The sun dips behind the horizon, casting the city in shadow.

Just another night for the city that used to be bustling with living mammals.

The night life, ironically, is much more lively now that most of the population is dead.

Without the need for sleep, the residents are free to have fun at night with their friends and families. The time saved by forgoing sleep opened up a whole new world of options for those willing to seek out new activities.

For Nick, it's quite a sight to see. He was always so used to seeing predator and prey species bickering amongst each other as they walked along the sidewalks. But now, everyone is just kind of going with the flow.

A group of schoolkits can be seen traveling together, some of them riding around on the shoulders of a much larger undead student. The one being ridden, a teenage siberian tiger, doesn't seem to mind his classmates hanging off of him. He even has a few of the limited mobility kits held in his arms. Nick smiles when he sees that most of the students are actually prey species. Since they're all technically predators now, it's like an entire social barrier has been knocked over.

Previous enemies are now friends. Those who were already friends now get much more time to spend with each other. Lives ended and became deaths, but being dead somehow slowed down life so that those affected can finally enjoy the company of those around them.

If it weren't for the whole 'eat you in the face' thing that the infection forces the husks to do, Nick would actually think that dying has only improved the day-to-day lives of most of the mammals in the city.

Nick looks around again and sees another pack of mammals traveling together on the street, off to bond with time they probably never had before. They're mostly taller canines, but Nick notices that a few of them are actually hyenas. Hell, there's even an undead weasel of some kind. Maybe it's a stoat? They all seem to be forming a protective circle around what looks to be...is that a sheep?

The fox in the window leans on the frame of his window a bit more to get a better look.

Yeah, that's definitely a sheep. Looks like a young one, too. And the strangest thing about him is that he doesn't look dead. He's fumbling with his hooves nervously and only seems to be able to shuffle his legs because of the support the others are showing him.

That...huh? Are there more animals still alive in the city?

In a moment of pure childish wonder, Nick allows himself to hope.

There's other animals still alive besides him. And better yet, it looks like at least this sheep has found a way to live among his undead friends.

Maybe Nick isn't the only one who knows how to break through the infection's curse.

The sheep looks fine.

Whenever one of the other husks on the street gets too close, they're told off by one of the sheep's friends. The ones pushed away don't seem to take it personally, but they do offer a few returned glances in the direction of the sheep.

"What do you see, Nicky? What's out there?" his mother asks from her place beside him. Since Nick had brought her back inside through the window, she has refused to leave his side. Since the window is gone anyway, the two decide to just stand there together to let the calming breeze of the night flow past them. Marian can't see what's out there, but Nick is more than happy to paint a picture for her. She smiles gently with her head leaning against her son. Their tails swish and bump into each other every so often, but they pay them little mind.

"There's a sheep down there...I don't think he's dead," Nick says, squinting his eyes and trying to follow along with what is happening. His mother squirms a bit. Even though she's worked past the infection's influence for the most part, hearing about fresh meat still brings out some lingering thoughts of savagery.

"Oh...is that so? What's he doing?" she asks nervously. Her tail wags a bit harder but Nick's presses into it and slows it down by setting a new rhythm for it. A slight shudder passes through his mother's body but it allows some of her tension to leak out.

"He's...just walking with a group of friends, I think. They're circling around him and keeping him safe. I think they're trying to make him less nervous about moving around in the streets," Nick explains to her. Her remaining ear perks up as she tilts her head.

"Really? And the friends are dead?"

"Yep."

"That's...pretty sweet, actually," his mother ponders. The sight of a much larger husk approaching the group catches Nick's attention and sends a shiver down his neck. It looks like a big female tiger is walking up to them like she's not concerned about the circle of bouncers surrounding the sheep.

Nick takes a dry swallow. He really hopes he's not about to see the poor sheep get shredded.

But to his relief, the tiger just reaches over and pats the wool poof on top of his head. The sheep looks nervous still, but bats the tiger's massive paw away playfully. A fox from the group around the sheep steps out to give the tiger a hug.

Huh.

Maybe this city is a bit more sane than he thought.

