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Conrad was really getting to be a pain. He still thought he was an officer on a ship, instead of one of a dozen castaways on an uninhabited (except by us) island. And he treated me like crap, too. I guess I was just a beast of burden to him, and a freakish one at that. The only things that made him tolerable were the fact that the rest of our group thought he was an idiot, and the fact he couldn’t push me around.

Maybe that’s what really pissed him off, the fact that I’m so much stronger than him, now. I didn’t really notice at first, it was Paul who pointed out to me how I was carrying boar and deer back like they were weightless. It was kind of a shock to realize that I could out muscle anyone there, even though I was far less massive (if you ignore the wings).

Paul was curious to see just how strong I am now. He had me lifting the lifeboat, and kept adding rocks to see how much I could lift. We couldn’t guess the actual weight, but it turned out it didn’t really matter. Even filled to the brim and beyond with rocks I could lift the lifeboat without too much effort. Even after I thought to add sand, it still wasn’t too much for me. Greg had guessed that the boat weighed a few tons, at least.

Our little experiment had gotten everyone curious about how far my changes really went. We tried racing, to see if I was faster, too. That ended pretty quickly. Even on two feet (I’m faster on four) I ran so much faster than everyone else that racing was a joke!

I already knew my sight and hearing were far superior to what they had been. My sense of smell was pretty good, too. And, of course, I could fly! That’s what I did in my spare time more than anything else, I flew around the island. I could stay aloft for hours now without difficulty, even if I wasn’t just gliding.

I had an accident one day while hunting and broke a wing. I was mortified, but it healed up overnight! So healing was added to the list. After that I insisted on doing all the most dangerous stuff, since I healed up so quickly. This just pissed Conrad off even more; I guess he felt I was taking over.

The other guys were perfectly happy for me to take over so, I guess, in the end I did.

They’d built simple lean-tos near the beach before I arrived. Once we’d given up on the bonfire, we decided to build something more lasting. Joshua, a quiet guy I didn’t know well, suggested adobe. He seemed to know what he was doing, so he supervised while we put together frames for adobe bricks and started gathering dirt, clay, sand, and grass.

As soon as we had some frames done we filled them with the adobe mixture and set them in the sun to dry while we made more frames. We were going to need a lot of bricks, and they would take a while to dry, so it made sense to make a large number of frames.

Within a week or two we had enough bricks to start construction. But Joshua warned us that building on uneven or loose ground could result in the bricks cracking or worse. We selected a meadow a little ways into the island, far enough in that flooding from high tide, even during a storm, was unlikely.

We pulled all the grass out in the area where we were going to build. We needed it for the adobe anyway, so it didn’t go to waste. The problem was that the ground was soft. How could we pack it down?

I finally came up with the idea to use a coconut. It was the only thing we had that was strong and round enough. I would roll it along the ground and push it down as I went. With my strength it was like a miniature steam roller. Besides how time consuming it was, my biggest problem was not pushing so hard that the coconut got buried in the ground!

The men kept making bricks and clearing ground while I leveled and compacted the building sites. Once one area was done, they started building while I readied the next site. We wanted to have a separate building for each person. Hey, we had time, why not?

The first building collapsed after we had it about half done. Fortunately no one was hurt. By then I had finished packing the ground and helped rebuild it. With my help we had it put back together in fairly short order. The reason it fell apart was that we had forgotten to use wet adobe as a mortar. Joshua would have noticed that, but we had him supervising the making of bricks.

After that we had Conrad supervise the brick making (He wasn’t too happy with that, but he was the oldest and most out of shape of us, so it made sense). Joshua had some good ideas on the building side of things, too, so things moved along really well.

It took months to get them all finished, and several roofs collapsed before we got it right. Finally we all had our own homes. Paul and I moved in together within weeks, so we used the empty house as storage. We were all really proud of our work, and were really feeling like we had a real home now.

