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[center][b]The Flare -Part 2-[/b] Written by Leo_Todrius Supported by my Patrons[/center] [b][Day 0][/b] New York was a city of life and noise and bustle. The city had roots running deep into the Earth, but it was always stretching towards the sun. The skyscrapers were a pinnacle of human achievement, but with that many people concentrated in one place, the pollution took its toll on the obelisks of glass and steel and it was up to people like Elio to clean them up. All the noise of the city was fifty stories below him. Up here it was only the whistling wind and the vacant stares of the few people to notice him through the window that kept him company. Thankfully he still had a few bars of signal on his phone. Elio bent over, mixing up more of the special formula glass cleaner that would get the job done without leaving streaks that the office workers would have to deal with for the next three months. It was harder doing it with his gloves on but the temperature at this altitude was too cold to go without. Thankfully his safety harness, coat and work vest kept him comfortable enough. When the formula was mixed, he hooked his gear together and double checked everything before reaching up, his gloved finger brushing past his wheat colored coils of hair to press the earbud in his cinnamon toned ear. A chime sounded in both ears before the live broadcast resumed, giving him background noise to work to. “-on the Helios station is witness to a once in a lifetime event. Minutes ago, an extra-solar chain of asteroids named EAO-115 by IASA plunged into the fiery surface of our sun, no doubt burning up in a spectacular inferno.” one of the presenters said. “What a fitting analogy after tax payer money burned up in an equally spectacular inferno for what equates to watching water boil… Why are we spending so much on idle curiosity when there are real world problems at home to be solved?” Another asked. Elio’s plump, chapped lips curled into a frown at that. Why did there have to be so much negativity in the world? When did learning and curiosity become the enemy? Nations working together to achieve something was supposed to be a good thing. If his fingers weren’t covered in such thick gloves he would have changed to a different stream. He’d been fascinated by the asteroids since IASA had detected them a few weeks ago. He let out an exhale, his breath turning to vapor as it curled around his chin. Thankfully the window cleaning compound didn’t freeze. Elio worked his way back and forth across the platform, cleaning the bluish-silver window panels. When he’d completed as much as he could reach, he pressed a switch that lowered the platform down on double reinforced cables to access another row. He leaned down, loading up his sprayer before he wet down the next bank of glass. As he straightened back up, his caramel brown eyes blinked from behind the safety of the protective goggles he wore. The flare off the glass was intensifying beyond what he was used to. For a moment he wondered if the sun had come out from behind cloud cover, but it had been a completely clear morning. He turned and looked over his shoulder, using a gloved hand to shield his face while still trying to see what was going on. The golden light seemed mesmerizing, somehow. It seemed to flicker and dance and the window washer’s mouth fell open in awe. He let his sprayer drop to the floor of the platform as he watched, feeling oddly warm inside. It was as if his blood was truly pumping, his circulation pushing his blood into every vein and capillary. His nipples hardened and blood started to rush to his groin. The chill disappeared from his fingertips and his toes. He almost felt as if he was on a beach being warmed by the sun. The window washer slowly let his arms drift out from his sides as if he wanted to give the sun a welcoming hug. A faint sheen began to grow across Elio’s upper lip and chin, forming like frost as the same wheat blond hair pushed out of the soft, smooth skin to form a mustache and a goatee. The hair crept back along his jaw line as a jagged formation descended along his cheeks. The twenty four year old gained months of growth in seconds, looking more mature by the moment. He let out a soft moan, feeling the tingle turn into an itch on his chest as hair was sprouting and curling and growing thick there as well. He flexed his fingers closed and opened, feeling the leather of his gloves snagging unusually on fingernails that felt too thick, too long, and too sharp. His layers of safety gear and clothing felt tighter and more constricting, squeezing around biceps and triceps that were a bit bigger than they had been before. Even his pants began to slink down, revealing the upper curve of boxer covered ass cheeks and peach fuzz growing across the small of the window washer’s back. “...lost all connection with Helios, though IASA assures us this is natural phenomenaaaaaaaaaaa” The earbuds crackled and fizzed as the connection lagged and then cut out, Elio’s cellphone going into SOS mode as interference prevented the device from connecting as it should. There were faint pops as tiny points of ivory colored claws pierced through the leather of the gloves, making each digit dangerous. Elio’s fawn colored mustache curled down playfully over his plump lip, his goatee descending down from his chin. His lips parted, revealing canine teeth that were just a little too long, just like his mop of curls that had only grown thicker and denser, framing his head almost in a mane. Elio turned, breathing hard, feeling his shoulders thicken and extend as the sunlight, or rather the exotic radiation, soaked into him. Looking through the window into the skyscraper, he saw he wasn’t the only one. The boardroom, or whatever it was inside, had erupted into chaos. Most had backed up against the rear wall in the shadow of the building. One of the women was sitting on the floor, rubbing anxiously at reddened arms. Others looked out of the windows at the sunlight in confusion and terror, but one of the junior executives was tugging and clawing at his tie, pulling his suit jacket open to reveal a thick carpet of black hair that was practically fur. His slick greased hair contrasted with the short but rapidly thickening beard that framed his youthful face. Similarly, what Elio could only guess was their boss, was running fingers through a silvery-brown beard that was rapidly descending from his face, brushing his collar bone. The others looked at him like he had caught some strange disease, but Elio thought he looked handsome… Both of the changing men did… They looked