Racing as fast as his legs could carry him, Harold pushed himself harder than he’d ever done so. The odd feeling across his body had halted for the time being, but he knew it would resume soon enough, his only delaying factors being his controlling his breathing until he had some distance from the epicentre, and the initial distance itself. Though had he paid a bit more attention to his surroundings at the time, he would’ve noticed one individual speaking through a communicator not too far from the epicentre.
Moments later he was in his car and racing out of the Shopping Centre and towards the nearest Emergency Facility, not helped by said Shopping Centre being over an hour from where he was if normal traffic laws were adhered to. At a truly reckless speed, Harold tore out of the parking lot, passing: A lizard that was shuffling out of its former attire; A human-sized ursine roaring in despair; And an increasingly-cetacean being racing for the nearby swimming baths.
Had Harold been thinking more clearly, he would’ve realised right away that he was doing the single-stupidest thing he could, driving a motorised vehicle, at way above the Speed Limit, while the Eco-Bomb’s continued to make its effect known on him.
A few minutes of insane driving later and the next wave came hard, his skull crunching as it flattened somewhat, while his face rammed out into a hard snout, his nose widening and fusing into the upper jaw, while his medium-length brown hair fell off in clumps until there was none left. This did little to help his state of mind as he pressed the pedal right down to the floor, his car lurching in a surge of high-voltage acceleration.
Which in turn meant that maintaining grip was impossible with the low rolling resistance tyres, sliding across the road and into the barrier when he attempted a hard right, spinning when he couldn’t regain control, and barely kept from flipping over when he span off the road with a hissing scream, his forked tongue flicking out right before he impacted a tree, his car crumpling badly along its bonnet. Just as the first few response vehicles came into view. One of which slowed to a halt by it as the rest continued down the road Harold came from.
The two-piece body suits worn by the pair of responders who halted by Harold were grey-and-blue, designed for functionality and durability above all else, who were quick to get his car open and see (thanks to their portable medical equipment) that other than being unconscious, was otherwise unhurt. Save for his very serpentine head and scales that had now spread across his entire body.
“What do we do with this one?” The first asked. “Are we in time?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” The second answered, her face hidden behind an elongated helmet, the long bulge running down one leg of her uniform pretty much giving away that there was something off about her. “Use it.”
“Got it.” The first threw a canister into the car, closing it just as it gave off a purplish gas of its own, filling the car with Harold in it until he was obscured from view. “I hope it works, he was right on the brink.”
[+]
Elsewhere, in a seemingly nondescript office building, the workers were going about their usual business, though paused briefly when an individual passed them, making her way to her own office. It wasn’t her seven-foot-five toned body that gave them pause, so much as the clopping her hooves made when she walked passed them. The thick red trench coat that came to below her knees, matching wide-brimmed fedora hat and grey scarf unable to hide her equine muzzle, mainly blond-white but darker at the tip of her muzzle. A cream-blonde mane thick and wide enough to be considered hair, and the same colour as her tail that swished with her steps behind her, the tip peeking out of her coat.
And right now, her own communicator was one, listening to the report being given to her.
“We counted approximately ninety-eight affected by this attack, most of whom were too far gone for treatment.” The voice on the other end delivered the news. “And those we can, we can’t say with confidence we were in time for. As an initial estimate, we believe perhaps a dozen at best can at least have their minds saved.”
“I see.” She mulled this information over. Certainly such a low number given the number of affected was disappointing, but, with how recent the treatment was, and how it was still not-entirely-reliable, it was not unexpected. “Continue with the treatment as best you can, those who can be saved, transfer to the Acclimatisation Facility when you can. Those who can’t, you know where to take them.”
“Will do.” The line closed, leaving her to deal with how to present this as she reached her office door, ‘Elaine Sanders, C.E.O.’ on the plaque, a swipe of the key-card granting her entry.
Inside, and with her coat, hat, and scarf set on the coat hanger, it was clear that those had been her only articles of clothing she’d worn, her large breasts (with grey nipples and areola) swaying freely when she approached her desk, its size (and that of the leather seat) designed with Elaine’s size, build, and species in mind.
“You are aware,” A voice sounded as she swung in her seat to face its source. “that the freedom to perform your operations, along with our overlooking your, legally-dubious, experiments, is permitted thanks in large part to actually producing results, so much as they can be called that. But could you at least show some decency?”
“And I recall making clear I can’t stand them much at all these days.” Elaine fired back, leaning back in her chair as she faced him, an impeccably-dressed grey-haired man, stern-faced with lines of worry and age on his face. “This won’t stop catching, pulling, and breaking, that coat is all I can handle.” She pointed to her fur with a black-tipped finger as he took his own seat.
“And in any case, there’s more important items to discuss than…modesty.” She finished.
“That there is.” He conceded that point to her. “We both know there was another Eco-Bomb Attack, and we both know that this is Bad News for far more than the fact it happened. There are still Eco-Cells active, and getting Bold. They went right through our defences and left some serious Egg on our Faces. When I report to the Defence Department, and I will have to soon, they will want answers, so I need to know what you know.”
“Well, all we have is that there was one attacker that we can confirm, about ninety-eight victims though that number is likely to change as more information comes in, perhaps twelve that we can help keep their minds if nothing else, and lastly, except for one, all the victims are contained within the vicinity of the attack.” Elaine listed off the available information.
“One?” This was information that piqued his interest.
“Yes. One tried to drive away in a panic. Crashed before he could get very far. Whether his, transformation, can even be halted, is not known at this time. He was right on the limit for saving.”
“I see.” He appeared to mull information in his head for some time before leaning forwards to address Elaine. “I’ll be back before the day’s end. I expect you to have all the information I need before then.”
“It’ll be ready.” Elaine assured him.
“Good.” He rose and took his leave, leaving Elaine free to worry about how she’d have it all ready in the time she had.
In truth, they’d only been able to respond thanks to one of her agents being on-site at the time of the attack, and able to relay the information before he could no longer speak, now resigned to spending the rest of his life as a crocodilian-like being.
He was right, they were getting bold. No other attack had ever managed to top forty, and now it could be a hundred, depending. And right now, all they could do was try to halt the transformations caused by the Eco-Bombs, and then only if they were quick enough. As had been the case with her, having to use the treatment before it had even been tested. Well, it did work in a sense she supposed. She had her mind, she could speak (thanks to some surgical work), and she could keep working in her current position, even if she was a horse-human mix and under close watch.
Still, she had work to do. He wanted information and if Elaine was to have it ready in time, she’d have to start now. The holo-projector up and running, she began the task of collecting what she had now, setting it to one side to be updated the moment she learned more about the attack, and how the treatments were working, assuming that it was given in time.