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I sat back and reflected on the story I had to tell, while my wife passed by outside singing some kind of praise about her own awesomeness. I gave an amused chortle as her passage rattled the outside of our barn. I craned my head back to look at the large pictures stuck to the wall of our den. One of our family before that fateful day, and one taken only a month later...

The first of the affected were those closest to the poles. From there it spread both north and south until the waves of change met in the equatorial lands.

This is the story of my family, and how this calamity changed us.

As was our routine of late we had the TV on while we ate spread throughout the house in our own disparate worlds. Of course we had the programming set to one of the national news channels with the usual barrage of late breaking news about... whatever...

The latest headline seemed to be about this spreading disease that seems to be making people... change, I guess? Changing into what, I know not. Blurry pictures and videos showed darting lizard creatures either being chased by people or chasing people. Pfft I remember thinking. I'll believe it when I see it.

I didn't have to wait long to be made a believer.

My eldest daughter Irma was in the next room hunched over her computer doing god knows what when she exclaimed loudly. I heard her shriek of surprise and then the sound of her chair hitting the ground and the gasp of my wife Kim. Now mildly concerned I put down my next bite of supper and went to see what the hell was going on.

I came around the corner to see Kim holding Irma's hand in her own looking as pale as the wall she stood in front of. She turned to me "What is this? What's happening to our daughter? Is this the disease?

Stunned I had no idea on how to respond. The skin of my daughter's left hand had darkened to black and I could see the ebony stain slowly emit tendrils advancing past her wrist. To say that Irma was concerned would be the understatement of the century.

"Nooooo" she screamed "I've seen the videos, I've seen what happened to those people! NO NO NO NO NO! Not me! Not me! Noooooooo! I will not be a freak!" She began frantically scrubbing at the discolored skin with her other hand before collapsing into Kim's arms sobbing while our twins Lucy and Luke came downstairs to see what was happening.

"Lucy" I said, still reeling and unsure "call 911" She ran from the room while Luke continued to look on. I followed Kim and Irma to the ground hugging them both. "It's going to be okay" I tried to reassure them. "This could be anything, just a simple rash or an allergic reaction. Stay calm, we'll find out."

My attempts at being soothing failed as the only reaction I achieved was a low moan of despair from Irma as she continued to try to scrub the skin from her hand. The inky stain had encompassed her hand completely to just past her wrist. As I watched I saw the stain begin to spread to the fingertips of her other hand, darkening the nail beds.

My eyes widened at the sight of that, but before I could react Kim was already on top of it. She grabbed Irma's right forearm and moved it to her side away from the left. She looked to me with tears in her eyes. But there was resolution in them as well, she had an idea. "Tom, go get some gloves. I'll be damned if I leave her here like this but we can't let it spread. On her or to us."

"Right" I said, thinking quickly. There were nitrile gloves in the garage. "Luke" I said as I grabbed him on the way out of the living room "I want you to go get towels, as many as you can carry. Bring them to your mother." I ran to the garage as he ran to a hallway closet.

In the garage while looking for the box of gloves I also hit on the idea of bringing painter's masks. It couldn't hurt I thought, it's not like any of us knew what was going on yet. After securing the package of masks and the box of gloves I quickly reentered the house to hear my wife yelling, apparently at the 911 operator.

"What the fuck do you mean there is no one available? How many fucking people have it? DON'T YOU TELL ME TO REMAIN CALM! Yes, yes, okay, what the hell ever!"

This was followed by the sound of something whistling past me as I neared the end of the hall and I turned to look to see Lucy's cell phone half buried in the drywall.

"What..." I started to say before the sound of Irma screaming interrupted me.

"My hands! My hands! They hurt" she wailed. "Make it stop! Mom! Nooooo!"

Rushing back into the still frantic scene I saw Irma curled on the ground clasping her hands together and struggling with very evident pain. Lucy and Luke were kneeling on each side of her and Kim had her head in her lap while she stroked her head and rocked her back and forth. I came forward while putting on the gloves and rolling my sleeves down to cover my skin. I made Kim, Lucy, and Luke take a pair each. As for the masks I put them to the side for the time being. It's not like she was coughing or sneezing to spread a vector this serious.

