(Sweet Tooth #7-9) - Abbot’s contact Jepperd brought in Sweet Tooth, a young deer hybrid boy in exchange for the remains of his beloved. 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. 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. Dr. Singh introduced himself to Sweet Tooth. Dr. Singh admitted that he’d done horrible things and killed hybrids to study them, but pleaded that he was desperately trying to find a cure for the sickness, which he’d labeled H5-G9, and he was humanity’s last hope. He was going to dissect Sweet Tooth, but when Abbot told him that he was nine years old, two years older than the first case of H5-G9 he knew his research would be better served by just talking to Sweet Tooth. Sweet Tooth said it was God’s plan to let all the non-hybrid children die of the sickness because that meant they’d go to Heaven, and Sweet Tooth was convinced that the people still alive only lived because they were sinners and God didn’t want them. He refused to talk about his life or his father with Singh when Singh said he believed Sweet Tooth hadn’t been born in the conventional sense, pointing out that he had no belly button. 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. He was more convinced than ever that the hybrids caused the sickness and understanding Sweet Tooth’s origins held the key to understanding the sickness.

(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) - Abbot and Singh returned to the Preserve and Singh wondered if he was grasping at straws seeking connections in the item’s found in Richard Faunin’s metal bod. In addition to the ID card there was a picture of a pregnant woman that he’d told Sweet Tooth was his mother and keys that Singh guessed might unlock something at the Alaska facility where Faunin was stationed. 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.  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 #18) - Sweet Tooth and company headed north, and even though he as reunited with Jepperd, Sweet tooth recognized that nothing seemed the same. He knew Jepperd was hurting from losing his son, and wondered if he was always in pain because in his heart he knew his son was out there. Sweet Tooth speculated that was the reason he’d done bad things, but his musings confused him, and he and Jepperd still avoided eye contact or talking to each other. They went to a mall to pick up winter clothes and camping supplies, and Wendy said she’d never seen snow in her life. Sweet tooth told her all about the fun he had playing in the snow when he was younger, and she was suddenly excited for winter. Jepperd and Singh were alone on one floor of the mall, and Lucy followed them, again pulling a gun on Singh and saying she was going to kill him. He pleaded that his work at the Preserve was meant to cure the sickness, but she said cutting up pregnant women and hybrid children was pure cruelty, not science. Sweet Tooth overheard the commotion and intervened. He said Singh had done bad things, but that didn’t make him a bad man, and Jepperd of all people should know that. He told Lucy killing Singh wouldn’t make her feel better, and she backed down, but warned Sngh to stay far away from her. Jepperd tried to reconnect with Sweet tooth, showing him he’d saved his Dandy children’s book, but Sweet Tooth said he was done with kids’ stuff. They slept in the mall overnight, and the next morning snow had fallen. Everyone had a fun morning making snow angels and having snowball fights. The companions made a snowman, and Johnny added branches for antlers so it was a Sweet Tooth snowman. For the first time in a long time Sweet Tooth felt joy and a hope for a future where things could be alright.

(Sweet Tooth #20, 22) - On their trek north Sweet Tooth and company went camping in the wintry woods. Becky, Lucy and Wendy were the first up, and decided to go scouting, but ended up lost, and then caught in a snare trap. A man named Walter Fish introduced himself to them. Jepperd and the others woke to find the women gone, and Jepperd brought Sweet tooth, against his objections, into the woods to look for them. Singh and Johnny watched the camp, and Singh noted that Bobby had dug himself a burrow under the campsite, and was preparing to hibernate. Singh said they would likely have to leave him behind, and when Johnny vehemently objected Singh said it was the will of God. Singh told Johnny about the bible Sweet Tooth’s father wrote, proclaiming his son a savior of the world, and Singh professed to being a believer and willing to follow Sweet Tooth anywhere. Walter cut the women down, saying the snare trap was probably laid by Haggarty, the ruler of a group of scavengers that plagued the woods. Lucy drew her gun on him, and he protested that she could she he was crippled and no threat to them. He offered to let them stay in his camp overnight so they could find their way back to their friends in the morning. The women cautiously agreed, and he led them to Project Evergreen, a self-sustaining community build within a dam. Evergreen ran on electricity generated by the dam, had a number of greenhouses, large stocks of canned food, and numerous lodgings. Fish said Evergreen was created by a group of environmentalists before the sickness, and when he and his family were starving and on the run, they miraculously found it. He said the environmentalists were long gone by then, and his family were safe for a time before they passed away from the sickness. Fish said he was thrilled to have company after such a long time alone, and offered them tea. Sweet Tooth and Jepperd ventured deep into the woods, and despite every effort to get him to talk Jepperd found Sweet Tooth unwilling. Jepperd said he knew he’d betrayed Sweet Tooth, but it was over one way or the other, and warned him he could have met far worse people than him. Sweet Tooth picked up on the women’s trail, and they eventually located the cut-open snare net. A bear charged from the woods and attacked. The bear mauled Jepperd’s face, but he still managed to kill it and protect Sweet Tooth. They had a moment where they reconnected. Dr. Singh came to the end of Faunin’s bible, his version of the Book of Revelations. Filled with pages of drawings of animal totems and the harbinger of the apocalypse Tekkeitserktock, who Singh recognized as Jepperd. Jepperd and Sweet Tooth found Project Evergreen and barged their way in. Lucy and the others filled Jepperd in, and he said there was no way they could trust Fish, and that Evergreen looked far too good to be true. Fish acted insulted, but said it was imperative they return to their camp and save the others before Haggarty’s raiders got to them. Back at camp Bobby emerged from hibernation, started by tremors in the ground. A group of men from Project Evergreen pulled up on snowmobiles, warning Johnny, Bobby and Singh that they weren’t safe. Fish, Sweet Tooth and the others arrived at the same time and Fish accused the men of being raiders about to execute their friends, begging Jepperd and Lucy to save them. Jepperd and Lucy shot the men down, even though Singh and Johnny objected that they were having a civil conversation. Fish offered them all places to stay at Evergreen, but Jepperd, Singh and Sweet Tooth were resistant and wanted to keep heading north. After a vote they agreed to return to Evergreen to rest and heal up for a few days.

