Another chapter before I go to bed.

Remember that this story is about the instincts of animals and the struggles that come along with it, that'd a very strong theme I have going for this, which might help give a bit more clarity on why Nick behaves the way he does in certain chapters.

Enjoy!

Nick wanted to cringe.

At their desk, he and Judy were leaning over a selection of images, a base of each attack. Nick knew the ways of being an animal, like the ancestors before him and his fellow class of predators, and he knew that from the history of their nature their attacks had been in the purpose of ending a life to aid their own. It had never been anything personal; everyone knew that it was just evolution worked, and the brutality that came with it was something that had long ago been accepted.

But these attacks were not in the ways of survival. They were brutal, merciless. He could feel the aggression behind the wounds, and wanted nothing more than to cower in a corner from the shadowed culprit.

The hare stung the most, hitting close to home. Poor Richard Haring, living a little too close to Bunnyburrow, never saw it coming. His ears were shredded; tattered strips of fur flopped lifelessly at the sides of his head, the strength in them stripped away. His face, made up of a slightly longer snout than that of a rabbit, with harsher eyes and wired brown fur, was slashed through with four clean marks. Tufts of fur were missing from his midriff, and his right thigh was broken, carefully wrapped in bandages. Separately, the clothes he had been wearing during the attack were also photographed; a jumper no more than rags, torn and shredded beyond recognition had it not been for its label. His trousers were of a better state, though filthy, the hems of the legs worn, and the knee of the right leg torn.

His blood ran cold the longer he stared.

Nick's nature may have been associated to being untrustworthy, sly and swift, but deep down foxes were not aggressive animals. When put in a sticky situation, Nick was more for the option of running than fighting. Small, lean, and strength not really on his side, Nick was happy to keep a low profile and stay away from confrontation. His weapon was his mouth, not his claws. He had impressive teeth, but his snarl was meaner than his bite.

Among the images was a wounded beaver, known as Ted River from the Rainforest District. Oh, he was a sorry soul. One of his grand front teeth to nibble through wood was missing, and he was wound in layers of bandages around his belly so many times it looked like it was hard to breathe. His eyes were open, wide with fear, a fear he had never seen before. Judy started easily he had quickly come to learn, obviously because of who she was, but he had never seen this kind of fear in her eyes when he crept up on her, or when he tripped her up. Startled, yes, but not petrified like you'd think a rabbit would be. This beaver looked like he'd looked into the eyes of a monster beyond imagining.

The other six (a sheep, a young deer, a middle aged koala, an elderly zebra, a once healthy gazelle, and finally an okapi) were all the same; wounded, terrified beyond belief, and in desperate need of answers. If this got out to central and the districts beyond it, predators and prey would fear one another once more, and tensions were still high from the last incident without this obscenity.

He looked to his left, gazing at his unlikely long eared friend. She was so invested in the images presented before them and the information that came with them; she never noticed his uncertain stare. He looked at her huge, violet eyes scanning the text, her whiskers twitching in concentration, her ears pricked in full awareness. He truly wished she wouldn't be so stubborn and caring, and wanted all the more for her to be cowardly like her nature demanded she should have been. He wasn't sure what lengths he would go to in order to protect those he cared about, but he did know that Judy was very high up on his limited list. He wasn't sure how much his instincts limited him in keeping her safe, though. He had no faith in himself to put himself in the firing line, only to grab her and run. It worried him.

It sounded selfish, yes. But at the end of the day, as his now strange friend Mr Big had once stated, deep down all animals were exactly that, an animal. Nick would never be able to help who he was.

"They all got threatened with the same line," Judy said, pulling him out of his reverie.

"Huh?" he said, returning his eyes back to the papers at hand.

"'Run as fast as you can, just like nature intended.'" Judy frowned. "All eight of them. That's what they all stated. They've never come into contact with one another, so there's no mixed stories or altered memories."

"What does that even mean?" Nick enquired.

"I don't know. There's more." She pointed to a line of text, and Nick followed her movement. "Mrs Stripe said that she had felt uncomfortable for a few days before the attack, like she was being watched, and that her son was playing in the backyard with other children, she suddenly felt physically ill." She moved her hand to another file. "Something similar happened to Haring; he said that when he was walking home one evening after departing from a friend, he constantly felt like he was being watched and followed. He was attacked three days later."

"So they're getting stalked before the attack?"

"It seems that way, but doesn't that seem odd to you? They're being selected out, but how?"

The link was indeed there. Miss Tuft, the sheep, had been heading home from her work when she claimed to have been seeing shadows left, right and centre. She also claimed that she was so afraid she ran, with made the whole ordeal a lot worse. She too was attacked three days later.

He leaned back in his chair, his ears flat against his head in annoyance. "I think we should talk to the victims."

"They've already been spoken to."

"Yeah, but I bet not by a rabbit. After that, I think the last animal they would want to talk to would be a tiger or buffalo. Remember Mrs Otterton? She approached you because she wasn't afraid to do so. Maybe these animals will reach out to you in a way they can't with others."

"I suppose I could try." She said before she yawned, her eyes becoming droopy.

"It can't hurt." He agreed. "But perhaps leave that for tomorrow."

His friend nodded in agreement, and the pair began to pack away before tiredly leaving the station for six in the evening.

They began their usual stroll home, tired and quiet, just enjoying the quiet walk together. However, they didn't get very far before Nick's nose twitched, pulling him in a direction that wasn't home.

Ffion was idling her way towards the pair, moving in a way that reminded Nick very much of his hustling days. She eyed him up and down, smirking at the uniform. Once again his collar became very tight, and if he could sweat he would have been doing so there and then.

Her gaze was cold as ice, judging every movement. He couldn't quite figure out if he was afraid of her or oddly attracted to her. It wasn't the attraction of lust, though, which was the strange part. It was an odd pull, his body wanting to move but his mind ordering him to stand still. It was almost out of his control, and never before had he been an uncontainable fox, he liked to be in control of his actions. This was just beyond frustrating, if not embarrassing.

"Looking very dashing, Officer." Ffion cooed, clad in a grey blouse, silky black and grey tights. "A uniform suits you."

"Hello, Ffion." Judy said politely, but she was completely ignored. Nick would have been annoyed if he couldn't stop staring and struggling to find a single word in his mouth.

"I'm sorry about not seeing you this morning, I got caught up unpacking, but if you wanted we could go for a quick bite to eat?" she batted her eyes at him, yellow gems inviting, an almost irresistible gaze. He blinked, trying to pull himself together.

"Uh, sure?" Why did that sound like a question?

"Nick?"

Judy's little voice brought him back down to earth with surprising force, like knocking him out of a dream. He looked at her, her face so confused, almost looking betrayed. Never did he leave her to walk home alone. It wasn't a spoken agreement, not a promise, but an automatic routine they had done for a number of months now. The look on her face was as if he snatched away her favourite toy and refused to give it back.

And then all he could see was Ffion's eyes as she placed herself between the pair. She linked her arm through his before wheeling him away in the opposite direction he had intended to walk in, almost rushing him to a point that he nearly tripped over his own two feet.

He managed to catch a glimpse of Judy over his shoulder, alone and droopy-eared, utterly abandoned.

"I'm sure your friend can manage an evening alone, Nick, in return for a much needed catch up." Ffion smiled. No, do not let this get to you; remember what you learned.

Finally he smoothed his features, put his guilt aside, and focussed on the task at hand. He would be sure to text Judy later, unbeknownst to him that she would be long since asleep by the time he did.

Thanks for reading! More to come hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday:)