Hannah awoke the next morning in significant discomfort. Her mouth tasted pretty bad, and her nose felt almost numb. Opening her eyes, the first of the changes became obvious.
Below her eyes the early morning sunlight shone through the windows and the bars of her cage, reflecting on the black of her now cow-nose. Moving her mouth felt odd as she came to terms with the fact she now had the lower part of a cow's face. She could feel her ears had grown larger and the nubs of horns protruding from her forehead.
She leant forwards and tried to see what was happening in the corridor beyond her cage door. One of the nurses sat at a desk reading a magazine. Animal noises occasionally cried out; a cluck, a bark, a snort. Hannah was frightened to make a noise but attempted it anyway.
"Heduh? Hedph?" She was struggling to pronounce words.
The nurse looked up and smiled politely at Hannah. "Sorry honey, breakfast isn't for another twenty minutes. If you can wait a bit we'll take you out for a toilet break and you can stretch your legs."
***
Breakfast came and went, Hannah learning to chew like a cow with yet more farmland feed placed between the bars of her cage. She was desperate to get out and move around. "At least I wasn't made into a chicken, I guess they have to live in a cage like this their entire lives..." she thought.
Not long later the doctor returned and began opening the cages individually, performing check-ups and allowing each animal-person to use the toilet. Before Hannah was given this opportunity she had to watch another girl in the cage next to her do so, who had floppy ears and a corkscrew tail above her butt. Hannah wondered if this poor girl was meant to be a dairy cow but ended up with Hannah's place. She felt bad, but at the same time, pretty relieved.
When the doctor came to open Hannah's door, she clambered out and managed to stand out up, stretching out. The doctor checked her out and seemed satisfied. "You're coming along nicely. The numbness in your hand are your hooves coming through. And if you turn around... you'll notice you now have a tail".
The doctor used his pen to lift up Hannah's ropey tail. White fur with black spoltches suggested a growth of fur which would soon cover her from head to toe. "Feel okay?"
"A bdit nervouth", she said. "Bduh exshiteph."
"I think she said she was nervous but excited," the nurse translated.
"Good, that's normal", the doctor replied. "Follow the nurse here through to the toilet. It'll be the last time you'll use a human one. We've got a truck coming in at 3pm today to take all of you lot away to auction, so this'll be the last time I see you. Good luck."
***
Hannah lay in her cage, a relative cacophany of animal noises now able to be heard. Despite the gradual loss of her voice, Hannah realised she was still able to think coherently. Her physical changes were more drastic however, white fur now covering her lower body up to her udder and her feet now black hooves.
Human voices echoed in the corridor. The sound of cages opening. Hannah raised her head; it was time to go.