The Strange Island

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The Strange Island
By
Morpheus

This was written in 2006 over a several month period as a serial story on my Yahoo group.

Part 1

It had started out as a great day, in fact, one of the best days of my entire life. My name is Lee Carvin and I was a 17 year old guy who was busy having blast. I had just graduated from high school last month, and as a reward, my mom and dad sent me and my best friend Eddie off on a vacation. It was a fantastic island resort vacation, with just the two of us and no parents in sight. At least, none of our parents were in sight. We were adults now, free from school and on our own, at least until college started in the fall.

At the moment, were on a small ship with perhaps two dozen people aboard, heading to a fairly remote island resort where we would be spending the next two weeks. Even though Eddie and I hadn't even arrived at the resort yet, we were both hyper with excitement. All either of us could think of were the beach and the babes, and not particularly in that order.

"Man, Lee," Eddie exclaimed, "I can't wait till we get there. "How much longer do you think it's gonna be? I mean, we've been on this boat all day already."

"I don't know," I shrugged, trying to remember the schedule, "We got on this morning, we're supposed to have one night on board, and then we're supposed to get there sometime around lunch."

"Why didn't they just fly us all there?" Eddie demanded impatiently, "We'd already be there and scoping the babes by now."

I let out an exasperated sigh, remembering that I'd asked my dad a similar question before we'd left. "Because they don't have an airport and all flights in and out are by small sea plane. My dad says that this mini-cruise is all part of the experience, but I think he just didn't want to pay the extra money for the plane."

"I guess I shouldn't complain," Eddie sighed, "I mean, your folks are paying for most of the trip."

"That's never stopped you before," I teased him, earning a laugh.

With that, Eddie and I went back to watching the ocean and the small islands in the distance as we passed them by. That was fun, but not quite as entertaining as watching our fellow passengers. Unfortunately, there weren't a whole lot of them worth looking at. There was a pretty nice looking business woman in her thirties, but she seemed really stuck-up. And then there was a really hot looking blonde who had unfortunately come with a really buff boyfriend.

"I'm sure there will be a lot of girls for us when we get there," I tried to console Eddie when he complained about the lack of available girls on board. But truthfully, I was disappointed too. "Besides, the weather's great and there's still some eye candy as long as we don't get caught staring."

"You got that right," Eddie laughed, quickly glancing to the hot blonde and then smirking at me.

Unfortunately, the perfect weather didn't last. Over the next few hours, the sky darkened and the waves became a lot more rough. It got to the point where nearly all the passengers were feeling at least a touch of sea sickness, and it only grew worse throughout the night, especially when the thunder and lightning began to crash in the distance.

After several hours of this nasty storm, the whole ship suddenly jarred and shook, followed immediately by a loud alarm. I froze, my mind filled with thoughts of us having run into an iceberg, until I remembered that we were in a warmer climate were icebergs were less than likely. Then I shook it off, grabbed my life jacket and ran up to the deck with Eddie.

Everything was complete and total chaos, though the crew were trying their best to keep order. It was quickly explained that we'd gone off course and that we'd probably hit a reef, tearing out the bottom of the ship. We were sinking fast and would have to evacuate. The crew was already busy pulling out several large emergency rafts which inflated on their own.

Before I'd even had a chance to fully absorb what was going on, I'd been rushed off the ship and into a large yellow raft, with Eddie and seven other passengers. One of the crew members was about to join us, but a large wave hit us, sending out raft away from the ship. Between the wind and the waves, we were quickly pushed further and further away from the ship. The ship, and the two other rafts slowly vanished into the distance until I lost all sight of them.

"We're gonna die," one woman was screaming in panic as she desperately clutched her 8 year old son.

There were other similar screams and looks of panic, but I just sat there, firmly clutching the rope around the raft and desperately hoping to make it out of here alive. I was terrified, more so than I'd ever been in my entire life. There I was, in a raft with my best friend and seven near strangers, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a storm and in the middle of an ocean. It was like something out of a disaster movie or something.

