“Mayday, Mayday! Can anyone hear me? Our cargo is on fire! Is anyone out there?!” I screamed into the radio. My voice was getting hoarse from yelling at the radio, but I had no idea if I was even working the damn thing properly! I was covered in slime, a mixture of toxic and radioactive waste. It couldn’t be healthy.

I was still yammering away at that damn radio when the door burst open and slammed against the wall. The bloody apparition that was revealed by that door was something I didn’t expect to ever see again. The pirate was carrying an AK 47 and favoring his left leg. He didn’t bother to say anything, just leveled his gun and fired on full auto.”

I jerked awake, shaking and covered in sweat, just before the bullets would have torn into me. Damn, why do I have to have the same dream every time I close my eyes? I looked down at my bloody body, as I did each time I awoke from that dream. Those bullets had hurt, before I had blissfully lost consciousness. At least I never felt them in my dreams.

It still amazed me that I survived this long. My body was looking stranger each time I awoke, too. The pain had long since faded. The pirate hadn’t shown himself yet. Assuming he was still here and alive.

Once again I thought back to how I got here. I got a job on board ship to get away from my parents and make some money. Getting away from my parents was great, but I really should have thought it through better. Working in such a macho environment with nothing but muscular, half naked guys is great for eye candy, but they don’t appreciate being ogled too much. I managed to keep my orientation a secret, but it was a never-ending frustration.

Still, things were going pretty well until the pirates boarded the ship. It happens, but you never expect it to happen to you. We tried to cooperate with the pirates, who seemed rather trigger happy, but that all fell apart when they herded us into the cargo hold. The captain and a couple of the officers point-blank refused to go into the hold. There was a big argument, but the upshot was they admitted that our cargo was toxic and radioactive waste that we were going to dump illegally. This was news to most of us.

Naturally we were ticked off because many of us had handled that cargo. A huge argument broke out and the pirates were all but forgotten. They didn’t appreciate that, and started firing off over our heads to get our attention. That might have worked out, except some of the shots ricocheted into the cargo and started a fire. That started a panic that the pirates and their guns could do little about.

We all ran in different directions, and I somehow found myself hiding amongst the cargo. Before long it was a full riot, with the pirates getting trampled under the superior numbers of the crew, but not without taking a lot of them down first. Before long the cargo hold was choked with smoke. The floor was slick with toxic and radioactive waste. And I was covered in both and breathing the fumes.

Once the worst of the shooting was over, I crawled out of my hiding place to get away from the cargo. I found the hold full of dead bodies. I made my way up on deck, stepping over dead pirates and crew alike. Smoke was filtering up from the hold, and trailing up from a few small fires on the deck. More dead bodies littered the deck, and all the lifeboats were either smashed or gone. I went to the railing, but I couldn’t see any ships, pirate or otherwise. I circled the whole ship, but nothing.

I spent the next several hours searching the ship, but I didn’t find anybody alive. Finally I found myself in front of the radio. I felt sick, but considering all that had happened, I didn’t think much of it. I started broadcasting a mayday, or at least tried to. I’d never used the radio before so had no idea if I was using it right or not. Then that pirate came in and shot me.

When I woke up that first time, I was still in a lot of pain. There was no sign of the pirate. I tried to get up, but I passed out.

Each time I woke, I felt less pain, but more strange feelings took the place of the pain. My body seemed to change, though it was hard to tell under the tattered remnants of my clothes. I still hadn’t been able to move far without passing out.

This time there was a change I could see clearly. My hands were smaller and thinner, but my fingernails had thickened, lengthened, and curved into sharp claws. They looked kind of like a cats claws. I grabbed the steel frame of a table to pull myself off the floor and my claws dug right into the metal. I had just enough time to gaze at the holes my claws punched in the metal in astonishment before I passed out again.

Some time later I awoke again, after having that same dream. My back was itching abominably and my feet hurt like hell. I tried to move again, and managed to get to my knees without blacking out. That’s when my feet got stuck to the floor. I thrashed about for a while and finally managed to break loose, only to find I had talons! They had dug into the floor when I sat up and scratched and gouged the floor.

