tf-side-story-water-troubles

SHRIMP Agency TF Stories: https://pastebin.com/Pdzmv2ej

Susan was just your average mother: constantly drained of energy and working all around the house in the scorching Summer heat. It had just turned noon and she completed her first task of vacuuming the floors. The pile of dirty dishes loomed over her from this morning’s messy pancake-filled breakfast. Tired from the first chore she decided to put the dishwasher to good use. No hand washing for Susan this time. After filling the dishwasher she noticed how dirty the kitchen tiles were and prepared a soapy bucket of hot water. With a wet mop in hand she began to rigorously clean the floor. Susan had the entire house to herself as her little daughter Mary was outside playing with who knows what. She just hoped her little girl didn't run off to that stream past the yard again. Last time she explored there she came back with a few cuts and bruises. Just as Susan was about halfway done with the kitchen floor she heard the back door open followed by Mary’s sharp pitter-patter on the tile floor.

“Mom?” Mary snarled on her way in. Susan sighed, it’s never a great sign when they come in with a question on their mind. Her back was turned when Mary prance into the kitchen.

“What is it deary? I’m busy at the moment so if you got something to show me it can wait,” Susan said in a disgruntled tone.

“Am I a werewolf?” Mary innocently ask.

“Of course not deary why would you ever think that? I swear those Johnson boys are a bad infl- AHH!” Susan screamed when she turned around. Standing underneath the kitchen entrance was a little gray wolf-girl wearing Mary’s vibrant clothes. Her tail wagged back and forth as she stared back at Susan with the biggest smile on her muzzle. Susan froze for a few seconds, completely broken by the sight before her. A few moments passed before she finally gathered enough of her senses to respond back.

“Uhh, sweety? Please go to your room. I’ll be there in a minute to, uhh, explain everything. Alright?” Susan said in the calmest voice she could muster.

“Okay!” Mary replied and joyfully hopped back to her room. With the little gremlin out of the way Susan started to hyperventilate.

“Alright alright alright alright,” Susan repeated out loud to herself. “My child just turned into a wolf and I have no clue as to why. Should I call animal control? No no no she’s still human, at least I hope so. Police? Yeah, they’re probably my best bet.” Dialing 911 as fast as she could Susan was soon greeted by a tired voice.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Uhh, yeah my child has turned-”

“Into something other than human?”

“Umm, yes? Specifically a little werewolf if that helps any, I guess,” Susan replied.

“Okay please stay calm and avoid further contact with your child for the time being. You’re not the only one who’s called in the past 30 minutes claiming to be transformed into something else. Could you state your name and address, please?” the voice asked. Susan knew from their tone that it was going to be a terribly long day.

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The van rushed through the blockade to the quarantined zone. In the back sat Mr. Franklin who was slightly worried about the current outbreak. A suburb was just closed off due to something transforming the populace into all kinds of creatures. Thankfully, the outbreak was detected before the first 911 calls were made giving enough time for SHRIMP crew to arrive on scene before it could escalate any further. The SHRIMP agency which stood for Shapeshifting Hazard Reversion and Integration into Mainstream Population was well equipped for an outbreak of this size. Mr. Franklin wasn’t worried about containment or finding everyone who transformed, the residual transformative energies could easily be tracked in the surrounding area. What worried him more was how big the outbreak was and dealing with the lives changed by this incident. It was going to be hard to suppress this one and panicking civilians was the last thing the agency needed on their plate. Soon the van crawled to a stop and Mr. Franklin and his personal crew jumped out. The current scene was extremely busy but still under control. A SHRIMP worker greeted him with a tablet in hand. The name tag on his hazard suit read “Jeremy.”

“Hello, Mr. Franklin. I’m glad you were able to arrive on scene so quickly. This is a big one so let me fill you in. We detected the first transformations at around 10:47am around the suburb. Our first responders arrived at 11:15am and full lock-down of the area was complete at 12:23pm. Currently, the situation has been deemed a class B outbreak with most of the transformations being anthropomorphic. Only a few select cases have involved TG-like effects. No new transformations have been detected since 1:12pm and those affected have not changed back. Early reports lead to water being the source of transformations so a boil-water ordnance has been put into effect. Our relief crew is hard at work handing out bottled water and packaged food for the time being. The actual source of the contaminants has not been identified at this moment. Good news is it the effects do not seem to be transferable by contact, but the water is still contaminated. Just to be safe we’ve still isolated those affected like protocol says and they’re currently undergoing triage as we speak. We don’t have a tally of the total afflicted yet but from what I can tell about one out of every four people have been transformed. Now you're all caught up, need me to repeat anything?” Jeremy asked behind the helmet of his protective suit.