As I knelt by her side I saw what caused her latest agony. Her fingers on both hands were noticeably shorter and her now black nails were quickly thickening to envelope the ends of her foreshortened digits. The position of her thumbs were also malformed as with an audible crack she howled once more as they moved to oppose her other four fingers. I stared for a moment.

"What did the operator say?" I asked.

Kim replied; "That fucking bitch told me to keep her calm. Said it wasn't infectious. Then told me that we should take her someplace outside until someone can get to us. Said dozens of people just in this region are affected. She can kiss my freckled fucking ass if she thinks I'm going to stake my daughter out in the yard like a god damned cur!"

Irma moaned and shook violently before her eyes opened and looked up at us. One of her eyes was her normal pale blue, the other was a fiery red neither were the pupils round anymore. "Mom? You're crying? You never cry..." She trailed off moaning after this delirious statement and trembled again. Her arms were dark as night all the way to the sleeves of her shirt. On the backs of her hands a textured surface had begun to emerge from the skin. Each flake poking through the skin with a drop of blood to accompany it.

Not able to contain my tears I held my face in my hands while Kim comforted her. Through the shimmering veil I asked again; "Did 911 offer any advice beyond what you said?"

Kim looked at me still weeping around the steel in her eyes. "She said the victims had a preference to being outside. They felt constrained by being indoors. Could we take her to the barn? The interior isn't finished, it is wide open."

"Is that what you would like dear?" I asked Irma.

"Outside sounds good I almost feeaaaaaaAAAAHHHH" Her sentence ending in a howl of agony as she grabbed at her chest with her ever longer nails. The nails easily pierced the cloth of her shirt and dug into her bosom where flowers of blood blossomed upon her top.

"What's happening!?" Kim and I both shouted while Lucy and Luke drew back looking terrified.

"It burns! It burns!" Irma screamed.

While I held down her bare and kicking legs through the cover of a towel Kim held down her shoulders to prevent her from writhing into something that could harm her. We both looked to each other helplessly. Kim said to Lucy; "Lucy, go to the kitchen and get our first aid kit. Yes, the one I told you not to touch unless told to. Get it and open it next to me."

Over the growing torrent of Irma's shrieks of pain I asked Kim; "How long will this last?"

"They didn't know. No one fucking knows anything, what the fuck is going on! My daughter is screaming in pain and no one knows what the fuck is going on! I can't fucking stand this! Luke! Go get a glass of water!"

Scant seconds later both Luke and Lucy had returned with their respective burdens. I groped through the medical kit and opened the bottle of hydrocodone that we had finagled out of our doctor. I looked at my convulsing daughter as the twins took my place holding down her legs and shook out two.

While trying to give these to her as she flung her head from side to side I heard Luke gasp. "She's wet herself!"

I looked back and said; "she's in a lot of pain. Right now that is normal." Belying those words, inside I was heartbroken, my proud daughter prostrate before us and losing control of her very body. I would give anything, my life, to spare her this torment. She didn't deserve this, she didn't deserve this.

All the while her screams continued unceasingly and growing increasingly hoarse from the abuse of her throat. At last I finally got the pills in to her mouth, and thankfully she swallowed them reflexively. I didn't know if the water would choke her or not.

"Irma! Irma! Listen to me! What we just gave you were two tablets of hydrocodone! Just... Just hold on for fifteen more minutes!" Kim frantically begged our daughter. Her response was for our suffering eldest to let go of her own chest and to wrap a hand full of razor sharp nails around each of our own arms to draw us close. I gritted my teeth as her... claws... punctured the skin of my arm.

"Mommy... Daddy... don't. ever... let. me.. go...." She gasped between much needed breaths. As she looked at us with fear and pain writ large upon her face before her lids closed.

Our tears fell down on her as we both swore; "If we have to follow you ourselves, you will never be alone in this. We promise." As if our vows were all she had needed to hear, she finally succumbed to unconsciousness as the pain overwhelmed her. Her body fell limp and we relaxed as the iron grip on our arms was released.

