Change in Plans

"This is absolutely horrifying," Dana said, looking at her left shoulder. She was lying on her back on an operating table, and the skin of her shoulder was splayed open like an ominous dissection to reveal the musculature underneath. Hunched over her stomach was an unconscious man in his sixties, his glasses askew on his face. "If I was still alive, I would never eat chicken again."

Lily stood over them both. She had one hand on the man's forehead, her thumb and pinky on his temples. In her other hand was a needle threaded with sutures, and she wore a labcoat and safety glasses.

"Shut up,...