The uniformed men lead Jake and the other former boys away from the ride; such things were for humans, not donkeys.
Jake resisted the men as most anyone would; he never wanted nor asked for these people to turn him into a donkey. As far as Jake knew, such things were only possible in fiction; cautionary tales people conjure up to scare children.
Fiction had become fact.
Fear and anger were the strongest among a host of emotions trying to overcome Jake. His human thoughts and emotions were still there but donkey instinct was trying to overwrite human thought.
Jake's emotions were in a war between working as they would for his human self and rewiring themselves to function as they would for a donkey version of Jake.
The fear was much stronger, more primal. Jake knew what a donkey was and how one lived its life. Knowing not only would becoming one force such a life upon him but remove any chance of continuing his human life only fueled that fear. Indeed, there seemed no escape, no hope.
Fear led to desperation and pangs of denial. A host of thoughts about escape ran through Jake's head. This was a nightmare that Jake wanted -- needed to wake up from. He had to be in his bed tossing and turning, crying even for help. This *couldn't* be real!
No amount of braying or bucking woke Jake. No, everything about this was too coherent to be a dream. The irony of such a chaotic event being too coherent was not lost on Jake. But that could only mean that this was real and he'd was a donkey.
Jake tried to hold back the panic that threatened to overcome him. This couldn't happen to anyone! Even if it could, it only happened to bad kids.
Inside the corral, the smell and sounds of the other donkeys overwhelmed Jake. He wanted out of there, he wasn't one of them, he couldn't be one of them.
Their braying was almost deafening. Jake didn't know if their braying was speech escaping as brays when they tried to speak or if they had lost their language skills to the point where braying was all they knew.
Jake brayed, it came out almost by itself. When Jake tried to say his name, at first a bray was all that came out. He tried to hold back the urge to bray constantly, meaning something but in the end saying nothing. Another effort and with considerable effort, Jake managed to utter his name. His voice was deep and raspy but he'd spoken! That such a small thing could be such an accomplishment frightened Jake and made him feel minuscule.
Dean was beside Jake. Jake knew Dean's scent. That Jake was using scent to identify another was shocking but less so compared to everything else that was happening. Jake looked at Dean, Dean was looking at Jake with a look that seemed to be asking for something.
"Dean, are you still in there?" Jake asked.
Jake hated how his voice sounded and how hard speaking was.
Two men grabbing Jake prevented Dean from answering before the men took Jake away.
Jake soon sound himself at the front of the corral where a man in a suit stood. It was the man that had taken Jake and the others to the island!
The man looked Jake over.
"I didn't think you'd last as long as did," the man said. "Now son, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Jake wanted to kick the man. He'd used Jake and the others; lured them to this island all for the purposes of turning them all into donkeys for the man's own gain (or possible entertainment, Jake wasn't sure).
"Why did you do this to me?" Jake asked.
Jake closed his eyes. His voice sounded as though he had a terrible speech impediment. Even Jake could barley recognize what he'd said.
"So, you can still talk. Well my friend, we can't have that," the man said.
"No, please, change me back, I have a life and friends! Why are you..."
Jake blinked as several brays escaped his lips. He managed to regain his composure but he felt his control slipping.
"Please let me be a boy again!"
The man pet Jake between his ears.
"You see my friend, this isn't personal," the man said. "It's business. I take no pleasure from this. Now, I suggest you stop talking. Number three, please bring this young lady a beer."
"I'm not a girl!" Jake cried, his words almost impossible to understand.
Jake knows the man's probably done this a thousand times before. He has enough experience with this that he could understand almost anything.
"I'm afraid you are my friend. You may have been a boy to start but it seems your donkey self is anything but a boy. Maybe I could get one of your friends to show you the..."
Jake, having had enough, turned around and kicked the man in the face. The man fell to the ground. Jake couldn't believe what he'd done. Two of the other men grabbed Jake. Jake's instincts took over and panic overwhelmed him. He felt only one desire now, escape. He bucked and stomped his hooves when he wasn't bucking. A head butt to one man knocked him over, a buck to another knocked him into another donkey. Jake took off into a run but first made his way toward Dean.
"We have to escape," Jake said.
Dean only brayed.
Jake nudged Dean, and repeated the message of escape. Dean seemed to understand Jake and both ran through the sea of donkeys toward the other end of corral. The other donkeys were braying and some were panicking. Jake knew that he was risking setting off a stampede; he didn't care.
One could hear occasional yells of other park attendants over the near deafening sound of braying.
When Jake reached the entrance to the Corral, Donkeys were kicking at it, splintering wood and straining the gates. Part attendants armed with only riot prods stood on the other side. Jake pushed his way through the other donkeys as Dean followed.