We looked to each other for relief but there was none to be found. She was unconscious but this ordeal was far from over. Her arms twitched again making me and Kim groan in pain as her claws moved within our wounds before withdrawing as her arms suddenly snapped into a new position tucked up against her chest in a relaxed pose. She didn't awaken but her heart rate and blood pressure were still through the roof as readily displayed by the distended veins in her neck.

Kim caught my attention by yanking the sleeves of my shirt up to expose the cuts and began dabbing at the gouges on my arm with a towel and then passed a bottle of iodine. As we tended to our injuries I asked Luke to go get two jackets from the closet as well as two broom handles. He gave me a funny look. I snapped; "We don't have time for you to understand, just fucking DO IT!" With a stunned expression he scampered off to do what I had told him. I ran my hand down my face, he didn't deserve that...

"No, he did not deserve that." My ever observant wife said. I nodded. She then turned and gave Lucy her own directions. "Take all but three of these towels and as many blankets as you can find to the barn. The least we can do is make her comfortable like she had wanted." Lucy sniffled and wiped at her eyes for a few moments not moving. "Hey" Kim said moving to hug her; "I know how you feel honey, I feel the same way. But right now we need to be strong. Imagine what is going through Irma's head right now."

She looked down as the ailing woman gave another loud groan and curled into the fetal position on her side. Traces of black could be seen reaching down her sides and back as her shirt rode up. "Please, Lucy."

Lucy wiped her eyes one more time and rose to begin her own mission. As we waited for Luke to return we squeezed antibiotic cream into our wounds and then bound them with dressings and gauze. "Kim, what are we going to do?"

"Whatever it fucking takes, that's what." She responded passionately. "I don't care what she looks like at the end of this, she is our flesh and blood. Our daughter! Our fucking CHILD! I brought her into this world and WE raised her! Whatever it takes!" She seemed to deflate before I heard her whisper one more time "whatever it takes".

I drew her close and held my forehead against hers while we closed our eyes and made one more promise that night. "Whatever it takes."

After a moment she pulled away to wipe her own tears away. "You should go call your brother. Tell him what is happening, see if he knows anything about it. Irma needs some privacy as I clean the piss off her. I will call for you if I notice something else happen."

I rose and stumbled from the room, still not sure if the world was the same one it was just 20 minutes ago. My gait steadied as I returned to the room where my forgotten dinner sat cooling. I glanced at the flat screen to see briefly what the talking heads had to say as I scooped up my phone...

As you saw just moments ago the crisis that is sweeping across the globe just hit home as our very own Nathan Hernandez began exhibiting symptoms while live on the air...

The voices cut out as I turned the TV off. Don't tell me about the fucking crisis hitting home. I brought my brother Alex up in the contacts and dialed his number.

"Tom? Tom! What is it? I'm kind of busy right now if you haven't heard. Make it quick."

"Your niece has the disease" I said flatly. I heard a sharp inhalation and then he began shouting.

"Get out, get out of my office right the fuck now! No, I need five minutes alone, get the fuck out!" I heard the sound of shuffling bodies and then the slam of a door before he spoke again. "Which girl, how long ago?"

I sobbed out "its Irma. It started a little over 20 minutes ago."

"Symptoms?"

"At first her skin turned black on her hand and then it spread to her other. Then her nails started to thicken and blacken while the color change moved up her arms. After that she started screaming that her insides were on fire."

"Did any of you come into contact with her bodily fluids? From what you've described she is symptomatic. Has anyone been to your house yet? We're very constrained at the CDC we can only send a team to each major population center to disseminate information and advice. The only thing we've been able to hit on is to sedate those affected."

"Sedation? Is this thing infectious?"

"Tom! Has anyone been in contact with her fluids?"

"No, but in her panic she gouged Kim and I with her fingernails."

"..."

"Alex? Talk to me brother."

"... Have Luke or Lucy been touched?"

"How bad is it Alex...?"

"I'm on my way. I will resign immediately if I have to but I will be there within the next twelve hours. You might not be infected, but you might be... You already know the first symptoms. If you see any appear keep the twins away from you."

I choked on my breath, my eleven year old twins might be left without their parents. "A... Alex... what can I... what can we do?" By this point new tears were running down my cheeks and my words were barely discernable over my pained sobs.

