Beth
#4 of Transitions
Brian wakes up in a daze. He'd never passed out before, and later he would attribute his light-headedness to the change, other people had experienced the same, and so the line was drawn. But at the time, he feels scared; his body has been shanghaied by something that made him look like a dalmatian wannabe and the world around him seems to have gone insane. Shaking his head, he realizes that he is amazingly hungry. He pulls himself off the floor, brushes himself off and starts for the kitchen.
Opening the fridge, he pulls out luncheon meats and gets ready to make a sandwich. He shakes his head, then sniffs, wait a minute.... His fridge smells good! Brian finds himself face-diving into the fridge, smelling things he never noticed before. Nothing smells bad, just different, and he ends up pulling out an assortment he would never have ate together before; peanut butter, pickles and boiled eggs... Yum. He sits down, wolfing [dogging?] everything down, spooning the peanut butter last. Which turned out to be a big mistake, yes, it does stick to the roof of his mouth, and had anyone walked in right there, it would have looked mighty funny to see him smacking his chops.
Finally freeing himself from the dreaded peanut butter, he takes account. He looks himself over and shakes his head, what happened? How did it happen? Well, the epidemic of rashes had never happened before, and he'd never changed into a dog thing before, so that might be connected. He also might be feverish and imagining everything. He could be throwing around on his bed right now. He pinched himself, OW, no, he felt that. Well then. Food poisoning? No... The rash being a symptom of some bigger problem seemed the most likely, he wondered if everyone with a rash was going to....
"Beth!" He yelped, standing up fast, knocking his chair over.
His girlfriend, was this happening to her? Grabbing the phone and dialing, Brian found he had to hold the phone higher to hear it, and his muzzle was no where near the receiver. Damn defective phones. It doesn't matter though, the line is busy, he dials other numbers, and they are all busy. Either the phone grid is down, or the whole city is phoning each other and the grid is tied up. He resigns himself, he has to check on her, and eventually his other friends and relatives, on foot. Paw?
A moment of doubt takes Brian as he opens his front door, what if other people had not experienced this change? What if Beth thought he looked like a freak? He didn't think he looked like a freak, but you aren't supposed to think of yourself as a freak. What if the dog catcher got him? One look out the door and he didn't feel so bad, as what looks like a cross between a person and a bay horse is running up the street toward him on hooves. They make a strange clack sound on the pavement, as it gets closer, the clack gets louder, and it hits Brian that the world has gotten a little stranger, every sharp clack hits him like a hammer, pounding the reality of his situation in.
Cross that person half, Brian thinks, the horse running towards him is definitely male, and watching him run, if what he's doing can be called running, makes Brian realize that he doesn't have any clothes on. He looks down, he's so different, nothing he has will fit.... He's grown. He thinks to himself, 'To toga, or not to toga? That, is the question.' He finally decides that the fur covers everything, his shame is hidden in a new fold of skin, animals don't wear clothes. He shrugs, what else do you do? He runs, buck naked, ducking from bush to fence, fence to tree, tree to house, the dozen or so blocks to Beth's house.
The state of the city scares Brian, he lives in a residential neighborhood, and the area is smashed. Cars had piled up along the curbs, and he pictures their drivers passing out, or jerking as their changes affected them. He remembers how much some parts hurt. What a mess, he doesn't want to see the city center right now. He sees other half people and several normal people on his way, but doesn't talk to them. Step one: Beth. Step two: Comes later.
.........................
Fear is never good. And fear is at it's worst when your support network is down. And although the lights were still on and the fridge was still cold, the phones were tied up, the cable was off and there were some really funny noises coming from outside. All Beth wanted was someone too tell her that it was all going to be OK.
To top it all off, she feels sick. Her rash had gotten worse and worse, and she didn't know what to do about it. Moisturizing cream was useless, and every mom-knows-best remedy she'd tried was for nil. Showering seemed to help, but that last one she took earlier that afternoon had made her feel a little nauseous. So she got out, dried off, wrapped herself in a downy towel and curled up on the couch.
Watching movies seemed inappropriate, but she was still holding out hope that her parents would hear about whatever was happening, and come running back. Or that the authorities were going to sort things out. She knew authorities were one of those words desperate people used when those desperate people knew they needed help, but had no idea on where it was coming from.
And so she watches, trying to block out the sounds from outside and the itching all over, she tries to block out the fear, to forget it. But then, itching gave away to this feeling over her skin, something akin to bugs crawling everywhere, she stands up, brushing at her skin. The towel falls off, and she looks down, past her B cups, down her tum, and to her calves, where a fine layer of downy...something... was crawling up her legs.
She stamped her feet, trying to shake it off, to no progress. She rubs at it, and it feels almost like hair, or fur, that dropped her. She fell on her butt against the wall, and watched in horror as the fur took over her legs, grew over her chest, and finally covered her face, she brought her hands up, rubbing at the new growth, then sobbed, curling up.
And then, the front door crashed in...
....................
Walking up to the house his girlfriend lives in made Brian nervous. The house was quiet. His family and Beth's were close, so their parents had left together, but still... There were no lights, no sounds, it was dead. He tried the doorknob, locked. He had a key, but the door is stuck. Pushing harder, Brian tumbles in, skidding into the hallway.
"Beth?" He called, praying for an answer, "Hun?" He looks back, and the door had been barricaded with a sofa. He looks at his arms, he'd never be able to move that before.
"Brian?" Came the answer, and the pup's heart rose, Beth is OK!, "Don't come in!" She sounded scared, Brian knew his girlfriend, and when she is scared, she wants him around. Thinking he knows what's up, he walks in anyway.
He finds her in the living room, cowering in a corner, arms wrapped around her knees and her head resting atop it all. At first, he thought that she was wearing a sweater, brown and white, but as he got closer he realized that whatever had gotten him, had also gotten her. He kneels down in front of her and shakes her knee, "Hun?"
Without looking, Beth springs forward and hugs Brian, as he had known she probably would, she sobs, "I'm HAIRY!" and she buries her face in his soft black spotted shoulder and rubs his silky spotted back, then stops. Leaning back and looking at him, blinking, "Brian?"
"Yeah... Hun... We'll be ok." He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, HAIRY! He hugs her again, pats her back, at least we can be freaks together. "How do you feel?"
She looks up at him, speechless, then lowers her head, "Tight! All over... it hurts... Like canvas stretched over too big a frame..." And then she lurches forward, and lets go with a noise that sounds half yelp and half moan. She looks up at him, her face pressed out in a button muzzle, and hugs him again. He feels her claws dig in painfully, and looks down her back to her newly grown tail. Thick as a third leg, tapering off more than two feet from her. Brian winced, his tail had been small, and it had HURT! He couldn't begin to imagine what that one had felt like.
Beth grinned, it looked almost cute on her new face, "You made it go away!" She exclaims, and tightens her hug, Brian feels Beth's last changes more than sees them. Her nose suddenly gets moist, her ears brush up her head and press against your chest, and her entire form seems to smooth out. Brian holds her, then pushes her to arms length, looking at her. She looked kind of like her pet, a stoat, and he figured she needed to know. He reached out, grabbing a hand mirror off the side table, "Beth, I didn't do this.... And you need to see this..." He showed her herself.
And with that, Beth's looks back at Brian, eyes wide, "You're.... naked?" her eyes roll up in her head, and she passes out in Brian's arms.