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A hazy word bubbled up in Mollys mind, "the door" Molly thought. A garble of sounds came out of it. They sounded angry Molly recognised her name but nothing else. The scent was familiar though and she knew they were friendly despite their manner. 

She couldn't quite remember her name but she knew her. The garble of sounds from the door started again this time louder, Molly whined, she didn't like her being upset. The door opened, Molly's ears flattened her tail wagged lowly she stood submissively. Her master looked at her in confusion then looked around the room, Molly understood she was being called. She yapped in response, she felt happy and hungry but mostly happy everything was good.

Megan: "I dont know where she went, i had no idea she was keeping an animal in her dorm" On her phone Megan explains to her friend Sandy. "Perhaps it was for her biology course? crackled the response".

Yeah maybe but the student accommodation has very strict rules on pets. She wouldn't risk losing her home" Megan said. "Well i guess i'd better hand this little guy in downstairs, he's affectionate at least but foxes aren't pets". Megan hangs up and scratches the foxes chin. "Come on little guy we're gonna go meet some people who'll give you a good home". Megan passes a mirror on her way out,

"Thats odd, when did i paint my lips black" Megan thought. "I don't even own black lipstick".

PROLOGUE END

Day 1

Megan decides to leave it, she's already late for college. She carries her new friend downstairs to an animal control van outside. 

The fox seemed anxious and clingy as she handed it over but she thought nothing of it, the sooner it was gone the less chance molly would get in trouble. 

She signed a form and took another glance at the fox, it whined in response as the van door closed. 

Megan was late but at least it was for a good reason, "sorry Tim i found an injured animal and called the RSPCA" she thought to herself as she drove along the promanade.

It was a mild march morning on the south coast of England, her journey to college took her along the beach. 

Walking through to door Megan opens her coat, the sudden wash of heat instantly makes her uncomfortable.

Megan crosses the atrium the high windows painting the ground with the pale morning light. "Hey what's with the lips Meg", Dan starts sharply. 

"Hey Dan yeah thought i'd try a new look today", they both enter the elevator, " Well you look nice? " Dan say's forcefully. "i think you messed up though", "What?" Megan said. "Your top lip" he gestures with his finger, "You must of slipped while doing it. There's a line pointing to your nose".

Megan looks behind her in the mirror, was that there before? she thought. "oh yeah, oops!" She didn't get a good look at it before she left, perhaps it was like that. 

"Anyway catcha laters, im gonna have to sneak into biology through the back." Dan say's

"Laters Dan" Megan says fixated on her face. The doors started to close and she pulls herself away.

Megan explained herself to her tutor Tim and was let off with a warning, "call ahead next time" he said, "go catch up". Megan pulls the seat away from her usual space. "The heat is unbarable in here" says Megan as she takes off her coat and jumper. 

Image here, Class room, Megan and Sandy at a desk.

"Hey Meg been listening to Crade of filth?" Sandy say's jokingly, Meg starts up "Huh?" Her friend Sandy say's "the make up, whats this about?" She circles her own face with her index finger. "Oh i just felt like it today, fancied a change i guess" Megan rubs at her top lip again. "Well i suggest getting rid of it, you look weird". "Lab is today and you know how Professor Mason like to pick on people", Sandy say's coyly. "Ha yeah i'd better go clean it off" Megan says.

Megan and Sandy settle and make notes on yesterdays results, 20 minutes later they are dismissed for a coffee break. Megan heads straight for the toilets. She draws a couple of stares from some of the less subtle corridor inhabitants. Megan enters the toilet, its empty. 

She approaches the mirror she reaches into her bag and pulls out a pack of wet wipes. bunching a few she presses her lips tight and rubs vigorously. Nothing happens, she rubs again this time with more care. Still nothing, "What the fuck" Megan mumbles to herself.

Image here, mirror again wet wipes in hand confused concerned look

She looks closer at herself her lips were blacker than before if anything. When she left they'd been merely a dark grey now they glistened jet black. She licked them trying to figure out what was on them, no flavour. 

The line in the top middle was still there infact it seemed longer more pronounced. She rubbed at it with the wipe in an attempt to get rid of it, Still nothing. The wipe on all attempts has come away clean. She pouted. "Well i guess if i cant clean it i can at least cover it."

Megan thought to herself. Meg pulled out a small make up bag and selects the most natural tone she has. The lip stick covers her lips well enough, a little foundation on her upper lip and she looked normal. One last self check and Meg leaves the Toilet.

Meg didnt go for a coffee she didnt want to smudge her make-up, back at class Sandy gives a thumbs up at her friends new but less vibrant fashion choice. "Thats a lot better, next time stick to this". Megan fakes a smile, she would be ok for now but when she got back she really needed to find out how to remove the black gloss.

Class ended an hour later, Megan and sandy walk to their next class when they run into Dan again, "Yo Meg like the new look, still cant believe what you had this morning ha". Megan fakes a smile again.

"So where're you girls off to now?" asks Dan. "Lab" responds Sandy. "Mason?" Dan asks again. "Yep" both girls respond. "good luck with that" Dan say's with sympathy. "i just had him he's his usual self today, so... awful." 

Image here, Lab scene setting, Megan and sandy sit together again 

Megan and Sandy enter the lab, the cold stark interior takes Megan by surprise despite her familiarity to it. They select their usual seats and sit quietly waitng for class to start. 

Their lesson today was part of a biology module, no practical stuff today, it was mostly a lecture with slides split up intermittantly with short videos, most of the work invloved making notes. Sandy's lightening fast writng speed further stressed Megan as her own slacked today. 

Often the slide or the video would move on before she could finish and her writing was messy, her hands felt unresponsive and lacked the delicacy needed for her usual neat writing style. 

She looks at her hand and rubs them, they feel stiff the skin on her palms usually soft and delicate from no physical activity felt thicker like she's been rock climbing recently. 

Sandy nudges her concerned, moving closer and offers megan her own notes. Megan does her best but she lags behind for the rest of class. She figures that perhaps a lack of sleep might be the reason.

After Lab comes lunch, Megan breaks off from Sandy and visits the toilet again, after using them she goes to wash her hands, her collouses still felt odd to her and they weren't like one's she'd ever had before. 

She notices something else, her nails the nail beds took on a darker hue like s bruise but more uniform. "what is with me today" megan wanders to herself. She decides that nail polish was a good idea, she didn't want anyone asking.

After lunch comes Maths, her problems continue. The higher problems swim before her vision, she frequently and frustratingly forgets symbols only this time Sandy's not there to help her. 

She focusses hard and the simpler problems get solved fine but the effort strains her head, causing a headache. She leaves 30 minutes later having achieved little.

Sociology: Megan confides with Sandy she's not feeling right today and tells her about her struggles with classes but hides the other oddities.

Sandy decides that on their day off tomorrow she'll work to help her. Megan finds herself losing track of the lecture, her mind drifting off to thoughts of food. This confuses her having only eated a short time before. The thought of food persisted throughout the lecture

After college Megan decides a session at the gym and a good nights sleep is what she needs to sort herself out. She notices her toe nails are also discoloured and ignores them. At the gym she finds she has way more energy than normal and jogs 10 km on the treadmill.

"i think im gonna head to the gym" Megan tells sandy at the end of the day "its been a rough day for me, i think a run and a good nights sleep is in order." "That's a good idea, i'd join you but i can't be bothered. Sandy smiles

Megan arrives at the gym, as she starts running she feels energy bubble up from within her, after running for a solid 5 minutes she doesn't feel tired at all. This dumbfounds Megan, she's never been particularly fit and she's never really pushed herself beyond her limits so this has come out of nowhere.

Megan runs 10 miles before she stops, but she stops not from tiredness but from boredom, she dismounts the treadmill, she's sweating but oddly enough most of the sweat is coming from her hands and feet. 

Bed time: As megan gets ready for bed she notices that her lips are still glossy black and the line has spread to the base of her nose, this worries her and she googles her symptoms but finds nothing, she makes a note to see the doctor.

Megan heads to her flat, she's still surprised by her energy, the night air is cool and crisp but that alone doesn't explain to her how good it felt to be outside. Something awoke in her that in turn felt dissapointed when she went indoors, she found herself thinked about staying out, looking for any excuse. But she needs a good nights sleep.

Megan gets inside and kicks off her shoes, the closeness of her flat coupled with the lack of her flatmate had an unnerving effect on her but being the rational person she was she ignored it and went about getting ready for bed.

In the bathroom mirror Megan wipes off the day's make up and studies the odd changes, Her lips still glossed jet black. The line between ner lip and nose had spread further connecting the two. "god what on earth is that?" Megan fears cancer or something, perhaps and allergic reaction but nothing comes up in her googling. 

She looks again at her nails they too had changed further, the discolouration had turned from a deep red and black hue to all black. They looked different as well though, they had a slight point to them. 

Megan decides to leave it for the morning, she has had enough for one day and needs rest, these can be problems for tomorrow.

Day 2: morning: Megan awakes to find that everything is as it was last night, she tries again to remove the lipstick only finding her skin rubbed raw from yesterday's attempts. Her nose remains sore, her nails however though still the same painted colour have grown longer and to a point. She cuts them back finding them thicker and norrower than before, The changes continue to worry her but she applies her make-up and carries on with her day regardless.

Coffee shop: Sandy asks megan if she dyes her hair as megans "ginger" roots are showing. Megan aggree's uncertainly, They make plans for their homework for the day and decide a movie would be a good idea to clear their heads after. Dan arrives and invites the girls to a party tomorrow night.

Library: Megan again struggles to wrap her head around their lab results from yesterday, just copying her notes seem to require more effort than normal, complex words keep escaping her and need teasing out, she tries not to let it show but sandy catches on and expresses worry, they talk and Megan makes more excuses while secretly she begins to panic

Library 2: After a long awkward time Megan finally finishes her notes and moves to Maths where the issues continue, the numbers seem to change in her head from one meaning to another, she has to remind herself constantly of their values and make more errors than she would normally.

Home: Megan decides against a movie, a worried Sandy agree's. Megan arrives home throws her bag to the floor in frustration, she calms herself down with a couple shots of rum, in the bathroom mirror she spots her ginger roots that now seem to have spread in streaks though her hair.

Slightly pissed she grabs her bag and heads to the corner store to buy hair dye, the cashier looks at her oddly, and remarks that coloured contacts are bad for her eyes, drunk Megan ignores the advice heads home. 

Megan applies the dye, its not quite the same but it looks passable, the ginger roots and streaks have gone. it's then Megan notices her eyes, large dark pupils with a halo of amber the traces of her blue clinging to the edges, Megan cries in confusion a whine escapes her throat. She downs the rest of the rum and passes out.

Day 3: Megan awakes to a throbbing in her head, she's on the floor of her living room, unaware of what happened the previous night, she gets up to make coffee, the cup slips from her hand and smashes, the skin on her palms is think rough and dry, she has to firmly grip the next cup to keep it. Megan remembers, she cleans herself up and inspects the damage. She calmly examins her bewildering changes; fear, panic, confusion, hangover and exhaustion drives her to a strange clarity enabling her to look at herself in a collected manner. She notes her changes to herself aloud.

Megan calls sandy to help her out with some things, Sandy arrives to find Megan with her back to her. Megan warns Sandy before slowly turning around to reveal her changes. Pleading her not to laugh or scream. She explains the problems she was having yesterday and the day before. Sandy assuming it was some kind of prank looks around for a camera or someone else hiding ready to jump out.

Megan grabs her she then notices that the red in her friends coat looks faded, all the red in her vision looks washed out, she bursts into tears. Sandy realising something was actually wrong comforts her friend but is reluctant to believe her.

Megan does what she can to prove to Sandy that everything is real and shows her hands/claws, Sandy hugs and assures that her secret is safe and she'll help her out.

Coffee shop: Megan and sandy decide to skip the morning lecture and have coffee, Megan wears red tinted circular glasses, she's re-trimmed her nails and the rough skin on her palms isnt that noticable, make-up applied. She looks normal if a bit pretencious with her glasses. They discuss whats happening to her when yet again Dan passes by, points at Megan's glasses and pulls a confused face from the otherside of the window, before rushing off to class.

In their afternoon classes Megan and sandy are seperated, Megan decides to wing sociology despite her problems. She finds herself easily distracted, the window holds her attension the birds in the tree's hold ininfite facination for her. she finds herself staring intently at one in particular when the person sitting next to her nudges her arm to make her aware that the professor has asked her a question. She makes an idiot of herself.

Sandy runs over to megan in the hall, shuffling megan's hair, Sandy quietly tells her to remain calm but she thinks her ears have grown since that morning, they're pointed and stick out of her hair. Sandy now wholly convinced her friend isn't making this up escorts her out of the hallway. They both examine her ears in a toilet cubical still relatively normal in size but a prominent point and the dissapearance of her earlobe makes them look very odd to anyone who saw them. Sandy tells Megan to wait while she runs to town and buys a hat.

Hat adorned Megan with her red shades begins to look like a hipster, they both decide college is a bad idea and leave. At home Sandy googles Megan's symptoms, Megan also googles but struggles with the keyboard, she could usually touch type but she found herself forgetting where keys were and constantly scans the board for letters. Sandy doesnt find anything useful apart from ancient lore and fairy tales.

Sandy brings up that she hasn't seen Molly for a few days, Megan tells sandy of the strange fox that appeared in the bathroom a few days ago and that she could of sworn that Molly was in there minutes before. Sandy surprised that Meg had not mentioned this before complains. Megan assumes Molly had gone back to her parents for the week and she ws caught up in her own situation to remember it.

Sandy and Megan got to the bathroom where sam was last seen, there isnt much but they find Mollys phone down the side of the sink, she wouldnt of left that behind. Sandy and Megan come to the realisation that Molly was the fox and call the RSPCA to find out what happened to the stray.

They find out the fox has since been released into a woodland, Megan and Sandy find out which woodland and decide to go see if they can find her. Megan gets in her car to find she cant quite remember how to start it, she puts the key in the ignition and manages to drive through re-learning the controls but stumbles at several intersections before Sandy takes over.

They arrive at the woodland car park, the nature reserve office states that they had released a fox that morning in a distant corner away from the main tracks. The receptionist remarks that she too suffers from hay fever and its best to avoid the dense wooded areas. The girls confused, the reception points at megans nose swollen and glistening, they laugh it off and leave on foot into the woodland, Megan finds the woodland to be an amazing place and losing all tension from the previous day's issues. The sights and sounds constantly distracts her from what she's doing. Sandy at several points has to pull back onto the track, Sandy points out that Megans hairline has descended her forehead and the hair is the same orange she saw yesterday. 

The two girls reach the clearing finding nothing there, they call out for Molly and review Meg's changes finding the her ears cant be hidden by her hair at all and her nose is moist taking on a darker hue, megan remarks that's how her lips started 2 days ago. Suddenly a fox springs out of the undergrowth and pins Megan to the floor frantically licking her face. Sandy asks the fox if she's sam to which the Foxes ears pick at her name but to nothing else being said. Nothing else on the fox indicates anything but on that basis they scoop the fox up into a bag and leave.

Megan gives her keys straight to sandy not trusting her driving skills, she notes in the mirror her nose has continued its change and applies more foundation, however the shape of her nose has changed and she can't hide that. The fox content with its capture patiently sits in the footwell staring lovingly at megan.

They arrive back at the flat, fox hidden in the bag. The fox immediately springs out and scratches on Molly's room door. They open to find everything of Mollys is still there, this convinces the girls that this is indeed Molly and that what happened to her is affecting Megan. They make a rough guess at the rate of change based on when Molly was last seen and when megan found the fox in the bathroom, they scale the rate up and come to a vauge understanding of how long megan has before she could no longer pass as human. They figure several days at most before Megan will have to either never leave her flat or sneak out to somewhere more private while they try to find a solution. Megan finds comfort in a plan and finds herself with new resolve in curing herself. 

