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“It’s not worth dying for!” Nick pleaded. Just leave it.
Judy couldn’t die here. She couldn’t.
Two goat officers—Nick had never bothered to learn their names—were coming, their thumping footsteps getting closer every second. Any moment now, they’d come inside, and then Nick and Judy would be dead—
“Maybe…” Judy looked down at the papers she held, then back up at Nick. “Maybe we’re too different.”
Something in Nick shattered at her words. After all the talk about how well they worked together—after she said that they just needed to prove to everyone they were a good team…
And she didn’t even think that, herself.
Nick took a step back, opening his mouth to say something when the floor cracked. The building began to tip, and he reached out to Judy.
She was tangled in some of the red string, crying out and falling with half of the building.
Nick leaped for her, only for his jump to fail as a goat rammed into him from the side.
“Carrots!” Nick screamed, hating that he had to turn his attention away from her.
He tried to take a deep breath. Judy was capable. She could handle this on her own. Ready to fight, Nick looked up at the goat just in time to see a tranquilizer gun pointed at his own side.
Nick screamed, yanking at the door to god knew where. Judy was inside the weather wall—he needed to get to her. “Nibbles! Carrots!” Anyone.
Police sirens echoed in his ears, and it was getting hotter by the second. Anyone, hear him. “Nibbles!” A fresh heat wave rushed over him just as the door got shoved open.
“Sorry, Nicolas,” Nibbles said. “The door got stuck on me.”
Nick panted, letting out a small sigh of relief. He pushed himself to his feet, nodding once at Nibbles.
“Now, let’s find Judith.”
Nick only nodded again, looking up at the large room. There were so many stairs, so many doors and pathways. How was he ever supposed to find his—Judy. How was he ever supposed to find Judy?
“Judy!” Nick called, heading up the first flight of stairs he saw.
“I’ll search the ground floor,” Nibbles offered.
Nick didn’t bother to respond this time, just searching. The maintenance catwalk beneath him didn’t feel sturdy—but maybe that was just his nerves.
Judy wasn’t answering him, but she was here. She had to be.
“Judy!” He screamed, louder this time.
He came to a door and opened it. There was a balcony of sorts, snow whizzing around and covering the floor.
“Nick?”
Nick turned around to see Pawbert standing there, an unreadable expression on his face. His paw clamped down on something—
A small device with two fang-like prongs and a container with a skull on it.
Nick’s gaze flicked back up to Pawbert’s eyes.
“Where’s Judy?” Nick asked, putting his paws up and taking a step back.
“Oh, she’s already gone.” Pawbert looked down at the device he held, then back up at Nick. The two just stared at each other silently for a moment.
Then, Pawbert lunged, lifting the device over his head and attempting to slam it down. Nick grabbed Pawbert’s wrist and pushed him back. Pawbert was on top of Nick now, still trying to stab Nick with the fanged device. “Judy’s dead!” Pawbert grit out through his teeth. “Why do you care to live?”
Nick didn’t have an answer. He didn’t want to admit he was almost willing to let himself get stabbed if Judy was dead.
But he didn’t know she was dead. The only “proof” he had of that was from the guy currently trying to kill him.
Nick grunted, trying to kick Pawbert. He was only able to kick the bag he had, sending some markers flying off the edge.
Pawbert grunted, stabbing the device down. Nick barely moved his head in time.
“You can save her!” A faint voice called, and Nick’s head whipped toward the sound. Down below, the snake’s head was poking out of a door. “The antivenom! We need it!” The snake’s head disappeared, replaced by an unconscious Judy wrapped up in the snake’s coils.
Nick turned his attention back to Pawbert, his eyes catching on the bag on Pawbert’s side. Inside was a snake-shaped container. The antivenom?
Nick focused his strength on pushing Pawbert off now. He heard creaking. His muscles burned.
God, why were lynxes so much bigger than foxes? Nick grunted, somehow managing to shove Pawbert off him. As he did so, however, the balcony they were on began to tip.
The antivenom began to roll; without thinking, Nick pushed away from the ground, leaping for it. Before he could get any further, Pawbert grabbed his arm.
“You’ll kill us both—it’s not worth dying for!” Pawbert screamed, claws digging into Nick’s fur.
It’s not worth dying for—five words that should have been simple, but they held so much meaning now.
Nick had said them just hours before, but when he’d said it, it wasn’t selfish. Unlike Pawbert.
“Agree,” Nick said, feeling Pawbert’s hold loosen ever so slightly. “To disagree.”
“Wait—”
Nick pushed off Pawbert, sliding down the balcony for the antivenom. He grabbed the antivenom, barely catching himself before sliding off completely.
“Here!” He screamed, chucking the antivenom down to where the snake had poked his head out.
His stomach dropped as the antivenom bounced once, twice, and off the edge. Not even a moment later, the snake’s tail caught it.
Oh thank god.
The balcony tipped, and he closed his eyes, bracing himself against the edge. Creak.
The balcony broke, and Nick felt himself falling. He closed his eyes.
The antivenom would work. It had to.
One second, Nick was falling, wind whipping around him. The next, it felt like his arm was being ripped out of its socket as his descent was suddenly halted.
Expecting to see Pawbert’s device inches away from his face, Nick opened his eyes and—
Judy.
Judy was grabbing him, and the snake was holding onto her.
“Carrots,” Nick breathed as the snake pulled the two up and onto the remaining balcony.
As soon as Nick was on solid ground, he grabbed Judy’s face, inspecting her for any injuries. Besides the two stab marks in her neck, likely from Pawbert’s device, she was fine.
Nick allowed himself to finally let out a sigh of relief, tackling Judy in a hug. She hugged him back, paws clenching around his shirt.
They held each other tightly, and all Nick could think about was how lucky he was that she was okay.
Judy was okay. He had his pack.