Amalgam

Miles outside the city limits there was a research facility, not secretive by nature but the research being worked on required an isolated environment.

“Gennex” The sign just outside of the security pylons and fencing read in bold red letters, illuminated by low hanging LED lights that flickered on after 7 at night once the sun went down. Just pass the security detail and a football field sized parking lot was a five-story building that looked too much like an old library than a genetics research facility, with grey brick walls polished and smoothed over to a shimmer even in the moonlight with Arcadian style pillars at the front double doors that slid open on proximity. A reception table greeted new arrivals not ten feet from the door, but tonight the secretary staff was replaced with the night shift security. A guard manning the front with two patrolling the five floors and fifty odd labs in the facility.

Gennex had made a name for itself in 2020 when it introduced a radical approach to modern day diseases and ailments, simply by means of cross species genetics as the solution. A retrovirus dubbed the Phage by its engineers would temporarily introduce foreign DNA into the subject and then tweak certain details about their genetic make-up before being flushed out a few days later, essentially returning the host to normal. Granted many geneticists would claim this would be an impossibility, after all DNA is self-replicating and any alterations would be permanent. The Phage was developed specifically to break down at the molecular level after 48 hours, after it dissolved the gap in the gene-code would reconnect the same way as the phage gene was introduced, returning the genetic code to its previous structure.

One such retrovirus was used in a treatment for multiple sclerosis; by introducing the genetic template of a blue shark's lower thalamus gland the patients started redeveloping previously damaged nerve tissue when his own hypothalamus started releasing myelin back into the afflicted areas. By 2022 diseases like MS, diabetes and even hepatitis were cured simply by adding a gene or two that would fizzle out after it ran its course. Naturally Gennex had become the top pharmaceutical corporation in the country and now had several labs like this one in just about every state.

But with success also came demand, many of Gennex's technicians and engineers were experimenting on various samples and gene types around the clock to see what else could be harnessed or altered to benefit mankind, and there were many financial backers who would like to see just how far they could go.

“Ugh... What time is it? Feels like I've been staring down this microscope forever now.”

Squinting as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, Dr. Cal Strentum looked over to the clock, frowning as the hands read 1 AM in the morning. He and three other researchers had been working long hours on the same project, each one trying a different approach to obtain the same goal. It was the skeleton crew tonight, so it was just them and a couple security guards keeping check with their rounds in the hallways. even so, their work made it so they didn't needed to be bothered that much.

Their project was anatomical regeneration, a major project being funded by the War-Amp society and Veterans of America. They were all looking for inspiration from animal samples in either rapid healing or limb regeneration to put together, they had been at it for more than 4 months and so far, their research had come up with very few if any positive results. Dr. Strentum himself was looking over cervidae genes. Deer, caribou, and elk could grow and regrow antlers seasonally, the equivalent of growing the mass of a new arm or leg in the span of 2 months! His tests proved promising but offered little results as the gene sequences often died before they could be triggered by the retrovirus. And the ones that did bond had trouble during the calcification process, leaving a foamy mush where bone tissue would be.

Cal pulled away from the table and stretched his arms over his head, scratching his brown hair before sitting up to look to the others. Dr. Rebecca Chambers sipped from her mug as she read from a computer screen, the rings under her dark blue eyes telling him she was just as tired as he was as she blew a strand of her long red hair out of her field of vision. She was the same age as Dr. Strentum, around 32 years old, with long shapely legs and an impressive bust which she kept well hidden under her lab coat. On her end of the research, she was working on reptile genetics from gecko and salamander DNA, trying to see if she could harness the regenerative traits in their genome and slap it onto the human strain. The results didn't pan out, none of the samples would bond to the human genome and when they were it caused even more damage than repair, leaving the cells cancerous and inert.

“Feeling time drag out too huh Cal?” called out Tina Simmons, a 30-year-old genetics engineer the lab techs were joined with a month after they started. A little heavy set but not unattractive in her own right, Tina cricked her neck as she stood from her chair, trying to get the stiffness out of her back and limbs. She wore her black hair short with a bun at the back, making her look like a classic chubby librarian with sharp edged reading glasses completing the image.

“How's your research going? Mine's still coming up negative.”

Tina was working with Asteroidea DNA. Species of asteroids and especially starfish had an uncanny ability to regrow and regenerate entire bodies! Entire limbs could regrow fully in time from any trauma. Yet her projects continued to fail time and time again.

“The only thing I've managed to harness is the ability to regrow lost hair, nothing more extravagant than that.” She vehemently sighed and took a sip of her coffee nearby, scrunching her face into a frown when she found it cold.