Once the building was out of the way, we started looking for other ways to make things more comfortable. Fishing became the favorite past time of several of the men. Some fished from shore, while Conrad and Jacob (one of the idiots who tried to force me shortly after I arrived) used the lifeboat.

Adding fish to our diet meant that I didn’t have to hunt as often, which made me feel better. I had been getting worried that I would decrease the population too much. I used the extra time that allowed me to build a small garden next to our house. I flew all over the island collecting the seeds for it. I found several different fruits and vegetables to plant, and even planted a few fruit trees.

A few weeks after we started fishing things started to change. Conrad changed a lot. He became calmer, and was far more willing to let others take the lead. When Jacob started bossing him around we all knew something was up.

I visited Conrad at his house one night to try and figure out what was going on.

“Hi, what can I do for you Catherine?” He asked pleasantly when I knocked on his door (Vincent had become our blacksmith and managed to make workable hinges and latches for the doors).

I stood there gaping for a moment before I remembered why I was there. When did Conrad become pleasant, especially to me! “Uh, hi, Conrad.” I said, flustered. “I was wondering if we could talk.”

“Sure, come on in. Would you like something to drink?” He asked as he ushered me inside. He had hollow coconut shells lined up filled with water, we all did. He also had some unripe coconuts that hadn’t been opened yet. All you had to do was poke a hole (They pretty much left that task up to me, that shell is very hard) and you could drink the coconut water inside.

His behavior was really starting to creep me out, but I accepted and poked holes in two unripe coconuts and handed one back to him. “So, I, well we, were all wondering what is going on with you. You’re behaving a lot differently lately.” I said.

To my great surprise, Conrad started crying! This was so out of character for the Conrad I knew that I was too stunned to move at first. Then as Conrad continued to cry I walked over and hugged him. It seemed like the thing to do.

He accepted my hug gratefully and cried on my shoulder for several minutes. As he did I realized something. He had changed! He was no longer taller than me, but about the same height. He was also thinner and less muscular.

He finally stopped crying and sat down against the wall. His head was hanging down and his hair was obscuring his face. Wait a minute, he had a buzz cut before we got here, how had it grown so long?

I sat down beside him. I looked over at him a while longer and ran these changes through my mind. Something about them seemed important and I gasped out loud when I realized what it was. He looked up at me when I did with a questioning look.

“Conrad,” I began cautiously, “have you been experiencing any changes recently? I mean, physically?” I asked.

Conrad nodded mutely, more tears streaking down his face. “Yes. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone else noticed. Jacob teases me about it all the time. He keeps saying that I’ll end up like you and when I do I can be his…his woman.” Conrad said, and started bawling again, his face in his hands.

I had to remind myself to keep my claws in as my fists clenched in anger. That jerk had tried it on with me once already. If he tried something with Conrad I’d rip his heart out!

Conrad started edging away from me and I realized I’d been growling. I closed my eyes and took a moment to calm myself. “Sorry, Conrad.” I said once I had my anger under control again. “Don’t worry about Jacob, I’ll deal with him.”

Conrad looked ready to protest, then just nodded and looked down again. “Conrad?” I started, trying to make eye contact. “How much have you changed?”

In answer he unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the bandages wrapped around his chest. “Jacob noticed them about a week ago, and I started binding them. It didn’t help with Jacob, though. He’s convinced I’m going to be a woman before long.” He said quietly.

“You poor thing!” I found myself saying as I wrapped her up in my arms as she cried. Jacob had a lot to answer for, but right now I needed to concentrate on Conrad. He was changing a lot slower than I had, but it did look like he was becoming female.

When he had calmed down again he pulled away and re-buttoned his shirt. “Everything else is changing too.” He explained, with a voice that I suddenly realized was higher and smoother (He had a rather gravelly voice before). “Even, you know…” He trailed off and pointed at his groin.

