Part 4 – Cold Blood

The trail of blood didn't take long to fade, but by that time Judy had picked up on the commotion her partner was making and followed suit. As she finally caught up to the noises, the bunny found her partner issuing the arrest.

Nick had the badger pinned to the ground and was proceeding to cuff the suspect.
"Mr. Baggins, you are under arrest for attempted robbery…And the murder of a fellow officer of the law," he stated while repressing his tears.
Judy came up from behind him and gave him a soft hug.
"You might want to scratch that last one, Slick," she whispered into his ear.
"Dammit Judy, I've caught the guy, you can stop haunting me," the fox answered as his tears fell again.
Judy let go, walked around to face him and knelt down. She reached out and held his face in her paws, making the fox look at her in the eye.
"I'm not haunting you Nick," the bunny told him. "I'm right here with you."
"Judy…"
Nick pulled her in for a hug, fearing that he'd lose her again if he let go. Judy didn't mind at all, she merely savoured the moment.

"I thought I lost you…" Nick admitted into her neck.
"But you didn't," Judy replied.
"But how? All that blood…" Nick asked as he stared at his bloody paws and her blood-soaked uniform.
"I don't know how, but it doesn't matter," the bunny lied as she tried to push out of their embrace. "I'm here and that's all that counts."
"Carrots? Are you okay?" Nick asked, sensing something off about his partner. "You feel… Cold."
"I'm fine!"
She finally wrestled out of his arms and got off the unfortunate badger, who groaned in appreciation as the fox got off as well. Judy turned to the badger as he started to roll over and gave him a kick in the stomach.
"The Devil says 'Hi'," she relayed to him before turning to Nick. "That doesn't go in the report and neither does what happened in the alley. Got it?"
He sheepishly nodded and picked up the sore badger as Judy marched off in the direction of the patrol car.

…

Judy looked into the bathroom mirror of the gas station she had them stop in. As much as she hated lying, she couldn't afford the barrage of questions that she knew would be thrown her way if her predicament was found out. Reason why she had intended to wash the blood out of her uniform.
The only thing stopping her was the shock of seeing the glaring hole in her chest. The slug that had made that hole was sitting on the edge of the sink; it had fallen to the floor when the bunny had taken off her vest. Judy was unsure how to process what she was looking at; she was standing there with what was clearly a fatal wound, but there was no blood flowing out, and from what she could see none of her organs were moving either. She was no doctor, but she had a feeling that nothing here was normal.
Desperate, Judy pulled out her phone with the intention of calling Lucy before she realized that she had no idea what her number was, despite the crazy vixen having stated that she would know. At the bunny's hesitation, a buzz of her phone notified her of a message:
Check your contacts.
The bunny followed the instruction, finding a new entry: Lucy. As she opened the contact information, Judy was greeted by the image of the vixen giving her a playful wink and a peace sign. At that moment, Judy sympathized with her boss's situation whenever he had to read one of her partner's less-than-adequate reports.

Judy's phone rang for a good minute before it was answered.
"Speak to The Devil," Lucy greeted.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME, LUCY!?" The bunny shouted into her phone.
"Wow, no need to get feisty, Judes," the vixen retorted. "So what's the problem?"
"Problem? I have a hole in my chest!"
"Yeah, and?"
"WHY!?" Judy pleaded.
"I thought that it would give you an incentive to finish your end of the bargain," Lucy explained. "Besides, you have a few advantages with that body. You don't have to sleep, eat or breathe and you can't feel any pain."
"So I'm a walking corpse," Judy concluded.
"Yup," the vixen confirmed. "And you might want to catch that soul before your fox asks you out on another date. Wouldn't want him to start having a thing for necrophilia, hmmm?"
The bunny shivered at the thought.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."
"Whatever. You might want to cover that hole if you want to blend in, though. Anything else before I leave you?"
"WHO am I looking for and HOW am I supposed to find them?" Judy demanded.

AN: Zombie Judy, on duty!