“Still nothing, and it’s been eight hours.” Groaning Dr. Strentun who stood up and winced as his knees stiffened under him. “How about your end Michelle? Any good news?”

Dr. Michelle Hilbert was the youngest of the researchers on the team at 27 years old. A mousy little thing that braided her blonde hair over her right shoulder. Blinking her green eyes slowly, she looked away from her own microscope with a look of pure exhaustion written on her features as she covered a yawn with her hand. Unlike the rest of them, Michelle worked towards animals that could endure injury and trauma far better than humans, researching ursine and lupine genetics. Wolves and bears had an uncanny ability to clot wounds far quicker than humans and react to injury with little to no trauma, making it so they could take sever lacerations from competing predators and keep on moving.

“I've had some success with the Kodiak DNA, but it wouldn't offer benefits to human tissue once introduced.”

Sighing as Dr. Strenton lolled his head forward, he took the samples he had in his tray and walked over to the centre table where they sterilized their work.

“I guess we can try one more attempt at this before we leave for the night, at the very least we can get some overtime.”

Sharing a moan of agreement, the other three researchers moved to dispose of their samples, standing around a vial rotary as the latest batches of their combined works prepped up for another test. While they waited for their respected samples to prep, one of the vials cracked open from bellow seeping into the electronics of the device as the rotary spun faster and more violently.

“Oh no! Quick, turn it off, TURN IT OFF!” Frantically searching for the plug, Tina and Cal managed to grab it too late as a series of sparks shot from the machine's inner workings, right before the whole thing exploded, sending glass and shrapnel flying in every direction. The four doctors screamed in pain as they were all caught in the blast and flew back before being knocked out from the impact.

***

Moaning in pain, Cal looked up from the floor, the lab was dark with what lights that were not burst at the center of the room were flickering after the explosion, lifting himself up with some effort, he looked around for the others, finding them all shifting on the floor stirring back to consciousness after the accident.

“Is everyone OK?” Asked Dr. Strentum, dragging himself over to help pick up Rebecca off the floor before seeing to the others.

“Cal... My face... Hurts...” Grimacing at the sight of Dr. Chambers touching her face, she had glass shards imbedded in her cheek and forehead. Looking down at himself, he found the same stuck in his arm when he tried to cover his own face in the blast. Tina was gasping on the floor as she helped up a crying Michelle, attempting to pull a large shard of test tube from her chin and regretting it as it stung.

“Is everyone OK?”

Getting a nod from each of them as they winced from their scrapes and cuts, Cal stood up and looked for a phone.

“We've got to report this to central, get a first-aid kit from the hall and treat these injuries.” Just before Tina could stand to do just that, she gasped. Clutching her chest as searing pain rushed through her.

“What’s wrong Tina?” Worried Cal as he went to her side just as he too lurched forward in intense pain, falling to his knees, and clutching at his chest, like a knife being twisted in his heart, keeping him from breathing. it was too much to bear.

Rebecca and Michelle soon went through the same thing as they all fell back to the floor, writhing in agony. Michelle cried out as the sounds of crunching bone filled her ears, and the other three cried out in pain. Lifting his hand to his face, Cal gasped as he saw the glass shards and bits fall out of his skin, the wounds healing up almost instantly before his eyes, just as his skin began to darken with thick hair forming over his forearms.

“Wha- what's going on?” Groaned Michelle gritting her teeth as she was hit with waves of pain and nausea, her heart booming in her chest as she felt her limbs spasm under her. Strangely she felt her cloths grow tight on her body, her skirt constricting her legs just as the seams began to pop. Rolling onto her back she looked down to see the buttons on her blouse become tight as her chest grew up and out.

Rebecca gave a hoarse cry as the back of her lab coat split open, the sides of her pants soon sharing the same fate as her legs grew thicker, bulking up larger with each beat of her pounding heart. Rearing up she tore open her sweater just to help herself breath. Her chest heaving to let in more air as her skin became covered in thick fur. Managing to stand she kicked off her shoes, the sickening sound of her toes cracking filled her ears as her feet stretched and changed under her. Looking at her hands she gasped through the agony as her fingernails grew thick and curved, hair spreading over her hands and leaving her palms and fingertips bare. More tearing fabric met her lengthening ears as she grimaced from it all, leaning back to hold herself as the changes continued.

