(This story is in no way canon, it is made from the imagination of a fan. The story is set in the world of Changed, but where the events of Changed never happened. At least, not in the same way.) Chapter 1 Over fifteen years ago, a virus overtook the world. One that only seemed to affect humans. It had no signs, no symptoms, until it claimed the victim’s life. During the earlier stages of the virus’s spread, the elites of humanity built a shelter and hid themselves from the world. They used what money they had to fund a research facility to find some cure for the virus. But by then, all of humanity but the hidden elites perished. Over the course of five years, the virus ran out of hosts and died. A year later, the elites made contact with the one remaining scientist. With the virus gone, civilization could be rebuilt. That is what people thought, but fate had more cruel intentions. An unprecedented accident occured at the research station that studied the virus. The facility had experimented with the creation of artificial organisms that were intended to eradicate the virus. These life forms were made with the D.N.A. of animals, combined with a substance that could assimilate organic matter. They acted like parasites, attaching themselves to hosts and converting their bodies into a latex-like substance. They often appear as a slime or goo, with the more advanced being able to form bodies without a host. Once they attach themselves and overtake the host’s body and mind. The process of being converted into a latex monster was dubbed “transfurmation.” Hosts would lose most memories of themselves and reversing the process was impossible. As the virus spread, the people who weren’t inside the shelter heard that a “cure” for the virus was made. A riot began and they eventually stormed the building, both destroying the equipment and releasing the monsters to consume the fools. The monsters would have remained in the facility and become forgotten by the world, but an accident occured, releasing the monsters into the city. If not for the wall built to keep out the infected, they would have spread to the world. But the surviving humans were trapped with the monsters, with no means of escaping without releasing the monsters into the world. Originally, the people decided to remain within their shelter. But as time went by, resources began to dwindle and the monsters spread themselves throughout the city. Faced with new challenges, humanity began to observe, learn, and struggle in a world that was unwelcoming to them. Now, humanity is slowly taking back its world. A mother and her child are running through an alley, trying to escape the approaching monsters. The mother is named Amanda Mardones, and she was once a biochemist whose achievements were rewarded with an award by the World Health Organization. She was carrying her five year old son Colin as they ran from the approaching snow leopard. As the creature got closer and closer, she began to realize that it would reach her soon. When she was sure that it was far enough not to see her, she set down her son and placed him in a garbage bin after checking to see that had no secret monsters were hidden within. As she began to close the lid, her child began to cry. “Don’t worry dear, it will be fine. Mommy will be back in a minute. This is just like hide and seek. I will go to count and you stay here and don’t make a sound.” She closed the lid and left her son in darkness. Her son obediently remained still and silent, not knowing that he would not see his mother again. After an unknowable amount of time later, someone opens the garbage bin. The child scooted out the way frightened, but relaxed upon seeing a human face. “Are you Colin?” The boy nodded, a bit confused as to how this stranger knew his name. “I’m a friend of your mother. My name is Phillip Johanson.” “I’m Lin. Where’s my mommy?” The strange man didn’t reply. He picked the small child out of the dumpster, and proceeded to walk towards the edge of the city. Colin looked behind at the alley they came from, trying to see if his mother was behind them. He only saw the still hand of a latex snow leopard, surrounded by a pool of blood. Colin would not understand what he saw until he was much older. He remained at the human base, under the care of his mother’s friend. A war veteran for the Army, and once the acquaintance of the brilliant Amanda Mardones. Colin lived with this new “Uncle Phil”, who taught the boy everything he could about self defence and hunting. He taught him how to fight against the monsters, about their strengths and weaknesses. He knew nearly everything about the monsters and how to kill them. Smaller and more independant monsters will form their own territories and groups, with the ones belonging to the same species forming factions. The main factions of monsters were the dark latex, light latex, and water based monsters. The dark latex monsters usually share the trait of being black with a white