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Well fans, (oh how I love that word!) I hope you will enjoy this story. Not very Yiffy I'm

afraid, but I think it turned our fairly well. Started out as a short story and kind of took

off on me. Will be some more in the series. My stories are copyrighted, so NO takee!

Biohazard, A Gator's Tale

By

William W. Kelso

It was finally the weekend and I was really looking forward to some down time for a couple of days. Decided I'd go walkabout and pursue my favorite hobby and part time profession of nature photography. I'd managed to sell some of my better stuff to a few nature magazines and hoped I could eventually go into it full time. Sure would beat working as a mechanic on tractors and combines. I had found the perfect place to go too, well off the beaten track and nice and isolated. The area had some very nice swampy areas including creeks and the wildlife was plentiful. I'd been there a couple of times already and got some great stills of plants and flowers and a few good ones of some avian life. There was only one problem as it was on private property so I had to be careful.

Wanting to get as early a start as possible I threw my pack and camera gear in back of my old Range Rover and headed out. It was almost two hundred miles to the place but that was just a nice afternoon drive by local standards, and I always enjoyed the drive as the scenery was great. My only problem was I liked to stop too often and film or take shots of the Roos and other critters I saw on the way. I wasted almost an hour just filming a family of Big Reds playing and taking it easy in the shade. They seemed to know I was watching them and put on a show for me. Who says they're stupid. I swear they waved goodbye when I left.

After about a hundred miles of paved road I pulled off onto a dirt track so I could go in though the "back door" of the property I was planning on trespassing in. I knew it was against the law, but all I took was photos and all I left was footprints so didn't see any harm in it. People are so anal retentive anyway. After close to another hundred miles of dusty dirt roads I turned off the off the last one and cut cross country for a few miles until I came to the edge of the property and a big chain link fence. I hid the Rover in my usual spot which was a washed out creek bed, the high banks hid it just fine. Then getting my pack and camera bag I set out. Normally not a good idea to wander around in the outback by yourself, but I was experienced and already knew the area. Plus I had my emergency survival pack with me so wasn't too concerned, and a cell phone is a great and marvelous thing to have in the wild.

I approached the chain link fence and walked along it till I came to the hole I was looking for. It was well hidden and screened by brush so even though I knew it was there I still had a hard time finding it. I stopped and looked at the signs posted along the fence and noticed they had changed since I'd been here last. Before they had said the place was the property of some big corporation, but now they had changed. "NO TRESPASSING, Property of Inskilling Industries, Genetics and Biological Research Facility, Violators will be Prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law'. Well that was certainly ominous, but looking around I couldn't see any guard towers or storm troopers guarding the fence so I figured what they never know will never hurt them. Besides this place was back of beyond and I doubted they'd have any security out this far as the building complex was many miles away. Besides what could I hurt except maybe some bugs if I stepped on them.

Quickly I slipped through the hole in the fence and dashed across the more open area near the fence line and disappeared into the woods beyond. I waited of for a couple of minutes, then hearing no alarm I proceeded on my merry way. The place was really beautiful. It was cool under the trees and soon I was busy with my camera and taking so many great photos I had to change the memory chip more than once. After a few miles I came to the creek bottoms. Had to be more careful here due to the real possibility of quicksand, so was very careful where I walked. Not a nice way to die. I followed the creek for awhile and got some great shots of birds and small reptiles, but didn't see much animal life which was disappointing. Usually there were at least a few Wallys or other smaller marsupials running around. I really wanted some good shots of some animals so I explored a little farther up the creek then I'd gone before. If I needed to I could spend the night as roughing it was not new to me. I had a good survival blanket and enough emergency rations for several days if need be.

I moved into an area that was more overgrown so stuck closer the banks of the creek so I'd be able to move faster. And again there were plenty of birds and turtles, but no animals of any kind so far. I was so busy looking for critters I didn't see the goo until I stepped in a puddle of the stuff and almost slipped and fell down. "Oh gross! What is this stuff?" I said as I looked at the bottom of my boot. It looked like greenish colored snot and it was definitely organic, but I'd never seen anything like it before. I scrapped as much of it off my boot as I could with a stick, and took a closer look. Man did the stuff stink! Smelled like rotten eggs or chemicals of some kind. It was greenish and had stuff in it that kind of looked like the stringy green slime or algae you see in warm standing water and as I watched it moved! The little strands looked like they were curling and uncurling. With a disgusted sound I dropped the stuff and continued on my way. Soon I noticed the greenish goo was all over the place, but mostly in the water or in puddles on the ground. And the smell got worse. Then I found the source, several large plastic drums that had been dumped nearby, and into, the creek. Several had split open and the green crap was oozing from them. Bastards! I thought. This stuff has to be from that corporation or the new outfit that had bought the place. Definitely not cool, just because this place was so isolated they thought they could get away with this kind of thing, but it was against the law big time AND a crime against nature. So I took some good photos and marked the location on my map. They were going to get a very rude visit from the authorities if I had anything to do with it! Bastards! God knew what that stuff was doing to the environment! At least it looked like it hadn't been there very long, so hopefully the damage was limited and it would be easy to clean up. And what WAS that smell!

At the last minute I decided I'd take a sample of the stuff with me too, so I'd have real proof and so they test it and find out what it was. I eased down the bank to the creek and used an empty food container from my lunch to scoop up some of the nasty stuff. I never saw the damn Crocodile until it tried to have ME for ITS lunch. It was hidden under a thick scum of algae and water plants and I never even saw it until it lunged out of the water and grabbed my leg!

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled, and started kicking at it with my other foot. It had me by the foot and calf and I could feel its teeth digging in and it hurt like hell. I knew if it pulled me in the water I was history as all it had to do was drag me under and drown me or rip my leg off by going into a roll. I had on a good heavy duty hiking boot and long pants so that offered some protection, but I knew it had already broken the flesh as there was blood in its mouth. I kept yelling and kicking at it then managed to grab a good heavy stick, and leaning over as close as I could I started beating on it. I was very lucky as I landed one good whack right in one eye and with a grunt of pain it let me go. I backed up the bank in record time and stood there breathing heavily as I came down from my adrenalin rush.

"You Mother Fucker!" I yelled at the Croc who was still watching me hopefully. I proceeded to pelt it with rocks, sticks, a terrified turtle, verbal abuse, and anything else I could get my hands on until my hiss fit was over. In the meantime the Croc gave a disappointed grunting groan and dived out of sight in the slimy water with a flick of its tail.

While I was doing this I hadn't noticed that the Croc had some of that green goo in its mouth, and while I was hurling objects in its direction some of the green strands slowly disappeared into the cuts and bite marks on my leg. I never felt a thing. But now my leg started to hurt like hell. Even thought it hurt I walked some ways from the creek bank before I sat down to take a look at myself. I knew Crocs would sometimes leave the water in pursuit of wounded prey and that they could move surprisingly fast on land. I had no intention of making its acquaintance a second time, thank you very much. What the hell was a Croc doing here anyway? They weren't supposed to be this far inland and certainly not in this area. And it was a saltwater Croc too! Some damn kid must have set it free or something when it got too big for an aquarium and now it was running around eating people.

I sat down and carefully rolled up my trouser leg. I didn't take off my boot yet because if my foot started to swell I'd never get it back on. Oh, nasty, I thought as I looked at my leg. That Croc has gotten in a good bite and I had puncture marks and some tearing on my calf but fortunately there appeared to be no arteries cut or bone damage. I got out my first aid kit and swabbed off the bitten areas with sterile pads, sucking in my breath at the sting. There was some of the greenish goo on the wound, but none of the weird green strands I had seen moving around in the stuff before. Thank God for that. I put all the antiseptic and iodine I had with me on the wound, and squealed like a stuck pig as it really hurt and there was no one around for me to be a macho man in front of. Then I wrapped it up tight with some bandages and tape. It felt a lot better, so getting to my feet I started back towards the Rover. But first I flung one last large rock into the creek. Better luck next time you scaly SOB!

I knew I had to get to a clinic ASAP as at the very least I needed some antibiotics and tetanus and other shots as a reptile bite can have all sorts of nasty germs and stuff in it, and some of the bite marks were pretty deep. Probably needed stitches too. It was quite a few miles back to the Rover, but I was in good shape and the wound wasn't that bad so I figured I'd probably make it by nightfall. At first I didn't have much trouble but after a short time my leg began to throb and hurt and it looked like it was swelling under the bandages. Time for a break I thought, and using a tree for support I lowered myself to the ground and leaned back against the tree. My whole leg was hurting now, and my calf and shin were itching like hell. I rolled up my pants leg and almost fainted. My whole leg looked swollen and inflamed and there were dark streaks running up into my thighs. Oh my God, it was definitely infected, but I had never heard of an infection spreading so fast! I'd heard of flesh eating bacteria's and stuff like that and I was scared to death. I was out of medicine so there was nothing I could do and I doubted I could make it to the Rover now if it was spreading that fast. So I used my last resource, and got out my cell phone. I'd worry about explaining to the troopers what I was doing here later. And of course I couldn't get a signal, no bars at all. Great. The only thing I could do now was try to walk out of here and hopefully get a signal somewhere along the way. I thought about trying to make it to the building complex, but it was even farther than the Rover. But maybe I could flag down a security guard or get picked up on cameras or something.

With a moan I tried to get to my feet, but had to sit down again as the movement made my leg hurt a lot more. I started scratching at it as the itching was driving me nuts. But it didn't help much and if I scratched too hard it hurt. The infection had spread into my groin and lower stomach on that side and I could almost see the dark streaks moving up my body. I was starting to burn up too and I was soaked in sweat. My skin was hot to the touch and knew I must have a high fever. My foot had started to hurt terribly too, so with a moan I finally leaned over and took my boot off to relieve the pain and pressure.

And blinked and shook my head as there was something black sticking through my sock and it definitely wasn't a toe. With a grunt I leaned over and pulled off my stock which was hard to do as it was covered in what looked like dried clear slime, and it came off with a sticky peeling sound. And I stared at my foot in shock. That wasn't my foot, it couldn't be! Each toe ended in a sharp looking black claw like toenail, and my two smallest toes were growing together! There were splits in my skin, and underneath I could sees something dark brown and green. I reached down and scratched at the skin and to my horror it came away in soft pieces and there were SCALES underneath! Small green and yellowish scales! I was completely confused and scared now, what kind of virus makes you grow claws and scales? And, oh God, I was so horribly thirsty too. I took out my canteen and drained it, but it didn't seem to slacken my thirst at all. I knew I had to find more water or I'd dehydrate which wasn't good if you were sick and lost. I looked down in horror at my foot again, but the only change was some more of my skin had sloughed off and I could see the scales now went up my ankle and disappeared under the edges of the bandages. This can't be happening to me, this can't be real!

I tried to get a signal on my cell phone again and whimpered when it still showed no bars. With a moan I managed to stagger to my feet and tried to walk, but my weird deformed leg just hurt too much. And I was starting to feel really sick and nauseated and bending over I threw up what was left of my lunch. Mixed in with it were some of the green slime like strands I'd seen in the industrial waste. As I watched they kept twisting and uncurling like some kind of worm. It's got to be that stuff I realized, what the HELL is it? My whole lower body was starting to really hurt now, and I pulled up my shirt and the dark streaks had moved almost all the way up my chest and were starting to move down my other leg. Oh God. My right leg was itching like my skin was alive and crawling, and pulling up my pants leg again I pulled the bandages off with a sob and started to desperately scratch, and more large chunks of skin pulled away to reveal more scales! And my toes were longer and thicker now and each had a long black claw on the end and my ankle joint had taken on a new shape and bent differently now. There was nothing human left about them. And that clear slime had begun to ooze out of my skin all the way up to my waist. God I felt like I was burning up, and it hurt!

I stood up again using the tree for support and stared around in panic. And noticed that my right leg was now shorter then my left! It had a new bend in it and I couldn't really straighten it out all the way anymore, it just dangled there twitching. It hurt and throbbed as did my whole lower body now. I knew I wasn't going anywhere on just one useable leg, and I was so damn thirsty. My fever had gotten worse and I was starting to feel lightheaded and off balance and thought I might be going into shock. So with a sob of resignation I sat back down and as I did I felt a bulge at the base of my spine. With a shaking hand I reached back and came away with another handful of soft skin, and under it I could feel a large pointed bulge. A tail, I thought numbly, it has to be a tail. At that point I almost passed out.

But the horrible itching had spread to my thigh by now and unable to stop myself I reached down and started tearing and scratching tying to end the torment and more chunks of skin came away and there were larger scales on the inside of my thigh. No, I realized, not scales but bands! Like those on a snakes, or a Crocodiles belly. That Crocodile! It had bitten me and got those green things on me, and now they were IN me! But what were they, and why was this horrible thing happening?? And then with no warning horrible cramps suddenly hit and I could actually see my gut churning and rippling, and oh God it felt like my insides were MOVING around and rearranging themselves. I vomited up a huge lump of bile with those wriggling green things and with a scream from the horrible pain I blacked out.

I don't know long I was unconscious, but it must have been awhile. I had fallen over on my side and with a moan I managed to prop myself up against the tree. I hurt so badly and was still burning with fever that I was only barely conscious. My skin all the way up to my shoulders itched and burned. I looked down at myself and sobbed in horror. Oh nooo, please nooooo! The change had spread and I now a two foot long tail jutting from between my legs, a thick heavy tail covered on the underside with bands and with squarish scales on the sides I could see. And my right leg was now totally reptilian, the thigh much thicker and it was now jointed so it lay to one side at an angle instead of straight down. The tail had split my jeans open so I just removed what was left. Now the skin on most of my lower abdomen had sloughed away to reveal more wide bands and I realized I must have been scratching and tearing at myself mindlessly while I was unconscious. The change had spread down my left thigh to my knee and I could see what was left my leg was now covered in the clear slime like goo and the skin was starting to split on the rest of it. But the worst was my genitals. My testicles were gone, and as I watched my penis slowly withdrew into a slit between my legs. A cloaca I realized, or vent. I knew what it was as I had seen them on nature shows,and now I had one. I could still feel myself, but my genitals were now inside of me! And the smaller opening could only be my asshole. Oh God, I thought, this is insane. I arched as a sudden brutal muscle cramp moved up my spine to my neck and I heard my vertebrae pop.

I think seeing the horror of seeing what had happened to my manhood and the agonizing pain in my spine caused something in me to snap and I became completely delirious for I have no idea how long. When I woke again it was much later in the afternoon. I was still leaning against the tree with my head hanging down. I realized I was drooling thick clear goo with those green things in it! With a sob I spit out as much as I could but could still feel them inside my throat and mouth. Oh God! Looking down again I saw my lower body had completely changed, there was no longer anything vaguely human about it. The tail was much longer and thicker, and now both my legs were the same. The tail was much longer then the legs now. I moved my new legs and they kicked feebly. I looked like an upside down lizard from mid chest down. But at least the pain was gone down there and was now concentrated in my chest and shoulders. My head felt like it was going to explode from the pressure inside of it and my jaws hurt. With a gagging noise I spit up more of the goo and green things and there were teeth mixed in with them! As I tried to spit as much out as possible I ran my tongue over my teeth and the remaining ones were pointed! OMG, they were fangs!

"Uggghhhh!" I moaned, and also realized I could no longer move my jaws from side to side. I could only open and close them because of the way they were hinged now and there was a noticeable bulge to my face! I felt my face and it seemed like the skin was hard and rough under the slimy coating. My arms were still human, but the clear goo now covered them down to the elbows as it did the part of my chest that I could see. As I inspected my head my hands came away with clumps of hair, it was falling out! But worst of all was the horrible thirst. I had never been so thirsty or hungry in my life. I had to find water, somehow I knew if I didn't I would die from what was happening to me. Part of me actually wanted to let that happen as I was so scared, but the survival instinct is powerful in any living creature, even something like I was becoming.

With a deep moan, God it hurt so just to move, I managed to roll over on my stomach. I lay there for a few minutes with my eyes squeezed shut from the pain. If felt better like this and I gave a grunt of relief. I knew which way the creek was, so I began to push myself along the ground with my new hind legs and my elbows. My new hind legs were very strong and I dug my clawed feet into the ground for purchase. I had completely for gotten about my cell phone and trying to call for help again as my only thought now was reaching water, any water. As I pushed and dragged myself along I had to pause every now and then as new pain would wrack my body. Oh Jesus it hurt so. At one point I arched my body and screamed as I felt my spinal column readjust its alignment and I could feel bony ridges pushing themselves up through the skin on my back as it kept falling away. Ohhhhh God, it hurts! I felt my ribcage flatten and spread with popping noises and vomited again as more painful internal spasms racked me. I lay there gasping for breath and sobbing, then started pushing myself along again.

