Heather sat in the back of the police transport truck with Zepeta. Each bump on the dirt road sent her flying off her seat, almost bumping her head on the canvass tarp covering them. It made it difficult to open the hidden compartment in her boot. It would have been easier if her hands had not been bound by handcuffs.
Zepeta was no help. He just bemoaned his fate, rocking back and forth. But Heather was not content to just give up. She was not going to spend the rest of her life in a Costa Rican prison. She would rather die.
Heather cheered as she knocked off the heel of her boot. A syringe rolled out of the hidden compartment. She bent down and picked it up, struggling to hold it in her restrained hands.
"What is that?" asked Zepeta. "Are you going to shoot up before we get to jail?"
"Don't be an idiot, " said Heather condescendingly. "This was my little insurance policy and now our only chance to get out of here. I combined the Animalian virus with some DNA I collected from some of the dinosaur bones. In case anyone got a little too suspicious about our mechanical dinosaur, I was going to make the real thing."
"But that's impossible. How did you get a sample of the Animalian virus?" asked Zepeta.
Heather smiled smugly. "You would be surprised what gold can buy - just about anything, if you offer enough of it."
"Wait a minute....just what were you planning to do with it? Were you going to infect me with that shit?" said Zepeta angrily.
"Don't be so paranoid. I was going to use some animal ... or maybe some local orphan kid or someone else no one would miss. I don't know. I hadn't thought it through that far. Probably why we got caught, " lied Heather.
She had absolutely planned to infect Zepeta. But those darn kids had interfered and she didn't get the chance. Heather had never expected a bunch of high school kids to figure out her scheme .... and so quickly! The adults at the museum had been so dull it lulled her into a false sense of security.
Heather ground her teeth as she thought about those kids. They had ruined everything. But she would get her revenge. She would never forget how they had taken everything away from her - her future, her money, her freedom. They would pay and pay dearly. Heather would make sure of it, even if it took the rest of her miserable life.
"What good will that stuff do us now anyway?" said Zepeta.
Heather gave him a stern look. Zepeta could be so dense. It was a mistake to include him in her scheme. But she did need a fall guy in case things went south. Unfortunately, the kids had been too bright for her to pin the crime entirely on someone else.
Zepeta's eyes went wide as he finally understood what Heather was proposing.
"Oh no, no way. Forget it!" said Zepeta.
"It's the only way. Do you want to spend the rest of your life locked away in some Central American hellhole?" asked Heather.
"I'd rather be in prison that get turned into some kind of freak!" protested Zepeta.
Heather shrugged her shoulders.
"Suit yourself. But don't say I didn't give you a chance," said Heather.
She nervously held the needle above her leg. She had hoped that the idiot would take the bait. Heather planned to use the confusion caused by Zepeta's transformation to escape. But now it looked like she only had one option left. Change herself or go to jail.
Heather plunged the needle deep into the flesh of her thigh and depressed the plunger. She hissed as the liquid disappeared into her body. She dropped the empty syringe and rubbed her sore thigh. She wasn't sure if this would work. As far as she knew, no one had tried uplifting someone with dinosaur DNA. The Phoenix Project was not a secret, but she had not heard of anyone using DNA from bone tissue, much less DNA from a dinosaur. It was possible that the mixture she had created was lethal. The pain in her leg certainly felt like it. She continued to rub her sore thigh, watching the skin blanch to a dull brown.
"Oh...Oh!" said Heather, as she watched the brown discoloration spread. Her thigh was rapidly expanding, filling with muscle and other tissue. Her thigh bone creaked, painfully stretching longer and thicker.
Zepeta began to panic, backing as far away from Heather as he could. Heather didn't notice. She was in her own world as the changes began to spread throughout her body.
A world of pain.
Heather's feet jerked spasmodically as they stretched into long scaly paws. Her toes merged into three large, thick digits, a sharp talon erupting forcefully from each toe. Her big toe remained about the same size, retreating to the rear of her foot as it became a dew claw. Heather's jeans snapped apart, unable to contain her rapidly widening hips and waist. Her shirt followed soon after, revealing a broad chest covered in brown scaly skin. Heather twisted her hands as the handcuffs pinched her wrists painfully. She struggled to free her growing hands as her fingers merged into three thick digits. When the handcuffs finally broke apart, Heather quickly reached up to rub her sore head as the bones cracked and reformed around her enlarging brain. She could feel her beautiful hair falling off in clumps, a small price to pay for freedom.
Heather spat out her human teeth as they rapidly fell out of her mouth to make room for the new sharp daggers that replaced them. Heather groaned almost roaring as her face stretched out to a snout. Heather felt a pinch in her back and stood up. The truck rocked a little, unbalanced by the shift of weight in the back. The drivers struggled to correct it as Heather's tail grew longer and thicker.
Heather had difficulty maintaining her own balance. She stood and held onto the bar braces holding up the canopy. They bent under the pressure of her grip. Her body continued to expand and change, small spines growing up her neck, over her head and down her snout. Her head tore through the weak canopy. More spines grew, poking through the skin of her shoulders, her elbows and down her tail.
Finally, the drivers could no longer control the shifting weight in the back of the truck. The truck flipped and rolled before crashing into a tree.
Heather had been thrown from the rear of the truck. She brushed herself off and stood up. She was still a little unbalanced, not used to walking on the balls of her feet and using her tail as counterweight. But otherwise she was unharmed. Her new bones were much thicker and more durable. As she made her way back to the truck, she could see that the two policemen that had been transporting them to jail had not been so lucky. They had both died on impact when the truck hit the tree.
"Should have worn your seatbelts, " said Heather with a chuckle.
She felt no guilt over their deaths. It was either her life or theirs. It was a dog eat dog world and she intended to end up on top, regardless of the cost. The smell of their fresh blood was maddening. She desperately wanted to feed on them. But she was still rational enough to know that it would be bad to stay around here too long. Not unless she wanted to get caught again. The police were sure to send another patrol unit when this one did not arrive on time.
Heather turned and started to make her way into the jungle. It no longer seemed so intimidating. She was the alpha predator now. She had nothing to fear. She didn't even mind her nudity. It was refreshing and somehow felt... right.
Just before she crossed over into the foliage she heard a voice call out to her.
"Heather...please....help me...." said Zepeta weakly.
Heather turned and walked over to him. He had been thrown from the truck like her, but had not fared as well. His legs were a twisted mess, leaking a large amount of blood. He had a bad head wound and was pulling himself along on his hands. Heather bent down to look at him. He looked so small to her now, like a child. She cradled his head in her large hands.
"Please....help me..." whispered Zepeta.
Heather knew what he wanted. The Animalia virus was supposed to have remarkable regenerative properties. He might be saved if she could infect him. And she was incredibly horny.
"Sorry, Zepeta. But you had your chance," said Heather coldly as snapped his neck.
Heather dropped his dead, lifeless body to the ground. Again, she felt no guilt. It was a quick death, more than the coward deserved. But Heather knew she could not leave any survivors, however unlikely Zepeta's recovery might be. Heather wanted everyone to believe that she had died in the car accident with the others. Even if they believed she was alive, they would be looking for a human and not an uplifted reptile. But in order for her ruse to work, she could not leave any witnesses. So Zepeta had to die with the others.
Zepeta was weak anyway, not worthy of being her equal. She might find a worthy mate, eventually. But right now she had more pressing matters. She wanted revenge - revenge on the children that had taken everything away from her and forced her to become a freak.
Heather ran into the dense jungle, smiling as she mulled over all the wicked things she had planned for Sophie and her friends.