Zoo Life, Part 1 of 2 (Hippo & Rhino TFTG) (Patreon)

Story Tier Prompt for Spacebanana

Kade and Wallace are two ordinary young college graduates who have successfully gained employment at a remote zoo as veterinarians in training. However, neither of them are aware that this is a special zoo, in which most of the animals are former people who signed contracts without paying attention to the details. Instead of helping exotic species mate and reproduce, Kade and Wallace are going to be ‘enjoying’ these acts in person!

Second part coming next month!

Zoo Life, Part 1 of 2

We were both eager, my friend and I. We sat at the desk, positively buzzing with energy.

"I'm very glad to have been selected," I said.

"Me too," Wallace added with an earnest grin.

The slim woman with a dark bob of hair smiled. Her name was Claire, and she was in her forties. She was the Overseer of the Ovid Zoo, a remote wildlife preserve with astonishing facilities and numerous endangered and exotic animals. Just getting a job there took effort, and you had to sign NDAs upon application; no one was to know you were applying for a job there; apparently there were concerns over poachers and security breaches, given their focus on preserving such astonishing creatures. Somehow, my best friend Wallace and I had managed to get in.

“I am pleased in turn Kade and Wallce,” the woman said, folding her hands on the desk. “You are both such fine young candidates, and I can tell you are both committed to the cause of animal preservation, and - importantly - continuation.”

Wallace and I exchanged a knowing glance. That must have been what clinched it. While many applicants had trained in veterinarian skills as we had, and many had surpassed us, we had both taken elective courses in animal reproduction, particularly when it came to fostering it within a controlled zoo or wildlife preserve setting. And Ovid Zoo was known for its breeding programs.

“Kade and I are particularly committed to that,” Wallace said. He brushed a hand through his fiery red hair, and tapped me on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. “Both our papers were sent to Beijing in regards to improving panda reproductive cycles.”

“I am well aware. It caught my interest,” Claire said. “But more than that, it is your enthusiasm that sets you apart from other candidates, which is why you have been accepted. As such, I am very happy to formalise your employment, with just one little detail to be sorted out.”

She reached into her desk and pulled out two contracts attached to their respective clipboards; one for each of us. On each, there was a little picture of a cartoon animal; an endangered white rhino on the left one, a hippopotamus on the other.

“I’ll need you to sign your formal work contract,” she said, “and also to decide which animal you shall be . . . caring for. We have the critically endangered white rhino and the vulnerable hippopotamus.”

“Dibs on the rhino!” Wallace exclaimed.

“Damn!” I said. “Rhinos are so cool. But hippos are great too.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk it out further?”

“No need,” I replied, taking a pen and beginning to sign my name, “I have to respect the law of dibs.”

Wallace chuckled and signed as well, and then Claire took the contracts and placed them back into her desk.

“Very well then,” she said, clapping her hands together excitedly. “Shall I give you the full tour?”

“Yes please!” we said together.

It was shaping up to be the best days of our lives.

***

“And finally, here is the preserve section you shall be working in.”

We marvelled at the gorgeous scenic view of the surrounding savannah area, somehow entirely recreated with ludicrous accuracy. Indeed, there were a number of hippos lounging in the cool river stream several hundred feet away, their large, fat bodies with their rubber-like skin easily discernible even from a distance. One rolled a little to the side, revealing its massive jaw with its prominent set of great teeth, and its pink underbelly on display. Wallace gasped at the view intended for him; several critically endangered white rhinos, a species sadly destined for extinction until Ovid Zoo somehow managed to rescue a previously unknown herd. Their large, tank-like bodies were more grey than white in colour, their horns proudly displayed, their form all muscle and power.

“This is the best place, by far,” I said.

“I’m glad you think so, Kade. I like to save the best for last, and now here it is.”

It was a marvellous installation, even after all the others. To their best perception, they were in an actual African savannah. In truth, however, it was a state of the art complex the size of over twelve stadiums, with artificial streams, rivers, lakes, hills, fields, rocks, and so on. Only when one got close to the walls of the incredible exhibit could you make them out, as well as the observation areas where visitors to the zoo were allowed, though that was only on weekdays, and it was currently a Sunday.

Wallace and I looked at our respective chosen creatures, admiring them. They were great, hefty creatures, almost megafaunal in size, and it was a genuinely moving experience just to be in their presence.

“Wow, so what exactly will our duties be in taking care of them?” I asked.

“That’s an excellent question Kade. You’re going to be mating with them.”

Wallace chuckled. “I think you mean mating them, Miss. What you said sounded like-”

“I know exactly what I said,” Claire replied. Her eyes narrowed as she reached into her pocket, “and what I said was entirely right.”

She pulled out what looked to be a pistol, and my heart leapt into my throat.

“Wait, Claire, no!”

It was too late. She fired twice, and the gun made a quiet ‘PEW’ as two darts shot out, hitting my body. Wallace turned to run, but she loaded another capsule into a silver cartridge, and fired at him as well, catching him in the neck and back. He fell to the ground several feet away.

