"For someone who hates hospitals, you sure seem to love lying in them."

Paul had been throwing out quips like that since I'd woken up. I rolled my eyes, turning my head to look at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be quiet and shy?" I didn't bother hiding my annoyance. "What happened to that?"

He shrugged.

"Eh, just got tired of it," he took out his phone. My eyes narrowed, then I smirked.

"It doesn't have anything to do with the fact you wanna bang Mercy, does it?"

He choked, his phone falling on my bed when he got caught up in a coughing fit. He stared at me.

"W-What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, please," I pushed myself up, leaning back on my paws. "It's not exactly hard to miss how you look at her, or the smell that comes off you when she gets close."

His mouth dropped open; he snapped it shut. His ears folded back, red as a cardinal.

"I-Is it really that obvious?"

I chuckled.

"Afraid so, buddy," I folded my legs, resting my arms on my knees. "It's not hard to miss how much she wants you, either."

That made his ears get even darker. My smirk faded.

"But I don't think she'll act on it any time soon, not as long as she has Brandon to be afraid of."

He growled, snatching his phone up.

"It's been about a month since she left, and there hasn't been any sign of him," he sighed. "You think he would've tried something by now."

"Maybe," I thought about it. "Or maybe he's just waiting until our guard's down from this missing mammals case."

Saying that brought a certain gray bunny to mind, one I hadn't thought about since I'd woken up.

"How's Carrots?" I looked at him. "Is she okay?"

He glanced at his phone.

"Yeah, that's actually what I've been texting about," he scrolled through something. "Mercy's looking after her, but she says it'll be another hour or two before Judy wakes up."

I sighed in relief. I hadn't told her what that gas really was, knowing it would've just made her panic. It was sleeping gas, I'd said that much, but it was also laced with a mild nerve poison, some kind of paralyzer. It'd been the staff's way of 'handling' a violent patient. If one got loose or too crazy in their cell, they gassed that entire hall to make sure the rest of us didn't become part of the problem.

"And what about all the animals that went savage?" I turned back to him. "How're they holding up?"

He shrugged.

"They wouldn't tell me or Mercy anything, you'll just have to wait until you can talk to Judy."

"Right…" I sat back, looking out the window. It was sunny, finally, and there was a lot of racket in the street. "What's going on out there?"

He tapped at his phone for a minute.

"Some kind of protest, I think," he went to the window and looked out. "A lot of mammals are pissed the mayor was basically kidnapping everyone who'd gone savage, even if he was trying to find a cure for it."

I pushed the blanket off, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Carrots and I heard one of the lab coats say it wasn't happening naturally," I pushed a paw through my hair. "But what if it is? What if preds are just snapping because of how prey have treated us?"

He shook his head.

"I thought about that, but it makes even less sense than what's happening now," he put his phone away. "I mean, if it was happening naturally, there'd probably be a lot more of us going savage, then there's the fact only fans of our band are the ones losing it."

He sat down again.

"Honestly, I'm with Judy. Whoever's behind this is seriously pissed at you and this is just their completely insane way of getting back at you."

"Yeah, but who?" I pressed a paw to my chest. "There's only one animal I know that could hate me this much, and he disappeared years ago."

"Doesn't mean he's not still around," he pulled his phone back out. "He could've just been laying low all this time, setting this whole thing up and just waiting to light the fuse."

I didn't even wanna try thinking about it that way. Hell, I was still trying to get my head around the fact this all had to do with me in the first place. But there really was no other way to spin this, no matter how hard I tried.

"I'm gonna hit the caf," he stood. "I'll see if they have any blueberries for you."

I nodded, barely hearing him.

"Yeah…thanks."

My head was spinning by the time he got back. Hearing the protests outside sure wasn't helping. It felt like the whole city had just snapped when the news broke, half the stations twisting the facts like they always did to make it sound like preds were the problem. The rest were saying prey were to blame, that this was what they deserved for treating us like shit for so long.

Ugh, at this rate, we probably won't have a city much longer…

I looked up when Paul's phone went off. He pulled it out, smiling.

"Mercy just told me that Judy's awake, she has been for a while, she just wanted to make sure the doctors were done with her before she let us know."

He put it down, looking at me.

"I'm guessing you want to see her first? Alone?"

My tail frizzed a bit when he said it. I turned away, folding my ears down.

"Not for the reason you're thinking," I glared at him. "We still have some stuff to figure out with the case."

He smirked, tossing an apple before biting into it.

"Yeah, sure."

I groaned.

"I liked you better when you didn't want to bone Mercy," that shut him up. "And if by some miracle it does happen, get a hotel."

I left him standing there with his mouth hanging open, throwing up a paw as I walked out.

"Catch ya later!"

Mercy was standing in the hall when I got to Carrots' room, probably so I could find it. She was finally using the phone I'd bought her, instead of just stealing mine. It didn't really do more than text, but she said it was all she needed.

"Hey, Nick," she smiled, nodding toward the door. "Judy's been asking for you."

I rolled my eyes.

"I would've been here earlier if someone had told me she was awake."

She shrugged.

"I wanted to make sure you wouldn't get interrupted, what can I say?"

"Right," I walked past her, pausing with my paw on the door. "And Paul's sitting in my room, and Carrots and I are gonna be busy for a while, so why don't you go keep him company?"

I winked at her, slipping inside before she could answer. I chuckled, it was way too easy to mess with those two. Carrots' room was just as boring as mine, but it did have one thing worth looking at.

She was standing on her toes by the window, still barely able to look through it. Rabbit girls in general had nice legs, comes with the territory, I guess, but hers were perfect: long, slim and toned. And the way she was standing made her ass look nice and tight. I gave a low whistle.

"And I thought I was the only one who can make hospital gowns look good…"

She froze, her tail and ears standing straight up.

"D-Don't you have better things to do than stare at young bunnies?" she turned to me, crossing her arms. Her face and ears were red. "Pervert."

I chuckled.

"Hey, I'm a guy. I see a hot girl, I'm gonna stare, I can't help it."

She got down from the window, somehow managing to blush even more.

"Y-You think I'm…hot?"

I shrugged, feeling my own face heat up.

"Kinda hard not to," I smiled. "I mean, yeah, you're gorgeous, and you don't turn into a giggling, gasping mess whenever I look at you. It's…different, I can't really explain it."

I didn't even notice I was walking the whole time my mouth was going, until I was almost right on top of her. She stared up at me, her face locked in that blank look I hadn't seen since the second time we met. I knelt, my paw trailing over her cheek. There were three scars under her soft, short fur. Her paw covered mine, the other resting on my arm, which had already wrapped around her. Her face was so close…

"J-Judy, I…"

"AAAAWWWWWW!"