Chapter 5 The Price

Legends of Yesterday bar, 2:00AM

The bar was lively but no longer packed. A group of burly bikers played pool together and clanked beer glasses as Lucas walked by and sat down next to his friend. His friend, Werewolf Frank.

"Ok I'm back. How was the furry party?" asked Lucas.

"Get this; I shifted to half form and they loved it. They thought my abs were polystyrene, " explained Werewolf Frank.

"Hahaha!"

"Then we all start dancing to drum & bass, I think. I don't know. I dropped like 3 tabs."

"Ut oh..."

"So apparently I feel something soft touching my ass while dancing. And this asswipe was behind me grinding me!"

"Oh shit..."

"So I swiped him back hard. He falls down and says "dude!" I said "get off me!""

"What happened?"

"He looked at me and said "Sorry mate. Thought you was a shela." Shela? DO I LOOK A WOMAN TO YOU?"

"Them aussie furries, man." Lucas chugged some beer.

"I am never going to a furry party again."

"Don't blame you."

"I scratched his costume up real good. I wonder if animal control is looking for me?"

"Doctor Reuben didn't mention anything to me."

Werewolf Frank put his beer down and said, "That's right! He's your roommate, isn't he?"

Lucas laughed, then said, "Yeah but he always bugs me about the rent."

The distinctive clicking of high heeled shoes caught their attention, despite the somewhat noisy atmosphere of the bar. They recognized the duller tone of the clicks. It was shoes they had heard before. Lucas gulped. Werewolf Frank looked down and gripped his hands nervously. Trouble was coming, wearing Marco Tozzis.

"Good evening, gentle creatures of the night, " said Fabiola as she walked up to their seats. "Staying out of trouble these days?" she asked somewhat nicely.

"What does the law want with us now?" asked Lucas as he turned his head slowly towards her.

"Got a high priority mission for you." She saw the bartender standing nearby and shook her head to the left. The bartender walked to the other side of the bar table. She put a folder on the table and opened it.

"Got a real piece of work here. This man was spotted near Tijuana yesterday. We think he's going to hire a coyote to get him across soon."

"So what does that have to do with us?" asked Lucas.

"Both of you are coming with me. You're going to track him down either in Tijuana or when he tries to cross the Tijuana river. Kill him or bring him to Border Patrol. Doesn't matter which."

"I don't know..." complained Werewolf Frank. "I've got moral compunctions about working with the devil."

"Don't, Frank, " sharply said Lucas. "She's got the entire community by the short hairs of our balls."

"Lucas here understands, Frank. Besides, you'll be helping our country stop a mutual enemy. Hezbollah is no friend you want."

Lucas and Frank both turned around to face Fabiola. "Look, lady. I don't owe Uncle Sam nothing. If humans want to die in droves fighting us, that's their funeral."

"Your continued existence is in our hands, shifter, " explained Fabiola. "Other nations are far less accommodating to your kind."

"For how much longer? Trump's the president now, " said Werewolf Frank.

"And they call us the freaks, " said Lucas.

Fabiola waved her hand. "Don't worry about him. He doesn't read the PDBs anyway. Not enough pictures."

"I don't know whether to laugh or to cry, " said Werewolf Frank. He grabbed his beer and quickly finished the glass.

Dr. Camacho's night clinic, 10:30pm

"Yes, I will doctor, " said the woman as she left the clinic. Dr. Camacho heard a loud grunting sound after the patient walked down the metal stairs.

"What was that?" asked Maddy.

The door opened up. The smell hit them before the sight, though the man was not wearing anything strange. He looked normal, but smelled like he had just crawled through a sewer.

"Hi doc!" said the man. "I need your help."

"WUHH!" Dr. Camacho said, trying to hold back puke. Air freshener...

"Damn, son, " said Maddy. "Did you fall into a septic tank?"

"Something like that."

"Can you like, go outside-"

"I'll help him!" said Dr. Camacho as he put on a respirator mask. "Follow me outside." In his right hand, he held a garden hose sprayer.

......

The patient sat next to the desk in the office as Dr. Camacho put away his respirator mask and garden hose sprayer.

"OK, tell me what happened."

"I was in my snake form, " the man began to explain, moving his hands around to describe the motions. "And I chased a mouse around a house. The little bugger went into a drain pipe so I chased after him. Before I knew it, I saw a bright light. I sensed a human kid. I was about to crawl out when I got sucked away. I managed to get out through a storm drain, I think."

"Talk about an unlucky experience, " said Dr. Camacho.

"You're telling me?! I'll never chase mice around a house ever again."

Dr. Camacho looked down for a moment, then looked at the patient. "Mr. Chase, did you notice any cuts or bruises?"

Mr. Chase looked around his close. "No, I don't think so."

"I don't fully understand how shifter physiology works, so I'm a bit confused as to why you stink, since you were not in human form when you got flushed. Your snake form should not have transferred this much stench to your human form."

"So...this is as bad as I thought?" asked Mr. Chase.

"We'll accept that it is a possibility, " said Dr. Camacho. He took out his prescription pad and started writing. "Since you don't feel ill right now, I'm giving you a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Do you have liver problems?"

"Fortunately not."

"I want you to come by tomorrow for a blood test and an antibiotic shot for your snake form." He reached into his drawer and took out a chain mail glove. "I hope you don't bite me, but I'm prepared either way."

"I hope not either, doc. You're the only one who understands us."

"That makes me both happy and scared to hear that at the same time."

"Why scared?"

Dr. Camacho took out a bottle of cologne. "Turn around please, " he told Mr. Chase. sprisss! He sprayed the man's back with a few shots of cologne. "This will hold off the smell until you get home. Check out with Maddy and I'll see you tomorrow."

.....

"Is he gonna live?" asked Maddy loudly from her office.

"We have an intercom, you know?" replied Dr. Camacho. He pressed the button. "Maybe. Do we have cholera in these parts?"

"Don't think so, " loudly said Maddy. She then pressed the intercom button. "We'll find out tomorrow."

Groan, more homework. Where's my tropical medicine book? wondered Dr. Camacho as he looked at his shelf. The cologne was starting to wear off and the man's stench was coming back. He cringed and thought This is going to be a long night.