Nick POV
**Two days later**
Everything was too loud, too bright, and too hot. I hadn't even opened my eyes yet. My body hurt and my head ached. I tried to lift my hand to rest over my face but only made it a few inches before something cold and metal dug into my skin and prevented me from moving it any further. I've been arrested enough times to know exactly what handcuffs felt like without seeing them. Arrested, just never convicted.
I racked my brain to remember the events that led me to being in handcuffs as I forced my eyes open against the bright fluorescent lights. This was new, while I've been in handcuffs in a holding cell a number of times I've never woken up handcuffed to a hospital bed before.
My memory was too fuzzy to piece together why I was here. I was about to call for help when the white metal door across from me opened up slowly. A tiger in a white lab coat stepped into the room while looking down at a clipboard in her hands.
She made it halfway into the room before she looked up. Our eyes met and hers widened more than I thought was possible. The tiger continued staring for an uncomfortable length of time before her face broke into a smile, revealing large teeth.
"Welcome back, Mr. Wilde." She set the clipboard on a small table in the corner of the room and pressed a button on the top of a radio she had on her hip.
"Back?" I asked, my eyes shifting down to my cuffed wrist.
The doctor approached my bed very slowly with her hands in front of her, palms out. "You really had us worried there for a while. You passed out almost immediately after we administered the fourth dose of antidote and you've been out for nearly eighteen hours since. How are you feeling?"
Despite the already bright room, she shone a flashlight into each of my eyes. I grit my teeth together and fought the urge to close them again. "I'm feeling okay, just a little off. I have a bad headache. And I'm hungry, really hungry."
She pointed with one hand to a stethoscope she held in the other hand to let me know she was going to listen to my chest. I waited for her to be done before I continued to talk. "You said fourth dose of antidote, antidote for what? And why am I in cuffs?" I had about a dozen more questions to ask but my growling stomach put most on hold.
The white door swung open again and a coyote in blue scrubs stepped into the room. Her expression was full of fear but it switched quickly to shock when she met my eyes. "Oh my gosh, you're awake, and alive, and normal!" She looked over at the doctor, waiting for instructions but wouldn't step any closer to the bed.
Well, there was a lot to unpack with that sort of reaction. Why was my memory so fuzzy? Awake, the doctor said I had been unconscious for a long while. Alive, well I should hope so but I didn't appear to have any sort of injuries so I'm not sure why my being alive was shocking. Normal, that one I had nothing for. The last thing that was really clear in my mind was Judy and I crashing that rams creepy train lab.
"Nurse Skipp, would you mind running to the kitchen and getting some food for Mr. Wilde? Oh, and grab Nurse Bell on your way to help me get a blood sample. Thank you." The tiger waved the nurse off who backed out of the room slowly, careful not to take her eyes off me.
The doctor turned her attention back to me. "Well, Mr. Wilde, I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Most preds had somewhat spotty memories when they first came to." She pulled a small cart with a monitor and a tangle of wires from the corner of the room. "I will get those cuffs off you as soon as I can, we just need to run a few tests first. Just for the safety of my staff and myself."
As a fox, I was used to the stereotypes and prejudice from other mammals, even from other predators. What I wasn't used to was much larger preds like a tiger concerned about her safety around me. Both the doctor and the nurse were almost acting like I was…
A savage animal. That would make sense with the cuffs. I looked down at my hands, spreading my fingers as wide as I could. There was a little bit of brownish red caked under my claws, like they had been cleaned quickly but not thoroughly scrubbed.
I knew right away that it was blood. Not just anyone's blood. Judys. Bits of memory came back to me making my already existing headache so much worse. I remembered the plan we made to get Mayor Bellwether to confess to intentionally darting predators and I remembered being knocked into the museum display in the floor. I also remembered a painful burning sensation ripping through my body after she shot me with one of the blueberries we put in the gun.
But based on where I was and the overwhelming evidence around me, I was pretty sure it wasn't a blueberry I was shot with. Something must have gone wrong and I was actually hit with night howler serum. So, was I a savage predator?
No, I shook my head, the doctor said I had been given an antidote. And from what Judy and I saw in the prison/hospital, if I was able to talk and think straight then the antidote must have worked. So why then did I still feel that same burn deep in my chest and the heightened awareness of everything in the room? Maybe it was just a side effect.
I realized the doctor was back at my side with the cart. She had plugged a keyboard into a monitor on the cart and was busy typing. "Dr, uh stripes, I was with a bunny when I was shot. Is she okay?" My voice cracked a bit with the panic I felt rising from my chest up my throat.
