FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Bovine Parents"

CHAPTER 4

Tommy's parents were picked up in the early morning by Carl, who swung 'round to their home in a small truck with tinted windows and fake business markings ('Redweather's Dairy' - a name derived from Carl's own surname, the 'Dairy' part being a meta-joke he enjoyed perhaps a bit too much). With a hug and a smile they bode farewell to their teenage son.

Lacey had made all the necessary arrangements. All that was required from the Reimonds was their presence at the laboratory. Once Carl had dropped them off he returned to the house to begin setting up the new farm and keep an eye on their son. Tommy would have to spend a couple of weeks on his own while his parents underwent the gene therapy.

Days passed. Tommy went to school, came home, finished his schoolwork, ate his meals, and spent as little time as possible in the presence of his minder. Carl preferred it that way, as it let him devote the entirety of his time at the Reimond house to the planned renovations. He did make enough small talk to ensure the young man's state of mind was secure however.

* * *

Frank Trimble -- Lacey's genetics wizard -- finished the preparations for the cutely-named 'therapy chambers' in time for the Reimonds' arrival at the facility. He was quite proud of the latest upgrades he'd given the monitoring system, and the walls and floors were padded enough to prevent any serious harm being caused by the patients thrashing or flailing about as the serum took hold. Said therapy chambers were located in the basement of the Bovinex laboratory building in an industrial estate near the city of Barson, capital of the Unimerican state of the same name. Shocking to think that the unlucky couple they were experimenting on would no longer be considered citizens here, thanks to the company's machinations.

Eric and Sandra were sequestered from their transport into these rooms and left to wait, agonising over their fates. When Lacey and Frank were ready to proceed with testing, the gene-altering serum was brought into their separate chambers. Each received a solution tailored to their physical and genetic make-up, with instructions on how to administer. The directions were simple:drink. A list of severe warnings made up the remainder of a twelve page manual -- not the most encouraging sight.

Though the pair could not see nor hear one another with a sound-proofed concrete wall between them, they did end up taking the serum at roughly the same time. A funny coincidence.

* * *

Eric picked up the glass vessel and gulped down the foul-tasting liquid in one go. He held his breath, expecting to feel horrible as the serum rewrote his genetic code. However, nothing seemed to happen.

"Well. Okay. Now what?"

He rose from the only chair and wandered about the room, waiting for something to occur. Was the serum not working, did their scientists get something wrong?

"Lacey did say this was the first time they were trying changes this extensive," he mused to himself.

Eric looked around the spacious room. Bare walls covered with padding -- to dull any injury should one crash into them. The ceiling and floor were a similar setup. He could spy several cameras on opposite ends of the room, no doubt there were other measuring devices trained on him, recording the results of the experiment.Sandra's got the same lovely accommodation, he thought.

"Hello," he said to his unseen observers, "is this working? What's supposed to happen now? Do I have long to wait?"Asking the wrong questions there bud, his inner monologue pointed out, how would they know?

He knew at least Frank was watching. Maybe Lacey too, given the project is her baby. Possibly some of the lab assistants he'd seen darting to-and-fro among some seriously expensive medical equipment. He had been assured that if things weren't going to plan, he would be removed from the chamber. Hopefully those medical gizmos weren't going to be needed.

Thirteen tense and temperamentally taxing minutes he spent waiting. Eric spoke again, his nervous soliloquy now moving once again from inside to outside his head: "Nobody here yet, stick to the plan..."

"No-one...huurrh...HUUURRRK--"

Eric collapsed to the floor, gasping for air as his lungs seemed to paradoxically shrink and enlarge at the same time._Fuck, this is bad, feels like everything's on fire._Writhing around, unable to speak, unable to scream -- as much as he wanted to right now.

The initial anguish gave way to an even worse pain, as his body began to reshape itself. Eric could feel constrained as his spine lengthened, pressing his flesh into his clothes.Shouldn't have worn tight trousers today, he remarked to himself in a moment of respite from the pain as his trouser-belt snapped and clothing ripped under the pressure of his changing form. It was short-lived relief, however; his agony resumed in force as his six-foot human body transformed into an eleven-foot hybrid.

The tips of his fingers hardened into dark brown nails -- capping the ends completely -- and the bones within spread themselves out, increasing the size of his hands twofold. Scraping the floor with his expanded extremities he finally managed to cry out...

"Gaaghh!"

The muscles in his legs and arms bulked up to an absurd degree. Only as the rest of his body grew did they begin to look remotely proportional. His torso also increased in mass, powerful pectorals and rock-hard abdominals taking the place of his original musculature. Where once he was relatively strong in that department, now he could lift with the best of them. Unfortunately he didn't think conventional 'attractiveness' was a by-product of the serum.

By now all of his clothes had disintegrated, save for his footwear. That was about to change. Eric's feet exploded -- both out of his shoes and in tremendous pain -- as they collapsed back into themselves, solidifying into large black cloven hooves. He managed to look down long enough to see his new hooves travel further away from his head as his legs got longer.

The gene-altering serum had completed its scaling-up of the frightened man, who now would stand at a whopping eleven-foot-five-inches -- towering above any other biped he might come across. Now that his resizing had settled down, the rest of the transformation started.

As his hands and feet had been converted, Eric could hazard a couple of guesses as to what was next. One of his assumptions was confirmed with the mother of all migraines as the serum took a metaphoric wrench to his face and head.