I nodded. “You have changed a lot. I wonder if anyone else has experienced any changes…” I mused aloud. I had noticed that Stan (The other idiot who attacked me) had been a lot more aggressive lately. Not towards me, he’s not that stupid, but towards everyone else. And Joshua was a little more outgoing, though that could just be from living in close quarters with us for as long as we had.

“Do you think we’re all mutating, like you did?” Conrad asked fearfully.

I thought a moment and said, “Maybe. I don’t think anyone else is going to change as drastically as I did. After all, my change only took a week or so. Also, I was doused in that stuff, whereas you had very little contact with it. The changes will probably be less severe and take longer.”

“Less severe! You call this less severe?!” Conrad yelled angrily.

“Yes Conrad, I call that less severe. I shrank a lot when I changed. Not to mention growing talons, claws, fangs, a tail, cat eyes, cat ears, and wings! Oh, and then there’s the enhanced senses, super strength, and speed! I think just about anything would be less severe than that!” I replied, fighting to remain calm. It still bothered me sometimes when I thought about it, how much I’d changed.

Conrad wilted and gazed at the floor again. “Sorry.” He all but whispered. “Sometimes I forget that you weren’t always like you are. You seem so happy most of the time.”

I shrugged. “Most of the time, I am. I was gay before, you know. Being female is still a little weird for me, at times, but it’s a lot easier in some ways.” I said.

Conrad looked at me questioningly, “You were gay?” He asked in amazement.

“Yep.” I answered.

He looked down again as he said, “I think I’m going to be gay.”

I was a little confused by this at first. “Oh, you mean if you change all the way to female?” I asked once I figured it out. He nodded.

“I can understand that.” I said. “My orientation didn’t change when I did, so there’s no reason to assume yours would.” It made me sad to think about it, though, because there were no other women on the island and I had no interest in women at all.

We were silent for a while after that. I went back to thinking about whether anyone else was changing or not. Finally, I said, “Maybe we’d better see if anyone else is changing. There could be other people changing who are trying to hide it like you have. They may feel better knowing that they’re not alone.”

Conrad nodded. He wiped the tears from his face and I helped him up. “It’s getting on towards dinner time, why don’t we bring this up once we’ve got everyone together?” I suggested.

“Okay, as long as you don’t tell anyone about me.” Conrad answered. I agreed.

We had built a sunken fire pit in the middle of our little ‘village’. While we were all off on our own most of the time, we gathered there at dinner. We often discussed little projects or issues there, so that was the best place to bring it up.

Paul was already getting dinner together when we got there. Everyone but me took turns cooking. My tastes had changed when I did and I had little use for cooked food. I hunted earlier in the day, so I didn’t need to eat. I still joined everyone else, though, since I was sort of the unofficial leader of our little group.

I told Paul that I had something to talk about once everyone was gathered so he could pass the word. Conrad and I sat down and talked while we waited for the rest to show up. We stayed away from the subject of mutations for now.

Everyone arrived well before the main course was ready, as was usually the case. They would snack on fruits and vegetables while they waited on the meat. We still hadn’t managed to put together an oven for baking, so we had no bread yet.

Once everyone was settled I brought up the subject of mutation. “I’ve been noticing some changes in behavior in some of you. I’ve also noticed some physical changes. I suspect that some or all of you are experiencing a similar mutation to mine, only slower and less severe. Have any of you noticed anything unusual?” I asked.

Some looked shocked, others looked uncomfortable. A few looked nonchalant, but I suspected it was a put on. No one spoke at first, and I was careful not to look at Conrad anymore than anyone else. Finally Joshua cleared his throat and drew everyone’s attention to himself.

“Uh, yeah, I’ve noticed a few things.” He finally said. He spoke softly and only our close proximity made it possible for everyone to understand him. “I won’t point out changes I’ve noticed in other people if they don’t want me to, but I’ll tell you what I’ve experienced.”

