It had been three weeks since that night, so far the confirmed number of those who have changed have stablized around seven hundred and forty thousand plus or minus a few.

But every day we get a hand full of new cases, all these lives turned upside down.
There have been several reports of suicides or attempts.

Its sad, we have been testing blood, and vomit for weeks trying to figure out what the cause of this is but nothing is showing up.

Its as if nature just decided there were to many men or something. I had been living out of the office along with the rest of my staff and hadn't been home but once to get some clothes and shower.

The CDC guys put my team incharge of the investigation and so far we haven't found anything which has them breathing down our necks.

I figured it was time for a break, we had been working in shifts but seeing as only a handful of us have family at home most of us decided to use the bunk rooms in the emergency wing for resting.

But i wanted to go home,so i informed Pop i was heading out for a bit and then walked to my truck.

Being around midnight the drive was pretty quick. I pulled into my apartments parking lot and sat there for a minute.

"None of this stuff made sense, nothing like this has ever happened in the history of mankind". Most of us realize that someone is behind this but what their motives and reasons were will remain a mystery as far as i can tell.

I got out and walked up the stairs to my apartment, as i was about to unlock my door i glanced down and saw something in the dim light of the hallway.

I reached down and picked up a package, it had no adress on it but written on the box was my name.

I looked around and didn't see anyone so i opened my door and walked inside.
I sat the box and my keys down on my kitchen counter and decided i needed a long hot shower.

We have shower's at the office and even though the water is hot you can usually pee harder then those things.

I got in the shower and just let the water wash away my aches and problems.
I didn't even thinj about work or the incident. After i finished i dried off and without even dressing just crawled into bed.

I awoke to the sunlight shining through my window, i felt great. It had been weeks since i had had a decent nights sleep.

I walked into my kitchen and decided to make me some pancakes, as i was cooking i noticed the box from the night before.

After i was done cooking i sat down to eat and pulled the box over to me.
I opened it and inside was a pop can.

I looked at it, "PowerMadd Energy Drink" i had never heard of this brand. Looking in the box again i saw a piece of paper.

Picking it up it read "Do not drink this, test it for the answers you seek lay within" i looked at the drink and the paper and was trying to figure out what was going on when my phone started ringing.

"Hello" i said.
"Petey my boy you need to get back over here as soon as possible we have a subject that will be here in about an hour who is actively changing".

"Ok Pop's I'll be in soon" i said as i hung up.
Finishing my breakfast I rushed to get dressed then i was about to leave when i remembered the drink.

I grabbed it and was out the door, i arrived at the lab about forty minutes later.
As i was walking in i saw an ambulance rushing around to the back loading area.

So i walked back towards there and found Pops and Oscar standing there as the ambulance backed up.

"That him"? I asked as i walked up.
"Yes,glad you're here" Pops said as the medics opened the door.

They pulled out a gurney and on it was a young man who was covered in sweat.
I put on a pair of gloves and started to examine him on the dock.

His eyes closed but i lifted his lids and almost stepped back, his eyeballs were solid black and looked as if something, a type of liquid was moving around them.

"My God"Pops said as he showed me his temperature readings "That can't be right he should be dead" I said as i took the tablet .

He had a temperature of 146 degrees.
"Get him up stairs now i need his blood pressure and heart rate checked" we wheeled him to the elevator and it was now all hands on deck.

We arrived in the lab and wheeled him into our onsite operating room,one of the staff techs walked over to me as i was putting on my scrubs.

"He has an extremely high body temperature but his heart rate and blood pressure are only slightly elevated but within safe operating zones" she said handing me a chart.

I walked into the room and taking a scalpel i was about to take a tissue sample when Pops stopped me, "We don't know what effect cutting on him will have, we just take blood samples and obseve him for now" he said.

I nooded and put down the scalpel.
After we had done everything we felt we could safely it was just a waiting game.

I observed him and watched as his body slowly but steadily changed, he lost height and weight. His skin became softer, hair longer and slowly changed from a sandy blonde to a dark Auburn.

I checked his eyes periodically and noticed as time went by his eyes turned back to normal only according to his charts he had dark hazel eyes but now his eyes were a vibrant light green.

His chart listed him as a six foot tall one hundred and ninety four pound twenty six year old coast guardsman named Danny Carter.

Now he was only five feet four and looked to be around fourteen or fifteen. From the time his commander said he had collapsed to when he arrived here was about an hour and a half then he had been here for almost six hours so we figured from the time the changes started to the time they are complete takes around eight to nine hours.

One of the last things we noticed was that the stomach was swollen and almost made him look as if he was pregnant. The only thing i can figure is that what ever that stuff was it must be left over material that isn't needed to complete the transformation.

It was about thirty minutes after we had documented the last major change when Carter sat up straight in bed, looked at me and pointed to the nearest garbage can i knew exactly what was needed as I quickly handed it to her and yes i was right.

After she finished she looked down at herself and started to take stock of her new situation.

"So i guess im a girl now" she had a very sweet almost childlike voice and visibly cringed upon hearing it.

