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“You don’t need me for that, right?”
I turn and show him the bite wound on my neck.
“I’d like to go and get fifty tetanus shots, so I’m taking off.”
He looks at the wound, but doesn’t say anything. Just nods.
“Be at headquarters early tomorrow. We’ll have work to do.”
“Sure.”
Like today wasn’t work.
I head back down the tracks and up onto the train platform. I wonder what the watercooler talk will be like tomorrow, now that people know all the gossip about me is true. That I’m not entirely human and I’m really good at killing things. Too bad I don’t have a car. I bet I could get a really good parking space now.
I take a quick look around to make sure I’m alone and step into the shadow of one of the concrete palm trees.
I COME OUT of a shadow in the parking lot by Allegra’s clinic. It’s in a strip mall next to a nail salon and a pizza delivery joint. A sign on the clinic door says EXISTENTIAL HEALING. I knock on the glass. Fairuza opens up.
“Hey, Stark,” she says. “Candy already went home.”
“Good. I’m here to see Allegra.”
I touch my neck and show her the blood. She just opens the door. Everyone here is pretty used to seeing me bleeding.
Allegra comes out of the examining room, wiping her hands on a towel. Her café au lait skin contrasts with the bright white medical lab coat.
She comes over and gives me a loose hug, trying to not get rain from my coat all over her.
“He’s fucked up again,” says Fairuza.
Allegra’s brow furrows.
“What happened?”
“A dead man bit me. Sort of dead. Walking around dead, but not a zombie. I just figured I should get it cleaned out or something.”
“Look at you being sensible for once. Come on in.”
“Need any help?” says Fairuza.
“No. I’ve sewn this one back together more times than I can remember.”
She has me take off my coat and shirt and sit on the exam table.
She cleans off my neck with Betadine. I hate the smell of hospitals and clinics. They make you feel like you should be sick just stepping inside.
“That hurts.”
“Baby,” says Allegra. “I’d ask how the new job was working out, but you walking in here voluntarily tells me everything I need to know.”
“They make me get up early too,” I say. “It’s pure abuse.”
“The good news is that there’s a lot of blood, but the wound itself isn’t bad. I have a salve that will help the healing.”
“I’m good at healing all on my own. I just don’t want rabies or lockjaw or diaper rash. Whatever a corpse bite can give you.”
“I haven’t had a lot of experience with this, so I’m going to take some blood and give you a wide-spectrum antibiotic.”
