Not really sure what to do with themselves, Jim and Chris loitered around by the entrance as quite a few more test subjects made their way through to the park. Much like Petra and Trace, a decent number received an unexpected change of gender, very few of whom wanted to be around anyone else while coming to terms with that. Plenty more were just incredibly excited by their new bodies (the nature of the test did tend to mostly draw in furries and people with survivalist fantasies after all), rushing off to experience life "in the wild" without so much as a friendly wave. Most of the people sticking around by the entry point were people who came in as a group, and hadn't planned to split up at all, and the two huskies were happy enough to chat them up as they waited for friends and family.
There was Dana (formerly Dan) and Tom. Like Jim and Chris, they were roommates and old friends. In fact, they'd been inseparable since childhood. Playing games together, seeing movies together, taking the same classes. Half their conversations were impenetrable in-jokes. The next two weeks were going to change that though. Tom was a Panther now, and Dana a doe. Tom had been asking Dana all sorts of personal questions about her new femininity, and it was clearly starting to bother her.
Jay and Kay (formerly Kevin) had been more than just roommates. They'd been dating for a good five years now, and Kay had even considered proposing but had been holding off since Jay's parents were in deep denial about the two being gay. Now they had new problems. They'd both gone from gay men to lesbians, which was a lot for both of them to process, but they hadn't even ended up the same species. Jay was now a bear, and Kevin a rabbit. For the time being they were happy enough to have enough commotion in the area to process things quietly.
Then of course there were the other huskies. They'd trickled in one by one, and Chris had been particularly enthusiastic about welcoming them to "the pack." Greg, Bob, Jill, and Nichole. Jill and Nichole had been Jack and Nick on the way in, and their new hormones were running wild with four eager and energetic males surrounding them, but hadn't had a chance to really slip away.
There had briefly been another group loitering by the gate, a trio of cow girls. So far as the huskies could tell, they hadn't come in as a group, and from how much they were staring at and fondling their own admittedly enormous breasts, it was a safe bet they were all new to womanhood. None of them had seemed especially talkative though, even with each other they'd seemed a bit lost in their own world. At some point however a tall black bull had come through the entryway. He'd seen them all groping themselves, strode over for a quick introduction, and lead all three away to get acquainted somewhere more private.
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Meanwhile, after a good deal of poking around, Trace's suggestion had paid off for Sarah. There was indeed a large tunnel near the base of the hill, clearly man-made and well reinforced, but narrow enough that as she poked her way inside, she started to feel much more safe and secure, reassured that no predators several times her size could follow her in, even as she kept trying to reassure herself she was no smaller than anyone else here. She couldn't fully calm down of course until she'd thoroughly explored things. She certainly didn't hear anyone else, or smell anyone, which given her new senses was good news. The artificial warren wasn't much to look at of course. Some winding tunnels and a few wider chambers, fairly low ceilings all around. It'd be quite cozy if it weren't all packed dirt, support beams, and darkness. Still, she felt safe here. No need to venture out into the rest of that big scary park except to look for something to eat... and maybe try to find the other poor souls out there running around in a panick thanks to these damn rabbit instincts.
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Petra and Trace had been walking and talking for some time, before stumbling across a nice fresh looking stream and stopping for a drink. At first they were having a rough time of it, their furry hands and finger pads making it a little tricky bringing water to lips that couldn't purse as well as before, until Trace had the idea to just lower his whole head down and use that canine tongue to properly lap up a good long drink.
They'd had a hard time not staring at each other, and processing the new urges that kept leading to, doing their best to make small talk. Lots of compliments back and forth about each other's tails, and what good shape they both seemed to be in. Finding a rock to sit on, Trace leaned in to put an arm around Petra's shoulder. She was alarmed but curious enough to lean against him in turn, as they watched the sun begin to set.
Trace broke the silence. "You know... the whole bit about being wolves... and a damn sexy wolf in your case I have to say... this has been weird enough I hadn't really thought ahead to what we're supposed to do about food and a place to sleep."
Petra, whose face would be beet red from the thoughts racing through her head at this big manly wolf's embrace if not for all the fur, tried to joke away her feelings. "Well sleep's easy. We've got built in blankets, so we can just lay out on the grass, watch the moon come up, maybe howl at it..." It had felt more like a joke in her head. She worried about how he might interpret that. "And for food, I think we just hunt for our own?"
"Wait that can't be the idea. There's a couple hundred people locked in here for two months. There'd need to be like a hundred thousand deer or something running around... and I sure as hell don't know how to like skin an animal or get a bonfire going."
Petra laughed. "OK slow down with that math there. Not everyone's getting turned into something that even eats meat, and are you figuring like one whole deer per person per day or something? I mean I've never been hunting but I knew someone who did, and I swear his meat freezer seemed bottomless from taking home just a few."
"Well yeah, but we don't have refrigeration. It's not like we can kill something and keep it from going bad for weeks... and I don't know if I could kill something to begin with."
Petra shrugged. "I don't think wolves even eat every day? I mean I haven't had a thing since breakfast, and I'm not hungry yet. I guess we just try not to think about it until we're famished and then... instincts take over? I'm sure we'll eventually be hungry enough to want to just sink our teeth into something."
Trace gave her a big wide grin. "Hmm... sink our teeth in huh? Maybe a little like this?" He shifted around to give Petra a quick nip on the neck as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her down off the rock to roll about in the nice soft grass.