Zeus

Leah fidgeted in her chair, glancing at the clock every few minutes. A patient came up to the counter to return his forms. She pasted on her best smile and did the routine: make a copy of the insurance card, return the card. The patient took his seat to wait for the doctor.

Marie finally came through the door, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Finally,” she griped, standing up and collecting her things.

“Damn, what’s the rush?” Marie asked, dumping her things behind the counter. “I was only a few minutes late.”

“I wanted to get to the shelter before it closes today,” Leah answered.

Marie gasped. “Rick finally agreed to get a dog? Is he meeting you at the shelter?”

“No.” She paused. “But yeah, I’m going to the shelter to get a dog.”

Marie raised an eyebrow. “He is planning on taking care of it though?”

Leah shrugged. “Well, he agreed to cut back on his hours at work. But it’s okay if I take care of the dog. I’ll pick one who’s mostly self-sufficient.”

“Ok, if you say so,” Marie said, shooting a look at her before answering the ringing phone.

Leah hoisted her purse over her shoulder and went out to the parking lot, feeling excited despite her own doubts.

The shelter was full of dogs who jumped on the bars of their cages when she walked past. Before long, she came to a yellow dog about the size of a corgi, with pointed ears. The sign on his door proclaimed that his name was Zeus, an unknown mixed breed, of middle age. Instead of a quirky description of his personality, the sign read, "I am new here. The staff is still figuring me out." Something in his eyes drew her in like a magnet. He sat calmly, looking up at her with those huge round eyes.

“Can I meet him?” she asked a volunteer walking past. The volunteer nodded, and went to get a key from the front desk. Within ten minutes, she was in the dog’s cage. When she sat on the ground, he padded over and crawled into her lap. She nearly teared up, just running her hands over his soft fur.

“Why was he surrendered?” she asked the volunteer.

“Oh, he was rescued from the streets. He looked like he had been on the run for the while,” the volunteer answered. “I’ll give you some time with him."

"Are you my new baby?" she whispered to Zeus after the volunteer left, looking into his eyes. As if he could understand, he gave a little yip. She squeezed him. “Rick is going to love you.”

***

She came home to find the house empty. She was carrying Zeus in her arms and let him down once she shut the front door. He sniffed around curiously, and she smiled, just watching him. She brought a bag of dog treats out from the cabinet.

"Can you sit?" She asked Zeus. "Sit." His rump hit the ground, and he stared up at her expectantly. It seemed like he was trained well by a previous owner. “Down,” she said, and he did just that.

"Spin," she said, moving the treat around in a circle. He followed orders, then looked up at her. She presented him the treat, and received an electrical shock when his nose touched her palm.

"Ow," she said. It must have been static. She switched gears. “Stay,” she told him, then walked to the other end of the room. He stared at her obediently, rooted to one spot with his head tilted sideways. She waited until he was quivering with excitement, then said “Come!” He ran up to her, and as she went to feed him and touched his snout, she felt another electric shock. “Ow!”

She stared at Zeus as he chewed. “Spin,” she said, circling a treat around over his head. He spun round and round like he was chasing his tail. She brought her other hand down near his body and could feel the electrical current, could hear it crackling under his skin.

“Ow!” She had gotten too close to him.

When Rick came home a few hours later, Zeus perked up from his spot on the couch. He padded over to sniff Rick, and Leah, who was watching from her seat at the dinner table, tensed up. But Rick didn’t react to any electric shocks. Maybe it only happened when Zeus was running or spinning. 

“That’s the dog?" Rick asked, dumping his briefcase on the couch. “Why didn’t you get a proper guard dog? Like one of those big ones?"

“Zeus is a really smart," Leah said. “He knows a bunch of tricks. Want to see?"

“In a minute," Rick said, sitting down and digging into the meal that Leah had laid out. "I've got to finish some work.” He disappeared behind his smartphone, and tapped away. Zeus sniffed around Rick’s feet, then came over to Leah. She fed him some scraps as she ate her own cold portion. After a few minutes of eating in silence, she picked up her own phone and searched, “dog generating electricity.” 

***

It was a Saturday evening and Leah was on her nightly walk with Zeus. She had already walked him many times earlier today, but she liked being out of the empty house while Rick was at work. They were passing an alley next to a bar when she heard muffled groans.

"Noo..." Leah could barely make out an outline of a man wearing a hoodie pushing a woman against a wall. "Get off me.”

“Shhh,” the man said, pinning the woman to the wall and running his hands down her back.

Leah felt paralyzed. She was the only one witnessing the scene, and the police wouldn't be able to get here in time. She felt rather than heard Zeus growling next to her. Before she could stop him, he ran forward and touched the man's calf with his snout. He seized up as if being tazed and fell to the ground with a groan. The woman lurched towards Leah, and as she came into the light, Leah saw that she was intoxicated.

