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The night is a hard one for Rex. Even sleeping out in the wilderness didn't seem as uncomfortable of a night as this one turns out to be. Between extremely vivid bad dreams, an itch that won't seem to go away, and a general feeling of illness, it's a rough night that doesn't even begin to let up near dawn.

However... the dawn does bring an end... but not to your discomfort - to something entirely different and much more valuable: your humanity.

The itching gets worse... down your face, on your chest... anywhere that you had grown hair in the past thickens... and in patches seems to be developing to what might outright be called fur.

But that is not the end... not by a long shot. The spreading hair only heralds... other changes. Your hands begin to hurt, and soon, you can become a sympatriot of Jamal as the pressure on the tips of your fingers begins to become unberable, your fingernails and toenails blackening and... falling off. Only to have an intense pain as thick, bony claws slice their way through the tops of your fingers in the sensitive area that the nails left behind. There is a swelling on the bottoms of your hands and feet - not just a reaction to the torturous previous experience, but like callouses building before your eyes. Tough, leathery pads darken.

Then the pain moves simultaneously to the base of your spine and your mouth. Your teeth ache as if you had a cavity for weeks as your canines lengthen, mirroring the intense pain as your spine pushes further.. and further, coated with a tawny peach-fuzz and a brush-bristle darker tuft at the end.

When you finally have the gumption to look at your reflection, you'd also notice thick black rims around your eyes that give the impression at a distance of eyeliner... and your ears seem a tad more large, and rounded.

"Grah!" Rex yelled, scratching his chest and face violently. The annoyance, along with his dream, forced him awake in a scratching frenzy. He'd had a little itching before he went to sleep, but had washed his face and ignored the itch. But over night it became unbearable! He itched and scrapped at his skin, leaving small white lines and reddening the area around it.

Only while scratching his arms did he see it. A small, puffy spot on the inside of his arm. Oh no... He'd had his blood drawn before and knew that little puffy spot well. Rex was stunned, his mind blocked the everpresent itching for a split second as it hit him. Now his fate was officially sealed here on the island, was there any point of Awen trying to leave? And what about Avery, he'd panic when he found out Rex was changing. The burning soon covered most of his body, he needed the cool. He looked to the clock which shone 5:00 AM, the room was dark even with the shudders open. It'd be cooler outside.

Rex ran to the door in a hurry, bursting the door open and stumbling outside. The morning air was cooler than inside his duplex, but it wasn't enough to muffle the crazy sensation his skin felt. He continued to claw at his chest wildly, noticing the hair on his chest turn lighter and a thicker like... fur. His hands ached as well. Rex looked to his palms and saw dark pads forming in different patches on his hand. Then his finger nails felt pushed and forced from his hands. "YAAH!" he screamed, not considering the other sleeping islanders in their duplexes.

Rex stood watching his hands in shock, he didn't even notice Zach approaching from his duplex in the distance. His palms became rougher as the callouses turned to bulbous pads as he saw something poke up from underneath his finger nails. A dark spot, pushing outward as if trying to break free from below. Claws...?

What was he turning into? Something with fur obviously, so a mammal. Then he remembered the glimpses from his dream. The proud and majestic animal, silhoutted in flashes. The thought was wiped from his mind as the dark spots pushed harder and farther until his finger nails popped off. "YEEEEAAOOW!" he screamed, blood spilling from where the finger nails once were. Soon the protuding black spot pushed farther and farther out until is took up the entire space of his finger nails. He felt the same happen to his feet, twenty nails and drops of blood littered the ground around Rex.

He fell to the ground, something stretching at the end of his tail bone. Paniked sobs came in scattered breaths and suddenly Rex's eyes began to tingle slightly. It was hardly anything noticeable compated to the pain in his back.

The pain was getting worse and worse, his tail bone elongating several inches. The fur soon grew there as well, followed by wirey darker hairs erupting from the end. Rex writhed in pain as the itching continued, the thick fur grew on his chin and his stubble densened to nearly a beard. Every hair on his body was a seperate tinge of pain. Thankfully his hands and feet quit changing.

Only when Zach knelt down next to him did he evern realize another person was there. His blue mascara eyes looked painfully to Zach who was.. laughing? How could anyone find a remote form of glee in another person's pain. "Help m- me, Zach!" He yelled in pain, his voice quavering as a new pain showed itself in Rex's mouth. His teeth warped and stretched forward like fangs, sitting awkwardly in Rex's mouth. Then... Zach fainted. It didn't mean anything to Rex at the moment though, his mind had all attention focussed on the pain ensuing throughout his body.