Everything after I was shot was choppy and sort of washed out in my mind. It was like I could only recall partial memories, flashed here and there. One thing I distinctly remembered, though, was seeing my claws slice into Judy's leg. I closed both hands into tight fits, feeling my claws dig into each palm.
The doctor laughed a little at my question. "I'm so sorry, I was shocked to see you awake, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Clawson, And yes, your cute little bunny friend is alright. She was very worried about you. I thought I might have to call security to make her leave. She had a bandage on her leg but she was walking just fine with a crutch last time I saw her."
The door swung open again and I vaguely noticed someone else walk in and slowly approach the bed behind me. My eyes were still locked on the doctor. "Don't call her cute." I muttered. Dr. Clawson cocked her head to the side a little but didn't question my response.
The new nurse in the room, a wolf, cautiously took my arm and warned me that he was going to insert a needle to draw some blood. I kept my eyes trained on the doctor until I felt the sharp prick in my arm. My head instinctively whipped around and the nurse yelped in surprise when our eyes met.
I had to remind myself that the staff here had seen me when I was probably pretty scary. It was best to avoid sudden movements, especially until they took the handcuffs off. I gave him my most relaxed smile and whispered, "sorry."
I sat frozen for another second before he continued with the blood draw. I started to feel a little lightheaded but the feeling subsided shortly after the nurse was done. He placed a small bit of gauze over the spot where the needle had been inserted and left the room quickly, mumbling something under his breath.
I turned back to Dr. Clawson, hoping for a chance to ask more about Judy but she was occupied untangling a mass of wires from a weird helmet looking thing. Unfortunately, that thing would probably end up going on my head.
"Well, EEG will be much easier this time around since we don't have to sedate you. I'm gonna put this on your head, Mr. Wilde." She carefully maneuvered my ears through the slits on top and eased the helmet onto my head.
It pulled on my fur in many different directions and made me want to rip it off immediately. I slid my hands underneath me to avoid acting on that thought. "As long as this test and the blood test look good, those cuffs can come right off. Just sit back and relax."
I tried to close my eyes and relax but it was difficult. I had so many questions and so much going through my head all at once. Dr. Clawson said that Judy was worried about me. I was expecting anger and probably fear but not worry. I certainly didn't expect her to come visit me in the hospital.
I also really needed to know how long I had been in the hospital. If I missed more than a few days of work, Finnick was going to kill me. He is more than capable of running the business himself, we had a few different cons we could switch between. But we made way more money on the jobs we worked together.
The nurse who left with my blood test returned and whispered something to the doctor who nodded in response and spared a quick glance from the computer over to me. "Okay, everything is looking pretty close to normal so I think these are safe to come off."
I massaged my wrists as soon as she unlocked the handcuffs, careful on the areas that felt bruised. "So doc, if everything looks good am I able to get out of here because, no offense, but I am really not a fan of hospitals."
She carefully removed the helmet from my head while she spoke. "I will need to let the ZPD know that you are awake and get approval to release you, that has been standard with everyone in this wing, I should hear back from them in just a few hours. I do want to keep you overnight for observation but you should be good to go in the morning." She pushed the cart she was using to the corner of the room.
"No, no, no that doesn't work for me. Do I really need to stay overnight? I am feeling pretty good." My stomach growled again and I was reminded that the nurse who was bringing food still hasn't returned.
"I'm sorry Mr. Wilde. Your tests both looked excellent but they are still a little off from normal levels. I really can't let you go until tomorrow so we can make sure everything is okay. For safety reasons." She opened the door and stuck her head out into the hallway. I heard feet running down the hallway and the coyote from earlier stepped into the room with a tray of food for me.
"I can have someone call your emergency contact if you would like. The police chief said they found your phone in the subway, smashed to bits." I gave her a thumbs up to call since I was already shoveling food into my mouth. I don't even know if I have an emergency contact listed. It has been quite a while since I was in the hospital.
Actually, thinking more about it, if I do have an emergency contact it's probably Finnick. Suddenly I was regretting telling her to call. I would really rather not have him show up here.
Being stuck at the hospital overnight sucked and being stuck without my phone was even worse. There was never anything good on the tv and I had way too much energy to just sit in bed. After I finished eating, Dr. Clawson came in and hooked a few wires to my arm and chest.
