Keystones: Altered Destinies by Alexander McKinney

of explanation but failed. “Sorry,” he stammered, “but I think I’ll be on my way.” He noted with great pleasure that walking was no longer painful.
    He wanted to get back to the vet to have the dog that bit him analyzed, but he also wanted clothes that weren’t covered in blood. As he left the hospital, Deklan came across a nearby clothing store.
    Despite the establishment’s proximity to a hospital, the lone sales attendant was not accustomed to patrons wearing bloody and shredded attire. “Sir,” he whined, “you can’t come in here dressed like that!”
    “Relax,” answered Deklan. “It’s an outfit for a costume party. I had a late night and didn’t bring a change of clothes.”
    “You still can’t come in here like that. You’ll scare away our other customers.”
    Deklan looked around the store. Unless he was very much mistaken, he was the only customer. “There are no other customers,” he observed. “Where are the pants?” Deklan marched toward the men’s section despite the poor clerk’s continued objections.
    Keeping pace with Deklan, the clerk tried to maintain a maximum possible distance between the two of them. Grabbing a few pairs of pants and a T-shirt, Deklan made his way into a changing room. Choosing pants that fit him, he walked over to the register, where the now resigned clerk let him swipe his Uplink to process payment.
    Disposing of his old and bloodied clothes in a trashcan on the street, Deklan then flagged down a taxi.

Venom

    Deklan buzzed the bell at the vet’s office, impatient for her to answer. After allowing the passage of a minute, he buzzed again. A shadow appeared through the glass of the door before it swung open.
    “Oh, it’s you,” Susan Anthony said.
    Deklan rewarded her with a flat look to make sure she understood just how much he appreciated that greeting. “Thank you for the warm reception,” he replied. “Did Brownie make it?”
    Susan bobbed her head up and down. “After I stitched him up, Paige insisted that she take him home. With anesthetic and antibiotics he stands a fighting chance of survival.”
    Deklan craned his head, trying to see beyond her, but all he glimpsed was the white waiting room behind her lined with posters that pertained to the anatomy of dogs and cats. “Good,” he said. “Can you tell me where that stray dog is?”
    “The one you killed?”
    “Yes.”
    Susan pointed down the hallway toward an open door. “I have it on an operating table. Why do you want to know?”
    “Well, for one thing I’d like to know whether I have rabies. I’d also like to know what the hell it did to my leg.” Deklan uttered the words with a calm that did not reflect his level of interest.
    Susan didn’t catch his deeper interest, and her words were offhand. “I’m testing the venom right now. And you don’t have rabies.”
    “Oh, well, that’s good.” Deklan replayed the last bit of their exchange in his mind. “Wait,” he added. “Venom?”
    “Yes.”
    Only Deklan’s wide eyes and wrinkled forehead betrayed him. “The dog had venom?” he asked again, just to make sure that he had not misheard.
    “Yes.”
    Deklan had to check her response one more time. “You mean, like a snake’s?”
    “A similar method of delivery, but you interrupted my analysis of the venom itself. Do you want to see what it is? I have to say, since you’re here rather than at the hospital, chances are that whatever compound entered your blood stream must not have been too toxic to humans.” Susan paused. “Even so, I’m surprised that you were in and out of the ER so quickly. I didn’t know the turnaround time was that fast.”
    “Yes, well, it was a slow day. Can we go see the readout?”
    Following Susan down the hallway, Deklan spotted the dog that had attacked him. On the autopsy table it looked smaller and less threatening than he remembered. Perhaps, he wondered, he could have found a more humane way to end the confrontation.
    Mild