“No, not at all. Looks like everything is under control here. Keep up the good work,” Mr. Franklin said.

“Thank you, sir! If you want, I could show you to the nearest triage tent. It’s just a block away.”

“Sounds good, I need to know what we’re working with here. Has there been any cases of hysteria yet?” Mr. Franklin asked as the crew started walking towards triage.

“Only a few,” replied Jeremy. “We’re surprised at how easily most of the afflicted have taken the changes. An incident this big usually has a higher rate of panic but for the most part everyone has been calm. Citizens have been cooperating well with SHRIMP crew and local law enforcement.”

“Good, good. Usually people start panicking this late into an outbreak. Guess our revised protocols were worth the effort after all,” Mr. Franklin said. “I always knew treating those transformed as regular folk was the better option.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. I remember back in December with the incident down in Springdale. We almost had a full-blown riot on our hands after that storage facility exploded,” Jeremy replied. The crew arrived at the huge tent set up for triage. Being a fairly new phenomenon, unexpected transformations can cause all types of physical and mental issues for people. Even more so to those who had never changed before. Triage is set up to provide quick therapy and aid to those affected while gathering personal info to make sure everyone knows who’s who. SHRIMP workers were all over the place like bees in a hive making busy work but Mr. Franklin had his eyes elsewhere. On the sidewalk across the street sat a lady who seemed very distressed. It almost looked like she was crying. He made his way over to try and comfort the lady.

“Ma’am, are you alright?” he asked.

“Oh sure, I’m alright. It’s my child that’s the problem,” she said between her outbursts of tears. “My daughter turned into some kind of werewolf and they put her in that tent for ‘care.’ At least that’s what they told me. She’s been wrangled up with the rest of those freaks and all I can do is wait while everybody tells me it’ll be fine, but it’s not fine! I just want to see my darling as a human again! The worst part is I think she’s enjoying every bit of it. She wasn’t phased at all when I first found her. How could something like this even happen? It’s unreal almost, like out of some sci-fi novel! And to top it all off her father doesn’t even know yet. All he probably knows is that the town is under lockdown and I can’t get the strength to tell him what happened.”

“Hmm, what’s your daughter’s name? I think I might be able to talk to her for you,” Mr. Franklin said back to the lady.

“Oh, you could? That would be so great thank you thank you thank you!” the lady said as she gave him a big hug, tears rolling onto his shoulder. “Her name’s Mary. She’s a little wolf girl wearing a bright pink shirt. Please tell her that I’m okay, I’m just so worried about her.”

“I’ll make sure to tell her you’re alright. Just stay here and I’ll be right back,” Mr. Franklin said and walked back to the tent. He brushed by a couple of workers on the way in and took a wide glance at the interior. There were about twenty or so transformed people inside, all of various anthropomorphic forms. Almost every single one of them had a SHRIMP worker by their side helping them cope with their changes. In the corner Mr. Franklin spotted a little wolf-girl in a pink shirt just like the lady told him. He walked over and saw one worker helping the girl doodle on their tablet.

“Oh, hello Mr. Franklin!” the worker said. The name “Angela” was printed on her suit’s name tag. “I’m just helping this cute little puppy here be the next mainstream artist.” Angela then gave Mary a light noogie on the head, making her giggle. “What brings you over here?” Angela asked.

“Just making sure everyone’s following protocol and trying to figure out this mess,” Mr. Franklin said, then directed his attention towards the girl. “Hey there little girl. What’s your name?” he asked.

“Mary,” she said. “Wanna see this drawing I made? Look it’s me and my mom!” Mary raised the tablet to show a crudely drawn image of her and her mother, except she had drawn herself as a little wolf.

“Ha ha, that’s nice kiddo. Hey, I talked to your mom outside. She just wanted me to tell you she’s fine and hopes you’re doing well,” he said.

“When will I get to see my mommy again? She said I wasn’t a werewolf but I think she’s lying,” Mary spouted back.

