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"Guess I'll hop back on the tower then," I muttered. Pushing on my shades as I walked, I made my way over to the tiny raised platform. I tapped my friend's tanned leg to grab her attention. Kelly glanced down, and upon seeing her replacement, lightly lowered herself to the deck.

"Any troublemakers?" I asked as I climbed up the tiny ladder to the platform.

"At an adult swim class? You've got to be..." She realized I was kidding and closed her mouth. I chuckled as I nestled into the tiny chair.

"All good up here, Kelly."

"Have fun!" she said sarcastically, and walked toward the shaded lifeguard rest area. One other guard was in our rotation: my good friend Austen. He was sipping from a rather large water bottle. Though it was only a few minutes before 7 AM, preparing for the hot summer sun was a shrewd idea.

My head surveyed the 10-lane public pool. Three lanes were occupied by some twenty adults in the Master's class. They weren't strong swimmers like me, but they were not about to let their bodies get out of shape; I can respect that. A couple of other lanes were sparsely occupied by swimmers doing their own workout. But other than that, the pool was empty. In a couple of hours, I knew that the other guards and I would take out a lane line or two to make more room for open swim (AKA a ton of annoying kids). Until then though, the pool was relatively safe.

I scanned the pool back and forth, occasionally zoning out for a maximum of five seconds as a particularly captivating rogue thought held all of my attention. This time of day was easy, which is both a blessing and a curse. Boredom is never fun, but it is certainly better than frantically looking among a sea of heads to spot a potential drowning victim. I idly reviewed what I would do if someone were to suddenly switch from swimming to struggling in the water. Then I idly realized that I had already thought about this countless times in the last week alone, and that all procedures had been drilled into my mind pretty hard anyway by the training.

I was distracted from my scanning for a moment by a burst of mild vertigo. I squeezed my red buoy for support. The dizziness passed as quickly as it had come. My shades were not seated correctly on my nose anymore, so I moved my hand to adjust them. I then returned my focus to the pool. That was when I noticed what most experienced lifeguards have learned to fear: a drowning victim. A middle-aged swimmer who was stroking peacefully along a minute ago was now making no forward progress. Unfortunately, he was right in the middle of his lane, and alone. The other Master's swimmers in his lane were at either end of the pool. White water splashed about him as he tried to continue moving forward to no avail. The lifeguard training within my mind automatically classified him as a 'distressed swimmer.' I felt the adrenaline enter my bloodstream as I stared at the man. For a few more seconds I sized up the situation. For whatever reason, the other swimmers' eyes were looking down, looking at the wall, or just unfocused. One or two people might have noticed that he was struggling, but I knew it was my job to act immediately. I stood up quickly, hesitated a second longer, and then blew my whistle as hard as I could and leapt off the platform.

My body formed the 'compact jump' position as I flew through the air. I felt my innards twitch violently just before I hit the water. Then my ears were full of the sound of my splash, and everything was wet and cold. My shades and whistle were ripped off my person. The buoy speedily pulled me to the surface. I shoved it under my chest and began freestyling towards the victim, ducking under lane lines when necessary. The stress hormones, the water swirling in my ears and trickling into my eyes, the muffled cries for help now streaming from the man - the intensity pumped my muscles into overdrive. I stopped a few feet from the man as per my training.

"Sir, I'm a lifeguard, I can help you! Grab my buoy!" I yelled to his fear-masked face. He did not respond, probably due to his lack of air. I extended my buoy to him. He latched on immediately.

"Hold on, and kick if you can!" I shouted as I began to tow him to one end of the pool. A few seconds of pulling and kicking later, I noticed how unexpectedly easy it was for me to tow the man. I really seemed to be generating a lot of force when I kicked. So much so that I abandoned my modified side stroke and instead grabbed the end of the buoy with both hands, kicking on my back. The victim was not assisting me by kicking (not that it was needed) I observed. I wondered if he would be alright; he looked horrified still.

We soon reached the pool wall. I took the man's hands and gently guided him to it.

"Are you alright sir?" I asked.

He cleared his throat and croaked: "I...I don't think so. My legs, they're...they're not right."

A pang of fear struck me, but I saw no way his legs could have been injured in the middle of the pool.

"Hmm...well, let's get you out of the pool and have a look I suppose."

I nimbly climbed out and then offered a hand. The saved man took it and awkwardly pulled himself out. I gasped when I saw a radically messed up pair of feet. Instead of feet, the man's legs ended in narrow and hard looking protrusions. Almost like hooves, but still somewhat foot-like. And that wasn't all. His legs were definitely altered. The thighs were much narrower, the knees were backwards or otherwise wrong, and his skin was covered in short but very thick black and white hair arranged in stripes. The hair (fur?) was thickest near the hoof-feet and deteriorated as it went up into his swimming jammers. I stood on the pool deck stupidly, staring at the monstrous deformity of this zebra-man, trying to make sense of impossibility. The man himself stared at his legs just as I did.