"Stay with her, keep talking to her, make her as comfortable as possible. We don't know what kind of vector we are dealing with here. Where are you? Put me on speaker and get next to Kim she must hear this as well."

"...K... Wait one second..." I began walking to the study where Kim and Irma were and saw Luke and Lucy waiting in the entrance way crying and holding each other. "Luke, Lucy please start moving food and water to the barn, also pillows. Enough for all five of us. And Luke I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier."

They moved to do our latest tasking without a word. Their hiccupping cries spoke everything that needed to be said. I entered the room and found Kim holding Irma once again humming softly to her towel clad child and gently caressing her face. She looked up when I sat next to her and set down the phone that was on speaker.

"Go ahead Alex, it's just me, you, and Kim. Irma is here but unconscious."

"Kim, how are you doing?"

"How the fuck do you think I'm doing? My eldest daughter is changing right in front of my eyes."

"About how I figured then. Look, I won't beat around the bush. When she scratched you two did any of her blood come into contact with you?"

"I don't know, maybe? There are some kind of hardened flakes erupting from her skin and she was bleeding where they came out. I... We don't know." I said.

"Then brace yourselves, there have been anecdotal reports that exposure to infected blood during the change spreads whatever the contaminant is."

"We cleaned the wounds immediately afterwards with Iodine and antibiotic salve." Kim said.

"You might be fine, you might not. If you are not showing symptoms within the next day I'd say you're in the clear. I will be there by tomorrow morning."

"Alex" Kim pled; "Is there anything we can do for her until then?"

"Have you given her anything?"

"Ten milligrams of hydrocodone."

"Good, do what you can to keep her unconscious. You've seen the pictures, you know what changes are to come. The pain she will experience could cause her to suffer a stroke or a heart attack. When I get there I will be able to put her into an induced coma."

At that moment Irma screamed to wakefulness as both her now red eyes snapped open and began thrashing once more on the floor.

"What's happening? What's happening? Put it on video! I must see!"

Irma screamed again and tried to clutch at her stomach but her altered arms were not able to reach her own abdomen.

I turned the video connection on and then propped the phone against the wall to overlook the events as Kim and I went to hold her down once again. I could hear Alex yelling through the phone.

"Watch the claws! Watch the claws! Talk to her! Let her hear your voices! Give her something to hold on to!" Kim immediately applied herself to that task; "Irma can you hear my voice? I want you to focus on my voice! Remember when you turned ten and were so excited about blowing out the candles on your cake that you landed in it? Sweetie I need you to concentrate on my voice, please say something."

"Mm... Mo... Mom... I... My stomach..."

I reached out and did what she could not and tried to gently hold her stomach. I quickly recoiled however, her organs felt like they were writhing beneath her skin. After I pulled the towel down to expose her midriff I could even see the irregular shape of her internals moving position, and... changing... Before my eyes her navel smoothed out until there was nothing but featureless blackened skin.

Kim exclaimed at the same time that I saw the remains of her umbilical connection disappear; "look at her tits!" Reluctant to do so I dragged my eyes over her pain wracked form to her chest. The sizeable lumps of her mammary glands were quickly disappearing under the cover of their linen shield.

"Mommy! I... I... unh... What am I ... AH... am I... still... human? Unh... AAAAHHH!" she screamed.

All Kim and I could do was glance at each other and then back down into the reddened ovals of her pupils with a look of sadness. A look of fearful understanding entered those alien orbs as she arched her back with another loud groan; "nooooo".

"Irma, stay with me baby. You will always be my little girl" Kim's voice cracked; "No matter... no matter what you look like... Irma?" She was however, beyond hearing, as once again our daughter had slipped into the comfort of oblivion.

Alex's voice came from the speaker once again. "What is her body weight?" He asked "Has she had any alcohol today? Any drugs?"

Kim answered; "146lbs, no and no."

"Give her two more painkillers. Monitor her breathing and heart rate. She needs to stay under! In six to eight hours give her two more. I will be there by morning. I will call again in an hour." As the call ended I could already hear him bellowing for someone.