My feet were still hurting and I tried to take my shoes off. My claws were getting in the way, and my feet seemed to have changed shape. Finally I got frustrated and shredded my shoes with my claws. My feet were small and slim, but had changed their shape so that I had to walk on the balls of my feet. What the hell has that stuff done to me?

I managed to stand up, but had to lift my feet up with each step to get the talons on my feet clear of the floor before I could move my foot forward. I gingerly made my way to a chair and plopped down. The nails on my feet had changed, but not like on my hands. These were thicker and more like a birds talons. I flexed my toes and discovered I could keep the talons up high enough to not dig into the ground with each step. I could also retract my claws, leaving short but still sharp nails.

Once I had control over my talons and claws I stumbled out on deck. My balance was all wrong, but I could drop my talons into the deck whenever I lost my balance to keep from falling. Things looked much like they had. There was no sign of that pirate anywhere, nor any other ships. The fire had gone out at some point. My stomach grumbled so I went looking for some food.

Someone had ransacked the food supplies, but I managed to put together a meal and wolfed it down. I’d never felt so hungry! Almost as soon as I finished I felt exhausted and fell asleep in my chair.

I dreamed of flying through the sky and pouncing on my prey with talons and claws, like an animal. Strangely, though, it wasn’t disgusting or disturbing, but exhilarating! I was almost disappointed when I woke.

I felt a draft on my back and felt behind me to find that my shirt was torn away from my back. I shifted around to try and see what had caused it and felt a weight shift on my back. I reached around and felt feathers! I felt them both with my fingers, and with another appendage I didn’t have before. It took some concentration, but I managed to move it around to where I could see it.

I nearly fainted right then when I saw a wing which was clearly growing out of my back. When I stretched it out to see how big it is a second unfolded on the other side. They filled the room and had glossy black feathers. I felt ill and fainted again.

Once again I dreamed of hunting prey, this time on the ground. I was running on all fours, my tail whipping around behind me as I chased my prey. Then I leaped and brought it down and ripped out its throat with my fangs. Warm blood filled my mouth as it twitched and died.

I awoke with a start as I was about to take a bite out of it. I shuddered at the memory, as much from excitement as from horror at what I was doing. These dreams were weird, but enticing. It’s like I was becoming some kind of animal!

I reached up to brush my hair back from my eyes and my arm brushed against something that wasn’t there before. I reached down, careful to retract my claws, and felt soft flesh under my tattered shirt. It took my befuddled mind several moments to realize what I was holding, and several more to realize the significance. I had breasts?! I scrambled up and checked my groin, but that was still there!

I stumbled out to a bathroom, my wings and breasts were throwing my balance off like crazy. In the mirror was a very strange looking girl! I knew I wasn’t a girl, I checked again to be sure, but I sure looked like one! My eyes were angled strangely, like a cats. My hair had grown down below my shoulders and become glossy blue-black. And I definitely had breasts and wings!

Strangely enough, there wasn’t any trace of the bullet wounds. My clothes had holes in them, but I didn’t! My claws had changed to black, as had my talons. I felt yet another strange appendage and realized I had a tail! It had short fur the same color as my hair and wings.

I stared dumbfounded at my reflection until my stomach grumbled again. I gathered another meal and wolfed it down. I was out within minutes of finishing my meal.

I ran on all fours through the forest, chasing my prey. It broke free from the forest and ran towards its herd. I left the forest a moment later and spread my wings. Soon I was soaring through the air just a few feet above it. I folded my wings and dove onto its back, claws and fangs latching on until it stopped squirming. Its blood was like nectar, its flesh ambrosia. I ate my fill and took to the sky. Its herd scattered before me, but I was sated.

I awoke feeling a sense of power and joy from my dream that slowly faded. What was I turning into?!

I would say I stumbled back to the bathroom, but I found my balance to be perfectly natural now. My wings and tail felt like natural extensions of my body, as if they’d always been there. My walk was different, and my hips felt much wider, but that also felt normal. It even felt normal when I heard a strange sound and my ears swiveled to focus on the sound!

