~ Anthro ~
Created
by Dark Phoenix
Edited by
Michael-Leonard
Feedback appreciated: thedarkphoenix2008@yahoo.com
Zephram
and Sylvia find hope in an unexpected place
~ 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
~
Is this the beginning of the end?
Well who's to say?
?>I
realize there isn't much in the way of muscle play this time around. But trust
me, this exposition is necessary to setup the next chapter. Everything will fall
into place, you'll see! ^_^
Chapter III: The Beast
Gene
The weight of
Zephram's fate bore down on him like a drill. He had a shot at saving humanity
from that horrible virus, but failed. The only one who showed any promise was
Silvia, his former cat turned anthro. She and Zephram had become very close
since her evolution. But it didn't seem to matter much anymore because the way
it stood, it was only a matter of time before the HEV caught up to
Zephram.
Zephram also carried the weight of Meredith and Benjamin's
deaths on his shoulders. He tried to reassure himself that if he hadn't tried,
they would've died eventually anyway. But such a reassurance wasn't enough.
Because, on the other end of the spectrum, he was certain that he would succeed,
to the point of arrogance! And it was because of that arrogance that he caused
them a more painful death than that virus would have. His only consolation was that he
wouldn't have to live with it for much longer. Zephram wasn't much of a
religious man, but he hoped that he would find forgiveness once he
left this world.
Silvia sat still in a chair and held him close to her as
he cried. All the years of pain, struggle, and regret had caught up with him and
he needed to let it all out. She was fighting back tears herself due to her
sensitive nature. Silvia brushed her fingered paw through Zephram's hair as she
began purring for him. She didn't even realize she could purr at will before
when she was just a cat. It just happened on its own anytime she was happy. She
closed her eyes and rested her chin on her hand, which was on Zephram's head.
Her purring had a relaxing effect on him, and before he even knew it, he cried
himself to sleep in her arms.
Silvia gently picked up her lover, carried
him to his bedroom, and tucked him in. She wanted to sleep in his bed with him,
but her immensely muscled body made her too big to fit in his twin-size bed; it
would have to be a king-size to adequately accommodate her. Still, being a cat,
she wasn't the type to have any problems falling asleep in
different places. So she grabbed another comforter out of the closet, opened it
up into a makeshift bed, and laid it on the floor next to Zephram's bed. She
leaned over and tenderly kissed his cheek, which drew a faint smile from him,
laid down on the comforter, and went to sleep herself.
* * *
The
next day saw Zephram waking up later than he usually did. He climbed out of bed
and tripped over something, landing face first against a really large
breast.
"Ow!" Zephram yipped as he clutched his face.
Silvia
hazily opened her eyes as if nothing out of the ordinary happened to her. She
blushed when she noticed Zephram using her breast as a support to get back up.
She yawned and stretched her limbs, then got up as well.
"Did you have to
sleep down there,
Silvia?" Zephram said as he rubbed his nose, making sure it was still in one
piece.
Silvia blushed. "Sorry, Zephie! I wanted to sleep with you in your
bed, but it was too small for me to fit in."
Zephram glanced at his bed,
then at the massively muscled Silvia. There was certainly no arguing with
that.
Zephram walked over to his closet to grab a change of
clothes.
"So what are you going to do today?" Silvia asked, rather
casually considering the circumstance.
Zephram didn't pause one bit as he
started to take all his previous clothes off, leaving him naked briefly as he
began putting on his new shirt and pants.
"Do you believe in the
afterlife?" Zephram asked unexpectedly.
Silvia looked confused. "What's
an afterlife?"
This time, Zephram did pause. "You mean you've
never thought about what might happen after you die?"
"Not really. I
guess the thought never occurred to me," Silvia answered.
Zephram reached
in and grabbed a lab coat from another part of his closet, his largest one. He
tossed it over to Silvia.
"Here, can you put that on? I'm heading out and
I'd like you to come with me," Zephram requested.
Silvia had never worn
clothes before, and shuffled it in her hands rather confusingly.
Zephram noticed this and walked over to her, took the coat, and placed it around
her body, guiding her hands into the sleeves. But her arms were too thick for
them, so he pulled the coat back off.
"Well this isn't good. I'm
beginning to think there isn't a single article of clothing that could fit you,"
Zephram said.
