If you haven't read part one, click here.

Last time the Good Doctor, a werewolf, gave up on curing himself. Before the village finds out he's a werewolf, he considers ending his life. We fast forward a week later, in the Good Doctor's clinic.

The Good Doctor Part 2 by Kim Robinson

In the middle of the week, the cobbler's boy waltzed in my clinic.

"Hiya, doc'," said with a wave. "Whatcha up to?"

I arched a brow at him. I held my pencil and the journal high. "Nothing much. Doctor stuff."

"Neat," he said. I eyed him as he walked around, looking at the various tools, medicines, and such in the clinic. After minutes of silence, he finally made eye contact.

"How can I help you?" I asked, trying to maintain a friendly smile.

His gaze went to the ground. "I just came by, uh, wonderin' what could happen if you're a werewolf."

My posture stiffened. "You're a werewolf?"

He held up his hands defensively. "Well, I didn't say I was...but if I was one--and I ain't sayin' I am one-- could there by chance a cure?" He folds his arms, tight-lipped.

I deadpanned. No wait, I was dumbfounded. He was clearly sweating, losing composure in reacting to my complicated expression.

I first told him that doctor-patient confidentiality was the foundation of trust in the medical field, and I would do nothing to harm that--no matter the severity of the situation. I was the good doctor, after all.

Hesitant, he nodded. "I'm the bloke who done in the cow weeks ago."

I felt shoulders stiffened. It wasn't me? I let him continue.

"I don't remember much. I remember sharing a drink with me pals. We got really rough with each other. It escalated cause us boys always escalate things. Then one of the boys bit me. He ran, and I never saw him for the rest of the night—or the week. I heard he skipped town. I wonder why. Anyway, I was taking a stroll after, then I looked up at the moon. Suddenly, I felt my body changing. Was feeling awfully hungry."

He recounted surviving on critters in the woods for days.

My first thoughts after finishing were, you stupid son of bitch. The cobbler's boy flinched when my features sharpened.

I didn't feel as bad for the broken as I initially did. I almost wished I broke the other.

"Please, doc'." His voice cracked. "I don't wanna be hung, shot, then burned alive." Maybe it was the lack of empathy, but his voice reminded me of nails on a chalk board.

"Don't worry." I said, my features softening. I have no intention of turning you in. We will figure out how to fix you." I told him to take a seat so I may escape into my office momentarily.

As the cobbler's boy waited in the other room, I began listing the other treatments I haven't tried yet on myself. I decided that I couldn't be the one to undergo these treatments. My life can't be at risk. Someone needs to research these treatments.

I returned to the clinic room. "What happens next may be uncomfortable. Currently, there is no known cure, but I have some ideas. If there's a chance to cure you of your ailment, then it is our obligation to take it."

He audibly swallowed, but he nodded. "Thank ye. If you don't my me askin', why do ya wanna help?"

I smiled. "If we learn how to cure you, then we could cure all werewolves."

We began with bloodletting, which was believed to remove the infected blood from the patient's body, so the person may get better. Perhaps a werewolf's blood acted similarly. So, I pricked a vein in his arm and we slowly drained his blood into a pan. The boy took deep breaths, looking away from the full pan.

Admittedly, I should have stopped some time ago, but I kept going. If there was a chance this could cure a werewolf, then I was going to take it.

After patching him up, I told him there was no telling if it worked until the following night passes. Still, he looked at me with trust. I smiled, sending him on his way.

I looked out the window. Sunset was approaching, and I imagined the moon. I wondered how I was going to sate my hunger tonight. Our town's populace of stray animals grew smaller and meat was expensive. I may have no other choice but to visit a neighboring farm.

-

I sat anxiously as the town meeting progressed. I was eager to return to my clinic and hear news from the cobbler's son.

The sheriff announced that the cobbler's boy was dead. The boy fainted outside of his home, transformed into a werewolf. A villager found him and grabbed the sheriff, who immediately shot the boy him with a silver bullet to the back. The cobbler is currently on trial, accused of hiding it.

Although a werewolf was found, the sheriff asked everyone to stay vigilant. Another cattle mutilation was discovered this morning. One of the farmers reported a missing pig. After some searching, they found its remains in the nearby woods.

I mentally cursed, my insides tense. The treatment didn't work, and the boy was dead. I knew other werewolf in town to test on, and the night full moon was fast approaching in another week.

Mid-thought, I noticed the sheriff's wife at the corner of my eye. Was she looking at me? Was it just my imagination, or was she looking nervous?

As the meeting closed and I walked my commute, I realized she was the only witness of me running home naked just a weeks ago. She could have seen the bite on my leg. She might know I'm a werewolf. Why hasn't she turned me in then? Perhaps she wanted to wait to be sure, or maybe she wasn't suspicious until the cobbler's body turned out dead after visiting me.

Whatever the reason, she was a potential threat to my mission.

Before the moon rose, I decided she will be my next patient.