as good as he felt, and he wanted more. Reaching up to unclip his harness, Elio turned away from the building to face the sun, holding his clawed hands out at his side, basking in the sunlight washing over him. He heard the muffled wind on the other side of his earbuds but he closed his eyes, letting the sunlight cast pink light through the flesh of his eyelids. He’d never felt so alive, never felt so good, and never felt before that life could truly grant him miracles. Whatever this was, Elio wanted to embrace it fully. He grinned from ear to ear even as a faint divot began to form in the center of his upper lip, altering their curve ever so slightly. [center]****[/center] It was hard to find an unoccupied stretch of the Florida coastline - at least one that still had the white sand beach and the scenic view. The air carried the perfect mix of salt and sunshine, the scrub oscillating in the gentle breeze. The quartz crystals in the sand sparkled almost as much as the water, but it was the steady red lights on the cameras positioned around the spot that had Jayden’s attention. The GoPros and HSLR cameras were set up on a variety of flexible tripods and mounts, capturing several different angles. Jayden was a professional, but he still wanted his videos to be authentic. The twenty year old’s ebony skin contrasted the sand, his dark hair twisted into curls that stuck up like a thorny crown. His arms were defined without effort, curved in all the right places and emblazoned with a constellation of tattoos that were practically his maker’s mark. He propped himself up in a sitting position, privately wishing he’d put down a blanket, but any accoutrements would have spoiled the video. He let his gaze slip down his perky pectorals, his washboard abs, and then along all fourteen inches of his claim to fame. He was as wide as a beer can and the head of his cock barely tapered into a dome. Jayden wore the expression of a man that was cool, confident, collected. To a degree, that was who he was, but part of his brain wasn’t turning off. He was thinking about how to stitch all the angles together, how to edit it into another masterpiece that would net him his next thousand dollars, and then how to spread it out there to the masses and - Jayden gasped as that warm, slick mouth finally popped all the way around the head of his cock and then began to engulf inch after inch of his shaft. Jayden lifted a hand from the hot sand, grabbing the back of Micah’s head, tangling it in the wavy brown locks of the most flexible white boy he’d ever met in his life. Ice blue eyes snapped open, looking up at Jayden even as the cock slid all the way back to his mouth. Almost coyly, Micah tilted his head and relaxed his throat before he began taking him deeper. Jayden bit his lip and practically sneered, cursing himself for not getting an overhead shot that could get that face… but Micah must have known that face was only for Jayden. Holding the slut’s shag in his fingers, Jayden pushed him down further, watching six inches slide in, then seven. He began to work Micah back and forth on his rod at the half way point, watching his throat bulge. Jayden’s toes curled and uncurled. He accentuated his movements, dialing them up a bit, playing to the cameras. He let out loud and lewd noises that were exaggerated, trying to make up for the sound of the ocean and the clear fact that Micah couldn’t make any noises at the moment. Up and down, deeper and deeper. Jayden started to feel so good, warm and tingly all over. He let go of Micah’s head, bringing his arm back down into the sand, raising his other. He caressed the back of Micah’s skull, though he let his partner move back to just sucking on the head so he could actually get some air and fill his lungs again. Jayden closed his eyes, feeling almost like he was spinning a little. It was euphoric, a little dizzy. He was breathing harder than usual, his chest rising and falling, itching a little as if sand had stuck to his sweat covered skin. The tingling spread, covering his entire scalp. It almost felt like his hair was extruding outward, all of it at the same time. His twists remained as they were, but the thick growout beneath created a dense frame, making the hair more massive and prominent. His cheeks burned and throbbed, feeling strange before the only relief came in a rapidly spreading sensation of thousands of hairs breaking through the surface. They spread down along the back of his cheeks, crashing into his jawline. The hair crept forward a few inches before, suddenly, it grew out horizontally. Wavy, kinky hair erupted in dense patches, creating wild sideburns that took up half his cheeks. Jayden’s eyes opened, though his irises were unfocused. They had constricted a little, the circular center seeming almost like vertical ovals. The brown had the faintest tinge of gold. The hot breath blasting through his lips passed over slightly sharper canines. His chest felt odd, a dusting of hair growing there. Jayden didn’t know what was going on, but he looked down at Micah’s face as his expression seemed to shift from lust to confusion. He pulled back, trying to pull off of Jayden’s dick, but as he did it was almost as if his lips snagged a little. Micah opened his mouth wide and pulled off, revealing Jayden’s massive dick… and the faint ring of rubbery barbs that had pressed out from around the head. Jayden stared in disbelief, looking at his faintly feline cock. He looked up at Micah and froze again, watching a tuft of hair descend from the Jewish boy’s chin as… whiskers… poked out of his cheeks. His already pale nose looked a little more pink, his ears just a bit too round, and a masculine shadow of dark brownish stubble was stretching down his cheeks and jawline, framing his face with a five o’clock chinstrap beard. They looked at each other with uncertainty, knowing the cameras had caught all of this. Micah said nothing, though he licked his lips a little before he lunged forward, grabbing onto the base of Jayden’s cock with both hands before his mouth plunged around the cock again, barbs and all. Jayden moaned and fell back into the sand, not even bothering trying to hide his pleasure. [center]****[/center] The lobby of the emergency room hadn’t changed much in the last forty years. The crescent shaped space offered seating for those waiting to be seen, an area to triage and assess the severity of the injured, and two small windows for the necessary bureaucratic paperwork to be processed through. The televisions were ten years old but still functioned, though they were perpetually kept on mute. There was a charging station for cell phones, though