I moaned and hissed as I struggled along, sometimes croaking and screaming at the worst of the ongoing pain. My whole body would shudder and writh as cramps and seizures wracked it at irregular itervals. Still I kept crawling along the ground, but my arms had become useless now and just dragged on the ground as they too changed, their skin rubbing off in pieces from the friction to reveal new glistening scales. I couldn't look down at myself anymore because my neck had become thicker and stiffer, but as least I was able to slide along easier now. But I could feel I was getting weaker and my eyesight was getting blurry. I had to reach water!

I hissed in pain but managed to keep on going and finally I was able to use my front hands? Paws? To help push and drag myself along. Finally after was seemed like forever I reached the banks of the creek and with a guttural groan I pushed myself over the edge and rolled down into the shallow muddy water. And it was heaven. My new skin of thick scales had become cracked and dehydrated and very painful and I could feel my body sucking in the lovely moisture like a sponge. "OH YESSSSSS!! Hiiissss! Urrkkk!" I moaned at the incredible relief. It felt sooo good! The creek was very shallow so I rolled in the beautiful wet mud until I was caked in it. I could tell the change was almost over as the pain was fading, but it still had a ways to go.

So I lay there in the cool soothing mud and let it the final changes take their course because there was nothing I could do about. I felt my eyes start to spread apart and my vision changed. I moaned at the horrible pain as my skull flattened and reshaped itself, tear running from my eyes as they changed too. My jaws slowly bulged out further and further and flattened out into a large powerful snout. I could feel my tongue and throat changing and soon I could no longer make any sounds remotely human sounding. I could no longer move my jaws from side to side as they were hinged now. I gave a few grunts and hisses of pain as a few more small spasms rippled through my guts and I vomited up another large glob of the good and green things and it was finally over. With a tired and exhausted hiss I feel asleep.

I don't know how long I slept, but it was strangely light sleep. I felt rested when I woke up but had also been at least partially awake and aware while I slept. It was weird. I lay there in the nice gooshy mud for a long time thinking "What's next?'' For some reason I had expected my mind to go as well, but my human memories remained intact and I was also aware of new memories, no-not really memories, more like instincts. For one thing I was horribly hungry and somehow I knew there would be fish and other prey in the deeper pools that I could catch. I felt my new stomach rumble at the thought of some big juicy raw fish. My human mind thought "Gross, raw fish!", but I also realized I had no qualms about such food now. With a grunt I started pushing myself through the mud and shallow water towards the deeper water I could smell nearby. I was surprised at how fast I could move, but I was still horribly weak. Soon I reached a nice deep pool, and grunting in pleasure I slid into the deeper water and felt my nictitating membranes automatically snap over my eyes to protect them so I could see underwater. Keeping my buoyancy neutral I surfaced and floated just under the surface with only the top of my head and eyes showing. I watched as a large dragonfly perched on the end of my snout but I just slowly blinked and didn't move. I was surprised at how well I could see, but a lot of the colors looked washed out. I drifted for awhile just enjoying the cool water against my sore and abused scales. I had accepted what had happened now, and it wasn't so bad. In a way it was a strangely beautiful experience, to become something totally different. I could feel the power in my new body, and my senses were so much sharper now and I was bombarded with all sort of scents and new sensations. I felt perfectly "normal" now that the pain was gone.

Releasing some air I submerged and with quick flicks of my tail I moved to the bottom of the pool and rested there. I could see perfectly well, but the water was cloudy. Somehow I knew where the fish were though. I could smell them even in the water and I picked up on their vibrations as well. I just lay on the bottom until a fish that was big enough came swimming by and grabbed it with a quick lunge or sideways snap of my jaws. Once I had a fish it never got away. For the bigger ones I would go to the surface and throwing back my head and opening my jaws I worked them into position and swallowed them whole. It took awhile, but eventually my stomach was full and I was fat and happy. With a tired hiss I crawled out on a nice convenient rock to warm myself up before the sun set.

As I lay there I kept thinking about what had happened. I still had mixed feelings about it but was not as upset anymore. How had it happened? What had caused it? What were those horrible green slimy things? How had they done this to me? And they were still inside me because every now and then I would hack up another glob and spit it out like a big gross loogie. I opened my mouth to help cool off as the sun had moved and I was in the direct sunlight now and it felt nice to my tired aching body as the heat soaked in. I closed my eyes to doze, but still very much aware of what was going on around me. Once I heard an unexplained noise and with a warning hiss I quickly slid back into the water and went deep. Reaching the other side of the pool I rose to the surface again and tooked around, but it had been a false alarm. Big brave me, I thought. The sun was going down and I was still tired from the physical ordeal of my change and was sluggish from my full stomach. So with anoher tired hiss I found a good spot to spend the night.

It had been a warm night, but I was still a little sluggish so crawled out onto "my rock" again to bask. And as I warmed up I became more aware and did some more thinking about what my options were. Not much I realized. I still knew who I was and what I was now, but how could I tell anyone? My vocalization was very limited. There was no way I could make any intelligible human sounds. And I doubted my claws or whatever they were would let me write or anything like that. If I approached anybody they would either freak out and/or run away, and understandably so. Crocodiles are not cuddly puppies you want to pick up and hug. And even though I knew I was fairly small by Croc standards I was still very nasty looking. I know I would run if something like me came crawling up to say "Hi!" I began to realize that this was probably permanent, and that I would spend the rest of my life like this. And Crocodiles live a long time unless they end up in a shoe and handbag store. The human part of me was sickened at the idea but the other part didn't care, it was perfectly happy. And it's true that crocodiles can cry if they want to because I lay there for awhile on my rock with tears running down the sides of my head. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life on my belly eating raw fish! The mere thought horrified me.

I guess it's been a week now since my change, but I'm not really sure as time seems to pass differently now. It's just not as important. There is night and day, but as far as what the hour or day is I have no idea and don't care. As long as I'm full and comfortable I'm pretty content. But I have to keep moving as even a smaller Croc like me eats a lot and it didn't take me long to empty the pools I spent time in of most of the edible size fish or turtles. At fairly regular intervals I hock up more balls of that clear greenish goo with the green stringy things in them. A couple of times I tried to take a closer look at the stuff but didn't have much luck as I could only take a close look with one eye and my new eyes weren't much good for close-up detail. But I could see the green things moving around like worms. What IS this stuff! Whatever it was it was weird and dangerous as hell as I knew well from my own experience with it. But how and why had it done this to me? Would anyone who got it on, or in, them change too? I had thought about it a lot and I sure as hell didn't want this to happen to anyone else if I could prevent it. This was no way to live for someone, or something, with an intelligent mind. I knew I had to do something, but what?

In the meantime I had been slowly moving deeper into the creek system looking for bigger pools and food. So far my food was still fish and turtles and the occasional snake. I'd had more than one chance to grab a Roo or Wally when they came down to drink, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I was catching more than enough fish to keep me satisfied, but I did know if I was hungry enough I wouldn't be able to keep from eating anything that came close enough. There were limits to how much my intelligent mind could control the reptile one. And at times it was best to let the reptile take over.

I was entering an area that was much wetter and swampier now and soon I came to the pool with the plastic drums in it and recognized where I was. As I started to enter the pool I suddenly heard a warning hiss from another Croc! I stopped and lifted my head so I could see better and with a big splash and warning snap of its jaws the other Croc slid off a rock and into the water and disappeared. Right away I knew it was the same one that had bitten me and "infected" me with the green stuff, and I felt sudden anger. For some reason I hadn't much thought about the other Croc since the change had ended, but it all came rushing back and I knew I had this beast to "thank" for what had happened to me. With a threatening hiss of my own I slid into the water.

Right away I knew two things, it was a female and it was smaller than I was. But I also knew that wouldn't keep it from defending its territory if it felt threatened by my presence. Fortunately the warning had been pretty much a standard Croc greeting as well, just to let me know not to mess with her. I felt my anger die away as we circled and looked on another over. She's pretty, I thought, even as my human mind said "you're sick!" I told her with both sounds and body language that "I didn't want to fight" and she replied "OK then, but keep your distance". The greetings over we both found nice rocks to crawl out of the water on and lay there basking in the sun with our mouths open and checked each other out. It was kind of weird, my first encounter with another Croc after my change and I was acting just like a Croc, but also as a human. The Croc part thought she was a very pretty specimen, but the human part was still upset and mad over what had happened. And we both just lay there perfectly still and kept our eyes on one another. What she was thinking about the strange male who had invaded her territory I had no idea.

After awhile we both decided the other was on the level about not wanting to fight so she turned and slid into the pool to hunt and I joined her. I dived and settled to the bottom and as she passed overheard the Croc part of me checked her out and thought "She's a hottie." in a reptilian kind of way of recognizing beauty. She was lithe and graceful, nicely proportioned and her scales and bands were a lovely color combination and she smelled good. The human part of me thought "Get a grip on yourself, mate!" but the reptile just ignored it. There were plenty of nice big fish in the pool and soon we were both full and crawled back out of the water to soak up the sun and let our meals settle. As she was crawling out of the water I suddenly saw a flash of light from something on one of her front legs. Curious I moved a little closer and with a start saw it was a gold bracelet. It was embedded in the scales just behind her "wrist". It could only mean one thing, she must be like me! A transformed human!

I let out a loud hiss of surprise and in a flash she was gone back into the water and surfacing across the pool she gave me a dirty "What's your problem?" look. I found out Crocs are actually able to communicate better than people realize because I was able to let her know I was "sorry" and embarrassed at my "rudeness". She came back over to the sunny rocks, but kept her eyes on me.

I couldn't even ask her about the bracelet! There was no way as Crocs have no concept of clothes or jewelry, and I couldn't figure out a way to ask her about it! It was frustrating as hell. With any kind of vocal questioning out of the question I decided to try pantomime. But not being able to stand up and being fairly limited on how much I was able to use my front legs it was hard to do. But I just had to try. Had to let her know I was like her. I moved a little closer and she raised her head and gave a low hiss of warning "watch it buster". I held up one of my front legs as best I could and tapped it against the side of my jaw at the "wrist". She was still watching me but her expression had changed to one of uncertain surprise. I definitely was NOT acting like a normal Croc and she wasn't sure what to make of my behavior. I tapped again and she raised her own leg and did the same! YES! I thought. She's getting it! I moved closer and she waited without moving, still holding her leg up in the air. When I got close enough I reached up and grasped her claw/hand with my own as best I could, and we held hands for awhile. And like I said before Crocodiles can cry because both of us did because we were just so happy to find someone else like ourselves and know we weren't alone. I also gently took her snout in my own in a kind of Crocodile kiss as somehow I knew that was the right thing to do. It may have looked like I was biting her but it was really very nice, it's the way Crocs kiss and show affection. And we stayed like that for a long time just taking comfort in one another's presence.

Finally we separated and moved off a little ways and just lay there and looked at each other. We knew we were both changelings now, but that was about it. I had NO way of asking her name or anything else, and she had the same problem. Crocs are just not talkative critters. "Damn it!" I thought. I couldn't even scratch anything in the dirt because my legs were really only for moving, I had no thumbs or way to even see what I was doing with them. Crocs do not use their front legs to grab or use tools, and I had the same limitations no matter how "smart" I was. That was the major problem with what we were now, no way to communicate beyond very basic needs. I realized she had turned away from me and was looking over her back as best she could, and I knew she wanted me to follow her. She slid into the water and curiously I followed as we swam up the creek to where the drums of goo were. I had mixed feelings about going near the horrible stuff, but as we had already been "infected" and we both had the stuff living in us I guess we were pretty safe. It had already gotten us. She crawled out of the water and headed off into the bushes, so I kept following her. After about a hundred yards we came to a truck that looked like it had been there for sometime as the tires were flat and it was very dirty. She stopped next to it and opened her mouth. I crawled up next to her and looked at the door, it had "Outback Nature Preservation Society" and the logo of a running Roo. It must be, or had been, her truck I realized. Not that she could ever use it again. She must have found this stuff and gotten infected somehow, and like myself been unable to do anything before she became too sick to even move without agony. And it looked like she had been here for a long time. I'd only been like this for a short time and I can't imagine what it must have been like for her. She must have stayed near the truck and drums hoping someone would come looking for her, but no one had until I had stumbled onto the scene. But why had she attacked me? She must have known I'd be infected to, or maybe not? She might have not even realize it had to be the goo. Maybe it wasn't really an attack, maybe she had just been trying to get my attention? Maybe she hadn't meant to break the skin but had underestimated the power of her bite, or maybe I'd caused the wound by struggling and freaking out like I did. How else could she have gotten my attention? By chasing me? She had to make contact somehow and since Crocs and people don't exactly socialize what were her options? Or maybe she was just horribly lonely and just didn't want to spend the rest of her life alone, and I just couldn't hate her for that. And there was NO WAY I COULD ASK HER, DAMN IT! I let out another loud hiss of frustration, but she knew what I meant this time.

So for now we did the only thing we could, we went back to the creek because our skin was getting dry and it was getting dark. We found a place to spend the night and lay side by side in the dark. I could smell her musky scent and it was nice to have a friend close by and she really was a hottie by Croc standards. I was glad she wasn't alone anymore and was glad I wasn't alone. But I also knew I wasn't going to just accept this anymore as something needed to be done. Someone somewhere had to know what had happened and maybe they could help us. But again the big question, how the hell to let anyone know, and how did we find them? Sure as hell couldn't use the yellow pages. "Hello, I'm a mutant Crocodile. May I please make an appointment with the mad scientist?" I gave a soft hiss of amusement at the thought, and she made an inquiring one of her own. I didn't answer, just moved a little closer to her and she seemed OK with that.

The next day I noticed that the gold bracelet was bothering her. It was embedded in the scaly skin behind her "wrist" and I could see, and smell, that it was becoming infected. As she had grown it was sinking in deeper and deeper. I moved over to her and held up my front leg again, and she did the same questioningly. I moved closer and examined the problem as best I could. Finally I held her "hand" again then poked at the bracelet to see if I could get one of my claws under it. She seemed to know what I intended and didn't pull away or hiss at me. It took some doing, and I know it hurt her, but she knew I was trying to help. Finally I was able to dig one of my claws under the chain and it broke with a snap. It was still embedded though, but I was able to grasp one end of the chain in my jaw and pull it free. She let out a hiss of pain and ran to the edge of the water and dunked her foot in some nice mud to make it feel better. Then she came back and gave me a "kiss" by gently biting my snout and I'd have blushed if I could, "Aw shucks. Just helping out Ma'm."

Then one day we found out we weren't alone. We were sunning on our usual rocks when I heard a faint grunt from farther up the creek. We were both instantly awake and alert. There was no mistaking that call. It was an inquiry from another Croc! Basically it had said "Hello, am I alone?" We both answered at the same time with the same answer "No, you're not." Of course that's not really what we said, but it's what the calls conveyed to us and we understood them. We kept calling back and forth with varying grunts and hisses until we'd told the stranger it was OK to approach us, and where we were. A short time later a very young Croc, maybe three years old and female, came swimming down the creek past the barrels of goo and into our pool. She was shy at first and stayed well out in the water watching us warily. Her only movement was the occasional eye blink. Crocs are very patient creatures and it took her about an hour to make up her mind we weren't belligerent as either of us could have had her for a snack. We didn't move either as both of us were just as patient, and it was the polite thing to do. Finally the youngster swam over and carefully joined us in our basking. The only movement was the occasional blink to keep our eyes lubricated. We all lay there with our mouths open to help cool off and looked at each other. She coughed up one of the goo balls too so I knew she was also infected with the stuff. Had she been changed too? I tried the claw handshake with her but she gave me a "What's wrong with you?" look and backed away with a warning hiss. Somehow I knew she was a natural Croc. I had wondered how my first Croc friend had gotten infected, and I wondered if this little Croc had bitten her? But of course there was no way I could ask. But it was nice to have another Croc around, and I knew the little one was relieved to have found some nice big friends and protectors.