I fell to the ground, my body immediately overcome with the sensation of alien liquid being injected into my body. It felt like I was on fire, and I struggled to move as my muscles tensed and untensed without my permission. I looked at my friend, who was similarly writhing on the ground, gritting his teeth and moaning much like I was.

Claire stepped between us, and put the dart gun away. She crouched down, keeping both of us in view. I tried to say something, to reason with her, but the paralysing effect of the serum was too strong.

“I’m sorry to scare you like that, but I doubt you would have allowed yourself to be injected voluntarily,” she said. “The contracts you signed were a bit different to work contracts you might have signed in the past. If you had read them, you would have noticed that you haven’t agreed to be caretakers for these animals, but to become the animals themselves.”

“B-become a-animals?” I managed to stammer. None of this made any sense.

Claire nodded. “Yes, become them. It is a technology we alone at Ovid had perfected. You will become a rhino, Wallace. And you Kade, will become a hippopotamus. Females of the species, in fact.”

I managed to raise my eyebrows, widened my eyes in shock. With each passing second, the serum of whatever I had been injected with poured further into my veins, infecting my body. I grunted as it reached my core, making parts of my body numb, and other parts feel a strong, aberrant pressure.

“F-female? Why? That’s imp-ohhhh . . . impossible!”

“Not impossible, far from it. As for why you are female, try to turn your head to look at your respective herds. Do you see the big hippo there?”

She pointed at a large grey-backed creature rising out from the distant river.

“That’s the bull. We rotate him and two others between several zoos. I call him Bruce. Don’t worry, he’s true hippo to the bone and from birth. The females, on the other hand - his mates - all of them were once men and women too.”

I gulped, connecting the dots.

“You m-mean he’s g-going to-”

“Make you pregnant, yes. As per your contract, you’re going to give us lovely calves to save the species.”

“WHAT!?” Wallace called.

I managed to turn my head to see him. He was not looking at us, but the herd of rhinos. It was smaller than the hippo herd, but had a big heavy bull as well.

“That’s Carter. He’s very protective of his females,” Claire said.

“This is c-crazy,” I yelled, “there’s n-no such thing as turning p-people into animals - NGHH!”

Even as I said it, the pressure caused my body to bloat up. I gasped as my chest inflated, as my muscles surged forth, as the dark skin at the end of my limbs lightning, becoming rubbery and stretched. My jaw cracked a little wider, causing me to wail. Wallace cried out, and I could see his skin altering, a wave of grey overtaking his white flesh, dry cracks already forming.

“H-holy shit!” he exclaimed. His face pushed forward a little, the early beginnings of a snout. He fell backwards, squirming as a small ropey tail pushed out from over the top of his shorts.

“You were saying?” Claire said.

Another bloating of flesh, my stomach expanding in leaps and bounds. My frizzy hair retracted into my scalp, my ears twisting outwards and shifting to the top of my head. I could feel pound after pound of flesh entering my body, causing me to bloat and churn. My clothes pressed tight against me, and then moments later exploded, tearing apart. The same happened to Wallace.

“Nanites,” Claire remarked. “In case you were wondering about how you’re packing on all those pounds. It's converting microbial mass around you into hippo and rhino flesh. You’ll need it, to hold up those bulls when they mount you.”

“I d-don’t want to g-get knocked up with f-fucking h-hippos!”

“I’m sorry Kade. You seem like a good person, you and Wallace. But this is how Ovid Zoo has achieved its amazing work. This is why we have the need for secrecy. You’re going to be doing the work you always dreamed of; saving entire species and helping them reproduce. You’re just going to do it a lot more up close than you ever thought.”

The thought of not only becoming a big, fat hippo, but getting mounted - getting fucked - by one, was absolutely terrifying. Worse, the idea of growing a baby hippo in my fucking hippo womb and giving fucking birth to it!

“H-how long?” I managed, as my fingers swelled up, becoming greyed and trunk-like.  Surely, there was some way out of this?

“For life, I’m afraid. The contract is legally binding, and besides, you won’t be able to talk anyway. You’re going to spend the rest of your life as a female hippo, and your friend as a female rhino, getting mounted and pregnant with calves.”

I screamed, tensing as my limbs expanded further, as my face jutted outwards, as my nose became a broad snout and my ass ballooned out ridiculously in size.

“NNNNNNOOOOOOO!!!”

Claire stepped back, got into the jeep she had used to drive us to this point.

“I know it is hard to accept right now, but trust me, you’ll get used to it. You’ll have a full human’s lifespan - longer actually, as the nanites will keep you in good health - and you’ll be fit and fertile for all of it. I’m sure as the years go by that you’ll come to love getting impregnated with little hippo babies, just as Wallace will come to realise his purpose in pushing out little rhino babies.

“Don’ wanna b-be s-stuUUUCK!”

She gave a sympathetic smile. “You’ll be able to take human form on Saturdays, along with all the rest. Don’t worry, we’re not completely inhuman. From eight in the morning to eight at night you’ll have a whole twelve hours of being homosapiens again, albeit the female equivalent of your bodies. Just be aware, some of your pheromones might still be in effect; don’t be surprised if Bruce or Carter still have an interest in you. Anyway, farewell!”