only half the cords worked. The wood panel walls and the linoleum floors were untouched and only the upholstery had been updated for sanitary reasons. What had changed, at least today, were the patients… Julia stood near the door to the triage area, resisting the very strong urge to scratch at her arms. It was a histamine reaction, as far as she could tell, fitting all the symptoms of a sudden and severe allergy to direct sunlight. She wasn’t the only one, looking at the waiting area. While the ER was overcrowded on a good day, nearly every square inch was occupied by an influx of patients that mostly fell into two categories; confused, somewhat scruffy looking men and irritated, somewhat sunburned women. Julia did notice some exceptions to that breakdown, but that wasn’t something she had time to delve into. The nurse moved out into the center of the room, stretching to all five foot seven of her frame, her blue scrubs shifting to be reasonably flattering. Blue eyes peered out from behind circular glasses, her sun-bleached hair pulled back into a neat bun to keep it out of the way. The smart watch on her wrist kept vibrating as text after text rolled in from the emerging incident. Julia tried to get a feeling for the general mood of the room, knowing her next statement wasn’t going to be particularly popular, but in the field of medicine there were often times that bad news had to be delivered. “If I could have everyone’s attention please…” Julia said out loud, waiting a moment, “I know that the strange events of today have us all confused and concerned and many of you have come here because of your very real reaction to it. I know I have as well… At this time, exposure to-” Julia paused. To what? The Sun? The news had said something about a solar flare… “-to the flare does not seem to be life threatening. The hospital is setting up a station down the hall, here near the information desk, and the imaging department. The emergency room needs to treat those with life threatening conditions first, but we have staff coming to check you out as soon as possible.” “You can’t just kick us out! We have a right to be here!” One of the male patients said, his teeth looking a little sharper than they should have. “Look at my skin, it’s so puffy! This isn’t normal! You need to give me something!” An older woman said, holding up her inflamed arms. More arguments and complaints began to bubble up into a swelling sea of discontent, threatening to spill over the edges. “Hey!” The shout came, cutting the tension like a knife. The voice came at a pitch that reminded Julia of her cousin that had transitioned. Sure enough, the person that had shouted was one of the outliers Julia had noticed… They presented as a female and had the itchy red patches on their arms to back it up, but fuzz had covered the back of her ears and there were faint sideburns creeping down that it was very unlikely she had allowed to grow. “We’ve come here for help. They are offering us help, just not here. Are you bleeding? Did your lung collapse?” she asked the man. “No…” he replied, somewhat cowed. “We’ll have food and water and creams to help with the itching, we just need the space to keep functioning.” Julia said with as much care as she could. There was still a bit of hesitation before the first few individuals slowly got up and began moving toward the hallway that would lead toward the area they were being directed to. The young woman that had stepped up waited for the most vocal dissenters to pass before she grabbed her purse and moved to follow. Julia bowed her head a little. “Thank you.” the nurse said. The woman nodded and kept moving, filtering out. Julia watched them go for a bit, but her eyes shifted and she looked out past the entrance of the Emergency Room. While the lobby of the ER hadn’t changed much in the last few decades, just about everything else had. The building had been remodeled and upgraded a dozen times. Every room was state of the art and the towers stretched up so high that they cast long shadows along the turn around that ran outside the ER. Julia wondered just how much the shadow was protecting them, or if they were still getting slowly dosed by whatever had triggered the change even while they were inside. “Nurse?” One of the remaining guests asked, a father with an arm around his child who had a cast around his arm. Julia snapped back into action, trying to keep doing her job the best she could even as the world shifted around them. [center]****[/center] For anyone sensitive to sensory overload, the newsroom would have been a living hell on a good day. Today? Every phone was ringing, every printer was printing endless sheets of updates. Screens were filled with reporters in the field and editors were pouring through a deluge of B-Roll. The air smelled of burnt coffee as the interns were too distracted trying to reach their families to pull it off the burners and the front doors to the building had been locked as the streets outside devolved into ground zero as the streets ground to a halt as people tried to flee from something they couldn’t even begin to understand… except that it was their job to help them do just that. Most of Logan’s coworkers were on their phones, fighting congested towers in an effort to reach their family members. Logan just had the selfie camera on, staring at himself. He’d started the day with his brownish-red hair cropped short with just a bit of fringe in the front to give a little personality in case they needed him to do a field piece or something. He’d been walking back from lunch when it had started, and in just a few minutes his hair had grown out almost five inches into a shaggy wave. More than that, he’d grown a tuft of rust colored hair from his chin - a feat that his teenage self would have died to grow. It would have felt like a blessing if it wasn’t so terrifying. “Shhh, shhh, shut up, shut up!” One of his coworkers hiss-whispered. The general volume fell back while not disappearing completely. He reached over and turned up the feed from the studio broadcast from just on the other side of the wall. Logan turned, his hazel green eyes studying the face of their station’s most reputable reporter. Walter was always serious, but there was an understated sadness in the older man’s eyes as he read his teleprompter copy and prepared to deliver what it said to the people. “We are receiving word at this hour… that the President has announced a state of emergency nationwide. IASA has confirmed that the strange phenomenon that we have been reporting on coincided with the impact of an unusual solar flare against the Earth’s atmosphere at four