Silvia grinned as she inflated one of her biceps with a
powerful flex. Her peak rose until it reached what looked like 40" of
fur-covered steel. A vein thicker than a pencil ran around her bicep as it
forked into two directions at the top, carrying unbridled power to her super
muscle. She saw the reaction in Zephram's eyes and smiled.
"I do believe
you are blushing there, my Zephie," Silvia teased.
Zephram realized the
futility of getting even the largest lab coat on her. He looked at it and got an
idea. He took some scissors and began cutting off the whole of the sleeves.
He then once again placed the coat on her, and also noticed that the sides
wouldn't come together in front of her massively muscled chest and her huge
triple-F breasts. He got another idea and took the lower part of it and tied it
around her humongous hooters, though just barely. He stood back to take in the
sight and pondered something in that moment: 'Would anthros even bother to wear
clothes?'
Zephram walked up to her and hugged her close in his
first happy moment since yesterday.
"I love you Silvia. I love you
with all my heart," Zephram said as he kissed her cheek.
Silvia
practically melted in his arms as she started purring real loudly and nuzzling
her cheek against his. "I love you too, Zephram. I am your mate and am yours
forever. If I could give up my life to save yours, I wouldn't hesitate one
bit."
"I'm sure you would, baby. But you're still young and you at least
have a shot at a normal life after I'm gone," Zephram said.
He never
thought of himself as a "mate" before. He actually liked being referred to as
such. Before they headed out, Zephram spotted something he almost forgot he had,
and it was perfect! He grabbed it and handed it to Silvia.
"What's this
for?" she asked.
Zephram couldn't help but chuckle. "It's called a Jedi's
robe. I've been a longtime fan of Star Wars and bought this many years
ago. This should fit you."
Silvia knew he was
just trying to protect her from any possible persecution, at least for
now. Zephram slipped the robe over her muscular body and sure enough,
it fit, though it was still snug on her to the point you could see the
muscle bulges underneath. Silvia pulled the hood over her head and looked
in a mirror.
"I look mystical!" she said, giggling.
They headed
out the door to begin their trek. It was a cloudy morning and there was an
eerie stillness in the air. There were hardly any people at all outside,
which came as a surprise to Zephram. It seemed ironic that mankind was
faced with extinction. Instead of mass hysteria and people being savages
and looting or committing other senseless crimes, they have chosen to wait
silently in their homes. Waiting to die, waiting to live, waiting for an
absolution from this terrible fate that approached them all, hope was fading
fast. Zephram was secretly glad he didn't share any knowledge of his attempts to
evolve mankind with anyone. His failure would likely have shattered the
fragile calm and possibly would've resulted in his own demise before the
virus could get to him.
The truth of the matter was he didn't really
have any specific destination. He just wanted to pick a direction and go. Silvia
was content with walking with him wherever he went. A couple guys, walking the
other way across the road, glanced in their direction and gave awkward stares at
the hooded figure walking with Zephram. But they didn't do anything else and
kept on going.
Silvia turned to look at Zephram. "I wonder how other
people would react to my muscles?"
Zephram found himself blushing at
the mention of her powerful body. "Well, um### they would either cause a
similar reaction to mine in some people, and they might scare others.
I really don't know."
Silvia could see his blushing and flexed her bicep.
Despite the loose fitting robe, a hefty bulge appeared in the sleeve as the
massive peak made itself well known. Zephram put his hand on it and
got really turned on by something so hard under something so soft. He
appreciated having his spirits lifted like this. Both broke out into some
laughter as they continued onward. Zephram was thinking that he might just take
Silvia to the bedroom and make passionate love to her repeatedly until
his time came. It would certainly be a helluva way to go!
As they
made their way to the outskirts of town, they took a road off the beaten path.
Zephram had been around a lot and knew just about every corner of his hometown.
But he had to admit that this was a new direction for him. After another several
minutes of walking, they came upon a lone building that looked really aged and
seemed abandoned. Feeling curious, Zephram thought he'd check it out. He
motioned for Silvia to get behind him as he peered inside. To his surprise, he
saw what looked like old Indian-type decorations on the walls. It was like
stepping into another era. It wasn't long before someone appeared from the
back.
"Who are you!? What are you doing here?" came a woman's
voice.
Zephram saw that she wasn't alone either.
Several men appeared behind her, all eyeing Zephram with
suspicion.
