"Stay awake, RJ. Come on ... don't fall asleep..."

The raccoon's eyelids lowered as he looked up at the night sky, trying not to lose consciousness. There was a full moon; it bathed RJ in its glow as the stars twinkled beside it. It was a beautiful sight, but RJ couldn't see much of it, because his eyes were only half-open. He started, rubbed his eyes sleepily, and took another sip of the highly caffeinated Green Cow soda. Well, that helped a little, he thought.

RJ thumped himself on the chest as he tried to resist lying down. All of the other Hedgies had fallen asleep long ago; Hammy was snoring gently from beside him. It had been a good day: They had staged a raid on the new Mason house and had come home with countless cans of food — mostly Spuddies. RJ crunched another chip down now, but still felt extremely tired.

Why am I doing this? he asked himself. There's no way I can stay up all night. Is it just prolonging the inevitable?

Hammy gave a small snort from beside him, muttering "I ... like the ... cookie," and RJ smiled and scratched the squirrel's head. Hammy's foot promptly twitched, thumping against the log like a drum-roll, until RJ stopped scratching and rested a paw on his shoulder. The squirrel sighed quietly in his sleep and turned over.

RJ was envious of Hammy. No bad dreams for him, RJ thought. The raccoon's vision swam again as his eyes threatened to shut, and he rubbed them until they opened once more. He was so very tired. But he couldn't let himself fall asleep. Otherwise Vincent and Vexon would return in nightmares peppered with the screams of RJ's family falling victim to his enemies... he smacked himself in the chest again and rested a paw on the ground, forcing himself to stay sitting up.

His head felt heavy, his thoughts muddled. How he would like to sleep... but no, I can't. Vincent will come back ... his eyelids were lowering again... Vexon will come for his revenge ... RJ was lying down ... I'll go crazy if I have another one of those nightmares ... his eyes were closing as he breathed in deeply ... maybe just a short rest. A catnap. A long blink...

RJ opened his eyes. Around him, all was dark. He started to stand up and hit his head on something hard. "What —"

There was the click of a switch, and the room was suddenly flooded with a harsh white light. RJ crept forward and looked around. He was in a cage. A cage that was stacked on top of other, larger cages. Sitting in a cage next to him was a small orange figure, and below that cage were two gray rats, leaning against the bars.

"RJ," Katrina said, and her voice was hollow, haunted, empty. "You need to get out of here."

"What?" said RJ. "Why? What's going on?"

"He's coming," said Marissa from beside her sister. She looked up at RJ, and her eyes were vacant and dark, with no emotion behind them. "He's coming to inject him."

"What? Who?" shouted RJ, rattling the bars of his cage furiously. "I don't —"

A door next to RJ's cage banged open, and a shadowy figure stepped inside, holding a large hypodermic needle. Wordlessly the figure turned toward a cage in the corner, in which a dark figure paced restlessly. The figure swung open the cage door and reached in with the needle.

"Easy there ... that's a good fellow ... perfect." RJ heard a slight clicking sound, and the figure stood up again, tossing the now-empty needle aside. Leaving the cage door open, the human strode back through the door and turned to shut it. As he did, his eyes caught the light. RJ gasped: it was Vexon. The doctor grinned evilly at him. "Enjoy yourself," smirked Vexon as he shut the door.

All was quiet in the dark room. "Marissa — Katrina —" RJ gasped, trying to get the rats' attention. "What — what did he do?"

Katrina looked up at him again with her dark, empty eyes. "Vexon gave him a serum that forced him to turn evil."

"Gave — who?"

There was a snarl, and RJ's cage toppled; with a crash he fell off the stack and landed on the floor hard. RJ scrambled desperately to his feet, looking for the attacker, and his eyes fell on the bottom cage. The animal inside of it looked familiar ... too familiar. It looked like someone RJ hadn't seen in a long time.

"Raymond?" RJ whispered.

A pair of intense blue eyes opened and gazed out at him from the cage, but before RJ could do any more, the bars of his own cage were torn open with a growl. RJ looked up, terrified. Standing in front of him was a large wolf.

"Rob!" RJ shouted, but the wolf didn't respond. There was a strange red glow in his eyes, an unnatural, demonic glow. "Rob, what — what did Vexon do to you?"

Wordlessly the wolf reached in and clamped his jaws around RJ, picking him up. The raccoon struggled uselessly against Rob's teeth. "Rob, snap out of it!" RJ shouted. "It's me! RJ!"