Eventually I looked at the other two lifeguards, who I realized should have been by my side after a rescue. Austen and Kelly were halfway between the lifeguard area and the poolside. Kelly's eyes were upturned, peering at a small gray horn sticking out of the center of her wider nose. Austen was standing by her side with his arm around her shoulders, and seemed to be saying consoling words to her. He wasn't helping by the looks of it. I jumped as I realized I hadn't even looked at myself yet. I raised my hands and my jaw dropped. My fingers were webbed. The webbing was faintly brown, as were my fingers. I waggled my appendages, feeling how the new skin stretched. It was incredible! Naturally I looked at my feet next. Not only were they webbed, but my feet were drastically changed. My toes were longer and more widely spaced apart. About three seconds of me examining my feet had elapsed when they began to change. Following a brief jolt, my whole body felt like it was shifting in proportions. Right before my eyes, my foot's skin darkened to brown. The toenails darkened even more, to black, and slowly curled into short claws. I felt the bones and muscles warp and jostle, and my heel left the ground. I was now standing on the balls of my feet - or more accurately, paws. My hands had also transformed into clawed brown paws. Looking back down towards my feet, I noticed that the fork of my legs was closer to my feet than before. Evidently my torso had lengthened even though I remained the same height. I was about to continue my self-inspection when I heard a cry from behind me: "HELP!"

I spun around and returned my attention to where it should be: the pool. Currently, it was in a state I would describe as mayhem. On the edges, altered people were attempting to climb out. Many had their upper halves resting on the deck, unable to pull themselves out farther (most likely due to unfamiliar feet or lack thereof). I saw one woman climb out, only to lose her balance on her new hooves and topple back in. I noticed many who were transforming into birds; the change from arms to wings surely hampered their pool-exiting abilities. In the shallow end, people seemed safe to say the least, but the deep end was marked by flailing limbs, splashing, and frequent distressed vocalizations. Perched on the edge of the pool, I was briefly torn between the desire to dive in and help the panicking swimmers, and the urge to feel my new body: particularly my face and very lower back. The choice was obvious. I snatched my buoy and jumped towards a man with the beginnings of antlers.

This time around, the water felt fantastic! The water was crystal clear instead of blurry when I opened my eyes underwater. I quickly surfaced and stroked and kicked to the deer-man, who was about to go under. In my haste I got too close, however.

"Sir, I'm a life-" He lunged towards me and enclosed his arms over my head - anything to stay above water. I reflexively turned my head to the side and ducked underwater, only to resurface behind him. I placed the long buoy between my chest and his back, pulled him onto it, and kicked backwards to the side of the pool. The desperation evaporated from my victim as he realized he was safe in my arms.

"Just breathe, relax," I cooed. My body felt exceptionally streamlined and adapted to the water. I was confident and smooth, despite the remarkable speed I was traveling at. As I kicked the deer-man and I to the wall, I felt another surge course through my body. I had already noticed the beginnings of a tail at my tailbone, but now I could feel as it widened and grew longer out into the water. My pelvis was changing - my thighs grew apart as my tail extended almost straight down between them, quickly ripping my board shorts. Simultaneously, a very peculiar sensation covered almost every inch of my skin. I watched short brown fuzz creep out of my two arms, currently hooked around the victim's arms, as well as the rest of my body judging by the odd sensations. My nose and mouth pushed out from my face two or three inches. I could now clearly see my nose (which had changed in shape and was darkening to black) resting on the end of my short fuzz-covered muzzle. The deer-man on top of me had also changed since I clearly saw his antlers extend, as well as other cervine modifications.

Once I reached the wall, I clambered out. Besides nearly falling from my new digitigrade stance, my new tail's weight almost threw me off balance when I spun to help the victim out. I was mildly disturbed upon seeing that the man now had only two thick fingers and a thumb on his hand, with deeply altered nails. This time, Kelly and Austen were waiting for me. Kelly was clearly becoming a bipedal rhinoceros, but Austen's transformation was even stranger. His entire body looked like it was covered in hard gray scales. His face had a snout even more prominent than my own, and his ears stuck out. 'Armadillo' I thought.

"Care to help me rescue some drowning victims?" I expelled.

Kelly shook her head vehemently. Austen grimaced. "I think we'd both sink man, sorry. You look more than capable for the job though. You ought-ter get going!" I could not help laughing at my friend's lame joke, despite the gravity of the situation.