Even now, with him exposed to the world from his missing window, a few of the undead see him and wave up with friendly smiles on their faces. Every so often one will start to get flustered at the sight of a living mammal, but seeing Nick's mother hugging him so tightly without taking a bite of him seems to cause some internal battles to start raging inside them.

Nick's managed to survive this long and his continued survival might actually start getting easier. As more and more mammals seem to gain control back over themselves in the face of free meat, the hostile tension in the air is lessened.

Nick can't even remember a time when he saw his mother look so content.

If the world had never fallen to the infection, he doubts he would ever have had his mother, Judy, and Finnick in a room together.

Yet they are.

Finnick came back a little while later, after investigating the destroyed snack bag on the pavement below. He wanted to make sure Nick was okay, but was also pretty happy to see his surrogate mother back in her right mind.

Nick smiles at the memory of the two hugging it out. Despite his attitude and appearance, Finn looked just like a kit being held by his mother. His usual grumpiness dropped just long enough to give out a few happy yips as Marian spun him around. Nick might have kept in contact with his mother without actually going to see her often, but Finnick never could bring himself to talk to her. He always felt that he was just a disappointment to her for some reason. And being assured of the opposite actually took a load off of his tiny shoulders.

Finnick actually smiled like he used to when he was just a kit.

And now he's sitting on the couch with Judy and Corduroy, seeing what videos they can share with each other on ZooTube. Corduroy, as it turns out, is a bit of a digital fox and is able to list off a ton of videos for them to watch. Finn and Judy seem to be enjoying them.

Judy throws a longing glance at Nick once in a while. Nick can tell that she wants him on the couch with her. She had also gone through a brief stage of thinking he might have died earlier, so she is desperate to cling to him and assure herself of his safety.

He will.

But his mother is still recovering from her loss of control and perceived death of her son.

"What happened?" his mother's voice breaks him from his thoughts.

"Oh, uh...a tiger lady walked up and said hello to the pack. Sheep seemed to know her and was happy to see her. He's still fine," Nick tells her. His mother's smile grows a bit and she allows herself to take a deep breath of the evening air.

Coming down from the influence of the infection has its drawbacks, according to Judy and Marian. The endless stamina fades away first, then the need to breathe normally starts to come back. If Nick didn't know any better, he'd say that without the high of the infection, they're plagued with some of the same vices as being alive.

But why though?

Nick can't say for sure.

All that he knows is from what he's seen.

From behind them, Judy lets out a wide yawn and stretches her arms out above her head. Maybe she's actually starting to get sleepy again. Can she sleep? Nick likes to think that they might actually be able to sleep around each other, as long as they are careful and Judy doesn't start trying to chew on him in her dreams.

But if he was also among the dead, then...they would definitely be able to cuddle.

Nick lets out a sigh and focuses on the increased beating of his heart as he thinks about his bunny. His mother smells something in the air and turns to him with a slight smirk on her face.

"So, Nicky," she starts. Nick can already hear the teasing tone of her voice and steels himself for some good-hearted taunting. "What was that about you two not being together the last time we spoke? Because if I'm not mistaken, then you're putting off some really strong smells right now."

Nick almost chokes on his tongue. No amount of prep would allow him to push through his mother sniffing at his feral urge aromas.

"It's...w-well...we weren't," he manages to stutter. His mother's smirk only grows. "We really weren't! Not when I talked to you, at least."

"Buuuuut you wanted to be~!" she sings. Leave it to his mother to see through his masks like they're not even there. But luckily, Nick can pick up on that thread and spin it back around her.

"You're right. I wanted to be with her for a couple years now," he admits. His mother's smirk disappears and is replaced with a knowing smile.

"I could tell. Even on the phone, when you talked about her, I knew."

"Wait...you knew I was interested in a bunny and didn't say anything? Don't you have a problem with this? We're really different, especially now!" Nick argues. His mother's brow tilts at him and makes him shut up.

