~ Anthro ~
Created by Dark Phoenix
Edited by Michael-Leonard
Feedback appreciated: thedarkphoenix2008@yahoo.com
Zephram must cross a thin line between right and ethical 

~ WARNING ~
This story is geared towards adults. If you are not into female muscle growth, muscular anthropomorphic animals, superhuman strength, intense sexual themes, and violence, then this story is not for you. Otherwise, enjoy the story!

~ INTRO ~
I find it rather refreshing doing one of those sort-of post apocalyptic stories and mix in the common theme of all my stories: extreme female muscle. To find the solution to an otherwise no-win scenario has always been a special challenge. The main character is attempting to do just that by changing the rules entirely and finding a way to turn humans into something else to evade the killer virus entirely. I feel like this story has the potential to be truly epic. I also wanted to mention my experiment of including a "preview" of the next chapter at the end of the previous one. I think it's nice to give you something to expect, but without giving too much away.

I'm also trying my hand at more dramatic elements based on the situation. I'm looking to go farther than just a simple female muscle/sex story. I'm trying to give it more depth than that. Oh I'm not going to completely stray away from the core formula. If the scenario presents itself, I'm taking advantage of it. I'm just saying that, as tempting as it typically is for me to turn something as simple as a beautiful woman flexing muscles of steel into a sex scene, I want to try to use different reactions as well and not just arousal.

But...I failed to stray in this chapter. *wink*


Chapter II: Playing God

Zephram saw it all around him: people dying from the HEV virus. It was a painful sight for him to see. It was like a monster that could not be stopped. And no matter what he tried, the trail of death got closer to him. He ran for his life; but it seemed no matter how fast his legs carried him, his end drew ever closer. He felt himself collapse to the ground as his body began to shut down on him. He truly despaired knowing that his attempts to counteract this threat were too little too late. Suddenly, he felt himself shaking all over as if in a convulsion.

"Wake up!" came a distant voice.

"Hey! Wake up!" the voice rang out as he shifted from one reality to another. The shaking he felt was real. Silvia looked at him with genuine concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Zephram put a hand to his eyes and felt tears in them. Was he crying in his sleep?

"No, I'm not," he said quite truthfully.

Silvia looked into his eyes as if reading him. "It's no wonder. You were tossing and turning and your heart was beating pretty fast. It must've been a terrible nightmare for you to respond like this. I tried to wake you, but you didn't respond right away."

Having regained his sense of his surroundings and seeing the anthropomorphic woman he created from his cat helped to calm him down some. But it seemed even after such a wonderful night of passion with his newfound love, the danger that the HEV posed was too great to keep out of his subconscious for long. He wanted to live a happy life. He also started feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders as well. He was the only person with a chance at saving the human race. But he also had mixed feelings about the sacrifice that would be required to do it. While his genetic resequencing might save humanity, humankind as he knew it would still become a memory making way for a new breed of anthros. But he reassured himself that this was the only way. The virus was simply too advanced to overcome by any other means.

Zephram looked into Silvia's eyes and hugged her close. Her powerful body seemed to radiate strength and security and it helped him to calm back down. Silvia retained her memories from her "former life", and remembered how it felt to wake up from a bad dream. Though at the time, she couldn't comprehend what was going on in the world around her. She came into this life after the last noticeable remnants of the war ended. She still didn't understand what was going on, and it made her feel all the more worried about him.

Zephram kissed her most tenderly on the lips, something she happily reciprocated. He looked into her eyes, which were still slitted like a cats. She had a unique beauty that was unmatched by human standards.

"What's going on Zephie? It must really be weighing on your mind if it could happen after the wonderful sex we had last night," Silvia said.

Zephram took a deep breath. "Yeah, I suppose now would be a good time to explain everything to you. You see you could consider yourself lucky. This world has recently come off a terrible war that crippled the human race because of these awful weapons that they themselves have created. Our population has dwindled significantly since then. And just when we started to recover enough to move on with our lives, this mad group of people created a virus designed to pretty much wipe out all human life in this world. Quite appropriately, it's called the Human Extinction Virus. And no one is safe from it."

