Beware the Slums-Sharktaur TF

Aimee has the best job in the world; serving people food at an all day restaurant. The Coppola Restaurant was open every day from six in the morning til five the next morning. Aimee worked different shifts every time she worked at the restaurant, right now she was working the late, late shift. She had to go in after another worker called in sick and now she was beginning to feel very tired, having not slept at all for a day and starting her shift at eleven at night.

It was three in the morning, and Aimee left the restaurant after grabbing her stuff from the locker. However, she just realises that the earliest bus won't be arriving until five. "Great! I'm tired, I chose the wrong day to work late and I left my phone at home so I can't call anyone" she angrily thinks as she begins walking home.

Aimee walks calmly through the new and improved Vegas Strip district of her city; the district aptly named for it's five casinos and nasty habit of making a rich person poor within minutes. Then she reaches the commercial district where shops, stands and the grand Bazinga Mall are located. The mall was called the Bazinga Mall in honour of the character Sheldon Cooper from the television sitcom Big Bang Theory, which the city's mayor is a huge fan of and apparently Jim Parsons (the guy who plays Sheldon) cut the ribbon at the mall's grand opening two years ago.

Now things were getting eerie. Aimee has just reached the slums of the city, which are without doubt the worst parts of the city. Aimee hates this part of the city, she grew up knowing that this is where people would get mugged by strange people in leather catsuits who would spray strange liquid on them and they would wake up the next morning completely different, or in worst case scenarios, dead. She read stories and saw news reports about it too. How the strange people are a part of a cult known as 'The Collective' which stole a government created medicinal drug which was meant to enhance human conditions over fourteen years ago. However the drug wasn't finished and more often than not, it would transform anyone who comes into physical contact with the liquid into something, otherwise it would kill them within four to five hours. The government have tried to find and eliminate this cult, but have been unsuccessful each and every time. Because of a threat, nowadays the cult only targets fine people who wander into the slums of cities at night-time.

The worst thing about the liquid is that the result is always random. No one, not even the cult or government, knows what will happen to anyone who comes into contact with the liquid. The person could transform into something, have just a random part of their body transform or very unfortunately, just die.

The reason Aimee was so afraid was because the cult attacked her best friend Casey three years ago. Casey transformed into an anthromorphic dragon and was so scared by it that she ended up becoming a hermit and never leaves her home. This was when both were in their eleventh year of high school. Aimee visits Casey a few times a week and they are both still best friends, despite Casey's differences.

Aimee continued walking, hoping to find a bus nearby or even a payphone so that she can call a taxi. She walks down a street with rusty old cars parked on the sides of the footpath, and sees a bright light in the distance. "Is that the sun? Yay, I'm safe. Oh, it's just the Wao Ling Tower in the distance. Damn!" Aimee thinks to herself, frustrated and annoyed. She reaches a roadblock and must walk down an alleyway as a detour, or walk back and waste forty minutes of walking.

Aimee walks down the alleyway and feels a strong shiver go down her spine as the air around her gets colder and the surroundings get darker. Suddenly, two people appear, and not just any people but ones wearing the strange catsuits that The Collective cultists wear. She turns around and begins to walk away from the cultists only to be confronted by two more. One punches her and pushes her against a fence, then they spray her in the face with the strange liquid and run off.

Aimee begins thinking terrible thoughts. "What if the liquid kills me? What if I transform into something strange? What if my family doesn't accept me when I do? My life is over". She thought now that none of it matters, and she knew that something life changing was going to happen within a few hours. All she could do now was find a payphone, call a taxi, and go home.

It was almost five before Aimee arrived home and she had just started to feel the liquid do what it does best. She makes her way to the front door, hoping that she didn't lose her keys during the long walk, unfortunately she did, but luckily she left a back window partially open so she could literally break into her own house. After she got inside, she feels a sharp pain just above her waist while she drinks some warm milk. While trying to walk to her bedroom whilst doubling over in pain, another pain strikes her legs and causes her to topple over and hit her head on the ground.