In the bathroom I saw a beautiful girl staring back at me. She looked much like what I saw last time, but more developed in face and figure. My teeth had sharpened and my canines had grown to proper fangs. My eyes were now slitted, and my ears were on top of my head and shaped like a cats, complete with fur just like that on my tail. I could hear all kinds of sounds from all over the ship, especially when I moved my ears to focus on the sounds. When I got back up on deck I could see better, too. I spotted a bird flying far overhead, but could sort of ‘zoom in’ my vision so that it looked like it was just a few feet away!

Even with these new senses, I couldn’t find any trace of any living people on board or nearby. My hunger got the better of me again, and I scoured the ship for food. I managed to find enough to sate my hunger, just. As I was dozing off I was thinking that I would have to find some food soon or I would be in trouble.

When I woke up it was dark outside. For once I didn’t remember any dreams. A quick check showed nothing had changed. I decided that, if I was going to survive, I needed to leave this ship. I used my claws and talons to climb up the tallest part of the ship and stretched my wings. I hope I know what I’m doing, not that I have any choice, I thought as I jumped off and spread my wings.

Within moments I had left the ship behind, and below. I quickly gained altitude and accelerated. As I gained altitude I circled around the ship, looking for the nearest ship or landmass. Once I was as high as I dared I widened the circle until I finally spotted something; a flickering light.

I wheeled around and flew towards that light. It was a long ways off, just at the edge of my enhanced eyesight, but I was there in only about an hours flight. The light was a bonfire on the beach of an island. There didn’t seem to be any structures on the island, and I wondered if the bonfire was a signal to attract help?

As easy as flying had come to me so far, I found going down slowly to be very difficult. I could fold my wings and dive, but that would probably hurt a lot. I circled around the fire, gliding and dipping my wings every now and then to drop a little faster. Soon I could make out a dozen or so figures around the fire.

I gazed intently at those figures, and realized they were crewmen from my ship! They looked a little worse for wear, but alright. They must have taken one of the missing lifeboats. They were now all looking up and pointing at me, not that I could blame them. How often do you see a bird with a thirty foot wing span?

I was worried they’d be hostile, especially since there was a small pile of AK 47s a little ways up the beach. I guess they were more curious than afraid, because they just moved back a little as I came down for a landing.

I just followed my instincts coming in, and ended up landing on all fours. My hips and legs shifted around and it seemed perfectly natural to be on all fours. After skidding for a stop in the sand I stood upright with a *pop* from my hips. We were all silent for several moments. I wasn’t sure what to say, it’s not like I planned to meet up with any of my former crewmates. For their part, they didn’t know what to make of me.

All those stares brought back to me how much I’d changed. Somewhere along the line my groin had changed, too, and I was all female. Maybe I could even have kids, I don’t know. I looked like a freaky crossbreed between human, feline, and avian. I felt the weight of their stares boring into me and I collapsed in tears.

My display only made the men even more uncomfortable, although for a different reason. Finally one of them stepped forward and said, “Hey there, uh, no need to, uh, cry, Miss.” He spoke hesitantly and stumbled over his own words, but he seemed genuinely upset to see me crying. I never could understand why most guys got so upset when women cry. I guess my being gay made me immune or something because it never had that effect on me.

I couldn’t understand why I’d broke down crying like that, I wasn’t prone to it before. His concern just upset me more and soon I was bawling! He seemed really uncomfortable, but another man stepped forward and knelt beside me. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey there, lass, no need for tears.” he said soothingly. “I can see you’ve been through a lot, but it can’t be that bad.”

I finally stopped crying and thought about what he said. I giggled a little, which turned into a semi-hysterical laugh. Tears were streaming down my cheeks again, this time from the uncontrollable laughter. Once I’d stopped laughing I tried to explain to the perplexed men what was so funny the only way I could think of. “Don’t you recognize me, Paul?” I asked. “I’m David.”