Sandy leaves to got to the library to see if the older books hold any information. Megan and Mollysit together, Molly whining with a tennis ball in her mouth, Megan plays with Sam finding that playing with the ball takes her mind off her problems, she gets completely absorbed in the activity before long Sandy returns to find megan and Molly both with the ball in eact others mouth both trying to wrestle it off from each other. Megan snaps back to reality horrorified at what she was doing and washes out her mouth in the sink, she explains she was just playing and forgot herself for a few minutes. Sandy gestures towards megans teeth, her upper and lower canines have grown slightly. The whole effect of the nose teeth and lips begin to give Megans face a distinctly animalistic leaning.

No more ball games declares Sandy, it seems that actively engaging in dog like stuff accelerated Megans condition. Sandy shuts Molly in her room and comforts Megan, This complicates things, before they could just go to college and work on a solution but if megan was to pass as human she'll now have to keep her mouth shut, Sandy comes to the conclusion also that human activities keep her human and fox activities make her more foxey so despite the changes in order to keep Megan human for as long as possible she needs to go out and do human things, including the party that night. She concluded being around people and talking might even reverse some of the changes based on that theory.

The girls get ready for the party, megan applies make up again after her activities with Molly had smudged it. Before re-applying she assesses her changes again, filled with anxiety about the night ahead she makes sure nothing else has changed, her ears larger and pointed tent her hair and a little movement uncovers them. She pulls her hair tight around her head to flatten her ears and ties into a pony tail. Her hair seems shorter but she manages it securing a tight small bun at the back with a few hair bands. Her hairline has creeped below what it was forming a point aiming between her eyebrows that had themselves started to shade orange in colour. On closer inspection a fine layer of orange hair coats her forehead tapering off as it goes down. She shaves the forehead of the new hair careful not to remove any of her old hair. Megan then puts in coloured contacts she bought from a fancy dress shop, they were a slightly different hue of blue than her eyes had been but they looked ok. Checking herself once more in the mirror nails trimmed and wearing a casual range of clothes she looks normal despite her teeth. She smiles to practise how to hide them and tries talking with tight lips, to mixed but passable success.

The girls leave for the party having had a nervous dose of pre drinks to calm themselves, They arrive to find a gathering of 20 or so people in a living room kitchen and hallway with a garden for smoking. Losened by a couple more drinks Megan relaxes and forgets her problems, Sandy breaks off to chat with another class mate and gets engaged in discussion. Megan finds herself talking about body modification with a heavily pierced guy, He mentions to her that he was thinking about getting that elf ear surgery and asks megan where she got hers done. Megan freezes eyes wide and quickly leaves. In the bathroom she finds that one of her hair bands had fallen out, her hair seems to have shortened further, the pony tail only holding half of her hair, the rest had slid out and dangled haphazzardly exposing her ears. She tries again to contain it but finds that most of her hair doesnt even reach her neck. She rings sandy asking for help only to be rung out. Sandy must not be able to hear it. The bathroom door bangs, a drunken man yells to hurry up. Thinking quickly megan pulls a towel off the rack and does her best to cover her head. 

She leaves the bathroom, the drunk doesnt even notice her odd headgear, Megan runs into a bedroom to hide, she had to leave quickly the plan wasnt working and she couldnt hide her ears. She rings Sandy again to no response, Megan is rummaging through some draws trying to find a hat when she hears footsteps appraoching the door, she throws herself under the bed avoiding the scrunched up tissues and a stack of porno's judging by their feet a boy and girl enter the room and the door is shut and clothes begin falling off. The girl is thrown on the bed, squashing the mattress down on meg. Sandy rings and meg is quick to shut it off. The couple fall silent for a second before continuing kissing, meg opens her phone to text sandy the thick rough skin on her fingers makes texting diificult not to mention the claws that had started growing back, she manages a "will call bak". The couple get louder and meg decides to make her escape in the noise. She reaches the door and fumbles at the smooth round door handle, again her changing hands make gripping an issue, the couple climax in a howling fashion unaware of their extra guest as megan slips out.

Outside the room megan is back to square one, shes exposed she feels her ears again, they feel larger, more pronounced. She can feel them twitching to the various noises in the house like they have a mind of their own. The bathroom is occupied but no one is in queue, her only option is to make for the front door and get into cover of night. She half runs down the stairs trying not to draw attension. A partyier turns a corner and begins walking up the stairs, its Dan. "Hey Meg you made it, whats with the costume? This isn't fancy dress" Meg smiles nervously and shugs unable to come up with a vocal explanation. Dan: "what is with you and your crazy fashion desicions lately? Ha. I like this one though looks great on you, awesome make up looks real." Dan begins shuffling upstairs " gotta run the beer is about to make its escape from me". Megan non-plussed is unsure whether or not to run with the whole costume thing before sane thoughts remind her that its a really bad idea. 

Megan quietly leaves, she calls sandy and tells her to meet outside in the alleyway. The night is bright and clear though there was no moon, the street lamps glare an intense yellow glow casting it everywhere. Sandy rounds the corner, calling for megan "is that you?" Megans eyes reflect in the night despite her contacts and all sandy could see in the dim night was a black figure with two large piercing eyes. "Who else could it be?" megan seeing sandy clearly. Sandy mentions her eyes and the dark to a confused megan. Megan explains what happened in the party and sandy still unable to see shines her phone at meg, nearly blinding her. Sandy snaps a photo at megs request and they both look on the screen. Megs previously shoulder lengh hair barely made it past 3 inches, her ears not only larger but had moved up her head slightly the light of the camera flash reflected in megans eyes giving her somber expression a demonic quality, Sandy runs back inside makes her excuses and gives meg her coat, hiding her with the hood. They leave.

Back home Meg and sandy drink a lot more Sandy admits fault and appologises for the stupid plan, clearly engaging in human activity did nothing to slow, stop or reverse her condition. They let out a whining but grateful Molly opening some tinned tuna for her. They decide to buy Molly a collar in the morning as she would need to be let out but in the mean time they set out newspaper over the puddle in Molly's room. Molly, Sandy and Meg pass out on the sofa, Meg curls into a ball next to Molly.

Megan is woken suddenly to the sound of a trumpet, she is lying in a grassy field, the sound of pounding horse hooves and howling dogs. She jumps up falls flat on her back paws in the air, she stares at herself, shes a fox all over nothing of her remains. The trumpet again blares, the grass in the distance flutters. Paniced meg tries to run, she stumbles over herself her legs clumsy and uncoordinated, she face plants several times as the patter of dogs and the pounding of hooves grow closer. Megan Begins to find her feet and run, "Must go, must go" she chants "Run, Faster Run", the grassy field flashes by and opens to a woodland, she weaves the tree's. The dogs barking, a Gunshot, then suddenly a wall towers over her. She scrambles up only to slide down, she looks behind her the dogs running full tilt straight at her a mere 100 yards away, a figure on horseback towering, clad in red and black eyes shine white. Just before the hound reaches her she wakes again.

Day 4: Sandy: "have a bad dream?" Megan sweating unfurls herself from her curled pose confused, the dream escapes her already just a lingering sense of the deepest terror remains. "yeah i think so" Sandy tells meg that she was running and barking in her sleep, her hands and toes twitched in the motion, she would of woken her up but she wasn't sure if it was bad or not. The girls have class today specifically Lab and they could not skip it. Sandy helps Meg with her growing number of things to hide, pony tails were out of the question this time Megs hair too short is stuffed along with her ears into a beanie, it was April and not too cold so it would look odd in doors but they had no choice. Megs hands were a different matter. her nails long thick and black didnt look human any longer and painting them wouldn't hide the changes. her hands also look off, her fingers slightly too stubby and pudgy Gloves too are added, megan unsure as the outfit would look too weird they come up with a half decent excuse, she has a fever and is not well but she is determined to show up. The hat does its job, meg can still see her ears poking at the sides but a causal observer wouldn't notice. contacts re-applied, make up on nose and lips, her moist swollen nose supported her claims to fever so didnt try to dry it. 

The girls leave Sandy say's this might have to be your last day for a while, mason will see how sick you are and agree to let you have some time off, he's not that creul. Megan protests but sandy assures her that it'll give them time to work it out and fix her. She'll bring back notes and help her with homework, she won't miss a thing.

They arrive at college. Megan makes a show of shivering and sniffing to uphold the fever roose. The smell of the college overpowers her, each time she sniffs the acryid smell of the chemicals in the lab invades her senses, she stops but its sickening to her. Something inside her demands her to get out and away from it but she sits down, supressing it. Mason brings out the days project in biology. Various animals in formaldehyde are wheeled out, one of them a fox. At the sight of the disected fox that same need to run screemed danger in the back of her head, a terror like that in her nightmare, Megans eyes go wide as she struggles to contain her thoughts. "DEATH DEATH RUN DEATH BAD BAD" Sandy notices megans reaction and grabs her hand pulling her gaze to hers. Megan settles and avoids looking at the tank. The lecture progresses and professor Mason details the anatomical differences and simalirites that exist in all vertebrates, "even whales have hip bones" Mason states. Megan back under control cant stop looking at the fox, she looks at its ears and its feet and finds herself feeling her ears through her hat, the twitch in response.

The lecture over Meg explains what she felt and how a overpowering feeling of terror made her panic at the sight of the dead fox. Sandy solomely nods, " then your changes aren't just physical, I suspected this was the reason you were struggling the other day with your work, this proves it." We need to figure this out we dont know how far this will go, i need you to keep it together if we're gonna solve this." Sandy prints out a picture of pre-change Meg from her phone and gives it to her, everytime she felt like she was losing herself she was to look at that picture and forcably remind herself of who she was. She was to state to herself her name, her age and to count to 10 and backwards. Meg makes her excuses and leaves for the rest of the day, haunted by her experience earlier she can't shake the feeling of dread and didnt want to return to the lab.

At home but without Sandy Meg sweating takes off her clothes, she stretches out and removes her hat releasing her spring loaded ears to their upright position, they had moved again slightly and were even bigger, she stood infront of the mirror for a time admiring them as the twitched to the scratching at Mollys door. The hair on her forehead had regrown, thicker and blended into her hairline in and around her dyed hair, roots again showing orange. She decides since she hat bout to wash out the dye and see what it had become. Her hair short in crop and glistening from the shower showed a rich mix of red and orange dusted with white near her ears. Now no longer than a few inches her hair flops over her forehead forced up by the newer stuff that flowed upwards from her brow, her eye brows themselves had been absorbed by the tide and only a few thicker longer white hairs remained. She releases Molly from her room and is attacked via tongue from her. Meg wipes her face breifly reminded of her hands also. Still with half the day to go Meg decides to go out to get Molly a collar, She shaves her forehead once more whincing in pain when she cuts the thicker longer hairs on her brow, she checks herself for compramising features again and leaves.

Meg arrives at the local supermarket and makes a bee line for the pet section not wanting to be too noticed. She gets to the row and picks out a small grey one, "grey like our noses" Meg remarks to herself, she looks over at the larger collars and pauses for a moment at the possibility sandy will be coming here for another one in a few weeks. "I think i'd look better in green to be honest" She makes a mental note to tell sally. Meg passes by the toy section before she leaves and looks at the array of various sneaky things before squeezing one. The noise penetrates to her mind with instant attention, her ears move inside her hat to the point she's forced to re-check it. She buys a few toy's a leash and leaves. 

Back in the flat with a few hours before Sandy finishes Megan kills time watching TV and playing with Molly, Molly seems unphased by her situation Megan notes, she doesn't seem to know who she was before other than she knows her name and she knows meg, other than that shes just a fox, the possibility of this being her fate petrifies meg. There's nothing on TV so megan goes to playing fetch with Molly, the squeaking of the ball has the Molly effect on her as before, something instinctual like a feeling of want or greed. Molly returns the ball once again, this time meg keeps it and squeaks it, transfixed megan keeps squeezing until Molly lunges for it where meg growls in a deep tone at her, the ball was hers ball now, Molly with ears flattened whines in response retreating solomley to a corner. Megan ball in hand moves to the opposite corner sitting with the ball squeaking it over and over. By the time sandy comes home she finds meg chewing on the ball with a wet patch on the floor where her drool had collected. 

Sandy yells at meg where meg almost as though she wakes from a day dream, drops the ball and sits up. The whole experience completely absorbed her, meg splutters she was just playing with Molly and she had completely lost herself again, Sandy had warned her about engaging in animal like behaviour accelerates things. Meg looks over herself to see if she can find anything more, her hands seem a little off, a little less human, the fingers more stubby, less dexterous, the thicker skin on the palms and fingers creasing deeply as she flexes them trying them out. "That's not all" sandy say's, "there's no way we're going back out now". eyes glaring Megan bolts to the mirror, she stumbles a bit as she reaches the mirror but gazes in a mix of awe and terror at her reflection. her once plain but pretty face unrecognisable, before she just looked a bit odd and the changes were manageable now her lower face had bulged slightly, her chin looked smaller more pointed, her ears larger than her hands stick outright perched high. Her teeth had lost their square edges taking on a more pointed profile. She still looked human but like a different race of human with almost alien features. She no longer looked herself, no one would recognise her as megan. 

Im taking Molly away from you said sandy, we cant have this happening any more, i cant take you to college looking like this not during the day anyway. Tear streaked megan nodded and handed over the collar and leash she bought earlier. Her stiff fingers could barely hold everything in one hand as she did. "I'm gonna take Molly home with me i'll be right back, don't touch the ball!" glared sandy. Megan slumped face in hands on the sofa, she ran her coarse fingers through her shorter hair now a mere 2 inches at most. her hands wondered to her ears now flattened in expression on fear on her head. She found rubbing her ears relieved some of her stress as she continued she noticed her leg twitch in response. She rubbed more partly in curiosity, partly in the need to relax. Her feet twitched in response, she rembered stumbling earlier and went to inspect her feet.

Her feet had changed, no doubt about that but no where near like her hands had. Toes actually looked a bit less stubby than before. The middle toes more pronounced but otherwise normal, she rubbed her ears again to re-feel the twitching sensation, her foot kicked a bit and right in front of her eyes those same toes changed slightly further, not just the action of doing animal like things effected her change but also doing anything that actively involved changed parts changed her further. This complicates things, as more about her changed it seemed likely the more would change. The process wasn't entirely linear it seemed, her abilities of extrapolation and deduction weren't effected apparently, this realisation is bittersweet though as no doubt at some point soon the changes would accelerate no matter what she did. 

Megan puts her hat on, socks on and sits waiting for sandy, Before long sandy returns, a look of fear on her face. " i think its contageous" she blurts unprompted " what??" splutters megan. "look" demands Sandy. She points to her forehead at a set of thick white hair longer than an inch sticking striaght out, "They're whiskers, they're just like yours" sandy says calmer now. Megan feels her own whiskers on her upper lip longer now too since she last checked. " this means it could be viral or bacterial or something to that end, it might be as simple as taking anti biotics" Sandy says with promise, "only..." she trails off "i dont know if it would reverse anything that's already happened." Megan explains her discovery and demonstrates. "Well that makes no sense then." grumbles sandy, "how can bacteria be affected by that sort of thing." Sandy shaves off her new problems. "Here i brought some amoxicillin from home anyway, worth a shot at least i guess." i need to go hiding a fox in my room won't be easy my landlord has a strict no pets policy, im sorry to leave you again soon, do me a favour and don't experiment any more on yourself." Sandy lectures. " we need you as able as possible to tackle this, another fox will be no use to me" she jokes. Megan not wanting to risk anything else happening goes to bed.

Day 5

Megan awakes and begins what seems to be becomming a growing habit, she checks the bathroom mirror for further changes, any changes that had happened overnight were not very noticable, it was getting hard to tell, when so many things change at once you lose reference on them, it all looks different. Megan rubs off her make up from yesterday to apply a new layer, she looks at herself for a moment she found one. the line that went from her upper lip to her nose went from a discolouration to an actual divide, she stretched out her face in a smile and noted the groove stretch out to accomodate. The groove was now a permanent feature to her face like the rest of her burgeoning muzzle it would be impossible to hide with make up. she noted other minor changes like how the pulling from her muzzle had changed the shape of her eyeline, it grew more pointed in the direction of her nose. Megan spent what felt like an hour scrutinising herself in the mirror, it was a bright sunny day outside, she made her excuses for college feigning illness.

