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Snake was exhausted by the time he got to Boris’s lab. It had taken every ounce of energy he had to beat on the door. Finally, Boris opened the door and asked, "What the hell happened to you?" as he stared at Snake’s beat up face, sagging shoulder and bleeding neck. “You got blood all over you!” Then he grinned and said, "Don't tell me the cop broad beat you up and shot you?"
Snake looked at him but said nothing as he staggered over to the faded, dirty couch. "Man, you got any whiskey. I'm about to pass out," he said in a weak voice.
Boris, his hand still painful from the dog bite, walked over to his lab cabinet and pulled out a bottle of cheap whiskey. He poured Snake a tumbler full and said, "Here, drink this, let me check your bullet wound."
"No, hell no, don't get near me," Snake roared with the last bit of strength he had. His eyes glittered dangerously and Boris could see he was half-crazed from pain and fatigue. "I can't be touched right this minute."
Boris sat in a chair across from Snake and said calmly, "Okay, man. Drink your whiskey. Then I gotta clean your wounds. We have a big day tomorrow and kickoff time is noon. I gotta have your hands doin’ the work and they ain’t gonna work like that,” he said as he looked at the bloodied, swollen fingers on Snake’s right hand. “If we don’t perform, we don't get paid, and you know what that means."
Snake nodded and leaned his head against the back of the sofa. Boris sat across from him and saw that his shoulder was steadily pumping blood. His clothes were saturated. He asked calmly, "Can you use your arm, man?"
Snake's eyes flew open and he stared at Boris. "Hell, yeah, I can use my hand and my arm. It just hurts like a son of a bitch."
Boris nodded, "That's good. I was worried about nerve damage because you’ve got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow morning and you need dexterity. Do you remember any of that?"
"Yeah," Snake hissed. "What? You think I’m confused or somethin’? I know everything. Now just leave me alone and let me rest a minute. Then you can fix my shoulder. Okay?" Snake’s eyes scanned the lab until they rested on the huge fish tank with the warm bluish-green water. The tank calmed him and he watched the fish swimming gracefully through the water dodging the brightly colored coral on the floor of the tank. Humph. It looked like fewer fish and where was the small blue-colored octopus? Snake continued to watch the fish as the whiskey numbed his brain and his shoulder. Then he noticed a bloody knife and the dead fish on the counter. “What the hell happened to all the fish?” he asked in a low voice.
"Nothing. Couple were sick. I cleaned out the tank," Boris muttered. “I’m gonna fix your shoulder now. Gotta stop the bleedin’. What the hell happened to your neck?”
“Bitch stabbed me with a high heeled shoe,” he said tersely. “I’m gonna kill her. Just wait and see.”
Boris laughed and got up and went over to the sink again. He removed a bag of IV fluids and a needle from a cabinet. He glanced at Snake whose eyes remained closed and said, "I'm gonna start an IV on you, give you some pain medicine and some sedation so I can get the bullet out. Then I’m gonna run some IV antibiotics so you don't get an infection. I need you as good as I can get you in just a few hours. Is that okay with you?" he asked as he peered at Snake’s pale face. Guy’s in bad shape. Damn, I wish I had a few units of blood. May have to go steal some from the hospital.
Sweat poured from Snake’s face, "Yeah, are you a doctor now? Get that needle in me. I'm in some serious pain,” he grimaced. “So much pain that I can't even think,” he added. Snake reached for his whiskey with a trembling hand and wrapped his fingers around the glass. He took a deep drink and peered at Boris as he walked over towards him with the supplies he needed to start the IV.
Boris smiled his menacing look, his skeletal face puckered at an unusual angel. “Yeah, I’m a doctor and a lot of other things you don’t know about,” Boris said. “It’s better you don’t know, actually,” he added with a grin.
“Yeah, so what the hell are you? You said you were a chemist and now you’re a doctor?”
Boris shook his head and said, “Somethin’ like that. Don’t worry ‘bout it. I’m gonna fix you up.”
“Yeah, sure,” Snake said as the needle pierced the flesh on his left hand. He felt the fluid entering his vein. For a moment he wondered if Boris was gonna kill him, not fix his shoulder.
“You’re one sorry ass mess. I can’t believe that stupid woman cop beat you up like this.” I should just pour some belladonna down his throat or inject some stuff in his IV. What an idiot he is. All for a woman. Boris shook his head and hesitated for a moment before he plunged another needle into Snake’s forearm. It'd be so easy to kill him... maybe I can do without him.
“You didn’t put any poison in that, did you?” Snake asked softly.
Boris shook his head and said, “Nope, not yet.”
“The cop didn’t shoot me. It was the dog and the old lady,” he slurred. “The same dog that got you.”
It was then Boris saw the dog bites up and down Snake’s opposite arm and leg. Yeah, one pitiful, sorry bastard. I’ll kill him tomorrow after it’s all done.