Suddenly, a completely obscure and inappropriate thought glimmered in Rex's mind. This is so cool! ...wait, WHAT?! Did I just- His thoughts were interupted as a low rumbling formed deep somewhere in Rex's chest and erupted from his mouth while he tried to scream. The half roar reverberated off the duplex walls, but left the two figures in an eerie silence there in the road.

It finished.

Rex panted, exhausted from so much pain at once. His blue eyes staring at his the new hands before him. He couldn't think, couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate on pulling himself together. He just sat there, quiet as could be.

No, Zach... Though it seemed to Rex that this man didn't really like him for some reason, He still ahd to check and see that the guy was all right. Giving his mind an objective, Rex dragged himself over to Zach, wiping a leftover tear from his eye. He shook the man gently, "Za-" His voice was twisted and still shook from screaming. He tried to speak again, clearing his throat and sniffing, "Zach."

Amaya sat up in bed with a gasp as a scream reached her ears. Blinking she looked around in the darkness... Had she been dreaming? It kind of sounded like... Rex. Her brow furrowed and she was about to lay back down when another scream reached her duplex. "Crap!" Jumping out of bed she threw on a top and a sarong over her panties before running out the door.

The days of hiding spent in her room had been forgotten now that Rex might be hurt... or worse, changing. She jogged down the line of duplexes towards the ones on the end where Rex had first seen his own duplex.

"Rex!" She could see him in the early light of the morning, thankful that the tropical weather was welcoming even when it was this early. Though she didn't see the man on the other side of him.

Zach grabbed the hand and pulled himself up to his feet. He felt... pain? Something sharp pressed into the back of his hand, and the oily feel of blood was running down it. Couldn't be his. When Rex's padded hand released his own, there were four neat punctures. He stared, saying nothing. He didn't even look at Rex, who was a far more bizarre sight.

He only looked away from the cuts to see a large green lizard come over, who was immediately hugged by Rex.

His mind faltered a little at that. It kind of stopped at green. He looked back at the blood, which was now winding its way slowly down to his fingertips. Back to the talking pair.

The lizard sounded like a girl. His mouth hung open a little as he tried to find something to say. Finally, he found something. His voice followed far too slowly after his thoughts.

"You're green."

She is green, he repeated to himself again, astounded. If he knew better, he'd say she was not only green but covered in scales. Huh. Who'd have guessed? What a weird place to wake up.

Rex pulled a hand away from Zach's and saw the four small puncture wounds, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Rex said, fussing over the blood, though his hands were bloody as well. But stopped to think when he saw the glazed look on his face, "Um.. ar-" he cleared his throat, trying to sound strong as usual. It returned to it's usual deep tone and he continued, "Are you all right?"

Rex hugged Amaya tight and chuckled, "The same? Only a little hairier than before." He chuckled, looking at the transformations in a positive light certainly helped make him feel better about the changes. Sometimes a little joke made everything better. "I'm not hurt now that it stopped. Just a little sore." the blood continued to drip from his fingers and splatter in a red death on the ground, but eventually came to stop. "Mostly my butt.." He turned, trying to look over his shoulder at the newly formed tail, he'd have to be careful not to sit on it or something. "What animal do you think?" It wasn't the sea lion that Rex had hoped for, but he knew it was something fuzzy, and that meant he wasn't a lizard like Amaya. What did Rex have to look forward to?

Rex turned to look at Zach's rude comment, "Yeah, she is. So what?" He replied sharply, turning to hug Amaya again. Don't mess with my friends.

Amaya was snapped away for a moment and looked at Rex's a**. If she was capable of blushing, she probably would have. "Uh..." She stared at the new limb for a moment, only one animal came to mind. "A lion?" She asked more then stated.

Though then when he defended her and hugged her again, she could feel the heat in her body pushing at her cheeks even though it didn't show. The girl hugged him back, wacthing Zack and burrying half of her face into Rex's chest.

A deep, sad frown formed at Zach's unfinished sentence and she turned her head to look away, half of it still burried into the bright blonde fur.

She's a monster. She's bald. She's green and covered in scales. She looks like something from an old black and white horror movie. As each sentence formed in her mind she could feel the tears starting to work their way to the brims of her eyes.