A terrible hunger overtook megan standing infront of the refridgerator looking at the half finished yoghurt and the stale bread, she looked outside her window to the corner shop just a short distance away. Could she? She certainly couldn't go until sandy came over without eating. Megan made the decsion that if she waited until mid morning and planned what she was going to get before hand she could run in and out using only the self service machines and in doing so not be seen by anyone...probably. Putting up make up was a challenge, her fingers had difficulty holding the brush they had lost alot of their dexterity in the last couple of days and her thumbs had grown smaller, holding the brush felt a bit like trying to write with your left hand un-coordinated and messy. She eventually finishes the lipstick goes on worse but still a passable attempt. She reviewed herself once more, she looked weird, she stuffed her ears into a her hat, they made strange shapes under it but people would assume it was her hair despite the lack of it down her neck. For good measure she add's a hooded coat, hoping it would make the profile of her face less obviously deformed. FInally finished after another hour of prep work, she looked like someone ready to explore the artic circle, she experimented taking her wallet out of her pocket, pulling her card out and putting it back in with a swift motion to limit her hands exposure outsite her wolly gloves, to mixed success, the pads on her fingers simply slid off her card as she tried to lever it out and she had to use her teeth, but she managed. She re-gloved and left, not wanting to let her nerves make her performance clumsy by procrastinating.

Megan left her flat as quickly as possible, she only lived on the second floor but it being a student flat there was a high chance of running into someone on the stairwell. She got lucky though and found herself outside unnoticed, the morning air filled her nose of the invasive smell of traffic, she covered her nose to try and relieve it, she began a fast paced walk to the shop, she could see it only a couple hundred yards away but between her and it was a long striaght footpath with several people on it, Her heart quickened anxiety biulding. She whipped out her phone and aimed her head down pretending to be normal and trying to further hide her face at the same time, as she walked she felt unbarabley hot, the weather today was warm for march and people were out in t-shirts making the most of it. Her outfit worked against her, it drew an occasional look from some of the less polite public. The smell was awful like she had walked into a factory floor only this burned her nostrils, suppressing the need to sneeze she again covered her nose, in doing so she dropped her phone. It skittered on the floor to the feet of an older man who picked it up for her. Without a word he gave it to her looking at her in confusion and curiosity before walking away, "t-thanks" she stammered. Megan got into the shop, the shop owner looked suspiciously at the hooded teen before returning to his newspaper.

Megan grabbed a trolley, the possibility occured to her this could be her last chance to buy food herself so she decided to bulk buy, she sailed the aisles grabbing bags of potatoes, rice, cereal anything large and likely to last a while, she looked at the tinned section and thought how on earth she'd be able to operate a tin opener in the coming weeks. She was being too pesimistic she thought, she had to believe this could be fixed but part of her contingency planning told her to prepare for the worst just in case. She passed the vegetable section she needed long lasting items and her stomach turned at the sight of the brocolli, her hunger re-awoke with fury in the meat section, both fresh and frozen lit up in her eyes the glass case holding what seemed to be a treasure beyond anything she'd ever laid eyes on, something deep inside her wanted to grab and hide before others found this prize. It was in the reflection of the glass case where she spotted that one of her contacts had fallen out. This stirred her out of her thoughts, one artifical blue, one golden orange with a large black pupil stared back at her in the display case. Megan re-filled with fear and an urgency to return home grabbed several packages from the frozen section and pulled away. Nerve shaking her hands she pulls out her wallet at the check out machine. She managed well enough to scan and bag but the fine motor skills required to pull her card out were simply not there anymore. Her thick palms bunched up benieth her gloves making the wallet slip from her grip, card dented by her teeth goes into the reader. Megan struggles with the bags a bit but manages to leave head lowered as she passes the shop keeper.

The walk back went about aswell as the walk there, people stared but no one acted on it, she got to her door and pulled out her keys, with effort she manages to pick out her key and plug it into her lock. Inside at last Megan drops her bags finding her finger pads too clumsy to grip the small delicate zip she digs her claw through the loop and pulls down. Megan looks at her hands "should i start thinking of them as paws so i get used to the idea?" megan thinks, They've been a huge challenge today, they still look like hands but its as if they were paws shaped to vaugely human-like proportions. She puts her food away and goes to call sandy as texting with her paw pads prove to be too unresponsive to be a viable option. She gets a response that she'll be finished soon but needs to go buy new razor after school, she had more changes overnight and her leg razor wasn't good enough. Megan mentions her further changes and that she's having trouble with basic tasks, Sandy scolds her for going out adding she could of just waited for her to come back and that she shouldn't be so defeatist, they will fix this. Sandy pledges to not go back to college again until they find a solution, no more distractions. Megan sits down tears welling up feeling defeated. The changes were becomming increasingly challenging, just yesterday she could at least use a pen if she wanted to, but now she'd be lucky if she could brush her teeth normally, she licks her teeth in thought, they felt sharper, more uniformed in shape. Her teeth before were a bit crooked in places but these teeth felt as though they were sculpted by an artist. She went to the mirror again and bared them to herself, they did look impressive it had to be said, she bet she could chew through rope with them with ease, she found comfort in looking for the benefits of her new arrangement, Her mind wandered to the probability that she would end this month by being released into the same woodland as Molly, would that be so bad? She again looked at her hands looking more like proto-paws to her now. She kneels down and tried them out on the floor, her palms grip the hardwoord floor nails clacking as she wriggles her fingers. Strangely it didnt feel wierd at all, almost natural, she padded across the room a bit, her nails clacking as she went, a faint twinge in her head made her stop, it felt like a very short mild head ache but then stopped followed by static in her ears. She sat up insantly and tried to rise but fell over, she tried again this time with care and managed, finding herself wobbly and off balance. She knew to put one foot infront of the other but the finer motions were off, something felt missing. "No, i only did it for a second dammit!" Megan screamed. She stumbled over to the kitchen counter and held herself up determined to keep her footing. Her hands slipped on the slick surface and she found herself again on her hands. The static grew louder but meg pulled herself up before anything happened. " ok so this thing seems to have a mind of its own and its actively seeking out any excuse to change me further" meg thinks to herself. " I need to stay up right from now on, i cant lose my legs if i go on all fours its over". 

Sandy arrives later than usual she had to go pick up Molly first, she comes in with a dog crate in hand Molly yelping excitedly at Meg, " why are you leaning weirdly on the counter? " Sandy askes. " this thing whatever it is that's changing us i think its sentient" says Meg. "What do you mean? quizzes sandy. "i went on my hands and knee's today for literally 2 seconds and it started removing my abiltity to walk from actually within my fucking head!", I've taught myself again but im still a bit shakey". Whatever this is it's intentionally choosing its moments, its intelligent." blurts Meg. "Why on earth did you go on all fours megan we just spoke about this yesterday" glares sandy angrily. "I dropped one of my contacts and i was looking for it" megan lied. "hmm i guess this rules out the bacterial idea for good then". "How could it be intelligent though?" asks Sandy, "I have no clue its just an idea i had based on what just happened to me, but thinking about it further whenever ive changed its usually been while i was using that particular thing." "Well what about your ears, what were you doing with your ears to make them change so much?" asked sandy, "i erm well i was touching them alot?" "well yeah but you presumably touch other things alot too like say for example your whole body when dressing." Sandy points out."you've done that several times in the past few days and most of you is no further along the whole foxification thing." "Ok look i haven't got it all figured out but what im saying is its very odd, perhaps maybe its incredibly selective about what changes, it could be sadistic and choosing the things that incapacitates me preventing me from seeking out a solution?" says Megan. "hmm that is a possible and does explain some things but it would require evidence to proove and i dont think its a good idea to experient with this." Says sandy. "look i re-taught myself to walk i can do it again" megan say's. "this is risky megan are you sure you want this?" "If this works out how i think it will then it will give us a base to work from, possibly leading to a solution. It's worth the risk." Megan sits down on her knee's, hands placed on the floor. "ok so im gonna do the best i can to describe to you whats happening and you write it down, we need all the data we can get." Says megan scientifically. Sandy nods, Megan begins to crawl, for a couple of seconds nothing happens then the headache starts again. " ok so i have a headache its stronger this time", the static picks up almost deafening, Sandy says something but the static muffles it, Megan say's despite not understanding: "the static is stronger too, its loud, its all i can hear." Something cracks in megans lower back and she snaps up from the floor. The static dissapates, sandy is looking concerned. "didnt you hear me telling you to stop"? "No why" asks megan. "Look at your arse". Megan turns to see a short bunched tail really just a mass of orange fur, mere inches long undoubtably there. Megan stood up with no apparent loss of balance. " i dont understand" says megan. "this makes no sense, We learnt nothing and now i have a tail." says megan angrily, " i dont suppose you can re-learn not having a tail?" sandy says in dark humour. Megan slumps down defeated again on the couch only to jump back up in surprise pain, " for fucks sake i cant even sit properly now! "megan exclaims. Megan sighs, "I'm sorry this has been a really stressful day i forgot to ask, what changes did you have last night?" "Oh mostly superficial, nothing like what you're going through those whiskers weren't the only new things, it seems we seem to be experiencing a different set of changes though which further solidifies the non-linearity of...whatever this is." Sandy Says. " whats changed" asks megan again. "Fur. I have fur, well did have fur anyway. I shaved it off now but it itches like crazy. "Where?" asks megan " all over my shoulders, absolutley coated i was, my leg razor gave out halfway through" says sandy. "I bought an electric razor though so its easy to remove now." Sandy smiles showing just the hint of sharper teeth. Megan decides to let her find those in her own time. Sandy and megan order a chinese take away, Megan lets sandy get the door as she hides in the kitchen. Not having eaten all day Megan is famished, Sandy brings her plate to her and before megan realises what she's doing starts eating with her mouth, Both Sandy and Megan pause for a moment, "Oh my god, why did i do that?" megan exclaims, to follow that her tounge seemingly of its on accord licked her face clean, smearing her make up exposing her lips. Megan again screams in protest. "Try a fork this time" suggests Sandy. Megan finishes her meal in a more normal manner before continuing her self obsession in the mirror, her tounge had changed or had been changing without her noticing, she stuck it out. Wide and flat it went down past her chin and with ease touched the bridge of her nose, " well at least a tounge is easy to hide" megan sighs. Sandy decides to stay over since she has Molly with her anyway, the girls share a bed. Molly nestled at their feet. Megan tossed and turned during the night, she pulled her sheets into a bundle and curled on top of them before settling down, her tail slipping out from her shorts.

Day 6

Megan stretches out from her ball, back cracking, her head lands on something warm and soft, Sandy wakes up, looking back at megan half asleep on her leg only for her view to be blocked by the forest of her fur. "Shit already?" Sandy splutters. "wha.." Megan yawns before her eyes go wide at the sight of sandy, shoulders and chest fur laiden. " it all came back so quickly"sandy yells, "Yeah it does that" says megan sleepily. feeling her own fur on her forehead now wrapping around her eyes and creeping along her cheek bones. " i just...its a shock y'know" how can hair grow inches in one night?" sandy complains "How is any of this possible sandy? I think fast growing fur is one of the more minor mysteries honestly." Megan says bluntly. "yeah you're right, sorry i just spent ages shaving this off yesterday and im annoyed." sandy say's fingering the fur on her collar bone. Megan gestures at her face, "this takes me ages everyday to sort out." i doubt i can even pass for human now". Megan say's annoyed. "Ok yeah im sorry, im sure this is a lot harder for you." sandy appologises. 

Megan unfurls herself from her sheets gets out of bed. Her footing still a little unsteady she has to force herself forward catching herself on each step, sandy looks on concerned. In the shower Megan lathers up the shampoo in the short crop of fur that used to be her hair, she got some in her ear. The suds ran down her face splitting off and running around her muzzle, taking her head in her hands she washed trying not to focus too much on her changes. Her hands felt coarse like she was using sandpaper to scrub herself. She looked down at herself, most of her was normal still but something caught her eye, she felt her belly and her chest, something wasn't right. She got out and dried herself off, in the mirror she looked further, scrubbing her head and face with a towel. Her torso looked narrower only slightly but there was a definte difference, she was sure. She turns to her side and noted further that her stomach had sunk inwards whereas her chest had expanded out at the centre. she felt her stomach again, smooth but lean. Infact all of her was leaner, she'd never had much in any muscle definition before being a girl who spent most of her time behind a desk. Her tits were the same just oriented on her differently, now they turned away from each other, removing her cleavage. The effect deeply unsettled Megan, until now all the changes were for the most part localised but now it looked like they had entered a new phase. Embarassed she decided not to show sandy this new development and threw her shirt back on. Her tits tented the fabric differently but she looked more or less the same.

When Megan got out of the bathroom sandy was out making breakfast, "you sure bought a shit ton of bacon didn't you!" she smiled. Sandy's fur made odd shapes under her top and bunched up in the collar, "yeah i like bacon more now i guess" Megan say's, the smell intoxicating her. "yu huh, this smells incredible where did you get it?" "The corner shop over there" Megan points out the window. "Wjotek's place? His stuff isn't this good. This must be some Gormet stuff or something." "No" says megan. "I think its our sense of smell that makes it seem that way." "Oh yeah that makes sense" sandy says quieter smile gone. Megan trying to avoid staring at the bacon forces herself to look at sandy, then Molly sitting patiently waiting at Sandy's feet tail wagging. Megan tried to move her own tail it twitches in her shorts in reposne. "Megan you're drooling by the way." sandy snaps megan out of her daze. "what, oh!" a sting of drool hung out the corner of her mouth. "i think we better feed you". Sandy say's handing meg a plate. But something stops her she looks at megan up and down, "megan i dont want to alarm you but i think you've shrunk" "What??" megan said." "yeah i think you've shrunk". Megan looked around for reference, things did seem bigger but it could of been her imagination. "stand next to me" demanded Sandy, "yeah you used to be slightly shorter by maybe an inch but you're now maybe 2 inches" she gestured with her hands their heights. Megan sighed "well i guess that makes sense, Molly is way smaller than she used to be." Says megan dejectedly. "I think we should get an early start on this today, can i borrow your coat? im gonna hit the library i'll get out everything i can find on metamorphosis. Its a rough area but it might yeild something interesting." "What can i do?" asks Meg. Go on the internet and google anything that could describe our symptoms and make a page of links, we'll go through them later and identify possible explanations then perhaps a theory might present itself." "ok good i can do that" Megan staring at the bacon says. "yeah we need this to go first though i think" sandy says staring at it herself.

Sandy leaves for the library, megans coat hiding the mass of fur on her shoulders, Megan opens up her laptop, the screen prompted a password. Megan stopped hands over the keyboard, what was it? She found the edge of it in her mind but it kept slipping away, it was alpha numeric she new that, a flash of memory flickered, it was a birthday cake. It was a birthday! But who's birthday? Her's? What was her birthday? Megan focussed, "m...may sixth? no seventh!" More memories flashed up her childhood, her school, her parents. She hadn't realised the memories had slipped away. "fuck" Megan whispered under her breath eyes screwed tight. "My name is Megan Jones i was born may seventh 1999". She got it out of her head and typed 7May99, a head ache followed, the strain apparently casuing it. Megan had realised that the changes had started elsewhere too, she looked at Molly who had completely lost the sense of who she was, she knew that she had to actively remind herself of things from now on to keep herself from slipping away.