We all waited expectantly. Joshua didn’t speak as often as most, but he usually had something useful to say when he did. “I’ve lost an inch or two in height, I think. I’ve also become thinner. My hair is growing unusually fast, too. And I’ve grown breasts.” He said, to a stunned silence.

Stan laughed nervously and loudly declared, “You don’t look like no chick to me.” Jacob laughed loudly, but nobody else did. I looked more closely at Joshua and realized that many of the changes I’d seen in Conrad earlier were visible in him, too. Only he had finer features to start with, so it wasn’t as obvious. He must have been binding his breasts also, because they weren’t visible.

“I’m not female, at least not yet.” Joshua answered Stan’s crude comment. “But I seem to be going that way.” Unlike Conrad, Joshua was very calm about it. Either he’d already vented his feelings on this, or he wasn’t as bothered by it. I was guessing the latter.

“Anybody else?” I called out, not wanting this to focus on any one person too much.

Jacob laughed and said, “Sure! Look at Connie over there! She’s turning too.” Everyone looked at Conrad, who blushed and looked down in embarrassment. Jacob laughed loudly at that until a rock struck him in the chest, hard.

I smiled sweetly at him when he got back up. “Let’s keep this civil, alright Jacob?” I asked.

He glared but didn’t say anything. Everybody else laughed, except Conrad who was still feeling very embarrassed to have everyone know about him. Joshua moved over to sit next to Conrad and put his hand on his shoulder and whispered something to him. Conrad seemed to perk up at that.

“Does anyone else have anything to say, about themselves?” I asked, with emphasis on the last part and a glare at Jacob. Stan looked down but didn’t say anything. I was sure he was changing in some way, but he wasn’t going to say anything about it.

Greg finally admitted to feeling strange lately, but he wasn’t sure what was happening. He didn’t look any different, so we’d have to wait and see. Most of the other guys reported the same thing, and Stan reluctantly agreed. Jacob even said he’d been feeling strange, but he didn’t seem too concerned about it.

The only other revelation was from Mike. He was one of the more friendly guys who was always talking to somebody and hated to work alone. He said he’d started to grow a tail, and his finger and toe nails were changing. He’d been clipping them to keep us from noticing, but a close look showed us what he was talking about. He wasn’t sure if there were other changes happening or not.

After that we were all talking about what kind of changes were happening and what could be causing them. We all agreed it had to be exposure to the same stuff that changed me. None of the men had come into physical contact with it like I had, but they’d all breathed the fumes from the burning goop.

The talk broke up when Paul announced that the meat was ready. I watched as they dug in. Mike was tearing into his food with relish and I noticed his canines looked longer. Conrad and Joshua didn’t have much of an appetite. That seemed to set the trend. Either they were ravenous or they ate less than usual. I noticed that there were three others who seemed to have reduced appetites, and Stan was one of them.

We all returned to our homes after that. Everyone was quiet, mulling over the discoveries of the day. Paul and I talked about it before we went to sleep, but Paul was as clueless about what changes he might be going through as many of the others were.

After that day we all watched each other closely, but none more so than me. I kept a special watch on those whose appetites seemed reduced, especially Conrad. By now everyone had guessed that that was a sign of changing to female and some of the men were trying to give them grief over it. I say trying, because I made sure they understood that that wouldn’t be tolerated.

If Paul hadn’t reined me in, there probably would have been some broken bones. As it was, Jacob and a couple of others were sporting a fair number of bruises. Paul and Mike joined me in watching out for ‘the girls’ as many started to refer to them.

One day I heard a scream as I was flying. I sped over in that direction and saw Jacob, in the boat, trying to pull down Conrad’s pants. I dove down and pulled up just in time to skim over their heads and slap Jacob in the face with my tale, hard. He fell over the side with a splash. I circled around and managed to land in the boat.

