Wasteland Survivor - Prologue
#1 of Wasteland Survivor
First story here, please give any and all feedback, don't hold back :)
As for the source, the first thing I can say is lucid dreaming is a blast once you get the hang of it, I recount my story so far each night (kinda like a recap) and let my subconcous go nuts, if I like the changes, I write the new notes down and use it next night, as I get a story put together I will attempt to clean it up and post it, see if anyone else likes it too.
Some quick background that will fill out more in the first chapter. This is placed (initially at least, but hey who knows where it will end up) in my home town in Australia, Bendigo if anyone is wondering.
I will try and keep the music theme going (some ad-lib hunting for power sources for my phone will be a side thing of course :)
My first thoughts for the beginning of the new Age was, "Meh, its a Sunday, no work today" and dropped back into with something in the back of my mind trying to get my attention, Crystal's last words to me the previous afternoon drowned it out of course, thinking of her always puts a smile on my face and her words, "Lets hit a restaurant for lunch tomorrow." reminded me at least to reach over and check my phone and make sure the alarm was set for later in the morning.
It was still early, around 7am, my windows face the south so not much sun would get in, even if I hadn't run out of wall space in my bedroom for bookshelves and covered said windows with bookcases. Otherwise I may have listened to that voice in the back of my mind, screaming at the top of its lungs for atte... Zzzzzzz
Bzzzt Bzzzt Bzzzt
Always at the best part of the dream too, my hand groped the side table for my phone to deactivate the alarm so I didn't wake up my flatmate, and thats when that voice, only seconds before reduced to a muffled whisper yelled in my head, "THAT ISN'T MY HAND".
Another similar black fur clad appendage lept out and slammed on the reading lamp, and blackness returned.
Bzzt Bzz... oh you know the deal
Heh, what a weird dream, almost as if...
The alarm was still blaring, my jaw was hanging open and that voice was now sounding very full of itself and echoes of "I told you so" were ringing around my brain.
A quick examination revealed that yes, it was my body, I could feel when I poked my arm. The black on my forearms giving way to a red leading up the rest of my arms to my shoulder, my chest... there was the next surprise, well, two of them actually, quite pert and doing their darnedest to occupy my attention, and they did it almost as well as Crystal's did.
I needed more information, I grabbed a towel off the pile in my hamper, wrapped it around myself and dashed across the hall to my bathroom and its large mirror.
Again I noticed my hand and something else about it and my forearm caught my attention and I let out a surprised little growl, half my life of work at the gym had built some solid muscle but that was... gone.
Turning back to the mirror I again noticed my new assets, and noticed I was now sporting a muzzle in similar colours to the rest of me, rather than my familiar, very human, face. It looked roughly canine, but slimmer, and I finally put the colouring and physiological changes together, I was now a very female half human half red fox.
I dashed back to my room and grabbed my phone and hit Crystal's contact, tried putting it to my ear and after a few seconds of realising my stupidity I took it away from my now badly proportioned, at least for phone use, head and turned on speaker phone, only to notice it was already hung up, the little "no signal" warning glaring at me.
Looking through some clothes, nothing comfortably fit my now much slimmer and nearly a foot shorter frame, so a pair of shorts with a draw string and one of my favourite t-shirts would have to do, I started grabbing socks before the uselessness of that endeavour hit me. After some quick investigation I found the bases of my feet were padded with a very tough skin. Shrugging I grabbed my phone and made for the door again. I was just about to drop my sunglasses onto my now different but still hopefully supportive nose when I remembered the ear problem. I carried them out to the living room and after hunting around for a bit, found a spare few elastic bands, managed to cobble a loop onto the ear pieces of the frames, and put them on.
I was about to grab my headphones to go as well, when those thrice damned ears came to mind again, oh well, my phone had decent speakers, time to let them do their thing.
Phone in pocket, some daft punk seemed apt, dialled up "Human after all" with a laugh and locked the door and took off jogging to Crystal's house.
Sundays are typically pretty slow where I live, but in a town of two hundred thousand, there should be at least some cars around, after three blocks and two pubs passed with still nothing I sped up a little. The remaining six blocks passed relatively quickly, my concern was growing however and I turned the corner into her street, eventually coming to a stop out front of her house, well, the house she and a few of her friends rented.
I rang the door bell and was greeted with silence, worried I tried the door handle, locked of course. Getting out my keys and halfway fumbling to get her spare key into the lock and I just had time to dodge to the side as something solid flew through the air where I had just been.
My assailant was a five foot eleven... wolf, wearing a top and shorts I recognised immediately, "Crystal?".
The second brick was dropped at her feet, "Ben?", my attempted smile and "yeah" made her laugh and dive into my arms, before pulling back very quickly.
"Right t-shirt, right hug, but, uh, there's something... some THINGS new you might want to explain" she prompted with a very curious look on her face at my sudden downtrodden look she dove back in and hugged me again murmuring, "Its fine love, just, this will take some getting used to."