Shifters

Chapter 6

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

I wanted to strangle that little voice in my head. Fish are food, not friends. The transition was really painful, and then I had no idea how to swim. I just floated there in the water, watching the pretty patterns the light made on the surface of the water. Finally, I gained control over my fins and learned to swim. Not that I was very good, I had never been, even as a human, but I could make it from one side of the pool to the other. I could vaguely see Lynn's outline  sitting on the dock, probably analyzing my progress. I swam up to her stuck my fishy head out of the water. A devious idea formed in my mind and I took a big gulp of water and spit it all over Lynn's nice, dry lab coat.

"Thea!"

I quickly swam to the other side of the pool.

"Thea, get back here. It's time for you to shift back anyway."

I returned at a leisurely pace. I opened my mouth and Lynn reached down to plop in my pill. I swallowed it and my silvery scales began to melt away. Colors swirled and next thing I knew, I was human again. I was fine except for a slight aching in all four limbs, but that was nothing. I heaved myself up onto the dock and turned to Lynn.

"Well, that went better than expected," she said, releif evident in her voice. Then the radio clipped at her belt beeped. She grabbed it frantically, her faint smile disappearing instantly. She pressed a button.

"What is it?"

Static.

Then, "Lynn, I need you in room 9a, now. Stop whatever you're doing. It's...bad."

Lynn's face paled. She jumped up and ran down the dock to the door. Confused, I ran after her. Following her through another metal door, a weight settled in my chest as I realized what must have happened. My fears were confirmed as we went through the door Dr. Edmont, Will, and Luke had dissappeared through. Someone turned out not to be strong enough. Someone might be dead.

                               ***********

Room 9a looked exactly like the room Lynn and I had just left. The bright flourescent lights sparkeled on the water lapping up at the dock. Luke looked up as Lynn and I burst in.

"They're here," he told Dr. Edmont, who was crouched behind him on the dock. Dr. Edmont turned and I gasped. Will was sprawled out on the cold metal dock. If not for the slight rise and fall of his chest, I would have thought he was dead. The area around him was covered in a sparkling layer of shredded scales and several strands of his dark hair had turned a mettalic silver. His skin was deathly pale and there were deep red gashes on his neck where his gills had been. Blood pooled around where a chunk of his upper arm hadn't reappeared. His shifting suit was torn, and I could see several places on his chest that looked like they had been burned.

"Lynn, page the hospital unit. Get them to send someone to bring Will down. Now!"

Lynn fumbled with her radio.

"...Lab room 9a...urgent...failed return morph...okay...They said to get everyone else out. They've got someone on the way tight now."

Lyyn spoke so fast I almost couldn't tell what she was saying.

"Luke. Thea. Go back to your rooms immediately. Everything else scheduled for today is cancelled. Someone'll bring food to your rooms at mealtimes. Will's going to be fine. The doctors know what they're doing."

She was trying to sound strong, but I could hear the tremor in Lynn's voice. She'd been through this before. No one had ever survived.