“Oh, it shouldn’t be too much longer. I think your mother knows best though, she cares about you very much and I don’t think she would lie to you.”

“Hmm, okay,” Mary replied and went back to drawing.

“Mary, do you remember what you were doing whenever you, uhh, changed?” Mr. Franklin asked.

“Yeah, I was playing in the stream down the valley trying to catch a turtle. When I got wet I started to get itchy and ran back to the house. When I got inside I was a werewolf and I think I scared my mom. She sent me to my room then you guys showed up and took me here. Mom was crying a bunch when you guys took me away, I hope I didn’t do anything wrong,” Mary said while pouting like a sad dog.

“No, Mary, you didn’t do anything wrong. Stuff like this can happen to anyone. You know what? For being such a sweet little girl and answering my question how about a treat?” Mr. Franklin said as he pulled out a lollipop from a secure compartment in his suit.

“Yay candy!” Mary said and snatched the treat out of his hands. Before he could react she had chomped down on the lollipop and with a loud crunch ate it in one bite. Mary then went back to drawing with the stick of the lollipop poking out of the side of her mouth. Mr. Franklin gave a concerned look at Angela who just shrugged. He waved goodbye and started to make his way back to the girls mother. Outside he noticed Jeremy taking a break near the sidewalk with his helmet off. Mr. Franklin knew just how uncomfortable these suits could get in weather like this but with no threat of cross contamination it was okay to get some relief once in a while. Suddenly a loud bang was heard and Mr. Franklin saw a van with a popped tire drifting onto the sidewalk near Jeremy.

“JEREMY WATCH OUT!” Mr. Franklin yelled. Jeremy was already one step ahead and jumped out of the way before Mr. Franklin could react. Unfortunately, the van wasn’t the worst of his concerns now as it had just plowed into a fire hydrant. Water started to spray out in all directions at a very high pressure. The driver managed to escape unharmed but Jeremy was flat on the ground soaking wet. “Get away from the water everyone! Move, move!” Mr. Franklin said and rushed around the geyser to check on Jeremy. Mr. Franklin’s suit was sealed tight but Jeremy had just taken his helmet off which worried him deeply. From what the reports said all of the water in town was contaminated and Jeremy was in deep trouble. Making his way around the corner of the van Mr. Franklin saw that it was too late, Jeremy’s transformation had already started. His hair quickly faded as a dull brown layer of scales began to cover the top of his head. It trailed down his back while his chin and neck area turned snow white. His face began to protrude out while his nostrils formed into flat slits. Brown fins suddenly jutted out of his elbows while a singular gigantic fin poked out of his back. A loud rip could be heard and a long shark-like tail extended out from behind him. His boots tore apart to reveal two brown webbed feet while his legs morphed into a more digitigrade form. Finally, his skull finished expanding outwards to show a multitude of teeth lining his shark mouth with a small fin on the back of his head. Mr. Franklin had just witnessed poor Jeremy transform into a shark-person and promptly sat him up on his new shark butt, pushing his tail out of the way.

“Oh God, this feels so weird it's like I’m covered in sandpaper. Is that my tail I feel behind me? Oh man it’s huge!” Jeremy said as he tried to collect himself.

“First time transforming, huh?” Mr. Franklin asked and sat down beside Jeremy. He noticed everyone else in a panic trying to move gear and people away from the gushing water. Down the road he could see Mary’s mom was unharmed and let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, I’m sorry Mr. Franklin I just had to get out of that suit for a bit. It was so freaking hot in there! We really should invest in some Summer gear,” Jeremy said as he took off his gloves to reveal webbed hands similar to his feet.

“Don’t sweat it kid, it's probably best that everyone gets some transformation experience in if they're going to be working in these kind of environments. Helps you experience what all those poor, innocent people feel like. At least you don’t have to worry about that suit for a while,” Mr. Franklin teased as he bumped Jeremy on the shoulder. A smirk formed across Jeremy's elongated face.

“Well, what are we going to do about this water situation, sir? Got any ideas?” Jeremy asked while poking at his new set of chompers. He was struggling to take off the tattered remains of his suit when Mr. Franklin began to help him remove what was left.

“I'm not entirely sure but I think I've got a clue where to start," Mr. Franklin replied, glancing over at Mary's mother.

Part 2: https://pastebin.com/PZ8Yuyq1