The whole city was going crazy. Matt was flipping between channels, every station talking about the ZPD's press conference and the attack that had taken place that afternoon. Some commentators asked citizens to remain calm, but an overwhelming number of stations talked about how scary the situation was. Prey animals talking to prey animals. Finally the bunny had enough, and put on a documentary about the climate control walls in Zootopia.

The bunny rested his back against the couch, not really listening to the TV. His eyes went to his phone which was frequently vibrating and flashing. His family was worried about him and the news about the attack made them even more nervous. He had to regularly send messages that he was alive and well.

His paws went to rub his eyes in practiced motion, but instead he painfully pressed the frame of his glasses into his muzzle.

His pent-up frustration came to peak, and he shouted, "Fuck!"

The whole day he tried to keep it together and play it off as a nothing more than a simple misunderstanding. He was wrong. Something bad was happening and they didn't know what. It was much scarier than he could have imagined. Luckily it didn't affect him that much. He lived in a mostly prey neighborhood and traveled to work via car. Before Liam was hired he could have spent months without interacting with a predator. How things had changed.

There was a thin blurry shape in the bunny's field of view. It had been so long since he saw something like that. It made him feel nostalgic as he took off his glasses. Matt looked at the hair that rested on one of the lenses. He smiled weakly and pulled out a piece of cloth from his pocket to clean them.

It was relaxing. Old familiar movements brought some comfort in such confusing times. His glasses made him stand out when he wanted to fit in. It was the main reason he switched to contact lenses. It was a childish reason, but it made him feel better about himself. He was an adult and no one really cared about it anymore. In college it felt like a grand gesture. However, he always had his glasses on when he was visiting his family. The bunny looked fondly at them. So far away from Bunnyburrow, his glasses felt like a piece of home.

So many bad memories were associated with them. The way kids laughed at him when he was young and how difficult it made dating. At the same time he had so many pleasant ones too. The day he went with his dad to pick them up and going for ice cream right after... How nice his mother said he looked in them... Cleaning the mist off of them after coming back from playing in the snow when his mother called him in for a hot chocolate… How cute Kyle looked in them and the expression of wonder on his muzzle as he saw the warped world. The fox's curious mind was exploring a new thing.

Matt blinked and his paws froze on the lenses. He looked at the dark frames that had been locked away in his glove compartment for months. The thing that brought him comfort in those uncertain times was back in his life thanks to a small fox.

Thinking about that took Matt by surprise. It warmed his heart in the same way as all the other memories, but it felt out of place. His first instinct was to say that it was because Kyle was a fox, but he couldn't say that for sure. It was a newer memory... Maybe that was the reason. The answer turned out to be much simpler. Memories of his family made him feel safe, whereas memories of Kyle made him proud.

He wondered how the young fox was dealing with the information about predators. Did he even know about it? Matt picked up his phone and looked at the locked screen. He shouldn't impose on Monica. It was already evening and she was probably at home with her family. He could wait until tomorrow to call her.

His mind flashed him an image of Liam's muzzle after he heard about the attack. The way color drained out of his muzzle was haunting Then, the hyena was quiet for the rest of the day, deep in thought. Matt tried to cheer him up but couldn't find the right words. He just let hyena process the new information.

He found Monica's number and stared at it. They were friends, but they weren't that close. Was it ok for him to call her about work related topics when she was at home? It seemed rude. The longer he stared at the number the more he wanted to know how Kyle was doing. He couldn't bring himself to call her... but a text seemed all right.

Hi. I'm wondering how Kyle is doing. Did he hear the news?

It was casual enough and with it being a text she could answer it whenever she wanted. He put the phone down and went back to watching the TV. The subject of the documentary was interesting but he was finding himself glancing more at the phone than the TV.

As the time passed he started to wonder if she had seen it. Maybe he should send another text so her phone would ping again. The bunny shook his head. She was probably enjoying the evening with her family and he was just being paranoid.

Matt jumped in his seat as his phone started vibrating. It had been doing so the whole day, but this time was different. It wasn't a short vibration of a massage. Someone was calling him. The bunny furrowed his brow as he saw Monica's name. He picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hello Monica. How are you?" Matt tried to act casual but clearly wasn't expecting the call. He didn't want to be too eager about getting the information about Kyle.