Our raft was thrown around by the wind and waves, with each of us inside it being made cold, miserable and terrified by the darkness, broken only by flashes of lightning, and the pelting rain. It wasn't until someone discovered that raft had a built in tent we could pull over us that we had any relief whatsoever. Unfortunately, that didn't really help our situation any and we continued to buffeted around and blown to who knows where.

Part 2

It was our second day of bobbing around the ocean in our raft like a piece of driftwood and I was feeling hot, tired, and bored. The small amount of emergency provisions that had been stored in the raft were pretty much gone, which wasn't much of a surprise since they were spread between nine people.

I was in a bad mood, as was everyone else. None of us felt like talking, other than to occasionally complain or snap at each other. Even Eddie hadn't said a word to me in several hours, which was pretty much a miracle since I normally couldn't get him to shut up. It was more than obvious that every one of us was thinking about the fact that we could very well die out here.

"Water water everywhere," I sighed as I looked over the edge of the raft, gulping as I imagined a school of sharks swimming just beneath the surface. I couldn't help but remembering that Jaws movie my dad had showed me when I was a kid, then thinking that maybe something like that was down below us, ready to come up and take a bite out of the raft at any moment. I wasn't the only one who was having such thoughts.

Over the last two days, I'd gotten to know my fellow passengers in the raft a little better, though that didn't mean we were all great friends. In fact, the stress of our situation made friendship with any of them rather difficult at the moment. The only one I really trusted right then was Eddie.

Ellen was a pretty decent looking woman in her late twenties or early thirties, though she spent all of her time trying to comfort her 8 year old son Jimmy. The rest of us had tried keeping a pleasant outlook so as not to scare Jimmy any more than he already was, but that slowly ended as our own fear increased.

Alice Adams was the stuck-up business woman that we'd seen on the ship. She was in her mid-thirties and pretty good looking, in that kind of cold and unapproachable way. She had first insisted on being addressed as Ms. Adams, though the raft was hardly a place for being formal. And to make her even more annoying, she seemed to think that she was in charge, though in charge of what I didn't know.

To make up for Alice, we had Tanya, the hot blonde that I'd been quietly watching on the ship. Unfortunately, she'd also come on the raft with her boyfriend Dan, who was not only pretty muscular, but a bit jealous of other people looking at her as well. And to make things even worse, she seemed to enjoy flirting with other guys just to get a reaction from Dan. It wasn't a great combination for guys who had to be around those two.

And then there was Michael, "don't call me Mike", who was a middle-aged black guy with a bald head and gray beard. He was a bit heavyset and somehow made me think of a college professor or the dad from that old Will Smith TV series The Fresh Prince of Bell Air.

The last of my fellow shipwreck survivors was Theresa, Michael's Puerto Rican wife. She was probably in her forties, but she looked real good for her age and was still pretty sexy. And from the way she looked at her husband, she was obviously deeply in love with him.

"When I get rescued," Alice exclaimed, not for the first time, "I am going to sue those people."

"Somehow," Michael commented wryly, "I doubt that the captain and crew were capable of controlling the storm." That only earned him a glare from Alice, who had an expression that indicated she knew what was best.

A few minutes later, Dan suddenly exclaimed, "Hey look, an island!" He was excitedly pointing to the side where I could see an island in the distance.

"We're saved," Tanya grinned and all of us became excited and relieved.

"The waves might carry us right past it," I pointed out fearfully. I didn't want to get my hopes up only to have them torn away by the ocean current.

It only took a moment to remember that the raft came with a pair of oars that were strapped to the bottom. Dan immediately grabbed one of the oars and began to use it, and since I was on the opposite side of the raft, I grabbed the second one and joined him. We both worked hard to push the raft closer to the island.

"Go faster," Alice demanded.

