Upon opening his eyes, Nick doesn't sit back up or startle.
He takes a deep breath and tries to take in some of his surroundings. He feels that he's back on the couch now, with his old blanket covering him. So someone must have picked him up and moved him. Last night wasn't a dream, was it?
He's dead now.
The ache in his arm is still present, even if it feels like it's wrapped in something. The fox lifts his arm in front of his muzzle and sighs when he sees that the bite indeed happened. He doesn't feel sick anymore, so the infection must have already finished him off. He must have died in his sleep and the others are just waiting to welcome him to being one of the undead.
He's actually relieved.
It's finally over. He doesn't have to keep worrying about how much dying and turning will hurt him anymore. The infection's already swirling in his rotting brain somewhere, and he already doesn't approve of it. Better yet, he doesn't even feel the intense hunger that Judy described feeling when she woke up for the first time.
He feels oddly warm for being a corpse, but maybe that's just an effect of the infection trying to make its host comfortable. Nick doesn't really care anymore.
It's like a giant weight has been lifted off of his shoulders.
He can be with his family now, without having to worry about catching anything from them. He can snuggle with Judy! Maybe he can get that kiss now, too? Now that they're finally on even ground, he can show his bunny some proper affection.
Despite being dead, his mood is lifting by the second.
He doesn't care who bit him. Hell, he would thank them if he knew who it was! If he had known passing on and turning would be as easy as going to sleep and waking back up, he would have done it right away! To hell with having a heartbeat!
Nick finally starts to sit up, his movements drawing the attention of someone sitting on the couch with him. Before he can see who it is, a fluffy grey projectile collides with him and sends him straight back down into the brown couch cushion.
His one and only bun buries her face into his chest and rubs his scent all over herself as if it's the last time she'll ever be able to do so. He gives her a pleasant backrub as she covers him in warm hugs.
Warm?
That's new.
Or...wait, is it?
"Hey, Carrots!" Nick chirps happily down to his bunny. Judy looks up at him with a confused look for some reason.
"Uh...hey, Slick. You...feelin' okay?" she asks cautiously. Nick leans back against the pillow and smiles wide, content with his current state of being. Being dead isn't so bad, really, especially with such cute company around.
"Yep! Pretty good. I thought you said I was going to be hungry!" he laughs. Judy's confused gaze worsens and she goes as far as tilting her head at him.
"...H-hungry…?"
"Yeah, you know. When you first woke up, you ran off and ate out that landlady of yours. I might be a bit hungry, but nowhere near enough to go tearing into someone."
"First, of all, it's just 'ate', not 'ate out'. Second of all...you're not hungry because…" she tries to say, but squirms a bit and hesitates.
Nick's ears fold back as he realizes that he's in for some bad news.
"Because…?"
"Because you're still alive."
…
Huh.
Why is that so disappointing?
Nick's eyes glaze over as he processes what he's been told. So he's not dead and he hasn't turned. All of the feelings of relief deflate back out of him like a torn parade float. The sensation of danger and of not belonging swarms back in and fills him with a tired ache.
"...Oh…" he manages to mumble as he turns his focus to the ceiling fan. Under his chin, he can feel his bunny giving him a worried stare. Why would he be so disappointed to be told that the bite hadn't been fatal? Didn't he want to stay alive?
"Nick...are you okay…?" Judy asks softly. Her fox gives a weak grunt and shrugs his shoulders half-heartedly. The world that had finally started to gain back some color and excitement for him turns back into a dull grey.
"But...why...what's wrong?" she asks with some more urgency as she gives Nick a small shake. His body moves, but his eyes remain locked on the ceiling. It's like he doesn't want to acknowledge his surroundings. He just wants to go back to thinking he was dead and all of the stress was over for him.
"I thought it was over," he finally mutters. Judy's tall ears perk up as she barely manages to make out his dark whispers. The ears flop down behind her back as she understands what is actually bothering him so badly.
"...Oh…" Judy answers.
The two sit in silence for a while, Judy watching over her fox as he goes through the mental anguish that comes with realizing that he's been denied his end. She wants to comfort him more, but there's not much she can say that will help him. He's upset that last night's bite was nothing more than an idiotic decision with no real consquence. She can't change the fact that he's still alive and she's not.
Unless she bites him herself.
And after everything, she really doesn't know if she would be able to go through with that.
"Judy?" his voice interrupts her thoughts suddenly.
"Yes?"