crystalline mask. These masks will decay and break with time and eventually become new dark crystals. These crystals will eventually become new monsters, and they will instantly transfur any who touch them. The light latex monsters operate as a hivemind and can emulate flora and fauna to near perfection. They spread over floors and walls, converting any who touch them. The water based monsters reside in the city sewers, which thankfully have intense purification filters installed before the riot. They have begun to flood steep streets, to better maneuver and catch their prey. Most regular or independant monsters are vulnerable to intense temperatures, dark latex monsters dissipate when their mask is damaged, white latex dissolves in acids and heavy liquids, water based monsters dehydrate easily and are weak to electric currents, and the gas clouds that have spread are easily disrupted and dispersed by wind currents. And in dire circumstances, guns have proven to work against monsters that have hosts. Lin would learn these things with his new guardian, but he would still attend a makeshift school at the base for the other children. He would learn math, physics, economics, history, music, and the many things that the adults taught. But the two subjects he seemed to really excel in were, to no surprise, biology and physics. He loved understanding how life worked and function, and his uncle’s training made him one of the top of his physical education class. His other passions would be what remained of art, music, and entertainment after the fall of humanity, mainly that of Japanese anime and manga. Most art, music, and literature was destroyed during the virus, but what remained was treasure by the surviving humans. Colin, who went by Lin most of the time, woke up to the smell of breakfast burning. Uncle Phil was many things. But a decent cook wasn’t one of them. Lin walked down the steps of the house he and his guardian lived in. They originally lived in the shelter with everyone else, but his uncle felt it was necessary for people to leave the comfort of it to regain the city from the monsters. This was difficult for Lin for two reasons; he almost always missed school, and he never got time to spend with his friends. Not that he had any. But this wasn’t due to any social difficulties, at least not entirely. Lin just didn’t really “click” with other kids his age. And the school didn’t especially mind since the internet had remained and it allowed for some online courses. “Lin, come eat your breakfast.” “Coming.” Lin paused his train of thought and climbed down the stairs. “Morning Uncle, how are you?” “I’ve been better. The shelter leaders were gripping about us living out here again, but you know what I told them -” “We can only remain in the shelter for so long. Complacency breeds cowardice. And this allows us to take back our city from the monsters.” “Good to see that you agree.” Lin didn’t entirely agree with him, but he wasn’t going to say that. “So…will I be going to school today?” “Aren’t the only classes you have available online?” “Just asking.” “Well regardless, I have something planned for us today.” “Please don’t say -” “We’re going hunting!” This is what made living with an ex Army Major. “Do we have too?” “Lin, you have to learn how to fight against the monsters. I won’t-” “You won’t be here forever, so I have to learn to fend for myself.” “Exactly! Man has triumphed over all manner of beasts before, these monsters are nothing.” Lin again disagreed, but he still kept quiet. Experience had told him that when Uncle Phil got an idea in his head, he wouldn’t stop for anything. Apparently Lin exhibited this trait occasionally, but he personally didn’t think so. He ate his breakfast and followed his uncle into the ruined city. The city that they lived in, which Lin could never remember its name, had supposedly once been beautiful. Lin still thought it was cool looking, just in need of some maintenance. Empty local stores and apartment buildings lined the streets. If one excused the large amounts of latex decorating everything, the place was habitable. “Keep an eye out, Lin. You won’t be able to hear them until they’re too close.” “Yes, I know.” Lin’s uncle took him on several of these hunting trips. He might have been a big game hunter before all this, it was believable. Lin learned how to operate a hunting rifle, how to blend into the background, and how to ration and water for up to a month, all at the age of ten. But the thing was, Lin hated these trips. More particularly, he hated the monsters. He’d only seen a couple, but that was enough. He could recount at least two times he nearly got transfurred. Maybe his uncle thought this would work as some form of immersion therapy, but it did not work for Lin. Instead, it only made his fear and hatred for these creatures more intense. But the ironic thing was, he excelled in his classes whenever there were questions about them. He was probably the most knowledgeable