As we eased our daughter once more to a comfortable position it was obvious something else had changed as well. Her shoulder joints had shifted. Where once she was able to have the full range of motion you would think. Now her arms were firmly locked to her sides. In fact it seemed as if her shoulder span was widening. Worse yet, her posture had changed to such an extent, that she only was at ease while on her side with her arms splayed. Her torso also looked slightly longer. Last of all the discoloration of her skin had completely consumed her from upper hip all the way to the slight black lines creeping up her neck.

From her hands and then on up her arms were patches of roughened skin while there were small regular patterns of hardened skin developing. I rubbed my gloved hand over the patches and felt what seemed to be some kind of severe scaling of the skin.

Her hands had lengthened and her newly positioned thumbs with the much longer nail more in line with the center of her arm. Lastly her chest itself seemed to be changing, her rib cage and scapulae shifting in position. Her upper chest appeared to be narrowing slightly but also projecting much further perpendicular vertically to her spine. Much more like a four legged animal, I thought morosely.

Getting up I started rigging the broomsticks and jackets into a stretcher for Irma. We had to get her out to the barn. Angrily I began to shove the sticks through the sleeves of both jackets forming the litter. We placed the litter right next to her and then we began to arrange her for transport. Her towels were removed except for the one covering her waist. As for her chest and stomach she now had a featureless black and alien landscape.

We both worked with the help of the twins to transfer her first on to the towels and then afterwards to the pallet. Her weight had not seemed to change. Not that I would know what she felt like in other circumstances. So at least there were no breaking of thermodynamic laws or some such craziness. Suddenly I realized I should not be tempting fate at this point, after my earlier words. Reflexively I knocked on wood.

We were about to crouch down to grab the litter when someone started pounding on the front door.

"Police! We have report of an infection."

Kim told me to stay with her. She stood and went to the door. I heard a raised voices for a moment and then it went silent. Soon after she had returned with a patrolman and a disheveled looking woman.

"Well here she is, now what can you tell us that his brother at the CDC cannot?"

"Just what I've seen myself for the past day." The woman said. "I'll bet you even money those eggheads don't have ground truth yet."

"Sooo." I drawled: "any day now!'

"The victims have taken anywhere from 18 to 40 hours to completely change. Looking at your daughter I'd say she'll be on the low end of that spectrum. At the end of which you will have a whole new set of problems."

I groaned and asked: "Yeah? What new hell do we have to look forward to?"

"The victims that have survived awoke no longer themselves. They acted like nothing more than animals. All higher function gone. The only thing you can do is set her out in the yard and let her escape as she likes."

"Are you saying are daughter will be gone no matter what we do?"

"Well, I won't say it's impossible. But it hasn't happened yet to my limited knowledge."

A broken sob came from behind us. "You mean my mind will be gone don't you? I'll be gone..."

Kim immediately bent to comfort her and then glared daggers at the two newcomers. After letting them fidget under her acid gaze I motioned with my head to the hallway and followed them out.

"Speak" I said tersely.

"When she's done she will not be your daughter. She will be a wild animal. It is best to say goodbye to her now before she is too far gone. Here, we cobbled together this kit." She handed me an IV rig and a bag of fluid. "Veterinarians use this to euthanize horses." She held it out to me.

"Get out."

"What?"

"GET THE FUCK OUT!"

"Sir, calm..." The cop started.

I whispered the rest so I wouldn't be overhead; "No, fuck you, get the fuck out. We will take care of her, not put her down like an inconvenient rodent. Now GTFO."

After they finally crawled out like the rat bastards they were, I shut the door and put my head against it. Turning around I saw the IV kit that was abandoned at the last moment. I walked over to it and stomped on the solution bag, causing liquid to spray across the floor. "Never" I growled to myself.

I walked back to finish moving Irma, Kim looked up once I had returned. "What did they say?"

Glancing at the twins I replied; "later" I looked back to Irma and asked "Any change in her?"

"Look at her feet." She said.

Her feet looked much like her hands. Where they diverged however was in how long they were becoming. Another frightening alteration was the fact that her pinkie toe on each foot was disappearing at the same time as a dew claw seemed to appear on the back of her heel. This new claw was pointed back towards the other four toes. A heavy ridge of callus was building up around the base of each talon much like on her hands.