If anything having claws helped her type, they stopped her using her phone but with keys she actually had an easier time typing than with her fingers, megan was always good at finding crumbs of comfort, sometimes they're all you have to eat. Words came hard to her though, accurately describing her symptoms required a steady stream of focus and she found her attention often drifting to the lingering smell of bacon, the sounds of the birds outside or the scratching from Molly at the front door. Molly started to whine and shattered Megans concentration she's amassed a mere 6 leads on her condition in an hour. "What do you want?" yelled megan, Same whined again looking at the door. "No i cant take you out, go piss in your room!" megan grumbled again trying to type. Her head ache returned in force, she found herself shifting in her seat uncomfortable, she straghtened, she whinced as she grabbed her tail and shifted it around her shorts and kneeling to accomadate it, she didn't like touching it, it reminded her of what she was becoming, at least the other changes were ignorable as they didn't really feel that out of place, but her tail was a blatant additon to herself that came with its own set of feelings and muscle movements. She continued, a few leads later Molly barked. "shush you little brat" Megan yelped. "someone will think we have pets". Molly tilted her head at megan and whined. Megan shifted again, her leg had gone to sleep, she got up to stretch it out and try and unwind when she saw her feet, her heels had noticably stretched out consuming her calf in its place. Megan screamed. she hoobled on her feet her balance way off again, she caught herself on the couch sliding down onto her arse where she could see in plain view the changes. She lifted her left foot up finding she couldnt straighten it fully, her heels were maybe 5 inches longer, she tried to stand again. Wobbily she managed to hold herself her feet flat on the floor but she had to hold an awkward stance to support herself. "fuck!" yelled Meg. "That time i wasn't doing anything you bastard!" she yelled to no one in particular. Molly whined again matching the emotions in the room. Megan lifted heself up on the balls of her feet the stance forced her knee's to bend slightly she was sure like with her chest the change wasn't localised. she felt the tendons behind her knee's that were taught despite being bent. This was now the most she could straighten her legs, she felt her thighs, leaner, narrower but still at least felt more or less normal, She found comfort in what would still appear human to an observer even if she wouldn't be able to leave her flat again. luckily she didn't have too much trouble getting her feet back, the stance was different but not that dissimilar from just walking on your tip toes. What bothered her though was that this was the prelude to being a quadreped, her legs were being prepared to share the load of her body with her other legs. They were no longer suited to walking upright and they will change futher at the slightest provocation, all she was doing was kneeling on the couch, did that rule out sitting entirely? Was it that she couldn't get comfortable with her tail? Was it a response to denying Sam a walk outside? Was it simply to further incapacitate her? What was the logic here? Megan had something extra to add in her search query, Sam made a puddle in her room.

Sandy returned to find a megan sitting bolt upright on the sofa, aparently looking uncomfortable. "what happened now?" Sandy said in a matronly tone. "ok this time it was literally nothing, i was sitting on the couch on my laptop and this happened" Megan stood up and presented her slightly bowed crouched stance. "damn, that looks awkward, does it hurt?" "Not exactly" Megan said, "its not comfortable i know that, my balance is more of an issue now i feel like im being pulled forward on each step", megan continues. "Do me a favour, if i trip up please pick me up as soon as you can i don't want this thing having any opportunites. Im pretty sure if i go on all fours i wont get back up again." "Deal but you have to help me shave , I bought my razor from home, i cant reach behind me, would you mind?" says sandy "Whats the point? your back now". I don't like it, i dont want it, please help me meg" sandy said pleading in her eyes. "I may need to go out later." said sandy, "It's Dan he's worried about us. we cant risk him coming here so i said i'd meet hm later for a drink." "You can't! You said yourself this could be contagious" exclaims meg, "I'll be super careful, this is damage control meg it needs to be done, the longer no one suspects this the longer we have to fix it." "Please don't leave me again something always happens when you're not around! cries meg. "Stuff happens when im around too, stuff is always happening. I know i promised no more distractions but Dan was planning to surprise us with pizza and a movie tonight, i talked him out of it in exchange for a drink and an explanation. I'm telling him you've taken a sabbatical from the rest of the term due to a family emergency. Is that cool with you?" says sandy. "yeah" sniffs megan "i guess, please dont be long though im beginning to get scared here, what if this evening i lose my hands or worse my mind, i dont want my last human thought to be in fear." that's rediculous" say's Sandy "there's no way you're that far along yet". "i wouldn't be so sure" says megan softly. " i lost some memories today, i relearnt them but i had to dig deep and they're slippery, i forgot my own birthday Sandy!" "it's the 7th of may" say's sandy solomely. "Yeah i know that now but at some point over the last couple of days my memories have been getting chipped away and i have no idea what they were, i need you to tell me things about myself to make sure." whimpered megan. "we will tonight, wont be long, 2 hours max." Megan helps her friend shave her shoulders and releuctantly watches her leave again. She tries to finish finding information but she cant concentrate, she had worked herself up too much and decides the best thing to do i to nap until Sandy returns, Megan climbs into bed chanting to herself who she was and when her birthday was before drifting to sleep.

Megan is woken hours later with a knockon her door, her ears snap in stark surprise at the interruption "my name is megan jones i am 19 i was born may 7th 1999" she grumbles to herself. Finding her feet again she hobbled over to the door. Another knock, Let me in hurry "said sandy in a paniced tone. Megan wakes up properly and rushes over. She fumbles the latch a bit but opens the door. Sandy crashes in, "it grew back" she shouted. "fucking hell" megan responded. Sandy's shoulder again bristling with short but definite fur already sprouting up. "it started coming back after only 2 hours". I was sitting there in my short sleeve top when the stuff just started itching like crazy." i could see it growing in real time. I think Dan saw, i made a lame excuse to leave i dont think he bought it." Said Sandy, "what did you tell him?" quizzed Megan. "erm...allergic reaction" sandy said with reserve almost not wanting to be heard. "yeah he's smart he wouldn't believe that" megan said. "it was all i could think of at the time. I think he followed me." Sandy said looking towards the door. "WHAT??" Megan yelled before imidiately covering her mouth. Sandy pats her hands downwards in a shushing motion "quiet meg!" Why on earth did you lead him here, why not back to your own flat?" megan says. "my razor's here, i cant risk him seeing me like this. i need to shave again." Megan grabs the razor a littlie clumsily in her hands and starts shaving when there's a knocking at the door. "Sandy its me Dan let me in." "Just a minute"! yells Sandy trying not to let the panic leak into her voice and failing. "what are you doing in Molly and meg's place?" quizzed Dan. Meg coninues to shave Sandy making a dog's ear of it, sandy whinces at the cuts before grabbing the razor off meg for the bits she can do herself. "The girls are away im housesitting for them." yells sandy. " you you said Megs away but where's her flatmate gone to?" asks Dan. Sandy looks at meg for inspiration, Meg mouths out holiday silently. "holiday, family holiday, she gone for a few weeks" Sam whines in protest, megan shushing her. " can i come in? i can't talk to you through a door like this it's weird". Sandy wiped off her shoulders whincing again as the soap catches her wounds. "Im sorry just a second im just applying a cream on my reaction." "Ah gotcha" said Dan. Megan grabs Sam and hide in Sam's room the smell of urine both intrigues her and disgusts her, she fights an urge to go investigate it and locks the door sitting on the bed. Molly wagging her tail thinks this is a game and starts nosing Megan's hands. Dan enter's "So what happened back there then? Sandy responds "i already said allergic reaction didnt i?" "well you've never mentioned this before, what casued it?" asks dan. "i used a different brand of fabric softener this morning it must of been that." Fabric softener? Ok so how did that affect your bare shoulders then and not the rest of you?" says dan disbelief on his face. "look i dont know ok i dont't know much about it, it just happens sometimes ok? Do you mind if we don't talk about it? I'm embarassed about it." Sandy ever the bad liar couldn't keep the on-the-spot improvisation from her voice. "look Sandy I'm just worried about you. You and meg mean the world to me, i'm dissapointed she didn't tell me anything about her family emergency i thought we were closer than that." Dan lowers his head obviously upset. Sandy hugs him, "come here you big twat" she say's sarcastically arms opened in a hugging gesture. "you mean more to us than you know, im sorry we've been so distant lately but we'll be back on track in no time." Sandy say's with genuine affection. "now this stuff stings like a bitch i need to get ready for bed, do you mind if you leave me to it?" Dan sniffs away the emotions" Yeah sure no probs I need to get back anyway. It was good seeing you tonight, get better." dan said. "you can count on it." Sandy say's smiling but with sad eyes. Dan leaves and Megan emerges from Molly's room. "how did you get him to leave like that?" Sandy replies "oh i just told him how much he meant to us and hugged him, pretty slick eh?" Megan's eyes widen "You What? i thought you were gonna be super careful." Sandy's eyes widen also. "oh shit yeah i forgot! FUCK!" Megan face palms "You really fucked up sandy, you shouldnt of gone out in the first place now Dan's in danger." " shit i know sorry, i wasn't thinking i've been ditzy all evening i shouldn't of been i didn't drink anything." sandy said with concern. "it's part of it i think, mine's like that, i cant concentrate on anything at the moment." megan said in fear. "It started days ago, remember? i struggled in class and in the library. I used to be so sharp i could just look at a page and memorise it. But now i struggle to even read some words. I have to break them down in my head and an..ana..lyse them in their parts, fuck, yeah just like that." "Shit" sandy hisses. "its strange its like a fog or a blur, the word is there in shape but the meaning is gone, i can remember what word to use but i dont know exactly what it means. Analyse, ana...lyse for all i know it could be a type of fancy hat." It means to examine" says sandy. "right...what does examine mean?" Megan said eye's screwed tight, head ache biulding. "you know, to look at and judge" say's sandy sympathetically. "Oh ok that makes sense, yeah. Analyse, to look at and judge. I remember now." Megan says eyes opening in realisation. "perhaps it would be a good idea to write some definitions down, as a form of brain work out." says sandy back to her scientific self. "de..finish...on?" Megan again eyes tight. "perhaps that should be the first one then." Sandy said already writing it down. Sandy wrote a short list of the words that megan was having trouble with, luckily it was just a few of the more complicated words and megan had a working knowledge of everything else just fine. The girls speant the rest of the evening looking at what megan had accumulated in her chaotic evening of internet research. A few leads looked interesting but proved to be false as they were either fiction or medical oddities relating to genetic disorders that bore little resemblance to their changes. The clock struck 1 am and the girls decided to call it, megan felt defeated but Molly encouraged her and cracked a joke at her own expense. "well i guess at least now i wont have to bother shaving ever again, i think the shoulders take the focus right off my legs" Megan smiles a little teary eyed. "would you mind helping me up? im still a little stiff from earlier" megan says pushing herself up from her blanket. Climbing off the couch Megans feet hit the floor and slide out from under her. the pads on her feet and claws didnt make for much grip. Sandy grabs her by the arm and pulls her up. Megan's feet still a little shakey and lacking any form of elegant movement hold her up, toes now thick spread out as she applies more weight. "thanks" was all she could say and gingerly stepped to the bathroom mirror for another scrutinise. The creature that approached the mirror looked ever alien to her. Legs bowed torso hunched to counter them, her hands ending in thick black claws, her face with even less of the humanity that she clung to. She raised her arms to feel herself over. her chest felt narrower more pushed out. Megan removes her shirt, she can see her ribs and every muscle on her torso, the muscles flexing and twitching in response to her balancing act. Her bra fit wrong both too loose and not wide enough, her breasts smaller and angled differently than it was designed for. A patch of white hair caught her eye at her crotch, it rose in a peaked formation towards her belly button thinning out as it went, her belly itself was gone the fat had melted away leaving a lean display of her abdominal muscles. Reluctantly meg pulled down her shorts to examine her tail "examine, to look at and judge." megan reminded herself "ana...lyse, to examine, look at and judge." her tail flowed out from its tight fabric prison and flopped out a almost a foot long. "definition, statement to the meaning of a word" she relaxed looking at but accepting the sight wearily. "statement, clear expression of something." her lesson with sandy only hours ago felt like remembering pie to its 50th numeral. She lifted her tail with one hand, her claws poking through the fur tenting it."expression, the action of making known one's thoughts and feelings" Megan chanted. "i am Megan jones i was born may 11th...no! 7th 1999" she mentally slipped. she reinforced the information whispering it to herself several times. Megan got into her pijamas, her claws caught in the fabric of her shorts as they went in but she wriggled it free. Sandy already in bed and reading one of the library books. "It say's here that romans cured lycanthropy through hard physical labour. Do you still have those dumbells your ex left?" "No, i sold them to Dan a few months back" Megan groaned as she got into bed, her back was sore, it felt like she'd pulled a muscle twisting infront of the bathroom mirror. "Ah well it was for lycanthropy anyway, we're not becoming wolves and it was a full moon yesterday. We would of noticed something." "Yeah scratch that one off the list as well". Megan said sighing. "i'm ex...ors..." "You're exhausted?" corrected sandy. " that means tired right?" "Yes! well done meg" said sandy with geniune psitivity. " don't talk down to me sandy, not now." "sorry" sandy said. Megan went to sleep her back pain didnt let off but didnt stop her sleeping, as she slept Sandy stayed up with a bit more reading but noticed the muscles on megs lower back twitching. A few of them seemed to shrink off and move around and down her thighs, activity on her lower back ceased but the twitching continued elsewhere. "damn was meg working out?" thinks sandy. She shuts off the light and goes to sleep.

Day 7

Sandy rose first in the morning, leaving meg asleep on her back, the effects of her most recent change were visible. Her knee's bent defying gravity and splayed outwards towards her sides. Sandy watched her chest rise and fall and she could of sworn the shape had changed. Her sternum rose up in a curved form before sinking down to her stomach. Her shirt, loose on her didn't hide her lean musculature and the brush of hair that covered her stomach leading from her crotch tented against itself down the middle. Megan's legs were twitching in what must of been a dream, not wanting to disturb her Sandy got out of bed and went to the kitchen. She took out some more bacon but knew the smell would wake up meg so she instead poured herself a bowl of cereal. It tasted bland, the chunks of fruit shone through but she couldn't taste to oats or the nuts. It was like someone had sapped the flavour out of it despite it being from a good brand. She gave up on her meal and went back to her books, scratching at her collar. Reminded of her own changes Sandy decided to have a look at herself. She approached the bathroom mirror, the fur was back of course. Thick and full, her chest a brilliant white that faded into a yellowy orange at her shoulders, the fur that thinned out on her upper back looked like it had started to fade into a dark brown. She rubbed it up and down liking the feeling it, it felt like being massaged. She pulled a hair brush out of her bag and brushed it, the feeling was mesmersising. Before long the brush was filled with fur and this gave sandy some hope it might be going away before she realised what it probably was. "Malting" Sandy whispered to herself dissapointed. She'd been indoors in the warm a lot recently it was probably just that. Sandy then went to brush her teeth when she stopped, her teeth had changed. She leaned in closer to the mirror and turned her head examining her teeth. It was only slight but her teeth were lined up differently, angled inwards her canines longer. She licked them for clarification. "Facinating" she whispered. Opening and closing them a few times they didnt feel wrong or out of place, the change must of been so slow that she hadn't of noticed at all. She smiled, then opened wide, then pulled faces trying to understand the range of motions that they'd be visible from. "Ok this is still good i can manage this today" she told herself. She was planning another trip out and needed to plan in advance. She fluffed her fur once more, she was growing attached to it but it had to go. She pulled a shirt over herself shivering at the awkward feeling that fur made being covered. It felt wrong. 

Megan was running again, on all fours, a dense scrap of bush on the outskirts of a meadow, chasing. A flash of white and brown ahead of her, flicking up and down, birds scatter around her as she tumbled through a clearing. Her meal was getting away, it bolted leftwards through a hole in the bush, megan scouted round ears perked, listening. The rabbit darted for a bank across another clearing, the distance was short but this was her chance. Her legs were like powerful springs releasing ungodly energy as she went from trotting to sprinting. Like an arrow in flight, an orange blur, she shot, before her meal could react. She bit, the force of her impact sending them both hurling through the air. They landed together the rabbit for a second left her grip before she lunged for its neck. Then she woke up.

