Changed: Part One

Thicker than Water

"Hey Doc, I need a favor."
"A favor, eh?" Doc looked up. He was sitting at his desk studying a textbook when Mouser spoke. 
"Yeah, a favor. You still doin' that med stuff?"
"Yeah, I am." He picked the book up meaningfully, a skinless image of a man showed on a page, and set it back down. "Why do you ask?" 
   Doc was one of us, a street kid whose mom worked at the local clinic. He would regularly "borrow" items and medicine to help out the other kids, and though we are pretty sure his mother knew about it she never put an end to it. A toddler gets a scrape and he was the one to put a band-aid on it. A boy get a cut and he was there to bandage it. So he was Doc to all of us, or "The Doctor", and it wasn't surprising that when he went to college that he went into the medical field. He could not afford it on his own but he was able to receive grants and scholarships, and what that did not take care of the rest of us did. I am not bragging when I say that I am not a bad thief, and it was me who supplied funds for a few of the books. Okay, maybe that is bragging a bit, but he was one of us. That's why I went to him you know. On our block we 
"I'm sick bro, an I don't know what's wrong with me."
"You're pale." Doc left his book he went into "doctor mode" and began to feel his forehead. As his fingers checked Mouser's pulse, his eyes on his wristwatch, he asked, "What symptoms?"
"I feel like I'm gonna puke and... and I get confused sometimes."
"Nausea. What do you mean confused?"
"Well, like, I get all... What's that word? Dis... Disoriental?"
"Disoriented?" 
"Yeah! Disorient... whatever."
"Well, your pulse seems fine. Though it is going a bit fast... Hold on." Doc shined a light into Mouser's eye and looked closely. The veins were black, not red. "You know, I would have just said flu but your eyes are... Well, I dunno what they are?"
"What do you mean?" Mouser asked, alarmed at the sudden change in his friend. His stomach growled and Doc smelled like his mom's pasta, What the-? STAY FOCUSED! "What's wrong with my eyes?"
"Well, hold on. Do you mind if I get a blood sample from you?"
"Blood? You thinkin' somethin's wrong with my blood?"
"The veins, in your eyes, look too dark. Almost black. I haven't seen it in any of my textbooks. Just... Let me take a sample, would you?"
"Fine. How long will it take?"
"Not long, Mouser. Not long. hold still," Doc said as he shifted and pulled from a plastic drawer full of medical supplies a needle and syringe. "Sit down here."
"Fine, But you know I don't like needles!"
"It won't hurt, just a quick pinch. And..." He plunged the needle into the vein. "... There we go."
Mouser's eyes widened as the blood poured into the vial. He had seen blood  being taken before and that was way too dark for blood. It was like liquid black licorice, and no red coloration at all. Doc pulled the needle and applied a cotton ball to Mouser's arm. 
"What the-?" They said in unison as they stared at the vial. 
"I'm sorry Mouser."
"Sorry? For what?"
"I don't know what's wrong with you."
"Man, I just been in here 20 minutes... Come to think of it, I feel better already. Maybe too long without eating. I'm hungry!" 
"Well, I'll check this out and get back to you. Go get something to eat."
"Okay, you know the rules."
"Yes, no one outside."
"Alright, see you."