Dawn of Change Ch2

Story by TitanFur on SoFurry

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Here it is, chapter two of Dawn of Change! We get to see what's going on with those who would be first responders.....but wind up being victims themselves and an interesting twist with the machines.

Sorry it took so long, had a bit of a scare in the family.

Please, please, PLEASE tell me what ya think yea? Went for a shorter chapter cause holy.....7,000+ words for a first chapter was....@_@


Broadcast of FOX4 news, Dallas-Fort Worth during attacks. Archived.

"....and if you're just joining us, we're getting brand new reports in from the situation in Oklahoma City. From what where're seeing, some sort of.... chemical or biological attack has taken place in.......One moment, we're getting new information. My God.......All of them?! Is this correct? Ah.... Ladies and gentlemen, we've just been informed that this event's reach has hit the outer edges of Fort Sill, nearly eighty miles to the west and.... more? Just send it over Paul! Christ.......Ok, we now have confirmed attacks in the cities of Denver and St. Louis. I'm also being told that the.....Yea, get it ready, I'll finish. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to be switching over to the National Emergency Alert System. We will.....the hell? Are you sure!? Get out! Everybody get to the basement!"

May 3rd2025. 10 minutes after explosion in Oklahoma City.

Captain Charles Bucannon, or Buck to many of his men, saw the plume of smoke rising in the north along with a cloud of grey that continued to writhe and shift in the sky. The grey mass kept darting down into the city, showing that whatever this....thing... was, it was very much alive. He and his company had, as luck would have it, been making ready to transit to Mexico for the joint operations against what was left of the cartels. A glorified policing patrol after the 3 years of a hard-fought war. Now though, his troops were going to be the first to respond to the situation in OKC. The whole company had been in convoy inside their LAVs and Cougars, with a couple of HEMTTs carrying extra cargo at the rear. Making their way to the airport and seeing the sight in the sky plus hearing their battalion CO's orders, any idea of heading south of the border was right out the window.

After giving orders across the com net to shift to a MOPP Level 4 status, Buck tried raising command on comms. What he'd heard.... had chilled him to the bone. Someone had activated their radio and just begun to speak while others in the background were screaming! It was as if dozens of people were being tortured! Then, the speaker too began to scream and cry out as the captain could clearly make out what had to be cloth ripping, bones breaking, and a constant .... droning sound, like gnats in the darkness of night. Shaking at what he'd just heard, the captain could only gulp and silently shiver at the sounds.

Buck was jolted out of his thoughts as the driver yelled in fright. "Sir! Twelve o'clock!" Buck quickly looked at his screen at the commander's station in his LAV. The sight was of the interstate roadway in front of them and he could see a grey cloud, like that which was rising.... It was gone, no, it was moving and spreading all over the city! It darted down at the cars and trucks heading in the opposite direction before those vehicles lost control and wrecked. He saw a big rig careen across the medium and out into a field, rolling onto its side while an ambulance spun out in the road.

"All units halt!" He screamed into his company wide radio channel. The LAV screeched to a halt, it's eight wheels bouncing on the pavement slightly, as the cloud raced right for them. "Lock us down! Now!" He yelled at the crew as he watched a sedan slam into the concrete divider and burst into flames as the fuel tank ruptured.

"What the fuck?! Sir! Something's eating through!" The driver then screamed just before he began to thrash in his seat. The small window and a good chunk of the metal surrounding it had been turned to a liquid slurry that dripped onto the floor while what looked like a grey mist attacked the young man. The others in the LAV started to panic as they watched the driver, a man no older than twenty at most, start to.... mutate. His shoulders were bulging as something grey was forcing its way under his clothes and into his body. Then Lieutenant Jackson, Buck's radio operator, cried out as her gas mask started to melt! Thick rivulets of rubber and plastic ran down her cheeks and slopped off her mask as the cloud pushed into her mouth, her nose, and ears. Now in a blind panic and feeling something prickling at his feet, Captain Bucannon beat his fist against the hatch, trying to get it open. He could hear the cries of his driver growing deeper and could hear metal creaking. He spared a glance to the front as he worked the release on the hatch and saw a hair covered creature growing.... Expanding, while muscles ballooned under the skin. The seat was starting to buckle as the driver's body continued to swell into what looked like a freaking Kodiak bear!

