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Nicole sat in the waiting room, nervously awaiting the doctor's return with her test results. She had hoped it would be good news, but lately, she'd turned herself off from the notion that good things were meant to happen to her. After all, if that were the case, then she wouldn't be in this godforsaken waiting room to see if some experimental treatment had cured her of this damned disease.

Ever since the 30-year-old had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Nicole's life had been turned upside down. Her boyfriend of four years had eventually left, citing some excuse about them growing apart and her not wanting kids, or some shit. Nicole didn't give a damn, not really. She knew it came down to the fact that he was scared of living with someone who was going through a life-altering disease. Worse, maybe he was so shallow that he didn't want to be with someone who no longer possessed the perky breasts that he'd loved so much. Nicole would never know, and as the months went on, she found herself caring less and less.

Her job, although initially accommodating, didn't have anything in the way of long-term health benefits. Though her surgery would be covered, the recovery time needed to get back to work was much more than she could take off. Without another source of income, Nicole would be entirely reliant on the generosity of strangers through fund-me requests to make it through the period. With no family and friends to turn to financially, in some ways it would be more convenient just to let the cursed cancer eat her away than deal with a health care system that wanted money more than it cared to save lives.

When she had been offered a more experimental treatment for her breast cancer, Nicole jumped at the chance. It was one that would not require long recovery times, cancer drugs, and chemotherapy. Best of all, she could maintain her hair and her breasts, her vanity becoming more important at the prospect of losing them. Though initially, Nicole was skeptical about any kind of treatment that wasn't guaranteed to be successful, the more she looked into it, the more appealing it seemed. It would literally give her life back to her, something that traditional medications and treatments had no chance of offering.

Nicole had spent a bit of time researching the technique on her own, just to ease the trepidation that her mind seemed to hold. It used a relatively new gene therapy, CRISPR, to modify the genome of her living tissues. The goal was to transfer a synthetic RNA strand into her cells, one with a genome from another orgasm. Once inserted into target cells in vivo, it would functionally modify them to contain the target DNA strand. In this case, the goal was to transfer the cancer-immune cells of a shark into her cells thereby inhibiting the cancer's spread and saving her life. From what she had been told, the doctors would genetically modify enough of her cells that she would be functionally immune to the cancer present. If done early enough, there would be no need to remove the already-affected tissues.

The technique was controversial, using the DNA from other animals to modify human cells. Besides, the number of reprogrammed cells needed to prevent cancer damage was staggering, and there was no telling if the inserted genes would take in replication. Though early tests on her own cells did look promising, it was still a risk over conventional treatments, requiring Nicole to sign away at countless documents just to undergo the process.

She did have the option to take on more standardized treatments later on, though there was a chance they wouldn't take once the cancer had been left for that long. It was a risk, one that medical professionals urged her not to take. But once the idea had been implanted in her mind, Nicole did everything in her power to push for that treatment. In the end, the doctors relented, allowing the more eager researchers to use her as a living example of their ingenuity, and, as such, a human guinea pig.

Nicole was one of a limited number of test subjects for this series of treatments but was fine with that. It was worth it, having the chance that she would be fully cured of the disease without losing her health benefits, her hair, her breasts, or her life. Best of all, since the procedure was experimental, it was offered freely for all of the subjects. For her, it seemed all too perfect, except for the risks that generally from undergoing a new test without long-term data to back it up. Yet, it would equate to much less recovery time if the procedure worked. If all went as planned, it would be like she never had cancer at all!

Though every day carried with it the real fear that she might receive bad news about the treatment, Nicole did her best to keep optimistic. She went through each day holding onto that hope that this would be the thing that would save her life. That she could go back to living as though she had never gotten that fucking diagnosis in the first place. It was all that kept her going after all the tests and visits and trials that she had to undergo.

It was time. The doctor came out, a smile on her face before Nicole even had time to react. She felt her heart race with the elation that she was indeed getting good news. The procedure must have worked! She was cured!

