Viral Life

I barely remember my life before the change, I remember I was miserable and not to social, but that’s about it. Hell, I don’t even remember what had made me so miserable or anti-social, I can barely get by a single day anymore without getting high-fived, back slapped, hugged, pet and tail slapped on multiple occasions. But I’m getting ahead of myself; this is how I became what I am now.

This is my story

“Why do I always have to be the one they call first? It’s my day off!”

It came from the resident inside. Local pool lifeguard, Kalith Waterstone, was an average 18 year old guy, and despite being a lifeguard, he was a strangely husky 180lbs, but looked mostly good due to his 6’4 height distributing the weight nicely, though he could never really get rid of his small pot belly. He had just been called to work on an emergency, one of the other lifeguards had fallen ill and they needed a replacement, and he was one of their best. He lifeguards at a high end pool, so his pay is actually very good, enough for him to afford a house and the necessities, plus some comfort objects.

“What’s with Carl and getting sick with everything from the cold to mono? He’s been sick more times than anyone, and he gets to keep his job anyway!”

Carl was the lifeguard who had called in sick, he was the only person who worked at the pool who was better at the job than Kalith, and he made it a point to flaunt it every chance he got.

“Well, better get my gear and trunks, it’s Saturday and it’s going to be busy. Let’s see, lotion, trunks, goggles, life preserver, yep, that’s everything.”

Had Kalith not left the house so soon, he would have heard the news report of a strange new virus, and the unusual effects it brought on the individuals infected, for the most part, the people affected remained sane and coherent, and were usually able to continue with their everyday lives. Only people who had a natural immunity to the virus where safe from its effects; otherwise you could catch it from being in the area of one infected individual, or eating a trigger food, since each person changed to fit their environment.

“Well, at least it’s a nice day; sun’s out, not too hot, nice breeze, and the sweet smell of…..fish?”

Kalith had walked all the way to the pool already, without paying much attention, and had walked right up to the concession counter, which sold his favorite fish sticks in town. Without much thought, he ordered his usual, 36 Stick stack and climbed into the lifeguard chair for a day of watching and waiting.

“Well, at least I get paid for this, yum, these are especially good today.”

Kalith had eaten all 36 fish sticks in a matter of 20 minutes, faster than he had ever before, and for some reason, really wanted more. He climbed back down, and ordered another serving, but out of impulse, ordered the King Seafood Box, which had over 50 fish sticks, 10 fresh clams, a cut of fresh fish, and tartar sauce for the whole thing.

“Why…why did I order that? Oh well, better than nothing I guess.”

After his order came, he climbed back into the lifeguard chair with his meal, and for the rest of the day, remained there, snacking on the smorgasbord of seafood next to him until closing. After getting his paycheck for the day, he headed back home. On the way, he bumped into Kornari, who had been his friend since 2nd grade. He was shorter than Kalith, only reaching to 5’10, but weighing a very well built 190lbs. He was just a match for Kalith as a friend, especially since they were both 18.

“Hey, long time no see!” Kalith said

“I know right? How you been? Still working at the ‘money pit’?”

That was their code name for where Kalith worked, since it was a rich pool.

“Pretty good, pay is sweet. How’s your job at Wire City?” Kalith asked.

“Not bad, got promoted the other day to head tech engineer, nothing is done without my ok”

Kornari was a Electrical Engineer and Technician, and he was brilliant at it. He practically taught the class in high school, and flew through them in the local college so fast; he got his degree in no time flat. It helped him get a job at the biggest electrical place in town, Wire City.

“Congrats, bet it’s better perks than mine, I just get free access to the pool, more time off and free lunch every Tuesday,” Kalith said.

“Not really, I get pretty much the same, but I get more authority and access to the staff lounge.”

“Well, that’s still better than me, hey, I got to go, have to clean the living room, see you this Saturday?”

“Yep, same time as always, your house, at 4:00 p.m. sharp.”