The wolf snarled and tossed RJ aside. The raccoon sailed across the room and hit the wall hard, sliding down to the floor. Looking up, RJ saw Rob rear up on his hind legs and reach into the cage above the rats. "Rob —" RJ shouted hopelessly. "Don't —"

There was a loud snapping noise, and Rob pulled the small orange figure out from the cage and threw him toward RJ. The figure fell into RJ's arms, and RJ realized it was Hammy. RJ lifted the squirrel up and suddenly felt warm liquid running onto his arms. It was blood. Hammy's blood.

"I'm sorry, RJ," the squirrel whispered as he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry..."

"AAAGH!" RJ screamed as he woke suddenly.

Breathing hard, he looked around. He couldn't have been asleep for more than a few hours: it was still slightly dark out, and the rest of the Hedgies were still sleeping. RJ placed a hand over his chest as he willed himself to calm down. "Only a dream," he whispered to himself, "only another nightmare. Still alive. Still alive..."

It was then RJ noticed something: during the night Hammy had shifted in his sleep so that his arms were wrapped around RJ. "Why do my nightmares always come down to you?" RJ quietly asked the sleeping squirrel, stroking his head gently. "Why are you always the last one to get hurt the most?"

Hammy nuzzled RJ's chest fur lightly with his nose, tickling him. RJ had to laugh: Even when Hammy was unconscious, he made RJ feel better. This thought cheered him up slightly and he sat up, careful not to disturb the sleeping squirrel. RJ leaned against the side of the log and looked out toward the sky. The sun was rising, casting a glow of orange and yellow light across the horizon. In a few hours the rest of the Hedgies would be waking up.

Hammy sighed quietly in his sleep and released his grip on RJ, turning over again. RJ contented himself with stroking the little squirrel's head as he thought about his nightmare. Had he really seen Raymond? It was only a dream, but still. RJ didn't like to think about anyone from his past, because that only reminded him of what had happened. So why was his younger brother on his mind all of a sudden?

And why had Rob made an appearance? It was true that in the nightmare, Vexon had really been the one responsible for the wolf's evil actions. But Rob wasn't even a wolf anymore; he was human again. Right?

Suddenly there was a loud clapping noise and RJ jumped; the rest of the Hedgies remained undisturbed. RJ looked out through a hole in the log and noted that several storm clouds were rumbling in the distance, drifting toward the Hedge. There'll be a thunderstorm tonight, RJ thought to himself. Should probably tell Verne when he wakes up, that way he can start preparing the family.

Or what was left of it, RJ reminded himself. About twenty of the former lab animals had packed up and left around a week ago. There had been a flyer circulating around suburbia, saying that the SPCA was out on the move, looking for animals to find and take care of. Dr. Parker's doing, no doubt, thought RJ. He personally didn't see the appeal in being "adopted" by a human, but apparently some animals did, and had left the Hedge for a different home. Only a handful of the lab critters — Marissa, Katrina, George, John, and a few others — had remained. They were upset to lose their friends, but understood their decision and accepted it.

RJ laid back down next to Hammy and stared up at the top of the log. He didn't expect to fall asleep again, but resting in the leaves and foilage was calming. He closed his eyes and breathed in a contented sigh. Nightmares or not, he really did have a good thing here. The whole "family" idea was something he hadn't experienced in a long time.

RJ rested there for a minute before he began to feel restless again, and stood up. A little early-morning TV, that was what he needed. Just something to do while the rest of the Hedgies woke up. RJ grinned and gave Hammy one last scratch on his head before shuffling out of the log.

The raccoon stretched and breathed in the cool morning breeze. It was awhile before he noticed a slight shuffling sound coming from behind the log. It wasn't very loud, but whoever was doing it was obviously close.

"Hello?" RJ called out quietly. Maybe another one of the Hedgies had already woken up. "Anyone there?"

Silently he gazed around the clearing. No one there. He cocked an ear and listened, and he heard the shuffling sound again, coming from behind a tree a few yards away. Cautiously he crept toward it. "Who's there?" he whispered again.

There was no response, but the shuffling grew louder. RJ reached the tree and pressed his back against the trunk, feeling nervous. He took a deep breath and slowly peered around the tree.

WHUMP!

RJ yelled as he was forced onto the ground, his assailant's paws pinning his shoulders down. "What the —" Suddenly he got a good look at his attacker and started. "Rob?"

His human friend had changed back into a wolf.