Even whatever effect they were having on the car didn't make the trip go by instantaneously. It was a bit of a drive; Hedgeton was a smaller town a ways out even from their suburb on a state highway; the interstate didn't even come near it. Terri frowned as his wife drove. Fifty miles? The town itself wasn't even ten miles across! Either the authorities were blocking off a ridiculously large area, or this extended beyond just the town...
They approached what looked to be a very hastily-erected National Guard barricade, and Toby slowed to a stop. Sure enough, there was Jay, waiting impatiently at the edge of things and peering off towards the area of interest, with one of the station's camera techs, a young lizard-man, sitting next to his currently powered-off equipment and looking more impatient with Jay. A soldier came over to the vehicle, and motioned for her to roll the window down.
"You can't go any farther, Ma'am," he said. "Disaster area. You'll have to turn back."
Toby nodded. "We heard, thanks. We're here to pick up her." She motioned to Jay.
He stifled a chuckle and nodded. "All right, I'll let her know you're here."
The diminutive fox-woman didn't need much convincing. She walked briskly (if short-stridedly) over to the van, the cameraman following close behind. They got the equipment and themselves into the van quickly, and Toby turned the vehicle around, nodded a brief thanks to the soldier, and took off.
"Gah!" Jay huffed. "I swear, I could've walked there by now, if they weren't keeping me. Couldn't even see anything from this distance. Here, there's an old farm road that I don't think they've blocked off, it should get us there, or at least inside the cordon." She turned to look at Riley, surprised. "Hey, you must be..."
"Riley Ann," the girl smiled. "And yeah, I'm Charlie and Anna. Hi, Mr. Warner." The siblings weren't especially familiar with Jay, but they'd seen him around at the station sometimes, before he'd changed, and heard about what had become of him when he did.
The vixen reporter nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, hi. You can call me Jay." She smiled slightly; Toby had briefed her on the fact that "Riley" was apparently a magical girl of some sort, and she was getting just a bit of a nostalgia rush from those guilty-pleasure viewings of a certain moon-themed cartoon in her youth. Still, this was hardly a time to be getting lost in memories.
"You know, I wanted to book a hotel near where we were actually working," Cecilia said, looking around the dimmed room. The power had gone out whenever whatever happened had happened, and while there was a little light filtering in through the window, they'd left the blinds down for concealment. Her optics could handle low-light vision fairly well, though she wasn't sure about her partner.
Agent Hawkins shrugged as he rummaged through what the hotel room had in the way of emergency supplies, trying to find batteries for the flashlight that weren't near-dead. "I wanted a place out of the way where people wouldn't be poking around. Besides, I just had a feeling about this place. You have to admit, this is definitely progess."
The gynoid laughed. "You have some strange definitions of 'progress,' Nate."
"Well," the shadowy figure said, testing the flashlight - that was better, at least - "look at it this way. We've found out about three incursions into our reality thus far, two of them well after the fact, and all of them minor and yielding information only from people who know only somewhat more than we did. This, on the other hand, we get to experience first-hand, and I'm reasonably certain that it's nothing minor."
She shrugged. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it." She peeked out the window, but their room was positioned so that all she could really see was the wall of the adjoining bar. "So, do we go out and have a look, or hole up in here and wait it out?"
Hawkins smiled slightly. "The expense account isn't going to justify itself if we don't do any investigating." He examined his pistol; he hadn't had any call for it thus far, except in the mall where he couldn't get it, but right now there was no sense in taking any chances. He took out the spare and checked it, then handed it to Cecilia.
She laughed. "I'm a computer jockey, Hawkins. Rocket-jumping is the full extent of my firearm skills, and I'm told it's less advisable in real life."
He smirked. "That'd be correct. But it's better to have it, just in case. I know you know this, but don't go waving it around anytime something moves; if we're here there's probably town residents as well."
She nodded. "Noted. Shall we be off, then?"
They stepped out into the hall, Hawkins flicking on the flashlight. It was empty here, and he made to close the door, then paused. It was an electric lock, and with the power out, they'd be stuck. "You have everything you need?" he asked. Agent Pennsbrook nodded. He pulled the door shut, and it made a satisfying clunk as it latched.
The two agents cautiously made their way out towards the lobby when a figure appeared at the end of the hall, silhouetted in the dim light. Startled, Hawkins flicked the flashlight up towards it. He caught a brief glimpse of razor talons, lean muscle, and blood, and one hand went for his gun, hovering tensely over the grip.
"AH!" the figure yelped, in a decidedly un-monstrous voice, shying away from the sudden light. It was...it appeared to be a girl with the lower body of some kind of dinosaur, a Velociraptor or something. The blood was definitely real, though.
"Ohmigawd!" Cecilia gasped. "Where are you injured? You shouldn't be moving around!"
The girl blinked, shook her head, and took another look at the things that had shone the light at her. Strange, yes, but not as terrifying as she'd first thought. "N-no," she said. "I'm okay. I was out hunting, and there was this flash...have you been outside?"