Zephram put a hand to Silvia's face and gently caressed it. This made her smile as she started to purr.

"You see, I'm attempting to save mankind before we all perish. But the thing is, time is against us all. The virus could infect me at anytime and if that happens before I succeed in my attempts to defeat this virus, then humans will become extinct. You my love, are my first attempt to perfect this countermeasure to the virus. But, I had other reasons for giving you this body..." Zephram said as he paused to consider his next words.

Silvia could tell that he was trying to be modest. And while she was still getting used to her newfound intelligence, she was smart enough to know what Zephram was pretty much saying. She was an experiment. But she had no reason to be upset about this. She simply adored her body. It felt so strong and powerful. Her throbbing muscles seemed to constantly give her pleasure, which she soaked in with earnest desire. Experiment or not, she loved what she had become. And she had this wonderful man to thank for making it all happen.

Silvia put a hand to his mouth as she gave a gentle "shhhh" sound. She took his hand and put it on her rock-hard abs as she flexed them.

"I know you love me and that you went this extra distance to make me what I am now. And believe me, I love it very much! I don't ever want to go back to what I was!" Silvia said excitedly.

Zephram was glad she understood. He should have known as much. On top of having immensely heightened strength, her other senses have become highly elevated as well. Short of being outright psychic, she's capable of reading him like a book. It certainly made communication between them really easy.

Zephram took her hands into his. They were shaped like his, but they still retained paw-like padding on the palms.

"Since you know me oh-so-well," he said sarcastically, "then you know that I can't stop until I succeed in this plan. You see it's like this. There is no way to stop this virus. It was designed to mercilessly target humans and kill them. So thanks to an inspiration from a movie I particularly like, I found the answer. Rather than futilely try to combat the virus, I could take humans out of the equation. You see, if I can merge animal genes with human genes, I can produce an all-new hybrid of human and animal. We'd certainly be closely in tune with the animal kingdom, that's for sure. Once I perfect this technique, I can share my results with the other remaining scientists and mass produce the resulting serum derived from various animals to make it happen."

Silvia was curious about this. "But how fast is this virus spreading? Any idea of how long the humans have?"

Zephram thought about this for a moment. "Well, based on the current rate of infection; it's being said that the human race has months - maybe a year - before the virus infects everyone in the world."

Silvia felt bad about this. "I'm really sorry to hear this."

Zephram felt his anger building up a bit. "Yeah, well, perhaps it's rightly deserved for our numbers to dwindle this much! There have been so many of us that have done such wrongs to this planet and the life on it!"

Silvia tightened her grip on his hands a little, quickly snapping him out of it. Her strength was simply incredible, and he could only imagine how much pressure she could exert with those hands.

"Don't say that my love, you are not to blame for other peoples' wrong-doings!"

Zephram looked at her and couldn't help but smile warmly. She was so gorgeous. Her eyes were so innocent and full of love. It melted his heart to look into them. The sight of her big bulging muscles just made him horny. He tried to shake it off as he focused on what he had to do.

"Silvia. You have no idea much I love you. You are everything I desire in a woman and then some. Nothing could make me happier than to spend my entire life with you, making love to each other until we pass out from exhaustion; exploring those incredibly sexy muscles until you orgasm just from flexing them, and sharing all sorts of adventures together. But the only way this can happen is if I defeat this virus. I'm going to need you to be patient with me until then," Zephram explained.

Silvia was truly touched by his words. She understood perfectly what was at stake for them both.

"I understand my love. Please, do what you have to do. I certainly don't want to lose you to that dreadful virus," she said in understanding.

Zephram leaned in and gave her one more passionate kiss, then got up and walked over to his phone. "It's time for me to move on to the next step."

* * *

Zephram worked on his formula and performed some more simulations with merging human and animal. But the resulting data was inconclusive. He realized he would have no choice but to perform the experiment on a human test subject blind. He sat at his computer and worked on further refining his serum formula so it would work faster. He had to think of a way to be able to rapidly spread this "vaccine" should it become effective.