"Can you turn me?" he asks, completely seriously and without a hint of teasing in his voice. Judy flinches hard and sits up, looking down at him. He looks back up at her, but there's a disturbing lack of fire in his eyes. His gaze is clouded over and he looks like something inside of him has died. The cheerful and pleasant fox that had woken up not ten minutes ago is missing.
In its place is this shell of a tod.
Judy gulps, trying to calm down the anxious tremble that had started in her body. He's totally sure about this now and she can't help the feeling of hurt that hits her. Just last night, she had watched him lament about his inevitable doom, but now he's suffering for the exact opposite reason.
"Uhm...Nick...I don't really think that-!"
"Please…?" There's a pleading look on his face now and the start of some tears can be seen shimmering in his eyes. The ache in Judy's chest grows at the sorry sight of her love holding so much pain inside himself.
She wants so badly to heal him, but to do so would also hurt him beyond what she would probably be capable of handling.
"Nick...I…" she stutters. She sees a tear leak down Nick's face and her resolve crumbles a bit more.
"It's okay. I want it. I don't want this stress anymore. Please, Carrots. I'll be okay," he begs. A few more tears trickle down and stain the cushion below.
The sounds of approaching steps break Judy's attention away from the fox under her. The newest door to the apartment opens and the rest of the family walks in with bags upon bags of groceries held in their grips. Leading the pack is the new vixen, followed by her mate far below her waistline. After the first two, Nick's mother and Corduroy make up the tail end of the procession. Even Corduroy has a couple bags held in his teeth from his place in Marian's arm. The blind mother had apparently been using Finn's giant ears as a guide, the tips of both bent backwards to show her the way.
The leading vixen stops suddenly when she sees the compromising position Judy and Nick are in. This causes Finnick to collide face-first with her rump, though that might have been completely on purpose. Marian feels her son's ears stop and halts before she can trip on anyone. Her empty sockets blink in confusion, but Corduroy gives a small wiggle of his eyebrows to the couch-bound lovers.
Judy feels the ever-infuriating heat in her cheeks again and lets out a small groan.
"Hey...everyone…" Judy laughs awkwardly as she slowly scoots her way off of Nick. The longing look in his eyes as she leaves is almost enough to shatter her heart into pieces. He tries to reach up to her just as she slides all of the way off but misses. He pouts a bit and returns his gaze to the ceiling.
"Hey, Nick!" comes the boisterous voice of the fennec. He's quick to leap up on the armrest and smirk down at his bigger brother. "You scared us, Nicky Nick! Thought you were a goner for sure!"
Finnick's laughter becomes the only sound in the room. The others pick up on the strange tension among them and are wise enough to keep quiet.
"Wish I had been," Nick says darkly. Fennec's chuckles die down as he tries to understand what his brother had said. But when it clicks, his face turns from one of mirth to one of confusion and anger.
"What? What the hell? Where'd that come from?" the fennec demands coldy. Nick gives him an empty glance and huffs. The lack of warmth or familiarity in Nick's eyes sends a shiver down the back of the smaller fox.
That's not his brother.
"What's going on?" Marian's voice comes in. She walks a few steps further into the room, Corduroy leaning one way or the other to guide her direction.
"Nick's saying he wishes that bite had been real!" Finn barks down at his brother. Nick doesn't even flinch at the sudden invasion of space.
Nick finally conveys another emotion besides melancholy.
"What do you mean 'not real'? I got the bite. Maybe I just haven't died yet?" he says with some hope starting to reappear in his voice.
"It wasn't a zombie that bit you, though," Judy corrects from her side of the couch. The russet fox's ears flick down to her and he offers his bunny a confused look.
"...Who was it then?"
"Go check your freezer and you'll find out," Finnick growls. Nick's eyes shoot open and he instantly flies off the couch, his legs scrambling in a mad dash towards his refrigerator. Within three seconds he has it open and sees…
...Nobody.
"Where is…?" Nick mumbles in confusion. Finnick barks out a few laughs and slaps his knees, though a bop to the head courtesy of his mate quickly shuts him up.
"No, we didn't put him in the freezer," Judy sighs irritably. "We just threatened to. You know, like back in Mr. Big's mansion. Yeah...you get it...aaaanyway, he's actually under the strainer that's under the microwave. Had to keep him secured somehow and we needed something with air holes."
Nick blinks and turns his head to the stove. Just like Judy said, there's a misplaced spaghetti strainer being held down on top of the stove by the heavy microwave.