Tina pressed herself against the wall, groaning as she pulled off the remains of her lab coat and blouse. Her skirt had split down the side with the button threatening to pop while her bra creaked around her shoulders and back. She was covered head to toe with black fur, her face the only spot not covered in hair before her features twisted with pain, her mouth opening wide to let out a cry of agony just as her teeth began to sharpen into fangs, her incisors becoming more prominent than the others. With a snap her ruined skirt fell to the floor as her hips widened with growth, seconds later her bra and panties shared the same fate as she pulled the last of her clothes off of her. Arching her back she gave a throaty moan as her breasts swelled from her chest, filling up from a modest B to a hefty E cup in size, gasping as she felt their weight and getting confused when the skin of her stomach began to itch, rubbing her claws up her now hardening abs she gasped as she found two new pairs of breasts growing under her original ones, in seconds she now had six hefty E cup breasts heaving with each heavy breath she took.

Cal grunted as he found the strength to stand again, his ruined cloths lay scattered at his feet as he now stood well over seven feet tall. His widened feet pushing him back up as his clawed hands gripped the countertop, howling in pain he lurched forward with his tailbone growing out behind him. Lengthening out from behind him a tail had spouted above his straining underwear and rapidly grew out behind him. At first it was stubby, then it grew out to a foot, then a meter, two meters, then finally it slowed to over 10 feet long. The new appendage thickened as it curled and flicked behind him, becoming almost a fifth limb as he mentally controlled its direction just before Cal buckled down again in searing pain, collapsing to all fours as the growth and changes worsened. Clawing at his head he felt a pair of stubs rupture from above his forehead, those stubs growing out rapidly into horns that gnarled and curved out over his head. Sweeping horizontally before curving back up into points.

Rebecca was gasping with agony as she leaned against the wall for support, her eight-foot-long tail thrashing behind her as she arched her back. The horns were painful but what came next proved searing as spiky growths pierced through the skin out of her back, growing out and curving back like ridges.

“Please... Make it... Stop!” Tensing as her muscles spasmed, she felt each spike grow out between her shoulder blades, each growing less than a foot long as each new growth was small than the last. Eventually the pain stopped, the changes having run their course.

Picking themselves up one at a time, the four altered beings took a frightened look at one another. Together they had transformed into some kind of monstrosity; each standing over eight feet tall with Cal being the tallest at nine feet tall, their bodies wrapped in thick, course fur. Feeling themselves over, underneath that fur was solid, corded muscle. Their limbs and bodies solid with powerful muscle fibres that tensed under their skin. Their hands and feet had changed into sharp claws, along with a newly grown tail that was as long as they were tall, curving and twitching behind them as they got used to the strange sensation. Their backs had rows of spikes leading down to the base of their tail, the longest of which jutted out between their shoulder blades well over a foot long.

Even their faces had changed; pearly whites had been replaced with sharp teeth and fangs, their eyes now sharp and bright with slits like a cat's while a pair of sweeping horns jutted from their heads. Their nose and mouth had joined into a flattened muzzle like that of a bison or cat. Standing naked, the four researchers were too shocked to consider looking away, studying their shared appearance with morbid fascination and worry. Cal couldn't help but stare at the multiple breasts of his lab mates while they too could not stop looking at the bulging between his legs.

“What's happened to us...?” Shuddered Michelle, wrapping her muscular arms between her six breasts in a vain attempt to cover her modesty.

“The samples... They were still active when the machine exploded.” Reasoned Tina as she looked over the table at the centre of the lab, accidentally stepping on her ruined glasses with her clawed toes and recoiled slightly with her foot up. Plucking them off the floor, they were cracked and ruined, almost childish in size to her massive claw as she lifted it up to inspect. It was then it registered in her head that her glasses, the very thing she needed just to see where she was going and not bump into a wall in broad day light was in her hand. Her eyes completely healed. It surprised her that she didn't need them anymore, she was practically blind without them before. Now her vision was better than 20/20 as the whole room became visible to her, even in the flickering lights.

“The shards of glass must have exposed us to the retroviruses we were working on... We've become some kind of hybrid.” Looking down at her hands, Rebecca flexed her fingers, clenching her hands into fists and then opening them again.

“Hybrids of what? What's in our system?” Cal looked over to the table as well and tried to remember what they had all been working on, picking up a nearby beaker that had survived the blast and reading the label, his eyes widening as it all came back to him. “Asteroid, ursine, geckota, rodent and cervidae genes.”

Looking to the three women standing in the room their eyes widened as they picked up what had happened to them all.

“We've become some kind of amalgam of wolf, bear, gecko, rat, starfish and deer, oh my god the blast must have made the RNA sequences in the phage stable enough to bond it all to our genome.”

“Wait!” Chimed in Michelle, pulling on her braided hair as she listened to all this. “This shouldn't even be possible, the Phage was meant to bond a small series of genes not entire base coding, the previous experiments in hybridizing DNA didn't work because it was all too much for the host DNA to hold together.”