Silvia passed the time trying out her new body. She flexed various muscles and reveled in how sexy and hard they were. She started doing pushups with virtually no effort. After doing at least a hundred of them, she decided to do them with one hand. After another hundred, she switched to the other hand. They were still ridiculously easy for her. Finally, she went for broke and did a hundred more on just her pinky. It was really turning her on to know that her strength had no immediate limit... yet. She laid on her back and began doing sit-ups as she watched her abs bunch and bulge together. She kept at it for several minutes and decided to test her flexibility and balance. She got into a handstand and starting doing handstand pushups with remarkable ease. Her sense of balance felt so second nature to her that she didn't even have to put any direct focus on maintaining her balance. She did a hundred of them in rapid succession, up and down and up and down. She wanted to find some kind of limit to her body and decided to remove one hand and was now doing handstand pushups with one hand! Her strength was simply incredible! And she still was able to maintain her balance with sheer ease! She smiled sensually and used only her index finger to do another hefty batch of handstand pushups. This was having such an arousing effect on her to be able to keep going like this. She finally switched over to her pinky with the same unwavering result. It was beyond words to describe how good it felt to be able to do just about any type of exercise and not even tire out or lose her balance. In fact, the longer she did them, the more energetic she felt. Even her already ample strength increased a bit.

She wanted more! She ran into Zephram's computer room excitedly.

"Hey baby, do you mind me going outside to test my muscles on something really heavy?" she asked.

Zephram looked up at her in surprise. He didn't want her to be seen by anyone. But he did live far enough away from the main road in enough isolation to take that risk.

"Alright, but please try not to overdo it," he said.

Silvia nodded eagerly as she went outside. There were two tall trees, one on each side of the yard, and a barbell loaded with a few weights on it, sitting on the patio. She walked over to it and attempted to lift it up. The weight seemed to float upwards in her hands as she used but the merest fraction of her strength to lift it.

She pumped several reps with it as she stared in awe at her biceps, and they weren't even pumped. "Wow."

There were no more plates to add to it. Zephram probably didn't expect at the time that he would create a super-strong feline superbabe. She grinned as she took the barbell and proceeded to actually bend the steel bar in half. Now her arm actually responded with a pencil-thick vein popping up under her thinly furry skin and her biceps swelling with power as they poured the necessary strength into her effort to mangle the barbell into a pretzel. She gasped in awe at this as she had another rush of sexual stimulation brought on by her pumped muscles. She fought back the urge to finger her clit right then and there as she wanted to save it for her lover.

Silvia pried herself away from the patio and walked into the yard. She walked over to one of the trees and held out her hand. She willed her claws to extend as they sprung forth from the tips of her fingers. They weren't as curved as they were when she was a cat, but they were longer and, like the rest of her body, stronger. The claws on her feet also elongated a little as she began climbing up the tree like Spiderman. She was enjoying this as she climbed all the way to the top. She got a firm grip on the tree as she faced the other one. A fun idea came to her as she used her instincts to calculate how hard to leap. She focused on the tree as she used her powerfully built legs to propel her from the tree she was on as she soared through the air, all the way across the yard, and land near the top of the other tree, causing it to rock for a few seconds. That rush she felt was amazing. She felt like she could do so much more. But if she exerted herself too much, she would risk drawing attention to herself. And even though no one could easily tell she was an anthro cat, it would be quite a sight seeing someone leaping through the air like that.

Zephram was struggling to focus on his work. He has fighting back thoughts of Silvia lifting huge and heavy weights and bending steel like putty in her hands. It bothered him that he had to get this work done. Time was against him and he just couldn't afford to indulge in the woman he literally created, not yet.

"Hey Zephie!" came Silvia's voice.

This made him jump in his seat. "Geez, Silvia! You startled me!"

"I'm sorry baby! Hey, do you want those trees in your yard?" she asked.

Zephram knew immediately what she was hinting at. "Are you serious?! You want to cut them down? Whatever happened to restraint?"

"Oh pleeease?!" Silvia insisted with those playful eyes.