The fox moves closer and peers in through the holes of the strainer, his eyes widening in surprise when he sees who's inside.
"Weaselton?" Nick says to himself as he examines the sleeping crook. Apparently Duke had gotten tired of trying to get out during the night and had fallen asleep on top of the stove. It's just a good thing no one was feeling cruel enough to turn the stovetop on.
Nick reaches up and removes the microwave and strainer so that there's nothing restraining the weasel.
The sounds of movement break through Duke's slumber and jolt him awake. He almost bolts, but stops when he sees Nick staring down at him with a lifted brow.
"Necktie! It's you! Those crazies you live with almost froze me to death! Yipe! There they are now! Hide me! HIDE ME!" he screams as his snake-like body folds into a ball behind Nick's body. The larger fox looks back to the undead roommates watching him.
Judy and the vixen look ashamed of themselves.
Finnick and Corduroy look like they're about to bust a gut.
His mother doesn't look.
"Woah, Weaselton. They're not going to hurt you. Wait...you're the one that bit me?" Nick asks incredulously. Duke peeks up from his cowardly ball of safety.
"...Kinda...but I was just trying to wake you up! And, if you ask me, you deserved it...at least a little…"
Nick gives him an increasingly annoyed look.
"What?! You almost had me killed! Don't think I'll forget that little abuse of power! You two are lucky I didn't report you and your little mob connection!" Duke spits, not realizing that he's only digging himself into a deeper hole.
"You're lucky I didn't bite your head off last night!" Finnick barks from the couch. The weasel lets out another frightened shriek and hides behind Nick again.
"Hey, now, enough of that! We've had enough biting around here...for now," Nick says while giving Judy a sly look. Judy ducks down behind the couch and hides her burning cheeks.
Marian lets out a sigh and finds her way to the couch to sit down. The only one left standing now is the vixen, who takes to leaning against the armrest to be close to her mate. From his place in the kitchen, Nick can just make out the tips of Finn's ears flicking happily in her presence.
Wow, she's able to calm him down and make him happy. She's already a better influence on him than anybody else he's hung around since he was a kit.
Nick can't stop the smile tugging at his lips.
He feels a tap on his back. Behind him, Duke is still curled up like a furry cinnamon bun, but has ventured enough out of himself to whisper to the fox looming over him.
"H-hey. Can we talk somewhere? Away from them? They scare the hell out of me," he mumbles softly.
"If you have to ask me something, you can ask in front of them. They're my family," Nick stares firmly. Duke's eyes bug out a bit more than normal.
"Uhhh...you know how dangerous being around them is, right? Even if they're family, it just takes a tiny bite or scratch and you're done! Gonzo! Biting the dirt!" Weaselton's arms flail dramatically as he speaks. Nick just gives him an unimpressed look.
"Actually, the only thing they're biting right now looks to be salmon filets. And if you're hungry, you can have one, too. As long as you promise to keep those little dagger teeth to yourself from now on," Nick offers. He turns away from the weasel and goes to join his family. They look to be watching cartoons; no doubt Judy's pick.
"Is...there something to drink…?" Duke's voice pipes up from behind him, though it's much softer now.
"Got some carrot juice on the bottom shelf in the fridge. And if that's not good enough for you, you can-!"
"No, no! It's fine...thanks…" the weasel whispers. Nick feels a twinge of guilt eating away at him for treating the smaller mammal like he was nothing more than a crook. And while he might have usually been, Nick had noticed that they stopped seeing him around. It was almost like the weasel had fallen off their criminal radar.
Nick sits himself down on the ground, in front of the couch where Judy is sitting. To his dismay, she scoots back just the tiniest amount from him. When he looks up at her, he sees her eyes turning away from him and back up to the television.
His chest hurts.
From the corner of his vision, Nick sees the aforementioned weasel sneaking alongside the wall, just close enough to see the television. He has a box of carrot juice clutched to his chest so tightly that it might pop any second.
The others on the couch turn their heads towards the newest arrival in the room.
Marian turns her head the other way.
Duke freezes up as he's suddenly fixed with four sets of undead eyes. His legs tremble so badly that he is forced to fall back against the wall and sit down.
The stare-off lasts only a few moments, after which the occupants of the couch turn their attention back to the television. A massive sigh of relief leaves Duke's chest, making him look like a shriveled up balloon.
Nick waves the little white flag of truce by giving the weasel a small chunk of salmon. Finnick starts to growl but receives a small smooch on his ear that draws his attention away.