I now know from a personal perspective that we Crocs are more sociable then humans realize. Why do you see big piles of Crocs all sunning together? It's because they're a loose pack or pod or whatever you want to call it. I forget the human word. If another Croc they don't care for shows up its muddy water and tail biting until he buggers off. We had accepted the little youngster into our group and given her admittance to, and use of, our pool so she was now a member of our group. We would team up and drive a school of fish into shallow water and it was pig out time. It worked really well for all of us and soon we had "adopted" her as a member of the family.

About a week later it started to rain heavily as the wet season arrived. The pools got slowly larger and deeper which was just fine with us, the more water the better from our point of view. Deep water meant more protection and more food. The fish supply improved as they could now move from pool to pool. I liked to lie in the warm rain and feel the drops pattering on my scales; it kind of tickled a little. It rained every day and night off and on for almost two weeks and the water levels kept rising and the drums were starting to float now. I didn't want them to float into an area where there might be more people so with the help of my friend we managed to nudge and push them further up the bank and out of reach of the water. We were very satisfied by our efforts. Maybe it would help to keep some other poor slobs from ending up on their bellies too.

Time was slow where we were and because of what we were now. Basically it was day or night and it was hard to think much further ahead than a few days at most. I know a fair amount of time had passed as the water level had kept rising and we had moved to another pool with more fish. It was here that something happened that caught me totally by surprise. I had noticed for several days that her scent had been changing and I was paying more attention to it. Plus she had been antsy and had even snapped at the little Croc a few times which surprised me as she was usually pretty mellow. Finally the sun came out for a day and after a nice basking break in the sun I slid back into the water to cool off.

She followed me and started to circle me slowly but I didn't pay much attention. Suddenly she dipped her muzzle under my own muzzle and started blowing bubbles! "Oh, I thought, OH!" It felt wonderful and before I even realized what I had done I sprayed some musk from the glands under my neck. She grunted and moved off a little way and waited. At this point the human part me was totally submerged by the reptile mind even though it also knew what was happening. I gave a deep grunt and slapped the water with my snout and let out a long soft hiss. We began to circle each other making soft grunting and hissing noises, rubbing against one another and tapping against one another's snouts. It felt wonderful, so erotic, and she was so graceful and beautiful. We continued to circle for awhile as I courted her and finally she moved into shallower water where it was warmer and I eagerly followed. She partially rolled for me and with a guttural hiss I mounted her and we joined. I clasped her to me and we laid there as nature worked its course. It was weird and wonderful and felt, oh SO good. It was a need and act that had been perfected over millions of years. She gave gentle hisses of pleasure through her snout which was the only part of her above the water. I just laid there with my eyes shut as my body shuddered from its release and I gave a soft grunt of pure ecstasy. We parted and swam back into the deep part of the pool. I felt exhausted and very happy, and she followed me rubbing against my side and it was so erotic. She let me know she was satsified with my attentions and I felt so proud of myself. My only regret was it hadn't lasted longer.

Normally a male Croc will leave after mating with a female and will often mate with others before the breeding season ends. In this case I did not go anywhere because the human part of me was in love, and the Croc part didn't care if it was the same female every time. We mated several more times over the next few days until her scent died down and we just lost interest. At least the reptile minds did and they were pretty much in charge. No out of season mating for us. But our relationship had changed for good and we now saw one another as mates and lovers in our limited way. I knew it would be awhile before she laid her eggs and I didn't know exactly what would happen if I stuck around. If she'd let me I'd help her protect the hatchlings. A normal Croc Mom would have driven me off at risk of her own life, but I hoped the human part of her would let me stay if she could control the reptile. I was actually kind of looking forward to being a Daddy in a somewhat glad and worried way. Would the hatchlings be normal Crocs, or super intelligent ones? If they were super intelligent how would we be able to train them in any way? How to keep them from being dangerous to people? I could see how Crocs with human intelligence levels and a Croc's hunting skills could be devastating to humans. But for now it was more than enough just to be with her as I loved her both as man and Croc.

I had been wracking my mind for weeks now as to how to reach and try to convince people what had happened to the two of us. We had to warn them about that horrible goo that had done this to us. The stuff was spreading and was breeding or reproducing at a very fast rate. There were traces of it all throughout the creek now, probably no thanks to our own wanderings. The stuff seemed to be able to live anywhere. But so far, thank goodness, no other changelings had shown up.

Then one day after we had all had a lovely roll in a mud hole and were drying out on the bank I heard something. "Tap, tap tok, tok." I recognized it as a woodpecker of some kind banging away on a tree for insects. Hmm, I thought, sounds kind of like "eat" in Morse code. Suddenly I snapped my eyes open, lifted up my head, and gave a loud hiss of surprise. At that both females disappeared into the deep water with loud splashes and hisses of their own as they thought I was giving a warning. My bad, I thought sheepishly. I gave the all clear and they both rejoined me, but kept a wary eye out because surely SOMEthing had startled me? How could I tell my fellow changeling about the idea I had come up with? Morse code! It was so simple. I knew it because I was, or had been, a Ham radio operator. If I was able to find someone else who knew Morse I could should be able to communicate with them. But again the problem remained of how to find that person, but I had an idea there too. Saltwater Crocs were a protected species in this part of Australia. If I were to be seen by the side of the road hopefully someone would call animal control to come fetch me. Of course some yahoo might take a shot at me first, but it was worth the risk. I just didn't want to spend the rest of my life, a very long life, as a reptile with a very limited life style. I finally made it clear to my fellow victim of our weird lifestyle change that I was going to leave and try and do something. She had no idea what I was up to exactly, but I knew she knew I had a plan and was hoping it might work.

I left early the next day. I followed the creek to as close to the road as possible and they followed me. It was still well over a mile to the road, but Crocs can migrate if they have to during dry season, so I headed out. I turned and they were still watching me, so I waved goodbye as best I could, and she returned it. I had mixed feelings about leaving as I did want to be there when she laid her eggs and when they hatched. I could tell it would be fairly soon as she was heavy and gravid with her clutch. I had no idea how long I would be gone, but hoped it wouldn't be long. I also knew if I stayed much longer there was a good chance I would never leave. So I lifted myself up and headed out towards the road. It was fairly slow going, but a Croc can be very single minded about something when it sets its mind to it, so I kept going until I finally reached the road. I passed through the fence first using the same hole I had used to enter so long ago in another life.

Reaching the road I stuck my head out of the bushes and took a look around. Because of where my eyes were located on my head I was able to look in both directions without turning my head. Of course there was no traffic, this was a very isolated road and might not see any traffic for days or weeks at a time. With a tired hiss I slithered out onto the road, turned left, and headed toward the main road which was many miles away. At least there was a fair amount of water around and I shouldn't have much trouble finding a pool or creek to take a dip in. Even though my low ground up view was limited I could smell water so wouldn't have any trouble finding some when needed. One problem would be food unless the pools had fish in them. A Croc is not a longer distant hiker and I was using up lots of calories and already I was starting to get hungry. After two days of walking slowly down the road and spending the night in convenient pools I was getting really hungry and irritable. The hungrier a Croc gets the more irritable and mean they get, and I was no exception. I smelled the meat before I even saw it. I stopped and lifted my head and a short distance away saw a dead Roo by the side of the road, the victim of a hit and run. He wasn't fresh, but hadn't been there too long. I approached and sniffed the body and it smelled good and I felt my stomach rumble. Crocs are opportunistic scavengers and won't turn their snouts up at carrion. The human part of me thought it was really nasty, but the Croc part didn't care and dug in with gusto, happily ripping off big parts of the carcass and swallowing them whole. And it DID taste good! I was so busy stuffing my snout I never even heard the motorbike until it came into view. I saw it right away and instantly stopped feeding, ready to run for cover at any sign of trouble. I had to really think to force myself not to take off any way at the sound of the loud bike but I did let out a loud warning hiss, "Stay away! This food is mine!" I kept my eye on the rider and tore another large chunk off the Roo.

The cycle rider, a young kid, took off his helmet for a better look at me. I hissed to let him know not to come any closer, "HISS!", MINE!. He rolled the bike back a ways, then took out his cell phone. I could hear what he said just fine. "Pop, you won't believe this. I'm at the old west road and there is a flippin Croc in the road eating a Roo!" I heard an unintelligible reply and the kid said "I am not drunk Pop, swear to God there's a big ugly Croc over here!"

Ugly? I thought, how rude! I hissed again in displeasure and the kid backed up some more fairly rapidly. With a snort I ripped another big chunk off the Roo and throwing back my head swallowed it.

"Better send a trooper or animal control Pop; we don't want this bloke getting into one of the sheep farm creeks! And I don't like the way he's looking at me."

Excellent! I thought. With both the Croc and human parts agreeing the kid was far enough away not to pose an immediate threat I went back to my delicious meal.

"Ewww Gross!" I heard the kid say as I disemboweled the Roo and started feasting on the entrails. I gave a hiss of pleasure. Mmmmmm much better then fish!

I was so busy munching away that I didn't hear the truck drive up at first, but same as with the motorbike I saw it first. I had been eating for almost an hour and Crocs can really put it away as often larger meals are few and far between. With that much meat I could go for weeks without having to eat again. I was pretty happy overall by then as my plan had worked so far and my belly was stuffed. I still opened my mouth and hissed when a couple of men got out of the truck and approached me. When I saw the pole with the loop on the end the reptile took over and my flight instinct kicked in even though I tried to control it, but the Croc took over and I made a break for the bushes. These guys were good though, and in record time they had me pretty much trussed up and my snout taped shut despite my struggles and hisses of indignation. Assholes!

"He's definitely a saltwater alright, said one of the men, Wonder how the feller got all the way out here?"

The other replied "No tellin, guess his GPS was broken." And they both laughed.

You wouldn't guess in a million years, I thought, as I glared at them. And that joke was lame! I was not a happy camper at this point. Then to add insult to injury they stuck me inside a large canvas bag and threw me in the back of their truck. They were not very gentle and one stepped on me! Burkes! I thought. At least they dumped a bucket of water on the bag so I wouldn't dry out. As the truck started to move I had mixed feelings as I had no idea as to our destination. If it looked like a taxidermist shop or something they would definitely have a major fight on their hands, trussed up or not! The drive seemed to last forever, but at least they stopped every now and then and kept my bag wet which felt nice inside the hot stuffy bag. I decided not to try and eat them after all.

Finally we came to the last and final stop. I heard them get out of the truck and walk away and I was left alone in the hot sun for a few minutes. After maybe five minutes I heard several people approaching the truck and a short time later the bag was removed. Thank you very much. I thought. I blinked from the bright sun and looked up to see four men looking at me. One reached down and stroked my snout and it felt kind of nice. Just try it without the tape though, mate.

"Kid was right, said one, he's a salt water Croc alright. He's pretty young and looks like he's in good health. I'd guess maybe 300-350 pounds?"

350 pounds! I thought. Boy have I put on weight.

"How the heck he got this far inland we'll probably never know. Probably got dumped by someone when he got too big to be a pet." One of the other men said.

If you know Morse code I'll tell you all about it! I thought. But I couldn't try right now as I was still trussed up like a Thanksgiving Turkey. All I could do was lay there and glare. The men all picked me up at the same time and carried me across a parking lot towards the entrance to some sort of Zoo or something. As they carried me through the gate I could see the sign "Outback Nature Preservation Society", the same outfit my mate, the other changed Croc, had worked for. Talk about luck! I felt my spirits go way up, if I could communicate with anyone it had to be here.

Next they took me into a Vets office (at least I think that's what it was). They put me on a very cold exam table, weighed me, took a blood sample (Ouch!), and gave me a very impersonal physical exam. I didn't enjoy that bit very much. The Vet, a very nice lady, made a bunch of notes and then told them to put me in with the other younger Crocs. They took me to a Croc pit and carried me inside. While one kept an eye on the other Crocs who were very interested in what was going on, the other three removed my bindings and cut the tape around my snout. One stayed straddling me and holding my mouth shut while the others buggered off. He let me go and jumped back. I ignored him and with a happy hiss I plunged into the nice cool water in the tank. Oh it felt so good! The other Crocs had retreated to the far side of the tank but now they checked me out while I did the same with them. I didn't make any aggressive moves and they seemed like a fairly mellow bunch (for Crocs) so soon I was accepted as one of the gang. After the "introductions" were over I settled into the routine of my new "home".

We were fed on a regular basis, usually chickens which are not my favorite food as the feathers taste horrible and tickle my throat. Plus it takes a lot of them to fill up even a small Croc. They did make sure we all got equal portions as there was always someone who wanted to hog it all. The biggest Croc in the tank tried to throw his weight around one day and take away one of my chickens. Big mistake. MINE! I hissed. Before he could react I shoved my snout under him and flipped him over on his back. He recovered right away, but spooked by my very un- crocodilian method of fighting he took off for the far side of the pool and stayed away from me for awhile. I think the others were impressed as they gave me first dibs on the goodies after that and I didn't hog the food. Even Crocs can appreciate someone who stands up to a bully.

For days I had been taping my front claws against a pipe that was used for keeping the water level in the pool constant and clean. It made a nice loud "ding" noise. I slowly tapped "SOS, Help me please!" again and again. About the only time I stopped was when I feel asleep (which was too often), during feeding, and at night when the only ones around to hear it where my fellow reptiles. Some of the handlers noticed it but guess they didn't know Morse code. They did make comments like,

"Why's he doing that?" "I dunno mate, maybe he's just nervous." "He's kind of a weird one anyway." Etc. Morons, I thought.

After some time had passed I was starting to give up hope. I had no idea of exactly how much time had passed, but it seemed like forever. I had also noticed a development that really had me worried. Ever since I arrived I had been hocking up globs of the goo and green strands, and now other Crocs were doing it too. The Vet had given me some anitibitotics or something as I guess she thought I had the Croc version of a cold, but they didn't do any good. The pool must be full of the stuff by now. And I was worried that if the Crocs bit anyone or if they even came in contact with the stuff that some other poor slobs might end up like me. It had me in kind of a panic as I didn't want to be responsible for any other poor bloke having to go through the same horror I had. But there was nothing I could do. I kept tapping out the code; at least it gave me something to do. Please, I thought, somebody listen!

Later an incident occurred which could have turned out to be a real tragedy. I was basking on one of the rocks they'd provided us for that purpose trying to ignore the peanuts the little kids were bouncing off my snout on a regular basis. I just shut me eyes and gave a low hiss of annoyance. Brats, I thought. I was dozing when a loud scream shocked me to full awareness and raising my head I looked around. When I saw what had happened I felt a chill run down my back. A young child had fallen into the pit! The other Crocs had noticed as well and some were already moving to grab what they thought was dinner, a chicken or a kid, made no difference to us. I gave a deep low hissing roar that caused the others to freeze for a few seconds since I was the alpha Croc in the pit and had first dibs on chow. This gave me time to put myself between the scared child and my fellow Crocs. Every time one approached I displayed extreme aggression which caused them to back off. One came too close and I gave a louder hiss and bit her snout, hard, much to her surprise and indignation. She fled back into pool to nurse her hurt pride. She told me "Pig, you should at least share!" or the Croc equivalent. I stayed between the kid and the other Crocs until one of the handlers leapt down into the pit and handed the kid up to his freaking out mother. Then once the handler had got out too I went back over to my favorite rock and started basking again.

The hell if I was going to let some little kid, even a bratty one, get eaten on my watch, thank you very much! Crocs don't hold grudges for long, so in a short time life in the pit returned to about as normal as it could be. No one seemed to have taken any notice of what I'd done. I guess they just thought I'd wanted the kid for myself. I found myself idly wondering just what a plump little kid would taste like and then chastened myself, That's horrible, shame on you! I thought. Bet he would have been delicious though.

Then the miracle came that I had been praying for. I was still tapping out the message in Morse code, but almost as an afterthought now as I'd pretty much given up on anyone paying enough attention to a Croc to understand what I was doing. As usual there was a good size crowd of tourists making loud noises and pretty much boring, or annoying, myself and the other Crocs. What a noisy bunch of prey animals we thought, how DO they keep from getting eaten? If only they'd come just a little closer! Then I blinked and lifted my head up in surprise and growing hope when one of the tourists, a young man, said to an attendant,

"That's a good trick mate, how'd you teach that Croc Morse code?" The man asked.