"Im afraid so" i said, "How are you feeling"?
"Im ok i guess, i kinda figured i was infected when i got up this morning and felt like hell" she looked around the room.

"I had heard of the symptoms from someone else I knew who went through this on day one".

"You knew someone"? I asked wondering why she said it like that.

"Oh, yeah one of the guys i served with we found him in the head passed out and mid change".

"Where is he now"?
She looked out the window by the bed, "He killed himself about a week ago".

"Oh I'm sorry I'm not real good with these things" I said feeling like an idiot.

"Eddie was already dealing with a lot of stuff in his personal life so i think this change was what just put him over the edge" she looked at me.

"Don't worry I'm not suicidal, my mom would drag me out of the after life just to beat me to death if i ever did something so stupid" she laughed.

"I'll be ok, just gonna have to get use to some different things i guess".

"Well thats good, some other doctors are gonna come in and ask some questions.....

"Hey doc, will they bring food im starving" she blushed a bit.
"Yeah from what we've observed the last few weeks extream hunger is normal for a day or two afterwards but should level out after a bit" i said as I picked up the garbage can full of vomit.

"I'll send one of the techs to get you something" i said as i left.

As i left the room j saw oscar coming towards me.
"Hey pete there is a Mrs. Carter downstairs in the lobby" .

"Ok i guess I'll go down and get her" i said handing him the garbage can and patting him on the back.

I got on the elevator and was about to go down when in popped Melissa.
"Going down"? I asked.

"Third floor please".
"So anything from the samples"? I aked.
"Well we did find something but, well they vanished" she said.

"Vanished"?
"We took the blood and right as i placed some on the dish and put it under the scope I saw something black but it was rapidly dissolving before i could even get a picture" she said.

"That makes no sense,actually when i looked at his eyes when he arrived they were solid black but it looked like something was moving on the surface".

The elevator stopped and Melissa said she would let me know if anything eles turns up.

Afterwards i went down to the lobby and found a woman sitting there on her phone.
"Oh my gawd are you tha docter ats treating my son" she had a heavy new England accent.

"Yes ma'am ah, Im Doctor Steven Peter's " i shook her hand.
"Is what I heard true, is my boy a....girl"?

"I'm afraid so, he actually just woke up about fifteen minutes ago" i said motioning for her to come with me.

She stood up and we walked to the elevator.
"I just drove from New Jersey, as soon as i found out he was sick and then they told me to come here and Kacy his ship commander told me he thought tha....im sorry I'm just worried is all".

"Its ok I assure you Danny is ok, looks a bit different but he's ok" i said trying to calm her nerves.

We walked into Danny's room and saw she was standing up looking out the window over Norfolk.

"Danny" His mom said.
"Ma" she turned around and both of them ran to each other and hugged.
"Oh i was so worried about you especially after Eddie....

"Ma I promise you I won't be like Eddie, I promise" she said.

"How's Eddies folks"? Danny asked.
"Barbara is a wreck and Eddie Senior is just trying to keep her from falling apart" she said.

"So doc when do you think I can leave" danny asked.
"We still have some more test to run but if all goes good you can leave tomorrow afternoon" i said as i decided i needed to go.

I walked out of the room and down the hall to my personal office. I walked in and sat at my desk.

I reached in my coat pocket to get my desk key when i felt the pop can. I pulled it out and remembered the note.

I picked up my deskbphone and called Melissa.
"Hello".
"Hey Mel i need you to come to my office when you get a chance, I need a favor" i said.
"Sure thing I'll be right up".

I got onto my computer and googled the drink. "PowerMadd energy".
I looked through the site, apparently they had been around for quite some time.

I looked through and found a page of reviews, the top review really caught my attention.

"Man this stuff taste like sugary crap, it makes you feel good but damn does it taste like shit. Why the DOD bought so much of this shit is beyond me but they should get their money back, this makes me miss Ripit".

I used another page to search and sure enough apparently a large quantity of this stuff was bought for troops deployed to iraq and Afghanistan in the mid 00s.

Troops said it did make them feel good and gave them the energy it promised but the general consensus was it tasted like crap.

I was reading a few more articles when there was a knock at my door.
Melissa walked in,"Whats up"?

"I need you to run some test on this" i said as i handed her the can.

"An energy drink,you know you don't need a scientist to tell you this stuffs bad for you right"? She smiled.

"Yeah, look i know it sounds odd but this might have something to do with the outbreak" i said.

"Just do me a favor and keep this between us for a bit, at least till we can see if this will go anywhere" i said.

"Ok, will do" she said.

She was about to walk out, "Hey Mel" i said.
"Yes"?

"Hows the kid"? I asked.
"Annie is doing a lot better, she has her bouts of depression but she is getting use to everything, i bought her a puppy a few days agao and its really having a positive effect" she laughed.

"Hows Jake taking it"?
"He's actually turning out to be a good dad".

"It was a little awkward at first, sometimes we forget Annie is twenty but she is starting to act more like a kid and has even started calling me mom" .

"Well I'm happy for you,i was worried there for a bit wondered if she would ever get over the shock".

"Thanks Steven,i mean it" she said as she smiled and walked out the door.