Duke doesn't look like he knows what to do with the fish. It's almost like he's never had it before.
"It's just fish," Judy says out of nowhere. Duke looks up to her with an uncertain crease in his brow.
"It's not cooked…"
"What, never had sushi?" Nick chuckles, trying to ease the tension.
"Never had it cooked, neither. Could never afford it. Unless someone happened to throw a rotting piece at my head," he mumbles before accepting the food. Nick and Judy's ears fall.
Duke settles into his little spot against the wall and takes a few cautious nibbles of the filet. Once he gets a good taste, he attacks it. Nick can't help feeling good about his little act of kindness.
The salmon is finished in minutes, the smacking sounds of Duke's jaws doing little to distract the other from their TV time. Even Finnick seems to be pretty engrossed in the brightly colored show. It seems his mate is doing wonders to help him let go of his tough-tod persona. Never before has Nick seen his brother smiling so pleasantly while in the presence of others. For once in his life, no one is judging him.
The juice box is opened next and Nick can't help but cringe every time the weasel takes a noisy slurp. The straw for his box must have been broken slightly and a lot of air is getting through, making it hard for Duke to pull any liquid up.
But no one else cares in the slightest. Judy even has a cute little smirk on her face, one that vanishes a bit when Nick looks up at her.
Ouch.
The fox sighs again and retreats a bit into himself.
This sucks. He shouldn't have said anything to her. All he did was make things awkward between them.
Oh, why couldn't Duke have been infected? The only animal so far to creep through their missing window and the little bugger happens to be one of the few things in the city left with a heartbeat.
"So, Dick, was it?" Nick hears his mother ask in his general direction. Finnick sniggers under his breath at this.
"Uhm...Duke, actually," the weasel corrects with a surprising amount of sincerity in his voice. Nick's seen him go off on much larger mammals for making the same mistake. Duke might still be alive, but something inside of him has definitely changed.
"Oh! I'm sorry! That's rude of me. Anyway, Duke. What brings you here? It can't have just been to bite my son and wander back out," Marian chuckles with a tiny bit of coldness in her voice. No doubt some lingering emotion from the night before.
Duke takes a hasty sip of his juice to give himself a few more moments to collect his thoughts.
"Well...like I said last night during all that madness, I thought I was the only one left for a while. Thought it was hopeless for me...but then I saw Necktie on TV, squeezing the tail off of Flopsy over there."
A sharp glare winds his usual taunting tone back a few notches.
"Right, sorry. Erm...Judy, I think. But what I noticed was that somehow, you two were acting like buddies even though Judy was one of the living dead. And I was like...what the hell? What's going on? Why isn't she eating his heart out? I thought maybe I just missed a few things, like maybe Nick was dead, too. But after that thing on TV happened, I noticed more and more dead ones acting different. Like...they weren't so dead anymore. They stopped chasing me as much when they caught me stealing some food. Then they even started talking to me. Calling to get my attention about stuff. And of course I thought it was just a new trick they picked up to lure in meat. But they kept talking even when they lost sight of me."
The mammals in the room listen to his recollection of the events leading him to Nick's room with rapt attention. For Nick, it's the first perspective of life out in the city that he's gotten from someone with a pulse.
"What did they say?" asks Finnick's mate. Nick curses at how little he knows about someone so important to his brother.
"They said stuff about some sort of revival program. I guess a bunch of the undead are starting to gain their senses back and are apparently starting a system where the living are preserved so that they can keep their species alive. Or so they said. I don't know if I believe it. I definitely didn't believe it at first, but…"
The weasel stops and looks around at the family huddled around the couch listening to him. He curls a bit further into himself and hugs his juice.
"Just don't know anymore. As amazing as having an actual reason to keep living would be, I don't want to get my hopes up again," he sighs, leaning his head back against the wall.
Nick chews on his lip, thoroughly engrossed in thought. If what Duke is saying is true, and the dead truly are trying to conserve the lives of the uninfected, then that would put quite a bit of pressure on him.
His decision to turn isn't so easy anymore.
"But...why would they want that?" Nick asks suddenly, drawing the attention to himself.
"Maybe…" Judy offers. "More mammals are like us than we thought? We know already that we can't have kits once we die. And without more kits, our species will all die with us."
"They're trying to save the world, I think," Marian says with a small smile. Corduroy bumps into her a few times for some reason...oh, he just wants some more juice. Where is that even going? He doesn't have a stomach for it to-
The sound of liquid trickling onto his nice brown couch sends a massive cringe through the fox's body.