"Are you trying to convince yourself that you made the wrong decision, Nicky? Because from all the little looks I know she's giving you, I bet she would be quite upset if she heard you talking this way," he mother scolds. Nick looks down at the window's ledge shamefully. "The way I see it, you two connecting not in spite of your differences, but because of them. I'm no stranger to unlikely bonds myself, Nicholas. I mean, look at who I'm with now!"

Nick turns and glances at Corduroy, who seems to be in a much better mood now that he has some company to entertain. He's off in his own little world, explaining the premise to whatever video he's showing to Judy and Finn. He talks with so much passion that Nick can almost imagine what arm movements he would be making if he still had his body.

"It takes two opposite sides of the magnet to get stuck together. Roy is the eyes and I'm the body. We are very different, but that's what makes us work so well together. I was content to just hide away in my apartment after I came back. While the infection made me feel good, I still couldn't see, so I didn't want to get into trouble. Then Roy's head came crashing through my window. You know the first thing he said to me, Nicky?"

"What?" Nick asks, genuinely curious.

"Ow," his mom says with a straight face. Nick turns and looks at her with an unamused expression. She tries to hold it together but breaks out into giggles and rubs his shoulder soothingly. "I'm just kidding! But seriously, he asked me if I wanted to come outside and toss him around. Some of the neighborhood kits had created a game out of throwing his head around, and he was too excited about the prospect of getting to move around again to say no. So I went outside and played with him. I couldn't see where I was throwing, but we quickly got a system going where he would guide my aim and tell me when I was facing the right way. I hadn't interacted with anyone since my turning, so it...it was definitely a good feeling."

Nick rubs his mother's back as she talks, and she leans her head into his chest a bit more, still being careful not to accidentally cut him with any of her teeth.

"That's...I guess you two do get along pretty well, huh?" Nink inquires.

"Mhmm. I only threw his head into three different trash cans by accident!" she boasts proudly. The russet tod can't stop the small guffaw that escapes his lips at the mental picture of his mother stumbling through a bunch of trash cans, trying to find her mate by his cries for help.

On the couch, Corduroy lets out a sneeze.

"So, what I'm saying Nicky, is that I have no problem with who you choose to be with, even if she's just as dead as I am. If she makes you happy, then I say go for it. She saved my baby, after all. Quite a way to get on my good side, honestly," Marian grins.

"Thanks, mom," Nick says as he gives his mother another squeeze.

"Though I doubt my disapproval would have changed your mind," she smirks as she takes another breath of the chilly city breeze flowing in through the missing window.

Nick smiles and stares out at the lights.

"Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't. But I'm glad I have it, so that we can have moments like this, with all of us here together," Nick says as he turns his mother around and guides her back to the couch to join the rest of her family.

Outside the window, the city continues on. Dead or alive, love finds a way to march forward.

Nick guides his mother into a sitting position, almost forgetting to move Corduroy first. The body-less fox complains about his missed chance, but quickly calms down when he's placed into the arms of his loving mate. The two share a gentle nose rub and settle in for whatever movie the family decides to pick.

Nick leans over the back of the couch, unable to fit in with everyone else already seated. Judy finds a way to maintain contact with her fox by flopping her raggedy ears up to him. Her fox smirks and wraps the ears around his neck.

Judy is content with this solution.

For now.

If she wasn't worried about her tail falling off again, she would have simply forced him to be her seat on the couch.

"Okay, Finnick, it's your turn!" Marian says to the diminutive fox. Finn can barely hide the mischievous smirk as he scrolls through the on-demand list with his remote and selects a movie. He had chosen it so fast that no one else had actually seen his decision.

But as the opening credits start up and the first black-and-white zombie shambles into focus, the room flies into an uproar.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" everyone shouts at once while Finnick laughs his head off. They try to grab it from him, but he jumps onto the arm of the couch and holds it just out of their reach, waving it tauntingly out in front of himself.

His plan works at first.

Until Corduroy soars into him and sends them both flying off the armrest.

The sound of laughter brings the room to life, despite only one of its occupants having a pulse.

Their joyous noises are so overpowering that they don't notice the small dark shape weaseling its way through the missing window and disappearing into the shadows.