(Sweet Tooth #23, 24) - Jepperd and Lucy curled up in bed, and started to kiss, but she then started crying. Jepperd asked what was wrong, but she simply asked him to leave. She looked in the mirror, noting that the sickness was now beginning to ravage her body. Bobby, Wendy and Sweet Tooth played hide-and-go-seek and Wendy and bobby tried to convince Sweet Tooth to stay at Evergreen with them. Wendy said they were finally safe and had food to eat, so they should make the best of it. Sweet tooth still felt compelled to learn his origins, and said he was determined to reach Alaska. Singh had been listening nearby, and asked Sweet mTooth if they could talk in private. Fish showed Becky and Johnny around the library, where Lucy found a book her mother read to her as a child. Johnny went to the bathroom, and Fish started creeping Becky out by comparing her to his daughter who he said died of the sickness, and pressing her on what her age was. When Johnny finished his business and said he was going to check on the kids Becky insisted on going with him. Singh showed Sweet Tooth his father’s bible, which overjoyed the boy, saying it smelled just like his dad. Singh said he was a believer in Faunin’s writings, and knew Sweet tooth was the key to saving the future. He warned Sweet Tooth of the apocalyptic White Demon Faunin warned of, believing him to be Jepperd. Sweet tooth insisted that Jepperd was a good man who’d done bad things, and Singh reminded him of how he’d abandoned his son Buddy to the wolf children at the Preserve. Jepperd was listening and told Singh he didn’t care what whacked out prophecies he believed, but if he ever mentioned Buddy’s name again he’d kill him. Jepperd and Sweet Tooth went outside to cut firewood, and Sweet Tooth confessed to being a sinner for killing a crocodile child at the Preserve to save Wendy. Jepperd told him he had no choice, and promised that as long as he was around Sweet tooth would never have to kill anyone again.  Sweet Tooth stopped crying, but then a shot rang out. Sweet Tooth was shot through the stomach and crumpled to the ground. The shooter kept firing, and Jepperd scooped Sweet Tooth up in his arms and ran to Evergreen. He saw Fish at the entrance, and accused him of being the shooter. Fish said he’d been watching his monitors and claimed it was Haggarty’s men that shot Sweet Tooth and he was just coming to help. Sweet Tooth had a vision of his soul leaving his body, ending up in a dead forest filled with skeletons of hanged hybrid children. A skeletal deer told Sweet Tooth to follow him, He led Sweet Tooth to a body of water where a ship was half-sunken into the water’s edge. Snow fell, and the scene shifted to an Inuit village where everyone had been slaughtered. In an igloo they found an Inuit woman shot through the head clutching a baby deer hybrid, who’d also been shot through the head. The deer told Sweet Tooth it was time to say goodbye. Singh and Lucy ran outside, and Jepperd begged him to save Sweet Tooth’s life, but Singh said he’d already lost a lot of blood. In Sweet Tooth’s vision he was sailing a raft into the jaws of death, which appeared to him as a gigantic deer skull.

(Sweet Tooth #25) - Singh, with the assistance of Lucy, performed emergency surgery on Sweet Tooth, removing the bullet lodged in his gut, but they ran out of plasma from Evergreen’s infirmary. They needed a universal donor since they didn’t know Sweet Tooth’s blood type, and Walter, who said he was O Negative, volunteered. In Sweet Tooth’s vision he entered the deer skull to find Abbot, Jepperd, and Buddy waiting for him. Abbot said there were only two doors to exit the land of the dead, and Jepperd refused to sacrifice his son or Sweet Tooth again, so Sweet Tooth had to kill Jepperd to live. Sweet Tooth’s hybrid body rejected Fish’s blood, and he started convulsing. Wendy volunteered to give him her blood, and another transfusion began. Sweet Tooth saw Wendy in his vision, and she said she was there to help him, but Jepperd insisted he had to die. He told Sweet Tooth he knew he thought he wasn’t strong enough to survive without him, but he was. Jepperd made Sweet Tooth promise to take care of Buddy, and Sweet Tooth, with tears in his eyes, plunged a knife into his chest. Wendy’s transfusion did the trick, and Sweet Tooth stabilized. As Sweet Tooth was in recovery Lucy told Jepperd and Singh they’d all talked, and come to the conclusion that they’d all stay at Evergreen. Jepperd accused Fish of manipulating them all to get rid of him, and promising them there was something wrong with Fish. Lucy said he was mad, and his quest for Alaska was mad. Lucy said they were all living on borrowed time, and they had a responsibility to keep the hybrid children safe, so they were staying. Jepperd wrapped his hand’s around Fish’s throat, demanding he confess to shooting Sweet Tooth. Lucy pointed a gun at Jepperd, forcing him to back down and leave. Lucy said he was a violent man who corrupted everything around him. Singh met Jepperd outside, telling him to stay at their old camp, and when Sweet Tooth was well enough he’d sneak him out and they could resume their journey north.

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