Changed: Janitor's Closet

Chapter 6

"How was that?" the canine asks, still illuminated by the light from the grid, casting faint shadows on its face. "Did that sound cool?"

"G-Get away from me!" you reply, backing away from the creature. "I-I already killed one of you, a-and I won't hesitate to do it again!" You try to reach for your broom, but you notice it's gone.

"Hey, calm down!" it said, holding their hands up. "I just saved you, why would I transfur you?"

You calmed down a bit. He did have a point, but one word sounded weird to you. "Transfer?" you ask.

"Transfur. With a 'u'. You know, when you become..." It motioned towards the grid. "Them."

"... I am not using that term ever."

"Whatever - come, I'll give you a full explanation once we're out of this place."

The dog then turned into a puddle and went down the tight corridor at mach twelve. You stay still. Should you trust this guy? It did just save you from the bunny girl, but it might secretly want to "transfur" you. I mean, it's still a monster, that's apparent. Noticing that you weren't following, the slime being went back to check on you.

"You coming?" he asked, snapping you back to reality.

After a few seconds of hesitation, you nod and say "... Yeah, I'm coming."

You try your best to keep up with the creature, but ultimately, they had the speed advantage in the vent. They had to wait for you at multiple occasions.

You finally get out of the duct and fall face-first into a new area. The floors were made of wood instead of ceramic this time, which is a nice change of pace. As you get up, you notice the yellow walls and the piles and piles of books littered on the floor. The canine arrived at your destination first and was standing in front of the vent opening. Now that you have proper lighting, you can finally get a good look at the monster. They look more like a wolf than a dog, and their entire body is white except for their eyes, which were teal.

"Can you tell someone used to live there?" the creature joked.

"Okay, cut the crap," you exclaim, impatient to get some answers. "What the fuck happened here?"

"Whoa, impatient much?" The monster cleared their throat. "I'll start by introducing myself. I am Cyra, and I'm a male, I think. Pleased to meet you. Who would you be?" He reached his hand out, as if to shake yours.

You hesitantly shake Cyra's hand and open your mouth to say your name, but nothing comes out. We're talking about your name here - something you've heard countless times. So why can't you remember it?

"... You forgot it, didn't you?" You nod silently. "Of course you did. I'll just call you 'Human' if that's okay with you."

Cyra sat down on the wooden floor and tapped it as if to invite you to sit down as well, to which you oblige, if only to get on his good side. You were incredibly nervous since this guy could jump on you at any moment and just finish you off in one go.

"Alright, exposition dump time," he announced while rubbing his hands together. Or are they paws? "So, I don't know if you were awake to see it, but there was a giant outbreak of a virus that happened. That virus is super strong, let me tell you - if you get infected, you're pretty much dead. Your fate is sealed. All you get is like generally dizzy and a few symptoms found in common cold, and those only appear 5 days after being infected. And then, boom! You die. But here's the thing: it only affects humans. And so a bunch of scientists grouped together and tried to create something that changed human DNA or whatever into anything but a human's. I've heard they tried with plants first, but that didn't work at all, so they instead tried with animals and now we exist.

"At some point, there was also a riot, but it's been a while, so no one's really sure of the details. All we know for sure is that it released us and now we roam free, and it created havoc, multiple lost their lives and many  more were transfurred."

You stared at Cyra. "... Jesus Christ."

"Yeah, it all happened, what, six years ago?"

"... Six... years?" you echoed.

"Yep, six-"

"Ohhh, I'm in some deep shit." you say, cutting off the seemingly friendly wolf. You hold your forehead with one hand and put your other on the floor to keep you from falling. You feel like you're having a panic attack. While yes, you did know that there was only ruins outside which meant you were unconscious for a while, you weren't expecting to be out for six whole years. Nobody would. You hyperventilate as the fact presented by Cyra kept cycling through your head.

"Whoa, human, you good?" Cyra asked, slowly approaching.

"Get the fuck back!" you respond, backing up.

"I'm not gonna transfur you, I thought we already established that-"

"I don't care!"

The two of you looked at each other, immobile, waiting for a response from the other. The light hum of the neon lights is the only thing keeping the room from being pure silence, and yet it was deafening. There might've been no words said, but the tension in the room was hard to ignore. Cyra sighed.

"... You need a hug?" he asks. Normally, you would have said "no" because he's a stranger, and not only that, but he could easily transform you into his kin. But you found genuine concern and sincerity in his voice.

"... Yeah," you answer in-between breaths. "That would be appreciated."

Cyra walks over to you and wraps his arms around you, and, surprisingly enough, did not absorb you into his body. The hug helped to calm you down quite a bit. Once your whole anxiety attack thing fully dissipated, Cyra released the hug. You looked at your shirt, which was now tainted with drops of Cool Whip™. You looked at Cyra with a semi-disappointed face.

"What?" he said, noticing your look. "Just because I'm made of latex doesn't mean I don't shed."

"You're made of latex?"

"Yeah, I am. How did you not find this out earlier?"

You shrugged. "I don't know."

The room was filled with silence yet again since noone knew what else to say. Cyra was the first one to break it yet again. "Are you hungry?" You nodded. "Let me get you something then, I'll see what I can find." He got up and left the room in search of food.

You sat there, waiting for him to come back. For some reason, you keep thinking about the hug you just had. It was a dangerous move of you, to accept a hug from a stranger, but even so...

... It felt strangely nice.