"Quiet," Michael told her, "Just sit back and let them work, unless you want to grab an oar and actually help."

"How dare you...?" Alice started with an angry look.

But Theresa suddenly exclaimed, "Who do you think you are, bitch? Shut up and let them work, or someone might throw you overboard and you can swim to the island."

I was a little started at Theresa's outburst, especially since she was about the same age as my mom. But her threat had done it's work for the moment because Alice just sat there with a cross expression.

The island was a little further away than I had first thought, but fortunately, the waves were pushing us in the right direction and the others were there to take over for me and Dan. We all took turns at the oars, including Alice, and we eventually reached the island, landing on the sandy beach.

"Finally," Eddie exclaimed, scrambling out of the raft and actually kissing the sand.

"I know what you mean," I stood up and stretched for the first time since climbing into that raft.

"Where are we?" Jimmy asked fearfully.

"We're on an island," Ellen tried to reassure her son, "It's just like Gilligan's Island. See, we aren't on that raft anymore, so we're nice and safe."

Jimmy gave her a blank look when she mentioned Gilligan's Island, then his expression turned more skeptically before he finally complained, "I'm hungry..."

"Me too," Eddie said, "I wonder if we can find a McDonald's around here anywhere."

I just stood there, taking in my surroundings and trying to make more sense of where we were. At the moment, we were still on a large sandy beach, but just a short distance ahead, there were lots of trees and bushes. They were thick enough that I couldn't see very far in. And then I could see some large rocky outcroppings towards one end of the island, looking almost like a small mountain range.

"This place looks more like that island on Lost," I muttered, thinking that the modern castaway TV show was a little more accurate than the comic classic.

"I've seen movies where people got stuck on islands like this," Dan said, "The first thing we've got to do is look for water, then food and shelter."

"Before we start making plans to live here," Michael pointed out, "we might want to have a quick look around and make sure that this is a deserted island. I know that I for one would feel extremely foolish if there turned out to be a resort or such just around the corner."

We talked and argued about what we were going to do for some time before finally coming up with a plan. Tanya and Dan would walk along the beach in one direction to look for any signs of civilization, while Eddie and I would go in the other. The rest of the people would either be sitting around on the beach there or going into the nearby brush to look for food and water. We would then all meet up again back there where the raft had landed in just a few hours.

Eddie and I walked along the beach for good half hour before we were stopped by a large rock outcropping that blocked our path. It was high and steep, stretching like a wall in front of us. If I'd had more energy or been more ambitious, I might have bothered climbing it. As it was, we hadn't seen any signs of civilization, from a single footprint to a single piece of litter, so we decided to turn around and head back.

"No luck," I called out when we returned to the rest of the group.

After we'd told them about the rock outcropping which blocked our way, Alice grimaced, "You should have climbed on top of it. It would have given you a better view."

"You're welcome to go back and climb it yourself," I told her, earning a chuckle from Eddie and just about everyone else.

Alice glared at me, obviously not used to getting that kind of response to criticisms. "If you were one of my employees," she stated arrogantly, "I would fire you in an instant."

"If I were one of your employees," I snorted in disgust, "I'd gladly quit first."

A short time later, Dan and Tanya came running back, grinning with excitement. "You'll never guess what I found," Dan exclaimed, pointing back the way they'd come, "We found a dock."

"There weren't any boats though," Tanya added with a look of disappointment.

"A dock means civilization," Theresa grinned.

We all followed Dan and Tanya as they led us down the beach, about twice as far as Eddie and I had managed to go. Then we came to a protected inlet for a large lagoon that had a decent sized dock in it. It looked much sturdier than I would have expected, as though it had been made by professionals with the right equipment rather than thrown together from the materials at hand. That was a very good sign.

"Look," Ellen exclaimed, pointing to a slightly overgrown stone path that came out near the dock, and which seemed to lead up towards one of the large rock outcroppings.

"No," I pointed upwards, to the largest outcropping which was set some distance back. "There's a building up there..."