Megan woke suddenly, her legs whirled for a second before she twisted round on to her side. Still stuck in the tangles of her dream she looks around throwing up her sheets. "what the hell are you doing?" asks Sandy as she walks out of the bathroom. "The rabbit, where's the rabbit?" asks megan confused. "what rabbit" asks Sandy in turn herself confused. "my food, it got away. My..." she trailed off realising what she was saying. "What dream were you having?" quizzed Sandy. "i was chasing something" The dream already slipping away. "A rabbit?" said sandy. " yeah that was it, it was small and young, tender..." Megan said eye's glazing over. "Megan! get a grip!" shouted Sandy. "fuck" megan woke up again. "I'm sorry, it felt so real. I wanted it more than i've wanted anything in my life. it was like it was my lifes goal or something." " Your lifes goal is to be a heart surgeon and to save lives." sandy said in an urgent tone. "yeah you're right, im sorry, im fine now. I'll be ok..." Megan said and started panting. "stop that as well!" said sandy as she turned away. Megan slurped her tounge back in her mouth.

Megan got out of bed, her back still sore, it felt stiff. Standing up felt more of a challenge, she rubbed the base of her back finding her spine and massaged it. It felt good, really good. The action sent her leg twitching again and she nearly lost her balance. She sat down rubbing at the spot again, "damn what is that?" she whispered to herself. She started going cross eyed. "oh shit, NO!" She realised what she was doing and was horrified at herself. "NO" megan said. The feeling lingered and she focussed again on getting up to take her mind from it. Her back twinged as she walked, muscles not responding right. They felt strained like when you try to reach behind your back to scratch an itch. She knew what this was of course but refused to acknowledge it to herself, denial becoming another one of her talents. She got to the kitchen obviously uncomfortable and grabbed the kitchen worktop to take the strain off her back. She could smell the bacon in the fridge. "please Sandy, make me some of that bacon." "you should do it yourself, it will keep you in shape." said sandy sitting and buried under a few books already. Megan sighed pulling herself up again, her back made a popping sound and she made for the fridge. The smell was incredible, the fridge was rapidly becomming her favourite place in the world. She picked out the bacon the wrapper concealing a heavenly waft of deliciousness that seemed to promise to fix all her problems. The pads on her hands though were not so enthusiastic and let the packet slip from her hand. Megan eyes transfixed on her food watched as it tumbled in the air almost as though it was in slow motion. The packet splatted on the tiles below, juices flung in all directions. Before she could think she was on all fours licking up the delicious mess she had created. "Megan NO!" sandy screamed, running over. She grabbed megan by the shoulder and tried to lift her up. Megan snarled and snapped at Sandy's hand. Sandy jumped back horrified. Megan continued licking up the raw bacon, her back popped like cracking knuckles. "MEGAN NO STOP" Sandy shouted angry and fearful. Megan's eyes went wide. "Oh!, oh my god! What the hell am i doing???" Megan pushed herself off the floor, "i...I'm so sorry Sandy" she whined. "i dont know what happened...the smell, the bacon it took me away, i...couldn't control myself." Megan looks at the bacon again and snaps her eyes away from it. Still on her hands megan grabs the counter top and tries to pull herself up. Reaching as far as her elbows before stopping. "my back, its gone!" cried megan. "what?" sandy asked tears in her eyes. "It's gone, i can't stand!" Megan levers herself up on the counter legs splayed apart behind her. She forces herself back, "i've lost balance, its not there!". She falls backwards and sandy catches her. " Well do what you did last time, learn!" sandy demands failing to keep the panic from her eyes. "You're right, i can learn. I WILL learn. This won't beat me!" Megan say's with new strength in her voice. Megan balances again her tail now 2 feet long hangs between her legs aiming through them. Sandy pulls it out of her shorts. "No sandy don't" cries megan. "It might help, try using it." said sandy. Megan raises it and whinces, over the last few day's she developed a fear of acknowledging it and mentally using it destroyed her denial of it. Her tail swung left to right as megan swayed, the tail shifted her center of balance and allowed her move her back into a more comfortable forward posture. "i think i, got it" megan said teary eyed. She stepped forward slowly and shakily, muscles in her back and thighs twitching voilently is their battle to keep balance, Megan's tail twitched, she felt a pressure in her lower back and as she walked without her knowing her tail started to grow. As she moved and with her tail swishing about neither of them noticed. Megan made her way over to the couch and collapsed exhausted. Her tounge lolled out of her mouth and she started panting. Sandy doesn't tell her to stop letting her have a rest she suspected she actually needed to do it now anyway. Megan laid down on her side, her ribs visible through her shirt as her chest rose and fell breathing deeply. "perhaps a walking stick might be a good idea if im gonna stay on two feet." megan panted. "you really want to go down that route?" sandy said. "no but what choice do i have, i cant get around like this." megan gestures at her lower body. 

The girls rest up a bit, drink coffee and try watching TV to take their minds off stuff but completely fail at it. Megan gets up and by leaning on as much stuff as possible makes her way to the bathroom to shower. Sandy looks on wondering if she should help or leave her to it so she can learn. Once in the bathroom Megan pads along the wall to the sink and looks at herself in the mirror. She was beyond tears and most of her wanted to fight this but a growing part of her was starting to come to terms with it, she looked st herself in the mirror.

She didnt know what she was looking at, the thing in the mirror terrified her. Something in her mind told her to run, to get away from the danger. But she stayed studying what she forced her to see as herself. "i...I'm Meg j...Jow...ns" she said furrowing her brow. "i...was...born in M..ay" her headache peaked again. She screwed her eyes tight fighting the pain. "Anal...ine, to look at" Wait was that right? "Analine" she said again the shapes felt wrong. "no that's not it. Ana...any...lice?" The sharp cracks of pain like glass breaking in her head broken her focus. She tried another one, "espress...shon, to make known meaning of a word" she smiled convinced she got that one right, it must be right, right? Doubt entered her mind again, "no". The information had gone, she felt the hole in her mnd faint abstract shapes in her head, there remained only the shapes, they kept changing reforming and losing their meaning before she could summon them to her tounge. "eyes still closed. "I'm Megan Johns, i was born May 17th 1990" she knew that one, but those shapes felt wrong too. Megan shakes her head, her ears flopping about, she stared at herself again distracting her existentail crisis with a physiological one.

With her elbows on the sink megan feels her face, it felt longer, narrower than she remembered. Her forehead felt lower down and the dense fur that used to be her hair less than an inch long, she figured this was its final stage, the fur wrapped her face, it had been day's since she bothered shaving now and she doubts she ever will again. She turned her head to the side, her profile looked distinctly canine, her muzzle had now pushed out taking the rest of her mouth with it. The bridge of her nose had widened, the definition between bridge and face less distinct harder to recognise, her nose had started to meld into her muzzle. Nostrils wide on a black moist backdrop, the divide on her upper lip had flattened out. The overall shape of her muzzle was growing more pointed with her nose taking the lead, this had made her upper lip seem to vanish, there was no lip only nose, then snout, then mouth. She opened her mouth wide, she didn't recognise herself at all now. The inside of her mouth demonstrated the extent her jaw had changed. Her front teeth and canines had lined up infront with her sharper molars lining behind them in a narrow formation. Part of her admired how this all happened without her realising, the teeth looked clean and new, her fillings had either fallen out or been absorbed by whatever process this was. Her tounge lolled out again the heat of the bathroom caused this reaction, panting was becoming an unconcious response. Meg snapped her mouth shut, her tounge whipped back inside slinging spittle on the mirror. 

Megan balanced herself again, holding onto a towel rack and stepped back to look herself over, she shook her head in despair. Her breasts had reduced further, her bra hung impotently loosely containing them, further down red patches she assumed to be some kind of blemish at first but were too symmetrical and orderly, then she relised what they were, disgusted at them. Her chest barrelled out further, each breath distinct at it moved her wide large ribs up and down. She was haunched over further too her legs quaking under the strain, she rubbed her thighs not an pound of fat on them. the muscle structure looked wrong, she was ripped but they looked smaller and angled round her leg diffrently, she realised her thighs had shrunk like her calfs. Gingerly Meg stepped down to see herself from a different perspective. She placed her hands on the floor on the far end of the bathroom looking at her stance to see how she looked on all fours. To her relief she didn't look like a fox, but to her distain being on all fours even for a second felt so right, secure even. Before anything could happen she pushed against the wall to get her back up. She was testing something, she wanted to see how she would look on all fours, she knew it was inevitable she could let it go and still try and find a solution. she might even be better at it without being so pre-occupied with trying to stumble around them house. "NO" the idea sounded nice, like giving into cravings and eating a whole chocolate cake. but like that she knew once it was done there was no going back and the aftermath might not be so sweet, she got in the shower. The fur on her head and stomach proved tricky to dry while holding yourself up on a towel rack but she managed. she didnt bother brushing her teeth, as she left the bathroom clad in a shirt that hung low on her shrunken state her feet left paw prints on the carpet.

Megan found sandy where she left her, She hadn't moved but the books on her lap had changed and several others filled with orange bookmark slips with red crosses on them. "im not finding anything with these" sandy said. "i have an idea, you are not going to like it." "What?" asked Megan. "well we could try a more qualititive research method" sandy said. "Erm...im sorry that made no sense." megan lowered her head ashamed. "what i mean is maybe we need to study you not these books, they're useless." said sandy. "so what's your idea?" Megan asked suspiciously. "i say we go to the lab." "by we you mean you right?" said Megan with concern. "no my condion is different to yours we need both of us."said sandy some pleading in her eyes. " "Look at me, how the hell are we gonna pull this off?" Said megan, "well this is why you're not gonna like it. We go at night in the dark, i can book a session in the lab and no one wants to stay there late so we'll be on our own and you come as my erm... specimin." "What??" glares Megan "we put you in that long trench coat i have at home, you get in my car and you walk as best you can into the lab, with any luck we'll only have to deal with a couple of security guards and in that case you hide on the back seat. I can pass for human still but i dont know how long that will be, this could be our only chance to get some blood samples that we can exam....look at here, they might give us some leads." Sandy monolgues. "its crazy, it's insane, if anyone see's me..." sandy interrupts It's either this or they find you as a fox, in a couple weeks time with me a half woman fox thing trying to read useless books by ripping them up with my teeth." Sandy bared them for emphasis. "I don't know if you've noticed but this is getting desperate, we've been here two days and found nothing. No reward without risk." Megans ears folded back. "This is still crazy." "YES, it is, it's mad, completely fucking bonkers. But i'm running out of ideas feel free to contibute anything." Sandy shouts furiously. "I.." whimpers megan " I know, your diminished mental state impedes your abilty to effectively contribute on an intelligent level, so contribute please in the only way you can by doing this." Sandy lips firm stares at megan. "i'm sorry that was harsh but the clock is ticking, we have the afternoon to prepare, try your best not to change anymore. I will go find you a walking stick or crutches or something to help you walk." Megan feeling shocked at sandy's outburst eye's teary slumps on the couch before getting up again to move her tail out of the way. 

Sandy leaves to assemble stuff for their expedition, Megan tries to tidy up but fails, she cant carry any extra weight on her legs without falling over and the scattered note ridden books prove too much of an obsticle for her. She goes to eat, opening the fridge and doing her level best to avoid all the meat. She picks out the bread and butter and with moderate difficulty manages to make some toast. Drinking proves tricky, megan can't pour water in her mouth without it pouring out of the sides of her mouth, her lips could no longer form a seal on the glass. Muscle memory kicks in and before she knows what she's doing she's lapping at the water with her tounge. She doesn't even bother to fight this as she can see no other way of drinking at this point. Sitting cross legged or any normal way is out of the question now so she props herself on her elbows lying down and eats on the couch. At first she uses her hands to eat but they have grown increasingly clumsy, her fine motor skills weakened. After dropping the toast for the 5th time megan just picks it up with her mouth and angles the toast sideways using her back molars to chew. She thought about what she must look like chewing with her mouth open dropping soggy bread all over the place and licking it up, but less of her cared about it. she wasn't as embarassed about it anymore, it almost felt like nothing was wrong. She finished and sat up licking her muzzle clean, her whiskers angle away from the reach of her tounge, she sniffed the couch again before getting up. She manages to make it halfway to the bathroom when Sandy comes back in. "Ok Meg, its all sorted it gets dark in an hour and we have the lab for 3 hours tonight. Here's your crutches, trench coat and gloves, i wouldn't bother with boots i dont think any will fit you now." They both look at megs feet." "what about my head?" meg asks. "thought about that too." responds Sandy. "here" Sandy handsmegan a skii mask and a beanie. "the skii mask will flatten your ears down and the beanie will make you look a little less like you're going to rob a bank." " wow you thought of everything" megan smiles showing too many teeth. " oh man, don't do that tonight. Not even around me." "say's you dracula" megan say's sarcastically. "my teeth can still pass for human, i did consider dressing as a goth for cover but i couldn't find any fishnet stockings or black hair dye, i'll just have to bluster through it." said Sandy. "Come on lets get ready, we should leave as soon as it's dark in case we have any...fuck ups." "what about Molly" meg asks,"i planned on stuffing her with food until she passed out from a food coma." "No i mean she's like us too shouldn't we take her with us? asks megan. "hmmm, nah she's all the way gone we need to find out whats happening, i think with her we'd just find out she's a fox and nothing more, beside sneaking a fox into the lab would be alot harder at least you can still walk, sort of." say's sandy with some reserve. "yeah sort of" agreed megan. She's glad now she didn't give in to her idea earlier. 

The girls get ready as best they can, Sandy helping meg into her clothes, it had been days since meg had dressed properly, leggings twisted and bent at odd angles on her legs, bunched up around her feet, clearly not designed for this. "we need to get you a belt, these are falling off you." Sandy says tenatively. Megan blushed as sandy helped her get another top on, Sandy looks up and away. "erm...Megan... should we even bother with the bra?" sandy gentley suggested, megan looks away. "well this one really doesnt fit anymore, do you have smaller ones?" she asks again "no" megan responds with a flat tone. "yeah get rid of it, it'll just get in the way." megan sniffs. The top goes on fine but hangs loose like her leggings her sternum and lower ribs showing through. "im sure you've notice now if you hadn't before, this thing is happening all over now." Megan sniffs again. "yeahhh..." sandy responds with awkwardness. "its not just on the outside sandy. Im losing myself on the inside too. I can feel myself slipping away." Megan speaks softley. "i..." sandy looks up into megans eyes not sure what to say, could she offer hope? would that be cruel? "lets just focus on what we can do megan, can you do that for me?" Megan nods. Clothes adorned megan aided by sandy takes some unstable steps forward. "right, good!" Sandy says with forced enthusiasm. Not convinced megan looks at sandy. "Sandy what you just said before...i think." Megan stopped. "what?" asks Sandy. "you said focus on what we can do." Megan looks down at her hands. "I don't understand megan what are you talking about?" Sandy say's with concern. "well i cant walk, not like this. I can barely walk in my flat let alone across campus." Sandy mouths "no" but it doesn't take flight.

"As i am i'd draw too much at...att.." Megan furrows her brow. "i'd draw too many peoples looks." she gave up trying to think of the word. "but you could let me in a win...dow, one of the lab windows." Megan recoils in horror as to just how far her intellect had slipped. "And what? you run around the campus as some kind of wild animal?" Sandy regretting her choice of words. "I know a way round the side, its dark, No people there. No looks." Sandy stares at megan, her use of words confused her. She looked down at megan, saw her crooked stance and thought about walking her through campus and past the security office, thought about how it would look to them. "i don't know megan, your plan is fine, probably better than mine but if you go on the floor you wont be getting up again and we don't know how much more will go with it." Sandy said concerned. "what other choice do we have?" asked megan bluntly. "ok...go on then." Sandy says softley with trepedation. Megan looks down at her hands, twisted and mishapen but still her hands, they could still grasp and hold things, she had a moment of indecision. They could do yes but what she needed now were feet to carry her. Megan's legs quivered again, the strain of holding herself up was too great to be maintained. Megan gingerly places her hands to the floor, her arched back collapses down full of relief. Megans back crunches she feels her spine adjust but then nothing. "was i that far gone? Ask megan to no one. "What?" Sandy also expecting more. "not much happened." responded megan. "i was so close to it anyway" Megan still relieved from the pain in her back. "What? Sandy repeats. "it was like i was already four legged and i was just faking." Megan lifts up her hand to see if there were any changes. "well yeah that makes sense i guess." says sandy cautiously. "Canines can walk on two legs, they're just now very good at it." Megan looks herself over, her back was still raised her legs still too long but she didn't feel unstable anymore, for the first time in days she felt like she was on solid reliable ground. " We should leave now." says sandy it's already quarter to 7. 