They agreed on a time, and then embraced in a brotherly hug, since they were so close; it really wasn’t too awkward anymore. After they parted, Kalith went home as he said, cleaned the living room, ate a quick fish a vegetable dinner, then went to sleep.

“Thank god for miracles,” Kalith said.

The other lifeguard had called in today and Kalith could spend his week now as he had planned, relaxing. Or at least he would, if he didn’t have the insatiable urge to get a large amount of seafood, which he normally had little of in his house. Due to his nice paycheck, he was able to go to the store and buy various fish, from shrimp, to cod, to two lobsters and 4 crabs. He paid for his purchase, and then rushed home to prepare his catch.

“Wow, why am I craving so much seafood, I never liked it this much before.” Kalith said, even as he boiled both lobsters and all four of the crabs, while the shrimp and cod baked in the oven.

After the food had finished cooking, Kalith sat down to his big seafood meal, and without even a fork or knife, dug in. He devoured the shrimp with ease despite the shells, he cracked the shells off the lobster and crab, quickly eating the insides of them as well, cleaning out claws, tails and legs alike. Soon, all that was left was the cod, which he took slower, savoring the taste of the fish, noticing he hadn’t quite cooked it thoroughly, but he really didn’t care as he stripped every last bit of meat from the bone. After his seafood binge, he cleaned off the table, and went and showered.

“Wow, I never liked seafood that much, what gives?” Kalith said.

“Oh well, maybe I’ll go to the pool for a quick swim tomorrow, burn off the extra calories.”

Kalith went to bed, having tired himself out running about in the supermarket, having filled up and taken a warm shower added to his drowsiness, so the moment his head hit the pillow, he was out.

I was in a strange place; well, not strange because it was the local pool, strange because I was different. I was no longer human, that’s for sure. Where I should have had skin, there was a thick coat of soft, brown fur, it was mated down from being wet, but I could tell it was dry underneath. I could feel an extra appendage growing out of my spine, when I looked, it was a thick, rudder-like tail, and I could tell it would let me move through the water much easier. My hands where mostly normal, but had pads on the palms, and little black claw tips, a thick webbing in-between each finger, same went for my feet. My head felt different to, I had a short, blunt muzzle instead of my normal jaw and nose, with a thick brush of whiskers growing on either side of my black nose, my ears now round and situated on top of my head. I was much shorter and heavier, but I knew it wouldn’t hinder me at all in the water. Speaking of which, it sat there taunting me, so without much thought, I dove in and…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

“GAH! WHY IS THAT ON I TURNED IT OFF!”

Kalith just reached over and slammed down on the alarm clock, then for safe measure, unplugged it. He yawned and stretched as he got up feeling better than he ever had waking up before, despite the strange dream he just had.

“I think I shall go to the pool today, see what’s going on, and maybe do a few laps.” Kalith said as he began to throw on his trunks and tee-shirt, practically sprinting out the door, right into Kornari.

“Ow, dang dude, watch the head, I need it attached.” Kornari said, his voice sounding a little higher and smoother than normal.

“Sorry, didn’t expect you to be right…outside…my door…when did you get taller than me?” Kalith asked, as he stared perplexed up at his friend who just the other day, was shorter by a good half foot.

“Yeah, I noticed that, I got taller, I’m like, 6’2 now. You look like you shrunk a little actually.”

Feeling curious, Kalith went back in and went to the wall and marked his height by a line on the wall, then measured from the floor.

“Dude, I’m only 6 foot now, I shrunk four inches!” Kalith screamed in shock.

“I noticed”

Kalith just stared dumbfounded at his friend, before sighing in defeat and shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, nothing we can do about it I guess, maybe it’s just a hormone thing.” Kalith sighed.

“Yeah, that would explain my strange cravings for chicken and other bird lately.”

“You’re having cravings too? So am I, but I’m craving fish.”

Kornari just nodded in agreement before patting Kalith on the back and heading towards the door.

“Well, I’m here for you man, just call me if you need to talk.”