It was everything she could have ever wanted and more. The cancer was in remission, so to speak. Enough of her cells were reprogrammed to be unaffected by an infinitely replicating system. There was no chance of the mutated cells spreading beyond her breasts and causing any life-threatening damage. She was, in essence, cured.

However, she was not expecting the series of warnings that came with her good news. She was told, in no uncertain terms, to avoid any contact with sharks or related species unless they had been cooked or their DNA had been otherwise rendered inert. That meant no sashimi or visits to any aquariums, and swimming in the ocean was considered a high-risk activity. When asked as to why those things were now considered risk factors, the doctor did not have an answer for her, other than they were strictly prohibited by the research team.

Nicole was torn after that. She didn't care for sushi anyway, and there were no aquariums near where she frequented for that to ever be an issue. However, there was no way in hell that she was going to cancel her trip to Hawaii. It was something she'd promised herself as a reward since the cancer diagnosis had been given, something that she'd dreamed about doing ever since she was a child. It was one of those 'life is too short' moments that she knew she needed to take advantage of come hell or high water. And, besides, she reasoned, her chances of encountering a shark while learning to surf were practically zero, right?

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The first few days of the trip were everything Nicole could have hoped for and more. The surfing instructor was cute as hell, the drinks were free with the resort package she'd purchased, and best of all, the weather was dazzling each and every day. Life had so much more meaning now after having such a close brush with death on her doorstep. Everything seemed more alive and vibrant than at any point in her life before now. Why it had taken a scare with cancer for her to even attempt to come on a trip like this escaped her. She certainly wouldn't let life pass her by after all of this!

After several surfing lessons, Nicole finally found herself confident enough to try boarding on her own. It was silly, of course, to do something so potentially dangerous when she didn't have to. But she found sleep troublesome over these few days, not wanting to waste away in bed when she could be out experiencing all Hawaii had to offer her. There was no one to come save her in this early hour should something happen. But, as proven by undergoing the experimental CRISPR treatment, what was life without a little risk? She would have the chance to truly enjoy the waves without interruption from anyone else, a truly unique experience she could cherish for a lifetime.

Inexperienced as she was, Nicole naturally fell several times while out on the waves. But, they were mildly tame, and she was a strong swimmer. Able to get back on her board each and every time unscathed, Nicole was undeterred from heading inland until she had her fill.

Yet, one of her falls sent her further downward than before, pulling her under with an unexpectedly high wave that crashed her board. Momentarily helpless, Nicole could only try and hold her breath as she was tugged down towards the sandy bottom

As she did so, her bathing suit brushed against something coarse and jagged on the sandy bottom that startled her. It didn't feel like a rock or anything of the sort, though it did seem to dig into the skin of her thigh. Panicked, she was able to push it away, rubbing it in a way that felt a little sandpapery against her skin before the thing suddenly disappeared.

Though the water was choppy, Nicole was just able to make out the shape of something rapidly swimming away from her and out to sea. It looked like a fish of some kind. The more Nicole stared, the more she was reminded of a shark, the one thing that she had been told to avoid. Her knowledge of sharks was rather limited, leaving her with no idea that she had stumbled across a gray reef shark.

Yet, the implication of the contact was entirely lost on her as she decided one close call was enough and headed back to shore. As she walked into the hotel, however, a strange feverish sensation came over her, prompting her to lie back down. She wasn't sure what would have made her sick, only that she needed rest from the sensations that were suddenly assaulting her.

Her dreams were vivid as she rested, flashes of ocean and waves and water. It shouldn't have been that concerning, all things considered. Yet, it wasn't the world about the waves that had her enraptured. It was the plain below that called to her. The brief flashes of the undertow and the ocean floor created images that haunted her thoughts. It was an entirely different world beneath the waves, and the more she dreamed, the more the waves called to her, allowing herself to be brought under once more.

Nicole awoke in the late afternoon, head somewhat swimming from the alien images. She found it bizarre to wake up on land, to be breathing air, and feel the air conditioner on her skin. It was as though she was wearing someone else's skin, even if such thoughts made little sense. Still, Nicole did her best to get up and dress and make her way down to start her day.

