In the year 2020, a mysterious pathogen emerged from a college science facility in the northeast USA. A college student was working on a genetics project in the labs when his studies went awry, and he inhaled some of the residue from his findings. He then returned to his dorm for the night, where he began experiencing strange changes to his body
In the middle of the night, he snuck out of his rooms window and ran to the forest bordering his college campus. There, he completed a painful transition from an average college student into a hulking, bipedal, muscular wolf-beast with only one goal on his mind: to mate and make more of his kind. Over the course of the next few weeks, the beasts would multiply and convert nearly everyone in North America into werebeasts, with variations in the species appearing, though unknown what causes these alterations.
Though unknown to any human, the virus spreads in two different ways: through scratches or wounds, and through sexual means.
If a human is injured by a were-beast or manages to have their blood enter their body, they endure a long transformation into a feral-form of an animal, such as dire wolves. These beasts are nearly twice the size of a human, and are less motivated emotionally than they are instinctually. They hunt for mates with no mercy and are rough when they engage with them, their only intent to transform and/or impregnate others.
If a human is transformed through sexual means, they become a more humanoid version of the animal chosen for them. Rather than being stuck on all fours and rules by instinct, these beasts walk on two legs and have a much more complex mindset. They mainly search for their one true love, though they will transform anyone that crosses their path.
In very few and unique circumstances, a person will be found mid-transformation caused by a wound, and will be completed through sexual means. These beasts will retain the same feral features that they had originally developed, but will also feature the more humanoid attributes wherever their transformation hadnt reached.
Saliva and sexual fluids are less effective on their own, requiring the assailant beast to manually transform a human until they are completed. When provided in great amounts, such as through sex and French kissing, large changes can occur.
Humans retain their memories and control up until the end of their transformation, where their memories go murky and their needs are filled with instincts. Only those who give in and change willingly retain some minimal humanity within them, though still dominated by animalistic urges.
These creatures have extremely thick hides/skin and are nearly impervious to bullets and damage, only suffering from severe blunt force trauma and explosives. This makes the beasts extremely difficult to evade, especially with their enhanced senses.
Some beasts regain some of their human memories, though they are murky and filled with instinctual thoughts and beliefs. They know how to perform certain actions like humans, such as those used in love-making, but they fail the knowledge to use doorknobs or use objects as tools.
Once a human becomes a beast, there is no transforming back. Even if the changes are minimal, they are permanently on the human and have lasting effects. Very rarely can a beast regain its consciousness, and when it does, it can be removed simply from having intercourse with a feral beast.
From here on out, you will follow regular people as they experience the effects of the were-apocalypse.