Everyone immediately looked to where I was pointing, then we all began to grin in delight. It almost became a race to see who could get up that path first, in spite of the fact that we were all tired.

The path slowly led up the large stone outcropping, providing stairs to make the climb easier. As we neared the building, we were treated to a spectacular view. This massive rock hill was the highest point on the island, and even before reaching the spot that had the building, we could see almost everything. A quick scan revealed that this building seemed to be the only such place on the island, with the rest of it being sand, rock and brush.

When we reached the end of the path, we were at the building, which seemed to be a very expensive looking house. It was built right into the rock, with nearly all of the exposed walls providing a clear view of the surroundings with large glass windows. There was even a large patio which jutted out from the side.

"Incredible," Eddie exclaimed, "Whoever built this must be loaded."

"Yuck," Ellen grimaced, "The whole patio is covered with bird poop."

I looked at the surroundings and realized that Ellen was right. There were bird droppings, feathers, shattered shells and other such debris scattered all over the place. It looked as though the whole outside had been taken over by the birds, which was not a great sign. In fact, just from the state of the outside, I would guess that no one had been there in several years.

To my surprise, the large door was unlocked so we were able to just let ourselves in. The inside was in MUCH better shape than the outside. The door might have been unlocked, but it had been closed, keeping out all the birds and other animals, though there was a layer of dust which confirmed the fact that no one had been there in awhile.

"It must be some millionaire's vacation home," Dan said as he looked around.

"It's like, totally dirty," Tanya grimaced as she wiped a finger over the dust on a table.

"It doesn't do us much good if no one's here," Alice said with a deep scowl. "But I suppose it's much better than sleeping in some tent until we get rescued."

"True," Michael nodded agreement, "But there might be a satellite phone or a radio we can use to call for help."

We all brightened at the idea and separated to search the house. We located 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a pantry that was stocked with canned and dehydrated food, a large supply of potable water that was tied to the faucets, and even a working generator that was able to restore power to the house, but there was no sign of a radio or anything else we could use to call for help.

"At least we should be comfortable here until we're rescued," Michael pointed out. "And since there is a house here, we know it's not an uncharted island and that people do come here."

"But it looks like it's been awhile," I scowled, wishing that I'd never gone on this vacation.

"Then we should probably go and pick out our bedrooms," Theresa said, "because it looks like we might all be here for awhile too."

None of us was too happy about that, but she had a point. We had no idea how long we would be stuck here before the owners of the house came back, so we might as well get settled in. I grimaced, then called out, "Dibs on the room next to the bathroom..."

Part 3

I stood out on the balcony, staring out at the vast ocean, scanning the horizon and sky for any signs of a ship, plane or helicopter that could rescue us from the island. Hell, I would have been ecstatic to even see a hot air balloon. Unfortunately, I didn't see a damn thing except waves and sky.

It had been four days since our raft washed up on this island, leaving us all trapped here. Sure, it was a pretty comfortable place to be trapped, with plenty of food and water, indoor plumbing, comfortable beds, and even electricity, but we were still trapped.

"It could have been worse," I reminded myself for what had to be the thousandth time. "We could have washed up on any of those other islands that didn't have a comfortable house waiting." That soothed my mood for a minute, but only a minute as I thought about how I didn't want to be stuck on a deserted island at all, even if it did happen to be a comfortable one.

"At least I have a room to myself," I chuckled, thinking that it was probably one of the first times in my life I could claim that. Before this, I'd shared a room with my younger brother Ken.

There were six nearly identical bedrooms in the house we'd stumbled across, though nine of us. Fortunately though, that wasn't really any problem. Michael and his wife Theresa automatically shared a room, as did Ellen and her son Jimmy. Neither Tanya or Dan had a problem sharing a room with each other either and actually seemed to prefer it that way. This left the three of us who remained, each with a room to ourselves.