The attendant just looked at him in complete incomprehension, and brilliantly said "Whot?"

"That Croc over there, he's tapping out a Morse Code message." The young man said. I think he's saying "SOS, Please help me."

Yes!!! I gave out a hiss of delight and started running back and forth and bobbing my head up and down like an idiot. The other Crocs backed off as they thought I'd been lying in the sun for too long. They thought I was weird anyway. I mean, hadn't I let a perfectly good living meal get away just the other day by trying to hog it all for myself? If I had shared we'd all of had a bit of it. Served me right!

"You're bonkers mate, replied the attendant, you can't teach Crocs to do anything, they're dense as bricks. All they do is eat and crap."

Match my IQ to yours any day monkey boy! I thought, and I can whip your ass, and eat it too!

The young man said, "Oh well, guess I was imaging it. Sure sounded like though." And he turned to leave.

Noooo, please! I thought, don't go! I gave a loud grunting moan of despair. Noooo! Please don't leave me like this! And I guess maybe because of the odd sound I'd just made he turned around and looked at me.

I lifted my front leg and waved at him, then ran over to the pipe again and sent "Please, please don't go! I need your help! I used to be a man and was changed somehow. Please help me!" To my immense relief he took a closer look at me, then taking out a metal comb he started to tap on the metal fence around the top of the pit wall.

"Who are you? What do you mean?" He tapped out. Then he waited for my answer.

OH, God bless you mate! I thought. So I gave him a brief rundown on my situation, who I had been, and what had happened. I told him the stuff that had done this to me was very dangerous and was all over the inside of the pit. He leaped back from the edge of the pit at that last bit of information. Giving me another disbelieving look he vanished into the crown. I looked after him hopefully. Please I thought, please let someone believe him! I'm tired of being a dumb animal and I'm sick of chickens!

A long time passed and I was beginning to worry. What if they just chucked him out the front gate as a loony? What if he was too scared to even tell anybody? I was pacing back and forth and making worried hisses and it was getting the other Crocs upset as they thought there was danger of some kind, so finally I shut up and calmed down and just waited. Finally I heard the sound of loud irate voices approaching the pit.

"You're whacked, you know that don't you!" I heard one angry voice yell.

"I'm telling you, one of your Crocs knows Morse code! I'm a Radioman in the Royal Navy and I can read code. There's no way he could fake something like that! Said he was in trouble and there was something very dangerous in the pit."

"The only thing dangerous in the pit is the Crocs!" replied the first voice in obvious anger.

"Now George, let's at least see what he's talking about, he certainly seems serious enough." I heard the voice of the female Vet break in.

"Whacked, he's starkers!" replied George, making screwy loops with his fingers and pointing at the sailors head.

About that time they reached the edge of the pit and leaned over the wall. A couple of Crocs gave warning hisses and splashed into the pool. I just stayed where I was at the pipe and watched them intently.

"OK, said the loud mouthed one (George I guess), where is this mystery Croc, sailor boy?"

The sailor replied "Um, I'm not sure. They all look alike to me! But I think it was the one over there next to that pipe, it was tapping out the code on it."

"Well he ain't doin it now, is he?" said George. "C'mon Melissa, this nutter is wasting our time. Croc knowing Morse Code my ass!"

OK, enough of this! I thought. I let out a loud bellowing roar, which caused all the other Crocs to run for cover, and waved my front leg at them until I got their undivided attention, even George's. Next I sent a rather long Morse message and the sailor listened intently looking grim, then sniggered a couple of times.

The sailor said, "He said he's a man who was transformed by some sort of genetic toxic waste several months ago. Says his name was Robert Taylor and he was from Sydney. He says the gooey looking green stuff in the pit did it to him and that he and the other Crocs are infected with the stuff. He says there's a woman who was changed like him still back at the place he was infected. He says just because he's a reptile now it doesn't mean he's deaf, he can hear us just fine. He also said to say George is a horse's ass."

At the last bit the vet Melissa snorted and held her hand over her mouth trying to sound like she'd sneezed. George was not amused and was still an unbeliever. Maybe if I bit him on his ass it would make a difference, but unfortunately he was out of reach. He'd probably taste lousy though.

"What a load of bull, George said, its' some sort of trick, it's got to be!" But he seemed uncertain. I think he was finally convinced when I flipped him the bird. It was awkward for me to do, but he got the idea.

One of the kids who was watching what he thought was a show turned and asked his Mum, "Mommy, did that crocodile just..?", which was a far as he got because his Mum had seen my rather rude gesture too. She turned and gave Melissa and the men a rather evil look and said,

"You should be ashamed of yourselves, teaching a poor dumb animal to do that, it's NOT funny! Perverts!" And she stormed off leading her protesting offspring.

"Wot was that all about?" asked George. "I have no idea", replied Melissa with a perfectly straight face. The Navy man was almost doubled over he was laughing so hard. When they heard another "Perverts!" in the distance Melissa lost it and I cracked up too. I opened my mouth and hissed, "Hiss, hiss, hiss!" Poor George was left staring at us all like we were loonies, "Wot?" he said. And we all went into even more violent hysterics. Poor George! NO bloody sense of humor!

That's when the lady vet named Melissa took over. "George, she said, this seems to be real, as unbelievable as we may find it. If he says the pit is contaminated then we need to get everyone out of the zoo ASAP and seal it off. You take care of that. You, she said to the sailor, come with me. I'll need your help." She turned around to look at me with a still incredulous stare and I waved at her. I don't know if she noticed I was crying. "Don't worry, she said, we'll help you." All I could do was just lie there and wait, but if I could have I would have been jumping up and down in joy. At last, someone knew!

Melissa came back a short time later with someone else other than that butthead George who I was still planning on taking a chuck out of if the opportunity presented itself, but just a small chunk, maybe a toe or finger. She had put on a surgical mask and was wearing elbow length rubber gloves and waders as was the man with her. Smart lady, I thought. She pointed to the gate and I knew what she meant, so I walked over to it and waited. The man with her said,

"Doc, are you really sure about this? If we open that gate and he rushes us it could get nasty. Don't you want me to put a muzzle on him at least? Just to be on the safe side?"

Just you try, I thought, I'll roll and rip your arm off boyo! Fortunately, for him, he didn't. I really don't know what; or at least what the reptile part of me, would have done if he had tried. I had a major hang-up about being touched and some automatic reactions that were hard to control, and that worried me. If I accidently hurt someone I'd never forgive myself.

The Doc opened the gate and I walked out onto the gravel path and lowered myself back down on my belly. I looked at her and she looked at me. In a staring contest a Croc will win every time and sure enough she blinked first. Next she made a "follow me" gesture so I did. I needed to remind her I could hear and understand perfectly well again, that all she had to do was tell me what to do. Forget all the pointing and gesturing, made her look like some kind of silly Mime. I followed her down the path, through the gate, across the parking lot where I sped up (OW! OW! OW! That pavement was bloody hot!), and into the same building where I had been initially examined.

They had set up a very interesting table for me. It had high sides so they could keep me nice and moist by spraying water on me, which I appreciated very much. It was cold though, both the water and the table top. But the best thing was she had rigged up a computer keyboard for me to use!! She'd even thought of positioning a mirror so I'd be able to see the keys better when I typed. Lady, I thought, you are a genuine genius. If you were a Croc I‘d kiss you. But don't tell the missus.

With a happy hiss I tried out the keyboard arrangement and was soon banging away happily. I made some errors of course, but overall I got the message across with no problem. I gave a quick rundown of what had happened, and what I knew about the green goo. I also had to hock up a blob of the gunk which gave the Vet a perfect chance to get a good sample of it. And there's plenty more where that came from I thought. She gingerly and carefully scooped it into some test tubes and Petri dishes and set them aside. When I told her about the female changeling Croc and how she'd shown me a truck with the same name as their outfit on the door the Vet really sat up and took notice. She was writing down notes as I banged away on the keys, and she would stop me to print copies of what I had typed every few pages. The whole time they kept me nice and wet and the water was warm now, which I appreciated very much. Finally I typed in a few last lines "No more chickens with feathers please.", then put down my now tired front leg and looked at her. There was no way she could tell what I was thinking, but I knew she probably had a pretty good idea. ___________________________________________________________________________

Melissa looked at the large Croc lying on the table and it looked back at her. She knew it was waiting for her to do or say something. She still couldn't help being a little scared this close to something that could kill her in a flash, and had an even harder time still believing what was happening. But the computer printouts and her eyes didn't lie. She was still glad she had witnesses though, even though George still looked like he was about to lose it. She looked at the expressionless reptilian eyes staring at her and thought, "God what must it be like to be trapped in a body like that?" She told the Croc, Robert, to "Wait for me here."

___________________________________________________________________________

Uh yeah, OK. I thought. Where would I go anyway? Besides, it will give me a chance to get to know George better. So I lay there on the table after she left and George and I looked at each other in mutual dislike. I slowly opened my mouth and he suddenly found he had other important things to do and left muttering to himself. Good riddance, I thought, and snapped my jaws shut, at which sound he hastened his exit.

___________________________________________________________________________

Melissa reread the printouts and got online. She went to a Constabulary missing person's net site and typed in the name "Robert Taylor" and instantly got a hit. Reported missing over three months ago, no clues as to where or when he'd gone missing. Well, she thought, that checks out. Guess I'll give them a call, "Hello, Officer? I know what happened to Robert Taylor. Yes, he was changed into a mutant Crocodile by toxic waste. Click. Hello? Hello?" Yeah, that would go over really well, even thought it was the truth. And what could she tell his family, if he had one. "Hello? Yes, Mrs. Taylor? I'm glad to report your son is still alive. But I'm afraid he weighs 350 pounds now, is covered in scales, and lives in a giant mud puddle eating raw chickens. Thud. Hello, Mrs. Taylor, are you there, hello?" God, what to bloody do!

She looked at a group photo on the wall that showed her and some of the other staff and volunteers in a less busy mode taking it easy at a weekend get together. She looked in particular at one woman in the photo, one of the volunteers named Susan Ringwald. She was a stout slightly overweight young girl with a huge endearing grin. Everyone had loved her and she had been dedicated to her work and was always cheerful and fun to be around. When she had disappeared over a year ago everyone, even George, had spent months looking for her after the official search had been called off. George had even gotten some bush pilot friends of his to volunteer their time and planes to extend the search deeper into the outback. Suzy had always treated George very nicely, and the old coot had really liked her even though he'd die before he admitted it. He still wore that silly "bush hat" she'd given him one XMas. He had looked longer than anyone else. One thing about George, he took friendship loyalty to the extreme. They had finally given up in despair and just assumed she'd met an unknown fate. But this? If the other Croc was Susan then what must it have been like for her to spend almost a year in that form? And what the hell had she been doing so far off the beaten path in the first place? They'd looked everywhere, but had concentrated in the area she was supposed to be in. Melissa knew she had to get better directions to the place and go out there right away to see if it really was her old friend, and if not then to at least "rescue" the other poor soul, and just as importantly to find out how far the contamination had spread. She knew they were very lucky, all but two of them, that the stuff was in such an isolated area. She was amazed that Robert, like he was now, had even been able to find help. He must have been, still was, an amazing fellow.

She took the samples of the green goo to the lab and put one of the Petri dishes under the microscope and set it to the highest setting. Adjusting the focus know she looked at the stuff. Weird, it looked kind of like strings of bacteria, but had little feelers or hairs sticking out of the sides almost like a microbe. And it was definitely alive as it was moving, and as she watched one of the strands divided into two identical ones. Then another one did. When she had first started looking at the strands they had been coiled up almost as if dormant, but now they were very active. They had all moved to one side of the dish and almost seemed to be trying to get out. She looked down and realized it was the side of the dish her hand was closest too. Intrigued she moved her hand to the other side of the dish and the green strands followed. Probably attracted by the body heat she thought. They go dormant until a nearby living heat source caused them to become active again. Scary.

Next she tried to kill some of the stuff using various methods. They ignored any kinds of drug or antibiotics, and only the most powerful, and dangerous, chemicals had any effect. There was no way those kind of chemicals could be used in large enough quantities to eradicate a large infested area though. They would kill everything and the land would be unusable and sterile for years after. Next she tried some acids but the stuff seemed to like them, but she didn't have any of the really powerful industrial grade stuff. Her last effort was to nuke them in a microwave and that had no effect at all, if anything it made the stuff reproduce even faster. The only thing that worked fairly well was fire, but it had to be extremely hot and concentrated or some of the strands would survive. If they also lived in the water, which was pretty evident, then fire wouldn't work very well. She went back and looked at the dish under the microscope again. The stuff had reproduced to the point it was almost pushing the lid off the dish. My God, she thought, as long as there's a living heat source nearby the stuff goes crazy. She took all the samples to the refrigerator and left them on one of the storage trays, well away from anything else in the fridge.

She realized this was way out of her league, but who could she call? She knew she had to do something so the first thing was to get the green stuff analyzed and see if they could find out what it was. The next was who to call someone about an investigation and clean-up, not to mention someone who might be able to help the two poor people trapped in prehistoric reptile bodies. But call who? The military, no way! The CDC? Maybe. She definitely knew she had to find experts of some kind.

Sitting behind her desk in her office she got on the phone and called a couple of labs that specialized in analyzing samples of unknown material, both organic and inorganic, that the Center used sometimes. She told the techs that she was sending them some samples that needed to be analyzed ASAP as there was danger of a possible outbreak of an unknown viral agent even though it didn't really look like a virus or anything else she had ever seen. She knew that would make the labs give the samples priority as it was required by law. She went back to her lab and got a couple of specimens, thank God the cold seemed to have made the stuff to dormant, and packed them in temperature controlled containers. She called George and told him to take them to the PO, right now, not later. Then she headed back to the exam room to "talk" to her new friend.

___________________________________________________________________________

It had been a really long time (at least to me) since the Vet had left and despite the warm water the cold air in the room had been making me sluggish. Being cold blooded can be a real pain sometimes. As a result I was in a deep doze when she returned. She startled me and I let out a loud hiss and snapped at her, then shut my snout with a snap when I realized what I'd done. Good going shit for brains, I thought in anger at myself. That's just perfect; you almost ate the one person who might be able to help you! I did my best to look as contrite as possible and "waved" at her again.

Next I quickly typed out that they had to be careful around me, that I had automatic reactions I couldn't control very easily and didn't want to accidently take a bite out of someone, even George. Then I added that I didn't like to be touched. Last I typed, Sorry about that.

___________________________________________________________________________

Melissa jumped back startled when the Croc, no Robert, swung his head and snapped at her with a loud hiss. She could tell he was instantly sorry about what he'd done. It was my fault she thought, never should have snuck up on a dozing Croc. Even he has some automatic reflexes he can't seem to control. "No harm done" she told him.

The she started to tell him what little she had found out so far. When she got to the part about going and finding her friend he got all worked up, hissing loudly, and started typing on the keyboard again. She read what he typed,

Better take me with you, she's probably lay eggs by now and might be unpredictable. Besides be hard to find place. He slowly typed out.

"Eggs, what eggs?" she asked in surprise.

He typed back, Sorry forgot to mention. She my mate, we have babies Crocs on way when I leave. And if it was possible for a Croc to look embarrassed then he did.

"What?" she said, "But, but how?" Even as she asked it she realized it was a stupid question and none of her business. She started to tell him to forget it but he'd already started banging out a reply.

He typed, How you think? She my mate now even after season over. She very pretty and I love her. We have babies soon. Need to go back.

"Sorry", she said, "Really none of my business."

Yes, he typed back, She mine, am worried about babies. Maybe be too smart, be dangerous to peoples? Eat them up.

Melissa tried to think of twenty foot Crocodiles with human intelligence and shuddered at the thought. "Don't worry, she said, we'll get the babies too. They'll be safe here."

Good, I be worried about them getting eated by animals and snakes if they hatched now. When we leave? he typed in reply.

"We'll go tomorrow, but I have a few other things I need to tell you first." So she told him what little she'd been able to find out about the green stuff and how tough it was. As she was talking he spit up another glob of goo full of the green things. He must be a carrier she thought, and so were the other Crocs in his tank. Quickly she cleaned up the stuff and put it in a sealed container, next stop the incinerator. She finished telling him about what she'd done and her plans. Then she asked him where he wanted to spend the night. She hated to just throw him back in with the natural Crocs.