The hatch suddenly broke away, letting Buck see that just like with Hoop, his driver, the grey cloud was melting its way through the damn hatch! He cried out in pain and could already feel something eating away his suit while something was burrowing into his feet. In is panic, he clambered out and fell to the asphalt, but it was too late for him. He watched bits and pieces of the mask and protective suit fall away, melting like heated wax. His cries rose sharply as something started to enter his body, invading through every orifice he had. He choked and gagged as the grey cloud filled his lungs, his intestines, everything. His body felt.... full, tight, as whatever this was continued to invade his body. He could feel the darkness closing in as he raised an arm up and saw the fabric of his uniform growing tighter, the gloves starting to split as his body bloated in size. He fell onto his front as the screams of his men filled his ears.

May 3rd 2025. National Guard convoy, 13 minutes after first exposure.

There was crying....and yelling.....It was all so loud in his ears, approximately forty eight percent louder than it should be...... 'W-what?' With a groan, much deeper than it should have been, Captain Bucannon opened his eyes slowly as complex mathematical equations filled his groggy head. At least the sounds started to tone down a bit. He was aware that he was touching the pavement..... and touching a hell of a lot more than he should! The first sight that greeted him was the asphalt of the interstate as he stared straight down. That, and a grey mass in the lower section of his vision. 'My....muzzle. Wait, how the hell do I know that?! I'm not a damn dog!' He yelled in his own mind before noticing something else. His head was braced on something...... no, not quite.....As he drew in a breath, his nose catching a world of scents, his mind started to rapid fire info at him like what the composition of the ground was.....right down to the exact chemical elements and in what order they'd need to be mixed in to create different substances. But the thing that really spooked him was that whatever his head was braced upon, moved with the intake of air. He then tried to move his arms up to rise his body. At first, they felt so heavy but that feeling gave way to the sensation that his arms were.....constrained, no, not constrained..... They were pressing against themselves! With the icy tendrils of fear creeping into his blood, he scrambled to his back and sat up. There was so much resistance to his movements and he quickly found that his head had very little range of motion. He looked to the sides as best he could and felt his cheeks press into a furry pelt when he turned his head. Freakishly huge shoulders with muscles as large as water bladders, greeted his gaze. They had his head locked in so that he could only shift his field of view a few degrees to either side. Lifting one arm, he let out a fearful groan as the muscles in his neck and shoulder mashed his head to the side a bit, but he saw the issue. His muscles were utterly titanic! His body, normally quite fit and relatively thin, a bit of a swimmers build, was now a hulking mass of muscle and fur the color of ashes. "Holy....God." He whispered with a voice so deep it sounded like boulders rumbling down a mountain side. 'Wolf, canis lupus. Correction, canis lupus sapien.' Buck fearfully squeezed his eyes shut as his mind started to ramble various and utterly alien biological equations across his vision. Finally hitting a breaking point, Buck half yelled in his own voice and within his mind. "Stop! Make it stop!!"

"Entering standby mode." His eyes popped open as he heard the.... voice? No, that didn't sound right. It was in his head. He shook his head a bit, feeling how the action rippled down to his chest, but the info dump into his vision was gone, he could see and hear clearly, better than ever in fact. He saw in the corner of his vision a little symbol that said, 'standby mode engaged'. Buck blinked curiously and looked at a freakishly massive arm, whispering. "The fuck? I..... have a HUD? Wait....I'm not wearing a visor."

Deciding to wait to figure out what in the seven Hells had happened and what was in his head, he tried to get to his feet....er...paws as he looked down to the wide and incredibly heavily build canine paws that were where his feet had been. He could see what he instinctively knew to be extra ligaments and smaller muscles, that would not be found on any normal creature, shift under the skin, ready to take his great weight.

He found that getting up was not an easy feat as his body was so bloated with muscle that his limbs were restricted a bit in their motion. He reached out a hand, feeling the metal of the LAV, and used the machine's side as a brace. Finally up, he pulled his hand away.....and was met with the squeal of meatal. Looking at the spot his hand had been, there was a large chunk of solid armor missing! Blinking a bit stupidly, Buck looked in his hand and saw he was clutching a chunk of steel like a hunk of dough. In a jerk of fright, he let out a gasp and dropped the metal before gulping and backing up, though he never noticed thin, hair like wisps of the metal being sucked up into his leathery pads in his hand. "Oh shit....Oh fucking hell!.....What happened to me?!" He looked at the vehicle and was shocked to see he'd gained a good three feet in height, putting him at just over nine feet tall! "L-lieutenant Jackson? Corporal Hoop? Sound off!" A weak sound like a gasping gurgle came from the front and Buck lumbered over to look. His body was so massive and clumsy that he was forced into a bit of a waddle, never mind the sensation of his private area being forced to shift about with each move of his enormous legs. 'At least the twins aren't getting crushed......feel a bit heavy down there though.' He thought as he lumbered along.