After a minute, I turned my attention to looking for ships and aircraft in the distance, even using a pair of binoculars that we'd found in the house. It was my turn at watch and I even had a signal flare from the raft just a few feet away just in case I did see something.

While I was keeping watch, I was actually thankful that I wasn't out with Dan, Michael and Eddie. They were down on the beach building a big SOS sign out of rocks and such. By the time I was done with my turn at watch, they would probably be finished. I only hoped that all this would help us get rescued.

"I just wonder why a place like this doesn't have a radio to call out or something," I grumbled, having thought that someone who lived or just vacationed in such an out of the way place as this would at least want some way to contact the outside world.

Eventually, my shift at watch was over and Alice came to replace me. She glared at me slightly but didn't say anything rude or insulting, which was definitely an improvement. She had gotten a little better about her attitude, though she seemed to take it personally that we didn't all accept her authority. Of course, she still tried pushing the rest of us around, just not nearly as much as before since she knew we'd only ignore her.

I was just on my way to the pantry to find something to eat when I suddenly felt a cold chill run through my entire body, followed by a tingling over my skin. I froze, grabbing the wall for support and gagging as a wave of intense nausea shot through me.

"Oh shit," I groaned, closing my eyes and waiting for it to pass. It did so after a minute, at least most of the way. I still felt a bit nauseous and chilled though.

Over the last few days, most of the members of our group had started getting sick. We didn't know if it might be food poisoning, something in the water, or just some local bug that we were catching. What we did know was that it seemed to come and go in spurts rather than hitting people all at once, and that everyone had slightly different symptoms. Up until now, I'd thought that I had been lucky enough to escape it.

"Just great," I groaned, letting go of the wall and continuing towards the pantry.

"Let me guess," Ellen said when she saw me, "You finally caught it to."

"Yeah," I sighed, "I've got nausea and the chills."

"It could be worse," she pointed out, "It could be fever and diarrhea." I winced at that, remembering how she'd spent half the day in the bathroom yesterday and how she had been hitting it nearly every hour or two since. "I swear this is making me lose weight."

"So you're looking for a snack," I gestured to the food in the pantry, "I know I am... I just wish I could find some ice cream or something. I mean, that would be perfect for this place."

"Actually," Ellen sighed, "I'll looking for something for Jimmy."

Just then, I saw Jimmy coming towards us, complaining, "I'm hungry..."

"You're always hungry," she told him with a look of exasperation, "I'm afraid he's going to eat everything if I give him half a chance."

"Eat up," I chuckled, grabbing a canister of peanut butter that I thought might go good on some of the fruit we'd found in the jungle, "There's still plenty to go around, especially with the way Michael can catch fish."

I left the kitchen, only to be hit with another wave of cold chills and nausea a minute later. I wasn't sure that I even wanted to have a snack anymore, so I sat down to catch my breath and hope that this whole sick thing would go away before long. It was bad enough to be stuck on this island, but to be sick on top of it?

After a while, Tanya came into the room, looking just as hot and sexy as always. And since Dan wasn't around, I didn't feel nearly so bad about staring at her from the corner of my eye and admiring her figure. I think she noticed me looking because she began moving a little more sexily.

Just then, Tanya staggered and dropped to her knees, gasping in pain. "It hurts," she cried out, obviously referring to the cramps that she'd been suffering since she'd come down with this weird sickness.

"Are you all right?" I demanded, rushing over to her.

"My whole body hurts," she cried out, her face contorting in agony. Then she collapsed the rest of the way and her body began to shake as though she were having some sort of seizure.

I stared at her in fear, not having seen her or anyone else react like this. Maybe she had some sort of medical problem that the sickness was making worse. I didn't know and couldn't exactly ask her at the moment. For a moment,

I stood there, paralyzed and unable to think of what to do. Finally, I just screamed out, "HELP!"