I was about to try calling for someone to see if I could take the wires off and walk around at the very least when there was a knock at my door. I yelled for them to come in, glad I wouldn't have to try yelling for a nurse. Unfortunately, it wasn't a nurse who slipped into the room and shut the door. It was Finnick.
The smaller fox had a huge grin on his face as he walked leisurely to the side of my bed. I groaned and tried to flatten myself against the pillow as best I could. It wasn't enough. "Whatever rude ass thing you're gonna say, just say it." I mumbled.
"Wow, he can talk again." Finnick put on an over-the-top shocked expression. "Although, I'm not sure if talking is really an improvement over the snarling, you are really annoying when you talk."
I rolled my eyes. "You done?" If I had more than one pillow on my bed I would have taken one of them and chucked it at him.
"Almost. I told you it's a bad idea working with cops and as you know now, I am always right. Cops are nothing but trouble, and bunny cops are the worst."
"You know a lot of bunny cops, do you?" Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "Judy isn't even a cop anymore, she quit the ZPD before all this happened. And none of this was even her fault, it was my plan that backfired."
"Yeah, well you wouldn't have been there at all if it wasn't for her being a cop in the first place. Anyway, I got places to be that are way better than sitting in a hospital room with you. I just wanted to see for myself that you were actually back and bring you a change of clothes. They said yours had to get thrown out." He tossed a garbage bag onto my lap.
"Thanks, I guess." I opened the bag to find a set of clean clothes. I hadn't been sure if Finnick having a key to my apartment was a good idea or not but it paid off today.
"I did consider just letting you leave the hospital naked, you would have deserved it for not being at work for nearly a week. You are losing me money." He laughed and walked out of the room without another word. Finnick was the closest thing I had to family anymore but he could really be an asshole sometimes.
The burning sensation in my chest suddenly felt stronger and my heart started to race. I pulled the wires off of my skin and raced into the little restroom attached to my room to splash cold water on my face.
My hands wiped the water slowly away starting from my chin and ending at my ears before I opened my eyes. I stared at my reflection in the mirror in shock. My eyes. The normally round pupils were vertical slits.
I rubbed the palms of both hands against my eyes hard. When I opened them back up, they looked normal.
It was just a trick of the light, I told myself as I slowly made my way back toward my bed. But something in the back of my mind told me that wasn't the case.
*O*O*O*
I must have fallen asleep at one point because I was watching some sort of comedy drama show one minute and suddenly I was waking up to a dance competition show. I pawed at the blankets trying to find the remote when there was a knock at the door.
"Uh, come in!" I yelled, still looking for the remote. I finally found it and clicked the tv off right as Dr. Clawson stepped into the room.
"Good morning, Mr. Wilde, how are you feeling today?" She pulled a stool from the side of the room and sat down next to the bed, thumbing through a stack of papers on a clipboard.
"Still feeling good. Still wanting to leave, so is that gonna happen today or…" I raised an eyebrow, tipping my head to the side. I was ready to jump up, change into normal clothes, and walk out right this minute. As long as the ZPD approved everything, I knew the hospital couldn't stop me if I told them I was leaving. But it would make things a lot easier if I was able to leave on their terms.
She tilted the clipboard in her hands down so I could see it. I glanced down but it just looked like a bunch of medical mumbo jumbo to me. "Yes, Mr. Wilde, I think we can get you out of here in just a few hours. I do want to be sure that you are feeling one hundred percent yourself, nothing feels off at all?"
I hadn't noticed the change in her demeanor compared to yesterday when she walked it, now it seemed very obvious. Her brows were knit together, she kept ringing her hands and bouncing her leg.
I had to admit, I was feeling just a little bit weird. My headache from yesterday was still persisting and all of my senses seemed to feel off. As well as that slight burn deep in my chest. The way the doctor was acting, I thought it would be better to keep that to myself.
Instead I just shrugged. "Nope, nothing feels different than any other day. Why do you ask?"
She chewed on her bottom lip a bit. "Well, if you don't feel anything different than it should be fine. Nothing seems off with your behaviors and your EEG looked fine. It's just…" She tilted the papers toward me a little bit more. "Your blood test from yesterday is still showing residual amounts of serum. This is different from the rest of the predators."
I had to be careful with what I said next. If I sounded too worried or like I didn't care I could end up being stuck here longer. Still, I was a little concerned about what she said. Especially after what happened yesterday. "Well, that sounds bad. Is it bad?"