They knew it, they remembered the program. Gennex tried working on hybridization of animals in the past separate from cloning by tacking on the DNA of other animals onto a current one, the lab mice never survived the treatment. But someway, somehow, they had. Picking up the tattered remains of her cloths, Rebecca held it to her ample chest and sighed before dropping the torn fabric.

“I don't know how this is possible either Michelle I DO know this, the phage has a life span of 48 hours after bonding, after that we'll be back to normal.”

“Two days? Two fucking days like THIS?!” Stepping back until she leaned against the wall, Rebecca slowly collapsed to the floor, putting her hands to her face as she began to sob. “Two days...”

***

In total defeat, the four scientists were to digest what they had become, Dr. Hilbert was against the corner of the room on the floor, crying into her clawed hands while Dr. Simmons and Dr. Chambers argued back and forth on why the phage wasn't working as engineered. Cal looked over to the blonde creature and knelt to face her, his tail positioning itself so he could stand on his clawed toes. Placing his massive hand over her furry shoulder, she cringed at his touch before relaxing under his soft grip.

“Hey... Come on Michelle, pull it together, we can still fix this.”

Seeing her finally lift her head up to see him eye to eye Dr. Strentum found her sniffing back more tears.

“I'm hideous, a big hairy freak...”

Frowning at the sight in front of him Cal lowered his hands to hers, calming her a bit as he rubbed his thumbs over her wrists.

“You’re not hideous Michelle, this is just something... We're going to have to wait through before the retrovirus expires, you’re not alone in this, we're here too.” Hearing the dark furred creature sooth her Michelle pulled away to wipe her tears, forcing a smile out of her fanged muzzle as she composed herself. “Can you stand up for me?”

Nodding as she was pulled up to stand, she pushed off the wall too quickly and bumped into Cal, making him wrap his arms around her to steady herself as she pressed up against his barrel chest. Laughing a bit Cal held his breath as he felt Michelle's six breasts mashed against him, the woman nuzzling into his chest before pulling away to look him in the eye again.

“You... Smell nice.”

Feeling his heart pound in his chest he saw her lean up to bring her fanged lips closer to his just before a cough interrupted the two in their embrace.

“Hey, are you two alright?” Called out Tina, getting the two other’s attention.

Moving a few feet from each other, the two scientists recomposed themselves as they turned to Rebecca and Tina.

“Well good.” Pulling a phone from the wall, Rebecca began dialing to contact the staff in the building. “Tina and I think that the best thing to do is inform the higher ups to get better treatment, I don't know why the phage did this but for now we're stuck like this until we can all get some he…”

~BANG! ~

The loud gunshot rung out over the lab, ringing as loud as Rebecca screaming with a bloody wound exploded through her right shoulder from behind. Collapsing to the floor she reached up where she had been shot, curling into a foetal position on the floor.

“STAY RIGHT THERE YOU FUCKING MOSTERS!”

Behind her at the door, a security guard stood his ground shaking like a leaf as he pulled back the hammer to his pistol. Waving the gun back and forth at the other three towering creatures in the lab.

“STAY THE FUCK WHERE YOU ARE!” Hesitantly, the guard pulled the walking talkie hanging from his shoulder to try and reach the other staff in the building.

A deep growl filled the room, forcing the terrified man to square his attention at the biggest one at the back, for him everything happened so fast. To Cal it was a red hazed blur as he barrelled over the table, taking a shot himself through the chest as he slammed into the guard with enough to smash through the door frame and collide into the adjacent wall out in the hallway.

With a roar, he bit into the guard's shoulder, making him scream as blood sprayed the wall behind him. Grabbing his arm, Cal shattered the bones in the man's wrist before pulling the arm clean off its socket, making the man drop the gun as Dr. Strentum pulled away panting, heaving his chest he stared down at the corpse sitting limp against the wall. He barely registered what he did until he looked down at the mangled body of the guard as if waking up from a dream.

Looking over his shoulder back at the others, he looked down to see Rebecca standing back up.

“Rebecca are you alright?” Growled Cal as he moved passed the ruined entrance to check on her.

“I'm... I'm fine really, I know it hurt at first but now I barely notice it.” To everyone's surprise the exit wound in her shoulder was closing, blood flow stemming almost instantly as scab tissue formed. In seconds the puckering red scab turned grey before cracking and flaking off like dandruff. The bullet wound was nowhere in sight, only clean smooth skin underneath thick fur over her shoulder, even the blood had dried up and disintegrated out of her fur.

