My finger brushed the on button, bathing the dark room in bright, sterile light emanating from the large television. I sunk further into the couch, preparing for a night of relaxation. The light struck my eyes but the signal never reached my brain. I zoned out, preparing to spend the night like I had every night recently.

“”

My paws slid through the damp grass. Chill air brushed my nose bringing the scent of something delicious. I crouched, silently watching the animal in front of me, waiting for the right moment. They say the first time is always the hardest, and it certainly was. My stomach would not stop informing me of this fact, but I had to get it right, or I may not ever be eating again.

As I crouched there among the trees I wondered ‘how did it all came to this?’

“”

My back pressed into the couch, the TV let out its soothing light, and something interesting come on. An ad for a one of a time experience in the wilderness. The ad diverged, speaking about an experiment, something to do with extreme situations. More importantly they were willing to pay you for participating. It was an offer I couldn’t resist.

“”

Leaves crinkled under my paws. Now that I stopped running the forest seems to have expanded around me, enveloping everything in leafy greenery. My head twisted every which way. The forest stretched on forever. I had lost my pursuers, and in doing so I seemed to have gotten lost myself.

“”

“Why do they make these roads so small?” I muttered under my breath.

Calling it a road was a compliment. The thing was so narrow that bushes brushed the sides of the car in some places. Parts of the road weren’t even gravel, rather smooth natural rock. It didn’t matter, the GPS said it was a road and therefore it was. Anyway, there was no going back now, there was no chance of turning around on such a narrow road.

“”

I slammed the side of my fury body against the cage, making it rattle and jump. Stepping back I attacked it again putting my whole weight into the motion. The crate jumped again and started to slide off the back of the flatbed. The men in the car behind the truck yelled something but it was too late. The crate was already off the platform.

I tumbled through the air inside the crate for a brief second before it hit the ground, springing back up and spinning into the car. Someone screamed and glass shattered before I was in the air again, tumbling over the car and smashing into the ground behind it, this time with only one difference; I was outside of the cage.

“”

I had arrived. The place looked like some evil villain’s lair, sunk into the side of a hill with a large circular blast door. The only thing that ruined the nuke shelter impression was all of the windows. I parked my car in the disheveled parking lot, hoping this was the right place.

Soon I discovered that the interior was immaculate, marble floors and high vaulted ceilings. There were several other people standing about the room, dressed in everything from fancy suits to old t-shirts and jeans.

After checking in the receptionist informed me that there was now enough people to begin, and asked everyone to follow her through a polished door.

“”

My bleary eyes opened slowly, revealing dull metal bars encircling me on all sides. Something was wrong. Not only was I in a cage, but I didn’t feel right either.

I looked at my hands… paws… what?

With that I was wide awake. It wasn’t a dream. I was an animal. I was in a cage.

Before I could contemplate further my prison rocked. A forklift had snagged my cage and was no heading for a large flat-bed truck. On the truck were other animals, a lion, a large snake, a wolf, a smaller fox, all in cages. I knew I was in trouble, and I really wanted to get out of this cage.

“”

The receptionist led us into a long hallway, showing us each to individual rooms. Each room was sparsely decorated with only an uncomfortable looking chair and another door smooth door. I sat down in the room and waited.

Sometime later a hissing sound flowed into the room, shortly followed by a faint odor. They were trying to gas me! I sprinted to the door and rattled the knob only to find that it was locked. The other door proved futile too. My vision was starting to fuzz up a bit, and my body was starting to itch. I scratched a bit and was shocked to discover that I had a lot more hair than before. I looked at my hand and seriously began to panic as I saw orange hair growing on the back. Further up my arm the hair began to take a stripy pattern. My breathing quickened as I realized it looked a lot like tiger fur. Back on my hand weird things were continuing to happen the palms had darkened to almost pitch black, a similar thing happening on my fingertips.

I looked away, not wanting to see my mutating body but it didn’t help. I could still feel my stomach flipping out, my feet twisting into a similar form to my hands. I could feel my heels pulling up and my shoulders realigning. I looked back at my hands, only to find fully formed paws.

That was when my face started to feel strange as well I lifted my paws to my face to feel the new growth protruding from my skull. My nose had lengthened and gained a leathery texture while I wasn’t looking. I felt my ears moving as well, growing pointed and sliding to the top of my head, new muscles growing to move them. My hair fell to the floor, replaced by a complex pattern of black and orange stripes.

My clothing was starting to feel too tight so I tore at it with my new paws, frantically trying to get it off. While I was preoccupied with my uncomfortable clothing I almost didn’t notice a new appendage grow in. I looked behind myself to see a thin striped tail waving behind my fury orange and black striped back. With this change to my spine also came a change to my hips. I felt them snap, then my legs refused to support my weight and I fell onto all fours angrily letting loose a yowl. My ribs shifted a bit and I felt a few more vertebra insert themselves into my spine.

I lay on the floor for a while, getting used to my new body. It seemed I had transformed into a large Bengal Tiger. I was wondering how I was going to drive home when the hissing sound filled the room again, and everything went dark.