Baudelaire and Shadow got Rocky home and into bed the minute they walked in the door. Rocky was complaining about being hungry, Since he moved in with Shadow and Thom, Rocky was constantly eating. Shadow even videotaped him eating to show Thom how he just swallowed the food whole. Tonight, he was crying and complaining he was hungry even though he just ate. Rocky no longer was looking like a cat, but a bowling ball. Shadow felt guilty that she didn’t feed him again. When she was a kitten, she didn’t get much love or properly fed. Both her and Thom were always given in to Rocky’s hunger pleas as a result. Rocky’s eating disorder brought into question Shadows’ lack of love as a kitten. She realized she was trying to make up to Rocky what she did not receive. “Meow, I need to make an appointment with a therapist,” she said aloud…

Nurse Blissful returned with the Director of Infectious Diseases. “Hello, Baudelaire and Shadow. I hear we are having a miscommunication over the needs of Rocky. I understand you want to take him home; however, we would like a chance to find an antidote to reverse the horns growth process,” said the Director. “He is not staying another night. We are taking him home today. Nurse Blissful here has hurt him during her watch over him,” said Shadow. “Now, now that’s a disturbing accusation. Nurse Blissful is one of the most trustful and reliable nurses we have here,” said the Director.

“I don’t care what you say. Rocky is coming home with us tonight. Nurse Blissful will no longer be able to hurt him,” said Baudelaire. “Baudelaire, aren’t you being unreasonable. I just told you Nurse Blissful is our most trustful nurse,” said the Director. “Look, Rocky told us she is hurting him at night. Rocky doesn’t lie. Come on Rocky we are leaving,” “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Rocky is a threat to national security. We need to figure out why he grew the horns,” flatly said the Director. “She is hurting me. She’s a liar,” said Rocky.

“If he has to stay here, then I insist Nurse Blissful be removed from watching over him,” said Baudelaire. “OK, we can compromise on that. Nurse Blissful I’m reassigning you to another patient. You are not to come near Rocky,” said the Director. “That’s not good enough,” said Shadow. He’s coming home with us tonight. Rocky would not hurt a fly. National security risk, are you serious?” continued Shadow. Shadow took hold of Rocky’s hand and started to get him off the bed. “Alright, he can go home with you. But, you must bring him back tomorrow, so we can conduct more tests,” said the Director. “Deal,” said Baudelaire. With that the three of them started walking toward the elevator…

Forty-eight hours have passed. The doctors determined the horns Rocky grew were not contagious and the vaccine they gave him was not the COVID-19 vaccine but an experimental drug called Heffer-29.

They released shadow and Baudelaire, and they allowed them to see Rocky. “Rocky, I’m so sorry we abandoned you. They wouldn’t let us see you. They put us in quarantine rooms until they knew your horns weren’t contagious. Apparently, some idiot gave you the wrong shot, and you got an experimental shot instead. It’s why you grew horns,” said Baudelaire. “hopefully, they have an antidote to reverse the process,” said Shadow. “Shadow, I need to tell you something. Nurse Blissful is hurting me at night. She comes into my room at night and digs her fingers into my wounds.

“What!” said Baudelaire and Shadow in unison. “I’ll scratch her eyes out,” hissed Shadow. Just then Miss Blissful came into the room. “Ah, I see the happy family is reunited,” said Nurse Blissful. Nurse Blissful made her way toward Rocky, and Rocky flinched. “We know you have been hurting him at night. His reaction to you getting close to him proves that,” said Baudelaire. “Plus, Rocky doesn’t lie,” hissed Shadow. “This is preposterous. I never laid a hand on him,” forcibly said Nurse Blissful. “We are taking him home today,” said Baudelaire. “You’re not taking him anywhere,” snapped back Nurse Blissful. “We still need to conduct tests on him to determine how to remove the horns,” said Nurse Blissful in an authoritative voice. “You’re not conducting any more tests on him. He goes home with us today,” said Shadow. “We’ll see about that,” said Nurse Blissful as she stormed out of the room headed toward the Director of the Infectious Disease Department…

The two chaperones led Baudelaire and Shadow to their own quarantine room. The men took blood and tissue samples from each.

They told them they needed to wait 48 hours to determine if the strain of COVID-19 exposed them. Baudelaire and Shadow were not happy upon hearing the news. The rooms were small and felt confining. Shadow nervously chased after her tail in circles as the hours went by. Baudelaire licked his paws non-stop as the tension built in him.