"Right," I said before turning back towards the pool. The deer appeared fine, so I looked for more victims. Two people were still struggling at the surface, and I saw at least one person had already submerged. I chose to abandon my buoy by the poolside, seeing as it would now probably only hinder my rescues. For some reason, I decided to dive in muzzle-first this time. It only felt natural. Just before I pierced the water, I instinctively flexed new muscles in my nose and ears. No water entered my nasal airway or my ear canal; they were sealed off. I easily saw two unmoving submerged victims with my new underwater vision. I figured that because I was part otter, I ought to swim like one. I undulated up and down like the river otters I had seen on my last trip to the zoo. This type of locomotion worked like a charm. I could not stop a grin from spreading over my face at my new aquatic prowess. It was initially a bit difficult to 'steer', but I soon caught on to using my tail and hind paws as a rudder. I tried paddling with my front ones to go faster, but it seemed awkward, so I stuck to my wave-like body motion.

If tail shape was any indicator, the first victim I grabbed was a chameleon. I held on and swam on over to another victim, a fox, a few lanes over. The weight I towed was formidable, but my swimming ability was more formidable. I felt the slightest of urges to fill my lungs with fresh air as I slowly swam beneath the water toward Kelly and Austen. As I surfaced, Austen softly muttered "Damn" in wonder. The second that the other two lifeguards had firmly gripped the two unconscious victims, I descended and sped away toward another struggling swimmer.

Then, the familiar shock struck my body once again. The fuzz covering my body lengthened and thickened enormously, becoming a darker brown. The fur was cream-colored from my chest to the underside of my muzzle. The diameter of my board shorts' hole increased as my tapered tail thickened. It wormed out to about three feet by estimation. My four limbs shortened ever so slightly and the fork of my legs lowered again. Rough pads formed under my finger and toe tips, and on my lower palms and balls of my feet. My neck thickened as my shoulders pulled closer together, making my body look almost like a thick furry snake with arms and legs tacked on. My muzzle grew out another inch, and my ears twitched as they changed further. The teeth and tongue in my mouth changed as well. The distance between my eyes increased while my forehead's height decreased. Besides a few other changes in body proportions and shape, I could feel whiskers sprout from my cheeks. Their length astounded me when they stopped growing just before a foot. Finally, my body stopped quivering. The fur and bones I was to now call my body felt right. They would not change anymore; I had reached the ending point. This I knew. I floated eight feet underwater motionlessly, overwhelmed by my changing body. Once it was done, I looked up at the two 'active drowning' victims (one of which was beginning to go under). I whipped my tail and darted upward.

• * * * *

"It's no big deal, I was just doing my job," I replied to a six foot tall horse.

"No, really! If you hadn't saved me I would have died!" The woman looked crazed with thankfulness, if I was reading her facial expression correctly. I shrugged my smaller shoulders, embarrassed, and merely rephrased my previous sentence. The woman's long face finally turned away following another thank-you. I had barely taken a step when another victim engaged me in conversation - a camel.

"Sir, I am sure you're sick of all these thank-you's by now, but I cannot help it. Thank you so very much for saving my life. I am forever in your debt."

My tail moved around a bit due to either embarrassment or happiness, and I responded, "No problem. I picked a good day to transform into a river otter though."

The man's eyes widened. "You mean to say that you are involved in the causation of this insanity?"

Obviously the man's larger ears didn't catch my sarcasm. "No no no, I was only joking. I wonder though...what could have started all this?" I gestured towards the anthropomorphic animals scattered along the deck. After a moment I said, "You know, I bet someone in the world will settle the issue by pinpointing the cause not too far from now."

The camel replied: "Hmm...I would not be so sure of that my friend. Religious fanatics will always claim that it was a punishment, or maybe a gift, from God. Even if a scientific explanation is confirmed, be it genetic, a disease - people will always be in dispute over this. At least, that is what I believe."

I stood thoughtfully for a moment, pondering some questions I had hitherto ignored. What caused the change? Will we change back? Why were prepubescents unaffected? (Using telephones, someone had discovered that her children did not change, which others confirmed.) Will a cure be found? Would anyone use it?

"Well, thank you once again. I must attend to my family. Goodbye!" He snorted softly and slowly strolled away.

All in all, I was happy that this cataclysm had struck the Earth. (Everyone at the pool knew it was worldwide, since the first thing that some people did after making sure they were alright was communicate with friends and family.) Sure, everyone's life would be altered forever. But in the long-run, it hardly mattered. People would be people, and society would function nearly the same. I received a form I was quite content with. Already I devoted multiple hours daily to my swim team and club, which I absolutely loved. That's why I became a lifeguard. Swimming, be it at the beach or in a pool, was an activity I felt I would never grow tired of. I believed I was very fortunate to become a river otter. My agility on land was reduced, but swimming was now utterly natural and delightful. My new form was slick, graceful, and not lacking in power or size. I couldn't fly like the birds, or sprint like the cheetahs, but I got abilities that suited my old self well.