At the hotel's bar, a sudden, insistent hunger assaulted her, making her almost nauseous from the lack of food. Scouring the buffet, she eventually settled on some of the sushi. Deep down, a warning resounded through her mind, telling her that it was dangerous for her to eat that. Still, the cravings spurred on by the smell of raw fish were almost maddening, and Nicole filled her plate with sushi, taking out the fish and leaving the rice and seaweed wraps.

Control only returned once she had eaten three plates, surrounded in the mess of the discarded bits. Looking up into the stares of those around her, she found herself extremely embarrassed by the actions but could do nothing to explain them. Excusing herself, she made her way back to the room in shame, not wanting to look at the mess she had left or what she had done.

What had come over her, to eat like that? Never before had Nicole felt so hungry. It was a primal need to fill her stomach, one more insistent than any hunger she had felt in her life. Yet, it was impossible to deny how satisfying it had been to let herself fall into the actions. It spoke to living in the world that was present in her dream, one that was starting to make more and more sense as time went on.

The air in the room was chilly, and Nicole started to rub her arms, trying to warm up before going to turn up the heat. As she did so, her fingers caught on the skin around her elbow, noting a rough texture that should not have been there. It was more than just dry skin. It was as though some of the substance she had rubbed against underwater the wrong way had been stuck to her. Looking in the mirror revealed what she had expected, a patch of grayish skin where she had been cut. Rubbing the skin, however, did not remove it from her person.

Looking at it more closely in the mirror, Nicole was a bit surprised to see that it was made of tiny raised bumps, covering the skin and ending with rather sharp points. If she went to rub them the wrong way, she was sure that they would cause the skin on her fingers to bleed. She had never had such skin as this, no matter how dry it had gotten.

Even applying all of the lotions and creams she had did not alleviate the bizarre deformity. In fact, it seemed to spread even further, covering more of her flesh and making it hard to see the pale skin in some places. By now, her entire elbow was coated, and the graying skin was running down towards her hand and up her shoulder. Any attempt to touch it only seemed to make it worse!

Yet, the more she struggled with panic, the more fatigued that she seemed to become. It was like it required more energy to be worried, making her feel tired. The air seemed a little thin, and the room was far too cold, prompting Nicole to turn up the temperature. She was freezing, making her sluggish and giving her a harder time to focus her thoughts. Though the heat in the room should have been stifling, the cold only made it worse.

In the end, she decided she needed to sleep, to hope that the creams did their work and that she would eventually feel better. Yet, the bed sheet felt strange against her skin, catching on her arm and making her feel powerfully uncomfortable. Eventually, she settled for the tub, the cool linoleum against her skin strangely relaxing. She even thought it fit to draw a bath, though wanted the water to be somewhat cooler temperature. Like the ocean, she thought, though it was far too late for her to reflect on further as she began to slowly pass out.

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Nicole awoke sometime later with a start, gasping for air as she did so. The same vivid dreams had played over her mind all night, real enough that she thought herself awake. Images of being in the ocean, surrounded by water, and blissful peace ran through her mind like it was a natural state of being. Waking up from that watery haven to this nightmare was not what should be!

Shooting out of the water of the tub, Nicole gasped a few more times, still finding it far too hard to breathe. It was as though the air in the room had become too thin, like she was atop a mountain. Worse, the air around her was far too dry, making her want to rub her skin to try and alleviate the irritation. Yet she was soon aware that the discoloration had spread over her arms, some of it on her back and chest by now. Rubbing it the wrong way with her hands would cause her some discomfort, she was sure.

Standing dizzily in the stifling room, Nicole was overcome with the urge to head back towards the ocean, the place that she had been so content in during her dreams. It was there she would find the relief that she was seeking, Nicole was sure. The dreams had been so vivid that nothing in the moment could convince her otherwise.

Still clad in the soaking clothes from last night, Nicole made her way out of the resort and towards the sandy beach. She encountered no humans as she did so. No one was present to rescue her if they could, not even lifeguards or other such employees. Yet, this was to her mind's benefit. There was no one to hinder her journey towards the water that beckoned to her. Her goal was so single-minded that she would not speak to them even if they tried. Nicole was destined for the water and no force on earth could stop her.