And with that, Kornari was off to his job. Kalith just stood in his living room confused at the current events, wondering if the dream had to do anything with it, but soon, he forgot his worries and went to the pool as he had planned. Upon arrival, he used his employee pass to get in free, along with getting two of the King Seafood Boxes with his pass, which he ate faster than he had the other day.

“Why am I craving seafood so much lately?” Kalith wondered as he slipped into the water without much thought. Until he realized he shouldn’t have got in after eating so much, but when he waited for the cramps, none came, he actually felt better than when he was standing on the edge of the pool.

“Well, that’s both strange and cool I guess, still don’t get why things are all weird right now, but I’m not going to question.”

With that, he started doing his normal laps, but before he could get through even one, he heard his voice called. It was the Carl, the other lifeguard, the only one better than him. He was saying something about looking a bit rounder around the middle, and when Kalith looked down, he had indeed grown a bit of a paunch, but upon inspection, found it firm to the touch, but still have a bit of give to it.

“Huh, that seafood really did a number on me.”

Before Kalith could contemplate the change, he had something thrown at his head. Carl had thrown the lifeguard float at him, while he challenged him to a lap race, three to the other side of the pool and back again. Kalith, out of pride, accepted, and got in position.

“Ready, Set, GO!” Carl yelled as he splashed water at Kalith’s head.

Since he had cheated, Carl got a decent head start over Kalith, which made him all the harder to catch up to, being a quarter ways across the pool by the time Kalith recovered. He took off after Carl, diving under the water as he did so, soon passing Carl from below and reaching the other side. He continued back and soon passed Carl again on his third lap; Carl had only got halfway through his second lap by the time Kalith had finished. When Carl finally finished he swam over to Kalith, panting for air.

“How…did…you…do…that?” Carl panted.

“I…I’m not entirely sure.” Was all Kalith could say, he had been slower than Carl just the other day, now he out-lapped him by almost a full two laps. Before he could contemplate this, the closing tone played and they had to leave the pool. Kalith just dried off and went home, later taking a shower to wash the chemicals off, eating yet another fish dinner, and then heading to sleep.

The next day passed rather uneventfully, he woke up later in the day, stayed home and watched TV, ate some more fish, showered five times during the day, and then went to bed again. That’s when things became strange again.

The same dream, the same place, but I actually get into the water. It flows around me, normal, that’s for sure, but something’s different. I don’t feel wet under the layer of fur; I actually feel mostly dry and warm, and I don’t feel the need to surface for air, like my lungs are stronger, and they are, I’m under here for a full 14 minutes before I feel the need for air, and just as my head breaks the surface…

THUMP!

“……….ouch” Kalith moaned.

He had rolled out of bed and landed, face first on the floor, rather painfully too. He got up and rubbed his nose, checking to see if it was broken or bleeding, which it thankfully wasn’t. He made the bed, washed up, ate some breakfast, then decided to go out to the mall and see if there was anything good to buy.

“What weird dreams I’m getting lately” Kalith said

“You too, huh?” was what he hear overhead, it was Kornari, in a tree right above him, hanging off one of the branches by his legs, which looked much thinner and muscled than before.

“GAH! How did you get there?” Kalith gasped.

“Climbed; duh.”

“Can you come down and stop scaring me,” Kalith said, his hand tapping the trunk rapidly

“Sure.”

With that, Kornari just released his grip on the branch and did a small free fall down, flipping over and landing on another branch, before rapidly scurrying down the side of the tree with ease. When he stood up next to Kalith, he was much taller than Kalith, but they knew it was no big deal anymore.

“How tall are you now? I’m like, 5’8 now,” Kalith asked.

“About 6’6, been that since yesterday, but I lost a bunch of weight, I’m only 130lbs now, and it’s all muscle too,” Kornari said, flexing his arm and twisting his back every which way, he was definitely thinner and more muscled from the other day, but he seemed to be a lot more flexible now.

