Chapter 2 Up the tree

Elk Grove Night Clinic, 11:00PM

Dr. Camacho scrolled absentmindedly through the insurance docs on his computer, mostly looking for a certain billing code. He had received only two human patients all night, and both were easy to help (free flu shots). {It's quiet...too quiet, }, he thought. He opened up his email and started writing a text message to his girlfriend: Looking forward to your ret-.

His email was interrupted by the front door swinging open. "Help, doc!" screamed a man with a slightly shrill voice.

"What happened?!" Maddy in the lounge asked as Dr. Camacho opened the door to his office. They saw 4 men in hunting outfits carrying in a man, each man holding one limb.

"It's Jake! He fell out of a tree!" said the man holding Jake's left arm.

"Why didn't you bring him to County Medical ER?!" asked Maddy.

"Special case!"

"Bring him in here, guys!" strongly asked Dr. Camacho as he ran to the X-RAY room and opened the door.

The strong men carried their ailing, groaning friend, then as best as they could, gently lifted him onto the X-ray scanning table.

"UNNGH!" said Jake. "My baackk!" he said loudly.

"Can you give me more details about what happened?" asked the doctor as he put on his gloves.

"Yeah, " said a man wearing a MEGG (Make Elk Grove Great) hat. "We were bear romping in the mountains when we came across a house. Jake here was going through the garbage when a cat saw him and chased him up a tree."

"A cat? Really?" asked Reuben as he booted up the X-Ray machine.

"I couldn't control my instincts! Aghgh!" Jake complained but talking made him hurt worse.

"So he climbed up the tree. He started waving to us-"

"And the limbs broke, " said a man wearing an orange hunting vest and Raiders hat. "He landed his back on-"

"On a tree root, " said the man wearing the MEGG hat.

"Then the cat bit him and peed on him, " said the man wearing the military sweater that didn't match the color of his pants.

"That pussy! Next time I swear I'll eat him instead!" shouted Jake.

"Hold him on his side so I can take the scan, " requested Reuben.

"OK doc. He didn't shapeshift back well, " explained the mismatched sweater man, "and he's been complaining about the pain."

"ARRRGGGH!" screamed Jake as they rotated him. He gripped the table's metal supports.

"Alright, everyone out now. X-rays are not safe, " said Reuben. The men left the room and Dr. Camacho followed after setting up the X-Ray machine on his back.

After taking the pictures, Dr. Camancho came in with the men and put Jake painfully onto his stomach.

"I'm going to give you an ice pack and a shot for the pain, then I'll check your X-rays, OK Jake?"

"Yeah...I'm just gonna lay here, doc. Not going anywhere."

A few minutes later, Dr. Camacho came back in as his friends sat down in the lobby and helped Maddy with the admittance forms.

"I took a look at the X-rays. You're lucky your bear form can take a hit. That impact would've broken the back of a regular man."

"Why does it hurt so much? I thought in my bear form we don't get hurt as much, " asked Jake.

"It's not that simple. A portion of your body is changed into a bear while the other half sits in the atomic space between your cells. Unfortunately, where you hurt was part of the bear form, " explained the Dr. Camacho. "This is why I always tell shifters to wait for your food to digest before changing back so you don't get sick."

"OK. There...might be...another problem, " said Jake, his eyes a bit open now that the pain was subsiding.

"What could there be that's worse than bursitis and a pinched nerve?"

"I...can't recall well...but...while roaming on my own...I...mighta...sexed another bear."

"Oh. That's not a problem at all, " Dr. Camacho responded as he wrote something on a pad.

"Won't she have human babies because I'm human?" asked Jake.

"No. Because any cubs born will be bear only, since you were in bear form. Animal to human shifters haven't been seen in millenia, though the last one was reported around Oregon by a native tribe long ago."

"Well, that's a relief."

"Also, your spine wasn't broken, but I can't give you opiates. State regs." He helped Jake to his feet. "I want you to take this to the physical therapy department at Folden Medical."