The front of the LAV was melted away around what had been the drivers view port and the captain could see a large, brown snout poking out with the lower jaw agape and gasping for air. 'Hoop' Buck thought as he saw that his driver had indeed turned into a huge, humanoid, Kodiak bear and was slowly being crushed to death by the tight confines of the vehicle. "Shit. Hang on buddy. Ok.....I ripped a chunk out of this thing, surly I can do it again."

Buck braced both hands on the front panel of the LAV but froze as he suddenly saw what looked like a wire frame schematic coming to view within his vision. It quickly showed him where to place his hands, his paws, how to lean and bend, how much strength to use.....all within less than a second. Buck blinked and silently thanked whatever was in his head for the info before digging his claw tipped fingers into the armor. The steel plate yielded like cold butter to his strength as thick digits dug deep into the metal..... and started to dissipate into the surrounding material as if his fingers were melting. All he felt was a light tickle in his hands, but this was soon joined by the same feeling in his paws. The reason was that the ground around his paws was melting! The liquified material then snaked over and into the captain's body, where his form would start to slowly expand. 'Ugh....what the hell?' he thought as he felt his body widen it's stance.... without his input. He gulped in fear as he tired to move.....and found he could not. His body was not obeying his thoughts! 'Oh God, s-stop! What's happening!?' he screamed in his mind, but a soothing voice replied, which only fueled his fear. 'Please stay calm. Your body is being strengthened further to save the one you call Hoop. It is only temporary, but the construct he is trapped in is quite robust in this section. Therefore, for you to complete the goal of extracting the mortal Hoop, this body must be stronger.' He felt his legs, already huge were crushing against each other! It was if some sick cosmic force was inflating his damn body! The sensation of his skin pulling tighter spread to his middle, as the brick like abs strained to expand. The road under the captain was being dug up with the asphalt, the concrete under it, and even the roadbed turning to a liquid goo and being forced up into the expanding wolf. 'I....I'm going to burst' he thought as his eyes widened to see parts of the metal on the LAV start to run as liquid and force it's way into his arms. He let out a panicked whimper as he felt, and saw, his arms start to bloat. 'All is well master. We exist to protect. No harm will befall you as long as we live within you' the voice, so soft and gentle, soothed him, or tried to at least, though the 'master' bit threw him for a loop.

His chin then began to be forced up a bit as his pecs tensed up before his head was then forced back down, driving his muzzle into the muscle cleavage of his chest as his back bulged and swelled with power. His body expanded further, making the captain let out a frightened whine, how much could he take? How much more could his pelt stretch before he simply went to pieces? But.... Seeing his driver trapped, he knew he had to help him and if that meant enduring this.....change, then so be it. Finally, with his body nearly too massive to move, he saw a little message in the corner of his vision. 'body strength at appropriate levels. Please proceed as planned.' He blinked and realized that his growth had taken mere seconds from start to finish. Then, not waiting to contemplate this further and following the ghost like schematic in his head, he yanked hard back and to the side. Almost the whole front of the vehicle ripped away with the sound of tortured metal. The driver, with a bloody froth on the sides of his new muzzle took a long intake of air as the pressure on his lungs was taken away and his limbs fell into view. He was large with a bulky, cumbersome build and a pronounced 'muscle gut', but the big bear was a far cry from the giant wolf. The Captain tossed the metal to the side and felt his body deflating. Below him, the road was being rapidly rebuilt, stone for stone, atom by atom, looking the exact same as it was moments ago. Now, back to the size he was before being swollen like a party balloon, Buck stepped in and gently gathered up Hoop's limp form and pulled his driver from the wreck. The captain was amazed at how easily his own body could lift the 'dead weight' of his driver and for once, was rather thankful for all the strength. Once laid out on the ground, Hoop groaned and coughed several times as he tried to catch his breath, but it looked like he'd be ok.