Meanwhile, Rocky was in pain and felt alone. He wondered why Shadow and Baudelaire left him. Nurse Blissful checked in on him often. She told Rocky they would soon move him to a quarantine room, now that he recovered from the operation. She also came in the middle of the night and dug her fingers into his wounds, making him wince with pain. Nurse Blissful disliked cats. She thought cats were evil…

“Shadow, I’m just angry as you are. I thought they were just going to draw blood from Rocky. If I knew they planned on operating on him, I wouldn’t have brought him here” said Baudelaire, still in shock that they operated on Rocky. Just as he finished his sentence, Nurse Blissful entered the room. “I need you two to follow me. Rocky may have exposed you. We don’t know if the horn growth is airborne. We need to draw your blood and then place you in quarantine until we know it’s not contagious,” said Nurse Blissful. “What about Rocky? We were told we could see him,” said Baudelaire now standing up and glaring at Nurse Blissful. “We are not going anywhere until we see Rocky. You must take us by force,” said Shadow. “I can arrange that, snapped Nurse Blissful. “Wait, wait, what harm would it be for us to see Rocky and then you do your tests on us?” said Baudelaire, trying to calm Nurse Blissful. “Very well, you can see Rocky then will draw the blood and you then will enter quarantine for 48 hours,” said Nurse Blissful. “Follow me. I’ll take you to him,” said Nurse Blissful.

Upon entering Rocky’s recovery room, Shadow saw from a distance that bandages were both on Rocky’s head and paw. Both Baudelaire and Shadow were deeply upset. “You have five minutes, so make the best of it,” said Nurse Blissful as Shadow and Baudelaire approached Rocky’s bed. “Rocky, can you hear me? It’s Shadow and Baudelaire. We’re here for you,” said shadow as she grasped his right paw. “Oh, oomph, groaned Rocky as the pain awoke him. “Ok, your five minutes are up. Time to go,” said Nurse Blissful as she grabbed Shadow’s arm. “Let go of my arm. I’m coming. Bye Rocky, I’ll be back soon. We have to go into quarantine for 48 hours. I love you,” said Shadow as two men chaperoned her and Baudelaire out of the room…

“Click, click, click,” Nurse Blissful was cutting the last of Rocky’s nails off. “All done, doctor, said Nurse Blissful. “Great, we didn’t want him scratching us to death when he wakes up,” said Dr. Pseudo. “Scalpel,” “Dr. Psuedo began to make cuts in Rocky’s head around the root of the horns. He then removed the skin and a piece of the horns. “Blood pressure is 130./90,” said Ms. Blissful. Next, he took the scalpel to Rocky’s paw and removed a claw.

Rocky was dreaming he was being tortured. He felt pain in his head and on his left paw. He was dreaming he was on an operating table, and parts of his body were being removed. He felt the pain. “Blood pressure is 140/80,” said Nurse Blissful. “Ahhh, oooH,” moaned Rocky. “Dr. he’s awake,” said Nurse Blissful. “I’m done for now. He can go to the recovery room,” said Dr. Pseudo.

Meanwhile, back in the waiting, hours have gone by and Shadow was getting concerned. “What is happening to him,” said Shadow to Baudelaire. “I don’t know,” said Baudelaire. “I swear Baudelaire if they hurt him in any way, I’ll never forgive you,” Just then a hazmat-suited orderly walked in and said, “Rocky is out of surgery and is recovering. You can see him in a half-hour.” “Surgery!” “What are you talking about. He didn’t need surgery. What have you done to him?” said Shadow in a very angry voice. “Baudelaire, you told me nothing would happen to him. Do something,” said Shadow…

Once through the door, A woman pushing a wheelchair in a blue hazmat suit greets the man and Rocky. When she reaches Rocky, the hazmat suit man placed Rocky in the wheelchair. “My gosh, look at his horns. I heard he had grown horns, but I just didn’t believe it,” said the woman as she began to push Rocky down the hallway to another secured door. This time, the nurse had to place her hand in a band. There was a clicking sound and the nurse said, “oomph.” The needle inside the band withdrew blood. “Welcome, Nurse Blissful. You are approved for entrance,” said the android-sounding voice over the speaker system. Ms. Blissful and Rocky went through the opening door. When the doors closed, Ms. Blissful said in an evil tone, “Now the fun begins.” Rocky felt shivers from his tail to his head. He was terrorized at what was coming next.