Walking down the stairs was odd for meg, her weight was thrown forward and she had to keep catching herself on the lower steps. They were in a hurry the stairwell and hallway was brightly lit and the human-fox hybrid wouldn't have anywhere to hide if someone stepped out of their room. As they cleared the bottom flight a door opened behind them and they bolted out the front door. "where did you park your car?" asks megan. "over there!" she points. her small red hatch back shone benieth a lampost like a beacon in a storm. Megan sprints, clumsily at first but a harmony biulds in her stride as she reaches the car. She looks back to a distant sandy."wow" megan thinks. "im fast!" The run had energised her filling her with endorphins. She felt giddy. Sandy catches up. "Did you see me? I was sooo fast!" Megan beamed. "Yes you were...Megan are you ok?" "I feel great" said megan. "i dont know, maybe its being stuck in the flat for so long or something. It feels like christmas morning all of a sudden." The night air catches her nose, the smell of chips, battered sausages, a half eaten sandwich, a spilt coke. All of it rich in the air, intoxicating. Sandy slaps megan. "Megan, NOT NOW!" she shouts. "megan whines. "sorry, fere's so much stuff out here." "lets go." says sandy looking at megan worried.

Megan tried to get into the car as she normally would, "un sec, hang on, i got this" megan tried sitting in the seat but her tail took up too much room and she tried giving it space. "for fucks sake, this stuuid thing." said megan frustrated. "Try pulling it up between your legs" suggested sandy. Megan shifts round again, she hadn't realised how small she'd gotten. The passenger seat and footwell gave her enough space to move around. She finally sits, tail in her face, her feet dangle, barely touch the floor. Megan tried to hook the seat belt but could reach it, she couldn't bend her arm back. She was losing the range of motion in her arms. "Sandy, i need your helf" megan stops. "Helf" she repeats, her lips wont repond. "Helffff. Oh god i've lost my fies!" says Megan trying to say P. "Don't think about it meg, we have work to do." Sandy says with purpose. "Yeah, yourrright." says megan struggling on the R sound. Megan rubs her lips and tries out several letters on the short trip to campus. Any hard letter sounds proved difficult at best, she couldn't quite move her lips in the fashion needed to form them. She was having a hard time even picturing the letters in her head. They arrived just outside the gate of the campus. "Megan!" Sandy said interrupting megan's thought process. " We're here! Listen i need you to focus ok. I'm going to let you out here and you'll be on your own. Remember you need to wait in the hedges for a bit before coming up to the window." Megan nods thinking through her plan from earlier. She focussed her words, " hoo..W w...Will i kno...w..." she stops and starts rethinking her choice of words. "I need a sign" "for when im in the lab?" Sandy concludes. Megan nod's. " well i could just call for you, those ears of yours can do that at least can't they?" Megan's ears twitch under her skii mask. "yeah good foint" Says megan. "right ok then, you ready?" sandy asks. Megan looks down again at her hands, they'd shifted further, her palms stretched taking her thumbs up her wrist she tried touching her thumb and index finger together, they didn't even get close to each other, her pads their most disticintive feature now, she knew they weren't hands anymore. "i.. I can go now" megan said her sentances conceeding to her vocal challenges.

Sandy opens the passanger door for megan and she jumps out. She doesn't even stumble this time, her movements showing some grace. She sprints for the nearest tree and dissapears from Sandy's sight. A terrible thought washes over sandy at this, what if she doesnt come back? Sandy gets back in and drives. Her shoulders already itch, she scratched, her nails had grown pointed in the last few hours and they tore some threads out of her jacket. "shit" she mumbled to herself. Looking at her hands, they still looked normal, its just the nails that were different. She rumages through her bag and finds the nail clippers, removing her claws. Her nails still looked odd having lost much of their width but it wouldn't draw any odd stares. She considers filing her teeth down in the near future hoping that would be permanent as she draws up to the gate. The security guard scans her student badge while megan fakes a smile with lips tight, she's let in. Once in the parking bay she pulls down her coat to look at her shoulder. Thick orange fur less than an inch thick but so dense she can't see her skin. She looks in the rear view mirror, it had crept up her neck some more too, she felt it invading the back of her head. She Pulls her collar up hoping that her hair is long enough to hide it. She gets out, bag in hand and locks her car, walking quickly to reception.

Megan reaches the tree, the night is bright and vibrant. She looks back at sandy getting back in her car before making a striaght line to the bushes that border the science facility, her stride flows through her, a rythym biulds she finds it easier to look straight ahead, the effort to crane her head upwards lessens and soon she finds herself standing in a clearing between the bushes looking at a row of windows on the first floor. She darts for a hedge finding an opening, the smell of something catches her nose. She sniffs around behind her, something really, really interesting. She looks back at the window, sandy isn't there yet. "i have time" megan thinks. Megan follows a trail through the hedge. She feels awful her clothes are really uncomfortable. She'd abandonned her leggings at home instead going for shorts and they'd now started rubbing her the wrong way, she felt the fur on her crotch and belly rub on the material and it sent shivers down her spine. But the smell demanded her attention, her ears perked, she heard a scuttling noise ahead. The smell led to a hole in a bank, it was far too small for her though. Sounds emanated from the hole like a megaphone, multiple things, breathing, hearts pounding. Megan bent low and stuck her head in the hole. The smell of earth, of something delicious inside, she breathed in deeply and a powerful emotion washed over her, Megans claws gripped the dirt and she started to dig. Something in those smells began to take her away from her thoughts, an instinct blossomed within her, a need. The back of her mind kept reminding her of somewhere she needed to be, an anxiety biult. She was torn between two things, what was it though? A plan she had that was it, it was something she really needed to do, it was important, "Megan?" a voice called from the lights behind the bushes. Sandy popped into her mind. "oh god!" megan said aloud. "sanndy!" Megan had to physically tear herself out of the hole she had dug into, her paws caked in sodden earth. Megan ran back to the windows. 

"Where is she?" sandy mumbled to herself concerned. The bleak black void highlighted only by vague shapes of flora offered Sandy no reference points, the light that shone from the windows only bled into the grass a few yards. She's hoped that just by showing herself at the windown megan would come running up but she resorted to shouring her name. "MEGAN" she yelled again. A rustling sound came from a bush in the distance. a dark figure came running at her. A large dog of some sort. "Megan??" the dark figure drew close and in the light she saw her friend. "i so sorry sandy, i got lost" megan lied. "Lost? How on earth did you get lost?" its a lawn and some bushes. "i..." megan thought hard, Her vocal options limited and her deminishing intelligence creating massive obsticles for her to overcome on the fly. "I...cane to a hole, it sounded good." "What??" Sandy said in outrage "i told you to stay focussed." I thought good, sounds though and sonething that...snn." Megan struggled on the M. "sonething that snelled good." She gave up. sniffing her nose in demonstration. Her nostrils flared again picking up the scent once more. "Oh god Megan we need to get you inside right this second." Sandy said with concern. Sandy levered open the window and Megan perched herself with her front paws on the window ledge and with a quick elegant motion jumped inside. "you've been digging" sandy said with dimay at the scatterings of soil that megan had brought in with her. "yeah digging" Megan said lowering her head ashamed. "i knew this was a bad idea" said sandy as she rushed over to an equipment cabinet. Megan stands there, unsure what to do, she props herself on a worktop standing again on two legs. Her neck now long and broad on her shrinking shoulders bends round and starts pulling her shorts down. "Megan what are you doing now?" Sandy looking over questioningly. "i can't take these shorts any longer, they're... uncon... unconn.. they hurt, take then..." Sandy puts down a box on a table and comes over pulling megans shorts off. A mass of unkempted matted fur springs out behind it, the base of her back her stomach and her arse thick with it. "ok...so first we're gonna start by taking blood samples." Said sandy taken aback by the sight of her friend. "needles??" said Megan wide eyed. "yes, needles megan." 

Megan actually yelped at the first needle going into what used to be her arm, her former hands flexing on the desk scratching the wood as she struggled to keep herself from running away. "easy meg, you're doing fine, good work." sandy said patting megans shoulder. Megan knew sandy was just saying that to calm her but something in the tone of sandy's voice honestly put her at ease. with a slight whince sandy takes her own bloody sample, the copper tang of blood fills the air for Meg, a smell that at once stirred hunger and fear. Megan shifted around clearly uncomfortable, her arm stung where the needle had bitten in. The growing fear of the unknown approaching her, the anxiety of change the hard sterile environment around her. The creeping sensation from across her body, the passive changes that go unnoticed until its too late, her fragmenting and fragile psyche. Primitve fears had started creeping in, the fears that coil in the centre of all of us that experience and reason combat. It was getting too much megan, was about to break "megan would you mind coming over here please?" Sandy asked as gentley as possible seeing Megs distraught state. Megan taking a small comfort in Sany's soothing tone lets herself down off the table. She's full of doubt, doubting her thoughts, questioning her questions, probing holes in her mind and making new ones as she goes. What thoughts were hers and what were fabrications of the change. "I'm megan j..oe... i'm born in main 90's" she thought to herself. "Ana...." a fragment of a memory bubbled up but popped before she could even see it. "to look at" something automated from deep within spoke for her. "Megan?" Sandy asked again looking worried. "yeah" responded megan at long last. "i need you to look at something for me" said sandy. "i can" meg said. Megan walked over to the device, it consisted of an odd cylindrical tube, with something that shone on one end and the other had a glass lense. "lense" Megan said to herself trying to find meaning in her thoughts. The storm of existencial panic in her head subsided "lense, a scope. nnnNICROSCOPE!" suddenly she recognised the device. "yes meg it's a microscope!" said sandy with that same concerned expression she'd been wearing all day. "I look through this?" Megan said "yes..." Sandy said beginning to doubt her friend was actually there at all. Megan levers herself up and with an awkward angle looks into the eye piece. "Running on that same assumption as before that this is a viris or a bacteria i thought i'd first look for signs of immune cell degredation." Sandy said mostly to herself, meg nods blankly seeming not understanding much, "You can see here that the white blood cells are fine nothing has been affected, so that rules that out once and for all. But from what i've seen your blood has a much higher concentration of white blood cells than mine, but even mine is high for a human. This could be some kind of auto immune disease. Our immune systems could be attacking our own cells so that something else could replace them, so what ever this is must be have control of our inner bodily systems." Sandy theorised. "This might explain the changes in psyche also as brain cells could be being replaced through the same process." So in short what this might be is a kind of parasite that prefers a canine host and instead of moving on it changes the host." " sounds like a alot of guesses there." Said Megan, much to the surprise of Sandy who had judged megans glazed over expression as a lack of comprehension. "you guess this alone on ... cell count...high." The curtains of fog had stirred in her mind and clarity broke through for megan. She remembered the immune system. "linnodes, can you check the linnodes?" quizzed megan. "Lymph nodes?" Sandy clarified. Megan nods enthusiastically the relief is immense, the panic lifts off her, new assurances to her identity restored. "i..linnodes, connare" words rose back from the depths, words she had forgotten existed. "compare, lymph nodes?" Sandy smiling at Megan say's "that is an amzing idea megan." Megans tail rapidly thumps the ground. 

"ok i've looked it up, i need to your armpit." Megan's head tilted in a comical expression. "i know it sounds weird just trust me." said sandy. Sandy first checks her lymphs pressing into her armpit feeling for a "string with beads" as the wiki page put it. She felt them, the beads were hard but had some give to them as they moved within her tissue. "ok ive done mine,nw yours." Sandy lifts up one of megs front legs. for a moment she wondered if canine physiology differed too greatly for this test to work but soon felt the same thing. "hmm ok?" They felt no different. "they seem the same as mine." Sandy said. Megans head slumped, they were no closer to finding any answers. Sandy went back to the blood samples looking for other oddities. "what??" Sandy shouted. "wha" sandy kept switching the slides. "they're exactly the same!" Megan ears flattened at sandy's outburst sat there confused. "the samples they've changed. They both have the same white blood cell counts. How the living fuck does that even work? They had to go somewhere!" Sandy scans the slides thoroughly. "there's nothing, no sign of them its like they just vanished." The blood itself starts bubbling. "WHAT.THE.FUCK!" The blood evaporates off the slide leaving nothing. Sandy steps back from the table. "Did you see that, please tell me you saw that!" Megan nod's fearfully. "im at a total loss, that completely defies logic. This is impossible." The slides crack and they break down into powder. "..." sandy wide eyed and speechless, "i...., it..., wh..." words fail sandy again, she gestures at the table. "we're so fucking fucked." she concludes. "this was our blood, this is in us and it did that to GLASS." Sandy goes over to the table, it wasn't powder it was...sand. With hesitation she picks some up to make sure. "it's fucking sand meg, why is it sand? i so wish i could just hop on to this train of logic." Glass from sand" megan say's. "No megan it was the sand that came from the glass." sandy corrected. Megan shakes her head. "Glass is fro.. SAND." What are you talking about meg? asks sandy with a mix of frustration. "Sand gets COOKED, it turns to Glass!" Realisation sinks in for sandy. "oh shit, that actually makes sense." She examines the sand again. "but that still begs the question here. HOW?" 

Knowing that there is nothing the lab could offer that would grant them any further answers, the girls cut there session short. Megan jumps back out the window and sandy makes a run for her car. Megan's knew not to give into her new urges even as the small fluffy creatures she has persued earlier had made an appearance on the lawn and scampered into the bushes as she reemerged. The same need pulled with all its might again as she saw it flash past, but she was still stronger...for now. Sandy and meg met at the same point they departed at. Meg just climbs on the seat this time sitting upright on her haunches her. Sandy buckles her in across her legs, "your fine with that?" Megan nods "yeah it fine. colla?" "you want me to put your collar on?" Sandy asks cautiously. "i need a colla an a leash" Megan says with purpose. "disguise" she followed up with. Sandy nod's and pulls the spare leash and collar that megan had bought days ago out of the glove box. "so what i...walk you into the flat?" Meg turns to face sandy. "yeah" she say's flatly "i not letting go, its a disguise." An intelligence behind Megs stare convinces Sandy. The ride home is silent, rain pelts the car catching the glare from the street lights and scattering it into a thousand tiny mirrors, Meg sits bolt upright leaning into the corners fur now starting in multiple locations on her body, an open window rustling it into a frenzy. Megs stare remains consistant throughout never taking her eyes off the road. They arrive home, sandy pauses for a moment and then without saying anything she gets out and opens the passenger door. Meg waits patiently for the leash to be clipped on before jumping down and trotting beside Sandy for the short walk to her flat. In the dark with her fur whipping about her strong canine profile any casual observer from afar wouldn't look twice, the key now was to simply act normally. Sandy looked down, "you ok down there?" she whispered. "yeah i ok" Megan say's quietly without looking up. " you haven't said anything for a while, you sure?" "Yeah" meg repeated. They waited at the bottom of the stairs for a bit, making sure no one was about. There was a distant sound of echoing laughter, one of the rooms had a weekly house party. "It's clear" megan said. they dash upto the second floor. Megan finds the climb up much easier, clearing 3 or 4 steps at once. Pushing herself up on both hind legs and throwing herself forward with the momentum with her front legs, she thought back at how clumsily she used to walk, this felt like poetry in motion, nothing was wasted. Her form flowed into the next position with little sign of awkwardness. She reached the top before she realised she'd left Sandy behind running to catch up. "jesus meg dont run off like that." Sandy said breathing heavily, Megan noted her tounge wider and thinner than it used to be filling her mouth as she gasped. They both walked quickly to her door and in a single motion slipped inside quietly.

