Chris and Jim had been roommates for years. Their tastes didn't really line up. Chris was into punk rock, Jim was more the easy listening sort, but they'd always had each other's backs. So when Jim had signed on for this trial, hoping to pay some upcoming medical bills, or maybe even avoid the surgery his doctors were recommending by way of having his whole body rearranged like this, Chris signed up right along with him. He was just that kind of a supportive friend. Well, that and he'd never bothered getting his license since Jim had a truck. Two months would be a long time to be bumming rides off other people.
Jim was a couple places ahead of Chris in the line for the booth, and agreed to wait up for Chris to finish before exploring at all. So there they were, Jim awkwardly pacing around by the door, waving a few confused people on as they stepped out, Chris waiting for his turn, then standing around awkwardly as his body was reshaped, and what felt like just an impossible amount of fluffy white fur sprouted from his body, both really curious what the other would end up as. Once he staggered out of the booth, he was greeted with a curious "Chris? That you?" from what largely looked like a big fluffy white husky, standing up like a human.
"Jim?" he replied, getting a nod, "so you're a dog now huh?" and looked down at his own body, trying to work out what he was.
"And so are you!"
"Wow, what are the odds of that?"
Jim shrugged. "Well the paperwork said they were trying out twenty species so, one in twenty? Or nine in a hundred ninety nine, really?"
"Oh you know what I meant! I figured we'd get like, shuffled around more. Are they doing a whole batch of huskies at once or something?"
Just then the doors opened again, answering Chris' question with a clear no as a brown furred rabbit girl stepped out, looking a bit nervous and glancing everywhere.
Chris trotted over to greet her. "Hey there little bunny girl, have a name?"
She gave a nervous little nod, staring at Chris' muzzle. "S-s-sarah... could you not... not get so close?" She took a few nervous steps back.
Chris chuckled. "Ooh, scared the big tough dog's gonna grab you by the throat and throttle you around or something?" He gave a mocking lunge toward her, at which point she went wide-eyed, shrieked and bolted off.
Chris started to chase after her to apologize but stopped dead in his tracks when Jim barked out a quick "stop that!" He instinctively folded his ears back and held his tail between his legs while lowering his head.
"That girl was clearly nervous as hell, and you go and half-scare the life out of her? What were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't... sorry," Chris almost whimpered. It didn't feel like it should really be that big a deal, but the thought of Jim being upset with him really hit him like a ton of bricks for some reason. Jim was older than him, he had the truck, he had a really good head on his shoulders. They were together in this for the next two months. It was important to follow his lead. He'd just have to make it up to him, just, let Jim take the initiative for the rest of the day, and tow the line.
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Meanwhile, Sarah's heart was racing as she sprinted along, glancing frantically to her sides for any other dangerous animals that might be chasing her, but absolutely not turning back until she was too tired to keep running. As she leaned up against a tree catching her breath, she tried to think more rationally and calm herself down. "Nobody's going to eat you..." she said to herself. "That was in the orientation wasn't it? There's... there's people being turned into predators but... this isn't... this isn't some Deadliest Game thing. Right? They said so." She glanced around again, waiting for her own pulse pounding in her ears to die down enough to listen for approaching footsteps, sniffing at the air. "It was a joke... if it wasn't a joke, you could take that guy. You took those self-defense classes. You're at the gym twice a week. You know how to take down a guy twice your size..." She started breathing a bit heavier again, picturing a dog ten times her size towering over her. "That's not how this works though. You're big. You're regular human sized. That guy wasn't even really bigger than you. Maybe a foot taller? And all that fur. Probably a skinny guy under that. He can't really hurt you... he doesn't want to. You're safe here."
She sank down to the ground, clutching her knees. Her long ears twitched and honed in on the sounds of other people all over the woods, spreading out randomly as they left the booths. Some of them howling or roaring testing out their new bodies. It terrified her. "You aren't being rational. Nobody has a reason to hurt you. We're all just camping here." She almost jumped out of her skin hearing a twig snap in the distance. "Maybe they just... maybe they did rabbits wrong. They tweaked you to have too much adrenaline or something. It's a medical thing. It's not a rational thing. Just... just find one of those emergency phones. They'll retweak you or give you something to calm down or something. Maybe let you switch out. Be like a big tough tiger or something. Just... just stand up. Find a phone."