I sighed, then moved to grab one set of handles while Kim grabbed the other set. With a three count we picked her up and then, proceeded and followed by one of the twins, we left the house and moved to the barn.

Once we reached and entered the barn I saw that the twins had done well. Stacks of blankets and pillows, a few gallons of water, and some food. "Good job you two, you did well" I tried to give them an encouraging smile which felt as wooden as it probably looked.

As soon as we had set her down and confirmed that she was still out I motioned for Kim to accompany me.

"Stay here, watch your sister, and start shouting if she comes to." Kim instructed before following me to one of the finished storage rooms.

As we entered and she shut the door behind her I started gathering some of the camping gear that was in the room. "What did they say?" my wife asked without preamble.

"The woman... Whatever the hell her name was... Told me that none of the infected that she had seen survived." Kim opened her mouth but I stopped her by continuing: "There bodies still existed as what they had become. But... but..." I paused and choked down a sob. "Who they were, was gone. Their minds were gone, nothing left but animals."

I started gathering sleeping bags as Kim covered her mouth with her hands. I continued; "That faithless fucking piece of soulless trash recommended we euthanize her. Even gave me the equipment to do it."

Kim's left eye started to twitch and she lowered her hands to reveal her clenched jaws and bared teeth. "And what did do you with this... equipment?" She ground out between teeth that looked ready to shatter.

"Stomped it, the IV bag's contents are currently drying on the floor of the entryway."

"Good." She snarled, before turning and putting her fist through the plywood wall of the room. Yelling out in an incoherent torrent she reared back and put her hand into and through the wall twice more before I caught her arm and drew her to me. "No!" She screamed, "No! We can do this! We can make this work!"

She shrugged me off violently and began pacing the small confined space. "This will work! I will not give up! I am keeping my daughter!" She vented with short spitting sentences. Once this was over she scrubbed roughly at her eyes and face to help remove all traces of tears. Then she scooped up a pair of air mattresses and a pump. "Let's go."

I just looked at her sadly and put a hand on her shoulder to give her some reassurance. Her muscles were iron tight with tension. I could feel the rippling of her noticeably defined body beneath my touch. She kicked the door back open as we reentered the barn proper.

We found that one of our youngest had endeavored to go let loose our German Shepherds and all three of them were bouncing around the area. They frequently were passing by Irma and seemed to be paying special attention to her changes. These they sniffed over carefully every few seconds, and making whining noises licked her face before running off.

It was no wonder the twins had wanted the comfort of the dogs. I thought, glancing at the three splintered holes my beautiful delicate flower of a wife made just a short time ago.

We gave the twins the sleeping bags to spread out while Kim hooked the pump to one of the mattresses and I went to plug it in for her. The pump kicked loudly to life spooking the dogs into nervous circling once more.

I went to look over Irma once more while the pump did its work. I knelt to grab her right hand for comfort and spoke to her as she lay on her left side. I then began to distribute the blankets and pillows into a large mat of soft material and pillow. Like a fucking nest, I thought waspishly.

Once the twins were done with their bags I used their help to move Irma to her new resting place.

Kim finished with mattresses and flung one on each side of Irma's sleeping area.

Giving everyone a dangerous stare she then flopped down next to Irma and then gathered her in her arms. For now, we had ceased to exist. I sighed once again and then turned to our young red headed children. "You two should get some sleep." I said wearily.

"No way Dad." Luke spoke up. We're worried about Irm!

Fine. "Wait here then" I'll have to get them to sleep somehow. I headed back to the house to get a few more things for us. The first aid kit, a space heater, and the IV rig left by the shitheads.

I shoved everything but the space heater into a duffel. But before I left I also picked up my G43 out of the lockbox in the closet. Shoving that into my pocket I picked up all the gathered material and returned to the garage.

Kim was still lying next to Irma absently brushing at her hair while she looked upon her lovingly. I dropped the duffel next to our sleeping mat and then went to plug the heater in and placed it next to Irma's sleeping circle. I walked to Kim and laid a hand gently on her shoulder. "Hey, we'll do four hour shifts okay? I'll go first, you should get some sleep."