His bones cracked and crunched as they elongated into a bull's snout. Eric's mouth opened and a long, inhuman tongue rolled out in front of him. It was harder to form coherent thoughts as the process continued, but Eric was sure the words:wait 'till I try this out on Sandra, entered into his mind at this point of the ordeal. Evidently, he retained part of his dirty sense of humour during this time, a coping mechanism to maintain his sanity no doubt.

Two points of white-hot pain at the sides of his skull signalled the formation of his horns. Lying on his back, Eric let out heavy pants, short of breath, the fused hairs atop his head becoming a massive pair of broad horns.

His lower back was the last major area to see changes. His spine burst through the surface of his skin into a flexible tail, just above his solid bovine buttocks, terminating in a bushy tuft of hair. The rest of his body was finalising its appearance as the pain began to subside. A layer of brown fur -- shaggy in parts -- covered him entirely.

The human-bull hybrid gathered the strength to stand up, legs wobbling, trying to re-orient himself in the low light. His tail whipped around as he regained his balance. Walking on hooves was going to be a challenge at first, but he wasted no time in stamping about the room. Practice makes perfect.

Built like a tank, he thought to himself as his intelligence returned, _a motherfucking tank...I'm huge!_He nearly fell backwards due to that moment of self-admiration._Better pay attention to my posture, don't want to face-plant every time I move._A few more minutes of baby steps let him gradually divert more and more of his attention to the wider situation.

A dullness pervaded his body, with a tingling sensation in his fingers and tail. Eric's mouth felt numb, and as much as he wanted to he still could not form words. Frustrated, he roared an earth-shaking roar...

"MOOOOO!"

"How now brown cow?" came a voice from a speaker in the centre of the ceiling. Snapped out of his malaise, Eric turned to try and find the source of the voice. It sounded familiar. It sounded like...Frank. Who was Frank? His memory was foggy with the pain of becoming an anthropomorphic bull.

"Easy there big fella. You should be able to speak normally soon. Your body is still acclimatising to its new structure. By the way, I'm behind the one-way section to your left."

Eric turned to examine the wall as directed by Frank, to his surprise he noticed a large opaque window-like surface that he hadn't seen before. How did he miss that?

"Lucky you didn't smash into this," the voice returned, "I imagine you weren't paying too much attention to your surroundings. Understandable. You were preoccupied with our experiment all."

Eric was unable to muster a response. He was staring ahead, stunned, his reflection in the black mirror responding in kind. It was still hard to get a clear picture in the reduced light of Frank's therapy chamber, but he could see the important stuff. Namely: his new appearance in all its giant naked glory.

"Must be thirsty," Frank said over the speaker. On cue the space on the wall beneath the window opened up. A small barrel slid out, stopping at Eric's feet. He quickly lifted it to his mouth, downing several gallons in short order, oblivious to the fact that a normal man couldn't even begin to think about lifting such a weight, or drinking so much. Quenched, he let out a great belch as Frank laughed.

"Definitely thirsty."

"Mooh..." the half-man, half-beast replied, his thirst now slaked. He was calmer than he should've been. The shock of the transformation must have overwhelmed his senses, that was the only explanation either he or Frank could think of. Eric's recollection slowly -- but surely -- improved the longer he stood there. Thoughts entered his mind of Sandra. How was she? Was the experience as bad for her...or worse?

The worried expression on his subject's muzzle hinted to Frank that he should keep the conversation going. For sanity's sake.

"I'm sure your wife is fine. Ms. Cain is seeing to her changes as I am yours."

The surreality of the situation was finally affecting Eric, as he stressed over the fate of his spouse. His body ached and his eyes grew heavier with each passing moment. Sitting down in front of the one-way screen (window...mirror...panel? Eric wasn't sure how to describe it), he saw again his new form. But now there was no nervous excitement as he studied the physique before him.

Holy shit!

I've become a monster...

No-one outside of this lab will ever believe what's happened to me. No-one outside this lab will react with anything but terror at the...the sight of me!

I hope...

I hope Sandra and I made the right decision to save our family. 'Cause if not -- we're fucked!

"I hate break this awkward silence you've got going here, but I strongly suggest you sleep. You haven't rested properly since you first came to this facility. And our real-life 'sci-fi' episode here today started at two in the afternoon. It is quarter-past-seven now."

Five hours. Had it really been five hours? Eric lost count since the first blistering pangs of his changes shot through him. Five hours of sheer agony, and his reward for enduring it would be a night of existential turmoil should the sandman not put his mind at ease.

"Mooh..." he said tiredly. Sections of the chamber floor were more padded than others, and invited his rest. Eric moved to sit upon said softer surface. Reclining backwards, he kept his eyes on the black observation window, occasionally darting to the positions of the cameras, then back. He wasn't sure if Frank was still there.

"Okay Mr. Reimond, Eric...I think we are on a first-name basis at this point...I'll see about improving the furnishings of the chamber we're keeping you in. Get you a nice bed or something. Ms. Cain and I need to also see some people about food for the two of you."

"Mmm..." Eric grumbled in agreement.

"As I said before your linguistic ability will return in time. There are a number of after-effects on the human brain from such a comprehensive genetic shift. Don't panic. I know I keep saying this but...you'll be fine."

Now alone, Eric was free to slumber. He looked at his arms, now broad and furred, and tried to stay any distressing thoughts. His eyes were briefly attracted to his lower body as he craned his neck to check out his legs and feet...no...hooves.

This will take some getting used to.

Glancing downwards he saw another -- particularly generous -- detail that, no matter the situation, he could be proud of.

At least I'm packing...