His poor couch…
"Or they're trying to feed it," Duke mutters darkly. Everyone looks back to the weasel and the sudden attention spooks him slightly.
"Rude," the vixen mumbles. Finnick nods with a nasty snarl on his face. Duke throws his arms up into the air in exasperation.
"Well what am I supposed to think?! I've been surviving by the skin of my teeth for weeks now! Why should I just up and trust a group of mammals whose only interactions with me so far have ended with near-death experiences?!" he complains.
"...Sorry," the vixen whispers. Duke is surprised by her genuine apology towards him. It seems like it's the first time he's ever had one directed at him. He deflates again and drops his arms.
"Man, I...I've just been trying so hard. After all the crap I've been out through, I don't want to just throw it away at the first sign of hope."
"Why are you trying so hard?" Nick inquires. "Why not just...let it happen?"
Judy flinches back just a bit more.
Duke gives him a wide-eyed look of disbelief.
"...Because I want to keep living? Geez, I thought you would get it, out of anyone. I don't want to just let go of the life I was just starting to build. How funny is that, huh? I finally try to clean up my act and go straight, and then the world just decides to fall apart around me. Can't help feel that it was just...waiting for me to try. It wanted to let me have something good so it could snatch it away…" Duke laughs darkly as his mood plummets. The air on the room grows several times heavier as they listen to him spill his still-functioning guts.
"Sorry, I didn't mean-!" Nick tries to say.
"And then I have to hear you talking like your life isn't worth working for anymore? You? One of the ones who got himself out, went clean and is living the best life? Give me a break! What could you possibly be missing that being dead would give you? Huh, Necktie?!"
"The ability to kiss my bunny, for starters."
Duke recoils at this, looking between the fox and his rabbit.
"Two, it would mean an end to all this constant stress! Three, I'd finally be able to walk on the street without some random bonehead taking a chunk out of me!" Nick ends up yelling, causing the mammals around him to flinch back.
Duke looks down.
"...I always wanted to have a kit," he mumbles. Nick stops his rant and listens.
"I always thought it was impossible for someone like me. I'm just a rat, just a crook, always the common thief who ends up on the wrong side of the law. You think foxes have it bad? Weasels are literally used to describe sniveling, cowardly behavior. And I thought you two were just like me. Just a couple of foxes, cheating the system that cheated us all out of a decent living. But then she came into your life, and all of sudden, you just...broke out. I couldn't believe it, Necktie. One of us, helping save the city and becoming a cop yourself. I thought maybe...if someone like you could get out and clean up, then maybe I could, too."
Judy watches the weasel with a hurt expression, starting to understand some of the reason as to why she and Nick were always having to chase him down.
"So I tried. Oh man, I tried. Stopped pawning off my bootlegs, stopped accepting odd jobs from strangers in back alleys, even got some new clothes. Hell, I actually managed to land a job! It was just a plumber's assistant in an area with much larger mammals, but it was still something. But then the end of the world happened and I watched everything I worked for just fade away into dust."
Duke turns his head and leans it on his arm, trying to hide the tear that he rubs onto his paw.
"Duke…" Nick tries to say, but is again interrupted.
"So you might have your reasons for dying. I can't really blame you for it. I know how much Cottontail over there means to you. But if there's the slightest chance that my life might still have some value to someone...if I can help in any way...I want to keep trying. I thought you might want to try with me. That's why I came over here in the first place. That, and...well...I wanted your opinion on if I should call these folks or not. Seemed like an obvious death trap to me, but after watching you guys interact like a normal family, I don't...I don't know now."
Duke finishes and takes a few more sips of his carrot juice before it runs dry.
Nick tilts his head.
"Wait, call? They gave you their number?"
"Yeah, they left it on top of the pile of jerky they knew I liked to take from. Pretty sure they were watching me, but didn't try chasing me down again. So maybe it's real. I hope it is," Duke answers solemnly.
The others look to Nick with anxious but curious expressions.
"So...what do you think?" Finnick asks after a brief period of silence.
Nick takes a deep breath and looks out the missing window.
"I don't know, Finn. I really don't know. I thought I knew what I wanted when I woke up, but...if there is a chance to bring life back to the world, then wouldn't it be selfish of me to just let myself turn? I just…" Nick finished with a heavy sigh.
With his head turned to the outside world, Nick doesn't notice the hopeful little twitch of Judy's nose.
But Duke sure does.
And it confuses him even further.