She rolled her eyes to look at me from the corner of her vision. "Oh, my prince charming! But why ever do you not rest first yourself? Weary bones such as you must have."

I gave a long suffering sigh; "sometimes I wonder how healthy it is for me to love you."

In response she threw a pillow at me. "Go to sleep you blockhead."

"In a second" I turned to walk over to the twins who were busy bouncing at each other on their mattress. Trying to tackle each other in midair. I stopped at the aid kit and then went over to give them a couple of antihistamines and a bottle of water to try to knock them out. After that I turned off all lights but one and then returned to my own pallet. "Do you need anything before I go to sleep?"

"No" was her simple response.

"Well then... Goo" I was abruptly interrupted as my cell phone rang. Kim picked her head up to look at me. It was Alex.

I accepted the call and he started right away. "How is she?"

"Asleep. Her feet and shoulders have changed. Her arms are twisted to something else. She is black from just below her chin to her toes."

"Typical, of what I've heard thus far. Has her behavior changed yet?"

I shuddered once again remembering the words I'd heard earlier. "No."

"A good sign, a good sign." He said. I could barely hear him over a constant roar in his background. I asked him about it. "I hopped on a supply flight to Boise. Five hours there, two hour drive to your house. I'll be there by six am. Keep her asleep if you can. Keep her calm if you can't. Whatever you do, don't stop talking to her if she wakes up. Keep her focused on your voices. Imprint on her."

"Alex" Kim spoke up "is there something you're not telling us?"

"I'll tell you when I get there."

"Look, you sacless rat cutting nerd. If you have something that can help us with our daughter you better fucking unlock your god damned dental guard and fucking tell us what is on your mind." Kim said, with the fury of an enraged viper.

A sigh came from the speaker "Kim, please. I don't want you..."

"Oh, what? To fucking swoon once I hear bad news? To rip your fucking trachea out when you get here?"

"... To act just like you are. Right now you need to be calm. If you're calm, she's calm. That's what you need more than anything right now. Calm. Make sure she continues to feel your touch, your voice, your scent. All of this while you are calm. Can you do that?"

Kim closed her flashing eyes, then, laid her head back down and began to breathe deeply. After a few minutes of this her facial muscles relaxed and she slowly opened her eyes. "Yes. Now tell me what is on your mind."

Alex took a deep breath "Reports from the ground have been consistent in reporting that victims have difficulty remembering themselves at the end of the change. I have a theory that if an anchor is well enough established that the afflicted can maintain their psyches. I think that you can keep your daughter. Her body will not be the one you've known. But she will still be herself. Do you see now?"

"Whatever it takes." Kim said, once again while looking at Irma.

"Excellent. One last thing you should know. There have been violent clashes between the affected and unaffected. Do what you can to shield her from sight for now. Things will calm. Just not right away." Not responding I pulled the pistol out of the duffel bag and showed Kim. She nodded slowly and I passed it over to her. She pulled the slide back to see if there was a round in the chamber and then placed it under a pillow next to her.

He asked one final question "How is her heart rate. Her pulse?"

"Elevated" Kim replied shortly.

"Keep an eye on her. I know you both know what to do. I've got to go." His call ended.

Irma startled us as she spoke up. "If my mind goes... I want you to kill me..."

Aghast, Kim and I looked at each other.

"It won't come to that honey, we swore to you earlier and we swear it now. Whatever it takes. We don't care what you look like. You are our daughter, and you are not allowed to go somewhere that we cannot help you."

A tired smile wormed across her face. "Thanks, dad. I..." Her lids drooped shut on her red eyes as her eye lashes fell out while she returned to sleep once more. I couldn't help but notice that she had golden irises as she reentered the land of nod.

Leaving my pallet I laid opposite Kim and wrapped my arms around Irma's back to hold her. In her sleep she reacted in a way I'd never expected. She gave a low, and somewhat pleased sounding trill. Glancing once more at Kim with worry she just met my glance with an even stare. I sighed and closed my eyes to take my turn at sleep...