Me be put back in tank, it OK. They friends. Oh, no more chickens with feathers on them still please. Yucky. Thanks. He banged out on the keyboard.

"OK, she said, no more chickens." I'll have you taken back to the tank and we'll leave early in the morning.

She called to George and one of the other handlers to escort him back to the tank for now, and was sure to tell them to pluck the chickens next time they fed him. George muttered something about "Bloody gourmet Crocs" or something, but she knew he'd do it.

___________________________________________________________________________

I still felt really bad about snapping at her, but she seemed to have understood why I'd done it and had no hard feelings which made me feel a lot better. When she told me about everything she'd done, and how we would go and get Susan and our eggs, (that was my mates name, I finally knew it!) I was so grateful, but had NO way to show it. We "talked" a little longer and I was a little appalled at my bad grammar on the keyboard, usually I can type better then that but the sentence structure seemed a little hard for some reason, probably because I was still a little sluggish due to the AC. I was really looking forward to getting back in the tank's warm water.

She had George and some other guy come in and lift me down from the table. I could tell from their scent they were a little less than enthusiastic about doing it, but I was a good boy and behaved myself. I followed them back to the pen, the sun had almost gone down and the asphalt didn't burn my feet this time, and as soon as they opened the gate to the pen I immediately plunged into the tank with a big splash. Oh yeah, much better!

___________________________________________________________________________

Melissa watched as the Croc entered the pen and plunged into the water with a big splash and dove out of sight, the top of his head surfacing a few seconds later in the deepest part of the tank. There were a couple of other Crocs already there and she had a hard time picking him out. Again she found herself wondering what it must be like to be trapped in a body like that. And poor Suzy, it had almost a year for her and most of that time she had been living alone as an animal. At least she hadn't been alone for part of that time, and had even found love, after a fashion. Take about looking for love in all the wrong places though. But her "mate" did seem to genuinely love and care about her which was something. The poor dumpy plain looking girl had always been horribly mistreated by men and some had taken advantage of her open personality. Once when a young punk made some sort of remark about "ugly fat chicks" George had almost beaten him to death. He had become Suzy's unofficial guardian angel. He had kept looking for her long after everyone else gave up.

Well, she thought with a sigh. This has been one hell of day, and tomorrow would be coming too soon. She shut down everything and left for the staff quarters to get what little sleep she could. On her way she stopped by the tank and looked at the pairs of eyes reflecting the light that stared back at her. I wonder which one he is, she thought. One swam closer to the wall and looked up at her. "Good night." She said, but of course there was no reply. The Croc submerged with a gurgle and disappeared.

____________________________________________________________________________

I floated in the warm water for awhile just taking it easy. It felt good after the long cold hours on the examining table. I couldn't sleep, not that I ever really did entirely anymore anyway, as I was too excited about tomorrow. I was still awake sometime later when Melissa stopped and leaned against the wall after it had already gotten dark. There were several other Crocs in the tank too so we all just looked at her. Finally with a flick of my tail I floated over closer to the edge and looked up at her. She looked down at me and I think I had a pretty good idea what she was thinking. I thought, It's really not so bad. But of course I couldn't tell her that. She politely said "Good Night", so I submerged and swimming to the sleeping area I joined my fellow Crocs for what little sleep I could get.

____________________________________________________________________________

As usual George was the first one up. He prided himself on always beating the "lazy" professionals every morning. By the time Melissa stumbled into the kitchen he already had a huge breakfast in the works. For an old coot he was a surprisingly good cook. A short time later the sailor, his name was Rodney she remembered, joined them. He had volunteered the remainder of his leave as a volunteer, said he wouldn't miss it for anything. He was very welcome as he was a big strong man and also was the only one who knew Morse code. Considering they didn't have a laptop the Croc could use in the field he'd definitely come in handy. Once he'd gotten over George's snide remarks concerning his mental health they had gotten along famously. Rodney had been raised on one of the Sheep Ranches and he and George had a lot in common. Once she saw George sneak out of the kitchen with a large piece of raw meat and she had a pretty good idea of where he was taking it. The big oaf had no idea everybody saw through his tough ornery façade, and would been horrified if he found out. So they all humored him and did their best to keep him from getting in too much trouble which with George was a full time job. ___________________________________________________________________________

I had been awake almost all night, just couldn't sleep even though I did doze some after the night cooled off. At first light I began to pace anxiously next to the gate to the pen, only stopping for a quick dip every now and then. The first person I saw was George which didn't exactly thrill me at first. He looked over the edge of the wall and said,

"Ere! Where are you, you bloody great beastie!" He whispered loudly.

Why, Ise right heah! I thought, and gave a deep hiss and grunted at him. He jumped back because I guess he hadn't seen me since I was right by the gate and he'd have had to lean over farther.

"Damn, scared me half to death you great ugly brute!" He yelped in surprise.

Look who's talking, I thought. You look like you got worked over with the ugly stick yourself mate! Besides, by Croc standards I'm a hunk.

Then I suddenly caught the scent of fresh bloody meat. I lifted my head and hissed, where was it! I heard the other Crocs splash into the water as they caught the lovely smell too. I whirled around looking, where was it! I want it!

"Hey ugly! George said. When the Croc turned he threw the meat at it.

I whirled again and looked at him in anger. Not now! I thought, There's food somewhere! Then suddenly he threw something at me and reflexively I opened my mouth and caught it and felt the taste of sweet blood in my mouth. With a happy grunt I threw my head back and swallowed the lovely treat in two gulps. If I could have licked my chops I would have. It was only a few pounds, but it was the best food I'd had since that dead Roo. I snapped my jaws together a couple of times and "waved" at him as it was all I could do to show my appreciation. Maybe I won't bite this guy after all. The other Crocs were miffed they hadn't gotten a treat too. "Pig!" They "told" me.

"Gidday mate." Said George, and disappeared and returned the kitchen to finish fixing breakfast.

When they came to get me about an hour later I followed Melissa, George, Rodney and the other two volunteers whose names I didn't know yet out to the parking lot. When we got to the trucks I followed George over to his and stopped and looked up at him, then I put my front paw on his foot for a moment. It was my way of saying thank you. He just grunted and said,

"Alright, up we go. You two lazabouts, give me a hand here!" He barked like a drill sergeant.

They hoisted me into the back of the truck and onto a pile of burlap bags. There were also several buckets of water in the back to help keep me comfortable. Bet George thought of that, I thought. His stock had definitely gone way up in my books. Believe me when I say the way to a Crocs heart is through his stomach, especially if he gets a hold of you. One of the volunteers jumped in the back with me and we took off down the road at a steady clip. I had shown Melissa the nearest point on the map to the infected area that could be reached by road. ___________________________________________________________________________

Melissa finished stuffing her face along with the volunteers as they devoured the incredible breakfast. Damn good tucker! As usual George had already finished and was impatient to get started.

"C'mon you gits, we've got a long drive ahead of us! Cor, what a bunch of useless bastards!" A couple of the volunteers who didn't know George very well were a little taken aback by the rude comments, but Melissa just smiled.

They went and fetched Roger the Croc from the tank, and after they got to the parking lot he attached himself to George like a big scaly dog. It didn't seem to bother George at all which kind of surprised her as they hadn't seemed to be the best of friends so far, but something had changed that. For an old coot George certainly had a way of attracting friends, sometimes very strange friends. But he never turned down the offer of friendship.

They got Roger comfortably situated in the back of George's truck and wasting no more time they headed out. It was quite a long drive, but George knew the area well and knew exactly where to go.

___________________________________________________________________________

Despite the water the volunteer splashed on me at regular intervals it was still hot in the back of the truck and I sank into a pleasant torpor, my mouth open to help keep from overheating, much to the volunteers discomfort.

Don't worry, I thought, I won't bite unless I get hungry. He almost seemed to know what I was thinking and moved a little farther away.

We stopped once at what sounded like a gas station and George came and sprayed me with a water hose, nice cool water, bless the old fart, and filled the buckets again. I could tell when we left the paved road and turned onto the first dirt track.

Soon, I thought, soon! I let out an impatient worried hiss which almost caused the volunteer to jump out of the truck. I was so worried about my mate and our eggs, I had no real idea of how long I had been at the compound, but it seemed like years.

We hit a big dip in the road and with a grunt of surprise I slid towards the volunteer, my mouth open as I hissed. I don't think I've ever seen anyone move quite so fast or jump so high before, I watched with my eyes as he cleared my entire length in one bound and almost fell out of the back of the truck. I guess the two men in the cab, George and Rodney, saw the whole thing through the rear view mirror as the truck started to swerve as they laughed uncontrollably. This caused me to slide back and forth some more, hissing in anger as I did not like not being in control, and put the poor volunteer though some more rather impressive calisthenics worthy of a Circus performer. They finally had to pull over until they'd calmed down, and Rodney traded places with the now very upset volunteer. I wasn't terribly overjoyed either, and made some rather rude noises which made them laugh again.

Rodney kept me from sliding around much anymore by sitting on me. How rude! I thought, but tolerated it since it worked pretty well. I did find myself eyeing his butt rather speculatively though. It looked pretty tender. Hey, I can daydream, can't I?

We finally came to a stop and everybody debarked and started loading themselves up with gear. I couldn't see what was going on, so gave some loud annoyed hisses. Hey! What about me? I hissed. When George lowered the tailgate I just jumped to the ground and landed with a grunt. "Offff, hissss!" Should have waited, I realized too late.

"Serves you right." said George. "Hold on Mr. Impatient. She's not going anywhere you know!"

I didn't pay him any attention and darted across the road into the brush. I knew exactly where I was and where I was going, and no one had better get in my way. All I knew was my mate and children were waiting and I had been gone way too long.

One of the volunteers said, "Hey shouldn't put a leash on him or something?"

George looked at him like he was the stupidest thing he'd ever seen. "You can try if you really want to, Einstein. Just give us your next-of-kin information first."

The volunteer, looking sheepish, just said "No, that's OK. Let him go."

George replied, "Maybe you're not as stupid as I thought, there may be hope for you after all. Now come on, you lot, he's going to get away from us and I don't fancy hunting for a pissed off Croc in waist high grass! Get a move on!"

I had gone quite some way before I realized I was all alone. I stopped and raised my head and looked around. Great, I thought, here I am in the middle of the outback and my only company is the Monty Python crew. I gave a loud hissing roar to let them know where I was, and stampeded a large mob of Roo's who were grazing nearby. I lunged and snapped at one as they went by, but missed. Rats. A snack would have been nice. ___________________________________________________________________________

Rodney had been surprised to see an old WWII vintage Enfield carbine in the back of George's truck. George told him he had a special license so he could put down hurt or sick animals, and cull some species if they went over a certain population density. He'd been in the SAS while he was in the service and was a crack shot too. Rodney was very impressed, his ship had been on some training ops with the SAS blokes before and he was glad they were on his side. The whole lot was crazy as bedbugs, but good to have around when it hit the fan. They were crazy, but crazy like psychotic foxes. When they reached their destination George had taken the carbine and ammo belt with him. "You never know." he'd said.

They had unloaded and geared up. Even though they weren't planning on spending the night every one of them was an experienced camper, and they all had overnight packs and basic supplies with them. Better safe than sorry, or dead. Melissa had her full Vet's field kit with her as well. No telling what they might need.

George heard the Croc hissing in anger and he was rocking the truck trying to get out. Poor blokes worried sick, he thought. Guess I would be too if I hadn't seen my wife, or mate, or whatever, in months. He lowered the tailgate and was almost knocked down as the Croc launched himself out of the truck and landed with a painful sounding thud. "Serves you right", he said.

The Croc got its bearings, and took off across the road and disappeared into the brush. He'd forgotten how fast they could move. George yelled at the rest of the crew and took off after the Croc, but the brute had already disappeared. George just followed the trail of flattened grass.

The others followed him at irregular intervals as they finished getting ready. The first was Rodney, then the volunteers, and finally Melissa who had been extra careful in checking her pack and gear. They caught up with George fairly quickly because he had stopped in frustration. The Croc's trail had dead ended in an open area of hard packed earth and rock and he couldn't figure out which way the Croc had gone.

Damn you beastie, where the heck are you? thought George. Then he heard a loud hissing roar from somewhere up ahead. A short time later a mob of terrified Roos came bounding by completely ignoring the humans in their panicked flight. Except for one who barrled into and knocked itself and one of the volunteers flying. It was hard to tell who was more startled, the Roo or the volunteer. The volunteer was certainly more vocal about it while the Roo just got up, shook its head, and took off after its mob.

Right! Geroge thought, that way! He headed in the opposite direction from the Roos, followed by his loyal band of idiots.

____________________________________________________________________________

I waited until they caught up with me. I gave them a dirty look, but took it slower now as my first dash had worn me out. Crocs are not long distance runners, but we can sprint like greased lightening for short distances if motivated. And I was so worried I couldn't stand it! I could SMELL the creek that was home. But at least they were able to keep up now.

We went past my old Rover which was now a wreck, it lay on its side where the wet season rains had washed it down the dry creek bed I'd parked it in. I ignored it though and kept on going. It meant nothing to me anymore; as far as I was concerned it was just another rock or bush. It was still a fair distance to the security fence, but we finally reached it in the early afternoon. I was mad at how slow I was.

To my dismay, and anger, the hole in the fence had been repaired. The cleared areas on both sides looked freshly mowed too. Hissing and grunting I ran back and forth next to the fence, stopping and trying to force myself under it a couple of times. Each failure made me madder and I was getting frantic. Finally George stepped up, good old reliable George who was now my best friend in the world, and cut a large hole with bolt cutters. I gave a happy hiss and dashed through and disappeared into the brush again, my intrepid band of adventurers close behind, not that I noticed. ___________________________________________________________________________

"George, look!" cried Melissa when they came to the dry creek bed. An old battered, now wrecked, Land Rover lay on its side half buried in silt and debris. The contents were scattered everywhere. George took a quick look, and then climbed up the opposite bank after the rapidly moving Croc.

"Leave it", George said, "It'll be here later. We don't want to lose him now; the ground cover is getting thicker."

"We hear and obey Fearless Leader.", cracked one of the volunteers, which got a chuckle out of the rest of the crew as they followed George up and over the bank. The brush was much thicker, but not very high so they were able to follow Georges bobbing hat as he tried to keep up with the Croc.

They burst out of the brush to find the Croc and George contemplating a very impressive looking security fence with all sorts of dire warning signs posted on it. The Croc was desperately trying to crawl under the fence, but it was sunken in the ground. George took his pack off and rummaged through it for a few seconds, then stood up with a bolt cutter.

Melissa gave George the raised eyebrow, and said "George, just what are doing carrying around bolt cutters? I don't think they're part of the regular kit for camping."

George just looked at her rather sheepishly, and replied "I used to be a Scout you know, Be Prepared and all of that rot." Then he turned and cut a big hole in the fence.

As he was cutting one of the volunteers sidled over to Melissa and said softly, "Um, this is posted private property. Shouldn't we think about this?"

George said, "I heard that!" as he followed the Croc through the hole, closely followed by Rodney.

"You can stay here if you want." Melissa replied. "We might come this way on the way back, but we might not." And she ducked through the hole and dashed across the cleared area into the brush following George and their scaly guide.

"Aw, bugger all!" said the volunteer. He looked at the other volunteer who just shrugged and ducked through the hole and sprinted after the rest. "Aw, bugger!" the remaining volunteer said, at least this was more interesting then cleaning Croc crap out of the tanks back at the compound. Realizing he was being left behind, and not in the mood for any kind of rear guard action, he ducked through the hole and quickly passed the other volunteer who was not in as good a shape as he was. ___________________________________________________________________________

When I reached the first of the creek channels I plunged in even though the water was fairly shallow. The warm water and mud felt great though, so I rolled and enjoyed myself until the rest caught up. George and Rodney caught up first, followed closely by Melissa. As usual Abbot and Costello brought up the rear; they kind of looked like the comedians too. One volunteer was short and pudgy, the other tall and serious looking. Coincidently the chubby ones name was Lou and the tall ones name was Bud. I doubted they would ever get away from the jokes though. Lou even got into the spirit of things, sometimes calling his friend by yelling "Heeeey Abbott!" It always got a big laugh. They made a good team, and meant well, which counted for a lot. Between the two of them they could figure out just about anything.