"Hi." She said quietly and paused. Her breath was uneven and nervous. Matt could swear that he heard her biting her lip.

Matt clenched his phone and the frame dug into his palms. "Is everything all right?"

"No. I… " Another pause and a sigh came from the other side of the call. "Kyle didn't take the news well. We can't get him to calm down and we have been trying for a few hours."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees. The blood drained from Matt's fingers, making them uncomfortably cold. The bunny got almost painfully aware of the phone pressing the fame of glasses against his head.

"Oh." He should have said more. He wanted to say more but his words were escaping him. He had so many questions that picking just one was an impossible task.

"We're running out of ideas what to do with him." Monica's voice shook. "Could… could you come and talk with him."

"What?" His brain was still processing the last information so a coherent answer was beyond him.

"I know it's too much to ask. It isn't your job." She said quickly as if she was afraid that Matt was going to hang up at any moment. "He likes you and trusts you. Maybe you'll be able get to him."

Almost instinctively Matt stood and looked around the room for his wallet and keys. He grabbed them, turned off the TV and was on his way out of the apartment with the phone still pressed against the side of his head.

"Hello Matt. Are you there?" The bunny blinked and stopped.

"Yeah, sorry. I'll be there soon." He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket.

He knew the route to the orphanage very well. He had traveled there many times but it was the first time that he was going there so late. Spring evening sun was warming his fur but the bunny felt cold. His heart was pounding as he tried his best to get there quickly and safely.

"""

When he arrived, the bunny sprinted towards the orphanage. The first thing that he heard was a high pitched scream coming from somewhere down the hallway where Kyle's room was. It was more similar to an exotic bird than a mammal. It wasn't a sound that bunny could make. He spotted two teachers as he was making his way towards the fox's room.

"We should let him be. He'll eventually get tired and just fall asleep." She said rather casually.

"He's scaring kits and he'll get sick if he doesn't eat anything. How would you like to take care of a sick fox when he can go savage at any moment?" The second teacher said, worriedly.

"That would be problematic." She sighed and furrowed her brow when she saw him.

Matt stared at them with clenched fists. He opened his mouth to say something when another scream interrupted him. There were more important things than them. His head quickly turned in the direction of the sound and Matt resumed his waking.

In the distance he saw a familiar white bunny standing in front of open doors to Kyle's room. Her ears were down and she kept her paws on top of each other on her chests. She slightly turned her head when she heard someone approaching. Enough to see Matt. She walked towards him away from the open doors.

"Thank gods." Monica said relieved.

"How is he?" Matt was tense and looked over her shoulder toward the door.

"Really bad. He saw the press conference during breakfast. I don't know whose brilliant idea it was to interrupt children's cartoons with breaking news. All the kits saw it." She bit her lip. "He ran away to his room and he's been in there ever since. He screams when someone tries to enter. He already missed dinner and supper. I'm afraid that he's gonna have a panic attack if someone tried to get him. I thought maybe you could calm him down."

Monica looked tired. It was way outside of her working hours. The look on her muzzle was very similar to one that his mother had when he or his siblings were sick. Kyle was a fox but also he was one of the kits in her care.

With determination, Matt said, "I'll see what I can do."

He quickly pulled out his phone and made sure that he looked good. He was taken aback when the bunny on the screen looked fearless yet anxious at the same time.. He hadn't even realized his ears had dropped. He pointed them up, but tried to keep them relaxed to seem casual.

He put on his best smile when he approached the door. There was an untouched tray of food next to the door. The bunny pushed it aside and peeked in the room. The light was on, but there was no sign of the fox anywhere. The bunny knocked on the frame of the door.

"Kyle, it's Matt. Can I come in?"

"No." Came from under the bed. The fox's voice sounded so weak and hoarse.

Matt laid down on the floor of the hallway to take a look at the boy. When the bunny saw the fox his ears twitched. He unconsciously wanted to drop them, but did his best to keep them up. Similarly, his nose twitched the same way before he was able to calm down.

Kyle was in the corner of the room under the bed. He looked so small and weak. His icy blue eyes were red and swollen and the fur on his muzzle was wet. He had been crying for hours. His ears were barely able to stay up and his eyes were half closed. He was clearly exhausted, and he appeared to be nodding off. When he saw Matt in the doorway, however, his eyes opened up like saucers.