Zephram couldn't bring himself to say no to her. She was like a child in a way, yet she was anything but.

"Alright, but be careful," he said.

Silvia ran over and kissed him, "Thanks!"

And she ran off to have her fun.

Zephram looked on after her. "It seems I have another good reason to complete this."

Silvia was back outside and standing next to one of the trees. She looked up at them with a thoughtful expression. How would she tear them down? She grinned as an idea came over her.

"I know! Let's see how high I can jump first! I'll use these trees to compare how high I jump!" she said eagerly.

She flexed her quads as each muscle ballooned to enormous size. She could feel the incredible strength fill them as she felt the strength build up inside them.

"Alright, let's see how strong these babies are!" she said as she crouched down.

Silvia sprang up high into the air. She ascended so fast that she reached higher than the top of the tree by another dozen or so feet. For a brief moment, she could see the surrounding neighborhood from up there. She wasn't sure if anyone happened to be looking her way. But if they were, they'd probably think they were seeing things. She came down fast and landed gracefully on her feet.

"Wow! That was awesome! And the cool part was I wasn't even jumping as hard as I could!" she said excitedly.

She turned to the tree on the left. "Well well, what ever shall I do with this imposing tree, hmm?"

She noted the direction where there was nothing for the tree to fall on. It was a stretch of land facing directly away from the house. She walked up to the tree and wrapped her muscular arms around it.

"Now that I have a good idea on how strong my legs are, it's time to feel how strong my arms are!" she said as she prepared to do the unthinkable.

Silvia, thinking this would take some serious effort on her part, poured all her strength into the effort as she squeezed as hard as she could and pulled the tree upwards, attempting to uproot it from its earthly foundation. Two things happened in that instant: One, the ground beneath her gave way as the roots were forcefully ripped from the ground and tree along with it. This caused her to get tripped up by those roots, making her fall backwards. And two, the sudden action made her squeeze the base of the tree so tight on the way down that her arms literally cut right through it, breaking the base off from the rest of the tree as it fell with a crash on the ground behind her.

Much to her great relief, the tree still fell in the direction she originally planned. But with everything going on, it was apparent that neither she nor Zephram considered the reality that the roots would tear up a small radius of the yard. Silvia stood up and blushed a little as she surveyed the damage she caused.

"Ooops! Hehehe!"

Zephram heard the crash and remembered about the roots as he shook his head and blushed. "Wow. She sure is one strong muscle babe."

Silvia looked down at her body and felt really horny as she took in the detailed musculature that framed it.

"I think I should go inside the patio for this," she said as she went onto the patio where she was certain no one would be able to see her.

That feat of strength left her feeling so aroused that she needed release. She saw a mirror leaning against the wall and used that to start flexing her muscles to immense size and definition. She especially loved the bulginess of her abs as she ran her hand over them, feeling the separation between each one and rubbing the protruding vein that beelined across them. It made her moan with pleasure as she flexed them, making them swell in size and definition. She really loved Zephram very much for giving her such a sexy body. She went into various muscle poses as she took in each and every one. She looked at how powerfully her legs bulged as they exploded to tree trunk size. She did a crab flex and her biceps were simply beyond human comparison as they expanded massively in response. She went into a double bicep flex and marveled at how huge they were. She was able to touch the tops of the peaks with her fingers. It felt so good!

Silvia started purring uncontrollably as she started fingering herself. All of this strength that buzzed through her was giving her such immense pleasure that she was approaching orgasm. Her whole body tensed up as every muscle flexed to its maximum making her look truly monumental. She reared her head back and roared like the lioness that she really should be, as strong as she is. She had an orgasm that resulted in her love juices flowing out of her pussy.

Silvia curled up into the fetal position, mewing softly as she rode the aftermath of her orgasm. As good as it felt, she wanted to share it all with Zephram, the man she loved like no other. She knew that eventually, she would have her chance to see just how strong she truly is. If Zephram can make his plan succeed, then it will usher in a new age of anthros.

Zephram ran out the door from inside as he looked down at her in a mix of surprise and mild annoyance. "Silvia are you crazy!? You want the whole neighborhood to think I'm housing a lion?!"