sixteen in the afternoon, Eastern Standard Time. The flare appears to be the direct result of the impact of the interstellar objects known as EAO-15.” Walter said, taking care with every word and delivering them with the clearest annunciation and gravity he could manage. “Oh my god…” one of the other interns murmured, slowly sinking down into her chair. While the overhead lights were off, the filtered sunlight coming in sharp angles through the windows bounced off the floor and glared off of her glasses. “As the surface activity of the sun has not yet returned to normal, and the effects of this strange phenomenon are not yet fully known, the President has ordered an immediate shelter in place lockdown, pending an immediate review with IASA and its member nations” Walter paused, taking a few breaths, his eyes shifting ever so slightly from the prompter to the camera itself. “These are uncertain times, fear is at a fever pitch. I urge you all to be careful, to be cautious, and to work together… We are at our strongest when we work towards a common goal. We will learn the truth together, and we will learn how to move forward together.” Walter said with earnest sincerity. Logan let go of a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “I hope they listen to him…” Logan murmured. He knew they wouldn’t, at least not at first. There would be screams and sirens, riots and looting… but he had to hope that they’d been knocked down often enough that they might learn how to get back up faster. Logan looked back at his phone and at the reflection of a face that wasn’t quite his anymore. The flare had struck without warning, irradiating countless numbers of people with exotic radiation that mutated them ever so slightly. There had never been anything like it in humanity’s history. Logan’s hazel eyes lifted, catching sight of the B-Roll someone had pulled up of a shot of the sun filtered through one of IASA’s filters until it looked like a simmering, sweltering, molten ball of fire. Logan recalled something about the speed of light and the sun being eight minutes from Earth… Eight minutes between the source of all life and heat on the planet and eight minutes from something like the flare hitting them again. He really hoped people would listen to Walter. [b][Day 4][/b] The sun had been revered, worshipped, praised and held holy by nearly every civilization that had ever inhabited the Earth, even in the regions where the light and heat were their harshest. Dubai was no exception. The sun was bright enough most days to make the blue sky seem white and the opulent city that had risen up from the sands were on full display to the eyes of god. Somewhere in between the skyscrapers and the hotels and the other architectural works, it was easy to feel small… or at least not quite as big as one had expected to be. Hamza stood outside the Silver Oasis hotel, his wavy black hair cascading down to the nape of his neck. His bronze skin was kissed by the faint golden touches of an early sunset. Despite a modest job, the cost of living in such a place meant that he could still dress nice and his earrings were true gold. As he waited for the valet to bring his car, Hamza still couldn’t help himself from scrolling through his phone, looking at the latest updates. Some part of him felt like it had to be a prank, but even in an age of AI, the videos and pictures were too consistent. It had been a few days since life in North America had ground to a halt. At first the world thought America was being dramatic again, but reports had come in all the way from Canada to Mexico. There were claims that a solar flare had cursed them, transformed them, or otherwise afflicted them… or at least the Eastern seaboard. They were still on lockdown despite no new cases. And yet, all around the world, no one else had noticed anything different. Hamza’s father had called it a curse, others claimed it was some military project that had gotten out of hand. Many more tried not to think about it at all. America got enough attention in the press as it was. They were not the center of the world. Hamza exhaled a little, moving to minimize the news feed when he paused. Looking down at his hand, it didn’t look quite right… There were wisps of dark black hair along his knuckles, another patch on the back of his hand. More curls were peeking out from the band of his wristwatch. Hamza looked at his hand in surprise. It looked like his father’s hand. As Hamza gaped, his fingernails seemed to grow thicker, phishing out longer, tingling and throbbing. The hair crossed the back of his hand more, the wisps growing longer and softer. He returned his phone to his pocket, examined his other hand, then looked around the street. He moved back up the steps of the hotel and tugged on the door, but the door was locked. In his reflection, Hamza watched his face slowly darkening as stubble that he’d shaved off mere minutes before emerged with a vengeance. It bloomed and spread like night’s sinking shadow, claiming his upper lip, his cheeks, his chin, even his throat. Hamza knew when he was married that he’d grow his beard out, as was his family’s custom, but he had expected several more years of the bachelor life. Now the stubble was turning into a short bit incredibly dense beard. Even his eyebrows were growing rebellious, creeping toward each other in an infernal embrace. Hamza turned and looked up at the sky, at the setting sun. The light was warm, engulfing everything. Hamza’s tailbone began to ache and his shoes felt like they were shrinking around his feet, though it was really the other way around. His toes were snagging on his socks and the inside of his shoes. Each digit felt thicker, broader, wider. His shirt strained around his shoulders and chest. Hamza grunted a little, his ears feeling odd as dark fuzz spread across the backs of them, the folds softening and flattening out. Hamza’s upper lip started to split and his cheeks prickled as tiny white whiskers began to poke free, growing out in contrast to his rapidly thickening beard. Hamza knew he should run and find shelter, but he felt so strange and so good at the same time. The mustache now coerced his lips, the beardline riding up higher on his cheeks. Inch after inch of hair extruded out from his jawbone, curving down and growing outward. The beard was long, wavy and thick, poking out in every direction like a mane. He reached up to feel it and shivered as he felt the tips of claws press through the hair, brushing his skin. He looked at his hand again, examining the claws, turning his hand over to see swollen paw pads on his fingertips and palms. It hadn’t just been