With a grunt I started off down the creek, slowing down when I reached deeper water so they could keep up. We still had a ways to go, but we were a lot closer now. I began to give calls, stopping to listen attentively for an answer. They knew what I was doing and when I called they shut up and listened too. Probably still too far away though.

___________________________________________________________________________

One of the volunteers, Bud, came and showed Melissa and George a weather worn cell phone he'd found on the ground along with some so other scattered items, an empty canteen, pack, camera, and fragments of clothes. Melissa realized these must be left over from when Roger the Croc had changed. I wonder if it hurt much. She thought. She had noticed the green goo was all over the place, mainly in the creek, and warned the others to avoid it like the plague because that's what it was, but it did worse than kill you. She handed out thick rubber gloves and made every one put them on. They all had on good heavy boots and thick jeans and she figured that was adequate protection for now, the stuff was not small enough to get through the weave of the pants or leather.

After awhile the Croc started to call out, and she motioned for everyone to be quiet and they listened for an answer. He also started to speed up and they had to move faster, but soon the Croc and George left them behind. It was amazing how big old clumsy looking George could move through the bush and not even disturb a leaf. The rest of the group made as much noise as a herd of pregnant hippos.

George had to leave the rest behind in order to keep up with the increasingly fast moving Croc. Now that he was in his element he probably didn't even realize how fast he was moving and was leaving everyone behind. George would catch up as the Croc crossed a dry area, then get left behind again when the Croc plunged into another pool and disappeared before resurfacing on the other side before plunging into the next pool. It didn't help that it was getting swampier either, and George was worried about quicksand. But as long as he stayed in the brush he was OK, it was the "clearings" he had to watch out for. He could smell the filthy stuff.

___________________________________________________________________________

I had just reached the wetter and swampier part of the creek system when I realized the only human with me was George. I came to a halt and looked at him as he looked down at me from up on the bank. I gave an impatient hiss.

"Give it a mo, mate. He said. The rest are getting left behind. Plus I need a breather; I'm not a Joey anymore you know." He took out some beef jerky and started eating.

When he noticed my interest he grinned and tossed me a big hunk.

It wasn't much for something my size, but I held it in my mouth for awhile enjoying the rich salty taste. "Mmmmm" I thought. It was a rare delicacy, most of my food was of course raw and rather plain without any seasoning, the salt was lovely.

Finally the motley crew was all assembled again, but poor "Costello" was pale and shaken as they'd had to fish him out of a quicksand bog. "I hate this place, I really do." he said.

"OK, I thought, rest time is over boys and girl." I was about to give another call when a gunshot rang out.

I lifted my head up as high as I could in surprise, and George unslung his carbine even though the shot hadn't been that close. Another shot rang out from farther up the creek.

With a loud hissing scream I took off in the direction of the shots. There was much more water in this part of the creek system and I soon left the others behind. I whipped through the water as fast as I could, turtles and other critters clearing the way in panic. When I came to a shallow or dry area I lifted myself up as high as possible and ran to the next pool.

Another shot rang out and I roared again, and was answered this time by a female's defensive roar and call for help. I gave a loud "I'm coming!" roar, and frantic now I speeded up, grunting from the effort. I heard my friends yelling at me, but ignored them.

I knew I was close to the main pool by now, and bursting through some reeds I stopped for a second and took in the scenario in front of me. There was a dead Croc floating in the water in the middle of the pool and the water was dark with blood around her. I recognized the young female who had joined our little group. She was floating on her back and slowly drifting with the current. She was too small to be a danger to any human so I couldn't understand why anyone would shoot her. If it's possible for a Croc to make sounds of grief that's what the sounds I made were as I looked at her. She'd been a sweet little thing.

I gave a low hiss of utter rage and hate, and looking further up the pool which was quite big and long I could see two men with rifles standing near the shore towards the far end of the pool. One laughed and fired his rifle and I heard another roar from a female defending her nest. With a soft hiss I slid into the water without leaving a ripple, and going deep with powerful strokes of my tail I quickly moved towards the two men. They hadn't seen me yet and it would stay that way, I was hunting now, the reptile in complete charge.

I surfaced once, briefly, with only my eyes above the water and gauged the location of the nearest man, then dived again without leaving a ripple. I dove deep then moving as fast as I possibly could I exploded out of the water with a bellowing roar and grabbed the man by the legs, then back peddling I pulled him off the bank and into the water before his horrified friend could do anything to help his screaming friend. As I pulled him under I heard a loud splash from the other side of the pool and knew reinforcements were on the way.

I pulled him deeper into the pool and soon my mate appeared out of the murky water and grabbed him too, and we both rolled. The man came apart like a meat puppet and the water turned dark with blood which just increased our frenzy. I hadn't been aware of the bullets the man's companion was firing blindly into the churning water until one hit me in the lower back near my tail. With a grunt of pain I let what was left of the man go and headed for the surface. My mate kept tearing what was left of the first man into even smaller pieces. The human part of my mind was screaming in horror, but the reptile was in charge.

As I surfaced another shot rang out and hit the water near my snout. I looked and saw the man who was reloading, but I didn't know that, all I knew was he was threatening my mate and children so I moved as quickly as I could towards him. I would drag him in too if I was able.

As I approached I heard the sounds of more of the threatening animals. The man raised his rifle again, a shot rang out, the side of his head shattered, and with a surprised look on his face he collapsed and slid down the bank into the water. Perfect! With a loud hiss I grabbed him and pulled him into the water and my mate quickly joined me, and we tore him to pieces as more threats on the bank made loud noises. ____________________________________________________________________________

George froze and dropped into a crouch when he heard the shots. He unslung his old carbine and carefully scanned the direction the shots had come from. Not close, but not too far off either, he thought. He heard another shot and Robert the Croc gave a loud scream and charged up the creek in the direction of the shots, and he heard the roar of another Croc from that direction. George knew enough about the sounds they made to recognize combat roars of extreme anger and aggression and felt a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Robert! He yelled, wait up mate!" But the Croc ignored him and disappeared with a big splash into the next pool. "Stone the Crows!" George cursed, and set off after his scaly friend. He heard the others flailing around as they followed as best they could.

George emerged from the thick brush into the edge of a fairly large clearing. He heard another shot and saw two men with rifles standing on the bank, and saw they were shooting at a Croc on the far bank. He saw it wasn't Robert, so where was he? Then he noticed two eyes pop out of the water for a split second and submerge. OMG, he thought.

George yelled at the two men, "For God's sake get away from the water you stupid Burke's!"

But it was too late. The water in front of the man nearest the edge suddenly exploded as a large shape emerged from it like a torpedo, and roaring and hissing it grabbed the man by his legs and pulled him into the water. It only took seconds and the other man was too shocked to respond. For a few seconds the water was fairly calm except for the slowly eddying ripples where the man and Croc had disappeared, and there was a splash as the other Croc plunged into the water. Then the water began to churn and froth and quickly turned a dark ruby red.

George was a seasoned combat veteran and had seen death in many forms, but never anything like this. "Oh God, Oh God." He moaned.

He heard more shots and realized the other man was firing blindly into the churning carnage trying to help his friend. As George watched a Croc surfaced, then began to move towards the shore. The panicking man was trying to reload, finally managed to get another clip into his rifle, and raised it to shoulder.

"Don't shoot!" George yelled, as he brought his carbine up. "Get away from the bank you moron!" But the man ignored him and George knew he couldn't miss at that range. God forgive me, he thought, and pulled the trigger. The man slumped over and slid into the water. The Croc grabbed him and soon the water was a churning bloody froth again. George turned around and leaned against a tree. "Oh my God." He sobbed.

He was hardly even aware when the other arrived, but looked up as Melissa screamed. He yelled at Rodney, "Don't let her see this for God's sake!" But it was already too late. Rodney held her while she screamed and screamed, and both the gallant volunteers lost their lunch. They had not signed on for anything like this!

___________________________________________________________________________

Finally we stopped after our second death roles. The threat was dead now and we needed to calm down and reassess the situation. I knew I was hurt, but could still defend if I had to. I followed my mate back across the pool and surfacing watched as she hauled herself out of the water. She took up position near a mound of sand, leaves, and other debris. The nest I realized. I could hear the young chirping loudly and knew the eggs were almost ready to hatch. I stayed in the water and turned to face the far bank where the other threats were. If they got past me she would be the last line of defense. I was more than prepared to die fighting for my children, as was she. As several figures appeared on the far bank she opened her mouth in warning and gave a loud hiss. At this point I no longer recognized any other animals as anything but a threat, to be killed if possible. I could feel myself getting weaker and the pain was worse now, but I held my ground. ____________________________________________________________________________

Finally Melissa calmed down enough to talk to George coherently. "George, she said, what are we going to do? My God, they killed those two men!"

"Only one Melissa, that second bloke was dead before he went in the water. I shot him in the head before he could shoot one of the Crocs. They'd already killed one Croc and were just playing with the other. It's horrible, but it was in self defense and they were defending their young." George said in an amazingly calm voice. "What were they supposed to do?"

Rodney was visibly shaken, but he had to agree with George. But what would they tell the authorities? He doubted if the self defense aspect would be taken into consideration. Any Croc who became a "man eater" was hunted down and killed without mercy no matter what the circumstances. He also doubted if it would make much difference if the authorities knew they had been changed into Crocs from people either, if they even believed them. All they would see were dangerous man eating scaly monsters. It was an understandable response; the two men had died horribly, torn to pieces by huge predators and man seldom allowed such an assault to go unpunished.

The two volunteers were also horrified, but they decided they'd go along with whatever their bosses decided. They just wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible, with or without "Robert" the now killer Croc.

Melissa moved down closer to the bank and looked at the two Crocs. The female had positioned herself to protect her nest, but Robert was still in the water. The female hissed at her but made no move to enter the water and Melissa knew she was safe, at least for now. She called to Robert, but he remained where he was, his eyes expressionlessly staring at her, not even blinking. She felt a cold shudder from that stare, there was nothing human in it. She took out her mini-nocs and zoomed in on the Crocs. Almost instantly she saw the fresh blood in the water next to Robert and knew he been wounded and was still bleeding. She tried to see where he was hit, but couldn't because most of him was under water.

"George, she yelled, Roberts been shot! I can't tell how bad it is though, but he's still bleeding!"

"Bugger all", thought George. He joined Melissa and borrowed her binoculars and took a look himself. She was right; he could see the blood staining the water near Roberts's rear. As he looked Robert suddenly slipped beneath the water for a second, then resurfaced a few seconds later.

"George, said Melissa, if he passes out he'll drown. He's not human right now, and he'll stay where he is to guard the nest until he dies. We have to get him on shore so I can work on him."

George replied, "Even we get him on shore there's no way anyone can go near him like he is. Even weakened he'd tear you apart without hesitation."

"No he won't", she said. She took off her pack, quickly rummaged through it, and took out a case, opening it to reveal a tranquilizer pistol and several darts. She quickly loaded the pistol and handed it to George. "Here, you're the best shot. Aim for the neck or another softer spot where the scales are thinner."

George gave a big grin, "You must have been a Scout too! Now how do we get him to present himself for target practice?"

"Like this, Melissa said, as she waded into the water and began splashing and making loud sounds. She tried to ignore the things floating in the water. The female gave a loud enraged warning hiss, and Robert disappeared without a ripple.

"Melissa! Yelled George, he's coming! Get the hell out of the water, NOW!"

Melissa turned and stumbled back out of the water and just a split second later the Croc exploded out of the water and charged up the bank right on her heels. She screamed and heard the soft "Phfftt" of the dart gun. Robert rapidly slowed down, but was still trying to reach her as she back peddled up the bank. She could see the dart sticking out of his neck, perfect shot. He took a few more steps, then came to a halt with a gasp, gave a final hiss of defiance, and passed out, his eyes closing. In horror she saw a length of human intestine trailing from his mouth. She reached down and gently stroked his snout. "You poor thing, she thought, you were just defending your babies."

The female gave a roaring scream of rage and concern as she saw her mate stop moving and she could smell his blood. She ran back and forth, torn between her desires to go to his aid, but also driven by the need to protect the nest. Finally with a mournful hiss she settled down by the nest again and began calling him to him in soft hisses and grunting moans. Finally she accepted he was dead and gave a long drawn out hissing groan of grief. He had been a good mate and had died for her and his young. He had been gone a long time, but had been there when they need him most. She would do everything in her own power to make sure their young survived, even if it meant she must die too. Her mate was dead, now it was up to her. She gave a last mournful hiss of grief and farewell. ____________________________________________________________________________

I watched as the other threatening animals moved closer to the water, but not close enough. I felt dizzy for a second and slid beneath the water, but quickly recovered. I knew I was running out of time, and hoped they would give me one last chance. And yes! One of them foolishly waded into the water and I released some air and sank below the surface. With powerful sweeps of my tail I ignored the pain and shot through the water towards the other shore intent on destroying the unwelcome intruder and threat to my mate and our eggs.

I shot out of the water close behind the now retreating animal, there was another one close by, but the first was nearer. I lunged up the bank after her, intent on dragging her into the water as well where my mate and I could quickly end the threat. I heard a strange noise and felt something sting my throat. I ignored it, but almost instantly felt a cold numbness moving through me. No! I thought, so close! My babies, my mate! I have to protect them! I tried to keep pursuing the threatening animal, but felt darkness overtake me at last. ____________________________________________________________________________

Melissa quickly went to work on the nasty wound in Robert's side. She was relieved to see it wasn't as serious as it had first seemed. No major blood vessels or bones had been hit, but the heavy slug had gone right through and left gaping entrance and exit wounds and it was obvious the Croc had lost a lot of blood. She could hear the female calling and hissing from the other bank, concerned for her mate. Looking up at George who was keeping a wary eye on the other Croc, she said,

"George, he's lost a lot of blood. I've stopped the bleeding, but we have to get him back to the compound, or the nearest vets, right away. If he goes into shock no telling what will happen. And we need to get Suzy to calm down some way if we're going to take her and the eggs too."

George, always the realist, replied, "Melissa, I don't see how we can get him anywhere in time. There is no way we can bring the vehicles in here, and they're miles away too. It took us half a day's hard march just to get here. He's way too heavy to carry anyway. As for Suzy, I don't think she's in any mood to be cooperative. As far as she's concerned we just killed her mate, and are a threat to her eggs. She may be part human mentally, but she's all Croc right now, and a pissed off mommy Croc is nothing to mess with." Then he turned to Lou who had been trying to interrupt him. "What the bloody hell to do you want?"

The chubby volunteer gave a hurt look, and said, "Um, George, why don't we just take that truck?"

George, not in a good mood considering how the day had turned out, snapped, "What the bloody hell are you on about, the trucks are ten miles away you great twit!"

Lou replied with his own voice loud and mad for once, "Not our trucks you old jerk, THAT truck!" And he pointed to a large van partially hidden in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. It had "Inskilling Industries, Security" on the door.

George stared in amazement, and then turned with a big grin. "Mate, I've been wrong about you all long. You're fair dinkum, and I'll go walkabout with you anytime. Now, do you know how to hotwire a van?"

Lou, an embarrassed grin on his face, said, "No, but why bother when we have the keys?" And he dangled a keychain in front of a delighted George.

"Melissa, George said, looks like our prayers have been answered by our dauntless and resourceful mate here, we've got wheels! Let's get Rob here loaded up and get the hell out of Dodge. We can come back for Suzy later."

Melissa looked up with a stubborn look on her face. "Not until we get Suzy and her eggs too, we promised him! And what if more men with guns coming looking for their, um, friends? They won't be pleased if the find anything that's, um, left."

George knew that look and tone of voice and realized any attempt to argue would just be a waste of precious time. God help me, he thought, women! "OK Melissa, got any bright ideas? I don't think she'll let us just chuck her in the back of the van. And how do you know that's Suzy for sure? I mean, how can you tell? She might be a real Croc."

"Come on George, you saw how Robert went right to her defense. He told us she was his mate. Plus I found this." She held up a small broken gold bracelet that had been lying on the rocks. Anyone who had knew Suzy would have recognized it instantly as she wore it all the time. I had engraved on it "To my Suzy-Q, love Dad". It had been her most prized possession. "As for ideas, we'll have to tranquilize her too. We need to get over on her side though as the dart gun doesn't have much range. No way to dart her from here, and I doubt she'll come over to this side willingly. No way will she leave her nest. You keep her attention, and I'll sneak over there and dart her."

