Alex Mulner was having the time of his life at college.
The 18 year old started his first semester with one goal in mind: to become popular, and boy, had he ever done that. He joined the university’s football team and quickly became one of the team’s star players. He joined one of the various fraternities on campus, quickly gaining a reputation as a charming and likeable guy, making him a hit with the ladies.
His fraternity brothers had easily become his closest friends on campus. Counting Alex, there was a total of 6 members of the fraternity. First, there was Mike. He was 19 years old and was usually quite laid back. While he does occasionally slack off on work, he never slacks off for too long, usually getting whatever he needed to get done at the last minute. He had short blond hair and green eyes.
Next there was Shane. He was 20 years old and often had a bit of a mood. He had short black hair, brown eyes, and always seemed to have a five o’clock shadow. He was also an alcoholic who’s trying to break out of the habit.
Then there was Jacob. He was 18 years old, and he was loved playing video games. He had short brown hair and blue eyes. He was also rather talkative and optimistic, given his strange sense of childlike whimsy.
Then there was Matt. He was 20 years old, and he exercised like his life depended on it. He had short brown hair and blue eyes like Jacob did.
Finally, there was Sam, the loud and rambunctious 18 year old who was always ready to throw a party. He was on the football team with Alex, so the two of them had become close friends. He had wild and unkempt blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes.
Everything was working out great for Alex and his fraternity brothers. No one had any complaints about anything, and everyone was happy.
Currently, Alex was bringing groceries that he had bought at the store back to the frat house, as it was his turn to go out and buy them. Usually, he didn’t have a problem with buying groceries and carrying them back to the frat house, as it wasn’t a long walk and there was never a lot to carry. However, this time was different. Alex had about 10 bags of groceries total in his arms. When Alex arrived at the store, he had planned on only buying what was on the list that was given to him. But as he was shopping, he kept getting calls from his frat brothers asking if he could buy more food, as they were all incredibly hungry. Alex reluctantly replied, wondering why they needed so much food, until he too began to feel incredibly hungry.
Alex arrived at the frat house with all of the groceries that his frat brothers had requested. He opened the front door, walking inside and closing the door behind him. He then proceeded to walk into the kitchen, only to find his frat brothers searching the kitchen.
“Uh...what are you guys doing?” Alex asked, setting the bags of groceries down on the kitchen table.
“We were looking for food of some kind,” Sam said, closing the pantry with a bag of chips in his hand. “We were all getting so hungry.”
Matt proceeded to reach into one of the bags that Alex had put on the table and pull out a box of granola bars. “Sorry that we kept calling you with new requests,” he said, opening the box and pulling out a large handful of granola bars.
“It’s fine,” Alex said, pulling out a chair and sitting down before wiping his forehead. “Does anyone else feel hot?”
“A little bit, now that you mention it,” Jacob said. He proceeded to reach into one of the cabinets and pulled out a thermometer, along with a few covers. He put one of the covers on the thermometer before handing it over to Alex and saying, “Check if you have a fever.”
Alex complied and put the thermometer in his mouth. He waited for a few seconds until he heard the beep signifying that he could take the device out of his mouth. He took a look at the screen on the thermometer.
“101 Degrees,” he said. “Maybe I should go and see a doctor.”
“Might be wise for all of us to go and see a doctor,” Shane suggested. “I mean, if we all have similar symptoms, there’s a chance that we could all have the same thing.”
“We might as well,” Mike said.
The fraternity brothers quickly left the frat house and made their way to the hospital on campus. They managed to get an appointment relatively quickly as they were quickly ushered to a large room in the hospital. A duo of nurses wearing masks to cover their mouth and nose came into the room and took a blood sample from each of the young men. After waiting for about ten or so minutes, the doctor walked into the room with a clipboard in his hand. Like the two nurses before him, he was wearing a mask. But unlike the nurses, the doctor wasn’t entirely human. In fact, he was a faun, complete with a pair of furry brown goat legs and a pair of horns sticking out from his hair.
“Well gentlemen,” he said, looking at his clipboard. “I’m really sorry to say this, but I’m afraid that you’ve all come down with the Monster Virus.”
The room went silent for a few seconds before Shane scoffed.
“Is this some kind of joke?” he asked, a hint of anger in his voice.
“No, I’m afraid not,” the doctor said.
“Our lives are over!” Sam exclaimed.
“I can’t believe this…” Mike said in disbelief.
“This isn’t fair Doc!” Matt yelled.
“Now now, calm down please,” the doctor said. “There is a silver lining to all of this.”
“Really?! A silver lining?!” Shane snapped. “How can you say that there’s a silver lining when we’re turning into freaks?!”
“Shane, calm down,” Alex said. “Let the doctor speak. He’s trying to help us.”
”Thank you, young man,” the doctor said to Alex. “Anyways, for starters, you all will be turning into Class C monsters. This means that while your bodies will undergo major changes, you will be able to live in normal arrangements with slight modifications. However, you each have a variation of the samestrain of the virus, meaning that you won’t all be the same creature.”
The doctor proceeded to hand a piece of paper from his clipboard to each of the young men within the room.
“We’ve identified each strain of the virus,” the doctor continued. “Therefore, we can accurately determine what kind of monster you will be transforming into.”
Matt looked at his paper. “I’m becoming a Minotaur?!” he exclaimed. He proceeded to turn over his paper to see an outline of a large, well built male figure that was covered in fur. The figure had hooves for feet, a bull’s tail, and the head of a bull, complete with large horns.
Jacob chuckled. “That really suits ya, big guy,” he said, playfully punching Matt’s arm before looking at his own paper. “Huh...I’m going to be a Faun.”
“A Weretiger,” Mike announced. “Sounds badass.” The outline on the back of his paper was that of a tall, muscular, anthropomorphic tiger.
“A...dragon?!” Shane shouted in disbelief. He turned over his paper to see the outline of a well built male figure, like on Matt’s paper. However, unlike the figure on Matt’s paper, the figure on Shane’s paper had a body that was covered in scales, larger curved horns on the top of its head, a reptilian snout, a large tail, and most notably, a pair of wings.
“A...male Kitsune,” Sam said. The diagram on his paper showed another well built male figure covered in fur. However, this one had a canine muzzle, a pair of fox ears on its head, and nine large tails.
“A werewolf,” Alex said, turning over his paper to see a diagram of a tall, muscular anthropomorphic wolf.
“Now that you all know what you’re becoming, I need to go over a few rules with you,” the doctor said. “There are a few diet changes that you should make. Mr. Jacob, since you are becoming a Faun, it is recommended that you begin eating more fruits and vegetables, but you are allowed to eat meat. The same goes for you, Mr. Matt. As for the rest of you, the opposite will apply. Your diets should consist mostly of meats, cooked or raw, but you are allowed to eat fruits and vegetables.”
“Next up: clothing. Most fur and scale covered creatures are allowed to walk around in the nude. However, most fur and scale creatures choose to wear a belt with pouches for their wallets and cell phones.”
“Finally, there’s the issue of your sex drives. As monsters, you will notice that your libido will increase significantly, but not to the point where it becomes unmanageable. I must also make you all aware of the fact that sexuality changes are incredibly common in those who are infected. Therefore, there’s a good chance that one of you, if not more, will end up becoming homosexual.”
The last part seemed to make everyone in the room uncomfortable. All six of them were straight as arrows, but the thought of one of them becoming gay was a bit hard to swallow.
Once the doctor finished, he released the fraternity brothers to go back to their frat house. No one said a word as they walked home, as they were all too busy trying to prepare themselves mentally for the drastic changes that they were about to undergo.