Species Serum: Genesis (eBook)

Chapter One

The Journey

I was practically jittering with excitement as we started on our trip to the resort park. Even the usual stares were not on my radar. I was so looking forward to the chance to have our old life back, even if it was only temporary. Even my wife, Allie, seemed to look forward to the vacation.

Of course, that was before the multiple delays and problems with our flight and the connecting flight. I explained I didn’t book my ticket as a standby so many times that it hurt when Allie said to just stop explaining. It shocked me. I realized I had missed the obvious, and that reason was just given as an excuse. Usually, I’m the one who picks up on that kind of crap. I chalked it up to focusing on the destination and just not paying attention.

After that, Allie seemed more and more distant. I had become sensitive to that because I love her . . . and have for over thirty-two years. I was desperate to save our marriage. After the past eighteen months, I thought we had found something that would sort of counteract some of the damage that had been done. My hopes were still high at this point and got a boost when, after a little more than an hour of pacing, Allie sat next to me on the love seat in the airport waiting area. I turned toward her, and she laid back, resting her head high on my chest. I put my arms around her, rested my chin and neck on her head, and sighed. As I sat there, my mind wandered.

I meandered through the memories of the last eighteen months. Still, I haven’t accepted the outcome. I guess I have a hard time accepting anything that I can’t review and understand for myself. I know it had to be hard on her, too. Allie was never someone who tolerated changes. Especially major changes in her life. For me, I had been adapting to changing circumstances ‘on the fly,’ as they say, for most of my career as a hazardous material/tactical response paramedic and then as a lieutenant for the fire department. Changing circumstances come with those job titles. Then again, not the type of changes we’d just been through.

After thirty years of service, and at just age fifty-three, I had called it quits. The multiple knee injuries and surgeries, as well as the degenerative changes in the joints, besides the pain, had gotten the better of me. After filing for retirement, I found that being home was stressful on my marriage. I couldn’t understand that. Allie always remained steadfast, even when I went from being a regular medic in a dangerous neighborhood to a Haz-mat tech and then a tactical response medic. She stated her misgivings at each step, but stood with me anyway. We raised three children. We did everything that goes with a marriage like ours. It shocked me when my retirement turned out to be a strain on our marriage. If only I had known how many more shocks were coming our way.

Almost at the same time I retired, COVID-19 hit. I thought myself lucky. Even when everyone in the family got sick, no one got hospitalized. We all came through. It seemed we got past it. Then, two years later, I started noticing some startling changes in my body. They weren’t severe or shocking at that point, just weird sensations. I felt fine. I chalked it up to dieting and losing over forty-four pounds—and I was still on the diet.

Then the dreams came. To this day, I feel weird just thinking about it. I had a recurring dream: I became a tail-less anthropomorphic wolf girl. I wasn’t too quick to tell Allie about these dreams. Instead, I asked her what she would do if I became a werewolf. Without hesitation she said, “You’re so weird! But I would still love you and stay with you.” Still, I pushed, and she repeated, “I’d still love you.” I felt better but couldn’t leave it there. The need to go the rest of the way was irresistible. I asked, “Even if I became a female werewolf?” I might as well have run headfirst into a brick wall. Her immediate and startled answer was, “Oh, no way!” That hurt. It shocked me, but more because of the change in answer based on the result. Of course, she didn’t know the entire story—that in the dream, my mind wasn’t affected, I was still me.

She must have seen the pain in my reaction. Within moments, she asked why I would ask such a thing—did I want to be a woman? I said, “No, I just had a dream that I changed and that it wasn’t in my control.” I told her that in the dream, my mind, memories, and thoughts hadn’t changed; just my physical appearance. Then I couldn’t help pointing out that I stood with her through her breast cancer and the resulting changes. In hindsight, not a good move. Most likely seemed like guilting her.

In the long run, it was Allie who noticed the white hair as it grew on my upper chest and across my shoulders. She also noticed other changes. That’s when we went to the doctor. Not long after, the government got involved. A couple of suit-wearing military types ushered me away. Allie was told they would let her know where I was as soon as they could.

They were polite . . . not the movie stereotype of government scientists who locked the subject away. In fact, after they concluded I was not a threat of contagion (or savage attack), I could roam the grounds of the national lab facility and have Allie visit me. I thought everything was okay then. The first visit dispelled that belief . . . RAPIDLY.

They called me to report to the family center. When I got there, they told me that Allie would visit but not to be too hurt if she couldn’t handle seeing me the first time. By this time, the change was complete. One of the younger lab techs pointed out to me that I looked like a character from that MMORPG game that’s been around forever. I didn’t have the urge to tell him I’d been playing it since before he was born. While I sat in the room waiting for Allie, Dr. Emily Schrang was going on about what a shock it would be for my wife and that I shouldn’t expect her to accept it right off, even though she’d seen all the videos of my exams during all phases of the change.

Just then, they escorted Allie in. I jumped up with my arms extended. All I wanted in the universe at that moment was to hold my wife. The look of fright (and the tears rolling down her cheeks) crushed my heart. I moved toward her to follow as she turned and ran back out the door. But I felt Emily’s gentle hand on my arm as she said, “Bill, don’t. Give her time.” She added, “I told you it would be a shock for her.”

The next few visits got better, although fear stopped me from reaching out for Allie and frightening her away again. Then one magical day, Allie reached up and put her arms around me and gave me a hug. I hugged back with tears in my eyes and noticed that her eyes were closed. I felt her relax. She put her head on my shoulder and said, “Now I recognize you. I can feel you in there.” I almost broke down. She said, “Jess is waiting for you to come home.” I realized as much as I loved all three of my children, as well as my grandchildren, I hadn’t even thought of them in the face of losing my wife. I was a little ashamed of that, but happy to hear they missed me.

After over ten months of exams, blood tests, and miscellaneous imaging tests, the scientists said I could go home. They told me not to make any statements to the press, just try to live your life. Then they handed me a purse and my first instinct was to say, “I don’t carry a purse.” As I looked down past what had to be “D” cup breasts, I realized it was appropriate. I opened it up and found it empty except for two wallets. One I recognized as my badge wallet from the fire department in which I used to carry my badge and retired ID card. To my surprise, when I opened it, I found a retired ID and my badge, but the ID card had a pretty wolf’s face and the name read “Lt. Willa Joan Davis.” I opened the other wallet and found all my licenses, permits, and credit cards. All were displaying my current photo, gender, and adjusted name. It was weird seeing that name instead of my given name of William John Davis.

Emily smiled and said, “Thank you for your service.” She explained that because of scientific evidence of the transformation, as well as the fact that I was both former military and a member of the Diplomatic Protection Unit of the fire department (the latter, of course, monitored by the US Secret Service since they are part of the presidential entourage), they could backtrack my history and have it reflect my current physical situation as if I were born this way. I wasn’t sure whether that was good, but it was easier than starting over.

Emily also saved the best for last. As we went through our last debrief, along with pointing out that I should not discuss the facility or the security procedures and all the other usual government research foolishness, she got around to my condition. The regeneration of every cell in my body and the conversion of my internal organs had regressed my age about twenty-five years. At that moment, it hit me. I blurted out, “Wait, does that mean I could get pregnant?!” Emily giggled. “Yes, we talked about that. You’ve been getting that time of the month, remember?” Thank God for fur. My cheeks had to be...