanted to annoy my favorite little Officer Toot-Toot at-" I glanced at the clock. "The ungodly hour of 2:34 in the morning."
"Nick, I can hear your heart racing through the phone. Why did you call?" I sighed.
"I-I was scared, Carrots," I replied, my voice shaking. "I had a night terror, and you were in it."
"Oh? Dreaming about me already, Nick? I thought this was a profess-"
"You got shot," I snarled into the phone. I heard silence.
"Oh. . . " she replied in a quiet squeak.
"We were on the graveyard shift and we cornered a shifty mammal in an alley on Furth and Mane." I paused to take a breath. "He whipped out a semi-automatic pistol and shot you." I heard her gulp on the other end. She urged for me to continue.
"I called in for help, but no one answered. I held you in my arms as your heart slowed and, finally, stopped. Bogo arrived on the scene shortly after and saw me holding your bloodstained body. He looked at my bloody paws, paws stained with your blood, and accused me. I couldn't handle it as he tranquilized me. Then I woke up."
It took a while for her to take in all that I had described. Finally, I heard: "Oh, Nick." She shuffled around and then said, "If you need some time off, I can convince Chief to give it to you."
I chuckled and tried to put on my sarcastic facade again. "Nah, its okay, Carrots. I'm a big fox now. I can handle myself in the big bad world. Don't worry your fuzzy little cottontail." I could basically hear her scowling from the other line. "Nick, if you don't get in bed right now and go to sleep I'm gonna-"
"Y-yes ma'am!" I stammered.
"See you in three hours, sly fox."
"Later, dumb bunny."
I pressed end call and prepared for a long day at work. And the worst part was, we had an extra shift: the graveyard shift.