A minute later, Alice, Ellen, Theresa and Jimmy all came running into the room as fast as they could, though Ellen told Jimmy that he should go back to their room so he wouldn't have to see this. However, he ignored her and stood there at the doorway, staring at Tanya with a pair of wide eyes.

"What happened to her?" Alice demanded, glaring at me as though I might have attacked her.

"It's that sickness," I snarled, "It's gotten worse."

"It hurts," Tanya whimpered, gasping deeply for breaths.

"Let's get her to her bed," Alice said.

Theresa and I both turned to glare at her, ready to argue and snap at her for ordering us around. However, we both realized that this time she was right. I grabbed for Tanya's shoulders while Theresa began to grab her feet.

"Aren't you going to help?" Theresa demanded of Alice.

But before Alice could answer, Jimmy gasped and began to shudder, obviously being hit by an attack of the illness himself, though not nearly as bad as Tanya's. However, Ellen immediately forgot all about Tanya and helping us move her as she rushed over to her son.

"Poor kid," I muttered, hating to see someone as young as Jimmy getting sick. But then I focused my attention back on what I was doing, reminding myself that Tanya was currently a lot worse off. I began lifting her shoulders and upper body, surprised at just how heavy she was. She was certainly a lot heavier than I ever would have guessed. "Damn, she needs to go on a diet..."

Theresa and I quickly managed to get Tanya into her bedroom and set on top of her bed. Then Theresa had Alice fetch a wet cloth to help keep Tanya cool. Since there wasn't anything I could do, I left Tanya in Theresa's care and hurried out of the room.

I hadn't gone very far when I was hit with another wave of the sickness myself, becoming so nauseated that I nearly lost what little I had eaten. When it passed, I stood up, still feeling sickness, just not nearly as strong.

"Just great," I spat out bitterly, "Shipwrecked on a deserted island and now everyone is getting sick." And from Tanya's condition, I had a bad feeling that the sickness was only going to get worse, a thought which terrified me since we had absolutely no medical facilities. "Damn I wish I'd never gone on that stupid vacation..."

Part 4

I was not in a good mood, nor was anyone else on the island. It was hard to believe that our little band of castaways had been so hopeful and full of cheer just a short while ago, thanks to the discovery of the house and all the food. Unfortunately, this strange illness had changed that, filling us all with an ever increasing fear.

When the sickness had first appeared, it had seemed minor, little more than an inconvenience. However, Tanya had completely collapsed yesterday and had barely even moved since. And to prove that it wasn't just a one time thing, little Jimmy had collapsed the same way just a few hours ago.

"Is Jimmy any better?" I asked Ellen hopefully when I saw her coming out of the bathroom from another one of her bouts of diarrhea. She looked pale and thin, somehow smaller than normal. It was probably a combination of the sickness and worry over her son.

"No," she shook her head, looking as though she were about to break into tears. "He's not moving..."

"If only we could contact some help," Michael exclaimed as he walked in our conversation. "Unfortunately, we don't even seem to have any medical supplies beyond a few band aids."

"Tanya doesn't seem to be improving much either," Theresa said as she walked up beside her husband. She scowled, "She still has a fever and keeps having these little seizures. She doesn't seem to really be getting worse either, so maybe she's fighting it off."

"How could this happen to Jimmy?" Ellen cried out, seemingly ignoring the fact that she along with the rest of us was sick as well. "He's only a little boy..."

"It's not fair," Theresa told her with a sad expression.

Ellen nodded, "I've got to get back to Jimmy." With that, she turned and hurried back to the bedroom she shared with her son.

"Man, this really sucks," I grumbled, shaking my head and trying to hide the fear I felt. I couldn't help thinking about all those movies about people getting caught in some virus outbreak that kills just about everyone. So far no one here had died, but that didn't mean it would stay that way.

"Maybe we should do a quarantine thing," Dan suggested as he joined us, "I mean, if we all go and keep away from each other..."

"It's too late for that," Alice snapped, joining us as well. She gave Dan a look that indicated he was a complete idiot. "All of us have already caught it."