"Go home," she whispered to the woman. She slunk away with gratitude in her eyes.

She looked towards the dark outline of the man on the ground, wondering if she should call an ambulance. She moved closer, but backed off when he began to stir again. She and Zeus ran and ran until they got home.

She sank into the couch, breathing hard. “You’re a superhero!" She told Zeus, and he looked up with her with innocent eyes, as if nothing had happened, and sauntered over to his water bowl. She, on the other hand was exhilarated. As she watched him lap up water, an idea formed in her mind.

***

“Schedule’s changed,” Marie said. “We’re working the night shift three times a week now.”

Leah groaned. She texted Rick, “Working the night shift MTW. Can you get home early to be with Zeus?”

An hour later, he texted back: “sorry, probably busy.” And then, “startup life :(” 

The past week, she had started to walk Zeus after dark. Without giving it much thought, she took him on various routes through neighborhoods teeming with petty crimes. She would never have taken these routes on her own, but she felt safe with Zeus trotting at her side, oblivious to danger. Most nights were uneventful, but once, they encountered someone stealing a woman’s purse right there on the street. “Go get him,” she whispered to Zeus, not expecting him to understand. To her utter shock, he raced towards the thief, touched their leg with his snout, and the thief went down. She recovered the purse and handed it to the owner. By the time the thief stirred again, Leah and Zeus were already several blocks away, watching from a distance.

To keep her identity hidden, she started wearing Rick’s clothes during walks. But mostly she relied on the darkness to mask her identity.

***

The night shifts cut into the amount of time she could spend with Zeus. On the nights she wasn’t working, she kept Zeus out later than usual, avoiding areas where they had already prevented an act of crime. She tried to borrow a different jacket or hoodie from Rick’s closet each time they went out. Zeus was always tired by the end of the expedition, panting and trudging along on his stubby legs. 

It was hard to keep the excursions a secret from Rick. She knew she was honor-bound to be honest with him, but felt that he wouldn’t approve of her late-night activities. Once when she came home, he was standing outside the apartment complex, off to the side talking with a group of men. She managed to slip by him and into the building with being seen, even though Zeus was pulling on his leash at the sight of Rick, trying to greet him.

The hospital shifts were dull in comparison. On one such night, she daydreamed about what she and Zeus would do if they were to encounter someone holding a gun. Or if she and Zeus got caught at a major crime scene. When that thought came up, she quickly looked up woman dog electric shock online. She saw no relevant results as her gaze slid down the page, but her eye caught on man with a dog.

"Worrying about your doggy friend?" Marie asked from behind her, and she jumped and minimized the browser window. Marie winked at her as she sat down. "Don't worry, I won’t tell. It's natural to worry about your fur baby when you're at work."

"Yeah, I worry about him being alone," Leah said, turning her attention back to her paperwork.

"How's Rick doing with him by the way?"

"Oh, he's warmed up to him, but he's rarely home," Leah said. She thought about how every night Zeus was spending alone was another night missed fighting crime. “He’s out of town at a conference this week.”

"You said he was going to cut back on hours."

"Well, he's doing the best he can. A startup requires long hours."

"If you say so," Marie said, turning to help a patient. Leah rolled her eyes.

She came home to find Rick asleep with Zeus on his lap. The TV was playing a show softly in the background. At the sound of the door closing, Zeus perked his head up and gave a soft bark, and leapt off the couch to sniff her feet. Rick opened his eyes and saw Leah.

"Oh hey," he said.

"Hi, I didn't realize you would be home."

"Yeah," Rick said, yawning. "Came home a bit early from the trip so I could see you."

Leah sat on the couch next to him. "You took care of Zeus?"

"Yeah. He's a good boy.”

Leah smiled and kissed Zeus on the head. Rick had come around to him, as she knew he would. How could anyone not love Zeus? Maybe now was the time to tell him what she knew about his superpower.

“Hey,” she said, “have you noticed…” Rick’s phone began to ring.

“Sorry, baby, I need to take this. Tell me later?” he said, kissed her on the forehead, and went to the other room, closing the door behind him.

The TV started playing some news about a bank robbery. Leah turned it off and snuggled Zeus tighter. “It’ll just be our little secret, baby.” Zeus’s little tongue flitted out and licked Leah on the chin.

***

It was a slow night at the hospital. She was reminiscing about last night, when she and Zeus had patrolled a park. She was about to give up and go home, when she spotted a man exposing himself to people. Zeus had put an end to that.