Aimee, now crawling to her bedroom, is suddenly forced by her own body to stand up. She screams in complete agony as her legs shift, extending behind her as another set of legs pushes through her body. As this happens, she feels a pain just above her back set of legs, when suddenly a tail rapidly pushes out of her taur-like body. Her feet begin changing shape, slowly becoming pointed and webbed. Despite being in complete agony, she catches a glimpse of her newly formed tail "Shark tail. Huh?" she says aloud, and her metre long tail swifts and thrashes around. Aimee feels a pain in her upper back, and it feels like something is trying to rip out off it. Within seconds, she topples to the floor yet again as a fin stretches out and puts her in more intense pain.

Aimee then feels her teeth falling out, rapidly, but not in any way painful. The teeth that fell out are then quickly replaced by sharp, pointed sharklike teeth and her nose and mouth stretch out to form a muzzle. Soon, fins begin growing out off her elbows, her fingernails become black and sharp, her fingers become slightly longer and her two middle fingers on each hand merge, giving her three fingers and a thumb. Her eyes roll and become completely black, changing her vision from normal to a 'shark sense' and for some reason, a steak in the open fridge is brightly lit. Her eyes return to normal, and the pain returns. Her ribcage starts hurting, and within seconds, gills open on the side of her body and blood pours down for a few seconds. Her ears then stretch out to become long, pointed and webbed.

As Aimee believes it is over, her body starts changing texture, colour and pattern. She ignores this and crawls to her bed. It's been a long day for her and all she wants right now is sleep.

Aimee wakes up around eleven that morning, hoping everything that she experienced was a dream. Of course, she is disappointed. She puts a shirt on, no problem, but her dorsal fin tears through it. She attempts to put some pants on, big problem, she can't. She sighs, making her way to the kitchen.

Aimee is still trying to get used to her new body. She can breath air, so that's a good thing. She can walk, another good thing. But it is her sense of smell and her tail that she is having problems with. Her smell is highly enhanced, meaning now she can smell things from across the world. Her tail on the other hand is hard to move and control.

All she could think about was how her family, friends and significant others were going to think about her transformation. Her mum would probably be somewhat thrilled; she studies sharks, and now she could study them even easier. Her dad would be less accepting; he was bitten by a shark at a young age but has a keen interest in them, though he'd probably prefer that she were a dolphintaur instead of a sharktaur. Her friends could like it, especially Casey, seeing that she was also transformed. But other people, the general public, she wasn't so sure about. In the news it was often explained that anyone who transformed would have the choice to live on the converted Alcatraz island, join society though be possibly shunned or leave society in some other way i.e. being a hermit, living in a natural habitat etc.

She wasn't really bothered by that now, all she wanted to do was eat. She grabbed some cereal from the cupboard, poured herself a huge bowl full and devoured it faster than drinking orange juice. After that, she sent her parents a text message explaining what had happened to her. They weren't bothered, in fact, they were both happy. Then she sent text messages to her friends. The replies were surprisingly normal, though they requested that she send them each a picture or two of herself so they know for sure. She does so, and the replies are good, one reply states that a friend wants to purposely wander into the slums at night just to be sprayed with the transformation liquid, though Aimee says that doing that is the equivalent of committing suicide.

Aimee texts and sends Casey a picture of herself, Casey immediately replies with 'Come over to my place'. Aimee then prepares some things and leaves her house.

There were still a few things on Aimee's mind. She can't drive a car anymore, she can't ride a bike anymore, she can't really work at the restaurant anymore because of her lower body being two metres long including her tail, she can't go in elevators unless she sits, she can't even walk amongst crowds without knowing people could trip over her. But she didn't really care about them, all she wanted was to be with people she loves. Her family; her mum, dad, two sisters, brother. Her best friends; Casey, Romeo, Kurt, Lara and Tucker. Aimee has a new life now, and she is going to enjoy it.