Jected - Part 3
It felt like a nightmare. He remembered when the chaos started. He was 17 at the time. When it started, the only thing people knew - or didn't know depending on how much they cared to watch the news - was that there were creatures that began popping up in certain parts of the globe. There didn't seem to be much of a connection between each known case, but they were clearly real. These creatures looked like any other animal, except for the fact that they were unusually larger than their feral counterparts. They were also rabid... at least some of them were. Some related the reality of these creatures to those common tall-tail stories about werewolves, where someone who had been cursed would transform during each full-moon into a wolf-like creature on two legs, be completely aggressive and deadly, and wake up by morning and have no knowledge of what had happened, fictional stories that would soon turn out to be not so far off from being fact. It started slow. Each case that popped up would simply end with the death of the creature, due to people's ignorance and not thinking much of it. Some were wild and in a state of confusion and ended up just killing people. Others were misunderstood, and people were scared. It eventually became a thing just to kill without question. When it became clear that these creatures were not just popping up randomly, militias around the world began forming to counter these creatures with force. It was then that the state of civilization, the way people lived their lives, would come to an abrupt end. These creatures started to appear everywhere. People began going missing. There was a lot of disorder and confusion. Within days, people began realizing the fact that these creatures weren't just animals, but they were people. People had somehow started changing into these animalistic creatures. Everyone turned into something different. Some turned into overlarge felines or canines, or even equines. Others would turn into other not so common species. One thing they all had in common, however, was the ability to walk on two legs, albeit awkwardly. The transformation was a slow process, but it was worth watching it to those who wanted to understand what they were dealing with. Eventually, it became a common thing to see.The first time Lyle saw someone transform, he watched with caution and reproach. He learned to defend himself, the signs to look for, and where to go in times of need. Gated communities, amazingly, became a safe haven for a short time. But, then that too ended, and everyone was back at square one. It was coincidentally on his 21st birthday, 4 years later, that things took an unexpected turn for Lyle. In this case, stupidity killed the cat. He didn't die, but he wanted to. The amount of time it took for his transformation felt like an eternity. Once he saw the signs, he ran somewhere no one could find him. Luckily, he had planned for this, and locked
himself away where he couldn't be heard. Though his transformation only took a couple of hours, he locked himself away for a couple days. During that time, Lyle was able to come to terms with his transformation. It surprised him that he remembered everything about his old life, and found himself ridiculing himself that he was this... thing. His voice was a little deeper. He had fangs in his oddly shaped mouth, and he also had clawed human-like appendages, something that he found was odd. A tail had sprouted from his hind region. From what he could gather, he had become a canine. He had black fur from head - 'Ears?' he thoughtfully questioned - to toes. One area in particular that he found quite a gag was his reproductive system. Never had he given any thought about how it would feel to be an animal. It was around this same time that other people also started sporting more humanlike features as part of their transformation. Paws became hands and feet with claws, and with it came the ability to better balance one's self in order to walk. Those who had transformed before these days were not so lucky to gain these features. They also didn't live as long as the Anthro's, a term which eventually became the common way to describe those who had transformed. Many years passed, and Lyle succeeded in surviving after that fateful day in which he became this creature. In time, he learned even further what it was he had become: A grey-wolf-husky hybrid, though his fur was blacker than is was grey.By his 28th birthday, the chaos started to die down. There had been a lot of death in the past years, and people understood far more about Anthro's. Some even grew to get to know them as friends. It wasn't difficult either since Anthro's had once been human. A new civilization was building, one where people started to accept Anthro's. Of course, there were those who disagreed, and more death ensued, but things were changing. As life went on for Lyle he eventually began accepting who he was as an Anthro. He accepted that there was no going back to being human, not fully at least. Sometimes he missed his old life, but he knew he couldn't dwell on it. Ultimately, he found haven within a mixed society of other humans and Anthro's. They accepted him for who he was, and made him one of their own. And from that day on, he was able to start feel at home once again. In the years to come, there was a lot of cleaning to be done. Civilization as a whole in the country started getting back on their feet. A new leader was chosen, and politics were once again back in the news. Military also reformed. Life seemed to be getting back to what it once was like when Lyle was growing up. And despite everything that had happened, new technology was still on the rise. Something new in computer technology gave people the ability to talk to each other "in person". After that, virtual realities were 'all the craze.' It was the new
social networking device. All they needed was a device called a 3D Jecter to connect at particular points on their head, and they would be "transported" to a new world. Many people rejected the device, but its reality was as inevitable as the cell phone. At first nobody had one, and then everybody had one.At 55 years old, Lyle had become engrossed with the reality of the Jector. It often took him to a place where he could forget about the past, become young again, be whoever he wanted to be, and do whatever he wanted do. During one of his interactions in a particular Ject, he met this one Anthro, an older burly equine he eventually grew very fond of. They spent a lot of time together, watching movies, traveling the world, having fun, all within the virtual reality. HoneyBucker1008 was his username, and all that he knew about Honey was that he lived nowhere remotely close. They kept real facts about themselves anonymous, since it was more fun that way, and it made the virtual reality much more real. Smithstucker68 was Lyle's virtual name, and he usually played a young Grey-wolf of 22 years. Age-play, as he liked to think of it. When they first met, the equine looked about 40 years old. Sometimes when they would sleep together, all that Smith could dream about were the chaotic days. He would dream of the time when he was transforming, but the events would never play out how they should have. In this particular instance, someone brakes down the door to his hideaway location. This time it's his father shouting, "I pity you!" And he lifts a pistol to Smiths head and pulls the trigger. Smith awakes from his nightmare with a startle. He's facing Honey's chest lying on the bed. Honey, already knowing what to do in this type of situation, pulls him in closer to his body, embracing him more than smothering him.Honey speaks up, "Is it the dream again?"Fear was evident in the grey-wolfs voice, "Yes.""Tell me about it." Honey insists.Smith spent the next couple of minutes settling his body and telling Honey about his nightmare.