"But the HMO-" Jake complained but Dr. Camacho interrupted.

"-will cover this. I already checked. They might get mad at me for skipping the ambulance, but they'll get over it. Don't do anything strenuous for the next few days. That includes shifting!"

"Aww, doc.."

"I mean it! I'm not sure how Dr. Li will handle your care, but I believe he'll want you off your feet for the next few days. Go to Folden, get checked it, and have your friends bring some clean clothes and stuff from your house."

"Yes, doc..."

Apartment, 5:00AM

Dr. Camacho set his satchel down as he closed the door. The apartment was dark, as always. He switched on the lights and looked around. He looked at their weird Dali-ish art on the walls. {Totally not my style}, he thought as he walked over to the kitchen. Why can't my roommate- oh shit! He quickly raced over to the windows overlooking the city and swung open the side window. A bat flew in and landed on the couch. sccript! The bat transformed into a human. A pale young man an inch under six feet, wearing a thin leather jacket and white waistcoat, was on the couch. He casually flipped his lightly curled hair up as he looked up to Reuben.

"Sup dawg. Couldn't leave a window open, could you?" he asked with a biting tone.

"Forgot you were working tonight, Lucas, " said Reuben as he closed the window. He walked over to the fridge.

"How many roommates do you have that fly in thru the window?"

Reuben threw him a beer. "Does Sam count?" He took out a bottle of tea.

"He went out the window, didn't he?" Lucas looked at the beer. "Why'd you give me the cheap shit?!"

"Because your cheap ass hasn't paid the rent!" Reuben noted as he flopped down on the other couch facing Lucas. He removed the hairband holding back his long hair.

"I get paid tomorrow from club Opal, and Thursday I should have enough when Trinity pays." Lucas took a sip, then changed his accent to a drier Nebraska tone. "Why you bugging me anyway? You're a hotshot city doctor. Don't you boys get paid by the busload?"

"I wish my student loans didn't cost as much as two buses. But you see, roommates share the rent. Where's last month's by the way?"

"I'm paying it all tomorrow. God, you're worse than my mother."

"Did your mother make you pay rent on time too?" joked Reuben.

Lucas lifted his lanky legs and put his feet on the ottoman between the couches. "No, she only kicked me out for being gay. I wasn't even gay at the time! How did she know?"

Reuben looked to his left, found the protective cloth neatly folded, and picked it up. "Women have a way with these things, " he said as he lifted Lucas' feet and put the cloth under his shoes then dropped them back down.

"Always heard gaydar was a myth. People always say they have it and they get it wrong."

"Some studies say yes and some say no." Reuben opened his bottle. "How was the club?"

"I was at...Richardo's. Usual scene. Some familiars begged me to drink their blood, so I obliged."

"Did you use the draw kit I made for you?"

"No. I'm a biter, not a phlebotanist."

"It's phlebotomist, dingbat, and I told you about this already. You're going to get an infection. At the very least, it's not sanitary."

"I've been a vampire for around 25 years. I got a nose for these things, doc. Never bite the sick ones."

"Let me guess, AIDS has a smell?"

"Vampires can't get HIV."

"They can certainly get the clap and the burning piss, at least. Use the draw kit."

"But it doesn't draw that much blood!"

"You're a vampire, not a hemophiliac. You don't need as much as the movies think you do."

"It's more fun this way, fits the myth. The legend. It won't impress the girls if I use a draw kit!"

Reuben laughed and then said "You know what would impress me? You doing the dishes!"

"Man, them dishes are fine!" Lucas then turned his head. A pile of dishes were in the sink. A shadow moved around them. He thought it was a cockroach. "On second thought, " he put down his cheap American beer and went over to the sink. "I'd better deal with this before the health inspector shuts us down."

The sink became a blur as Lucas used vampire magic to speed himself up, washing the huge pile of dishes in barely a minute. He turned to Reuben, smiled and bowed. "That's my monthly chore, done and done."