Sarah smiled as she ran her hands through what little remained of her hair. She pulled it off her head in clumps and tossed them away nonchalantly, her scaly scalp now bald and smooth. Her ears had disappeared, receding into the sides of her head and leaving behind small holes. Mary's own ears had grown longer, stretching well above her head.
"Yes, not much longer," hissed Sarah happily.
Mary's heart raced. She didn't know if it was fear or part of her transformation. She thought that rabbits had very fast heartbeats. Still, something about the way Sarah was acting disturbed her - it was almost like she was some kind of sadistic psycho or something. But did it really matter? This was what she wanted after all - to drift off to sleep as she was slowly devoured in the slimy liquids of a soft, warm compact stomach after being gently massaged by the firm muscles that moved her through the tight esophagus. What difference did it make how her predator was acting?
Sarah grunted as she struggled to remove her pants. Her hips had expanded, constricting the waistband of her pants around her body. With some effort she pulled them down off her bulging thighs. Her legs were getting larger and bulkier as they merged together.
Mary's thighs had bulked up with muscle, too. She would need that muscle to outrun predators. Well, a normal rabbit would at least. But even Mary's disproportionately thick thighs had shrunk with the rest of her body as she dwindled down to the size of a rabbit. It was easy for Mary to slip out of her bulky clothes.
As Mary continued to slowly shrink, she was surprised at the size of her friend. Sarah grinned as she saw the look of awe on Mary's face.
"Yes, I made a few modifications. I didn't want to become a small snake. I wanted to stay big so I could swallow you whole!" said Sarah gleefully.
Once again Mary felt a shudder run down her spine. Sarah was becoming quite the fearsome predator. Although she was roughly the size of a human, to a small rabbit Sarah looked massive. Sarah rolled on her stomach, placing her hands on the ground, and grunted as her merged legs began to stretch longer. With a series of sickening cracks Mary could see and hear new vertebrae forming and growing larger in Sarah's developing tail. It already seemed impossibly long and showed no sign of stopping. And with each pulse of growth it bulged larger, thickening with powerful muscles.
Mary began to tap her long rabbit foot on the ground nervously.
"Yessss, almost done, " cooed Sarah, as she pushed up on her hands and arched her back as she stretched. The scales were spreading down her arms and hands, completely covering her body in scales. Mary's paw tapped faster. Sarah's eyes were tightly closed but her forked tongue flicked out of her snout and tested the air. "Yes, I can smell your fear. And it smells delicious!"
Mary's own body was now completely covered in fur, even her now tiny hands. Her puffy tail flicked behind her. She knew Sarah was right. It felt like the transformation was accelerating, reaching some kind of crescendo. She closed her eyes and braced for the final changes.
But instead of a grand finale, the transformation seemed to fizzle out.
The strange feeling coursing through her body just stopped. Mary opened her eyes and saw that she still had almost human hands. True, they were covered in fur, but she still had opposable digits. She was small, but still could think and talk like a human, even stand on two legs. But in all other ways she looked like a rabbit. The Chronivac had left her as some kind of anthropomorphic rabbit.
Sarah was staring at her own scaly clawed hands in confusion. She had expected them to meld away into her body, leaving her with just a long tail. But she had also been left as an anthropomorphic animal, with the arms and hands of a human (albeit scaly) and the tail of a snake.
"What.... what is going on?" asked Sarah with confusion.
"I don't know, " said Mary honestly. She reached up and grabbed her throat. She hadn't expected to be able to talk, but her new voice sounded small and weak.
Sarah slithered over to the Chronivac and looked at the screen. Mary hopped over to join her. It wasn't easy - Mary wasn't used to hopping rather than walking and the room seemed much larger. She had to stand back and crane her neck to see the screen. But the bright red error message was hard to miss.
"Error 25423 - Transformation could not be completed - Contact customer service for support!"
Mary could see a progress bar that had stopped around 75%. Mary guessed that she and Sarah were roughly 75% animal, 25% human. This was not good. She wanted to enjoy the feelings of being devoured, but not to think about it. That was why she wanted to be a complete animal - so she could have an animal's brain and not dwell on her impending death. It didn't seem like it would be quite as pleasant if you were forced to think about it.
"Come on you stupid piece of junk! Finish it!" said Sarah as she slammed her hand against the device.
"Um, I don't think that is such a good idea, Sarah," said Mary meekly.
"Shut up! You are not a person. You are food. And food does not get to have an opinion. Now be quiet!" hissed Sarah angrily.
Sarah's upper body perched atop her tail coiled beneath her. Her tail was long and the tip was free, twitching and moving erratically across the floor. She began to furiously type into the device. First, she tried to repeat the transformation.
"Error 53982 - Cannot begin new transformation on subject until previous command has finished execution!"
"Then finish the damn command!" yelled Sarah.
"Error 25423 - Transformation could not be completed - Contact customer service for support!"
"Ugh, fine you worthless hunk of metal! Then I'll just cancel the damn transformation!" said Sarah, as she clicked on the cancel icon.
"Error 901 - Transformation can not be canceled - Command must be completed."
Sarah screeched angrily.
"Well, if I can't cancel it and I can't change the transformation, what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"I think.... I think we might be stuck like this," said Mary.
Sarah's look of hatred quickly faded away and was quickly replaced by a look of fear. She slowly slithered over to a mirror and stared at her reflection in horror. She placed one scaly clawed hand on the large cheek of her snout.
"No, this was only supposed to be temporary, just till I ate you, just till you were out of my way for good, " she said softly. "I didn't want to be a snake forever. Or whatever I am now. I can't .... I can't be stuck like this. I'm even uglier than I was before. I'm a freak, a monster! No boy will ever want me now!"
Sarah slammed her fist into the mirror, shattering it. She turned around and slithered up to Mary.
"You tricked me! How can I ever get a boyfriend like this?!" hissed Sarah.
"Do you think I really wanted to end up like this? Some kind of midget hybrid rabbit?" asked Mary.
"It doesn't matter! You convinced me to use the device, so it is your fault!" said Sarah.
She slammed her tail down on a small table, splitting the heavy wood in half. Both of the girls were surprised and slowly turned their heads in unison. Sarah focused her attention on her tail. She slipped her tail around a fragment of wood, wrapping the coils of her tail around it. Then she slowly squeezed it easily breaking and shattering the wood.
"Now that is something. I didn't know I could do that, that it would be so easy, " said Sarah with a sly smile. "This body does present some... interesting possibilities."
Sarah turned to look at Mary. But she was gone, using the distraction to slip away and hide while Sarah was preoccupied. Sarah wasn't angry. This would only make the hunt more challenging.... more fun....
"Where did you go, little rabbit? Don't you still want to be eaten?" asked Sarah wickedly. "Come out and accept your fate..."
Mary remained hidden, her heart threatening to explode in her chest. This was not going at all how she had envisioned it. Yet, part of her wanted to surrender and be swallowed. That was her fantasy, after all. But another part of her was desperately afraid of the large predator now stalking her.
"No matter. I'll find you. It's not really up to you anymore. I will find you. And I will eat you. It is only a question of time," said Sarah, as she flicked out her tongue and began to slither around the house in search of her prey.