about the monsters, even counting some adults. Of course, it was hard to study something you could never touch. But regardless of his feelings toward them, Lin had always been fascinated by the monsters. He always wanted to study them, mainly to find a way to find a cure for transfurmation. He wanted to find a way for people to be safe, so that they could finally get rid of them all. They had been on their trip for at least an hour by now, and they still haven’t encountered anything yet. At most they’ve seen the goop hanging from the walls wiggle, but no monsters. “So when can we head back?” “Soon, but I want to at least find something. Who knows, this might be the trip where you get your first kill.” The conversation was interrupted by a clattering noise from a nearby alleyway. The two began to slowly creep their way towards the noise, rifles ready. “On my singal. 3…2…1. Now!” Lin jumped in front of the alley and shot his gun, remembering to aim higher in case it was a human. Thankfully, it was only a raccoon. “What was that?” “I went on the signal?” The older hunter held his hand to his face in an annoyed manner. “That was reckless. Had that been a monster, you would have been transfurred.” “Sorry.” “Let’s get going, we can try again tomorrow.” The two would have returned, but Lin had heard a sound in the alley. He checked to see that his uncle wasn’t paying attention, and slid into the nearby alley. He didn’t care how much he hated and sucked at hunting, he was going to get something. He entered the alley and saw something scrounging around a dumpster in the back. He got closer and saw what he assumed to be a dark latex monster, evident by its dark color and white mask. As soon as he was at least five feet readied his rifle, forgetting the amount of noise it makes. Once he heard the clicking of the gun, he froze. He held perfectly still as the monster before him turned to view the human boy. He barely had time to react, before the monster omved in a flash. Lin braced himself, but felt nothing. He opened his eyes, and to his surprise, saw the monster kneeling on the ground with its hands over its head. Lin learned from his uncle’s military training that this was a sign of surrender. It only took Lin a minute to realise the absurdity of the situation. How did a monster learn military tactics? Lin was stunned for a minute, before taking his rifle and aiming at the defenseless monster. He tried to pull the trigger, but felt something holding him back. Not the gun, but himself. If this monster was leaving itself at the mercy of Lin, did he really have any right to shoot? Not to mention the implications of intelligence this meant. Lin lowered his rifle as the monster raised his head. The two locked eyes and stared intently into each other. Lin stared at the black eyes of the monster, his crystal mask, his black eyes with white pupils, his latex fur, his twitching ears and tail, all of it. He stared into the eyes of this creature and saw fear, relief, intelligence, and a feeling he couldn’t name. It felt…warm…and maybe…familiar? He was interrupted by two immediate and strange occurrences. First, the monster’s face turned to one of shock and the words “Behind you” came out with a sense of urgency. Lin was caught off by this, but even more by what happened next. He turned just as a white blob jumped and attached itself to his body, knocking Lin to the ground. Lin struggled as the latex mass spread and wrapped over his body. He flailed and ripped at the rubbery substance, which only made it spread more. He could feel his clothes dissolving and his body changing. He could feel the latex invading his every orifice, warping his biology. He could feel wet fur sprouting from his chest and limbs. He felt it approach his nether regions as a heat arose in him he had never felt before. Lin knew about the process of puberty, but it was hard to do anything when he lived with his uncle just a room away. He felt the latex shape itself around his crotch and he felt a pressure against his anus. He barely let out a gasp as the goop entered his mouth and flooded his respiratory system. His face was altered and changed into something canine-like, his ears dissolving and repositioning themselves. He could feel two pressures building around his ass, one trying to enter and another trying to escape. As the goo slid into his untouched pucker, a tail budded out from where there once wasn’t. Lin twitched with pleasure as the latex entered him, massaging and intertwining itself with his flesh. He began to feel some disassociation with his body, akin to swimming in water. He couldn’t feel his body, but the sensations overcame his mind. It was if he was drowning in latex; but he wasn’t losing air, just himself. He felt a strange mixture of fear, pleasure, and exhaustion. He felt the building pressure of his groin grow, and he flailed in response to the coming release. He thrusted as ecstasy flooded his consciousness, before falling into darkness.