She picked the clipboard back up and hugged it to her chest. "Not necessarily. It could very well mean nothing at all. You did get hit with way more serum than anyone else. If you are feeling completely fine, I think it is still safe to release you."
"Okay, well that's good. While you are doing the paperwork, can I borrow a phone? I need to call someone to pick me up."
Dr. Clawson stood and pushed the stool back into place. "Certainly. There's a phone on the wall at the end of the hallway you can use. But, I would like to get one more blood test from you before you go, if that's alright."
I stuck my arm out. "Sure, go for it."
The doctor actually ended up calling a nurse to draw my blood. Luckily the nurse was quick about it and I was allowed to change into my own clothes in no time. As soon as I was out of the hospital gown, I found the phone at the end of the hallway and called Finnick. He agreed to pick me up but said it would be an hour or so before he got here.
I sat at the edge of the hospital bed waiting for the final 'go ahead' to be able to leave. At the bottom of the garbage bag that my clothes were tossed into were two notes. I hadn't noticed them until the bag was empty.
Finnick, can you get my number to Nick when he is back to himself. I will be out of town for a few days but I need to know he's okay. Please.
~JUDY
The other piece of paper just had her phone number written on it. I read both notes over and over, unintentionally committing her number to memory.
I jumped when someone suddenly touched my arm. Dr. Clawson was standing right in front of me, crouching slightly so we were face to face. "I'm sorry Mr. Wilde, I thought you saw me come in. I've been talking to you for a few minutes. Did you hear anything I said?"
I shoved the papers into my pocket and steadied my breathing before I spoke. "No, I was kind of zoned out. What was that?"
"I said we're still waiting on the blood test but you don't really need to be here for that. I have everything ready for you to leave." She handed me a few papers. I thumbed through them quickly, it was just a summary of everything that they did. "Mr. Wilde, one more thing, if anything changes, please give us a call."
I gave her a thumbs up and slid off the bed. If my phone hadn't been destroyed I would have sent Judy a text while I was waiting for Finnick. Unfortunately, I would have to wait.
As I pushed through the heavy double doors and into the lobby, I noticed the young nurse at the front desk. She wouldn't take her eyes off of me as I walked to the elevator. Normally I would have had some smart retort for her but I was just feeling exhausted.
*O*O*O*
I had been at the Pawbucks a few blocks from the hospital when Finnick finally showed up, three hours later. He pulled his van up in front of the coffee shop and honked the horn twice. I gave a quick apology to the barista who jumped each time and ran out to meet him.
"You know I was sitting right in front of the window. I would have seen you if you just pulled up and didn't honk the horn?" I slammed the rusty door behind me.
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" He grabbed a pair of sunglasses from the sun visor. "Am I just driving you home?"
"Yeah. Actually, would you mind if we swung by Horizon first? I need a new phone. Apparently mine is broken." I patted my mostly empty pockets to emphasize that I didn't have a phone.
"Yeah, whatever. You owe me for gas though."
I pulled out my wallet and handed him a ten dollar bill. He grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket before pulling the van out of the parking lot.
I wanted to ask about the note from Judy, mainly if he realized that she probably didn't want him to give me the part addressed to him. I was thinking of a way to ask when a large truck flew out of nowhere, ran a red light, and sideswiped the van.
Both vehicles spun out into the intersection. My head slammed into the side of the door hard. I could see the truck through Finnick's open window across from me. A young wolf threw open the door and stepped out.
"Learn to fucking drive or get out of the fucking city. Damn foxes." The wolf started to walk toward us but someone in the passenger seat got his attention. He flipped us off, got back into the truck, and sped off.
"Wow, what a diverse vocabulary he has. You okay Nick?" Finnick was lifting his head from the steering wheel, rubbing a hand over a bloody gash over his eyebrow.
I heard him but I couldn't respond. My chest felt hot and everything was spinning. I took a deep breath in. I could smell the blood in the car but I also caught traces of the wolves still lingering in the air and the burn of tires.
My heart was racing and I could feel a tingle running from my head down to my tail. The smell of the wolves was fading and all my brain could focus on was the irony tang of blood in the air.
"Nicky? You hit your head or something? Are you oka… Uh, Nick?" I continued staring past Finnick and out the window as I blindly felt for the door handle. I needed to get out of here. "Nick, what's up with your eyes?"
My hand found the handle and in one motion I clicked my seatbelt with one hand and opened the door with the other, allowing myself to fall sideways out of the van. The second my feet hit the pavement I ran.