Zephram did his best to stay calm. "My name is Zephram
Reinhardt. I didn't come here to cause any trouble. I was just taking a walk and
saw this place and wanted to check it out. I didn't think there would be
anybody in here."
The woman noticed the large hooded figure standing
behind him. "And just who is that standing behind you?"
Zephram had to be
sure that no one would panic. "Before I tell you, please try not to
panic. She won't harm you."
The woman sneered at him. "That almost
sounds like a threat in itself."
Figuring that was as close to a yes as
he could get, Zephram stepped aside as Silvia stepped
forward. She eyed everyone and saw fear in their
eyes. She could tell that none of them were expecting any visitors.
She pulled back her hood, showing her feline features. Everyone gasped in
surprise. Chatter broke out among them and the woman had to shout in a
language that was not
English to get them to quiet down.
She
turned back to face Silvia. "I cannot believe what I'm seeing! We've always
wondered if the stories were true! Can this really be that you are the
first to rejoin with your animal spirit and become one with the
planet?"
Zephram and Silvia were clearly confused.
The woman
saw their expressions and smiled. "Oh, sorry. Please forgive me. I guess I was
getting ahead of myself here. And please forgive our initial suspicion towards
you. I'm sure you already know the dire situation we all face. Naturally,
it has pretty much everyone on edge. My name is Fugara; we are
shamans.
Zephram's curiosity was aroused. "Does this mean you could
give spiritual advice?"
Fugara looked again at Silvia. "I might be able
to do more than that. Let's go in back, shall we? I think we have much to
discuss."
Fugara looked to
be in her thirties with long braided dark brown hair. She looked rather pretty
and had a nice slim figure. She wore a simplified version of a shaman's attire
as did all the others who were there.
Fugara led the duo to
the back area. Upon entering, Zephram was amazed to discover all these different
artifacts that adorned the walls and shelves. It literally felt like he had
stepped through into a different time period. Silvia seemed even more impressed
by it as she closely inspected one of the paintings on the wall. It was that of
an old man with a noble look about him.
Fugara smiled at her curiosity.
"That was my great-great-grandfather. He was a wise leader back then. Out of all
of us, he was probably the closest to reconnect with the planet. Whatever he
did, it changed him in ways I never thought possible.### Zephram walked over to
where Silvia stood and looked at the painting as well.
"How was he
changed exactly?" Zephram asked.
Surprisingly, it was Silvia who
answered. "Look at his eyes. They're like mine."
Zephram looked closer at
the man's eyes and to his shock, his pupils were slitted just like a
feline's.
"But how?" Zephram asked.
Fugara walked up behind the
two, "We shamans - and all of mankind for that matter - are inhabited
by what we call spirit guides. But the more
technical term is animal guides. Each of us has one. It is a hidden
manifestation of our long-lost link to the world we live in. It is said that
this link is a source of spiritual knowledge and understanding of the Earth and
all life in it."
Fugara led them to a table with chairs around it,
inviting them to take a seat, which they did.
After they all sat down,
she continued, "It's
been said that many ages ago, our ancestors not only communicated actively with
their animal guides, as we are communicating right now, but were actually able
to become one with them and take on their animal features. And for a time, our
ancestors and their animal guides were as one. They possessed a connection to
the planet so profound, that they could actually communicate with the spirit of
the Earth itself. And not only that, they gained other benefits as well. Their
physical strength became several times greater than that of an
ordinary human and, depending on what animal they took the bipedal form of, they
shared their physical abilities as well. Some could run really fast, others
could breath underwater, and there were even some who could fly like a hawk. It was true
peace and joy for them; the way we humans should be. As far as I'm concerned, we
are just an empty canvas waiting to be painted on."
Zephram and Silvia
were highly intrigued by this.
"So what became of them?" Silvia
asked.
Fugara's expression of pride turned to one of disappointment. "For
the most part, we shamans have kept our ways to ourselves; especially our
attempts to regain the unity with
our animal guides that we have lost. And we did this for good
reason. With the continuing advances of science and the selfish desires of
modern man to use technology for the sake of convenience, we shamans became persecuted and treated
like freaks. They even killed many of us because they misunderstood and
feared our powers. It wasn't long until that connection we
attained became lost and we became separated from our animal spirits. It created
a deep-seated resentment toward outsiders and, even though we still were able to
communicate with our animal guides, it was still a crushing loss to us. It took
many long years to forge anything resembling a truce with you
outsiders.###
It was apparent that Fugara, and everyone
else in this building, weren't easily accommodating of outsiders, and now
Zephram understood why.
