The Zoo - Wolf
Story by The Rhys on SoFurry
The last edition of "The Zoo", at least for now unless I get some requests. I may be working on the side story, "The Petting Zoo", soon as well.
The Zoo - Once a place where majestic animals are brought in for the general public's enjoyment, The Zoo has become a luxurious place for humans and animals alike. But strange things are happening at The Zoo, both big and small, and everyone, humans; animals; and everything in between is at risk.
The first in a new series where besides just me, you, the reader, also get to choose the animal and the theme of the coming stories via comments!
(Examples: Transformation, Paw Play, Weight Gain, Hypnosis, Growth, Muscles, or even a combination of stuff, almost anything you can think of so long as it is not necessarily "adult" content for this series).
The gray wolf had lived in the mountainous forest for over three years before the construction started. He had left his mother's den three weeks after he was born, and had prospered ever since, though only to a limited extent. One could not say that the wolf was not an excellent hunter; he could catch deer when he found them with ease, and if his hunger was ever strong enough, rabbits and birds were always feasible means to sate his appetite. He was a lean animal, with a strong body and long stride, and had managed to evade any hunt that had neared him or his territory. Nonetheless, what the wolf possessed in body he lacked in packmates and courtship. Well the strong willed wolf tried to tell himself that he would be better off as a loner, he knew deep down that survival was of both the fittest and the favorites. It wasn't uncommon for this trait to show itself. Well the wolf could certainly find food to feed himself, he would often lose meals to roaming packs who either got the kill first or took his meal by force. When the winter came each year he would have to find his own warmth and shelter, but the packs, they had each other for warmth. It was always tough then. But what was even worse was that without a pack, he would never find a mate!
While the wolf wasn't in a pack right now, that wasn't always the case. He had once traveled with a group of wolves just like him, young and fierce, born from dens near to his own. There was only one problem, when it came time to mate, there weren't many females. The wolf had tried to snag himself one, but he had been too late, she was claimed by another male just a few hours prior. This happened every year until he finally left the pack to find another; if he wanted to procreate, he would need to find a place where he would actually have a shot at mating, at least once. He never found another pack that would take him in.
It only grew worse once the construction started. It didn't take long for some of his most bountiful hunting grounds to be cut down and coated with tar. Big game only became harder and harder to find, and as the building and deforestation continued, he found that other wolves were becoming just as rare. Many territories that were once ravenously protected by large packs were slowly but surely emptied. It wasn't a quick process, not at all, wolves would go missing when they strayed from their pack, and at max only pairs would disappear at a time. It was just enough to hurt a pack, but not enough to devastate the entire population. Then again, the entire populace was spread across the mountains, and the wolf hardly knew a fraction of them. While the wolf held hope that this would mean more deer for his hungry maw, their numbers were declining just as much. More hunting, the wolf would often find himself thinking, there's less and less every day.
By the time that the building was finished, some kind of prison it seemed, with large walls and strong metal gates everywhere, he hadn't seen another pack roaming in weeks, and deer had finally become rare to encounter. The wolf often heard bestial cries emanate from inside the building, howls and roars and all manners of noise that flooded the nearby forest when it was very late. With the loss of most of the wolves he knew, the wolf grew nervous and constantly watched his back. But it wasn't enough to stop him from being taken.
It didn't take much to wake up the wolf, and the noise of his transport more than sufficed after the drugs had worn off. It was hard to move at first, intense pain emanated from between his shoulder blades, probably where he had been darted. The vehicle rattled loudly as it came to a stop, giving the wolf a moment to catch his balance as he rose. The metal bars surrounding him were not an unfamiliar sight, he had been caged once, but the wolf knew that this trap would not be easy to escape from, if he could at all. He paced around his cage slowly, and though he could not tell much about where he was from sight, the wolf picked up rather strange scents.
The first scent he had picked up was that of a feline. It wasn't very strong, and he couldn't place the species or even begin to imagine what it looked like, but he could tell that it was mature. It had been in his very spot long before him, but there couldn't have been many more than the cat, its scent was too strong. Right on the edge of the cat's scent was that of a bear. It was faint, and once again hard to place, but it was there. Though it seemed more recent, it held nowhere near the power that the feline's did, and paled in comparison to the lumbering bears he had come across in the forest. It must've been a cub. The wolf took solace in the fact that though he would most likely not be the last, he certainly wasn't the first to end up behind the metal bars.
The wolf let loose a pre-emptive growl as the back door to the transport opened, daylight covering the canine. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden burst of light; the wolf marveled at the view of the mountains where he had lived all of his life, though he could not see much, as much of the sight was obscured by two large men in white uniforms reaching towards his cage. The wolf stood his ground, but found that his growls were meaningless so long as he was stuck inside the cage. As the pair moved his cage from the truck to a small trolley, the wolf's ears folded and he set himself down once more on the cool metal floor of his cage.
It was strange to be moving so fast. He was a strong, well bred, wolf, sure, but he had hardly a chance to comprehend the world around him as the trolley moved uncharacteristically swiftly across the dark pavement through the back entrance to what was now the fully finished construction site. Whatever the canine could make out, he couldn't understand. Frequently he would pass by the words “Zoo", or “Animal", and many others, the symbols having no meaning to the wolf. Though he wanted to see more, it didn't take long for the trolley bearing his cage to come to a hard stop, forcing the wolf on his side for a moment from the sheer momentum of its break. The words “Animal Hospital" were displayed prominently on a dimly lit sign above the building in front of which they had stopped. The wolf whined in confusion.