Matt casually said, "Hello," as his heart was breaking. The boy didn't say anything and just stared at the bunny.

"Could you come out from under the bed so we can have a chat?" The fox shook his head in response.

"How about me coming closer?"

The boy's eyes went wide and pushed his paws against the floor as if he wanted to go deeper into the corner. "You can't!"

"Why?" The bunny rested his head on his paws and spoke calmly. The fox looked away and bit his lip.

"Kyle. You've promised to talk to me. I'm still learning about foxes so I don't know what is wrong. I want to help you."

The fox looked Matt deep in the eyes. The boy's body shivered and eyes filled with tears. The boy was so hurt that it took every shred of Matt's willpower to stay where he was. He needed to get Kyle to talk. If they could talk they could make this better.

"Kyle, please." Matt smiled softly with confidence. He needed Kyle to believe that he was safe with him.

"I don't wanna eat anyone!" The fox said between the sobs and wrapped his tail around himself.

"What are you talking about?" Matt's nose twitched.

The dam broke, and all emotions that he had been holding back came rushing out of the fox. "The… the bunny on the TV said that predators go savage. Savage predators eat prey."

Matt tried to process what he heard. That thought was so alien to him that he wasn't sure how to react. His first instinct was to tell the boy that it wasn't going to happen. As soon as he opened his mouth, the dark part of his mind, the part that was afraid of predators started flashing old memories of various mammals around Bunnyburrow telling him that foxes eat bunnies. It was so sudden that it made Matt pause. That was stupid - mammals don't eat eachother! But at the same time none of them went savage.

"Kyle you won't go savage." The bunny said with a weak voice. Kyle didn't notice and wasn't listening.

"She said that something inside makes them savage and I'm- and l'm closer to savage than anyone else." Tears were streaming down Kyle's face.

"You won't go savage. None of the affected animals had your condition. You're probably safe." Matt's voice was shaking, desperate to calm the boy down.

"I'm feral and I'll be savage!" The fox was almost screaming. "I don't want to eat anyone!"

"You won't go savage!" Matt's nose was twitching and ears dropped. "All the predators were adults. So maybe it only affects adults."

"I don't want to eat you." At that point the boy stopped listening and was just sobbing uncontrollably.

Matt's fingers seemed to be several degrees colder than the rest of his body. His whole vision focused on the spot under Kyle's bed where the fox was. The world outside of the boy's room didn't exist. In addition to the boy's crying, Matt could hear his own breath getting uneven and his heart racing in his chest. He needed to do something. He needed to get to Kyle. He was hurting and he was right there in front of him.

The bunny's muscles were getting ready to run towards the boy. Without thinking Matt stood up and as soon as his paw passed the door frame Kyle started screaming. With his head so high he couldn't see what was happening under the bed but it filled Matt with dread. That snapped the bunny out of his chain of thought. He quickly took a step back breaking quickly. He shouldn't have gone in the first place.

"Kyle calm down, it's fine. I want to help you." He could see why Monica was so worried about approaching Kyle. That ungodly scream showed how scared the boy was.

The fox stopped crying but it was so sudden that it was even more unsettling. Matt dropped to the floor again. Kyle's eyes were wide as he was pushing his body into the corner trying to get away even when he couldn't.

"I'll stay outside of your room. I promise." Matt stumbled over his words.

The way that Kyle looked back at him sent shivers down the bunny's spine. Matt swallowed nervously. Kyle didn't believe him. The boy watched every move that the bunny was making as if it was potential danger. The same way that he looked at the bunny when he scratched him.

"Kyle. I'm so sorry. I won't do that again." The bunny said with desperation in his voice. Kyle said nothing and his breathing was quick and shallow.

Matt was in way over his head. He didn't know what to do and just destroyed all the trust that he had built with the fox. Matt needed help and he needed it now. He stood up and walked away from the door. He knew only one person who could help. He picked up his phone and pressed on Liam's number.

"What happened?" The white bunny stood nearby with a worried look. Few other teachers were looking at the scene from afar.

"I… I fucked up." Matt said with tears in his eyes and pressed the phone to his ear. "Pick up, pick up..."

The bunny's heart stopped for a second. The hyena's phone was off. Matt looked at the phone in shock. Maybe he was just out of service. The bunny called again. The same result. Third time, nothing. The bunny's breath quickened and was clenching the phone.

"What can we do?" Monica asked.