"I think it's time that you explained how your
lady friend achieved what we have strived for many generations to reclaim,"
Fugara urged.
Zephram began his explanation. "I'm sure you know about the
HEV virus that a group of extremists created to wipe out humanity,
right?
Fugara nodded. "Yes, what a shameful thing for anyone to
do."
Zephram continued: "World War III was the worst war this planet
has ever faced. Everything we feared from this war came to pass and millions
upon millions of people perished. From my understanding, that war was their
motivation for engineering an unstoppable virus that would kill off all
humans including themselves. They believed that we're all beyond redemption. You
see, I was a scientist myself, specializing in genetics. As was apparent with a
lot of people, I recently quit my job since there was no point in continuing it.
I'm fully aware of the top doctors and other scientists' attempts to create a
cure for this virus, and all of them failed. So I came up with this radical
idea. Since the virus clearly targets humans and humans alone, I thought of
taking the human gene out of the equation. I blended human genes with animal
genes and experimented with Silvia here. Unfortunately, she didn't start as a
human; she was a housecat."
Fugara looked Silvia over again. "She was
just... a cat? But, how did she get so big?"
Zephram smiled. "After
initial tests showed an increase in physical strength, I took the liberty of
suppressing most of her myostatin genes because..." he paused as he blushed
heavily.
Silvia spoke up cheerfully. "Because he wanted a superstrong
woman with really big muscles!"
She emphasized her point by pulling back
her sleeve, showing her enormous bicep and flexed it as it swelled to a hefty 40
inches, a really thick vein crossing over her peak and forking in two
directions. All eyes were on that bicep as Zephram blushed even
more.
"I...s-see..." Fugara stuttered.
Zephram coughed. "Well um,
yes. And as you can tell, she has human-level intelligence as well and, of
course, superhuman strength."
Fugara was still in awe at the size of
Silvia's muscles. "So tell me then, have you managed to produce a similar result
with a human?"
Zephram's recent memories of his failed attempt once again
flooded his conscience.
He hesitated to answer, when Silvia put her hand
on his shoulder. "It's OK, Zephie, tell them. I think they will understand.
Don't worry, I'm here baby."
Zephram clutched her hand and nodded in
silent gratitude. "I attempted the opposite of what I did with Silvia and mixed
animal genes with their own human genes. In this case, I used the genes from
Silvia here before her transformation. Both of the human test subjects showed
promising results at first. But then they... their bodies rejected the DNA and
they died painfully as a result. I was so convinced I could succeed where
everyone else has failed and save mankind. I thought I could just dodge this
virus entirely!"
Fugara could see the pain in Zephram###s eyes and knew he was
feeling a lot of guilt over this.
She looked at the other shamans, then
back at Zephram. "I'm not sure if this will help any, but each person has his or
her own animal spirit guide. No one can choose which animal they'll have. My
great-great-grandfather's animal guide was a cat, hence the slitted eyes.
Now normally, it's against our beliefs to tell anyone what our animal is. But in
light of his discovery..."
Zephram slammed his hands on the table,
interrupting and startling everyone. "THAT'S IT!!!"
He looked excitedly
at Fugara. "I think I know now how to successfully join human and animal!
Fugara, until I return with news of whether this works or not, please promise me you
won't tell anyone outside this room. The last thing I'm sure any of us wants is
a riot over this."
After a couple moments, Fugara bowed respectfully.
"You have my word then. And I believe that everything that transpires is a part
of something bigger. You would be doing more than just saving all our lives. May
the spirits of nature guide you well."
Silvia threw her hood back on as
Zephram returned Fugara###s
bow, "I believe there is a scientific explanation for this. Thank
you for your support."
Fugara could only smile. "Yeah, well the human
race is on the verge of extinction. What's the point in holding onto values
now?"
Zephram took off running out of the building with Silvia easily
keeping pace.
As they ran, Silvia had a curious look on her face. "Are
you trying to get back as fast as possible?"
Zephram was already
breathing harder. "Yeah."