Even the more rational parts of her mind could not concoct a reason as to why she should not make her way towards the ocean that she craved. She was sluggish, tired, and felt strongly that the sensation of water over her would make everything right. There was no possible way for her to know this other than the dreams that she had been having. But in the moment, it was her truth.

The ocean air on her skin was of some reprieve as she stepped out onto the sand barefoot and started to make her way to the sea that she could now see. It called for her, like a siren on the rocks as she struggled her way across the surf. She seemed to feel weaker with each passing step, as though lacking the oxygen necessary to power her muscles and make her way towards her destination.

The moment that her feet touched the surf was the moment that her mind started to relax. The skin in that area instantly felt relief from the dryness in the air that had been plaguing her. She longed instinctively to feel the cool water wash over her entire being, to recall what it had felt like when she had fallen in the ocean just the day before. She didn't even feel she would need to resurface like she had. Why had she even come back to land in the first place when the water was so inviting?

A series of depressions along the sides of her neck started to pulsate with excitement as she entered the surf. It was as though they were waiting to be birthed with ocean water as Nicole moved out into the waves, the ocean up to her waist now as she dived in. The moment that her neck touched the water was the moment that they opened, like tears sliding down from the center in her neck and spreading to either end. There were four on each side of her neck, and they began rapidly pulsating as Nicole pulled herself out further into the water.

As she struggled to push herself into the waves, her clothes started to become more cumbersome, making it harder to swim. Finally, she could breathe better, oxygen being pulled into her lungs through her open mouth and the gills that flicked in tandem. Her energy started to replenish, giving her the motivation to finally pull off the shirt and pants that clung wetly to her form. Her arms were still a little weak, as though the muscles were dwindling in size. Still, she managed to tug away the shirt and pull down her pants, kicking them away with legs that were almost a bit stiffer than she recalled.

Naked now, the cool water did little to bother her skin as she swam outward, pulling herself down into the waves. It was difficult for her not to rise to the surface, buoyant as she was. Still, she knew instinctively that the world above was not a safe haven for her. Strength was returning to her body and it became more and more obvious to Nicole that she would never surface again of her own volition.

Yet, somehow, that realization did not scare her as it should have. Rather, she was content with the certainty that she would live an aquatic existence. The oceans held so much promise. There was food here, shelter from larger beings. Though she did not know why, exactly, her instincts dictated that she head out into deeper waters.

Though she struggled to see at first, the saltwater stinging her corneas, soon the changes allowed the area directly in front of her to be made known to her. Yet, still, she could not see more than several feet from her in the murky early morning water. Nicole felt herself functionally blind as she swam downward. Still, she trusted the instincts in her mind telling her that this was the right move to eventually lead her to safety.

Pulling herself forward with arms that seemed to be losing their strength, a tingling over her fingers denoted the formation of a thin membrane of skin between the digits. Tugging all the way up to her middle digits, it began pulling each of them stiffly together. She could still move them at the points of articulation, though the webbing made it impossible to pull them apart.

The same webbing seemed to be forming from her toes. They, like her fingers, forced each digit up towards the large toe. She could still move the mass of toes, though did not think to do so in her single-minded goal to swim out into the ocean. The added webbing made her motions faster, catching on the water and propelling her forward towards her goal.

Where was she going? Nicole's fuzzy mind could not say. There was still rational fear of the ocean, one that weighed on the naked woman's mind the further into the murky depths that she entered. She had never been this far out, had never even imagined doing so. The thought, once long ago, would have terrified her to the core.

Yet, it was harder to remember why that was the case as she continued her swim, her webbed hands and feet making the motions easier. Deeper water was safer, wasn't it? It was scary now, not able to experience more than a few feet around her. But a growing part of Nicole's mind told her that she needn't worry about such things for long, that she would soon be made for this underwater world. It was getting more and more difficult not to trust that feeling that was coming over her mind as she continued to swim