Í don’t know how much I weight right now, but I’m definitely heavier than before” said Kalith as he patted his now visible paunch of a stomach, which was soft to the touch, but firm none the less.

“Yeah, kind of noticed that dude, might want to lay off the junk food for a bit,” Kornari giggled

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, want to join me at the pool today, it’s closed, but I can get you in with my pass, and I am a lifeguard, so you’ll be safe,” Kalith asked.

“Sure, I’m off from work for the week anyway, boss wants me to relax, says I work too much,” Kornari chuckled.

With that, the two friends walked the rest of the way to the pool. Upon arrival, Kalith flashed his pass and got both of them in, changed quickly and dove into the empty pool.

“Ahhhhhh, refreshing,” Kornari sighed.

Kalith nodded in agreement and then started doing some laps. But he was interrupted by the strangest of urges. It was to grab his friend and drag him underwater, jokingly of course, but it was completely against his nature, yet he decided to do it. He snuck up under Kornari, waiting for his friend to kick his legs lightly to stay afloat, then grabbed his ankles and dragged him under. When he did, he swum in back of his friend and spun him around and then flipped him. He soon let his friend surface since he needed to breath, but didn’t follow, feeling no need to get more air right away. When Kalith did eventually surface, Kornari was a bit unhappy with him.

“Dude, what was that for?” Kornari asked as he shook water from his ears.

“Nothing, I just felt the strangest urge to do that and before I could think, I was acting on it, sorry, man.” Kalith said, his head drooping a little from scaring his closest friend.

“Ah, no harm done, just warn me next time, ok? Scared me half to death” Kornari chuckled as he climbed out of the pool.

Kalith nodded in reply, saying he would be out in a moment. Kornari went to go change while Kalith did a few more laps, already beating his record from the previous day, despite his newfound weight. Soon, he too got out and dried off, put on a shirt and his sandals, and walked home in his bathing suit. Kornari joined him for half the trip, and then had to go a separate way.

“Don’t forget, Saturday, normal time, movie night, your place!” Kornari yelled after Kalith

Kalith yelled his confirmation without missing a step. Upon arriving home, something started to bug him, what was with all these changes lately, how was he shorter, and how much heavier was he? Curiosity getting the best of him, Kalith moved to the bathroom to check his height and weight, confirming his previous estimation of his height, about 5’8, but when he checked his weight, he almost fell off the scale at the sight of the number.

“240lbs! I was only 180lbs a couple days ago! What the hell is going on!” Kalith screamed, panicking now at his body’s sudden mutiny.

“Was it something I ate, did I drink something weird?” Kalith mumbled to himself, now pacing back and forth in a frantic motion, tapping his hands upon his swim shorts in rapid tempo.

“Maybe I should go to the doctor? No, no, they wouldn’t believe me. Mom and Dad? No, they would just freak and take me to a doctor. Maybe I should just stay home for now, avoid the outside until Saturday, yeah, yeah that works.” Kalith murmured to himself.

“Going to need to get some more food, maybe some fresh cod, a few pounds of shrimp and clams, a couple lobsters, and a dozen crabs.” Kalith said, no longer fazed by his sudden interest in seafood, considering his bigger problem of his body changing on him.

“Guess I will do that tomorrow” so, exhausted Kalith yawned, stumbled into his bedroom and flopped down upon his bed, without even changing out of his swim trunks.

The next day was a flurry of shopping for Kalith, having to find something to wear; he resorted to wearing his trunks again and a t-shirt and sandals, since they were the only things that fit comfortably anymore.

Starting at the local grocery store, wallet and 2-for-1 coupons in paw, he started shopping. When he had finished, he had managed to get his paws on of the shrimp and crab. Moving onto the local fishery, he managed to catch the fresh cod from the storefront, also buying some of the fish-of-the-day, flounder. His last stop was the farmers market, where he was surprised to find the lobster and clams. After buying the clams and lobsters, he headed home, his mind spinning around why he was changing still, but getting sidetracked slightly by the smell of all the fish in the car. Upon arrival home, he choose to cook and eat some of the shrimp and clams, shuffling to his room shortly afterwards, the shopping spree having taken a good portion of the day. He was soon asleep, his dreams calm, and his body against him.