Silvia ran up to Zephram, scooped him up into
her muscular arms, and propelled herself forward at amazing speed! Zephram was
stunned at how fast she could run, considering how big those muscles of hers
were. But that didn't seem to be much of an impediment to her agility. Like many
things about her, Zephram was almost always aroused when near her, especially
when in physical contact with her. It wasn't long before they were already back
at his house. She set him down as they hurried inside and Zephram made his way
into his small lab and quickly set up his equipment. A stab of pain suddenly hit
his stomach as he clutched it.
"You alright?" Silvia
asked.
Zephram nodded. "I'm fine. It's just a stomach cramp, probably
from running so hard. I have a strong theory regarding the whole animal guide
thing Fugara was telling us about. What if there's more to it than
that?"
Before Silvia could answer, Zephram was already grabbing a sample
of his blood from storage and carefully removing a drop of it and placing it on
a glass slide
under an electron microscope. He started looking hard at it
as if searching for something specific within the blood.
This time,
Silvia was really curious. "What are you looking for?"
Without looking up, Zephram answered. "I'm
trying to find an inactive or dormant gene among the active ones. No one has
ever known because no one knew what to look for. Just give me a minute,
OK?"
"Sure thing!" Silvia said cheerfully as she sat down
nearby.
Zephram looked and looked until he found it! It amazed him how no
one has ever discovered it before.
He finally looked up at Silvia. "It's
definitely not the same as my active genes. It's an animal gene alright! No one
has ever found it because no one has ever considered the possibility of another
type of gene within us."
Silvia was excited by Zephram's brilliance.
"So is that what it's called then, the animal gene?"
Zephram thought a
moment. It was a discovery after all and thus it didn't have an
official name.
One occurred to him. "Assuming this works out,
I'll call it the beast gene. And if this works as I hope it will, I'll be able
to use a genetic resequencer that will target that gene and activate it, making
it the dominant gene and overriding the human
ones."
Zephram looked at the tables he used for Benjamin and
Meredith. "And there's only one person, with who I can feel morally able to try
this on... myself."
Silvia got up and walked over to him. "Zephram,### she said gently,
###Are you sure about this?"
Zephram was determined. "I won't
cause anymore suffering. If this fails, then I die trying. But something tells
me I won't fail this time Silvia. And I need you to believe in this as
well."
Silvia loved Zephram more than anything. She simply couldn't
imagine how hard it would be to live without the man who gave her this body and
her new life.
"I'll try my love," she finally said.
Zephram pulled
her close and gave her a tender kiss, which she happily returned. "I love you,
Silvia."
"And I love you, Zephram. Please be right about this," she
pleaded.
Zephram got right to work on the genetic resequencer. He
isolated the dormant gene and designed the resequencer to activate that gene and
cause it to rapidly become primary and override all the human genes. He neared
completion when his body started to ache all over and his focus began to
waver.
"Damn, I'm not feeling very well all of a sudden. Ugh!" he yelped
as he clutched his midsection again.
Both of them looked at each other in
horror as the deadly realization struck.
"Oh no! I'm infected by the
virus! The symptoms, they are consistent! I've got to hurry! If I'm right, the
pain will keep getting worse until I lose consciousness! And then it's only a
matter of minutes after that before the virus runs its course and kills
me!" Zephram cried.
Silvia's eyes teared up. For all her newfound
strength, she felt completely helpless. Zephram was fighting the increasing pain
with everything he had until - at last - he got the serum
created and loaded into a syringe. But before he could make it
to the experiment table, the pain spiked sharply as he collapsed to the
floor.
Before losing consciousness, he held up the syringe,
"Silvia...it's...up to...you."
Silvia caught the syringe as it fell out
of Zephram's hand. She was fighting back the urge to cry. She knew that she had
very little time to act. She picked up Zephram's limp body and gently placed
it on the table. She obviously never injected someone before,
but having watched Zephram do it
several times, she
knew to use an alcohol swap to moisten the
injection area on his arm.
"Don't you dare die my love! You're the last
hope for us all!"
And with that, Silvia stuck the needle in and squeezed
the plunger...
~ TO BE CONTINUED
~
In the
next chapter of Anthro: With Zephram lying between
life and death, Sylvia finishes the job that he started. But will this potential
cure act in time to save him, or will the virus claim his life? The moment of
truth is at hand in the next chapter of Anthro:
Evolution