"I don't know." Matt was staring at the phone. He needed Liam's help. The bunny wrote a quick massage asking Liam to call him back as soon as he could.

"If we don't calm him down, I'm gonna have to call it in. We would have to sedate him and take him to the hospital." Monica ran her paw over her ears. "It would be a traumatic experience for him and I want to avoid it at all costs."

Matt was lost in his mind. The bunny knew nothing about what the boy was going through. Kyle was a predator. The bunny didn't have the boy's condition. He was just a stranger that took an interest in an orphan. What was he doing toying with the boy's emotions. He was just kidding himself thinking that he could help Kyle. Matt leaned forward and rested his head against the wall. His vision was blurry from the tears that had built up. As he tried to wipe them away, his fingers went between his muzzle and glasses, slightly pushing them away. Gravity did the rest and glasses fell to the ground.

Matt stared at them for a while. With an unfocused vision he looked in the direction of the room which belonged to the boy for whom he was wearing glasses. He didn't understand what the boy was going through but he had changed the boy's life and the fox changed his.

Matt knelt down to pick the glasses. Monica came closer. "We can try to get him to eat something. We have water in a bottle and some candy bars. Something that we can give to him. Maybe he'll take them from you. Keep an eye on him. I'll be right back."

Matt could only manage a nod as the white bunny went towards the kitchen. In a weird way, he was jealous of how good she was at her job. He had a good connection with kits but she knew what they needed. Something like that comes with an experience that he didn't have. Would he ever be like that? She had been taking care of the whole orphanage when he could manage Kyle for an hour each week. Maybe he wasn't fit to be a dad.

The bunny felt a sting of pain in his heart. He knew that it wasn't true, but the dark side of his mind kept whispering that to him. He had been babysitting a lot for Tom and helped his parents with his siblings. In high stress situations mammals start to doubt a lot of things. Matt would be great with his bunny kits. He bit his lip. He was just unfit to be Kyle's dad. Another sting of pain. That was all right. He knew that. It was just tough to experience it the hard way. He had never planned to be his parent anyway. Matt just wanted to make the fox's life better.

Matt slowly came back to Kyle's door and laid down. Somehow that revelation helped him. His deep sadness overwhelmed his panic allowing him to think a little bit clearer than the last time. The boy that he cared about was scared and alone in that room. Kyle was only a few feet away but it felt like such a great distance. The distance between a predator and a prey.

"Again, I'm sorry." Matt smiled softly. "I'll just lay here and keep you company. We don't need to talk."

Kyle was tense and his eyes were fixed on Matt. It was the same situation but he could see more this time around. There were fresh claw marks on the floor next to the fox from pushing his body into the corner in panic. The white fur on his muzzle was grey from the dust that cling to the wet fur. The sound of Kyle's breath getting more even. It took the boy a moment to notice the change. The fox's expression turned from scared to confused when the once scared rabbit came back looking calm but very sad.

Monica was rushing back, imagining the worst possible scenarios that could happen while she was away. She was taken aback when she saw Matt with a melancholic expression laying on the floor, looking a lot calmer. She slowly got closer and peaked inside the room only to see confused but calm Kyle. They should use that opportunity. She laid the water and a candy bar next to the bunny. Matt looked at her and nodded softly.

"I want to give you some water and some candy. Is that okay?" The fox's eyes went wide. Kyle gulped and licked his lips, his mind only now noticing that he hadn't eaten the whole day. He didn't want anyone to get closer but he was still hungry. He nodded eagerly but still observed their every move.

Matt smiled and gently tossed them to the boy. Kyle grabbed them and in seconds he was devouring them. It wasn't the healthiest meal but Matt was just glad that Kyle was eating anything. Monica gently tapped him with her foot to get his attention. She motioned towards the light switch and Matt nodded.

"We're going to switch off the lights." Matt looked at the boy who just nodded, more absorbed in his food.

Matt showed her thumbs up and the white bunny turned off the lights. All light in the room was coming from the hallway. In the dark Kyle's eyes shined. That made it easier to see how tired the boy was. The shape of the shine was cut on the top where his eyelids covered it.