Having Friday off felt great, even in his current state, it was made better by his discovery that despite his increase in weight, most of his clothes were lose on him due to his decreased stature, though some of his pants needed belts to stay up.

“I think I’m going to clean up, been neglecting to do that all week, and this place needs it” Kalith said as he got into some old clothes he used to clean in, and began to scrub the house from roof to floor. He cleaned the bathroom, especially the shower, which he was using much more frequently. Next was his bedroom, having neglected to do laundry had made his hamper start to overflow, looking much like Krakatoa. He gathered them all into the hamper, and lugged it to the washroom, putting the colors in for the first load, and separating the other clothes into whites and mediums. His next target was the living room, which was mostly clean, but he dusted it and gave it a vacuuming anyway, along with organizing and alphabetizing his DVDs and games. He vacuumed the rest of the house, cleaned the windows and scrubbed any surface that was exposed. The final target, was the kitchen. Pots lined the sink and stove from the various seafood that had been cooked the past six days. First, he cleaned the pots in the sink and put them up to dry, freeing up space for the rest of the dishes. He cleaned the stove, replacing the now clean pots upon it to dry, and Kalith wiped down the counters and cleaned the sink.

“Whew, that was a job and a half, never cleaned the whole house in a day before.” panted Kalith, admiring his handiwork.

He decided to eat a special dinner, and ordered himself a pizza, with extra cheese and lots of anchovies. When it arrived, Kalith tipped the delivery boy, took the pizza inside, and sat down in the living room to chow down on the large pizza. After about an hour of eating, he had finished the whole pizza, and was rubbing his bloated stomach happily.

“Man, I was hungry, never ate a whole pizza in my life, and when did anchovies start tasting so good anyway?” he wondered as he cleaned up his mess, careful not to spill crumbs onto the freshly cleaned floor. After he had finished, he showered again (for the sixth time that day) and changed into a pair of clean swim trunks and a shirt. Then promptly went to bed, where his dreams turned strange one more time.

I’m in the water now, and swimming, fast too. I see the water swirling around my form, feel it running across my fur, and I feel happy, relaxed. I feel like this is what I always needed in my life, a way to interact with the thing I love most. When I surface, I see Kornari, I know it’s him, something in my mind just tells me it is, but he has changed also, he’s a ferret now, well half ferret, much like I’m half otter now. I recognize that I’m at the pool now, none really care how I look, in fact, adults wave and smile, and kids beckon me over to have fun, but I can tell I’m still a lifeguard, since I have the trunks on that say so. I am even more liked than before, in fact, I’m loved, my life has taken a turn for the better ever since I…

Pain, overwhelming pain is what woke me up. It felt like my body was on fire; I had fallen out of bed and was curled up on the floor. A quick glance at the clock read 7:30 P.M. I tried to move, but pain shot through me. It was going from my feet to my head, and it was the type of pain that itched. I wished I could have been able to move to scratch, but the pain stopped me. The itch got so bad my eyes where watering, and when I mustered the strength to move my arms, and noticed the pain was gone. I started scratching at my sides and chest furiously, but stopped when I felt something strange, fur. I quickly removed my shirt and watched in shock as a large patch of creamy beige fur spread across my chest and stomach, down the inside of my thighs, stopping just above the knees, and along my chin and front of my neck. While at my sides, deep chocolate brown fur began to spread rapidly along the rest of my body, the two colors soon meeting and stopping at each other, leaving me covered in a thick layer of fur.

“What the hell is going o…URG!”