One of the armed attendants stood forward. "Either you all stop now or..."
"Go fuck yourself!" Jake said,
Wood can only take so much and indeed, the corral proved just that as the gates flew open under the rush of the donkeys. The only thing that saved the attendants from the donkeys trampling them was grabbing onto some of the donkeys and riding them before the crowd of rampaging donkeys dispersed enough that the attendants could run to safety.
Jake and Dean managed to get away from the crowd after several minutes and soon, they were alone. They slowed to a trot, both sweating and panting. Jake tried to think of what to do next. Their escape, while harrowing was also exciting to Jake.
"That was scary but exciting," Jake said.
He found it easier to speak. There seemed no logic behind that. Jake however, wasn't about to question something fortunate.
"Jake, why are you a girl?" Dean asked.
Jake closed his eyes. He couldn't accept being a girl. Turning into a donkey was bad enough but a female one?
"I don't know. How come you can talk now?" Jake asked.
"I don't know either," Dean said. "What do we do now?"
"We have to get off the island somehow," Jake said.
"But we're donkeys," Dean said. "We can't go home looking like this. I -- Jake, you smell nice. I, oh man. We're just dumb animals, we don't know any better. Jake, I want to stay this way."
Jake watched Dean approach Jake's behind. The reality of their situation hit Jake with the subtlety of a sledgehammer when Dean mounted Jake.
Jake gasped as he felt Dean penis press at the entrance to a part Jake didn't want to admit that he had.
"Dean, we can't. You don't want this, it's just your hormones talking."
"Jake please, let's just be donkeys," Dean said. "Oh God, please, just let me have this. I need it so bad. I just want to be this way. We can find a farm and enjoy life."
"Dean it's just your hormones and..."
Jake felt the influence of his own hormones as a wave of pleasure almost made Jake shudder.
For a moment, Jake also wanted to stay this way. He nodded his head at Dean.
Dean pressed further. It felt alien and wrong on so many levels, but also felt wonderful. Maybe Jake wondered, just this once, he could feel what it was to be a girl. Such thoughts were cloudy as Jake allowed Dean to fully penetrate him. Instincts overrode better judgment and morality. It was only for just a few minutes but for those minutes, Jake lived in the moment; the weight of Dean on his back, Dean's scent and the sensation of Dean inside of Jake; it was heaven.
When the donkey jack that (even for those blissful sort minutes) Dean was finished his task, he dismounted.
"That was awesome," Dean said.
"Yeah, it felt awesome," Jake said. "But, we're both boys. What if that means we're, um, you know, gay?"
"You're a girl now Jake, it's not gay if you're a girl."
Donkey instinct wanted Jake to stop worrying about such trivialities. It felt good and that's what mattered. Jake knew that wasn't all that mattered.
"But I was born a guy! I'm not a real girl! Is having the body parts of a girl that all matters?"
"I don't know," Dean said.
"Are you gonna let some other people decide what's right and wrong for you?" Dean asked.
"I dunno, I don't want to but, it felt so good and, I guess it would be easier if I didn't worry about right and wrong so much," Jake said.
"Then don't worry so much," Dean said. "Wana try it again?"
Jake looked between Dean's legs to see that Dean's donkey hood was showing obvious sighs that to Dean, the answer was yes.
"Maybe later. Can we get out of here and go home now? Even if we're donkeys, I'd rather be a free donkey then a slave donkey," Jake said.
"Yeah, me too."
Jake and Dean resumed walking.
"But where do we go?" Jake asked.
"We haf'ta swim for it," Dean said.
"Can donkeys swim?"
"I guess we're going to find out," Dean said. "If we can't swim, I'd rather drown then let these bastards take us away."
"But what about the others?" Jake asked. "we can't just leave them here!"
"Jake, we have to save ourselves. There's nothing we can do for them or maybe even us right now," Dean said. "If knew magic or something then maybe but they've turned us into donkeys! We have to get out of here and get help!"
Jake nodded, Dean was right even if what he proposed felt selfish. They had to escape and get help from people that could do something. Jake hated being helpless like this. He wanted to help and not sit on the sidelines while others put their lives on the line. But, he also knew that sometimes, one had to either delegate and trust others to do their job and/or that he needed to rely on others to help him when the time came.
Taking off to a run, Jake and Dean made their way toward the shore. Thoughts ran through Jake's mind the entire time. What if he was stuck like this? What if he did go back to being human but ended up as a girl? When they reached a cliff with dangerous looking water below, Jake felt his stomach turn. Every donkey instinct screamed to turn around; this was too dangerous! Jake shook his head, he wasn't about to let the instincts win.
"We have no choice Jake, we have to get out of here," Dean said.
With a gulp, Jake and Dean made a leap of faith.