Conrad was busy trying to pull his pants back up, but not before I saw that his transformation there was nearly complete, at least superficially. Jacob was splashing around and cursing, trying to get back in the boat. I reached over the side and grabbed him by the shirt and hoisted him in the air. “If I ever catch you trying something like that again,” I began menacingly, “I’ll hit you with my claws instead of my tale. Understood?”

He growled at me, but nodded. I braced myself and threw him towards shore. He landed with another splash and started swimming. “Are you alright Conrad?” I asked once I calmed myself down. Once I got my hackles up it took me a little time to calm back down since my change.

Conrad was silently weeping when I asked that. He managed to nod weakly. I pulled him close for a hug and enfolded him in my wings until he’d calmed down. “You might as well call me Connie, now. I’m not a man anymore.” He sniffled.

“Are you sure that’s the name you want to use?” I asked. “You can use any name you want. Even Conrad, if you like.”

“No, I’m a girl now. I might as well get used to it. And Connie works as well as anything.” She answered.

“Ok, Connie.” I said.

I helped Connie with the fishing after that. Once the boat was secured and the fish turned in to Greg, tonight’s cook, I went looking for Jacob.

I found him harassing Joshua. Doesn’t this guy ever learn? He had his back to me so I walked up and stopped right behind him. I was growling again, and I made no effort to stop. He finally heard me and turned around.

“What?! You going to say this bitch is off limits, too? You want everyone for yourself?” He yelled at me.

I smiled, making sure to show my sharp teeth and fangs. “I’m impressed with your bravery, Jacob. Or is it stupidity? You keep doing things you know are going to tick me off, even though I could rip you apart with one arm tied behind my back. What do you hope to accomplish?” I asked.

“Yeah, we all know how big and bad you are, bitch! But you aren’t the biggest and baddest on this island anymore!” he yelled, then took a swing at me. He moved pretty fast, but it was still easy for me to dodge. He growled, a rather canine sounding growl, and I noticed his elongated canines. Then he tried to tackle me.

I let him come and grabbed him in a bear hug. He struggled, and he was definitely stronger than he had been, but he was still no match for me. I started squeezing, slowly increasing the pressure. He started whining and whimpering and stopped struggling, so I dropped him.

Once back on his feet he slowly backed away from me. Then he turned and, grabbing Joshua, started running. He was fast, but again no match for me. He was running through the trees, no doubt to eliminate my advantage of flight. I ran after him on all fours and caught him in seconds. Instead of tackling him I jumped ahead of him and turned, hissing menacingly with wings outspread.

He skidded to a stop and growled, but made no move towards me. I guess Joshua was so stunned by being grabbed by him and his speed that he hadn’t really put up much of a fight before now. Now he started really struggling, and Jacob was having trouble keeping a hold of him. Finally Joshua head butted him and Jacob let go and stumbled back a few steps.

Joshua took advantage of this to move around and behind me. With Joshua out of the way, I stepped forward, growling and hissing at Jacob. He backed away, looking uncertain for the first time. He must have thought his mutation put us on even footing, or even gave him an advantage. He obviously didn’t take into account the severity of my mutation.

He finally broke and ran, but I was on his back in less than a second. I dug in with my claws on his back, and my talons on the back of his legs. He went down face first. I turned him over and grabbed him by the throat. “Let me make things perfectly clear.” I hissed. “Everybody here is off limits to you, unless they say otherwise, without coercion. You try to force anybody to do anything, or to hurt anybody, and I’ll drop you off where I left the ship. Maybe it’ll even still be there. Understood?”

He whimpered and nodded, so I let him go and stood. He scrambled away and ran like his life depended on it. Which in my mood, it probably did. Once he was out of sight I tried to calm myself. It was harder than usual.

“Cat?” a small voice called. The voice was muffled and I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I looked up, but all I saw were my wings. I had wrapped myself up in them. I carefully opened them and saw Joshua sitting there, right in front of me. “Are you alright?” he asked softly.