Hawkins shook his head, relaxing his muscles and dropping his hand away from the gun. "No. What's it like out there? Are there any other people?"
"Y-you'd better come see for yourself," she said, motioning them toward the door.
As they drove closer to the town, the van's occupants noticed the landscape beginning to change. Hedgeton and the surrounding area were mostly flat grassland, much of it agricultural. Yet in among the hay fields there were boulders the size of the van, of strange purple and maroon obsidian-studded rocks that were definitely not native to the area, and the occasional formation of some kind of rough crystal. It was something like crossing a border from Kansas into Mars. And the closer they got, the less familiar their surroundings became.
The shock really hit when they emerged from one last little cornfield into what should have been the city proper. Where the town had been was a gradually slope up to a largish hill, populated with tremendous structures of the same rock and crystal that sort of suggested buildings while at the same time looking nothing like buildings. Spurs of rough bluish crystal and termite mounds of rock towered into an alien parody of a city skyline. Toby stopped the van at the foot of the hill, and Jay gave a low whistle. "'dja ever see The Monolith Monsters?" she asked. Nobody answered, but it had been half-rhetorical anyway.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Terri asked. It felt a little weird to be asking this as...as a man, and a fairly strapping young man at that, but Toby had always been the better planner anyway.
Toby shrugged. "Riley, do you have any idea what we're looking for here?"
Their daughter shook her head. "No...I kinda think that it'll be up the hill, though..."
The anime woman nodded. "Okay. Terri, I suppose you're not open to staying with the car?" He shook his head. "Okay, then you and Riley and I will go up the hill. Jay...do your thing, I guess?"
The fox-woman grinned. "That's what I do best. But I think I'll stick with you guys, for a start."
"Right. Peter, are you opposed to staying with the van?"
The lizard-man snorted. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't go up there if you paid me."
"We are paying you," Jay laughed. "But eh. Just give me the camcorder and I'll see what I can get on my own."
He grinned and handed it to her. "Maybe I'll set up the tripod and get some nice distance footage," he said.
Toby nodded, handing him the keys. "Good enough. If something comes up and you need to move the van to keep it and yourself safe, that's fine, but do us a favor and don't actually leave leave unless you really have to, okay?" He nodded.
"Good," she said. "Okay, let's go."
"What's on your mind?" Susan asked, as they got back home from the park and Alex and Sally headed upstairs to shower. Andy was doing a good job of putting on a game face, but he could tell that something was eating at her.
The bunny-girl sighed; she didn't really want to share, but...she was trying not to hold back anymore...
"Th-there were people at the park," she said. "Saying...saying things about me..."
The naga-man nodded knowingly. "And that bothers you, I'm sure..."
She frowned. "I...I don't know. They're just...just stupid teenagers. What bothers me is that...they're kind of right. I mean, I do have a...a need, for...a need for you, but still...oh God, Sue, I just got out of one addiction, I don't want another!"
Her...her husband's face lit with realization. "You're worried about becoming a sex addict."
She hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah."
He put an arm around her. "Remember what the doctor said? Elevated drives, but it's not the same thing as nymphomania. And Maple said it doesn't control her...so did you, remember?"
She nodded. "I did...that's true, it's just...I've never had feelings this strong before, Sue. What if I do...lose control?"
Susan smiled, hugging his wife to him. "Andy, I think...I think you're confusing new feelings for more powerful feelings. You've only been a woman for a day, love - how could you know what the life is like so soon?"
"Y-you mean this is normal?" the rabbit-woman asked. Her husband shrugged. "Maybe the intensity is a bit higher, but the nature sounds the same. I had my own needs, you know. and it never caused me any problems. Hell, I still do, and I'm just as confused as you are. This thing goes off totally at random..."
Andy blushed a bit, but felt a little warm inside. "Not quite at random," she said. "But yeah...it's just...I don't want to just be some...some whore, Sue!" She felt herself beginning to tear up a bit.
The snake-man's expression turned completely serious. "Listen to me," he said, grabbing his wife by the shoulders, though gently. "Don't ever talk about yourself like that, Andy! You and I both know that you've never cheated on me, and there's nothing shameful or perverted about us enjoying each other. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." He pulled her to himself, and she embraced him and nuzzled into his chest.
Robert's breath was quicker and shallower as she felt her tail gently brush across her lowest breasts, starting light. She had to...had to...she couldn't let...but...it felt so nice...but...she couldn't...but...
...but, if this really was God's will for now...if Father Maxwell was right, and the thing to do was submit...live the life set before her...if that was true, why shouldn't she...why shouldn't she...get to know this new body? She gently cupped one of her middle rows, feeling skin on skin...
No! No, that would be...but...why would it be wrong? If it was her body...and if the doctor was right and there was nothing about her change that instilled this, if this was just a...a f-female...reaction...the Lord hadn't made a mistake when He made woman this way, had He?
...she was rationalizing, she knew it. She was giving in to her desires and looking for an excuse...faster and faster the more she gave in. The devil-woman gently tweaked a nipple, and gasped. She felt strange, down...between her legs...warm and...and...
Rationalizing...felt good.
