#chapter 7.2

Nah you're fine, she'd agree that this all should've been about her

Either I was faster than I thought, or this was a short chapter. Either way, it was a good one. I really feel like we made some progress on Taylor and Rachel getting along, and Taylor tagging along allowed Rachel to cure a dog of a potentially fatal disease, which I count as a win.

Next time... well, one of two options: Either we follow Taylor to get lunch, or we pick back up when she returns to the doghouse. If it’s the former, that’ll bode ill from the start - if there’s a chapter about Taylor going out for lunch, something’s bound to come up on that trip. Maybe she’ll run into someone, like Emma or Danny, or there’ll be some kind of parahuman situation going on.

I honestly think the next chapter starting when she comes back is more likely, but it not doing so is a possibility worth considering.

I felt my heartbeat speed up a notch.  “So this is really dangerous.”

“Yup.”  She tugged on the chain at his neck.

“Okay.”  I exhaled slowly.  “What can I do?”

Hehehe.

Yup.

“Keep out of the way for now.”

Sirius started to grow.  Muscles rippled underneath his black coat, and he yelped, pulling away.

“Couldn’t we maybe get him tranquilized, first?” I asked, watching the lab try to get away, despite the chains binding him.

Who knows how tranquilizers would interact with the power? Anyway, I’m fairly sure that even if it went without a hitch, Sirius would wake up shortly after becoming a hellhound, unless they used a dosage that’s probably lethal to regular dogs.

Bitch held the length of chain in her hands, keeping him in place.  “No.  My power would burn away the drugs.”

Ah, yeah, fair enough.

“He doesn’t like it.”

“It takes getting used to. But this is better than what he’d go through if a vet took care of it.  Safer.”

“If an animal is diagnosed with heartworms, treatment may be indicated. Before the worms can be treated, however, the dog must be evaluated for heart, liver, and kidney function to evaluate the risks of treatment. Usually, the adult worms are killed with an arsenic-based compound. The currently approved drug in the US, melarsomine, is marketed under the brand name Immiticide. It has a greater efficacy and fewer side effects than previously used drug (thiacetarsamide sodium, sold as Caparsolate), which makes it a safer alternative for dogs with late-stage infections.

After treatment, the dog must rest (restricted exercise) for several weeks so as to give its body sufficient time to absorb the dead worms without ill effect. Otherwise, when the dog is under exertion, dead worms may break loose and travel to the lungs, potentially causing respiratory failure and death. According to the American Heartworm Society, use of aspirin in dogs infected with heartworms is no longer recommended due to a lack of evidence of clinical benefit and may be contraindicated. It had previously been recommended for its effects on platelet adhesion and reduction of vascular damage caused by the heartworms.

The course of treatment is not completed until several weeks later, when the microfilariae are dealt with in a separate course of treatment. Once heartworm tests are negative, the treatment is considered a success.” (source)

“I don’t know dogs,” I said, following her into the herd of dogs just inside the building.  “I never had a pet, so I’m clueless here.”

Worth getting that on the table where they can both see it, I suppose.

“It’s heartworm.  Something dogs are supposed to take medicine to prevent, every month.”

“The owners didn’t, then?”

Ahh.

And hey, unlike flatworms, the roundworms responsible for heartworm infections don’t have eyespots. (Some aquatic roundworms do, but it’s unclear whether they can actually sense anything through them.)

Hm...

“Dogs show no indication of heartworm infection during the six-month prepatent period prior to the worms' maturation, and current diagnostic tests for the presence of microfilariae or antigens cannot detect prepatent infections.” (source)

Sounds like this might’ve been in Sirius’ body for months, but is still being detected earlier than it normally would.

“The shelter didn’t.  Lazy, cheap-ass motherfuckers.

Oof. People who are supposed to know what they’re doing. Those fuckers.

This is the second dog I got from that place that wasn’t taken care of.  And people who do adopt get a sick dog?  Fuckers, fuckers, fuckers.”

“What?” She sounded… annoyed was the wrong word.  She sounded ready to kill me, for interrupting her from setting the dogs up with fresh water.

“I think one of these guys is really sick.”

Her head snapped in my direction.  “Show me.”

Oh yeah, now that’s certainly gonna get her to care.

The dogs stopped fighting as she stalked toward us.  I took the opportunity to gingerly take hold of Sirius’s collar as she ushered the rest away.  She glowered at me, “Explain.”

It was hard to organize my thoughts, even without accounting for her intense scrutiny.  “Worms.  But not, like, tapeworm.  I-I can’t see through their eyes or anything.

I suppose they don’t have eyes, then. Flatworms (tapeworm being parasitic flatworms) do have simple eyespots, so I guess that’s what Taylor is using to rule them out.

Um.  I don’t know what they are, so I can only tell you what I know.  They’re mostly juvenile, only a few adult, um-”

“Above the heart, here?”  She pointed to a spot low in his chest.

I nodded.

At least if the worms are young, that might mean this is a recent development.

“And the arteries?  There’s one from here,” she pointed at the lab’s shoulder, “To here?” she traced her finger along his spine.

“That’s where a lot of them are.  But they’re not just there.  They’re everywhere inside him.”

Rachel seems to have some idea of where things are not as they should be. She might be able to tell based on something that is visible to the outside, but which Taylor wouldn’t be able to identify just by sight.

“Fuckers.  Those fuckers,” she growled.  “I warned them.”

Taking hold of the lab’s collar, she ordered the dog, “Come along, Sirius.”

Which fuckers are we talking about, specifically?

“Five months.”

“That’s pretty amazing,” I conceded, “I mean, she was abused before you got her, right?  So even with having to get her past that, and she’s already better trained than any dog I’ve seen that isn’t yours.”

Yeah, that’s honestly a fair point. Although there’s a chance the abuse involved excessive training in the first place. :/

“Walk on,” she instructed Angelica.  When Angelica didn’t pull, Bitch handed out treats to Brutus, then Judas, then Angelica in turn, without breaking stride.  “Dogs learn from their pack.  She learns some from imitating Brutus and Judas.”

Ah, I’m sure that helps a lot.

Brutus and maybe Judas probably used to pull on the leash just like Angelica. Brutus does indicate that Angelica “still” does it, after all.

I nodded.

“Most dog owners are retards anyways.”

“I can believe that.”