Silvia got up, feeling a little embarrassed. He was right. She didn't want to blow it for him, not when he was this close.

"I'm sorry baby, I just couldn't help myself. You gave me such incredible strength that it just makes me so hot and horny to flex these big bulging muscles," she said as she flexed her mountainous bicep to prove her point.

This had an intoxicating effect on Zephram, as he again struggled to control himself. He walked up to Silvia and took her hand.

"My love, know this. When this is all over and mankind is saved, I'm going to have a lot of pent up sexual energy and I'm going to be releasing it all on you in the bedroom. You know this, right?" Zephram said matter-of-factly.

Silvia purred again as she brushed her cheek against his. "Mmmm, oh god I can't wait!"

Zephram surveyed the damage to the yard. At a time like this, it was hardly worth fussing over. He rubbed Silvia's cheek and kissed her.

"I must get back to work. I'm planning on having company over and you'll be the proof to back up what I tell them." Zephram said.

"Right," Silvia answered.

As Zephram walked back inside, he looked back at his gorgeous Silvia. "So much for not overdoing it. Oh well."

* * *

As afternoon arrived, Zephram had finished working on his calculations and the formula while looking up a few of his colleagues from work. He had learned that a couple of them had fallen victim to the virus recently and died. The rest had all quit and the business had gone under. Not that it was much of a surprise to him. Who wanted to spend their potentially remaining days working? He got in contact with his two best friends and told them simply that he had a plan to circumvent the virus. At first they were skeptical, but Zephram convinced them that it was either give him the benefit of a doubt or let the virus get them in the end.

A man and a woman showed up at his residence. Zephram had asked Silvia to remain in his bedroom for now to avoid startling them. She was most understanding and never once took anything he said the wrong way. She knew that if she appeared too soon, she might scare them off.

Zephram opened the door to a lukewarm greeting. "Benjamin, Meredith, it's good to see you both. Please, come in," Zephram said while inviting them in.

After removing their jackets, Zephram showed them into the living room to pick a seat for them to get comfortable in. He offered a drink, which they accepted. After coming back in, he sat down in his recliner and told them his plan.

"There's only one way we can defeat this virus and save our way of life. But it's going to require a big sacrifice on humanity###s part for it to happen," Zephram said as he paused.

Both of them hung on his every word. It was clear that pretty much everyone was as on edge as Zephram was.

"Yes, go on," Meredith insisted.

Zephram took a sip of his drink and continued. "Well, it's like this. We're going to have to become a new species in order to survive."

This provoked a collective gasp from them both. Benjamin was especially taken by surprise by this news.

"You mean, we would no longer be human?" he asked.

Zephram nodded. "That's right. But before you say anything else, please don't be too alarmed. You would still retain your personality, your knowledge, memories, cognitive functions, and all aspects of who you are. But no, for all intents and purposes, you won't be human. Are you familiar with the term anthro?"

Meredith spoke up. "Oh yeah, I am. That's an animal that is given human characteristics while still retaining some of their own."

Zephram smiled. "That's right. You'd still be bipedal, but you would take on the general appearance and characteristics of the animal whose genome your own is merged with."

Benjamin caught on quick to where this was going. "I'm not too sure about the idea of looking like an animal, but your logic is the best I have heard since this whole catastrophe began."

Meredith interjected. "There's just one problem. How do you decide what animal each person chooses to become?"

Zephram hadn't thought of this. Just how would he decide? There were still millions of people in this world and so little time to help them all. And with many falling prey to the virus every day, it would be a trek like no other to spread his potential "cure".

"I...I don't know### yet. I haven###t thought that far ahead. I must first make sure this process will succeed. Which is why you two are here," he said.

Benjamin looked at Meredith and then said what they both knew: "You need us to be guinea pigs, don't you?"

Zephram managed a single nod. "Essentially, yes. And believe me, if the circumstances were any different and we weren't facing complete and certain extinction ##" or if we had more time ##" I wouldn't be asking this of you."

But Benjamin was clearly skeptical. "And what progress have you made so far in this... endeavor?"

