(Sweet Tooth #13-15) - Dr. Singh studied Sweet Tooth, and was convinced that not only was he the first hybrid child, but suspected the birth of the hybrids caused the sickness, not the other way around. Sweet Tooth met Abbot’s brother Johnny, who hated what his brother was doing in the Preserve. Johnny made sure that when he was returned to the kennels he got to stay with his friends Bobby and Wendy. Sweet Tooth dreamed of his younger self walking with a deer-man that looked just like him. He asked the man who he was, and the man replied that it wasn’t time yet. Sweet Tooth woke in a fright, and he and Wendy talked about how they’d escape the Preserve and live the rest of their lives together at Sweet Tooth’s farmhouse. Johnny brought Buddy back from Dr. Singh’s lab, so the hybrid friends were all reunited. They sat around eating candy bars with Johnny until two militiamen men came in, and chided Johnny for letting the children out of their cages. They punched Johnny, telling him Abbot wasn’t around to protect him, and Abbot was getting sick of his bleeding heart. As a warning to stop treating the children like people they bloodied Sweet Tooth’s nose. Johnny apologized before he had to leave, but Sweet Tooth told him to stay away from them. Sweet Tooth bemoaned not listening to his father and staying in the woods, and Bobby tried to comfort him saying he was glad to have a new friend who made him feel safe. Johnny opened the kennels and told Sweet Tooth and company that he was going to help them escape. He opened the sewage pump, which drained into a nearby river and was the only exit from the Preserve besides the main gate. He told the children to crawl through until they saw light, and promised to join them the next morning. In the pipes an alligator child lurked and bit into Wendy’s arm. Sweet Tooth reacted, bashing the hybrid’s head in with a brick. Wendy was happy he saved her, but felt for the alligator boy, who she was sure was just alone and afraid when he attacked. Sweet Tooth said he had no choice, and they had to keep moving. When they reached the outside Sweet Tooth said they weren’t going to wait for Johnny, and he’d lead them back to his farmhouse right away. Little Bobby kept saying he couldn’t keep his eyes open, so the children made camp for the night. Wendy wanted to know more about the farmhouse, and Sweet Tooth said they’d always be safe there, they could tell each other stories at night because he knew how to read, and they’d all sleep in bunk-beds, not cages. Sweet Tooth and Wendy fell asleep in each others arms. Jepperd was on his way to the Preserve after striking an uneasy alliance with the Animal Armies, the animal-masked cultists who’d plagued Sweet Tooth in the past. Jepperd and Sweet tooth both shared the same dream. They were at a military facility in Alaska, and Sweet Tooth was with Dandy, a baby deer from a children’s book he loved. Jepperd shot Dandy before spotting Sweet Tooth, and the two locked eyes before waking up in a fright.

(Sweet Tooth #16, 17) - Abbot’s militiamen discovered Sweet Tooth and his friends missing, and found them relatively quickly using the tracking chips in their ear tags. Just as Sweet tooth and the hybrid children were brought back to the Preserve Jepperd and the Animal Armies breached the Preserve’s front gate, and Abbot ordered Singh to bring the hybrids down to the kennels and keep a watch over them. Jepperd’s memory of his wife was starting to fade, and he realized he was completely driven by saving Sweet Tooth, an innocent, from Abbot. Jepperd, Becky and Lucy made their way to the kennels while the Animal Armies mowed down Abbot’s militia. Glebhelm did take notice of Jepperd leaving the battlefield. Abbot confronted Jepperd, who told Lucy and Becky to go find Sweet Tooth while he dealt with his nemesis. Abbot taunted him about not being a man because he couldn’t save his wife’s life, and he allowed Jepperd to beat him bloody before claiming that he’d lied when he’d said Jepperd and Louise’s son died soon after being born. Abbot stabbed Jepperd in the chest, and Abbot defiantly told him that his world was crumbling around him as the Animal Armies continued their onslaught. Abbot promised to gut Jepperd, and kill his son afterward. Abbot’s brother Johnny hit him in the head with a rifle, and begged him to leave the Preserve and all the evil he’d done behind, saying they could go back to being best friends like when they were children. Abbot attacked Johnny with his knife, and in the struggle Johnny’s rifle went off, blowing off Abbot’s hand, and Abbot fled. Lucy and Becky checked the maternity ward, but no women pregnant with hybrids were present, and they continued on until they reached the kennel. Lucy recognized Singh, who was watching Sweet Tooth and the others, as the man who’d delivered her baby and left scars on her she still had to that day. She put a gun to his head, but Becky told her not to kill him in front of the children. Glebhelm caught up to them, and sicced his wolf children on them. They fled and ran into Jepperd and Johnny, but horse hybrid Buddy was caught by the wolf children, who began to maim him, and dragged him away. He called out to Jepperd, calling him da-da, and Singh admitted that Buddy was his child. It broke Jepperd’s heart, but the militia were returning to the kennels, and they knew if they didn’t immediately flee they’d all be lost, so he was forced to leave Buddy to his fate. Abbot surveyed the Preserve, and although they suffered heavy losses the Animal Armies had killed virtually all of his militia. Abbot returned to the kennel, and seeing Buddy being mauled shot a round into the ceiling to scare the wolf children away before firing a round into Glebhelm’s head, saying Glebhelm’s wolf boys now belonged to him. Jepperd and company were a safe distance away and Jepperd was about to have a nervous breakdown after losing his son a second time, but Lucy said he had to stay strong because the hybrids were their children and their responsibility now. Singh persuaded Lucy not to kill him by revealing the notes he’d found from Sweet Tooth’s father that revealed he was a science advisor from Alaska. They agreed to seek out Sweet Tooth’s origins in hopes of finding a cure for the sickness.

(Sweet Tooth #25) - Abbot and the remaining members of the Animal Armies, now loyal to him, hit the road looking for Jepperd. Abbot kept Jepperd’s son buddy on a chain and had him follow behind him. Using the wolf children as bloodhounds they caught Jepperd’s scent near a mall where he, Sweet Tooth and company had celebrated Christmas.

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