With a frown George took the dart gun away from Melissa. "Now you know better than that missy, if anyone's going over there it's me. I've got half a chance of sneaking up on her, but she'd hear you a mile away. So you stay here and make funny faces to keep her attention and I'll dart her."

"George, Melissa said in a worried voice, you be sure to be very careful, promise?"

George replied "Not to worry, I'm very good at sneaking around, and I'm always very careful. I have this thing about getting my butt chewed on, by a Croc or anything else."

Melissa and the others watched as George disappeared into the brush, he was gone in a few seconds without a trace. No sound, no moving foliage, nothing. How does he do that? Melissa thought. "Ok, you lot, help me get Robert here in that truck!"

George slipped cautiously through the brush, keeping his eyes and ears open for anything that didn't belong. He was in his element. Of all the predators down under he was probably the most dangerous as he had not only an animal's instincts but his human intelligence. Over fifty years of life in the bush, with a side trip of twenty years in the SAS, had honed those skills to razor sharpness. He paused at the end of the pool and looked at the small dead Croc that had drifted to the shore there. He could see at least three bullet holes. Poor little bugger, he thought, you weren't no threat to anybody. And he felt a little less sympathy for the dead security men. He was a hunter, but someone who killed for fun and amusement and made an animal suffer for no reason was a low life in his book. His own kills were quick and clean. He took a final look, poor little bugger, and disappeared into the brush on the other side of pool. It wouldn't be easy, but he figured he'd make a wide detour and come up behind the female Croc. She'd most likely see him long before he could get close enough if he approached from the side. He knew she'd be fully alert and ready for anything. This wouldn't be easy.

In the meantime Melissa, the two volunteers Lou & Bud, and Rodney had managed to get Robert in the back of the truck. It hadn't been easy, but they'd managed. She'd been very careful to make sure none of the green stuff got on anybody, and made everyone double check their clothes. She was reluctant to do it, but gave Robert a shot to keep him out for as long as possible. If he woke up on the trip to the vets it could get very nasty in the close confines of the van. Plus if everything went according to plan they would have two very PO'd Crocs in the back. That taken care of she walked back to the water's edge and the female Croc opened its mouth and gave a very clear "I'll kill you if you come any closer" hiss. "Don't worry Suzy, she said, I won't hurt your babies." She didn't know if the Croc understood her, but at least it closed its mouth.

George reckoned he was at about the right place and began to slowly and carefully move towards the creek. He could tell where the bank was from the line of trees, and he'd marked one particularly large tree he knew was close to the nest. As he got closer he crouched down and approached even more carefully. Crocs weren't stupid and he knew she'd be straining with every sense for any danger to her nest, and they had superb senses. The species had not survived for uncounted millions of years without being superbly adapted to defense, plus human intelligence on top of those instincts made for a very formidable opponent. The fact he was a friend didn't mean she wouldn't tear him to pieces without the slightest hesitation. When he figured he was close enough he gave a bird call to let know Melissa know he was in position.

Melissa had been waiting for the call, and she and Bud moved down to the water's edge and began to yell and splash to attract Suzy's attention. I worked at first and the Croc hissed in anger and warning and dashed back and forth in a display of aggression. All of a sudden she stopped and lifted her head, and with a hiss she turned and moved into the brush behind her. Melissa's heart almost stopped, she yelled as loud as she could "George! She knows you're there! Get the hell out of there!"

George froze when he heard Melissa's warning. He knew the worst thing he could do was jump up and run, there was no telling where the Croc was. She must have caught my scent he realized, there wasn't a much of a breeze, but Crocs had amazing olfactory senses, both in and out of the water. So for now he stayed put and strained his own senses. For such large beasts they could also move very quietly. He heard a rustle somewhere in the brush up ahead, and then it was quiet again. Melissa was still yelling and he wished she would shut up so he could listen better! Then the bushes right in front of him were slowly pushed aside and a large snout came poking through, followed by two cold emotionless eyes that started at him intently. George was a very brave man, but when that huge mouth opened and hissed at him he very nearly crapped his pants. ___________________________________________________________________________

Suzy dashed back and forth in front of her nest, hissing and snapping at the loud and threatening animals across the pool. She was in an enraged frenzy now; she could no longer see her mate, dead or alive, and was still worried about him. Despite her threats the animals wouldn't go away and she wondered why. Suddenly an errant breeze brought her the scent of a large animal close by, behind her! They had distracted her so their fellow animal could get her eggs! It was closer and more of an immediate threat so she turned and slipped into the brush to seek out the new threat. She moved slowly and carefully, testing the air and finally located the new threat. Pushing her head through a final screen of bushes she came face to face with the animal, a male, and she hissed and opened her mouth in preparation for the coming fight. If he tried to get past her she would use her tail to break his back and/or grab him in her jaws. He would NOT get to her eggs!

___________________________________________________________________________

George knew he had only seconds to do something, anything. If he tried to jump up and run she'd be on him in a flash, and for the same reason he couldn't just back away either. How'd that old saying go again? "This is another fine mess you've gotten yourself into." or something along those lines. So he tried the only other alternative he had, sweet talk.

"Hello Suzy-Q, my love." He said, "You remember your old mate George, don't you? You remember this horrible old hat you gave me, don't you my lovely?" To his surprise and immense relief the Croc slowly shut its mouth and gave a soft grunt. It seemed confused.

"That's it my girl, you don't want to eat old George now, do you? Your bloke is fine by the way, he's just laid up a bit."

He slowly started to back away from her, no sudden moves, no sign of fear (yeah, right, he thought). The Croc watched him back away and he kept talking in a low soothing voice and at the same time slowly brought up the dart gun. She suddenly gave a roar and charged him, instinctively he brought up the gun and fired into her mouth and hit the soft flesh. She hissed and collapsed over him, gave a soft grunt and passed out. ____________________________________________________________________________

Suzy watched the animal intently, but it made no threatening moves. Then it began to make noises, and some part of her understood them. Plus she realized she knew the males scent from somewhere. Confused she closed her mouth and tried to think. She kept her eyes on the animal, but it was backing away. Maybe it wasn't a threat after all. She watched as it slowly lifted something into view and some part of her said "Danger!" With a roar she charged and felt a sting on the inside of her mouth. She tried to grab the animal, but for some reason couldn't seem to coordinate between her mind and body. With a soft grunt she pinned the animal, tried one last time to bite, and then darkness rushed in. Her last thoughts were of her young.

____________________________________________________________________________

With a grunt George pushed the Croc off of himself. She was out, but still had her mouth partly open and was hissing softly, still trying to defend her nest even though she was unconscious. Amazing what love can do. He brushed himself off and realized he'd pissed himself. Well, it wasn't like he hadn't had a good reason. He reached down and gently patted the Croc's snout. "You deserved better than this, my love, and you're a good mum too." He said softly. He the stood up and waved at Melissa who was yelling and jumping up and down like she was having a fit.

Melissa was frantic, ever since Suzy had disappeared into the bushes after George she'd heard nothing, then there was a loud attack roar and after that quiet. Finally she saw George stand up and almost collapsed from relief. He waved at her and pointed at his feet and she knew Suzy had been darted and tranquilized. Quickly she assembled the collapsible collection box she'd brought for the eggs, grabbed her vet's bag, and headed out to join George, yelling for the others to follow.

The first thing Melissa did was give Suzy a shot to keep her knocked out. Then while George and the others had fun trying to drag the heavy Croc over to the van she sat down next to the nest and began to carefully remove the eggs. She could hear the chirps and cries of the young and knew they were close to hatching. No wonder Suzy had been so worked up; she'd heard her babies calling to her. There were twenty-seven eggs in the clutch, not huge by Croc standards, but still respectable. Melissa wondered if the young Crocs would be "normal" or have super intelligence. So far as she could tell all the eggs were still alive, Suzy had done a good job of caring for them. She carefully packed the eggs the right side up in some of the mulch and sand from the nest, and then covered them in a layer to keep the sun off and insulate them. Then carefully carrying her precious cargo she slowly made her way back to the waiting men. Now SHE would fight to the death to protect the eggs, and she thought the Crocs would appreciate that if they knew.

There was some discussion as to exactly what to do next, but they eventually decided to just leave their own trucks and take the Security van all the way back to the compound as it was the nearest Vets anyway. Rodney put on an extra security guard uniform that had been hanging in the back of the van and they just drove right through the compounds main gate with no problem. The guards were checking vehicles going in, but didn't even give a second look at one leaving, especially since it was a corporation security van. They just assumed they were on their way to patrol the fence or run errands in the nearest town.

It was a little crowded in the back of the van, even with George and Rodney riding up front. The two volunteers Lou and Bud and Melissa, plus two large sleeping Crocs and a big box of eggs made up for quite a load. And even with the windows all rolled down it still smelled like a swamp and reptiles. Lou rode the whole way holding his nose with an "I do not approve" look on his face. They speeded the whole way, but there wasn't much traffic. When they pulled into the compound parking lot and around the back to the loading dock everyone let out big sighs of relief. Then George, Rodney and the two volunteers left again to retrieve their own vehicles.

Melissa ran around issuing orders to the full time staff and volunteers who obeyed her without question as they knew she knew what she was doing. They wheeled the two sleeping Crocs on gurneys into the clinic, the bigger male into an operating room and the female to an examination room. The first thing they did was to secure them with heavy straps and tape their snouts shut. Everyone pretty much had a good idea as to what was going on and took safety precautions to avoid the green goo. One volunteer told her some important looking guy was waiting in her office, but Melissa told her to tell him he would just have to wait as she had more important things to do. She made sure a couple of the staff took charge of the eggs and told them to put them in an incubator and keep an eye on then. Then she hurried to operating room where Robert was being prepped for surgery.

Over two hours later she finally finished. The wound had been nasty and had required some pretty extensive repair to his muscles and ligaments, but he should be fine now that she had repaired the damage and sewed him back up. He'd always have an impressive scar though. She wheeled him into post-op room to recover, making sure it wasn't too cold and that the automatic water sprays were working OK. Then she went to check on Suzy.

Melissa looked at the Croc lying on the exam table and found it hard to believe it could have once been human, and her friend. The Croc was awake and stared back at her but gave no sign of recognition. It hissed at her through its taped snout, hisses of pure hatred. Suzy had been hooked up to monitors, and Melissa looked at the brain wave printouts and was dismayed to see the higher readings were sporadic and almost non-existent. The reptilian ones were pretty normal, but showed an aroused level of aggression which was perfectly understandable. She gently stroked the Crocs snout and it hissed again through the tape around its jaws. She hoped the higher brain waves would increase once the aggression and defense instincts had died down. Something was very, very wrong. A volunteer stuck his head in the door and reminded her about her patiently waiting visitor. Crap, she thought, I forgot all about him!. What now! She told the volunteer to bring the eggs in a portable incubator in to where the female Croc could see and hear them, it would help to calm her down.

She was filthy and had human and Croc blood on her disheveled and stained clothes and knew she stank, but didn't care. She entered her office to find a rather dapper looking well dressed man waiting for her, definitely an academic type she thought. She said down and somewhat brusquely said,

"I'm Melissa, what can I do for you, Mr. um?"

The man smiled and said, "I am Dr. Milton from the Sydney Institute of Genetics and Biological Research, my card Doctor."

Melissa was impressed in spite of own self, every Doctor, Vet or otherwise, knew about the Institute. It was a very prestigious outfit and did lots of good work. She subscribed to their newsletter on veterinary research. She sat up a little bit straighter and was more self conscious of how she looked.

"I'm sorry for my appearance Dr. Milton, I'm afraid we had an emergency operation to perform, and I'm just in from the field."

Dr. Milton gave a genuine smile, and said "No need, no need! I miss field work myself, but once I got tenure they decided I was too valuable to waste doing any of the fun stuff."

Melissa found herself liking the man; he had the kind of honest straight forward character that was rare. "Well, she said, I'm certain you can't be spared from the really cutting edge stuff. Now, I must admit I'm kind of confused about what you're doing in my somewhat rustic clinic, I mean after all this is the back of beyond."

He laughed again and replied, "From what I've seen you run a very tidy and efficient operation and I'm most impressed, and your staff is first rate. Now as to the reason I'm here. You recently sent some rather interesting samples to be analyzed by one of our subsidiary labs. Dr. Green called me the minute he looked at the stuff. Frankly we've never seen anything like it and I was given carte blanch to come out here and find out more about it, and where it came from." Then he leaned back in his chair and gave her his undivided attention. "Pray, do enlighten me Doctor."

Melissa sighed. She should have suspected something like this. At least he wasn't from the military or government, or at least he didn't seem to be. "I hope you're not doing anything for the next few hours, and you most likely won't believe a word I say. But here goes."

She proceeded to tell him the whole story, and left very little out. He raised his eyebrows a few times, asked some very sharp and pertinent questions, and rubbed his short beard in intense concentration. She realized she was dealing with a first rate mind. He never once interrupted her or otherwise gave any indication he thought she was ready for the laughing academy. He grimaced when she mentioned the fates of the two guards but otherwise kept a fairly straight face though he did smile a couple of times when she told him about George's antics. Finally she stopped and waited for his response.

About this time George and Rodney pulled up in the parking lot with screeching brakes and a few seconds later both burst into her office at the same time, and both started asking questions at the same time. "Where is he?" "How is he?" "Where's Suzy?" and noticing the visitor at the same time both said "Gidday Mate" and then went back to bombarding Melissa with questions. Finally she said, "Robert is in post-op, Suzy is in Room 4. Now bugger off as I need to talk to this nice gentleman who's come all the way from civilization to grace us with his presence. So, SCRAM!"

With subdued "Sorry Melissa's, sorry mate's" they backed out of her office stumbling all over one another, then dashed down the hall and from the sounds evidently knocked someone down or tripped over something. She remembered there had been a tub of young Crocs that had been brought in for exams sitting in the hallway, and had a sinking feeling as to what had happened. Then they heard, "Watch it!" "It's your fault, you tripped me!" Then "Heeeey Abbott!" and loud laughs coming from down the hall. "They're loose, watch out!" There came the sound of loud hisses. "Get them!" "Ow, it bit me!" Oh my God, why now! Melissa thought as she turned red in embarrassment, Dr. Milton is going to think this IS the laughing academy!

A few seconds later several young Crocs came scurrying past the door with George pursuing, bent over saying "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!"

Dr. Milton gave an amused laugh as sounds of mayhem continued from farther down the hall, then stared in amazement as the Crocs and George ran past the door. A few seconds later George came running back past the door holding two loudly hissing Crocs with the rest in hot pursuit, determined to rescue their friends. Dr. Milton blinked a couple of times as Melissa held her head in her hands.

"Well, he said, that was interesting to say the least. I assume the rather rustic fellow was the indomitable George, and the other was our gallant sailor? Well I must say their appearance and line of questioning certainly support your story. As to whether I believe you have two Crocs that used to be human, and some sort of mutant green goo oozing around all I can say is yes, definitely." Then he smiled at the look on her face.

Well, Melissa thought. That is certainly not the answer I was expecting. She blurted out and incredulous, "You do?" Then she winced at the sound of a loud crash from down the hall and the following rather loud accusations of responsibility. "It's your fault." "No it's not!" "Yes it IS, you stepped on my toe!" "Watch out for that one, it bites!" More loud hisses and sounds of combat. "Well, I'M not going to clean it up!" Will you guys PLEASE knock it off!! She thought. She told her visitor to "Wait a mo, please."

She stuck he head out the door and yelled "Don't make me come down there!" There was instant silence except for a few hushed whispers. "It's not my fault!" "Oh yes it is!" "OH, I never!" "Yes you did too!" "Liar!" "Hiss!!" "Nuh uh!" "Yah huh!" Hiss! "I been a baad boy.", and some muffled snickers. With a big goofy grin on her face she turned to face Dr. Milton again, who laughing so hard his eyes were watering. Finally he regained his composure.