Monica went to dim the light on the hallway. Matt pulled out his phone and started checking out the internet. The bunny and the fox shared a surprisingly comfortable silence. Every few seconds Matt glanced at Kyle. The fox had trouble keeping the sleep away. That moment of break in the panic allowed his body to remind him how tired he was. In about half an hour Matt could no longer see the shiny pupils under the bed. The bunny used his phone as a flashlight. Kyle was sleeping in the corner under the bed.

Matt got up and slowly closed the door. Monica sighed in relief and smiled at him. "Thank you."

Matt looked away ashamed, "I wasn't able to do anything. He didn't let me in. He was still alone and scared in his room" Matt let his worries finally show.

"You're wrong." She shook her head. "You are the only mammal that he talked to. With us, it was just screaming. He felt comfortable enough with you to eat something and fall asleep."

"I'm not sure if it counts as a win." Matt took a deep breath

"Oh it is. Just not as big as you hoped for." She looked at the door. "Let's hope that he'll feel better tomorrow."

Matt looked at the time. "Yeah. We both should get home."

Monica nodded. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this but I'm glad you came."

"It isn't a problem. I wanted to help." Matt sighed. "The whole savage situation is too much for everyone."

"Yeah… In school they don't teach you how to deal with a kit that's afraid to go savage."

Matt turned back to look one last time at Kyle's door. It was better but the situation still wasn't fixed. "When he wakes up tell him that I'll visit him. I'm not sure when but I'll find some time for him tomorrow."

"""

Matt groaned as he finally got out of bed. He could arrive at work whenever he wanted but still preferred to do it in the morning. It was unusual for him to decide to keep sleeping after the alarm. It was just half an hour but he really needed it.

Last night was rough. He kept tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He couldn't get the look on Kyle's face out of his mind. Matt really made a mistake. He couldn't imagine what was going through the boy's head, but one thing was certain. He was hurting and the bunny was unable to stop it. He liked the fox, but they were so different from each other. He felt so powerless.

He groaned again when he saw himself in a mirror. His face long with bags under his eyes. Matt was so annoyed by the sight that he brushed his teeth with his glasses resting on the sink. The bunny skipped breakfast. The sinking feeling in his stomach wouldn't let him take even one bite.

Getting to work was a chore. Everyone on the road irritated him. Even though it was only half an hour later, the difference in traffic was horrendous. It was 'stop and go' nearly the whole way. It was a good thing his office building was in the same district where he lived. Mammals who had to travel to another one had it much rougher.

On days like that the bunny wished that he enjoyed coffee. He needed a boost to his energy. He would have to manage with a cola from the vending machine. Going up the stairs, his legs felt like lead. As Matt was getting closer to their section, he heard a raised female voice.

"They can't do that!" Matt quickened his walking to see what was happening. Liam was standing with a computer screen in his arms. In front of the hyena there was very angry rabbit

Liam's eyes were half closed and had bags under his eyes. He was hunching over and looked very timid. The hyena sighed. "It is fine Sarah."

"No, it isn't. I can't believe that they would do something like that. I thought that this was a good company!" The grey bunny was furious.

Liam smiled weakly more for her benefit than his. "I'll manage. Don't worry."

Chill went down Matt's spine. Did they fire Liam? They couldn't do that based on incomplete information. However, that was yesterday. It was hard to tell what mammals thought was acceptable after the attack. Matt in an instant woke up and rushed towards his friend.

"What is going on here?" Matt looked at the hyena with a worried expression.

Liam opened his mouth to say something but Sarah rudely interrupted him before he had a chance to say anything. "They're forcing him to work in a phone room so there would be a door between him and the rest of the mammals. They couldn't even spare an office for him!"

"I told you, it isn't like that." Liam was getting more annoyed with every second.

Matt was so relieved that his friend was't getting fired. The bunny twitched his nose in surprise. There was a strong scent of the mint in the area.

"You shouldn't let a speciest company do that. You should sue them. It isn't how a respected company should treat their predator employees." The female bunny was pacing and tossed her arms in the air. "The boss should be fired and…"

"I asked for it!" Liam shouted angrily which made Sarah drop her ears and take a few steps back.

To her credit she quickly noticed what she did and fixed her ears, acting as if it had never happened. "Because you were afraid that they would fire you if you didn't do that."

Liam sighed and rubbed his paw over his forehead. "Can't you just leave me alone? You're interrupting my work."

Sarah furrowed her brow confused. Then she got angry again and gave Matt a sour look. She looked back at Liam and nodded. "Of course. I only hope that your team leader knows what a valued member of his team you are."