"I'm afraid she's right," Michael sighed, "And even if we'd done that as soon as we began getting sick, it still probably would have been too late."

"Well, we've gotta do something," Dan snapped, gesturing in the direction of Tanya's room, "I don't want to end up like her."

"None of us do," Michael reminded him. "But at the moment, there doesn't seem to be anything we can do. We don't even know for certain that it is a virus. It could be some sort of poison or infection for all we know."

"I've started boiling water before drinking it," Alice pointed out, "but it hasn't done any good."

"Then I suggest we pray," Theresa shook her head. "I've been praying for us all, but we could use all the prayers we could get."

We all grumbled, feeling frustrated and helpless since there didn't seem to be anything to do. I sighed and decided to go down to the lagoon and join Eddie in fishing. It would be great to not only spend time with just my best friend, but also to take my mind off of everything that was going on.

I had just taken a few steps when I was hit with another wave of chills and nausea, nearly dropping to my knees. "Damn," I muttered, "It's going to take more than fishing to get my mind off this shit."

When I reached the lagoon, I found Eddie sitting at the end of the dock with a home made fishing pole dangling in the water. It had seemed a little strange that we couldn't find any real fishing poles or fishing gear in the house, especially when it seemed to be some sort of vacation home, but everything about this island was strange. He nodded towards me and gestured for me to join him.

"I've been trying to keep away from everyone else," Eddie shrugged, "You know...just in case."

"You've already caught it," I pointed out quietly, thinking about the conversation I'd just been involved in up at the house. "And Michael thinks it might be some kind of poison, and that wouldn't be contagious anyway."

"Maybe it's anthrax or something," Eddie gulped nervously, "Maybe the government was using biological weapons here or something man."

"The house doesn't exactly look like a top secret government lab," I pointed out with a grin, earning a grunt from Eddie.

Eddie and I sat there for over an hour, barely talking as we just looked into the water and watched the fish swim past. By the time we were done, we had a total of three fish, including the one Eddie got before my arrival. This wouldn't be enough to feed the whole group, but it would be enough for the two of us to have some fresh meat along with the canned stuff in the pantry.

When we made our way back up the path to the house, I was regretting that I'd ever joined Eddie fishing. Sure, it meant that I'd get a little something extra with my dinner, but wasn't feeling all that well and the long walk wasn't making it any better. The chills and nausea had been hitting me in waves, but some of it remained with me all the time now. It grew worse while I was exerting myself going up all those steps.

"I feel like puking my guts out," I told Eddie, who nodded agreement, "And to make it worse, I've got a hard-on that won't go away. I mean, what a time for it to happen. Why couldn't I get the everlasting boner when I had a lot of chicks around?"

"Too much information," I told him with a shake of my head, "Too much information."

We were nearing the end of our trip up to the house and were going up the part of the steps that made me the most nervous. There was a steep drop to one side, nearly a cliff, and there were no hand rails to keep you from going over. As with every time I made the trip up and down those steps, I made sure to stay on side of the steps that were furthest away from that drop.

It was at this point that I looked ahead of our path and noticed Alice coming down towards us. Since she had a basket in her hand, I assumed that she was either going to gather fruit or something. I scowled slightly, wishing that I'd thought to grab some fruit when we were done fishing so we could have made the most of our trip down to the beach.

Alice didn't say a word as she came towards us, though she suddenly stopped with a look of pain on her face. She gasped, obviously having an attack of the sickness, then lost her balance and staggered towards the steep drop.

"Watch it," I yelled, running towards Alice and grabbing her just before she would have toppled over the edge. I quickly pulled her back to safety and let out a sigh of relief, my heart racing as I realized how close I'd come to going over with her.

"Lee!" Eddie called out, quickly running up to join us. He stared at me, "Damn man, you nearly went over..."

