Chapter 7: The Gun

Nick was shocked upon hearing this information. It could have been possibly the worst piece of information he could get today. It had been a really good day, he thought, with the thought that Judy would be out of hospital soon, that it would soon be history, but unfortunately it had to turn out differently. Nothing was to be expected from the gunshot Judy had survived, but it was clear that her condition was not the best. Recent tests have confirmed this.

"So Doctor...what now ?" Asked Nick in a trembling voice trying to be calm. It was impossible though because of the agitation that was inside him. Nothing could be worse than seeing his friend in such a bad state. Fox felt guilty all the time in part in the situation, he still blamed himself for staying outside the building instead of following his work partner, but who could have predicted it would end up this way and not the other. As Nick stared with tears in his eyes at the injured rabbit, the doctor wondered whether to announce an even more painful truth. He really didn't know what was worse - to keep quiet and tell him the next day what would happen next or to tell him now and kill him even more.

"Doctor?" Nick asked again.

"The patient is in a serious condition, perhaps even life-threatening. I'm sorry Mr Wilde, if we can't find a replacement liver for Hopps..."

"Please don't beat around the bush, I'm ready to know the truth " Nick said swallowing his saliva with difficulty. Although I would have tried to control myself, all he would do now was start screaming in pain and despair, begging for Judy to recover.

"If we can't find an organ to transplant, I'm giving the patient three, four days tops. After that there will be no more rescue for Mrs Hopps and she will die " sighed the doctor. Nick did not reply. The news did not particularly surprise him, he was aware that Judy's condition was not the best and that she was in danger of dying. Nevertheless, the doctor could see the tears in the fox's green eyes, which surreptitiously flowed from her eyes to her cheeks and then dropping to her chin on the ground. It wasn't just for Nick that this was hard news. The doctor seeing how emotionally attached Nick was to Judy himself found it difficult to successfully truth for the fox. They both fell into silence for a few moments thinking about the patient's condition. It was a horrible sight to see Judy lying on her deathbed with little chance of overcoming it. Her pulse was low all the time, it was slow but steady. Fortunately her heart was in good condition, and her other organs.

"After all, the liver can regenerate...and if not then Couldn't the liver be split in half...?" Sighing quietly Nick, the doctor waved a definite refusal.

"Sorry, even if it regenerates it won't do its job. She's practically gone. The only possible way is an organ transplant, preferably from the same species" the doctor replied. This did not comfort Nick, who continued to think about how to help Judy. Unfortunately, it seemed there was little he could do for the rabbit in this situation other than pray for her and that a healthy donor could be found to donate his organ for her.

"So...if no donor is found within three days...she dies?" Nick asked.

"I'm sorry Mr Wilde, but that's the way it's going to be," replied the doctor.

"Ekh...please tell me honestly, what are your bets on the percentage chance that Judy will survive?" Nick asked. The doctor waved his head from side to side trying to penetrate Nick's eyes, who didn't take his eyes off the doctor for a moment.

"Personally I'm betting 20%, maybe 25% at most. The liver is rare for transplantation, in most cases it gets damaged and it needs to be intact. The chances of finding a rabbit liver in good condition within three days are very small...too small..." The doctor sighed.

"Thank you for the information...you know, I'm going to go home, I'm not feeling well" replied Nick walking away from Judy's isolation. The doctor followed him, they both got into the lift going down to the 4th floor.

"You know" began the doctor uncertainly as the elevator stopped at the floor he was about to get off.

"If it's any consolation to you, livers usually take well, so if we find an organ, it's 80% that the body will accept the new organ" the doctor informed. Fox smiled briefly, but the doctor could see it was a meaningless fake smile.

"Command" said Nick closing the lift. He continued on his own. Now he had no idea what he could do. If the hospital didn't find an organ to transplant, he could say goodbye to Judy, which certainly wouldn't come easily for him. If only he could turn back time, if only he could make that day go differently... everything would have been different, better.

As he left the lift with his head lowered, he walked out of the hospital wishing everyone in the corridor a good day.

When Nick returned home the weather was beautifully sunny. The blood red sky was slowly turning into a dark navy blue nothing, thanks to the sun that was slowly but inexorably hiding behind the horizon. Although the weather was joyful, carefree and encouraged to enjoy life Nick couldn't do that, he couldn't for the sake of his friend who was fighting for those lives.

Before Nick went to bed, he decided to sit down at his desk and start sketching something. Drawing was partly his passion, it was the thing that relaxed him, always in his youth when he was stressed or upset he would sit at his desk pull out a white sheet of paper and with a pencil he could sometimes conjure up real masterpieces. He tried to earn money with this, and even succeeded, but soon lack of time and desire caused him to abandon his passion as a job in favor of selling ice cream.

Sitting down at his desk, he glanced at the corkboard that hung in front of his desk on the wall next to the window. A slight smile crossed his face as the board held pictures of him and Judy together. They were mostly silly pictures, often taken on the spur of the moment, where they both had silly expressions on their faces, but those were the best pictures. They showed how connected they were to each other. His smile quickly died when he remembered Judy's condition. He shook his head from side to side, then decided to concentrate on drawing. The sheet of paper he already had, he just couldn't find a pencil.

'Shit,' thought Nick. He flipped through several folders standing on his desk, there was no sign of a pencil. Discouraged, he opened the desk drawer. To his eyes appeared a black pistol, with a loaded magazine. As he saw the gun again thoughts of revenge against the person who had hurt Judy in a brutal way came back to him. Nick looked around, and looked out the window, no one was around. He slowly removed the gun from the drawer being careful not to squeeze the trigger of the weapon. The gun, and the full magazine in it, seemed to be waiting for Nick.

"Where did I get it..." Thought Nick looking at him. He looked so pretty, aggressive, he looked like he was ready for action. The longer he looked at him Nick remembered with more and more passion and determination the sight of his friend lying in a pool of blood. That flashback was pushing the fox towards revenge, bloody revenge. But is that what Judy would want? Would the rabbit want Nick to complete his revenge on another human? Fox thought long and hard about what would be better: to give peace to the villain and let Judy most likely die, or to complete the revenge and become evil himself.

But his anger and desire to complete his revenge was too strong and dominated Nick too much. Fox smiled modestly , then took out his mobile phone and started calling his friend.

"Hello, Clawhauser? Yes it's me Nick, listen, I need your help..."