Ms. Blissful pushed rocky down a long institutionalize looking hallway to an operating room. She leaned down and picked up rocky and placed him on the operating table. She then removed the blue blanket he was wrapped in and placed an IV in his arm. “Good afternoon, Ms. Blissful,” said Dr. Psudeo as he made his way to Rocky. “Hey there young man, we are just going to conduct and take samples from you, so we can figure out what happened and how to get you back to normal. I know you must be scared. You’ll be under anesthesia while we do our tests, You won’t feel a thing. I promise,” said Dr. Psuedeo. Nurse Blissful stepped to the IV and injected the liquid into it. Within moments, Rocky was in deep sleep. “Why did you lie to him?” said Nurse Blissful. “I didn’t want him attacking us in trying to escape,” said Dr. Psudeo. “Did you see those nails?” “Yes,” said Nurse Blissful. “I’ll cut then now just in case,” she said…

When the elevator doors closed, they began to descend into the concept that was built underground. Each level before they other was more secure than the one before. On the eighth floor, security was extremely tight and high-tech. Baudelaire stepped over to the elevator wall and stared at a mark on the wall “Welcome FBI Agent Baudelaire. Please hold your right-hand up to the scanner, Thank you, your security level has been recognized. You may now exit the elevator with your guests,” said an android-sounding voice over the loud speakers in the elevator,

As soon as the elevator doors opened, three men dressed in hazmat suits were waiting for them. One of the men in the hazmat suits stepped forward and took Rocky from Baudelaire, he then proceeded down the hallway to a secured door. He looked at a spot on the wall and then did the palm scan. “Your guest and yourself must wait while we conduct tests on John Doe. I’ll show you to the waiting room,” The door opened up and the hazmat suit wearing man began to walk through it. Rocky began to cry. He was awake from his nap and now was feeling scared. “You have better not hurt him in any way, or you’ll have me to answer to,” said Shadow as she wiped away tears. Just then the two other men in the hazmat suits said to Baudelaire and Shadow, “Come with us. We will show you to the waiting room…”

The blue, sedan Volvo sped though the twisting and winding road. Shadow and Rocky sat in the backseat each had black hoods on their heads, so as not to know where they were going, Suddenly, the Volvo came to a halt. Two people emerged from a building and headed toward the car. One grabbed Rocky and the other took Shadow by the hand and led them inside. Once inside, Baudelaire led Shadow and Rocky to an elevator. When the elevator arrived, Baudelaire who was holding Rocky led Shadow into the elevator. Once inside, Baudelaire removed the hoods from Rocky and Shadow. “You don’t have to wear these anymore,” he said. Baudelaire then his button number eight. Instead of going up, the elevator went down. Shadow realized they were going to go 8 floors underground.

Upon reaching the 8th floor, Dan met Baudelaire at the elevator. Baudelaire had called Dan and let him know they would be arriving at the base shortly. “Is this the John Doe?” asked Dan. “His name is Rocky,” said Shadow with sarcasm. “Who’s this?” said Dan to Baudelaire. “It’s his sister. She insisted on coming. She’s harmless,” said Baudelaire. “You hurt my brother and you’ll see how harmless I can be,” said Shadow angrily.

With that,” Dan took Rocky from Baudelaire’s arms and placed him in his. He pulled the blanket back and saw the horns. His eyes glazed over with shock. “Well, they look real,” said Dan while scratching his head. “I’ll take him back to the Infectious Disease Specialist now, so they can conduct tests on him and determine what happened,” continued Dan as he turned his back to Baudelaire and shadow and walked to a panel in the wall that then proceeded to scan his iris. Moments later, hidden doors opened and he stepped through only to disappear when the doors closed…

“Knock, knock,” Baudelaire, knocked strongly on Thom and Shadow’s apartment door. Shadow answered the door, “Hi, Bo. What did you find out?” “Well, you’re not going to like this. I need to bring Rocky to the base. They don’t believe it. They need to see him in person,” said Baudelaire. “You’re not taking Rocky to some lab that caused this. Rocky will not be hurt by the FBI. What if they start performing tests on him that hurts him? He already has been through so much. I won’t allow it,” said Shadow with a firm voice. “I’m afraid you don’t have much of a say in this,” said Baudelaire. “If I don’t take him, they’ll just send some other agent with legal documents to take him in,” said Baudelaire. “I’m sorry,” he added. “Can you please get Rocky now?” he said. “I won’t forgive you if they hurt him,” said Shadow starting to walk toward the living room where Rocky slept.

“Rocky, you need to wake up. Baudelaire needs to take you to the base station where you got the vaccine,” said Shadow trying to hold back her tears. “I promise you won’t be hurt,” said Shadow hating that she may be lying to him as she gently picked him up. She then walked to the front door where Baudelaire stood waiting. “Can you get a blanket to cover his horns,” said Bauldeiare. Shadow handed Rocky to Baudelaire and then turned and walked to the hall closet that had extra blankets in it. She grabbed one and then returned to the front door. Baudelaire wrapped Rocky in the Blanket and then proceeded to walk to his car. Shadow at the last moment said, “I’m going,” Baudelaire said, “Fine.”

As Shadow stepped into the car, Buldelaire handed her a black hood. “You know the drill. Put it on,” said Baudelaire who then started the car engine and began to drive back to the secret base…