America, and if it was a curse, then the whole world was cursed… Somewhere in the distance there was a strange siren that started low and built to higher pitch. His phone began to screech in his pocket, as did the phones of a few others that were out on the streets. Hamza listened, hearing warnings in Arabic that everyone was instructed to stay indoors at all costs. It was too late for him, not that Hamza minded. Even as his nose grew pink and moist, taking on a triangular shape at the tip as his upper lip split, he kept fondling his beard with one clawed hand, the other drifting down to feel the growing bulge in his pants. Blood was pooling in his manhood, making it swell and stretch, growing erect. No wonder the Americans had been making such a fuss, this was amazing! Every moment of exposure left Hamza changed. He tilted his head, watching his car drive up to the front of the hotel, the tires nearly hitting the curb. The driver side door opened and the valet emerged, his red uniform already starting to burst at the seams in the shoulder. He lurched out, panting, his huge chest rising and falling and growing with every breath. The young man sported a thick set of mutton chops that were well beyond his years and his eyes seemed almost yellow instead of green. He looked up at Hamza with a strange appreciation, a carnivorous grin as he looked at the other man’s fine, thick beard. He moved over, reaching out with Hamza’s keys, placing them in the other man’s palms. Hamza wasn’t sure what came over him, but he used the closeness to reach out and grab the valet, pulling the other man to himself until their chests touched. He leaned forward, pressing his bearded lips to the valet’s. The lips parted and rough, slightly sandpapery tongues began to brush and scrape each other. Clawed hands gripped and grabbed. The keys fell to the ground. Their bodies pressed together as they embraced in a display of affection that could get them shunned in certain parts of town. Neither cared. They humped and ground until wet spots started to form in their expensive pants. They kissed and clung, their bodies growing as they were bombarded with the exotic particles flung towards Earth by the newest solar flare. [b][Day 10][/b] Caden hated LED lights. Then again, he had hated fluorescents even more as a child. The illumination was too blue and artificial, making everything in the room feel off. Then again, a good deal of that could have come from the fact that he was having to explain things in simplest terms to yet another batch of military and military adjacent individuals while keeping himself conscious by consuming the absolute worst flavor and least healthy of energy drinks because the military had never advanced beyond the concept of stale coffee or the advent of redbulls. “Why is it that our warning system is only up to two minutes? Haven’t they been able to predict when flares would hit Earth before? I remember weather reports telling us how far south the Aurora Borealis would be visible.” One of the generals said. Caden nodded reluctantly. “The coronal mass ejection, the plasma expelled during a flare, can take between fifteen hours and three days to reach the Earth’s atmosphere. You’re right that we have enough time to predict, detect, and warn about that… but whatever is causing this transformation isn’t traveling with the plasma. It is traveling with the light and radiation that are part of the flare, literally at the speed of light. IASA is using every satellite it can to give us warning when a flare is on the way, but it is a race every time.” Caden said. “In the last week, nearly every country has had at least one exposure, if not more. Several followed suit with our early lockdowns and quarantines, but there’s no clear picture on how many people have been affected.” A colonel said from where he sat. The colonel reached over and pressed a remote, bringing up an image of several soldiers in desert gear, all of whom sported thick beards, long hair, and features that weren’t quite human anymore. Their noses were feline, whiskers poked out, and their ears were round and fuzzy. “The flares seem to have a cumulative effect, but in some cases just two flares are enough to leave those exposed… whatever they are becoming.” he murmured. Caden said nothing, looking up at the picture on the screen, his mouth slightly agape. While private by nature, Camden felt it a little hard to reign himself in. He was one of the many researchers at IASA and he’d been on site when they’d lost contact with the Helios station. The early reports of what had happened to the astronaut onboard had been hard to understand. Then, with the lockdown, they’d been forced to abandon mission control given its exposure to the sunlight. Never before had anything struck so close to home. Caden was a furry, though he kept that a secret from his coworkers. The soldiers in the picture were a perfect blend of man and animal, strong and burly, the kind he’d want to tear his clothing to shreds. “Doctor?” The general asked again, trying to get Caden’s focus. Caden cleared his throat, trying to refocus his brain and replay the last few words that had been spoken. They’d said something about recommendations for the lockdown. Caden took a breath. “Two minutes isn’t enough warning… Even with new satellites or improvements to the system, the laws of physics limit the maximum amount of time to just eight minutes. If we are trying to limit the spread of this change, it is my recommendation that all outdoor activity should be limited to sundown. Most homes seem to have enough insulation to protect from exposure through their structures, but windows should be covered. Humanity may need to become a nocturnal species until this phenomenon ends, or we can suitably protect against it.” Caden explained. The room was quiet as they all grappled with the severity of what that change would mean. Caden just felt himself drawback to the picture of the soldiers, taken aback by how they all resembled lions now. [Day 47] The smell of the early morning was something that Logan Miller had never left. Every child caught a whiff of that dewy petrichor on the way to school but most forgot it as they moved into their adult lives. Working in the news industry for both The Chronicle and Channel Twelve, Logan had a lot of early mornings. None of them had been quite like this… He’d been in the camp of the Brotherhood of Helios overnight. He’d met with their leader Carter who looked like a caveman and spoke like a prophet. He’d been given a blowjob by a half dozen bearded members of the cult and his nipples had been sucked so long that they felt puffy