My reverie was shattered when Austen tapped me on the shoulder. He was less transformed into an armadillo than I was into an otter. Apparently, there were varying degrees of transformation among individuals.

"Hey...I just wanted to say sorry that I wasn't any help half an hour ago. Dunno what I could have done, except tend to people you had already rescued. You were amazing though! You saved, what, six people in three minutes? It was epic to watch those later ones I'll tell you. I guess it was natural for you, huh?"

"Basically, yeah...the impending doom of the victims certainly hurried me up though. I'm glad I didn't turn into an elephant instead halfway through the first rescue."

Kelly spoke up: "Hey, I'm sorry too. But just like Austen said, you were fantastic. You had it more than covered. You were quick enough that we didn't have to do CPR on anyone - thank God. The traffic must be terrible; I don't think ambulances could reach us, even if we dialed 911. A pool's gotta be one of the worst places to change."

"Definitely," I agreed. "I'm gonna go check out a mirror in the bathroom. I haven't seen my reflection yet."

"Completely understand, dude," Austen said with a curling of his long plated tail.

"You look cool," added Kelly.

"Not as cool as a frickin' rhino, I bet," I said over my shoulder.

Essentially, I was now a human-sized otter, walking on two legs, with longer than otter-sized limbs. My ears were smaller and rounded, sitting farther back on my head. My hearing had improved since I was human. My eyes were black like an otter's, but somehow not primal. My vision was about the same, except that I could see just as well underwater. I had a carnivore's teeth, and a longer and flatter tongue. I did not yet know if what I liked to eat had changed. I slapped my tail on the tiled floor in approval of my appearance. The robin next to me chirped in surprise. I apologized and left the bathroom smirking.

The stench of chlorine, to which I had previously become habituated, assaulted my nose once again as I walked through the door. My sense of smell had definitely improved. A small crowd was gathered on the deck. The reason was clear. A raccoon morph's hands were on fire. Or rather, he was holding the fire. I joined the circle and watched as the raccoon, tail waving happily, juggled the balls of fire. He also seemed capable of quenching or creating fire. I was rather nonplussed. Everyone turning into animals was one thing, but superpowers? This would throw a hitch in the explanations of those researching the cause of the change. I searched for an armadillo and a rhinoceros among the group, and walked towards them. After a brief discussion, we reached a consensus. Kelly clambered up some steps and shouted to the crowd and the couple of other individuals around other parts of the pool.

"ATTENTION! WE ARE GOING TO CLOSE THE POOL, SINCE NO ONE IS USING IT, AND MOST OF US ARE GOING TO BE LEAVING SOON ANYWAY. PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY OUT. THANK YOU!" Her new louder and gruffer voice did the trick. Those people who had not left already began grabbing belongings, saying good-bye to each other, and leaving via the front gate. Me and the other two lifeguards began the closing procedures (at only 7:45 AM!) once all patrons had departed. We talked, of course, about the change whilst cleaning up. Kelly and Austen were pretty fine with their respective changes. I mentioned my opinion of my personal change, and they were happy for me. We exchanged theories for the cause of the change, and tested the sharpness of Kelly's horn and durability of Austen's armored shell at the same time. We finished closing down the facilities in about ten minutes. After calling the lifeguards on the other shifts later in the day to tell them we had closed down the pool, we met at the gate.

"What a morning," I sighed.

"You can say that again," chimed Kelly and Austen in unison.

"Well, see you tomorrow, I guess? You guys go on ahead though, I want to check something - I might've left a gate unlocked." I said.

We shook 'hands', albeit awkwardly. My lifeguard friends departed, leaving me alone in the facility. At last! I turned on the spot and ran at the pool. I plunged in and flew like a spear to the bottom, where I twisted in fantastical shapes. I felt like a mythical sea serpent. The sheer pleasure of swimming kept me moving in the water for some minutes. The sensitive whiskers projecting away from my muzzle informed me of any differences in water speed by my face. I suspected they would be very helpful for preventing me from colliding with obstacles in murky water, too. Or, if I ever felt an inclination to go hunting for fish in cloudy water, they would be of assistance there as well.

For ten more minutes I frolicked in the pool with the playfulness of a legitimate river otter. I succeeded in launching my entire body out of the water, as well as almost effortlessly remaining submerged for two minutes. I thought of the future - meeting other otters, going on 'fishing' trips together. I wondered about the extent of my abilities in the water - endurance, maximum breath capacity, top speed. I questioned if I had a power. But most of all, I reveled in the profound sense of joy within my heart.