She secured herself in the jeep, just as my body began to de-paralyse, and was driving off before I could grasp at its bumper. My form continued to expand, becoming unbearably heavy, and my bones changed shape, expanding in size and scope to accommodate my new weight.

“P-p-please c-come baaAAAACK!”

My voice distorted, altering to become a deep bellow as my jaw cracked wider, my neck swelling as if I were experiencing anaphylaxis. I looked to Wallace, and his still-human eyes pleaded with me; his body was already triple the size of its usual weight, and his limbs were increasingly those of a rhino. His skin was entirely grey, his hair gone, and his snout was larger and larger with each second. I tried to stand, and to my horror I found myself upon four limbs instead of two. I tried to call for Wallace, to see if he was okay, but all that erupted from my mouth was a low rumble that grew louder and louder so as to become positively deafening.

I shifted, my enormous body weight feeling like sandbags upon me. My running speed was dragged right back, and yet I could feel the incredible muscle among the denseness, able to keep me upright. More fat poured in, and my hippo form bulked out every wider. My face spread apart, and I experienced a momentary dizziness as my vision split in a strange way, my eyes separating further. My teeth elongated, thinning out along my humongous jaw, and a tiny little tail pushed out my backside.

The changes slowed, the final pounds packing on, and then I was simply a hippo. As if to add final insult to injury, the last thing to change was my manhood sucking back into my new immense quadrupedal body, and a feminine opening remaining behind.

Just as Claire had said, I was now a female hippo. And unless I found a way to escape, I would be stuck as one for life - though there was something about Saturday that she’d said about being human, but it was lost among the insanity.

A strange groan, and I shifted my incredible weight to get a better look at Wallace. His changes were just behind mine, and were just as grotesque and strange. I had to twist my big head a little to get him into view - I wasn’t used to the positioning of my eyes - but when I did, my enormous jaw opened. Indeed, just as Claire had also said, Wallace was no longer a he, or even a human. He was a female rhino. Somehow, I could smell it on him.

And I could smell something else as well. Something powerful and intoxicating that I couldn’t quite understand. I sniffed the air, driven by an instinct I wasn’t even yet used to. I could almost taste the scent of something attractive in the air, and it called to me. I could see Wallace do the same, his head aimed in a different direction. It rocked me to my core when I realised what it was; we were smelling our respective herds, and more specifically, the big male bulls who were waiting for us.

I let out a bellow, and my friend let out a loud huff. We locked gazes, our eyes no longer human, but the expression behind his certainly conveying confusion and fear and helplessness. It was as if some invisible, silent communication passed between us:

‘I can’t help myself. I can’t control myself. I need to follow that scent.’

I fought it as long as I could. I still had some control. I kept my heavy four feet with their webbed toes upon the earth, keeping as rigid as I could. My dense body was unfamiliar, strange, and bestial. And the beast won. The scent, the pheromone, was too strong, and it called my body forth. I could already feel my insides - my new feminine insides - become slick with want. It was wrong, it was disgusting, but as I left Wallace and he left me, it began to feel more and more right as well. The herd was so close, and my heavy body felt so wonderfully natural as I entered the cool water. I snorted, feeling its wonderful coolness over my new bulk.

The smell was stronger, it was so close. Somehow, I was able to tell the female hippos from the male. The large bull was in the water, its eyes upon me.

I tried to half my movements, but instead I came right up beside him. He snarled, opening his wide jaw in a display that somehow filled my body with yet more need. The bull rubbed against my hide in a way that seemed almost flirtatious. He pressed harder again, and I yielded to his motions, walking up the bank. I couldn’t believe how heavyset I was - I could understand why hippos preferred it. But that wasn’t my primary thought at that moment. What did concern me was the way my body was automatically assuming a position for mating. Despite every attempt to wrestle control back from my hippo instincts, I spread my legs wide in preparation to take his weight. My tunnel was slick, the alien feeling of wetness mingling with arousal. I wanted to be filled, felt infected by the base bestial need to be mated.

To be bred.

The bull sniffed at my backside, and made a sound that could have been approval. I trembled, trying to think of a way to avoid this. I always wanted to help animals, particularly the vulnerable, endangered, and exotic. But now I was one, and if what Claire said was true, I was going to be pregnant with hippo calves for a long time to come.

In the distance I could see a white rhino in a similar position to me. It was stationary, but there was something human in the way it wagged its head, as if stressed. I knew immediately it was Wallace. The bull behind my friend reared up and mounted him/her. I could do nothing to help him. And nothing to avoid my fate.

The bull raised itself, and I grunted as it mounted me, my dense body holding up his weight. Shit, shit, shit, it was happening. It was happening. I was going to be fucked by an actual hippo!

I tried to think of any way to save myself, but it was far too late by that point.

The bull entered me, and I grunted in unwanted pleasure.

To Be Continued . . .