Jennifer fought her way back to consciousness. She was quicker on the uptake this time, and immediately tested her restraints.
"Relax, they're for your protection."
Jen glanced around. Same room, different nurse. This one looked like she was wearing a Halloween costume, and was reading a magazine. She looked up at Jennifer with yellow cats' eyes, her raven dark hair merged into a light fur pelt on her face and arms, and what Jennifer had taken for a mask was an unmistakable cat's nose and muzzle with whiskers.
"You, you're cursed!" Jennifer stammered.
"So are you. But at least you look human." The cat woman in a nurse's uniform put the magazine down and strolled over, a sleek cat's tail swishing behind her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give offense." Jennifer huddled back in the bed and watched as the feline nurse checked a couple monitors, then raised the head of the bed up so that Jen was in a sitting position. Jen felt light-headed and saw a few spots before she started feeling better.
"None taken. You're officially a trauma victim, so you get some leeway. At least for a while. I was a raging bitch for months after I got turned into this."
"Never liked cats?" Jennifer guessed.
"No male cat people. I keep hoping some anime-loving tween girl will get the curse and we'll finally get a tom or two around here."
"Oh, um, sorry?" Jennifer was a little non-pulsed to have a talking cat lady sharing her sexual desires with her.
"De nada. So. The good news is that however your curse works I feel no particular desire to molest you." The nurse released the restraints and helped jenny swing her legs off the edge of the bed.
"I, wait, there's a chance you might have been affected? And they left me alone with you?"
"Only a small chance, and we're being remotely monitored. So, you're probably hungry, could use a bath and a change of clothes, and are brimming full of questions. Which would you like to take care of first?"
***
"So, are there a lot of cat ladies here?" Jen asked curiously? Washed and dressed in some serviceable if bland clothing, she and her cat-Nurse Sammy were enjoying tuna fish sandwiches, chips and milk. The selection had certainly endeared her to the cat woman who had started to purr when she wasn't talking.
"Eh a dozen or so, some other animal-hybrids, a whole lake full of mermaids, a farm for animals we suspect used to be humans. The werewolves they keep somewhere else."
"Werewolves?! You're shitting me!"
"Nope, it only takes one dude who likes aggressive women, or a sexually frustrated Twilight fanatic, and then with all the biting and infectious transmission you've got a serious problem on your hands."
"So why have I never heard about werewolves in East Hampton before?"
"A, because the media have a vested interest in no one ever finding out the town curse is real. B, because kids in general are fairly self absorbed and don't notice things that don't affect them directly. And C, surely you heard about Elcom relocating their employees after their factory burned down?"
"You're saying the Elcom factory was destroyed by werewolves?"
"No, but not everyone who left town moved to Texas, if you get my drift." Sammy daintily finished the last of her milk. "Come on, I booked the hallways a couple minutes from now to get you to your next examination."
"You booked, the hallways?" Jen stared at her in confusion.
"This is a working hospital, there are doctors nurses and patients moving around all the time, and about half the staff and a quarter of the patients would be all over you if you brushed up against them in the hallway." Sammy glanced at her watch. "For the next 10 minutes it's going to be a sausage fest out there. Come on."
Jenifer followed Sammy's swishing tail through the halls of what looked like a normal hospital. She occasionally caught glimpses of women peaking out at her from back offices, and the men they passed all seemed fairly friendly. They all seemed to know Sammy at any rate. Eventually they went up a set of stairs and through a set of double doors. Beyond the doors the hall was wider with a heavy carpet and wood paneling on the walls.
"This is the older part of the facility, mostly offices and meeting rooms." Sammy explained.
"Nice! So, who am I meeting with? Jen asked.
"The oversight committee. Anyone with a lingering affect to their curse meets with them at least once."
"Oh, and they won't be affected by me? Try to get me naked or whatever?"
"Ha! Um, no. They're kinda above that sort of thing. You'll see.