Hunger.

Burning hunger.

Isaac slowly shifted out of his sleep, taking sharp breaths. His stomach was flaring with a kind of fire. He had never felt that hungry recently. An especially sharp feel caused him to sit up, grabbing his torso. He glanced at a nearby wall clock.

4 am.

He got out of his mattress, his craving for some kind of food growing stronger as his mind came into full consciousness. He blinked. Something was lying on the floor beside his mattress. Someone.

Judy.

What happened?

Isaac rubbed his head, trying hard to remember. He couldn't recall a thing. He just felt hungry. Isaac felt certain that if he opened his mouth and exhaled, flames would exit instead of air. And yet, something was stopping him from moving. Apart from confusion, he felt something else staring at the rabbit. Not something that he wanted to feel.

And then, he heard something.

Sniffing.

His sniffing.

He grabbed his muzzle, shaking his head violently. His eyes refocused on Judy. She was sound asleep. She didn't see, and hopefully didn't hear any of it.

You're just really hungry. That's it. Just... grab something from the kitchen...

Isaac stumbled toward the door, careful to avoid stepping on the sleeping rabbit, before finally reaching it. He placed a paw on the knob and twisted. An especially shrill screech was heard has the knob turned, and he pulled the door open silently. The cold atmosphere of his air conditioned room left, and he felt a wave of hot air hit hard. Nothing like a hot night to go with hunger pains. The way to the kitchen seemed long. By the time he made it, he was already bent double. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead, and his hands shook without any consent from their master.

Cupboard.

Fried snacks. Instant noodles. Cereal.

He shut the cupboard, without even thinking twice.

Fridge.

A light turned on as he opened the cooler, causing him to flinch from the sudden contrast from the pitch black from before.

Carrots.

Lettuce.

Tomato.

Juice.

Something wrapped in tinfoil.

Eggs.

Eggs.

He found himself grabbing as many of the chicken eggs that he could carry. His mind felt numb. Something else was moving his limbs. He roughly dumped them on a table. One of the eggs cracked. A transparent liquid leaked from the fissures in its shell. He didn't notice, and he didn't care. He seized one of the eggs, and held it between his teeth, swiftly and sharply cracking its shell between two canine teeth. He poured whatever came out down his throat, before tossing the shell away. The burning in his stomach quelled a little. Just a little.

He did the same with another egg. His hunger died down a little more.

And another.

And another.

The taste was somehow completely bland. He couldn't taste the fluids going down his throat. The kitchen floor was soon littered with eggshells, illuminated by the light from the open fridge.

Isaac grabbed the final egg. The one with the fissure. It felt slimy. Slippery and... gross.

The fox shuddered, dropping the egg as his paw shook violently. It dropped onto the floor, splitting apart, spilling its contents all over the floor. His thoughts flooded back. His eyes widened, and he shivered. The kitchen was a mess. Egg shells were all over the floor, with bits of egg yolk, and egg white splattered all over the place. A pop was heard, causing Isaac to nearly jump right out of his skin. The open fridge's magnet finally managed to shut the opening. The darkness fell back into place momentarily before Isaac's eyes readjusted and his night vision kicked in. Same mess. A strange, revolting taste started to fill his mouth, causing the fox to shudder.

The taste of raw eggs.

What just happened...? Was I... that hungry...?

Isaac expelled the thoughts, processing his next action.

Judy. She can't see this. She can't...

His legs jerked into action. He knew where the cleaning supplies were. And he knew he had to clear the mess.

Judy groaned. She had never felt so groggy. Not in a long time. Despite her sometimes hectic work schedule, she still managed to squeeze in some sleep. She forced herself up, rubbing her forehead. Light from the sun shone right into the room through the blinds, which had seemingly failed their purpose. Her arm and back felt sore, mostly from being pressed against the floor for so long.

Floor.

She was still in Isaac's room.

Judy shot right up, turning to face Isaac. The room seemed to spin sharply for a moment as her dizziness followed her. Blinking in confusion, she tried her best to focus on fox, who was lying in bed.

Please be asleep.

One look and she could easily tell that he wasn't sleeping. He was tensed up in a way, and his torso barely rose as he breathed.

He was pretending to sleep.

A pang of guilt stabbed Judy right in the heart. She opened her mouth slightly, but shut it, unsure of what to say.

You can't just say nothing!

Judy shut her eyes, and her mouth struggled to open as she processed the words to use.

"A...Are you hungry?"

What. What was that? He got kidnapped and the first thing you ask when he wakes up is...

"Oh! Erm... No," Isaac suddenly blurted out, shifting a little, still facing away from her. Judy bent down a little, starting to get worried. Was he still under the drug?

"Are you... feeling okay?" She asked.

"Yes," he replied, a little too quickly.

"Are you sure that you're not hungry? At all? You didn't eat anything for the whole of last night," Judy highlighted.

"Oh... Er... Alright," Isaac sat up, still facing down. The rabbit couldn't help but feel surprised. There was completely zero hints showing any reaction to yesterday's... event. If anything, he just seemed a little (or very) weirded out by something. Probably just her presence.

"I'll...prepare something for you," Judy finished, before leaving the room.

Somehow... He seemed... strange.

Judy made her way towards the kitchen, taking small steps.

Food didn't even seem close to any of his thoughts.

He doesn't even seem to be thinking straight... The drug couldn't have lasted that long, could it? It should've worn off last night.

She turned on the sink in the kitchen, letting the water splatter onto her paws.