"Oh yes, Dr. Milton replied. I've looked at the stuff under an electron microscope, and we ran every test we could. We were up until the wee hours trying to find out what it was, and honestly we have never seen anything remotely like it. Whatever it is it's not natural, but is manmade as far as we can tell. It is amazing. As you assumed it is very dangerous, but is not toxic. However it is most definitely a Biohazard of the first order. I've heard of the Inskilling Corporation, and frankly this is far beyond their capabilities. Their main business is applying the discoveries of others for use in the commercial market. They don't do any original research of any kind. As far as we can tell the mutagen, which is the best way we can describe it, is designed to attach itself too, and repair, the very genetic make-up of cells by rewriting the DNA. Some of the samples you sent me have Crocodilian DNA in their makeup, but some are neutral with no DNA of any kind. We're not sure what that might mean yet.

My hypothesis at this point, and mind you it's just a guess, is that the stuff was designed originally to repair damaged cells and rebuild the tissue, and also to correct genetic flaws such as inherited diseases or disorders. It could cure every disease and handicap. No more crippled people, no more physical disorders or problems of any kind. It could replace burned skin, lost eyes or limbs, failing organs, the possible applications are mind boggling. However at some point it mutated and was infused with the Crocodilian DNA and when it "infected" your friends it did exactly what it was supposed to do and healed or "repaired" them by attaching to the DNA in each cell and "rewriting" it. We've seen the incredible results, a complete transformation from mammal to reptile. Whoever created the mutagen is a genius, but now it's a hazard as anyone who comes in contact with the Crocodile strain will end up just like your friends. What the "neutral" strain will do I have no idea. If it's spreading like you said, and Crocs are the carriers, then we have a major ecological disaster in the making. Can you imagine the results if it gets into the main water supply of a large town or city? We could end up with thousands of "infected" people. And God help us if it reaches the ocean, it could spread worldwide.

Inwardly Melissa cringed at the thought of what the stuff could do. "I don't know if you've tried to control or kill any of it yet, but I had no luck except for direct extreme heat which wouldn't work in this case. All I did find out was cold makes it go dormant but doesn't kill it, and around here that won't be much help." She told him.

Dr. Milton replied. "We did try a few things, with the same limited results. The stuff is not really alive in the sense we normally think of, which makes it very hard to destroy. It is organic and self replicating, but not aware. It just does what it's been programmed to do and nothing else. We definitely plan on running some more tests on it to see if there is any way it can be controlled. With your permission I'd like to call in some experts in various fields to examine our problem, and possibly to help your friends. I don't know if the process is reversible or not, but they would be our best hope."

Melissa felt a surge of hope. "That would be wonderful. I can gather up as much of the goo as I can and arrange to have the two Crocs shipped to wherever you want, and also some of the normal infected ones. As soon as their eggs hatch we need to check the intelligence level of the young as well."

"Actually", Dr. Milton replied, "I think it would be best for us to come to the scene of the infestation. If we take samples elsewhere there is always a chance some might get lose somehow, you've see how fast it spreads and it's definitely versatile in adapting to almost any climate or situation. If we could use your facilities I think they would be adequate for now. And it the meantime I'd suggest you remove all the uninfected animals, both Crocs and otherwise, away from here as soon as possible. We need to quarantine this whole facility, and the area where the stuff is concentrated as soon as possible."

Melissa knew that was the best thing to do, so she readily agreed. "We'll need more and better equipment though, much of our stuff is hand-me-downs and antiquated. As for the stuff here so far it's limited to only one tank, but I agree about getting the rest of the animals out of here in case it spreads." She cringed at the thought of her crew working with real professionals. There was another crash down the hall. God help us, she thought. The fate of the world will be in the hands of the Three Stooges with the assistance of Abbott and Cosetello. Good help us.

___________________________________________________________________________

I woke up slowly, confused and in pain, still groggy from the sedatives. My butt hurts were my first coherent thoughts. What the hell happened? I blinked as I looked around the brightly lit room and realized I must be back in the clinic. I tried to move, but found I was strapped own. Why am I bound? I thought. It made me even madder when I realized my snout was taped shut. Then I suddenly remembered. The gunshots, the churning bloody water. OH MY GOD, those men, I killed them! I squeezed my eyes shut in horror as I could still taste their blood in my mouth, big tears sliding down the sides of my snout. OH MY GOD I KILLED THEM! What have I DONE! I'm a murdering monster! I lay quietly for awhile, the human part still horrified and grieving for what I had done, but you could never have told that from the expressionless staring eyes except for the tears. The worst part was I know I would have done it again under similar circumstances, and that I wasn't to be trusted, even around friends. Not ever again.

Then through the antiseptic smell, the smell of my own blood, I caught a faint scent that I recognized instantly. My mate! She was here too! I tried to struggle again and stopped as my attempt caused my butt to hurt again. I tried to call, but could only make loud muffled hisses through my taped muzzle. And I heard a similarly muffled reply from nearby!

About this time George and Rodney showed up, jamming the door as they both tried to get through it at the same time. George won the shoving match and walked over to the table I was on, followed by Rodney who made an unseen obscene gesture at this back. Behind them came Lou and Bud, who managed to knock over something from the sound. It was funny, but I wasn't in the mood for that. Bud was sucking on his hand and I could smell blood. "Little bastard bit me!" I heard him mumble. I gave another loud muffled hiss as I called to my mate and Rodney jumped back a couple of feet, but George knew what I was on about.

"Don't worry mate, he said, she's just fine, so are the eggs. We had a bit of bother there didn't we? Don't you worry yourself none about those two blokes, you probably saved her life as they were just shooting for fun, the gits. No one blames you."

What about their families? I thought, I'll bet they blame me. Just don't take off these restraints whatever you do; I don't know if I can control myself anymore, not after that! I heard another distressed hiss from nearby and answered as best I could. I looked at George, pleading with my eyes. Please, I thought, please let me see her! Please let me see my babies!

____________________________________________________________________________

George finally pushed past Rodney and into the examination room. "Piss off Rodney, get out of the bloody way!" he said as he shoved his friend out of the way. Lou and Bud were close behind, and as they also had an altercation getting through the door they managed to knock over a small cabinet. Poor Bud had already had one of the young Crocs take a chunk out of his hand. A second later they all froze as they heard Melissa yell down the hall "Don't make me come down there!" After some mutual accusations concerning the person responsible they finally shut up and approached the table with their large friend lying on top.

George looked down at the groggy Croc and gently stroked his snout. Looks like he's wearing diapers he thought as he looked at the large bandages covering most of the Croc's rear. He had all sorts of monitors hooked up to him, and two IV's as well. The Croc, Robert, he reminded himself, was obviously worked up about something and was hissing through its taped snout. George talked to him a bit while the others watched and he calmed down a bit. When George heard another muffled hiss from down the hall and his friend answered he knew what the problem was.

Turning to Lou and Bud he said, "Get Suzy and bring here her, he has to know she's OK or he'll hurt himself trying to get loose and go to her." Given their marching orders Lou and Bud hurried to obey.

They entered the exam room containing the gurney with Suzy strapped to the top of it; carefully removed the monitors hooked up to her, and wheeled her out of the room and down the hall to Postop. As an afterthought they brought the eggs too. Entering the room they pushed the gurney over next to the table with Robert, getting it as close as they could. Lou took the portable incubator over to a table and plugged it in, it was in plain sight of both of the Crocs.

____________________________________________________________________________

I heard them enter the room and could smell her much better now. I tried to turn my head again, but couldn't as it was strapped down. They wheeled the gurney with my mate strapped on it next to the table so her head was level with my own. Then they brought in an incubator and we could hear the hatchlings calling with loud peeps and chirps, basically they were saying "Momma? Momma?". I looked at her and thought how beautiful she was and gave a tired hiss. Her snout wasn't strapped down like mine and she moved her head and laid her snout across mine and gave a concerned hiss. She had thought I was dead and was relieved to see me. She didn't like this place, and could tell I was hurt, but I was with her now and she felt safer. Plus we could hear the babies and that calmed us both down and our worries slipped away as we touched. I heard George and the others silently leave the room and shut the door, but didn't pay any attention. I had eyes only for my mate. Slowly the pain and exhaustion caught up me, and I fell asleep with the smell of her sweet scent in my nose and the sound of my children soothing me. While I slept she kept watch.

___________________________________________________________________________

Melissa looked out the window and sighed. It had been a long six months since the incident and she was dead tired. The various scientists and their crews were in the final stages of packing up their mobile labs and other gear before heading back to Sydney.

A great deal had been accomplished, and much learned, some good, some bad. They had finally found a way to neutralize the mutagen, and it had been amazingly simple once they'd figured it out. A powerful enzyme that was readily available and non-lethal to humans would basically turn the stuff off, and it couldn't become active again unless another enzyme was applied to neutralize the first. The mutagen didn't die, but it did become permanently harmless and inactive. The enzyme had been sprayed over a large area and the results had been excellent. Just to be on the same side the spraying would be repeated over a period of time until no active mutagens could be found and of course the area would be closely monitored in the future. They administered it to infected Crocs, including Robert and Suzy, and it had rendered the mutagen in their systems completely harmless even though the stuff would remain there, but at least it wasn't reproducing anymore and they wouldn't be barfing the stuff up all over the place anymore.

They had finally found out where the mutagen had originated as well. It had been created by a somewhat eccentric, but brilliant, scientist named Dr. Norman Booker who had most tragically died in a car wreck several years previously. He had founded the research facility that Inskilling Corp. had taken over after his death, and unfortunately all his records had been destroyed or disappeared, and it seems he kept very little records on his research to start with. The company hired to renovate the property and facilities had dumped the experimental mutagen, along with other unknown stuff, into the creek instead of paying the fees necessary to properly store or destroy it. They had been hit with huge fines and gone out of business shortly thereafter.

With the death of Dr. Booker and loss of his research records his fellow scientists, and now great admirers, were at a total loss as to how he had created such a fantastic thing to start with, much less how it had mutated. But they had plenty of the stuff to work with and experiment on. They thought it was only a matter of time before they could retro engineer the mutagen and duplicate it. Some of the best minds in that area would work on it until they died and someone new took over. If they could recreate his research it would be the biggest medical breakthrough in history.

Melissa looked up at the photo showing her smiling friend Suzy again and felt sadness dampen her spirits. Because of her "heroic" part in the event the institute had been granted a perpetual grant that was most generous, they would be able to expand and modernize the facility like they'd wanted to for years. They would no longer have to depend on hand outs and small donations. But the news for her two reptilian friends was less than happy.

For the last six months they had been poked and prodded, examined, experimented on, and generally run ragged by every kind of specialist she could name, and then some. Every single one had been leaders in their fields. When they sometimes seemed to forget their objects of interest had once been human she always reminded them, often in a rather rude manner and George had had a private "talk" with some of them. Once George had walked in on one of the researchers sticking some instrument or probe into Suzy's cloaca and she'd been hissing in pain. It had taken three strong men to keep George from throwing the man into one of the Croc tanks. On the good side Robert had healed fine and was as active as ever, plus the eggs had all hatched and the hatchlings, all female, now happily shared a large pit with mommy and daddy who were just as protective as ever. And fortunately the baby Crocs were perfectly healthy normal Crocs with no sign of increased intelligence.

She had known something was wrong as soon as she had examined Suzy and seen the readouts from the monitors. The scientific teams had brought much better monitors and other equipment for analyzing the mental state and condition of the Crocs. To her dismay their findings agreed with her own and it was obvious that very little in the way of human brain activity remained in Suzy's mind. It was also apparent that the human brain waves in Robert were also slowly breaking down and fading. It would appear that the smaller reptile brain was incapable of maintaining the higher human mental functions, and as result they were just fading away and would eventually be gone with only the reptile mind remaining. It took about a year for them to fade entirely. Suzy had been changed almost eighteen months ago now, and Robert had been changed about ten months ago. And there was nothing they could do about it; it was irreversible as were their transformations. They would remain like they were until they died natural deaths, but much sooner than that their human minds would "die". She couldn't help but wonder what would happen to their souls, if there were such things.

She dreaded telling Robert, but thought he was still smart enough to realize something was wrong. It had slowly and steadily gotten harder for him to communicate, even by typing and he appeared to have completely forgotten Morse code.

With another sigh she left the office and leaving the admin building she walked across the parking lot to the Zoo area. She leaned over the pit wall and watched Robert and Suzy bask in the warm sun on their favorite rocks, each with several hatchlings on their backs. When they saw her they lifted their heads and some of the hatchlings took to the water, but they recognized her and lowered their heads again, but kept their eyes on her. They had to treat them like regular Crocs because that's all Suzy was now, and Robert was fierce in defense of his mate or their young. She tapped on the metal fence, and then lowered a specially designed keyboard with oversized keys to the ground.

Robert knew what she wanted and getting up he slid into the water and swam over to her side, dislodging his squeaking passengers in the process. He dragged himself out of the water, still favoring one of his hind legs, and moved over to the keyboard. Melissa said.

"Hi Robert, how are you and the missus today? Are the kids behaving themselves? Anything you need?" Robert blinked a couple of time as he obviously had to think about his answer. Finally he slowly typed, and she felt sick at how slow he was now,

He laboriously typed, "We OK, kids pretty good. More food be nice."

She smiled, he always wanted more food. "Good, she said. I will tell the staff to bring more beef next time." He gave a happy hiss at that. She was about to pull they keyboard up again, but he put his claws on it until she stopped. He started typing again,

"Missa, he typed, what wrong with I? I not think good no more much, it hard to make thoughts now. What wrong I and Suzy? Me scared hurt more mens, not want do this no more. Mens hates me?"

Melissa wasn't sure how to reply; ever since he had realized what he had done to the two security guards it had traumatized him, or at least the human part. They had managed to cover up that tragedy by blaming it on some other, whereabouts unknown, rogue Crocs. The men's families had received surprisingly large settlements and lifetime pensions from the Inskilling Corp.

"No, she said, men not hate you. We're your friends, you know that."

He typed back. "Friends good, yes. U good friend, take care us nice. Babies like U, think mommy too. Sorry hurt mens though, it so bad, me sorry. Missa, what wrong I, pless? I no smart no more"

With a sad sigh she realized now was as good a time as ever to tell him, at least he still might be able to understand. So she told him, as slowly and simply as she could, that his human mind was dying and he would soon be nothing more than a "normal" crocodile. As he listened he shut his eyes and big slow tears began to run down the sides of his snout. He let out a long sad soft hiss and Suzy lifted her head up in concern at the sound of his grief. If the animal made any move to harm her mate she would come at the run.

Finally he typed slowly and awkwardly, "Yes, I know, think it maybe be this. So hard to make think more now, kant make long thinks much. U Georg gud frends us. Georg not hors butt afterz all. Wes luv you and Georgs. U save babies. Pless let uz go home. Thes plasz nice, but not home. Pleess lets us go back home. We be hapy home. Promis, pleezz?"

"Yes, of course I promise." She replied, and watched as Robert "waved" at her and went back to his family to bask some more in the warm sun.

___________________________________________________________________________

Six weeks later she and George, accompanied by the now full time staff members Lou and Bud whom they trusted completely, drove a large van through the night. Robert and Suzy slumbered in the rear, secured and sedated. Robert had had to be subdued just like Suzy as he could no longer type and did not understand what they wanted. They had told no one else of their plans as they were sure steps would have been taken to prevent them from releasing "valuable specimens" back into the wild. George knew an old mate who ran a large refuge for Crocs who would take them without question; he had no idea of what they really were. They would live in the natural environment they were designed for and be protected from hunters or curious crowds. They were sad Rodney couldn't be there to say goodbye too, but he'd returned to his ship long ago when his leave was up. He was planning on leaving the Navy and becoming a full time staff member, but that was years away.

They pulled up next to the large creek and unloaded their two friends. Both were still groggy from the drugs, and they quickly undid the straps and cut the tape from around their snouts. Then they moved farther up the bank and waited. Both Crocs woke up fairly quickly and with a happy hiss Suzy splashed into the water and resurfaced a short distance away as she waited for her mate. Robert started to follow, but then turned as George said "Hey mate!" With a quick flip of his hand George threw a large chunk of beef jerky at the large Croc, who knowing what it was opened his mouth and caught it with a snap. The Croc gave a happy hiss at the delicious salty taste, and turning away started down the bank. Then it paused and turned its head to look at the people watching it. It slowly blinked its eyes, then raised its paw and waved for the last time. Then with a happy grunt it plunged into the water to join its mate. They both submerged and started to explore their new home.

"Well, said George, at least they'll be safe and happy." And no one dared mention the tears rolling down the crusty old veterans face.

END

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