She was clicking through the tabs, cleaning out all the browsing she was doing, when she pulled up the search results for “woman dog electric shock” that she had minimized the other day. Halfway down the page, there was an article about a man wearing a black hoodie who was spotted fleeing with a dog from the scene of a bank robbery. The article was from a few weeks ago.

She swallowed hard and texted Rick, “hey, what are you up to?” She fidgeted in her chair, staring at the phone.

There was a commotion at the door, and she looked up. The paramedics were wheeling in a man wearing a security guard uniform on a stretcher. A man who had been with the stretcher peeled off and came up to Leah’s counter.

“Hi,” she said. “How can I -"

“I don’t know what happened,” the man said. He was also wearing a security guard uniform, and looked shell-shocked. “I was just standing there, and the dog came out of nowhere and I fainted. And then I woke up, and the bank was being robbed, and my coworker isn’t waking up."

Leah's blood went cold. “There was a dog?"

"Yeah, it was gone when I woke up. Then I had to deal with calling the ambulance, and these guys robbing the bank, and- where are you going?”

Leah had grabbed her car keys and was heading towards the door.

The entire drive home, she was shaking too badly, driving too fast. She replayed images in her head: the man in the article. The electrocuted man tonight. Oh God, the robbery on the news. All on dates she was working.

When she burst through the apartment door, Zeus was there to greet her with his telltale static shock. She could feel Rick’s presence even though he wasn't in the living room. For the first time, she didn’t feel timid. She went straight to the bedroom, where Rick was sitting on the bed. He looked up when she entered. Too quickly.

“What are you doing home?” he asked. She ignored him, and crossed the room to his closet. She rummaged through his laundry basket and found what she was looking for: a black hoodie buried underneath the other clothes.

“Hey!” Rick yelled, standing up, but stopped in his tracks when Leah flung the hoodie at him.

"So," she said icily. “How did you find about Zeus’s superpower?”

Rick stared back at her, not speaking. As Leah held his stare, another memory came to her: a drunken man in a dark alley, wearing a black hoodie.

“He shocked you, didn’t he? That night in the alley, when you were supposed to be working!”

Rick blanched at her raised voice, then regained his composure. “I was working.” He was such a bad actor.

“I’m supposed to believe you’re working all this time, and not planning crimes with your groupies and spending the night groping strange women at the back of an alley!"

Rick put his head in his hands. “I was ashamed to tell you, but the startup is failing. And then I told the wrong people about Zeus’s power, and got roped into the robbery stuff. They promised me a cut, and all I had to do was bring Zeus along. I don’t know what else to say.”

Leah was at a loss of words. A wave of guilt crashed over her. She had been using Zeus to attack people too, no matter her good intentions. Good intentions? She wanted to feel powerful and useful, like a vigilante. Meanwhile, someone could have gotten hurt. She sighed. “What are we going to do about the man you sent to the hospital?"

“Me?” Rick flared up instantly. "I didn't do anything!" He pointed at Zeus, who had come into the room to observe. "That is a dangerous creature! And you brought him home!"

Zeus cowered with his tail between his legs, swiveling his head between Leah and Rick.

"He only does what his master wants!" Leah shouted back. “You were the one who wanted him to commit crime! He's only dangerous because you're using him for your stupid schemes!” Zeus began whining in the background, which they both ignored.

“How dare you! It’s not my fault everyone at my startup is incompetent and I have to bend over backwards to build a business while you sit in your chair answering phone calls and filing paper all day!”

“Nothing is EVER your fault is it?” Leah’s face was red with rage. Zeus’s whining was louder now.

"Yeah like you’re so perfect! You always paint yourself the victim!"

"You are so selfish!" Leah screamed back. "What if I am the victim? What if..." She broke off. Zeus’s high-pitched whine had become a primal howl, a scream like she had never heard before. He was shivering with anxiety. “It’s okay,” Leah started to say, but then Zeus closed his eyes, and electricity exploded out of him and bathed them both.

***

Leah woke up on the floor, her head heavy and her whole body aching. Rick was lying on the ground, a few feet away. She crawled over and took his pulse. He was fine.

She felt a snout in her ear, and looked up. Zeus stared at her with his ears flattened against his head. She hugged him. “I’m so sorry, Zeus. We have both been using you, when all you needed was love.” Zeus licked her face, and she struggled to hold back tears. “What’s happened to us?"

She got up and gathered her things around the apartment. The belongings she truly wanted to keep fit in a few suitcases. After loading everything in the car, she slid the ring off her finger and placed it on the ground next to Rick. She took Zeus in her arms, and stood in the doorway to the bedroom. As soon as Rick started to stir, she turned and fled the apartment.

As she drove away, she rolled the window down so Zeus could poke his head out. They would start a new life together, wherever that was.