After carefully laying the bear on the pavement, Buck peered back inside but halted as his vision suddenly......shifted. The inside of the LAV grew much brighter while the outside world was covered in white noise that was so bright, it hurt his eyes to see it. Pushing his head further to not go blind, Buck saw Lieutenant Jackson laying slumped to wall. The young woman had been changed into what looked like a humanoid version of a common fox squirrel. She was a few inches shorter now, but her hips and chest had filled out a fair bit to strain her uniform. Aside from her boots and mask being little more that shreds and a part of her pants' seat being blown apart to allow a long and fluffy tail to be free, she still fit into her clothes. Buck seemingly finally noticed his own tail and how it comically was attempting to act as a counterbalance, which was utterly sad with how huge he'd become. The slow wag it started doing when he saw his LT still alive was also rather....strange.

Feeling a clear draft between his legs....across an area a bit larger than he was used to and knowing how it would no doubt look, he first grabbed one of the rolled-up tarps he always kept stored in his vehicles along with some para cord. Quickly ripping the tarp into a makeshift loin cloth and struggling to tie it in place.....without crushing his own head as the mountainous muscles bulged and shifted, the massive wolf reached in and retrieved the lieutenant. His body didn't need to expand to lift such a light body and Buck marveled at how much larger he'd become when compared to the smaller woman. He could see her breathing steadily and as he laid her out on the pavement, she started to wake up.

"Ow my head. Was the worst night...mare." She trailed off as she opened her eyes and saw what her captain had become. Her tail twitched and she let out an involuntary bark before speaking. "S-sir? Cap-captain? Is that.....you?" Her eyes were wide as she started to stand up and look her own body over, though held her head with one hand as her memories were being re-rewritten. "You're freaking massive! And I'm fuzzy and.....and......" Her gaze grew confused as she looked back up at Buck, head tilted slightly. "W-what?......Why...why am I.....surprised? You're.....You've not changed any sir. But....You did.....I....um...." The captain's eyes slowly widened as he reached out and gently placed a massive hand on the comparatively small woman's shoulder. "Jackson, if I've not changed, then why am I not in uniform? And how the hell would I ever fit into our rollers at this size? If you'd not changed, then why are your boots blown apart along with your mask and the seat of your pants?" To this, the squirrel could only gulp and shudder, looking behind her at the big, fluffy tail, as she now understood that her mind was no longer the same as it had been.

Corporal Hoop groaned and coughed out a wad of bloody froth before rolling over onto his back. The big bear would have easily passed for the World's Strongest Man competition were he still human. He opened his eyes and slowly rose to a sitting position as the captain surveyed the sight around them. He could see a score of wrecked cars and trucks and could hear the wrecks happening further back down the road as the cloud spread. He also saw the people crawling from the wrecks, all changed, and stumble about in a daze. Sadly, he also could see the dead that had passed on after losing control. Seeing the question's forming and knowing they had to get to work, Jackson gave the burly bear's shoulder a pat and started to get Hoop on the same page. He'd always been a 'loveable oaf' as the Lieutenant had said some time ago and not too quick on the uptake, little wonder then why he was still a corporal. As he paid attention as best, he could to the fast talking squirrel, he watched Buck lumber back to the LAV out of the corner of his vision.

There were wrecked cars and trucks everywhere and smoke from a number of fires was filling the sky. People, all mutated into hybrids of animal and human, were starting to get their bearings, and were rushing to help others nearby. There were a few odd ones that had seemingly grown into forms that had both male and female organs and were rather cartoonish in their sizes, Buck thought to himself, but they were just like the others as they too rushed to help those in need. The Captain made to reach for his radio but remembered that it was somewhere in the wreck of his vehicle. He was just about to go searching for it when he froze as a roll of text and a soft, melodic voice echoed in his head. "Please stand by, augmenting host for mass radio broadcasting abilities" Buck blinked and gave a small smile, starting to get used to.... Whatever was in his head. "Heh, thanks. For this AND helping me get Hoop free." The soft voice was quick to reply. It sounded pleased and thankful to him, as if his praise was something akin to a grand gift. "We wish only to serve you master. As is our prime directive." Buck was......more than a bit shocked at the subservience of what he was guessing was the cloud that had attacked. He had expected the voice to be......commanding, haughty maybe? But it sounded the exact opposite. Putting that all away in his mind for later, Buck saw a tiny set of numbers in his vision, the exact frequency for company wide coms. 'Ok...... I could get used to this' he thought as he mentally 'keyed the mic' to rally his men. It was time to get to work.