Zephram had a feeling one of them would say that. "I've made significant progress. I have already successfully accomplished the creation of an anthro using a cat with human genes merged with its own."

After a brief pause to see if either would say anything, he got more serious in tone. "Just be aware, this might come as a surprise to you. But don't be alarmed. She is not dangerous."

"Well, OK, if you say so," Meredith said.

Without taking his eyes from his friends### Zephram called out, "Silvia, come in please."

Silvia emerged from the bedroom. She walked into the middle of the living room, her pretty feminine features and hulking muscles showing in all their glory. Both visitors' jaws dropped.

Zephram smiled. "My friends, meet Silvia. Silvia, these are my friends and colleagues, Benjamin Ross and Meredith Johnson."

"I... I don't.### Unbelievable!" Meredith stuttered.

Benjamin was amazed by what he saw. She was clearly feline in appearance, but she definitely had human characteristics.

"Wow! Zephram, this is just unreal! She is... she's so pretty!" he said.

Silvia blushed at this. "Why thank you, mister!"

Zephram couldn't help but smile with pride. "Oh, you can address her directly. She's quite intelligent and can converse normally with us."

Meredith found herself blushing. She had privately fantasized in her ideal man being heavily muscled and capable of protecting her from anything. But this creature had more muscle mass on her than she could've imagined on a man. She found herself feeling...

"Wow Meredith, you find my body arousing?" Silvia asked rather innocently.

Zephram was stunned by her casual bluntness, "Silvia!"

Silvia made an apologetic smile. "Ooops, hehehe. Sorry."

Meredith was really blushing now. She was at a loss for words. Benjamin was still taking in this magnificent figure of a woman. He had seen cartoons with bipedal felines, but to see it in real life like this was beyond amazing. And, he too was quite turned on by the sight. Silvia couldn't help but see his reaction from his eyes and skin flushing. But she dared not say anything this time.

"So um, I'm guessing Silva that you have sharp senses and can read what a person is feeling by spotting their physical reactions in the eyes and face?" Benjamin asked.

Silvia nodded. "Yes, and I can read things from the way their voice sounds too."

Benjamin was truly impressed. "That is amazing. Zephram, I've never even considered what it would be like to have animal abilities. But at this point, I would gladly be willing to take part in this. It certainly beats dying. I personally have wanted the ability to breath underwater."

Meredith was still feeling embarrassed by Silvia's blunt statement, but tried her best to shake it off. "Yeah, well, I'm in too. Just how wide a range of animals can you merge humans with?"

Zephram's expression showed an answer that wasn't what she was hoping for. "I'm afraid I don't have a clear answer for that yet. Silvia began as an animal; I still need to successfully merge animal genes with human genes. You two would essentially be my first test subjects."

The mood turned somber real quick as Benjamin contemplated what he was faced with. Meredith reflected those contemplations.

"Well then. It seems it's either we face possible death from this experiment, success from this experiment with a new future and a new body, or death from the virus," Meredith said.

Silvia walked up to her. "Hey, Zephie here is trying everything in his power to save everyone. I for one, have so much to thank him for. I know it's a risk. But I would think it's better than waiting for this virus to come around and kill you."

Meredith was fully convinced by Silvia's words. "Very well, then. Looking at you, I think the idea of looking like you is worth dying for. Zephram, let's do this."

"I'm ready too," Benjamin said.

Zephram smiled. "Right, this way."

* * *

After leading everyone into his small lab, Zephram instructed them to take a seat near the table where all of his equipment was set up. He walked over, picked up one of the vials, and extracted a tiny portion of its contents.

"Are both of you OK with a feline appearance like Silvia's?" Zephram asked them.

Benjamin was a bit disappointed as he really did want to be able to breath underwater, but given the urgency of the situation, it was live or die.

"That'll be fine," Benjamin said.

Meredith on the other hand was clearly excited. She wouldn't admit it openly, but if she would look even half as muscular as how Silvia turned out, she's be most happy with such a body.

"It'll be great," she said.