There was a long silence as all the men stared at me, and in particular at my ruined clothes. Every man on ship had his name on all their uniform shirts. My shirt was shredded and bloody, but my name was still legible. Paul, the man who was trying to comfort me, pulled back a bit. He looked closely at my name on my shirt, and my face. Finally he put his hand back on my shoulder and said, “David? You can’t be David, he’s a guy!”

I chuckled again, but more normally. “Yeah, well, before I took an ooze bath I was a guy. Now I’m just a freak.” I answered morosely.

The oldest crewman in the group, one of the officers who knew about the cargo, asked, “Before we go into mutations and sex changes, did you see any ships or other landmasses when you were flying around up there?”

I shook my head, my now waist length hair flying around me. “No. I circled out from the ship, but this island is the only thing I saw.”

He cursed and started pacing around the fire. The rest of us ignored him. “Are…are you…you know, all girl?” Paul asked hesitantly.

I shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. On the outside, though, yes.” I answered.

There was a lot of muttering at this, which was silenced when Conrad, the officer, said, “We’ve been burning everything we can find for days without any sign of rescue. Will you circle out from the island and see if there is anyone close enough for you to contact to get help?”

I shrugged again. “I guess so.” I answered. I stood up and away from Paul and flexed my wings.

“Wait!” Paul called and ran towards me. “You should eat something, first. You look pretty tired.”

I couldn’t argue with that assessment, but warned them that every time I ate I ended up sleeping within minutes. Conrad wasn’t too happy at that, but Paul and the other guys insisted I eat first. They had gathered some food from the ship, and more from the island.

As was becoming usual for me, I was out like a light shortly after I ate.

When I woke there was a blanket draped over me and I was lying near the bonfire. Paul was sitting a few feet away, watching me. “How do you feel?” he asked when he saw I was awake.

I yawned as I sat up and stretched, my wings putting Paul in shadow for a moment before I folded them back. “Okay, I guess.” I answered vaguely.

Paul stood up and walked over to me. Squatting down next to me he said, “Look, I know this is all pretty weird. It can’t be easy for you to wake up as a girl with wings and a tail but you are not a freak. No matter what you were before, you’re now an amazingly beautiful woman. Don’t let Conrad boss you around or treat you like an animal or slave.” He said all this with such conviction and sincerity that I was moved to tears, though I managed to hold them back.

I touched the first two fingers of my right hand to his cheek before I realized what I was doing and pulled my hand back, blushing. “Uh, thanks, I guess.” I stammered. “But I want to help.”

Paul didn’t seem the least bit bothered by my abortive gesture. “Okay.” He nodded. “Just don’t over exert yourself. If you go too far you might not be able to make it back.”

I agreed I’d be careful and hurriedly took to the air. As much as I liked Paul, I wasn’t too sure about being treated like a girl. Even if I was one, now.

I spent hours circling out farther and farther from the island. It turned out to be a fairly large island, with lots of animals. Especially deer and pigs. It looked like there were easily enough resources here for our small group to survive indefinitely. Which was just as well, because even my keen eyesight couldn’t find any trace of land or any other ships anywhere nearby.

I was getting tired, so I turned back. Paul’s warning was right on, but I managed to get back okay. I did land a little rough, though. Conrad wasn’t too happy about my news, even when I told him what I’d seen about the island, but Paul was more concerned about me. He chided me about overdoing it, and then badgered me until I’d eaten as much as I comfortably could before letting me sleep.

I slept through the rest of the day and through the night. When I woke Paul was watching me again. I was a little confused by all the attention; didn’t he believe me about being David? And if so, why all the interest? There was no doubt that Paul was as straight as they come.

“You know,” he said when he saw I was awake, “you should really think about taking a new name. David doesn’t really fit you anymore.” Well, that took care of that question; he certainly seemed to believe me!

I honestly hadn’t given it any thought. My transformation hadn’t really sunk in all that much yet. “Any ideas?” I asked.

“Well, you could always go with Diana or Dana, I guess, but it should really be your choice. You’re the one that has to live with it.” he answered.