"ok...so what now?" sandy said. "The sand incident." megan reminded. "do it on other things. See it do it again." Megan say's quickly and concisely while avoiding the hard letters. "i swear you've gotten more articulate tonight." Sandy says rummaging for stuff to experiement on. "sunthing dirrent harrend earlier." Said Meg struggling to pronounce. "Sunthing in ny head clicked nack on" She continued. Sandy paused for a moment megans pronounciation was odd but she understood her. " What clicked?" She asked. "I did, I cane back. I alnost fell away, So nearly..." Megans eyes glazed at the thought of what she had just narrowly escaped, the loss of herself. "i think we need to keep going, keep thinking, don't gith up". Sandy nodded. "ok lets do some more work, see what we can learn at the very least it'll keep us here." Sandy said.

Hours passed, Sandy and megan started pulling items out of the bin to try out their blood on. Paper became wood shavings, plastic became crude oil, metal bubbled and twisted away into a small reddish rocks. At one point they put some on to an old laptop and the blooded patch started breaking down into an assortment of raw materials. 

"This is really interesting" Sandy said bemused. "I mean its batshit crazy and makes no sense but it's obvious what it's doing." Sandy continued. Megan looked up. "Ith degrading stuth" She lisped. Sandy nooded wild eyed. "its breaking stuff down into its original materials. What ever this is its returning everything it touches to a natural state." Sandy pauses. "that explains its effect on us. We're becomming wildlife! As to how and why is a complete mystery though. And why its taking its sweet time with me and you compared to Molly is another mystery. Molly whined at the mention of her name. "erraa..." Megan stopped for a moment choosing her words. "and also i, could control it. i cane back." "Right yeah, your right. I still think this thing has a mind of its own. It behaves like a parasite or an infection, but its seems to have its own will and agenda." Sandy said. "We cannot let this get out, it might already be spreadding elsewhere. but we have to assume that molly was patient zero and we are the few infected." Sandy stopped again thinking about what she had to do. "we have to leave town, get away somewhere secluded, somewhere natural where this thing cant spread, cant change anything." Megans ears flattened. "its our responsbility to ensure no one else is infected. I think we should go to the nature reserve."

“Nooo, stay here, Stay, fix, can’t fix there.” Blusters Megan,

“We can’t risk contamination, this proves it can spread, hell we’re proof enough! But this can spread to anything, not just people.”

“Affect, not srread, not go to other things, affect localised.” Megan ignoring her lisp tries anyway. “fffff, ffff, fuck it, in just gonna talk as normal as fossifle, I’n tired of avoiding rords.”

Sandy looks at Megan with a mix of amusement and pity, “Yeah i think it makes your harder to understand actually. You sound like someone who’s just learnt English 2 weeks ago.” She smiles.

“ny tongue is tho largeth, it flopth aroun’ thoo much.” Megan say’s try hard to move it normally. 

“You made a good point. It doesn’t spread beyond the directly affected area.” Sandy said pulling conversation back on track. “ok we stay for now but the second this shows signs of spreading to other things we have to act fast.” 

Megan’s ears rise up again relaxing, “haff an idea.”

“Oh?” say’s Sandy with genuine enthusiasm. Her friend seemingly returning to normal at least in mind.

“Ree could try, going out.” Megan looks outside.

“Erm, outside? Why?” Sandy said with suspicion 

“I really rrant to.” Megan said still looking outside.

“Is this Meg talking or the feral in you?” Sandy gets up and approaches Meg.

“yeeah a bit, but also we should get sone natural stuff to exerriant on, we need a control groof if we’re gonna do tests. Also ree don’t know for sure that this ron’t affect leaves and dirt and such.” Megan sniffs the air almost as if she can smell them already.

“Ok but I can do that, do you should stay here, remember what happened in the hedges earlier.” Besides the more we keep coming and going like this someone is bound to notice I’m keeping a fox in my friends apartment. It’s gonna raise questions.” Sandy said trying to put reason in her friends head.

Megan lowers her head looking ashamed. “I know but… flease, I’ll fehave, I need out. This flat is getting to me, the air, it’s stale and smells bad, smells of rong things. I haff soo much energy, I can’t sit still like this. Take me for a ralk.”

“Well…” sandy looks down at her friend. “It Is dark outside, we could but I’m gonna hide you in a bag. You’re small enough, but we still need to be careful, don’t let yourself slip away when I do let you out. I need you to be vigilant!

“Yes, yeah” Megan’s body language shifts in a heart beat “I careful, I go get leaves.” She violently wags her tail. 

Sandy looks on again hesitantly, She doesn’t know if this is just enthusiasm or if the fox is returning. She decides not to say anything; this is the first time in a while she’s seen her friend actually happy, She wouldn’t take that from her…yet. “Ok I’ll get us ready” she said.

Half an hour later Sandy is ready and holds open a large canvas bag. “In!” She gestures. Megan jumps in curling up with her head peaking out staring upwards at Sandy. “Just because you’re hidden doesn’t mean you’re invisible I need you to be quiet,”

“I quiet, I stay silent, Stay here.” Megan say’s nuzzling into her own legs.

“Good…” Sandy says eyeing her friend. Just a few minutes ago she was articulate even making intelligent suggestions now she seems to be regressing again. The walk is probably not a good idea she thinks again to herself. “lets be quick” sandy says under her breath.

The two once again leave the flat, two guys argue passionately over something in the hallway but Megan in her bag draws no stares. Sandy walks past. 

They make it to the car, Megan is placed in the passenger foot well and climbs up on to the seat. 

“Its probably safer for you down there Meg. You can’t wear the belt.” 

“I see outside.” Says Megan without further elaboration.

“You want to see outside?” prompts sandy.

Megan nods looking out the window.

“Listen Meg, I’m worried you’ve changed a lot again since you convinced me to take you out. You seem to be more feral in your speech.” 

“sorry I’n still here Sanny, the rorrds are hard on me, if I can I keef ith simfle.” Megan says defensively. 

“Ok im sorry too im just a bit skittish, I don’t want you to get worse again.” Says sandy looking away and starting the car.

“ith cool. I know I’ve feen more positive, I dunno naybe is the feral or not but I feels good now im out. The air…. Ith more than just smell, it feels nice. Feing outside feels right.”

“I understand, I think I feel it too, the flat feels a bit claustrophobic, sort of like a cage.” Sandy said looking worried. “ We will be heading back in later though’ so we’re gonna have to get used to it.”

Megan nods.

Sandy pulls up at a park a few minutes away, they both jump out, Megan stretching cracks her back, “do you snell that?” She says ears perked up. 

“Yes.” Sandy says reluctantly

The park was pitch black but the girl’s eyes pierced through it and saw the woods. They looked at each other. “Something’s in there” says Sandy. 

“ith male fox” say’s Megan.

“How can you tell?” Asks Sandy sniffing the air.

“I gueth you’re not quite there yet.” Say Megan, I think he’th looking for a mate.”

“How do you…?” asks Sandy again.

“Don’t ask,” says Megan looking visibly disgusted at herself. “We need to get out of here soon, he snell’s us, he comes.” 

Sandy pulls out a bag, and grabs handfuls of dirt, twigs, leaves and anything that’s close by. They keep clear of the woods at first but their need for material leads them into the first line of trees. Pinecones, bark, sticks, fur…

Sandy’s nostrils flare, the fur held a stench about it, at once both repugnant and intoxicating. She stuffed it in the bag moving on, ignoring her feelings. 

“I got more leafes.” Says Megan trotting up, looking at Sandy’s expression and spitting them out of her mouth. “You snell him?” 

Sandy wordlessly nodded, a look of disgust on her.

“Ith driving me crazy too. Ee need to get out of here, he’s close.” Said Megan her muzzle sniffing the air.

“Yeah…” Said Sandy, blocking her nose, she thought for a moment she had a cold when she felt it but it was obvious to her why it was moist, his presence was affecting more than just her hormones. “leth just go” said Sandy. She blinked “Leth… LETS” she corrected herself. 

Megan studied Sandy, on inspection she could see her friends puffed up lips and a pushed out nose. “Leafe now!” she yelped.

The girls ran out of the tree’s back onto the meadow, Megan looked back to make sure Sandy was ok and saw two sets of eyes shine behind her. She ignored him though much of her didn’t want to and belted for the car park and climbed in the car.

Megan looking out on to the meadow saw the pair of eyes drift back into the trees and out of sight.

“Fuck, Fuck, Fuck.” Said Sandy “I knew ith was a bad idea” lisped Sandy. She turned on the interior light and stared in the mirror.

The face staring back at her was her own but the smaller chin and the larger nose bridge made her look odd, human, barely if it wasn’t for her teeth. 

“I cant go out like thith.” Said Sandy panic in her eyes. How am I gonna go shopping? How can I even meeth people?”

“Ith hard to geth used to.” Megan looked on with concern. Ee geth home, resth start again tonorro. Sleef I think will helf.”

“I think im a little too terrified to thleep.” Said Sandy

The girls arrived home, the two guys in the corridor still there, still in too deep conversation to even notice a girl hiding her face with her hands. They slipped back inside.

Megan curled up on the couch having long since abandoned her bed to Sandy, without a further word Sandy went to bed, Megan heard sigh heavily in the room as the final word on yet another taxing day.

Megan see’s him behind her eyes, the glaring piercing stare from the trees, she feels warm and something deep within her stirs before she drifts off to sleep.

END DAY 7

Day 8

Sandy twisted and turned in her sleep. Her dreams were chaotic and disturbing. Something was following her, she couldnt get a clear look at what but it was large. Everytime she tried to see it would slip away into the fog. She was walking quicklu through the town, the shop windows were vacant, just bare rooms behind them. The monster behind her made a shuffling noise but once again it was gone before she could see. The fog was thick on all sides but one, a street lit on one end opposite her. The light shone green and yellow and the smelt of woodland. A crack behind her got Sandy moving faster towards it. As she walked the biuldings either side of her decay away, roofs caving, floors falling inwards and windows slip from their frames and smash on the cracked weed-ridden pavement. She paused at one biulding it was where discount shoes were sold, the signage and furntiure was all gone and the windows offering a gaunt hollow haunting look It smelled of death and chemicals, at the far end a red light swung on its wires buzzing a high whine, the sound hurts her ears. More shuffling, louder now, whatever it was it was much closer, Sandy ran. 

As she ran the decay continued, tree's sprouted out of the street, the road surface so broken and crumpled it looked more like gravel, bushes lined the street and fillied the vacant corpses of biuldings, the twisted rusted remains of a bus filled to the brim with foliage, weeds and a tree growing through its engine. The fog was lifting, she could see the end of street, a mass of dense woodland swallowed the broken spars and wall segments that remained, the road itself giving onto rich earth, brambles and vine. The woodland sung with the sounds of hundreds of birds, and the creaks of its branches swaying in the breeze. Sandy stopped and looked back at the town, she only saw 50 meters or so until the fog made dull profiles of the biuldings, the same dark haunched figure as before stood in the centre, its form twisted with the fog making it impossible to figure out any kind of shape. But it had stopped, like all it was trying to do was herd Sandy out of the town, or into the woods. Sandy teared her gaze from the monster and sucked in a deep rich breath of the woodland. Vibrant sunshafts broke the canopy and lit the wood floor highlighting small buzzing insects. The smell of earth comforted her, the stale artificial town of chemicals still burned her nose she headed deeper inside.

The richness of the woodland got more so as she climbed in, there were no paths or recognisable features so Sandy just followed her senses. She heard barking, something was frightened, the yelps were of pain and suffering, young they sounded. Sandy climbed through a dense crop of bush, the twigs scratched and scraped as she struggled through, the howling on the other side drove her on. Something in her pushed her onwards the howling lit a sorrow in her, a need to find and comfort. With a tortured grunt sandy tumbled out of the bush, She pushed herself up and found herself on all fours, she was a fox. Strangely this didnt bother Sandy, her only interest was in reaching her pups. She found her den, a hole in the ground where the high pitched howling came from, she crawled in. The tunnel was dark but strangely yielding, the walls were soft like a blanket, suddenly she dropped and she found herself face planted into her bedroom carpet. A dream! 

"Fuck!" Said Sandy rising back up rubbing her nose, instantly reminding herself of her new problem.

Megan woke from a dream involving herself and field full of fat slow chickens to Sandy's exclamation. "Sandy Ok?" She said.

"I'm fine" Replied Sandy. "I jutht bashed my head a bit" she lisped. "juth...jutht" she whispered to herself trying to sound out the S and failing.

Sandy looked at her phone, 06:22. "No point going back to bed" she thought. The dream still tangled her mind, she felt loss, the loss of her puppies left an emotional void in her, even though they didnt exist, she vocally whined a bit before she caught herself.

"Sandy!" yelled Megan, "I can't reach the fridge! Can ou nake ne food?"

"Thure" Sandy replied whincing at her choice of word. "How we doing for food?"

"i snell nore nacon, that's all." Megan yelled, her nose angling at the fridge.

"yeah i thmell it too" said Sandy, "give me a minute im jutht gonna frethen up."

Sandy went to the bathroom both to clean hersefl but also to see if the dream was the only strange new thing to have happened to her during the night.

To say her face was animalistic would be a bit much, it was definitely going in that direction but she could probably pass as human so long as no one looked directly at her. Her head and face still helf the same proportions and everything was where it was meant to be apart from her short muzzle, the bridge of her nose had pushed her once narrow perky nose flat against it, she held her face measuring the changes by touch for later reference. She felt her upper lip press into her palm more than it should and her nose was moist to the touch, she opened her mouth wide and saw her wide flat tounge filled her mouth, her teeth now more canine folded its edges forming sharp islands of bone around a pink sea of tounge. She tried sounding an S again to try and figure it out, "thhhh.....th.....thhh." She tried again, "Thhhhhss...." Her tounge just wasn't holding in her mouth right it, got in the way, She stretched it out and found she could easily clean her nose with it. "gross" she whispered as she tasted her nose. 

The fur was where it was expected of course, full thick, orange on her shoulders, white on her chest. She pulled down her shirt before taking it off alltogether to get a better look. It had spread, the border between skin and fur was less defined, it was now a fade effect. Tiny white hairs marched towards her breasts. The thick bushes on her shoulders had also expanded their territories downwards claiming her triceps and armpits. Shaving this would take forever and what was the point she could just cover it up again. She couldn't help just run her fingers though it again. She felt her fur tug at her skin as she did and felt that massaging effect on her. She discovered the fur had spread down her upper back also and rubbing against stuff felt incredible. The feeling was like warm shivers down her spine, a spasm started in her leg before she realised and stopped. She pulled her shirt back on instantly feeling the wrongness of it again. The fur was mostly hidden but some fluffed at the edges of her collarbones. 

Sandy hadn't noted any other changes. "Perhaps like the less defined border of my furline any further changes are either not there or too subtle to notice yet." She thought to herself. In any event looking and fixing are entirely different things, Sandy found herself surprised though at her lack of frustration of her changes, part of her even liked them. The fur was nice and warm and a small part of her was curious at how her full coat would look. She smiled at herself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.

Sandy strode into the lounge still feeling oddly calm about the situation, She had put on a low cut shirt, that avoided the thickest of her fur for she found most of her other shirts caused too much irritation. 

"Tho how about that bacon?" she said running her hands through Megan as she passed her. 

Megan stirs and stretches ears perking in interest.

"I wath thinking we thould go out tonight again" Said Sandy as she opens the fridge, the waft of smell from it hits her like a brick wall.

Sandy stumbles back almost losing her footing.

"Out?" asks Megan.

"y...yeah": Say's Sandy regaining her composure. "I Think we should go out!" 

Megan shakes her head bluntly

"Why not? We spend too much time thuck in here. We'll think better if we get more ecth...esthth...if we work out." Say's Sandy as she attempts the word excersise but bails out. 

"you don't 'ant out coth of that, you 'ant out coth of hin." Megan say's without emotion.

Sandy is startled at the accusation: " WHAT?! Groth! No i want out because im an active girl, if i go theveral dayth without ecth....working out i go stir crazy. 

"keep far fron hin, thath all." Say's Megan her mouth aching with the effort to form half cohereant words. "Keef thoo fooffaffs"

"What did you say? Say's sandy lacking comprehension.

"Foofaffs, thide'alks....fave...nents.