Zephram grabbed another vial and mixed the contents of the first with the second. "Alright then. I'll need a minute to integrate the cat genome into the serum, which will act as a medium to allow the merging of those genes into your own."

It didn't take long for him to complete his preparations. He now had two syringes prepared and walked over to them and took one.

"Look, if either of you want to wait while the other goes first, that would be fine. You both don't have to go at the same time," Zephram said, a show of grave concern in his voice.

Meredith smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Zephram, it's OK. I've accepted this decision. And it doesn't matter if one of us went first or not. We face death either way. At least there's that chance for success and we can share it together. Right, Ben?"

Benjamin nodded. "Right. And if this doesn't work, I just want to say that it was a pleasure working with both of you."

Silvia said nothing as she stood to the side. Zephram had to force himself out of his hesitation as he gestured each of them onto their own table to lay down on. He took an alcohol swab and wiped it across Meredith's arm. But before he administered the shot, he hugged her. She hugged him back. At last, Zephram took the serum and injected it into her arm.

"It'll take a couple minutes for the serum to work its way through your body. Once it does, the changes should start happening quickly," Zephram said as he took the other syringe, swabbed Benjamin's arm and injected the serum into him as well.

After disposing of the now-empty syringes, Zephram stood back with Silvia and watched. Both Benjamin and Meredith's breathing were quick and shallow. Silvia could sense the fear in them both and walked over and ran her hand across both their cheeks.

"It's OK, just relax. This will all be over soon, one way or another. Please..." she said gently.

Their breathing steadied, but remained noticeably shallow. Zephram took Silvia's hand into his and watched as Meredith twitched first, followed soon after by Benjamin.

"Ugh!" Meredith cried in pain.

Benjamin was also showing signs of being in pain as both twitched on the table.

"Quick Silvia, hold Ben down! I've got Meredith!" Zephram said quickly as both were now pinned firmly to the table.

Zephram's eyes showed signs of excitement as the first changes began taking place on Meredith. Her skin was becoming covered with fur and the pupils of her eyes were becoming thin vertical slits. Silvia noticed similar changes in Benjamin as she also noticed the growing canines in his gritting teeth.

"It's working! Hang in there!" Zephram said excitedly.

Neither Meredith nor Benjamin responded as they continued thrashing more violently on the table. Silvia actually had to put some strength into keeping Benjamin still. And Zephram could feel Meredith's strength becoming nearly too much for him as she threatened to fall off the table.

"AHHH!! AHHHHH!!!!" Meredith screamed in agony.

"This shouldn't be happening! There was pain to be expected, sure, but something's wrong!" Zephram cried.

Silvia's voice rang out, "Zephram! Benjamin's heart is beating way too fast! His skin temperature has sky-rocketed!"

Zephram could feel the same thing in Meredith. That was when the horrific realization swept over him.

"It's as I feared, their bodies are violently rejecting the DNA! They're bodies are breaking down!" Zephram cried.

Meredith arched her back and collapsed on the table, completely still. Benjamin also ceased his movements. All went deathly silent as Zephram and Silvia both were reeling from what had just happened. Zephram knew that there was a possibility that this might happen. But he didn't want to believe it. He was so certain after all his calculations; after all his preparations, that this would work. If human DNA could transform a cat, why can't the opposite happen just as easily? To say that they would've died eventually from the virus was of little solace. They died because of him, because of his arrogance that this would succeed. At least that was what he thought.

Silvia saw the pain in Zephram's eyes and held him close. Zephram had truly despaired, just like in his nightmare. His only hope for saving mankind was gone. He finally came back to reality enough to notice Silvia holding him against her. He let his emotions flow out and buried his face in her shoulder and cried, knowing that he too would die along with every other member of the human race.###


~ TO BE CONTINUED ~

In the next chapter of Anthro: His experiment has failed and Zephram now tries to come to terms with his eventual fate. But along the way, he and Silvia meet up with the last of the remaining Shamans who offer him some spiritual guidance. How will they react upon meeting Silvia? What revelation will Zephram find among these people? Find out in the next chapter of Anthro: The Beast Gene