(Sweet Tooth #12-14) - Jepperd brought the deer hybrid Sweet Tooth to the preserve, but instantly felt guilt at having betrayed a young boy that had come to rely on him. 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 was brought to the showers and met Abbot’s brother Johnny. Johnny gave Sweet Tooth a candy bar, and made sure that when he was returned to the kennels he got to stay with his friends Bobby and Wendy. After a long hug the hybrid children shared the candy bar and snuggled up to sleep. 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. Back in his room Johnny looked at a picture he kept of him and his brother as kids, and wondered what’d happened. 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.

(Sweet Tooth #15, 17) - Two militiamen discovered the hybrids missing, and knew Johnny was responsible. They went to find the children using the tracking chips in their ear tags, and decided that since Abbot wouldn’t make his brother suffer any consequences for his actions they’d murder Johnny before Abbot got back. Johnny overheard the conversation, and knew he had to think fast. Soon after the militia recovered the hybrids and Abbot returned Jepperd stormed the Preserve with his friends Becky and Lucy and the unhinged cultists of the Animal Armies led by Glebhelm. Abbot sent Singh down to the kennels to safeguard the hybrids. 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, 25) - 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 Tooth 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. Singh ran outside, and Jepperd begged him to save Sweet Tooth’s life, but Singh said he’d already lost a lot of blood. Sweet Tooth had a vision of sailing a raft into the jaws of death, which appeared to him as a gigantic deer skull. 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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