"Doc, you're crazy. It's the middle of the day, why would I turn into a werewolf? It was a one-time thing.
It'll probably never happen again!"
Billson laughed, "Oh, it'll happen again. No worries. Well, I'd best get ready for the big press conference.
All the networks should be there."
"Wait! You cannot show me naked and caged on national television!"
"Tut, tut, wolfboy, you'll not be naked. You'll be covered with fur. So while you wait you can lick your
crotch or drink from your water dispenser or eat kibble or whatever. No more time to waste with idle chit
chat!" Billson said as he scurried out of the lab. Just before he closed the door, he adjusted a controller
mounted next to the door.
"Wait!" Nate shouted. He roared, "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! SOMEBODY HELP!" He went on like this for over five
minutes.
There was only silence to his plaintive pleas. Nate was hoarse and he noticed he was sweating profusely.
When he awakened, he hadn't been cold, even though he was naked in metal cage. Now he was downright hot. The
controller by the door must be a thermostat. The professor had been sweating, and Nate took that as a sign of
fear. Now he realized that the room had to be at least 80 or 90, when he awoke. Now it had to be over 100,
probably 120. It was a real sauna in the lab.
Nate licked his dry lips and looked distastefully at the water bottle strapped outside his cage. A bent chrome
tube stuck between the bars and waited for him to suck on it like a caged rodent. He was too thirsty to stand
on principal. He rubbed the mouthpiece with his fingers in an attempt to make sure it was clean, and then he
put his lips on the metal straw and sucked in deeply. The cool water was refreshing and had an oddly citrus
taste. His eyes bulged. He had already swallowed two mouthfuls. The last one he held in his mouth, and he
spit it out.
"You!" he roared, "This isn't water, it's Citrus Soda!"
A voice came over the speaker mounted to the far wall.
"Now, now, wolfboy. I suppose I should name you something more werewolf like or perhaps endearing. How about
Fido or Rover?"
"My name is Nate!"
"Now what sort of name is that for a werewolf? No, no, most definitely not Nate."
"You spiked my water with Citrus Soda! You know that's what turned me into a werewolf."
"Yes, and no. It's not Citrus Soda it's Wolfnip. Not to be confused with wolfbane which is anathema to
werewolves. Wolfnip, like catnip does for cats, releases the werewolf's inhibitions causing it to change. And
Citrus Soda didn't make you change last night, your genetic predisposition did. Do gave blood at the Freshman
blood drive, and I analyzed a small sample of each donor's blood. You are a latent werewolf. It just took a
dose of wolfnip to bring out those tendencies. I didn't just spike the one can of soda with wolfnip - every
can in that machine down the hall from your room was injected with wolfnip. I knew sooner or later, you would
drink one of them. Most people have no werewolf DNA, and so the other wolfnip laced cans won't do anything
more than maybe give the drinker an allergic rash, if that. Oh, and just so you know, it tastes citrusy to you
because you are a werewolf. To me and other real humans, it tastes a bit bitter and metallic."
Nate recalled Jim from down the hall telling him not to drink the cola from the vending machine because it had
gone flat and tasted metallic. The guy was a lunatic.
"Erg!" Nate groaned involuntarily as he felt his muscles, sinews and bones shifting under his itching skin. He
was changing into a werewolf. He was alone in a cage in an overheated laboratory with some voyeuristic
scientist watching him through a one-way glass, or over closed circuit television. He didn't know which, but
he did know that in just about 2 hours, he'd be a naked werewolf in a cage on national television. He roared
and shook the bars of his cage. Words no longer came easily. The stuff in the water dispenser must have been
pure wolfnip - it was definitely a lot stronger than the Citrus Soda had been. Nate's fingernails had
blackened and grown over an inch. He bent his head moving his slowly protruding jaw along the length of his
body. He stared at the red triangular head of his changing penis. The scent of man was fading and the scent
of the beast was getting stronger. He chuckled recalling the professor's admonition to lick himself. So he
did.
Enjoy the show, Billson, Nate thought with a growl. When he was a complete werewolf, this cage wouldn't hold
him. He had already spotted the bad solder job in the left rear corner of the cage. He would focus all his
werewolf strength there and escape. Long hairs now covered most of his body. Soon nobody would mistake him
for human.
In his air conditioned observation room, Professor Billson watched Nate's transformation. Six cameras at
various angles were recording all the changes. Billson glanced from one monitor to the next and then back
through the one way glass and into the lab.
"Yes, yes, yes. This is going perfectly," he muttered to himself, "If they don't give me the Nobel Prize for
Biology next year, they won't be giving it to anybody."