Matt clenched his fist and looked at the female bunny in disbelief and she continued. "I'll let you get back to work. I hope to see you at the protest."

"What?" The hyena blinked and the monitor seemed to be getting lower in his arms.

"An anti-pred group is protesting today in Sahara Square. So pred supporters are doing their own protest in response."

"It's only been a day. How could they organize so quickly?" Liam asked, stunned.

"Oh mammals like that have just been waiting for a reason to do it. Luckily there are also mammals like me to help you!" she was beaming with pride, "I'll let you go back to work so no one would have any reason to complain about you."

She gave Matt a dirty look as she moved past him, leaving the two males stunned. Liam was the first one to regain his wits and groaned in frustration.

"I'm sorry for that." The hyena rubbed the back of his head. "She is a handful."

"You don't have to apologize for that. She has a problem, not you."

"Yeah but it happened because of me." Liam adjusted the monitor in his arms, "I'll put it in the phone room. This thing is getting heavy."

Matt bit his lip. "You don't have to."

The hyena hunched even more and seemed to be getting smaller as they were speaking. It was such a pitiful sight. "Please, not you too. I can take it from her but I'm not sure if I have it in me to take it from you."

Matt dropped his ears in powerless frustration. "Can I at least know why?"

Liam was silent. He had every right not to answer the bunny. It was clearly a very sensitive subject and they didn't know each other that well. As Matt stepped closer Liam stepped back. "Please stay a few feet away."

Matt froze. It was happening again. This time it was Liam, not Kyle. As a prey mammal it wasn't his business. It wasn't supposed to be his problem but mammals that he cared about were hurting. The bunny's voice shook. "Yesterday, they called me from the orphanage. Kyle had a panic attack and didn't let anyone get in his room. He was screaming every time someone set foot in his room."

The bunny rubbed his chest. "I couldn't do anything to help him. He only fell asleep because he was exhausted from crying. I don't understand what's happening. I want to help him. I want to help you. I just don't know how."

The bunny's nose was twitching. Liam stared at the bunny and lowered his head. He didn't want to have that conversation. He wouldn't have that conversation with a prey animal if he could help it. However, Kyle was involved. Alone at the orphanage surrounded by prey without a predator to talk too. The hyena put the monitor back on his desk. He wasn't going anywhere and that thing was heavy. He sat down. From his pocket he pulled out a packet of mints and took one.

"What do you think he's the most afraid of right now?" Liam asked in a slow, tired voice. He was looking away from the bunny.

"That he'll go savage?" Matt was very unsure of that answer. It seemed obvious but the hyena wouldn't ask an obvious question.

"It's a part of it but I'm pretty sure that it isn't it." Liam gently scratched his desk. "Did he say that he is afraid of going savage.?"

"Well kind of." Matt nodded slightly.. "He kept saying that he didn't want to eat anyone."

There was a loud scratching noise. Deep grooves were left on the desk by Liam's claws. "Fuck. I'll have to fix that."

Matt looked at the mark left at the desk. He had never seen a predator clawing something. Of course he had seen marks like that around the city and in Bunnyburrow but they were more like a decoration. It was hard to imagine that an actual animal could do that without any tools.

The bunny shook his head. It wasn't important. He looked back at Liam who was avoiding his gaze. "But that is crazy. He won't go savage and won't eat anyone."

"How do you know that?" The hyena said with a similar annoyed tone that he used with Sarah. "Would you be willing to bet the lives of your friends and family on that? Would you risk killing your friends to prove a point?"

"They try to make it a speciest issue but it isn't. It's a safety issue." Liam wrapped his arms around himself for comfort. "I visited my parents yesterday. They… They decided to sleep in separate rooms until we'll have more information. My mom isn't afraid that my dad would turn savage. She's afraid that she would turn and hurt him."

Liam's head hung low. "At my apartment we decided that all doors will be closed at all times. In case someone turns they would be stuck in a room. I thought that I should do the same at work. I'm much bigger than everyone. It's just safer that way."

The bunny looked tenderly at the hyena. Liam and Kyle were afraid of hurting someone so they were hurting themselves. "But you can't be alone in that. Isolation isn't healthy when you're dealing with fear."