It took her a bit, carefully walking towards the park's outer wall, doing her best not to make a sound, or get startled by any of the people who did. There it was. Now she just needed to follow it. Find an emergency phone. She froze. There were two of them, right by the phone. Not just dogs. These were wolves. They hadn't spotted her yet. They were... talking to each other. Flirting a little? So they probably weren't hungry... not unless the male wanted to bring the female a meal to win her over or something. And they were really people. People like her. She could just say hello.
She took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Hello? Sorry to interrupt I just need-" They were looking now. Staring right at her. Two big wolves looking right in her eyes. Part of a pack. More were around. They were circling around her so they could all strike. She needed to run now! While there was still an opening! She blindly turned and sprinted looking for some sort of cover. Thick bushes! She'd slip right through but they were too big! She dove for them but they snagged on her legs! She was trapped and helpless, squirming about in a panic trying to break free! The branches were scraping against her and she was just getting stuck worse and then they grabbed her! She screamed!
It took a moment to even realize what was happening next. She was being pulled away. Someone was talking. She was being restrained! Someone was... scratching her ears? Whispering?
"Hey, hey calm down. We're not going to hurt you. I'm Pete- I mean, Petra. And this is Trace. We're not. Going. To hurt. You. OK?"
It took a few minutes of tight hugging and ear rubs, but eventually reason won out again, and the wolves let Sarah free to smooth down her fur and try greeting them again. "I know... I know, sorry. Just... this is a lot. I think they made a mistake." The wolves exchanged a bit of a look with each other and Sarah stepped over to the phone.
A very annoyed voice answered, cutting her off before she could explain anything. "Hang on. Are you bleeding?"
"No, but-"
"Can you breathe? Can you move? Are you experiencing any severe pain?"
"No physically I'm-"
"Keep this line clear for ACTUAL EMERGENCIES ONLY. Everyone in the park is processing strange instincts. It's normal. You'll live." And the call cut out.
Sarah stared at the phone in her hand, and the female wolf, Petra, spoke up. "Yeah they're having a day it seems. So you're just really hyped up then? Because believe me it could be much worse."
Sarah almost got angry at this wolf trivializing things. "I'm not 'just hyped up!' I'm... it's like being a little girl who just saw her first horror movie and now there's scratching sounds coming from the closet. I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with this."
The other wolf, Trace, asked "Well, if this is like a rabbit thing, what do rabbits do to stay safe? They like, dig holes or something right?"
Sarah nodded, thinking about being surrounded by walls and only having to worry about one point of attack, then looking at the tiny claws on her fingers. "I think so? But that's... I mean that's not going to work. Did you ever try digging a hole in your yard? Past the first couple feet the ground's too hard."
"Well," Trace continued, "maybe they thought of that? Like they did test all these things a little before we got here right? And I think I saw a back access road on the way in with a real wide-packed trail. If they were doing any sort of like excavation, I wouldn't be surprised if they were like, building tunnels for the rodent people or something? Probably where things look a bit hilly?" He glanced up towards the sun, trying to work out which way might be north for better directions.
Sarah thought about that a moment. It did make a certain kind of sense, and if everyone was having first day jitters these phones would all be crowded, so getting away felt smart. "Right, I'll try that, thanks."
"Want us to tag along?" asked Petra. "Scare off anyone else who might freak you out?" She flashed a smile, and Sarah couldn't help staring at all those pointed teeth, shaking her head and backing away.
As she left, Petra turned to Trace. "So we were um... talking about pets, I think?"
The male wolf smiled back. "Yeah... maybe we should walk and talk? In case anyone has 'a real emergency?'" He strolled over, putting a hand on Petra's back to lead her deeper into the woods, sending a tingle up her spine she was having a hard time processing.