Judy POV

I watched the small blue orb fly across the exhibit and burst against Nick's neck. Just as we had planned. I frantically dove over the plastic grass and fell at his side, faking panic as I begged him to fight against the serum. I had gotten pretty good at faking tears as a kid and used that skill now.

We had only seen one other predator turn but Nick seemed to be an impressive actor. The way he grabbed his head and faked convulsions was on par with what we had seen in Manchas.

Gripping his shoulder, I begged him again to fight it and he shook me off causing me to stumble backwards. I waited for him to whip around and lock eyes with me. That was supposed to be the signal for me to start running so he could chase me closer to the wall Mayor Bellwether was standing above.

I heard her laugh from somewhere along the edge and spared a quick glance her way before looking back at Nick. He was really playing it up. It hadn't taken Manchas this long to start attacking us and we were already short on time.

"Nick?" I asked, keeping the worried tone in my voice but trying to hurry him up. We needed to get a confession out of Mayor Bellwether before the ZPD showed up. If they got here before we got a confession she would deny everything. We would have to rely on the small orb of serum in Nick's pocket to prove our case.

Moving slowly with my injured leg I turned to crawl back to him. Before I reached his side he finally whipped his head around to look at me. Our eyes locked and I was ready to run.

But his eyes were not the brilliant green colour I was expecting to see stare back at me. Instead they were nearly all black, the green of his irises almost completely swallowed up by the pupil. There was a wild look there, this wasn't the fox I knew.

Something had gone wrong, he wasn't faking it. We switched out the serum with some blueberries, didn't we? I know we did, so what had happened?

"Something the matter, Judy?" Mayor Bellwether called down from her spot on the ledge. She had a joyous sing-song tone to her voice. The rams next to her chuckled.

I crept backwards slowly, now with actual fear guiding my movements. Nick had gone back to gripping his head, doubled over with his face nearly touching the ground. He was still trying to fight the effects of the serum, actually trying to fight it. That's why it was taking him so long to chase me.

"What did you do?" I yelled up to the mayor without taking my eyes off Nick.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of berries, tossing them in the air to catch in her mouth. After she swallowed, she laughed, "you think I wouldn't check the gun? Or that I wouldn't carry extra capsules inside the case. Judy, I staked everything on this, I won't have it screwed up by some wanna-be-cop and con artist." She motioned to Nick with the gun, a grin creeping across her face. "You might want to start running now."

I realized my gaze had drifted up to her, I turned back to look at Nick. He had stopped moving and was just standing, frozen, on all fours staring at the ground. His breathing had become heavy and there was a slight rasp from the back of his throat. Almost like a growl.

I stood, trying not to make any noise, and began to run. The police had to be here soon, I just had to out run him for a few more minutes. I just hoped they wouldn't hurt him when they got here.

Running would prove to be more difficult than I had originally thought. Nick was fast and with the movement pulling at the torn skin under the wrap on my leg I would not be a match for him.

All at once the ground rose up to meet my face, I don't even know what I had tripped on. Dust filled my mouth and coated my throat as I cried out in pain. I hardly had time to roll out of the way before Nick's claws dug into the ground where my head had been.

There was no time to stand back up and I frantically waved my arms over my head. My fingers collided with dusty faux fur and I gripped the leg of whatever display item I had found, throwing it as hard as I could toward Nick. It crashed into him and knocked him onto his side.

I barely spared a glance behind me as I got to my feet and kept running. Nick had become occupied with the display item I had hit him with. A sharp stab tore through my chest seeing him lie on his back ripping the foam apart with his teeth and claws.

I remembered what Mrs. Otterton had said upon seeing her husband. "That's not my Emmitt." That's not my Nick.

I almost let out a laugh. My Nick? I barely knew him, we had only met a few weeks ago. Still, I had felt an immediate closeness to him. Even in that short time he had become someone extremely important to me. Someone I cared so much about.

But at this moment, he looked nothing like the fox I cared about. His clothes were disheveled, dusty, and ripped in a few places where his claws had caught the thin fabric. His teeth were bared and glinted from the light of the museum spotlight above. There was a bit of red soaked into the fur around his front paws. Blood. Was it mine or his?

I looked down at my previously injured leg while I half-ran half-stumbled. My pants now had four new long tears and blood was soaking the fabric quickly. That must have been why I fell. Adrenaline was pumping so fast through my body I hadn't even registered the pain. Now it scorched up my leg and made every step agonizing.

The cuts were deep and I knew I was losing a lot of blood. I couldn't pass out before the ZPD got to the scene.

The ripping sound behind me had stopped and I scanned the exhibit around me. The display item Nick was tearing lay abandoned a few feet away from me, torn to bits. Nick was nowhere in sight. I dropped to my hands and knees and crouched behind a large log. Surely he would be able to spot me or smell the blood that was mixing with the dusty ground but I knew I wouldn't be able to run much further without passing out.

The attack I was expecting never came. Instead, I heard a cry of pain coming from somewhere to my right. It sounded a bit like Nick, with the same unnerving growl behind the voice. I wasn't sure if he had become injured or if perhaps Bellwether had decided he was taking too long to kill me but I braced on the log and pulled myself to my feet. My own cry of pain escaped my lips and I grit my teeth.

Halfway across the exhibit I saw Nick laying on his stomach thrashing around as two officers pinned him to the ground. One more was cuffing his arms behind his back while a fourth crouched in front of him in an attempt to wrestle a muzzle over his mouth. Chief Bogo stood with his back to me.

I wanted to cry out and tell them to stop, that he didn't need a muzzle. But the way he gnashed his teeth at the officer in front of him, I knew they didn't have much of a choice. He would never forgive me for doing this to him, I would never forgive myself.

"You know what I mean. You're not that kind of predator"

"The kind that needs to be muzzled? The kind that makes you think you need to carry around Fox Repellent?"

My fingers brushed my side where the little pink bottle used to sit as I watched them hook the strap on the muzzle into place. He was fighting less now, just laying on the ground and taking the occasional swipe at anyone who got close. Two officers stayed by his side, the other two went to Bogos side and were talking in quiet voices to the police chief.

"So let me ask you a question. Are you afraid of me? Do you think I might go nuts? Do you think I might go savage? Do you think I might try to eat you?"

I walked toward the group of officers in silence. They didn't notice me as I passed them and continued walking slowly toward Nick.

"Are you afraid of me?"

The question pounded in my head. I could practically hear his voice in my ear begging for an answer. For a different answer than the one he got the first time.

"Are you afraid of me?"

No, I'm not. The sudden realization silenced everything else in my mind. I'm not afraid of him, even now, and I'm not sure if I ever really was. Sure, I was startled when he yelled at me after the press conference but I wasn't afraid. Right now, my heart pounded in my chest but it wasn't fear. I just needed to know that he would be okay, that whatever had happened to him could be fixed and I would have him back.

My arms wrapped around my middle, digging into the fur. Had they turned the air conditioning on in the museum? It was so cold in here I was beginning to shiver.

"Hopps? Are you alright? What happened?" Chief Bogo finally turned his attention away from Nick and the officers he was talking to and was now watching me with concern. "Oh jeez, your leg. We need Medical down here now!" His voice seemed to trail off at the end, like he was moving under water.

The room started to swirl around me. I was about to pass out. The last thing I saw was Nick's face, pressed against the dusty ground, eyes locked on me.