and inflamed. The brothers had finally retired to sleep, but Logan’s mind was still racing. The flares had been coming for a month and a half at completely random intervals. The governments of the world had settled into a general consensus that humanity would, unless unavoidable, restrict movement outside during the day and do what they had to at night. It was not an easy switch. Logan sat on a moss covered boulder, gazing out past the grassy hilltop to the glittering lights of the city below as a greenish-gold glow on the Eastern horizon began to tinge and shift to a soft bubblegum pink. It all seemed so peaceful, especially after the affections of the brotherhood the previous evening. Reality had been anything but. Logan had reported on the usual chaos at the start of the lockdown; hoarders, survivalists, the deniers and the misinformed. He’d cautiously reported on the brief but dangerous attempts by extremists to take action against those that had been changed by the Flare, but so many had been touched by the first few events that there was no reasonable way to make them a minority that could be attacked. While Logan had not been the reporter covering the successes at helping those that had an allergic reaction at first, he’d filmed the footage for the reporter that was. With the treatment, more females that were exposed to the flares were showing feline changes that matched the males. “That doesn’t look like a head full of stars…” A deep, resonant voice commented, breaking Logan out of his thoughts. He turned his head to see one of the Brothers of Helios, identifiable by his harvest gold tank top and his baggy, pumpkin colored pants. What really identified him as one of the brothers, though, was the immense beard that hung down from his face all the way to his collar bone. It was mostly a rich, earthy brown but there were a few lighter strands that broke up the uniformity. The hair on his head was shorter than most of the brothers, though it was clearly growing out, but it still contrasted with the way the beard stretched out forward from his face before it even began to curve down. “Do you like heads to be full or empty?” Logan asked, a small smile crossing his lips. The bearded man grinned, though it merely deformed the shape of his mustache as his lips were still hidden. Logan also noticed the way those round, fuzzy, lion ears quirked at the gesture. Like Carter, this man had forearms covered in fur, a chest so hairy it might as well have been fur, and his fingers ended in black claws and swollen paw pads. “I like an open mind… Like the one that led you here last night.” He said, moving over to sit next to Logan. Logan shifted a little to give him room but the man shifted over so that they remained hip to hip, leg to leg, and Logan could smell his natural scent. “I don’t recall you being part of my welcoming committee.” Logan said, feeling his loins stir a little bit as he thought back to the variety of mouths that had been bobbing up and down on his shaft. The other man grinned wider, his mustache lifting enough to reveal that he did, in fact, have fangs. “Oh I was here, but I thought I’d let you get through the low hanging fruit first.” he smirked. Logan winced a bit at that but grinned. “For a community built on open affection, that is a bit of a burn…” Logan said, hoping those starting to stir hadn’t overheard them. The other man chuckled a low, deep chuckle. “Well, as one of my professors once said, ‘we are here to report on the story, not become a part of it.’” he said sagely. Logan froze, his eyes scanning over the man’s tanned skin, his dark brown eyes, his nose, his brow. “P-professor Leighton?” Logan asked. The bearded man nodded. Logan’s eyes crinkled together as he struggled and strained, trying to peel back the veil of time before he remembered an equally tan, scrawny twink from Professor Leighton’s class back when he’d been in school. The kid had looked thin enough to be blown over by a feather, but he’d always dressed provocatively, showing off his midriff or letting his pants sag to a scandalizing degree. “HECTOR?!” Logan asked, his jaw dropping. The man grinned and nodded again. “Hey there, Wolverine.” Hector smirked. Logan was still in disbelief, looking Hector up and down, then pausing when he saw the huge tent in his former classmate’s pants, looking back up with a bit of a blush on his cheeks. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you, you’ve… you’ve grown.” Logan said. Hector leaned back a little and ran a hand over the huge volume of his beard, then slowly sank his fingers into it, combing through the bulk. “I can’t blame you. I don’t really even recognize myself anymore.” Hector said, “But it’s been an amazing ride.” “How much of this is from the flares?” Logan asked, fascinated. “Almost all of it. I still grew a little towards the end of school, actually started eating and built up a little muscle, but… this is what being out there for most of the flares has done to me.” Hector explained. Logan tilted his head. “Most of them? How many have you been through?” he asked, his mind ever curious. Around the camp some others had started to get up. Campfires were started while others took a more languid approach and had resumed making out. “I was hit by the first flare like most people on the East Coast. I headed out to Seattle to cover how the unaffected were dealing with it when they were hit by the third flare. I sheltered for a while, but then I heard whispers about the Brotherhood early on. I’ve been out here ever since.” Hector said. Logan made a small noise. “I’m surprised Carter hasn’t kept you in his tent all to himself.” Logan said. Hector smirked. “There were overtures and attempts… He didn’t live up to my crush on you from back in the day.” Hector admitted. Logan’s chest rose with a silent gasp. “What do you mean, your crush on m-mmmm.” Logan’s question was interrupted as his face was engulfed in Hector’s kiss. The beard hair was stiff but not scratchy, unusually soft as it flattened around Logan’s own face. Their lips found each other through the forest and a thick, long, sandpappery tongue plunged into his mouth. Their kiss felt like it lasted for at least a minute, Logan’s body growing warm both from his arousal but also the dawning light slowly tracing over the hillside. When they parted, Logan was gasping for breath, but he was also as hard as a rock. He looked at Hector, at the beast the twink had grown into, and also… his huge lion cock. It still appeared mostly human, though there were rubbery bumps that would have no doubt added to the friction and sensation. With his baggy pants pulled down, it was