I groaned as the pain started again, this time though, it felt as if some of my organs where changing and rearranging, and as soon as that pain subsided, my hands and feet felt like fire again. I groaned and began to tear as I felt bones breaking and reforming into new shapes, watching my middle and ring digit on each hand and foot slowly fuse together. After the pain subsided, I noticed that the finger and toe nails had vanished, and been replaced with black, blunt little claws on the tip of each digit. Soon my hands and feet began to itch again, not wanting to do anything for fear of injuring myself, I sat and watched as soft pads formed on my palms, and felt them form on my soles, but that wasn’t the end, I watched in shock as thick webbing formed between each digit.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but it sure is weird. Oh no, not again.”

I gripped my head with my new paws, gurgling in pain as my head began to reshape and reform. I felt my jaw dislocate and begin to stretch forward slowly, as my upper lip and nose fused together and began to do the same, soon stopping and relocating, allowing me to open my eyes and see my new short, blunt muzzle that was topped with a black nose shaped like a triangle with the corners rounded over. My ears began to ring and when I reached up to check them, they were gone. Well, not gone. They had moved to the top of my head and had become more circular in shape, swiveling them and noting how they could bend back now, but where otherwise the same. I sat for a bit, waiting for anything else, but nothing happened, so I stood up.

“I’m…and animal person, but what animal? I look like I’m done changing, but something feels off, like, I feel unbalanced…”

That’s when it hit Kalith, his tail. He had no clue what animal he was, but knew it would probably have a tail. Before he could pull his trunks down to let it grow without any damage, he felt a new pain in his spine. It was the pain of bones elongating and forming new, along with entire nerves and muscles forming. At first it was a small nub on the back of his spine, then an inch long growth poking at the fabric of his trunks. As the pain increased, the tail grew longer, soon pulling the waistband of the trunks back taunt, but before he could reach back to adjust them, the tail burst through just below the elastic waistband, shredding a hole in the back for his new appendage. Kalith fell forward from the shock, and when he got up, he felt a new weight on his back, and a new surface beneath him.

“Now I feel ok. Wonder what my tail looks like?”

Without much thought, his tail curled foreword between his legs, the whole thing wagging a little as Kalith inspected it closely.

“Hmmm, it’s very muscular, kinda thick, almost like a rudder.”

That’s when the answer to his question hit Kalith.

“I’m an otter!”

He practically passed out from the realization, and the fact that he felt extremely hungry, the change had sapped his energy and he felt ravenous. As quick as his new appendage would let him (you try running with a rudder attached to your body) he rushed to the kitchen and began to boil, bake, grill and steam all the seafood he had left. As soon as any of it finished, he tore into it. His claws let him get under the crab and lobster shells a bit easier, and when it came to the harder parts of the shells and the clams, he just smacked them against the counter and they broke open. He barely chewed the shrimp, and ate whole pieces of fish in ravenous gulps. As soon as he finished, he rubbed his stuffed stomach and nearly fell over from the relaxing sensations coming off of it. As he rubbed, he relaxed more and soon, his stuffed gut digested some of the food, replenishing his energy.

“Wow, that was weird, but cool. Hey, I wonder if Kornari…”

Before he could finish the sentence his doorbell rang, and he heard Kornari calling for him from the window to come open the door. Kalith rushed over to the front of the house and flung open the door, and as soon as Kornari shuffled inside, Kalith tackle him.

“I see you changed too huh?” Kalith asked as he stood back up

“Yeah, kinda weird, but it feels almost natural.”

Kornari had changed into a ferret, which they both knew from school, was the same family as otter, and he looked almost the same, except he was taller and lankier, and his head was shorter and his muzzle a bit longer, with his ears standing a bit taller than Kalith’s. Kalith also got a good look, and noticed that Kornari’s clothes where a bit small on him, but still otherwise fit fine, and his tail wasn’t as muscular, so he noted that the back of Kornari’s pants had a slit cut in them for his new appendage

“Well, at least we don’t have to leave our jobs, huh?” Kornari chuckled.

He was right, he could now manipulate wires a lot easier and reach farther