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. Sometimes it takes some work to calm down once I get my hackles up about something. And Jacob really pisses me off! I already smacked him one today for trying to force Connie’s pants down on the boat.”

Joshua’s eyes widened at that. “You called Conrad Connie! Does that mean he’s a girl now, all the way?” he asked with a peculiar eagerness.

“Yeah, she told me to go ahead and call her Connie from now on. What about you, how are you doing?” I asked.

Joshua smiled and shrugged. “Well, lets just say you can call me Elaine, now.”

“Elaine?” I said, confused. “How did you come up with that?”

She shrugged again. “I like it.” Was all she’d say.

She wasn’t hurt, but I walked back with her, to make sure Jacob didn’t try anything else.

“You seem to be handling this a lot better than Connie.” I said as we neared our homes.

She shrugged. “There’s no point getting upset about it. I’m a girl now. I can’t change back, so I might as well get on with my life.” She explained.

I nodded. “Then maybe you could help Connie?” I suggested.

Elaine smiled brightly at that. “Sure! I’d love to help Connie!” she enthused.

I looked at her strangely. She leaned towards me and stage whispered, “I still like girls, and I’m pretty sure she does too.” Then she winked at me.

I rolled my eyes at her and said, “Well, just don’t push her.” She agreed and we continued on in silence.

At dinner that night I brought up changes again. Connie and Elaine told everyone their new names and I told everyone that I would deal harshly with anyone who tried to force anyone else. I don’t think anyone missed the glare I leveled at Jacob, or how he cringed away and whimpered.

There were a lot of changes revealed this time. Mike asked if anyone knew how to sew, because he needed to put tale holes in his clothes. His hands and feet were developing short black fur and becoming more paw like. He’d been wearing gloves recently, but they weren’t fitting well anymore so he couldn’t hide it anymore. He also started going barefoot, as his feet had changed similarly to mine.

Greg had developed webbing between his fingers and toes, and had small gills behind his ears. He could breathe underwater now, and swim a lot better than before. He was also stronger. Vincent had also gained some strength, which helped with his work. He had no other changes.

Stan had finally admitted he was turning into a girl, and was most of the way there. He asked to be called Sarah from now on. She had no other changes as yet. John became Jill, and Tom became Tina. Jill gained enhanced senses with cat eyes but no other changes. Tina grew a fox tail and ears and gained claws and fangs. She was also faster and stronger than before.

Paul seemed to have no animalistic traits, but could move much faster than before. He still couldn’t match me, but he could outrun anyone else on the island. The last member of our group, Leonard, grew bat wings. He also gained extraordinarily sensitive hearing. That probably explained why he’d been keeping to himself even more than usual. Unfortunately, his wings were too small and weak for him to fly, but he was hopeful that they would grow more.

After that I told everyone that I wanted Mike and Tina to do the fishing from the boat, with Greg helping out from the water. I put Jacob on clean up. He would have to clean out our latrine and generally keep everything clean. That job had been, like cooking dinner, one we all shared.

Leonard preferred to keep away from everyone else most of the time, so he would be foraging for whatever fruits and vegetables we needed. Sarah opted to help him, probably because she didn’t want to be around any more people than she had to be.

I didn’t feel any need to change around any of the other jobs, and only Jacob complained about the changes. I think I started growling again when he complained, because he quickly shut up with a whimper.

Everyone but Jacob had now accepted me as the leader, including Connie. I was still a little uncomfortable with it, but I was too focused on keeping Jacob out of trouble to worry too much.

After that everyone returned to their homes. Paul and I talked about everything that had happened that day. We both agreed to continue to keep an eye on the new women in our group. We were sure Jacob would get into more trouble before he learned his lesson, assuming he ever did.

I asked Paul how he felt about his own mutation. He wasn’t too concerned about it, but admitted the fact that his appearance hadn’t changed might have something to do with that. He was rather curious to see how it might affect certain night time activities, though, and so was I! We had fun finding out.

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 To Be Continued...