easy to smell the potent mix of sweat and pheromones, the spice of his seed lost somewhere in the fur on his plump, avocado sized balls or in that golden brown bush. Logan had been on the receiving end of all the attention last night, but something told him that Carter hadn’t claimed Hector for a different reason. “If only I’d known back then.” Logan murmured. Hector shook his head, bringing his large meaty paw to the back of Logan’s head. “It’s never too late.” he said, guiding the reporter down. Logan spread his lips before the thick, hot flesh slipped between them and filled his mouth. As if to greet the exchange, Hector’s thick rod let out a syrupy, slippery precum that tasted like summer grass. Logan swallowed it down and felt his body tingle at once, coaxing him on to go down lower and lower on Hector. The bearded man let out a deep reverberating purr of pleasure, though he used his free hand to reach down and find Logan’s groin, cupping and squeezing his erection. Logan gave a muffled moan, humping into the hand. “It’s amazing how life works out…” Hector murmured, “I would have let you split my ass open in college. Well, I still might, but I think you’ll like what I can give you more.” he said, working his jaw left to right, feeling more invigorated than usual. He adjusted his hand and drew Logan down deeper. Logan’s eyes bugged out a little as he felt the huge cock slip into his throat, but then his eyes rolled into the back of his head in delight. A moment later, drool was leaking down the sides of his mouth. Hector stopped groping Logan long enough to grab the back of his pants and tug them down, revealing a delightfully hairy ass. Logan murmured, bobbing his head up and down, letting the bearded hunk use his throat as a cock sleeve. He shivered when he felt a thick finger slide between his ass cheeks and then, carefully, a clawed finger start to push into his ass. It popped in after a moment and slid deeper, sliding back and forth, striking areas Logan didn’t know had been dying for attention. For a split second, Logan wondered if the ever climbing warbling noise he heard was a moan that had made it out of his body despite being stuffed full of cock, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up as he realized it was an alert siren in the town below. The flaps to the largest tent opened as another very hairy, very large man emerged. Carter’s nose ring glinted in the golden light of the rising sun, his lion ears twitching. Several of his consorts emerged, each of them touching and brushing against one another. Carter’s eyes looked from the city and then to the sun creeping over the horizon, his grin broadening as his own fangs were shown off. He was about to speak but paused for a moment, part of his unibrow arching as he noticed Hector and Logan engaged. He spared them only that moment before turning back to his people. “My brothers! Emerge, rejoice! Embrace the blessing of the sun!” he called out. More bodies stirred, more emerged. The tents weren't enough to hold back the exotic radiation, but actively embracing the change was a cornerstone of the brotherhood. Hector reluctantly shifted, guiding Logan to pull off of his cock. The long, thick shaft emerged with a wet sounding pop. Logan panted for breath, though he looked generally pleased with how things had unfolded. “How do you want to ride out this flare, my brother?” Hector asked, a bit of irony in his word usage. Logan considered for a moment. “What are you saying about splitting my ass open?” he asked. Hector grinned and hopped up from the boulder, slipping around behind Logan. Logan stepped out of the pants that had dropped around his ankles and turned to face the boulder and, inadvertently, the sunrise itself. He looked on at the golden orb rising ever higher in the sky, feeling a strange mix of elation, excitement, and a gnawing unknown. The Brothers of Helios rushed out to embrace the flares, but this was the first time he’d been willingly exposed… but if this really was the future of the human race, who was he to argue? Many of the cultists were shedding their clothes, standing naked despite the cool early morning. Several more had the same idea as Hector and were soon coupling with one another. The warning siren continued to sound down below, but the light and tingling warmth of the flare infused sunrise continued to wash over them. Logan let out a small sound as he felt that slippery pre leak down his backside before that large shaft tried to start probing its way into him, but Logan was equally surprised as he felt the warmth rising to the surface of his skin around his forearms, his cheeks, and his ears. The reporter braced himself on the mossy boulder, bent over forward. He felt more and more of Hector’s rod sliding into his ass. As Hector pushed forward, he pushed back. As they built up their rhythm, Logan looked down, watching his coppery brownish-red arm hair grow thicker and longer and softer. The hairs emerged from the freckles on his arms like tiny plant sprouts fed by the sun. The hair thickened from a light dusting to a fair covering to the furry gauntlets that the others had. Logan couldn’t stop staring at the hair coming out of his knuckles, watching his hands turn more mature by the moment. This was what he had been hiding away from… All across the hillside, the members of the Brotherhood of Helios were relishing the effect sweeping through them. The newer members were growing more hirsute like Logan, but the cumulative effects were mounting in the senior members. Carter had embraced looking like a caveman but as he held his clawed hands out to his side and let his lion ears twitch, he could feel the energy passing through his flesh and bones and rewriting him from the inside out. He let his head tip back, hearing muffled pops and snaps. His face felt hot as his nose broadened, the flat taking on a more tapered triangular shape, the flesh growing tender and soft. Logan was breathing hard, grunting with each of Hector’s thrusts, letting his body rock forward and back. He felt the burning tingle spread across his cheeks as the rust colored stubble grew in, connecting the tuft on his chin to his sideburns. Even his upper lip grew dark with a budding mustache, the one bit of facial hair he’d never been able to grow before. Logan couldn’t believe that he was getting fucked in public while exotic radiation mutated him, but he could see why the Brotherhood was so emphatic to let it happen. It felt amazing. A gasp left Logan’s lips as something warm and wet enveloped his cock. He looked down between his legs to see a blond with a long goatee sucking down his rod, pretzeling