Is it some sort of... trauma...?

She shuddered at the thought.

Calm down. Don't jump to conclusions...

She twisted the knob on the sink, shutting the stream of water off.

She leant against the sink, taking a moment to shake off the worries threatening to grip on to her.

He's probably starving. Maybe I should just make another omelette or something...

She opened the fridge, with one paw blindly grabbing for an egg. All she grabbed was air.

...?

Judy opened the fridge door more, peering at the eggs compartment.

There were no eggs left.

What...? I could've sworn there were way more than enough!

She hissed in frustration, slamming the fridge door.

Great. Another screwup. Just, great.

Perfect.

Only one thing left that was viable for breakfast. She went to the kitchen cabinet, where she knew a box or two of cereal was. She had bought them in anticipation for a late day or the like when she wouldn't have the time to make breakfast.

But she never had a late day.

Well, it isn't expired...

yet.

I guess it'll have to do...

She stepped forward, reaching for the dish cabinet above the sink. It was high up. Hard to reach. How it got up there in the first place...

Nick, what the heck were you doing with my bowl?

She huffed, and jumped, grabbing the bowl off the top in a clean grab. She turned towards the sink again, grumbling, when her eyes caught something in a corner.

Is that... an egg shell?

Judy put the bowl in the sink, bending down to take a closer look. She reached out, lifting the shell up. Only half of it was left, and some translucent, slimy egg white dripped slowly from it.

How did this get here? Did I really forget to stock up on the eggs?

But, nobody else is here, and why would Isaac throw the eggs away?

"Judy, u there?"

"Yes."

"Oh, you're finally up."

"Says Nick Wilde."

"Anyways, how's Isaac?"

"Idk. He's acting pretty weird."

"Weird how?"

"He doesn't even seem to remember anything about yesterday... And he's been acting pretty suspiciously."

"Suspicious?"

"Idk, it just looks like he's jumpy, somehow? He just... Really reminds me of those suspects we hold in the interrogation room."

"That bad?"

"Maybe he's hiding something?"

"Maybe it's just some sort of aftershock."

"Yeah...maybe. Did you guys catch the kidnappers?"

"No, we traced them back to wherever they were going though."

"Anything interesting?"

"It's just a warehouse on the outside, but we couldn't get in. Couldn't risk it. It was one of the locations the jaguar gave though."

"What's gonna happen now?"

"Special forces. Bogo called them in. They already mobilized last night."

"Oh? That was... Fast."

"I wasn't there when they did it though. Bogo told me to go back to the HQ and leave it to them."

"What about the second location?"

"The locations were simultaneously raided."

"Oh. Wow. Does that mean the case is closed? That easily?"

"Hey, just because you weren't part of the special forces doesn't mean that it was easy."

"It all seems so... Abrupt. That's all there is? Nothing else?"

"Well, hopefully Clawhauser can come up with something about it soon. You just stay put for now. Nothing for you to do yet."

"Except reports."

"Shoot. Those. Welp, guess you can do those at home. Maybe do my part while you're at it?"

"Your part is already easier -.-"

"OK. Anyways, take care. I'm gonna go meet Finnick and Keith."

"Oh! Tell them I said hi."

"Ok. Bb"

"Well. Looks like the authorities did solve it."

"Told you. Zootopia's law enforcement is a lot better than that in the Bunny Burrows."

"Less corrupt."

"More efficient. The western bunny burrows is just plain ridiculous. It's so huge, and yet the law is enforced by a sherif."

"Well. We can move on to our next plan now. It shouldn't be too hard."

"Sure it wouldn't. But...remember the kid?"

"Who, Isaac?"

"Yes."

"What about him?"

"He was kidnapped for a moment... Then released? What if they injected it into him?"

"That can't be right, it's instant."

"Yea. I guess so..."

"Well. Make your last preparations. We leave tomorrow."

"And where are you going now?"

"One last check on their operations. I want to see exactly what happened."

What was I doing?

The question remained stuck in his mind, repeating itself over and over, each time failing to get an answer.

It took quite some time to sweep, mop and wipe the floor clean of eggshells, and it took even longer to wash the disgusting taste of raw eggs from his mouth. There was cereal, there were snacks. Why did he randomly prefer raw eggs?

And why couldn't he stop himself from eating them?

Get up. There's no way you can sleep anymore.

Standing up was a simple task. He had been awake for way too long to feel lethargic. He was way too paranoid to feel lethargic.

Quite frankly, he had expected himself to vomit or get some sort of abdominal distress from the raw eggs. But right now, he felt completely nothing off. Except hunger.

More hunger.

He reached his paw out to grab the door handle, but his eyes caught something, stopping him midway. The knob had scratch marks.

Deep scratch marks. Embedded around the knob, just at the back edge. Hard to notice, but still noticeable.

Just another unsettling piece of evidence of his night journey.

He heard something. Something unsettling. It sounded like someone shaking a maraca.

But it didn't take long for him to really pinpoint what the noise was. He gulped.

It sounded like cereal falling into a bowl.

And yet, why was he able to hear it?

Something's just in the back of my head. Nothing big.

Isaac shook off the worry and opened the door, stepping into the living room. What he saw next was far from comforting.

"Sorry, Isaac, we ran out of eggs," Judy apologised. "Is cereal okay?"

He had clearly heard Judy pouring cereal behind a closed door several metres away.

"Are you okay, Isaac?"

Hide it.

"Y...yeah. I'm fine."