ARK

Animal Nature

“Ahhh!”I screamed as the last shock went through me, hours of what felt like instant death only to heal all over again. I was panting in a pool of sweat as I shivered when the last convulsion left my body.

“Do you see how the muscles and bones reform and settle in? This is what we’ve been aiming for!” Doctor Jessi clapped when Doctor Daniel put the remote back in his pocket. “The more he does it, the more his body will become accustomed to it I’m sure.” Her eyes roved over my naked body as she licked her lips. “It seems like his body is emitting a very potent pheromone as well. Be sure to get samples of that and add it to the notes. It makes me wonder if this is a self preservation tactic or if it is a way to attract the opposite sex.”

“I think the latter. One of the other technicians had to be restrained when she went in to remove equipment earlier; she about jumped his bones then and there.” He chuckled darkly. “We can’t have all of you perfect ladies taking to one animal now, can we?”

“Oh, you tease.” She pushed him gently as she came closer to the bars, kneeling to eye level for me. “I think this one is going to be my personal play thing. He was pleasing to look at before, but now it’s like every aspect has been enhanced..” she pushed something through the bars towards me as she then stood back up. “I suggest you eat. Your body will need the calories you replaced, Doctor Todd.”

“His recalibration will begin at oh’seven hundred with the rest of them, so he’ll be as docile and compliant as a kitten soon enough.” Doctor Daniel nodded his head and turned to leave. “You need to pick out a new name for it, lest it think it has any rights as a human left.” He called as he got further away.

“Hmmm.” Doctor Jessi gave me a deep look as she took me in, a grin forming as she blew me a kiss. “Sweet dreams my little play thing, my Maximus.” She blew me a kiss and went to follow Doctor Daniel. “Wait up! We’re getting the injections together now, don’t forget!” She called out to him as she jogged to catch up.

“I’d eat that of if I were you; they aren’t wrong about the calories.” The hawk lady from the next cell over spoke again, her features more animalistic now. “Your body basically will start eating itself if you don’t.”

I reached out with what little strength I had left and pulled the bowl closer, the smell of meat and protein making my mouth salivate until I saw what was inside. “Dog food. They gave me dog food.” I whispered in disbelief.

“Want to trade?” She laughed a little, showing me her bowl. Dead mice lined it as she picked one up and swallowed it whole. “Don’t complain unless you do.”

I shook my head and hung it, properly chastened. “Sorry.”

“At least you aren’t the armadillo; nothing but live grubs and worms for him.” She pointed across the way to a man who had large scales like dinner plates growing from his back, his hands hooked in claws slightly as his facial features had become pointed at what looked like a very painful position. “He’s practically all animal now. He’s from the first generation, so there’s no helping him.” She shook her head in pity.

“What’s your name?” I asked her as I scooped up some of the food with my hand, eating it and wincing slightly at the overly cloying flavor.

She looked startled at the question, her gaze softening as her shoulders relaxed. “Penny. Penny Holliday.”

“Todd Marshal.” I waived at her and tried to smile, but my stomach rolled slightly in a cramp causing me to wince.

“How did you end up here, Doctor Todd Marshal?” She gave me a pointed look, her predatory bird eyes focusing right onto my own.

I hung my head and gathered my nerves, already afraid of losing the only kind person I had met so far. “I was a researcher hired fresh out of college for Neptune and the pay sounded too good to be true; which I guess it was.” I gave a bitter laugh as I took another bite. “I was researching Canine Parvovirus Type-2 and a possible cure through genetic modification of the strain that attacks white blood cells. I had an idea in college I wrote my thesis on and passed just barely, the cost of having to actually accomplish the testing for it too great for the college to cover. Then a representative from Neptune came up as soon as I crossed the stage with my diploma and said that their company was interested in what I had written about and would fund my whole project if I wanted to continue it.”

“That’s a dream I can’t fault you for chasing.” She nodded her head at me when I paused, her eyes turning as gentle as a birds could.

“A stupid and naive dream; one I don’t the last three years on working eighteen hour days most of the time to keep with deadlines. Then last week I had a breakthrough, just as my deadline for renewal was coming up. I was able to get the cells to attack each other and focus on becoming kinda like a support cell for the immune system in laymen’s terms.” I looked to where both Doctors had disappeared through a door, my eyes searching the far wall of answered that weren’t there.

“When my sample changed overnight, I assumed it was overworked delusions and I imagined the breakthrough. But apparently what I had achieved is what they’d been waiting on all along.”

“Do you really think there could be a cure?” She gulped another mouse as I noted her legs were becoming more claw like as she sat.

“If I could ever get a sample of the specific strains thy use for each person, then yes; with time I think I could reverse it.” I was confident in my skills, but the false hope I gave myself rang hollow.

“Then here’s to hoping you can achieve that….” She tried to say more, but it came out as a loud squawk, the noise starling us both as she tried to talk again. “Scree!” It came out as she grabbed the bars and looked at me in panic. “Scree! Scree!”

“Shhhhhhh.” I tried to calm her down as panic flashed across her face, her hands starting to melt into her wings. “It’s gonna be alright. I’m here for you Penny; Penny Holiday.”

Saying her name seemed to ground her a little as her body began to convulse, the feathers she had starting to spread rapidly across the rest of her body.