"Oh Footpath?" Sandy laughs sadly, "We're gonna have to look to getting you thubtitleth..." Sandy tails off realising the irony she just spoke.

Megan looks at her condecendingly 

Sandy fries the bacon in butter, her growing food lust overtaking her sense of healthy eating. Both of them stay silent throughout breakfast niether one of them seeking to further their embarassment. Sandy licks her plate clean, the bacon grease too much of a temptation for her withering resolve. Megan watches her friends increasingly canine facial features do something very canine as she licks the plate clean, before without much choice she does the same. Sandy cleans her nose and muzzle satisfied with herself. Something distant in the back of her head told her what she just did was wrong and disgusting but she ignored it. "what was the point?" she thought to herself.

"Right, im gonna get drethed." Sandy announces, jumping up, grabbing her plate and putting it in the dishwasher.

Megan finishes her plate and watches her friend leave the room and wonders to herself why Sandy seems so at ease. She was constantly fighting an inner existencial crisis over what was happening to her and here her friend was taking it like it was just another part of life. 

Sandy emerges with a coat and scarf on. "I'm juth going out to get thome more food". She exclaims. Megan groans in protest but Sandy pulls her scarf over her lower face mostly obscuring her muzzle under the folds of wool. "ith, cool i've got it covered." She giggles to her own pun."

Megan dumbfounded nods in approval.

"Cool, be back thoon." Sandy leaves

Megan doesn't know what to think...

Sandy leaving the biulding walks down the street to the local shop but turns away from it deciding that the best bacon will be the freshly cut stuff at the butchers. She walks up the high street, it being mid-morning the rush hour was over but many people were still milling around, mostly older people and a few other stragglers. 

The street was alive with smells though, she did more smelling than seeing. A whole new dimension opened up for her, whereever she pointed her nose she could isolate things by smell without needing to focus her eyes she knew what was there. she mostly smelt food, discarded food packages in bins, the cafe's unloading freshly baked muffins, a fried chicked take out. She'd only just eaten breakfast but already she was starving the assult of smells stirred her appetite to up to 11. Fortunatley her noses new shape kept her scarf on but her activities unbekwonst to her shifted it further still. Flecks of gold appeared in her iris but before anything more happened she entered the butchers and was forced to focus on the task at hand. 

"10 poundth of bacon pleath." Say's Sandy enthusiastically. The butcher gives her an odd look, "err right away miss." Sandy was bubbling over with a restless energy, the view infront of her was pushing aside rational thoughts one after another.

"I'll also take that slab of beef, that turkey and those chickenth." She points out in quick succession.

"You sure miss? That's quite alot to order." The butcher say's. "fuck it" Sandy say's "I'll take that leg of lamb too." Under her scarf saliva runs in thick rivers out of the corners of her mouth, her eyes blaze at her surroundings.

The butcher wordlessly wraps everything up unsure as to be pleased to clear such a large amount of stock or concerned that his customer is probably incredibly high.

"That'l be £83.75 miss."

Sandy a bit taken aback by this pulls out her card and pays, grabbing her prize quickly and leaving. The walk back was quick, she felt paranoid that people were following her. She had to get all this food back home before someone took it from her. The bags were heavy and the ties pinched her fingers but she reached home in half the amount of time it took her to get to the shop.

So focussed in her task she blew past people on the stairs and ran to the apartment door.

Megan curled up by the window was stirred by the smell of something wonderful, it was like christmas morning all of a sudden. The rich aroma of a variety of goodness or the highest quality, she smelt bacon, and more things she couldn't pin down but it was all glorious. The harsh smells of the road and the stink of modernity was washed aside by this tide of wonder. She couldn't contain herself and jumped up at the window tail wagging looking for the source of it.

Just then the door burst open and in came Sandy loaded down with carrier bags. Kicking the door closed sandy cheers. "I got thuff, loth of thuff."

A near crazed range of emotions wrestled in Megans head, she REALLY wanted to inspect the bags contents but she also saw a look in Sandy's eyes that she feared. She looked wild, Her scarf was askew revealing a nose that was several shades darker than it was before. 

Sandy collapsed and buried her head in one of the bags. "Oh. My. God Megan! Come here and thmell this thuff. It's amathing."

Megan barely held herself back fearing what she might become if she gave in to her instincts. "No!" she yelped.

Sandy looked up with a mix of confusion on her face. "Whath wrong? don't you want it?"

"ith not good for uth." She said still restless with the temptation and not breaking eye contact with the bags.

"Not good? what do you mean?" say's sandy confusion still written on her face.

"Your eyeth.... EYETH. Shouted Megan forcibly retreating backwards. "food away!, now! She yelps. 

Sandy forces herself up from her prize and looks in the mirror, the gaze of deep golden eyes look back at her catching the light in them. She turns back around to find Megan with her head buried in the bag of chickens. 

"Megan No!" sandy growls.

Megan continues to try and minimise the space between her nose and the raw chicken meat despite the dure warning issued from Sandy. 

Sandy rushes over and with one hand grabs Meg by the scruff of her neck and lifts her out of the bag, Megan snarls and goes to bite Sandy's arm before realisation kicks in and she backs down. 

Sandy lowers Megan to the ground both of them stunned by what they both had momentarily become in the presence of meat.

"Oh god" Exclaimed Sandy. "That wath intenthe, i had no idea it would get me like that." She said. Megan stares blankly dissapointed in herself, despite her resolve, her will power she could not overcome her canine instincts. 

"Food ith good". Said's Megan dizzilly the intoxicating aroma still affecting her. " hide it fron nee.." She managed. 

"thould i cook thome?" Sandy lisped also still tempted.

"Justh ate. Not hungry only greed" Megan struggling continues. "It 'ants neat." 

Megan leaves it there, words again coming hard to her, the presence of primal hunger had set her back again, almost back to a beast but not quite, some humanity remained to haul her back from the brink.

Megan blinks as she recites her mantra's to herself trying, to bring more of her mind back.

Trying to avoid paying it too much attension Sandy picks up the soft yeilding plethura of deliciousness and crams it in the fridge sealing out most of the temptation. 

"I'm tho thorry." Sandy lisped without holding back. "it crept up on me tho subtly, i thought it would be eathy to thpot." She said with dismay, "i felt good, better than i'd felt in dayth. I went with it and it took me for a ride. I have to be tho fucking vigilant." 

Sandy removes her coat feeling again the thick tufts of fur on her shoulders. She rubs at them marvelling at the sensation, so much of her still liked the feeling of it on her shoulders but it was mixed with an impending sense of dread. An underpinning fact that both excited her and terrified her "This is not going to get better." She thought. "This is going to get worse." She continued. I will become an animal!." Even outright thinking the fact didnt process properly in her head, it still felt like she was watching someone else going through it, she was the observer watching the patient. Sandy looked again in the mirror, Sher turned her head, angling the light until she again saw her iris's light up catching the low morning light. That combined with her further deformed face added to the surrealism, she no longer looked like herself to her. She again was watching someone else as they examined themselves in the mirror.

"I need a drink" stated Sandy bluntly 

Megan points with her muzzle to an upper cabinet still processing to herself silently.

Sandy pulls out a bottle of sambuca, the smell makes her whince. "Have you got anything leth...intenth? She asks. Megan shakes her head in response. Ith thith thuff good? Sandy asks in turn making a mental note to be more selective in her use of words. 

Megans lack of shoulders diminished the effect of her shrug but sandy picked up on it anyway. "good, latht nonth, naybe noth 'oday." Megan still struggling with words managed with noticable concentration. 

It took a few moments for Sandy to figure out what Megan said before her puzzled stare changed to acknowledgement. "It'll do then i geth." 

3 swigs and 20 minutes later Sandy sits cross legged on the floor, bottle in hand talking herself into a 4th swig. "tho we've itholated what thith thig doeth to inanimate objecth and the people it cometh into contact with." Sandy summerises to herself. "that further tholidifies the theory ith not bacterial 'coth bacteria don't affect glath." Megan swigs again. Changeth happen pathively and non pathively and happen ethpethh..ially." She slurrs. " Ethpeth... Happen more tho when we thubmit to it." Megan nods avoiding words.

"Tho that meanth..." Sandy's head slips out of her cradling hands. She rights herself knowing she shouldn't drink any more. "THAT meanth we don't know fuck all. It could be anything, yet it thoundth like nothing. We're fucked." She gulps another down.

Megan ears flat to her head worried for her friend feels a pang of giult, she did this to her. A scratching at a door reminded her of the real culprit.

"Might athwell let her join uth." Sandy slurrs stumbling to her feet. Sandy opens Mollies door to a very excited Molly. The room stunk with almost 2 days of a wild fox pissing and shitting in the corner.

"Oh GOD!" Sandy covers her muzzle. The smell was bad no denying but something peaked her curiosity. "i...err need to clean thith up." Sandy say's trying to hide her interest.

Megan was only aware of the fox that was sniffing around her. Megan saw nothing of her room mate in this beast, it seemed entirely animal yet something in it remained loyal to her. She found this comforting knowing that at the last not everything will be taken.

Molly wagged her tail playfully rolling over exposing her stomach in response to Megans seemingly indifferent stare. Molly adopting a submissive gesture yelped in eagerness to play.

Megan padded over taking in the musky scent of her friend, it was strange and familiar. Something in the smell spoke of Molly and also something else. 

Sandy picks up Molly's litter tray, the smell drives her wild. Her stunted inhibitions almost allows her to bury her face in it but rationality succeeds. Arms wide before her she carries it to a bin bag and shoves the whole thing in, not wanting to come into contact with the contents.

"Fuck me that thuff'th rank." Say's Sandy making a show of how disgusted she is. 

Molly defeated in her attempts to play reads Megans body language and decides play time must now be yet and it then must surely be food time and sits infront of the fridge in silent vigil.

Sandy slumps back down and takes another swig.

"Want some? Sandy asks Megan

Megan shakes her head, looking outside.

"Sanny?" Asks Megan

"yeah" she responds. 

"err..." Megan thinks ahead of all the words she'd have to fuck up in order to explain her new issue. "nothin" She opts for instead. 

"fair 'nough." The sambuca had gone further to her head taking away her concern and drive to probe further. Sandy sprawls on the floor looking deep into the ceiling.

"we're fucked" Sandy repeated her earlier statement.

"Yeah" agree's Megan feeling the same warmth inside as she looks at Sandy.

The morning slips into the afternoon silently as Sandy sleeps off the rest of her binge. Megan sits by the window watching the world go by thinking quietly to herself, her options were limited. She could try and explain her new feelings but what would be the point? Just another bewildering symptom that might cause a divide in the only remaining item of consistancy in her life, her best friend. Or she could stay silent on it, hide her feelings towards both Sandy and Molly and hope it doesn't get worse or better yet fades away. 

The spring late afternoon draws long shadows as the sun draws to a close and Megan thinks about Sandy's earlier plan to go out. She felt that actually it might not be such a bad idea to get out, take her mind off things, it might offer a rare relief from her mounting problems. 

Sandy stirrs awake "ugggh" she groans.

"Sanny?" Megan asks

"yeah?" she responds

"take uth out tonight."

Sandy nodded understanding, Her head pulsed but it didn’t stop her thinking clearly. She rolled over, away from the bin, her awareness of the intoxicating aroma from it forcing her further back to the reality of her situation. 

“thould ee take Nolly with uth? Sandy groans

“yeah, she need out too.” Said megan without emotion

“yeah naketh thenth. Nolly’th been in there for dayth” 

Both Sandy and Megan noticed Sandy’s lisp but chose not to react. 

Sandy stretched out her mouth, her face had gone further, her lips thinner and less manuverable. 

“ee…cough! Let’th leave at eight o’clock.” Sandy enunciated trying hard to avoid her new problem areas.

“Ith fine sanny, juth let it go, I haff. Said Megan pityingly 

“at thith rrrate ‘e’ll be uthing north cothe” joked Sandy sadly

“north cothe?” Megan cocked her head very animalistically

“nnNorthh Code.” Sandy manages straining her mouth. She knocks her hand of the floor of emphasis. “not th, th ath in thnake. Chritht! I need a tranthlator!”

Megan nod’s to save her from answering.

With vocals starting to create more of a barrier than before as much nodding and pointing as they could get away with was opted.  After another meal where the sheer volume of meat of offer made dinner quite tense for all of them eight o’clock rolled around. 

“Collarth” Sandy said bluntly. Megan picked hers up in her mouth unable to do much else with it. 

Molly completely oblivious continued to stare at her now empty dinner plate.

Sandy clipped on Megan’s collar. Silently she noted her thumb looking stumpier, or was she being parnoid? She flexed it experimentally. Did her hand feel stiffer? She couldn’t be sure.

“One thec” Sandy said as she grabbed a pen and paper, She drew around her hand to have something to compare it to later. 

It was dark out, the buzzing and the glare from the street lamps pulsed in Sandy’s vision, she didn’t need them anyway, she knew I was dark but could see regardless, were here eyes relflecting back? Would someone notice? She pulled her scarf closer covering her face more and bowed her head. 

Molly trotted along without a care in the world. Jumping sniffing and trying to pull away chasing sounds.

Megan watched Molly play, almost childlike in the leaves, She noted she no longer felt any discomfort about being naked, the collar rubbed and made her neck sore but despite that nothing bothered her, not even the cold.

The girls walk past a bin overspilling from the back of a fast food place. Molly went straight for it pulling har on her leash, Sandy pulls back. Both Sandy and megan mentally do something similar to their own growing desire to bury their faces in the bin bags.

The action causes a few stares, Sandy goes to say something to Molly but decided revealing her speech problems would only cause further issue.

They walk on briskly, molly giving up on the waste food and instantly finding something else to chase. 

Sandy looks down the crumpled cloth of the scarf covering her muzzle blocks most of her field of view and she periodically have to keep looking down to make sure Megan is alright. 

Megan walks with far less enthusiam than her friend, she wanted this walk to get out, she was feeling uneasy but now the walk was making her uneasy, She felt no shame in her nakedness but she felt low down easy to step on and above all she was now an animal on a leash, she had fallen so far. She was used to being able to go out and do things. Go shopping, buy clothes, buy food and socialise. 

None of that was possible now, she was little more than a caged animal in a zoo. Rational thoughts were wrestling at her telling her not to give up, to persevere, find a cure, beat this. But a growing desire brought on by watching molly happily play with the leaves and rush for anything excitedly without a care in the world set a flame in her thoughts. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad…to just give in…she’s seems happier than I ever saw her when she was human. Give in and let the worries of human life fade away, live in the moment. The idea pulled at her as they walked. 

An hour later they get back, Megan wordlessly climbed back to the window. It had rained slightly during their walk and Megan instinctively cleans herself. 

Sandy glances at Megan but say’s nothing.

Molly still excited runs around the room before urinating in the litter box.

“quiet tonight?” Asked Sandy cautiously 

Megan nods

“nnnot talking?” Counters Sandy

Megan goes to speak but loses the will to do so and just nods again.

“ee…haff to keep at it, It go away if… Sandy stopped. The excersie made her mouth ache.

Megan goes to speak again but again is stopped, something was missing. A pitched groan escaped her but it had no meaning behind it.

Concerned Megan goes to say something else, she pictures Sandy’s name in her head but can’t shape it in her mouth, a half formed warbling comes out instead. She couldn’t picture how she used to speak her name even as stupid as she sounded the idea still came to her clear and crisp, now it was like a foreign language, familiar yet wrong.

Panic flares in her head but not as much as it did before, Panic tinged with increasing helpings of acceptance. 

Sandy comes over and places her hand under megan’s muzzle

Megan closes her eyes tight chasing the words to use, the skill evades her but she pins it down. 

“talkdun, noor.” It didn’t sound right to her but it was all she could manage.” The last words she’d ever speak were shit ones”. She thought angrily to herself.

Sandy now the only vocal person in the flat talked to herself as she went about her activities, keeping the wolf from the door so to speak by keeping herself busy. She spoke to Megan as if they were having a conversation, answering for her based on the expression she was conveying. Sand noted to herself that this was becoming too much like an actual dog/owner relationship.