"It isn't that bad," Liam shrugged, "It is fine when I know that I won't be able to hurt anyone if I go crazy. So big groups of predators are fine. It's much more uncomfortable when you're one on one with someone."

"You seem fine being alone with me."

"I'm not," The hyena looked at the bunny for the first time and saw the worry in the hyena's eyes. "But I know that I left the doors to the phone room open so you would be able to hide there."

Matt blinked. Liam really considered the bunny's safety first when he decided to talk with him. He was such a good mammal. It was so unfair what's happening to him. What's happening to all predators.

"So what can I do to make you and Kyle feel better?" The bunny was determined to help them.

Liam lifted his head and smiled softly, happy that he knew at least one answer in this chaotic time. Matt didn't realize how much he missed that simile. It had been a long day yesterday for both of them. "That's easy. Most kits aren't scared because they know that adults would stop them if they would go crazy. Kyle doesn't have that comfort because he's surrounded by bunnies. You just need to convince him that you can take him down if anything was gonna happen to him."

Matt ears dropped. Kyle was a kit but he was the size of an older teenage bunny. With his size, claws and teeth he could really take on a few adults before they would be able to stop him. He felt hopeless. "That's impossible. I would have trouble doing that with a bunny his size and Kyle is a predator on top of that."

"Yeah, that would be a problem..." Liam said slowly and looked at his backpack. He was thinking about something. Finally hyena reached for it, pulled out a taser and put it on the desk. "You should buy your own before they'll be out of stock. You can borrow mine until yours arrives."

"Are you crazy?" Matt shouted, "I won't use that on a kit!"

"I'm not telling you to use it on him." Liam groaned frustrated. "You just need to be prepared for taking him down. At the very least, he needs to believe that you're prepared."

Matt looked at the taser. The bunny didn't like how much sense it was making. The device looked old. It had a lot of scratches. It was also a little too big for the bunny. "Where did you get it?"

"My sister bought it for me when I went to college." The hyena shrugged and said casually. Liam saw the confusion on the bunny's face. "What? There are some crazy ladies out there. I need to be able to defend myself if one of them gets pushy."

Was that a predator thing or a hyena thing? Matt was puzzled, but had enough wit to not ask about predator relationships. It was a topic for another day.

"Ok. I'll try it. Thank you," Matt reached for the device but Liam pulled it away.

"I'll let you borrow it under one condition," He looked very serious, "You need to order one right now and show me that you did it."

The hyena was right. The taser in front of him was too big and he didn't know when they would know what was going on. From the amount of scratch marks, it seemed that Liam had been carrying it around a lot and probably didn't want to part with it for too long. With a few taps on his phone, he ordered one bunny size taser with an additional battery pack and showed it to Liam, "Are you happy now?"

"Very," Liam smiled and nodded. "I must say. You are one crazy rabbit to be so comfortable with a predator around."

Liam let go of the taser. Matt needed two paws to use it comfortably, but it would have to do for the time being.

"I'm just comfortable around my friend," He smiled, "Also I'm pretty sure that you won't go savage on me."

The hyena was touched but he wasn't sure about if bunny had any right to think that. "How do you know that?"

Matt put the device in his bag and checked the time. He opened his laptop and quickly typed an email before closing it. At the corner of his eye Liam saw an email from Matt in his inbox titled 'Work from home'.

Matt put the laptop back in the bag. "It isn't rabies because we dealt with that centuries ago. If it mutated, we would know about it right away. Besides, bacteria and viruses are the easiest things to find. There would be a quarantine. It can't be just genetic because statistically it doesn't match. It wouldn't start happening at the same time. So I suspect some chemical. It is hard to find in the body afterwards if you don't know what you are looking for. Probably some company added something to a food or drink and it has an effect on predators. So I would say that you should be fine if you stick to fresh produce."

Liam blinked and for the first time he sat straight in his chair. What the bunny said sounded reasonable. "You can't be sure of that."

"I'm sure enough to be comfortable around you. Not really around strangers," Matt shrugged. "If anyone asks I'll work from home today. I'll start later but it shouldn't be a problem. I'll visit Kyle before getting home. Thank you for your help."

Before Liam could answer Matt was already on his way out of the office with a new found energy. Liam watched the bunny live and smiled softly.

"Thank you." The hyena said quietly to Matt, who was out of earshot. Liam picked up his monitor once again with new energy of his own.