The wolf staggered as he was let out of his cage, both the ride and the residual from the sedatives keeping him off balance as he cautiously left his confinement. Examining his surroundings, the room was comforting to the wolf. The dark green that covered the walls reminded him of the forest, and the images of wolves and deer on the flyers plastered around the room allowed him to find comfort in his memories of his friends and food. It didn't take long for him to see the man watching him from the corner. He was tall, and stood in a long white coat wearing a fantastic grin, the words “Vet" were sewed with pride onto the breast of his coat. The vet was calm, and approached the wolf with interest.
The vet shined a bright light in the wolf's eyes as he bent down to examine him, the canine recoiling as he did so, though oddly, he felt no hostility. The wolf sniffed the vet curiously, it was as though all of his senses, all of his emotions, had been dulled, leaving only the strong smell of an unidentifiable fragrance, and an utter wave of calmness that seemed to emanate from the man and flood his mind. “I'm surprised that they brought me another one," the vet said, “I thought the higher ups would've cancelled this test after its recent failures…" The vet rubbed behind the wolf's ears with a soft, reassuring smile, “But I'm glad they didn't." In a quick motion, the vet moved from the wolf's front to his side, and then his rear, examining all parts of the canine, happy to find that he was in perfect shape, save for a few scars here and there on his stomach, chest, and sides.
The wolf, still transfixed on the man's scent, sat patiently as the vet returned to the other side of the room, grabbing a filled syringe from the counter. Dread filled his mind as the man moved closer, but the canine did his best not to show fear, he wanted to be strong for the man, though he was not sure why, and so he stayed still. The wolf yelped in pain as the needle penetrated his pelt, and growled lowly as it was removed, still feeling the sting in his right leg. But the pain went away quickly, and in its place came warmth.
It was somewhat unpleasant at first, it just felt strange to feel such heat move through his body so quickly. As it finally made its way across his chest and stomach, the wolf murred, and did so even louder as it moved through his groin, his tail wagging happily and his tongue lolled. “Cute," he heard the vet mutter. It made him blush. Once more confusion returned to the wolf. “Why do I feel so odd? So…" the canine thought hard for the word, “embarrassed?" He had never heard the word before, yet it was in his mind and he knew its meaning. The vet watched with glee as the words passed the wolf's lips. The canine looked at him in confusion. “What? Is something wrong?" He said, unaware that his thoughts had now turned to vocalizations.
“You're speaking," the vet replied happily. The wolf looked around the room, not understanding how he could do such a thing. As his eyes passed the fliers, he found that he could read them and understand them. He read facts about wolves and lions and bears and deer and was overwhelmed with shock, but as quickly as he had made this realization, the rest of the changes started to take place. The wolf whined as he felt his bones rearrange themselves, his spine straightening and his legs doing the same, to an extent. As if unable to control his body, the wolf was seemingly forced up onto his hind legs, though there was no pain or imbalance. Pleasure once again returned to his body as he felt himself grow. The canine's head remained stagnant, but his forelegs quickly turned to arms, and his front paws began to resemble hands, though his paw pads and claws still remained. The lighter fur on his chest and stomach became more pronounced as it grew to lead up to his chin and changed to a near white color.
Finally, the wolf's body began to bulk up. The once lithe framed wolf grew in both size and strength as muscle manifested throughout his body. The warmth began again in his arms, which were packed first, his biceps growing large and powerful, though not overly so. It moved over to his chest, his pecs gaining more definition until they were like that of a body builder's. His stomach was next as six-pack abs began to form over his once flat midsection. Lastly, his thighs grew thicker, yet firmer to help him take on his growing weight.
The wolf panted heavily as the changes came to a close. He looked over his new body and smiled with glee at his muscles and form. “Lookin' good there wolfy!" The vet said, moving to pat the now anthropomorphic canine on his toned back. The wolf took an experimental step forward, and then another until he could walk around the room in circles with pride. “So, will I get a name?" The wolf asked as the topic popped into his mind.
“Sure…" The vet said in thought, and with a soft laugh he finally announced “We'll call you Jacob!" The wolf's tail wagged with excitement as he heard the name. Seeing the red couch, Jacob sat down to think. New human thoughts and concepts were flooding his mind as he contemplated his new form. Words that he had never heard before seemed to come out of nowhere, and he understood them all. Now what? Jacob thought. Almost on cue, Jacob felt another syringe puncture his neck. “I'm sorry," the vet said, “but we don't have time to wait for you." Jacob quickly slipped into unconsciousness.
The wolf woke up in surprise, panting in fear at his new predicament. The room was strange, but comfortable. A fireplace roared to his left, keeping the room nice and warm. In front of it slept animals, some which he had never seen before, whom he could place a name to with ease: a strong, masculine lion, a large, yet still somehow small polar bear, and a lazed, fat brown bear, all sleeping close to each other. In front of Jacob was a large mirror, in which he admired his appearance before noticing his nudity, which made him blush with embarrassment yet shiver with desire. A sign reflected right above his head. Jacob turned around to read it. “The Petting Zoo".