I thought about it for a while. “How about Catherine?” I asked with a smirk.

He looked confused at the smirk at first, and then laughed. “So you can be Cat, for short?” he asked and laughed some more.

I nodded and we both laughed over it. A couple of the other guys came over to see what all the fuss was about and Paul told them my new name, and nickname. They both laughed, too.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked.

Greg, one of the two who walked over, asked, “We? Can’t you just fly out of here?”

I shook my head as I answered, “Not really. I already flew out to try and find another landmass or ship, but I found nothing. I could try picking a direction and flying as far as I can in that direction, but if there’s nothing there I could end up drowning when I become too tired to fly.”

They agreed that’d be a bad idea. “Well, I guess we continue what we’ve been doing.” Paul said.

“That’s not going to work.” Conrad growled, as he walked over to us. “We’re going to run out of food before long. We’ll have to spend more time gathering food and won’t have time to get the wood together for the fire.”

The thought of food got my stomach grumbling, and I remembered my dreams. “Uh, I think I can take care of the food problem, or at least part of it.” I said sheepishly.

“What do you mean?” Conrad asked.

“I could hunt for you, and maybe gather fruits and vegetables, too. Or at least let you know where things are.” I answered.

“What makes you think you can catch enough meat for all of us?” Conrad asked with a sneer.

“I have all kinds of weird instincts I’ve inherited with this new body.” I explained. “Also, I have these.” With that I let my claws and talons out to their full length.

“Whoa!” Greg exclaimed. “Those look wicked!” He had jumped back at first, but now looked more intrigued than scared.

Even Conrad was impressed at that. “You really think you can get enough meat for a dozen people?” he asked.

“I’ll show you.” I answered, and took to the air. I wasn’t sure I could take flight from a standing start, but I could. I jumped several feet into the air and flapped my wings, and I was up!

I scouted out the area around the bonfire and spotted the shelters that the crewmen had built to sleep in. I soon spotted a grove of fruit trees and several berry bushes. Then I spotted a boar. Without even thinking I dived and landed on its back. My talons and claws dug in, preventing him from bucking me off. I loosed one hand and forced his head back to sink my fangs into his throat. I ripped out his throat and jumped clear.

I landed on all fours with my wings folded to my back and watched. He staggered around towards me but collapsed long before he could reach me. Once I was sure he was dead I picked him up and flew him back to the bonfire where I’d left Conrad. The boar seemed very light in my hands and hardly affected my flight at all.

Conrad was suitably impressed by the boar, and the information on nearby edible plants. He sent a few men off to gather fruits, berries, and whatever else they could find while I flew off to hunt for myself. I brought down a deer and ate all I wanted before flying the remains back. All of the men seemed a little queasy when they saw what I’d done to the deer carcass, but they didn’t argue with the extra meat either!

We got into a routine after that. I would do all the hunting, and either point out where the best edible plants were, or gather food from them myself. Meanwhile, the men would gather firewood for the bonfire and watch it to keep it going.

A few nights later a couple of the men decided that supplying food wasn’t enough of a contribution to our little community. After their rather forceful propositions, and a short flight over the bonfire, they decided that I would choose when and *if* we got together like that. The rest of the men were suitably impressed by my strength, and never tried to force me to do anything after that.

That’s not to say they weren’t interested. I confided to Paul a few days later that I’d always been attracted exclusively to men. He didn’t seem very surprised. He also seemed very interested.

Paul soon became my favorite, but not *only* nighttime companion. We eventually gave up on the bonfire after months without any sign of rescue. We soon built some proper homes and settled down into a small community. It was a reversal of the kind of community you might expect from such primitive conditions. The men were the gatherers and took care of the domestic chores, while I did the hunting.

It took me a while to get used to my new form, and especially sex, but I became quite comfortable with it. My part of the work was actually quite easy, if a bit physically demanding. My nighttime activities were even more so, but well worth it. I decided that, despite the traumatic way I found myself here, I liked my life on the island with these men. So when I saw a ship far off in the distance when flying one day, I didn’t say anything about it. Why mess with a good thing?