Lucas was woken at 6:00, 1 hour earlier than usual, due to painful headache. Groggily, he climbed out of his bed, grabbed an Advil off his night stand, swallowed it, and walked down the stairs to his kitchen so that he could make himself some breakfast before going to school. For the past couple of mornings he had woken up with similar headaches, and he had no idea what was causing them. He had made sure to drink plenty of water and get good sleep, but the headaches persisted. At first he was afraid that his headaches were a symptom of the Animal Virus, but he had tested negative multiple time times since they had started.
20 minutes later, as he was making an omelet, he decided that he should take another virus test, just to be sure. He took a Q tip one out of a drawer, took a swab of saliva from his mouth, and put it in the testing liquid from the kit. The way the test worked, if you were positive the liquid would turn green, and it would turn red if you were negative. It only took about a minute for the results to show up.
Around 20 kids from Lucas' high school had already came down with the virus, and while most of them were able to continue living as normal, one of them, a kid that became a giraffe, had to transfer to an animal hybrid only school. The poor kid's neck had elongated to the point that he couldn't even get into class.
Another kid, who had turned into sloth, moved so slowly he couldn't make it to class in time on his own, so he had to carried by another student between classes.
Lucas flipped over his omelet onto a plate and started eating. School wouldn't start for another hour, so he took his time. As Lucas ate, he considered again the possibility that his headaches were a symptom of the Animal Virus. He reassured himself that even if he had the virus, he probably wouldn't change, not to mention that he had just gotten vaccinated. Despite knowing how unlikely it was, the thought of transforming into an anthropomorphic animal gave Lucas shivers. He had terrified about catching the virus since it was first found in America a year ago, but it finally looked like the situation would be over soon. The CDC had announced that a cure was in its final stages, and although it wouldn't be able to change people back, it could completely stop changes before they started.
It was then that Licas noticed his test had turned a bright green. Horrified, Lucas rushed over to the test to confirm what he saw. Sure enough, the test had turned green, meaning was positive for the transformation virus. Lucas panicadely took out another test strip and repeated the test. Thoughts of slowly transforming into an animal filled his head as he waited for the test to come back.
After 2 minutes of anxiously waiting, the test changed color. Green again. Lucas almost fainted.
The next hour passed in a haze for Lucas. Immediately after getting his second test back, he had woken his mother to drive him to the hospital to find out if he had an active form of the virus. Although the drive was only around 10 minutes long, to Lucas, it felt like a century. He kept telling himself that he would probably be fine, but it didn't make it any hetter. He knew that depending on whether or not he actually had an active for of the Animal Virus his life could change forever.
10 minutes later Lucas he sat in the hospital waiting room, anxiously waiting for his name to be called.
Looking around him at the other people in the waiting room, Lucas wondered how many of them were there for the same reason as him. He could clearly see that at least one man had the virus, because he had a layer of black fur covering his ears, and a long ringed tail poking through his pants. It looked like that man was in the early stages of becoming a raccoon. The knowledge that he was not alone gave Lucas some comfort.
After an annoyingly long time waiting, Lucases name was finally called by a nurse. He rose from his chair and walked out of the room with the doctor, taking one last look at the raccoon man. I might look just like him soon, he thought to himself uneasily.
The nurse took him to a small room and took a blood sample from him, to see which mutation of the virus he had caught. After this, the nurse left him to wait for the doctor to come back with his results
The doctors desk had many ornaments on it and a picture of the doctor with some other people that Lucas assumed to be his family. What stoods out to Lucas was that one of the people in the photo was a fully transformed anthropomorphic puma.
The nurse took him to a small room and took a blood sample from him, to see which mutation of the virus he had caught. After this, the nurse left him to wait for the doctor to come back with his results.
When the doctor finally arrived, he took a seat the the desk across from Lucas, and took out a with his name on it.
"Well Lucas, unfortunately you do have an active form of the Animal Virus." he explained. Lucas' heart sank. He had been holding out for the chance that he had an inactive form of the virus, but this confirmed his worst fears. "Well, do you know which animal I will be?" He asked nervously. He knew that Depending on which animal he got, he could either be fine, or his life could be ruined. "All of the specifics of your transformation are in this pamphlet here." The doctor handed him the file he was holding.
Lucas opened the folder and read out his results.