(Sweet Tooth #5-7, 9) - Jepperd brought Sweet Tooth, a young deer hybrid boy, to Abbot in exchange for the remains of his beloved. Sweet Tooth had come to trust Jepperd completely, and begged for help as Abbot’s men dragged him to the kennel. In the kennel Sweet Tooth met several other hybrid children, Bobby, Buddy and Wendy. Only Wendy possessed more than rudimentary animal intelligence, and she warned him that the kennels used to have more hybrid children, but once Abbot took them away they never returned. Wendy told Sweet tooth that she’d lived her life hidden away on her mother’s farm until men she thought were good men came to stay with them. They ended up killing her mother and dragging her to the Preserve, and Sweet Tooth said he no longer believed in good men. They discussed breaking out of the Preserve when Abbot arrived, tranquilized Sweet Tooth and brought him to Dr. Singh’s lab to be examined. Sweet Tooth woke to she shackled pregnant women, and hybrid children who were being kept in cages or had been killed and dissected. Sweet Tooth huddled silently in his cell after his talk with Dr. Singh, who reported back to Abbot. He said they’d always assumed the hybrids were a byproduct of the sickness, but after learning that Sweet Tooth was born before the sickness, and working off the theory that Sweet tooth was grown in a lab, he was convinced that it was the hybrids that caused the sickness. Abbot told Singh that he’d better get answers from Sweet tooth soon, or he’d take over and cut up Sweet Tooth until he had the answers he needed. Singh tried to make friends with Sweet tooth again, and since he had only vague memories of his earliest year he wanted to try hypnotherapy on him.

(Sweet Tooth #10) - Singh promised Sweet Tooth he’d be able to go home if he helped him, and Singh began his hypnotic session with Abbot supervising. Sweet Tooth remembered his father Richard reading him his favorite book, The Grump Owl, and Singh asked him if his father had a lab or other scientific equipment. Sweet tooth said his father would never mess with such things, because he believed that science was what brought doom and the sickness into the world. Singh didn’t believe the story Richard told him about his mother dying in childbirth, reiterating his theory that Sweet Tooth was grown in a lab. Sweet Tooth told Singh about how Sweet Tooth would be a new Adam, the first in a new race to replace wicked mankind, who God was killing off with the sickness. He remembered how he’d once found where his father kept his bible, along with a photo of a woman Sweet tooth believed to be his mother. He remembered a map alongside the bible, that showed where their cabin was in the Long Pines Wilderness Park in Nebraska. Singh told him their session was over, and Abbot told Sing they’d bring their men to Sweet Tooth’s cabin immediately. Sweet Tooth was in a panic when Singh admitted he was lying about letting Sweet Tooth go back home, and Abbot ordered him returned to the kennels.

(Sweet Tooth #12) - Dr. Singh wrote in his files about the end times, the loss of his family and joining up with Abbot as Abbot consulted with his men on their next move.

(Sweet Tooth #13, 15) - Abbot and Singh took a helicopter to Kansas, where they located Sweet Tooth’s cabin. For the first time since his family died Singh felt full of life, fascinated by tackling and unraveling a scientific mystery. Abbot and Singh searched the farmhouse with Singh finding Richard Faunin’s bible. He thought it sounded like lunatic ravings, but noted a passage where Richard saying he couldn’t hide the secrets God gave him like he’d buried his own past and identity. Singh advised they dig the graves in the back of the farmhouse. One grave contained Faunin’s remains, and the other was empty except for a metal box containing Faunin’s government ID. His real name was Richard Fox, and he served as a member of a science division at the military’s Anchor Bay, Alaska facility. Abbot burned the farmhouse to the ground, and on the trip back to the Preserve Singh read more of Faunin’s bible. Faunin predicted they’d burn the farmhouse, and referred to Jepperd as a dark shepherd who’d rise to protect Sweet Tooth. Singh didn’t understand all the references, but Faunin again made an accurate prediction, Jepperd and his friends Becky and Lucy had formed an uneasy alliance with Glebhelm and his Animal Armies cultists to destroy the Preserve. Faunin said these events would be the beginning of the end, and a new prophet would be needed to replace him and guide Sweet Tooth so he could save humanity. Singh found himself starting to believe in Faunin’s powers of prophecy, and said “Amen” after a passage about the imperative of keeping Sweet Tooth safe at all costs.

(Sweet Tooth #16, 17) - Soon after Abbot and Singh returned to the Preserve Jepperd and the Animal Armies breached the Preserve’s front gate. 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, Becy and Lucy made their way to the kennels while the Animal Armies mowed down Abbot’s militia. Glebhelm, leader of the Animal Armies, 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.

(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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