A metal ping at the floor brought Cal's attention back to his own wound, the bullet now rolling on the ground at his feet as his chest healed the gunshot just as rapidly, in seconds the small scab had turned grey and flaked off revealing smooth skin and fur.

“No scar... Total regeneration.” It worked, the accident that turned them into a twisted hybrid of animals had taken their best healing traits and amplified them. Rolling her healed shoulder, Rebecca gawked at where the wound once was, amazed at her near instant recovery. Looking out onto the hallway at the dead guard, the quartet began to worry.

“That guy was so freaked out he shot us at first glance... What do you guys think will happen if the rest of Gennex found us?” Stepping past the three and out into the hallway. Michelle knelt to look at the corpse before frowning.

“Why did you do that Cal?”

Shaking his head Dr. Strentum wondered himself, his hands shaking after the realization he had just tore a man apart.

“I… I don’t know! It was like something in me snapped. I wasn’t even in control of myself.” Feeling self conscious, Cal didn’t know what to do with himself as he stepped away from the door, unsure what he’d do next.

“We've got at least five different species of animal instincts coursing through us right now, there's no guarantee we're even safe around anyone anymore until we change back!” Looking away from the body, Tina swallowed, her mouth feeling dry. “I say we get out of here and get as far away from people as possible to mitigate this from happening again.”

Looking to each other from Tina's offer, the group of scientists each slowly nodded before making a break for it down the hall to the stairwell. Opening the double doors to the stairs the four hybridized scientists were to crawl down on all fours to fit the narrow staircase single file. They made it to the emergency exit at the main floor, the red glow of the exit sign illuminating the narrow corridor leading out of the building. Slamming the door wide open with the back of her arm Rebecca squeezed herself out as best she could, having trouble with her sweeping horns.

One by one they exited the building before making a break for it to the fence line. The parking lot was well lit but empty since it was the weekend, the only cars in the lot were their own and the security staff inside. Hiding behind a glossy black van Michelle caught her reflection in the side window, tracing her clawed finger over her muzzle and nose. To her she looked like a wolf with sweeping horns curving back over her head, curving back like a question mark over each of her pointed ears. Opening her mouth, she looked at the rows of sharp teeth and fangs lining her jaws before she swiftly shut her mouth closed. Finally reaching the fence, Cal climbed over the 15-foot-tall barrier, ignoring the stings of the barbed wire as his wounded claws healed. The others following suite as they stood on the other side leading out into the forest and freeway back out to the city.

“Let’s get moving, we can keep low if we hide in the brush for a couple days.” He explained, looking out into the dark and still in disbelief he could see everything as clear as day. “We’ll… We’ll have to explain what happened to the guard AFTER we can be sure we can control ourselves.”

Just as the four made their way to the tree line outside the parking lot and into the woods, Cal felt a clawed hand grab his arm. Turning he looked down to see Rebecca looking back at his face, a strange look on her lupine face as she seemed apprehensive.

“Thank you for trying to defend me.” She finally said. Leaning up, she pressed him against a tree, and kissed him on the lips, snaking her arms up to wrap around his shoulders as she pressed against him closer, her six breasts mashing against his chest and abdominal muscles. Without thinking, Cal wrapped his arms around her waist, reciprocating the kiss, passionately. Swooning into his mouth, Rebecca slowly separated from him, the two panting as an emotional war between continuing and joining the others wracked between them. Eventually, the two joined Michelle and Tina, disappearing into the night. Stepping through the trees, the four disappeared into the night.

Not too long after their departure, a second guard had gone up to the floor where the explosion occurred, finding the dead and mangled corpse of the security guard who made his rounds there. Gennex and the local authorities investigated the ruined lab for any evidence to determine what had happened. Sadly, the explosion had damaged the electronics in the room, frying the computers and all the stored data within. Even the security cameras. The only evidence investigators found were the claw marks on the walls and the victim of the attack.

The conclusion was that a failed experiment destroyed the lab, creating an aberration that killed the four scientists and butchered the guard upon his arrival to discover the creature. Animal Control were informed to look for anything near the facility's surrounding property when claw marks were found over the fence line to the far opposite of the parking lot entrance. But they were unable to find anything that could have been the culprit.

Apart from that, the bigger mystery was the disappearances of Doctors Cal Strentum, Dr. Tina Simmons, Dr. Michelle Hilbert and Dr. Rebecca Chambers who were in the lab at the time of the explosion. The only thing remaining of them in the room after the investigation were the torn and destroyed remnants of their clothing and personal items. No sign of them were found in or outside the facility.