Jake laughed. "Hopping of course. Just wait until you see how wonderful it feels."
Conrad watched as Jake took off with multiple bounds. He followed Jake using shorter bounds but instinct soon granted Conrad knowledge, giving Conrad the confidence one would normally only require after months or even years of hopping.
But, as Conrad learned, sometimes to receive, we must also give. You see, while Conrad now knew hopping like the back of his hand like paw, hopping was now so normal to him that he barley remembered walking as a means of locomotion.
But, fear not for Conrad was not suffering. This all seemed normal to him, as it did to Jake.
By the time our two former humans reached the field, as far as they were concerned, they'd always hopped to get where they were going. But, you ask, how can that be? The mind is a curious thing, able to interpret memories in its own ways. Conrad and Jake's minds acted to replace memories of actions that involved walking with those of hoping.
The field, once a quiet place was now a buffet to Jake and soon, Conrad.
"It smells wonderful," Conrad said.
"it tastes even better," Jake said.
Conrad wasn't sure of eating grass. He'd much rather have chocolate or some form of meat.
"Don't be shy," Jake said. Jake took a mouthful and ate it. "See, it tastes great."
Conrad gulped but then tried some of the grass. He wasn't sure how to eat it at first. But, as how hopping had become normal, Conrad found that eating grass went from odd to a part of his diet to his normal food as he gradually filled up.
By the time he was done, Conrad would no longer remember eating or even craving anything other then the diet of a kangaroo.
"That was delicious," Conrad said.
Jake's scent, perhaps a bit stronger now seemed different somehow, even kinda nice.
"I wana hop some more," Conrad said.
Jake looked up and after swallowing a mouthful of grass, smiled.
"You don't have to ask me twice," Jake said.
Jake and Conrad hopped through the field. Conrad swore that Jake was leaning over just a bit more then he was before. Suspicion soon vanished. No, Conrad thought, he was just imagining it.
Conrad felt his center of gravity changing as he hopped or so, he thought he did. After every time it seemed to change, he quickly realized that he was only imagining it.
By the time they reached the other end of the field, Jake's breasts had receded and both Conrad and Jake had the bodies of natural kangaroos. Conrad and Jake however were seeing things in a new light.
No longer did Conrad see Jake as naked nor did he feel naked himself.
They no longer knew what naked meant. The idea of wearing clothing didn't even occur to them. Memories of wearing clothes as humans faded as they both instead remembered being kangaroos in the fur.
"That felt great," Conrad said.
Jake looked at Conrad, seemingly unsure what Conrad meant.
"Jake, are you okay?" Conrad asked.
Conrad would deny he'd changed even when the evidence was clear to anyone watching. For those initial moments where Conrad still spoke and understood the human English language while Jake did not, Conrad knew that things were changing beyond what he'd planned or wanted.
Jake heard what Conrad said and indeed, Jake was still in there. However, kangaroo instinct was growing stronger. Human knowledge was weakening. To Jake, Conrad was making strange noises. Jake remembered both of them making similar sounds not so long ago but something was fighting inside of his mind. Any attempt to fight it was futile to all but the most disciplined minds with iron wills.
A click of Jake's tongue and something deleted (or perhaps just repressed) knowledge in Conrad's mind as though it were turning a dial backward. Soon, all Conrad knew was clicking, grunting and some body language, much of which would garner instinctive responses. Any worry that he lacked vocabulary faded. Body language and the few sounds he could make couple with instinct covered everything he needed.
Conrad and Jake, while at some level still the boys they were only hours before were now male and female kangaroos. They still remembered their human lives to an extent. However, memories of doing things that only humans could do such as school were now just day dreams or something they'd forget entirely.
Don't fret, for while perhaps ignorant, Conrad and Jake were still far more intelligent and long lived then any natural born Kangaroo. The virus, while cruel in some senses also had enough decency not to rob our heroes of longevity. Conrad and Jake could still find their way home, even if they saw it as the kangaroos they'd become.
Is this the end for Conrad and Jake as we know them? Are they doomed to be animals for the rest of their lives?