into the space between his legs and the boulder. Logan was delighted, especially as his cock seemed to stretch and bloat and grow from the attention, but he couldn’t let go of the boulder. It was the only thing keeping him upright. He gnashed his teeth, realizing only then that his mouth felt strange. He ran his tongue along his teeth, letting the tip stop when he felt how pliable his canine tooth felt, and how it seemed to stretch and swell and sharpen, pushing his lips forward a bit. Logan writhed, hunched over the boulder, getting his ass pounded and his dick sucked. He moaned out, his sounds joining the chorus around him. Carter’s moans were something else entirely as his face began to push forward, distending and shifting. His nose broadened as it melded into his muzzle. The hair of his beard softened and grew shorter as it spanned the bridge of his nose , surrounded his eyes and covered his forehead. The leader’s naked body was a tapestry as fur filled in, covering up flesh. It swept across his shoulders, his spine, and then his ribs. His ass, already hairy, grew furry instead as the cheeks parted. They left room for the extension of flesh that curved and grew out, descending down, flicking one way and the other as new bones and ligaments extended one after the other. Carter’s feet broadened, his unruly toenails curving and hardening into black claws that matched those on his growing paws. He ran his fingers through his own beard, feeling it fluff out, growing in every direction, resembling a mane more and more. As his tail descended down behind the backs of his knees, the tip developed a tuft of dark fur that coalesced into a sort of pom pom. Carter groaned, growled, and then roared into the morning light as his face continued to shift, finally growing into the lion ears he’d had for weeks. His face was feline, his feet and hands were paws, his tail was full. He curled his digits around his thick shaft, giving it a few good strokes until he came, sending jets of sticky semen across the hillside. The scent wafted on the air, catching in Logan’s nostrils. He didn’t want it to turn him on but it did. His nipples ached, his cock quivered and he thought he might have even been unleashing seed into the throat of that nice blond boy. Logan breathed through his mouth, feeling centimeter after centimeter and inch after inch of thick hair extruding from his face, creeping down lower and pressing out wider, growing unkempt and unrestrained. He turned his head to the let and then the right, feeling the edges of his beard bunch and squeeze against his shoulders. He tried to turn his head even further to give Hector a smile but gasped in shock, seeing not the face of his college crush, but the head of a dark furred lion. Hector’s now greenish-gold eyes were half closed, hot breath passing through a muzzle filled with sharp fangs. His face had pressed forward and his nose had shifted. Fur had covered his face, but he’d kept his immense, dark brown beard. His furry shoulders were broad, the muscles on his arms and back were thick. One furry paw held onto Logan’s hip, but Hector was watching his huge feline cock sliding in and out of his partner’s ass with an intensity that was nearly hypnotic. Logan’s ass was so deep, so tight, so warm, so inviting, so perfect. He should have marched up to him in college, bent him over a desk and taken him right then and there. The lion threw his head back and roared so loud that everyone nearby felt the vibration in their diaphragms. Hector came hard, unleashing his thick load deep inside of Logan. Just feeling that thick rod shudder and pulse was enough to push the reporter over the edge as he unleashed a heavy flow down the throat of the blond boy who he would most certainly have to learn the name of when this was over. All across the hillside, members of the Brotherhood were moaning and cumming, reaching their climax as the tingling energy of the flare seemed to dissipate and fade. Despite it all, the sun continued to rise just as it always had, painting the sky in shades of peach and pink. Logan didn’t withdraw from Hector, remaining there. He’d drink in the appearance of his partner soon enough, but he raised his head, looking over at Carter. The leader of the Brotherhood stood there, his arms outstretched, showing off to his followers. Carter had embodied the visage of a lion man, as had a few of the others. Those that were merely hairy were even more reverent. They reached out to caress and rub Carter’s fur, petting him. Some nuzzled closer, kissing at his chest in an attempt to find his nipples in the fur. Several hands caressed his full, heavy manhood. Conflicting feelings swirled and mixed inside of Logan. He knew he wouldn’t stay with the Brotherhood of Helios. He’d likely try to extract Hector and find some place where they could explore each other… but on a carnal level, he couldn’t deny the magnetism. The idea of living a sex positive life that free and open was compelling, and if every flare felt as good as the one he’d just embraced, he’d been missing out. Logan grunted a little as a huge paw reached under his chest and lifted him upright. “I guess we both got a little carried away there.” Hector said, his voice even deeper than before. He reluctantly withdrew from Logan’s ass, though a string of yellowed feline cum connected the tip to Logan’s sphincter for a moment. Logan shivered as the young man between his legs pulled back, gave him a lick and stood up, revealing he was even taller than Logan was. The blond placed a kiss on Logan’s forehead before moving over to congratulate Carter on his transformation. Logan turned and looked up at Hector, taking in his new form. “Almost like some kind of fairy tale.” Logan muttered. Hector reached up, feeling his face, wincing a little. “Just don’t call me cowardly.” He said softly, the sunlight shining off his fur and glittering in his eyes. Logan shook his head. “Never… You’re the bravest person I know, coming all the way out here for a story.” Logan said. Hector smirked a little, pulling Logan into a hug. “But that’s what you did.” He said, moving to rub his face in Logan’s shaggy hair. “Yeah, but you did it first, and weeks before I did.” Logan said. Hector murmured, raising back up before he reached out to pet Logan’s now full beard. Logan moaned, revelling in how good it felt. “Yeah, but that just means I get to enjoy seeing you accept the gift, one flare after another.” Hector said. Logan reached out, taking as much of Hector’s other hand in his as he could manage with the size difference. “I like the sound of together….” Logan said, looking deeply into Hector’s eyes.