Thank you," Alice said in a crisp tone after she had recovered her balance. Then she looked to the edge, her eyes widening as she realized just how close she'd come to dying. She stared at me for a moment with a look of surprise, then said, "Thank you," again, this time with real gratitude in her voice. This was the most human warmth I'd ever heard from her. And she surprised me even more by smiling faintly.

No problem," I told her, glancing towards the edge myself.

I would have died," she said, her voice a bit shaky. She shook her head, "I almost went over..."

Dean saved your ass," Eddie exclaimed a bit smugly, obviously enjoying the opportunity to rub it in. I glared at him.

I am well aware of that," Alice snapped at Eddie in her normal tone.
She took a deep breath and stared at me for a moment, a curious look in her eyes. Then she gave me a friendly smile, a slight nod, and quickly continued on her way, careful to keep as far away from the edge this time as she could.

Man," Eddie shook his head, "That was wicked. I can't believe you actually saved her ass."

It was nothing," I shrugged it off, secretly feeling a little surprised by my own actions as well. After all, I wasn't exactly the hero sort and this was the first time I'd ever saved someone's life.

Too bad it wasn't Tanya," Eddie continued, "Then maybe she would have shown you her gratitude, if you know what I mean."

Yeah right," I laughed, "Then Dan would kill me. Tanya may be hot, but I'm not sure it's worth it."

Eddie and I had barely reached the house when Theresa came rushing out of Tanya's room, frantically going on about something in Spanish. I couldn't tell what she was saying, though a lot of it had the tone of profanity. Michael immediately tried calming his wife down, though it took a minute to do so enough for her to switch to English.

Tanya," Theresa exclaimed, "Something strange is happening to her..." She shook her head, gesturing back to the room, "I've never seen anything like it..."

"What?" Dan gasped, jumping to his feet. He took several steps towards the room he'd been sharing with Tanya until she went unconscious, then paused, "What if she's getting contagious or something?"

Theresa said something in Spanish again, then told him, "I don't know what is happening to her... It's not normal..."

For a moment, Theresa just stood there, looking a bit stunned, then she took several deep breaths and went back to Tanya's room, with Michael following close behind her. Dan, Eddie and I all remained where we were, looking at each other in confusion. Michael came back a minute later, looking a bit startled.

"She's having some sort of seizure," he said slowly, "But it's like nothing I've ever seen before..."

"What's going on?" Dan demanded, but Michael wouldn't say any more on the subject and when Dan went to go check on Tanya, Theresa wouldn't let him in, saying that Tanya needed her privacy. That only made us all the more curious.

After two hours, Theresa came back out, looking a bit shaken but in control of the situation. "Tanya is awake again and feeling much better," she announced, glancing back to the doorway with a strange look, "But she's really hungry." She shook her head in disbelief and hurried to the pantry to gather food.

A minute later, Tanya came out of her room, naked except for a blanked that was wrapped around her to protect her modesty. At first, I let out a sigh of relief that she was all right, but then I suddenly realized that something was seriously wrong. Everyone around me gasped in shock, each and every one of us staring at Tanya with our mouths open.

Tanya was standing there bare foot, but she towered over all of us. She slowly moved closer to Dan, now standing 6 inches taller than his height of 6 foot 2. He seemed short compared to her, a fact made even more pronounced by her rather prominent muscles. Tanya was still sexy and curvy, but now she almost looked like a female body builder, possessing obvious muscles that she definitely didn't have before.

All of us just stared at Tanya in shock, trying to absorb her transformation and make sense of it. Finally, Tanya was the one who broke the silence with a look of confusion and the demand, "What the hell happened to me?"

Part 5

I stared at Tanya in stunned amazement, and I was hardly the only one. Everyone had come rushing over to stare at her, even Ellen left Jimmy for a few minutes to come and stare at her in amazement. I don't think that anyone could fully absorb the fact that our sexy Tanya had somehow become a towering 6 foot 8 amazon.

"You all look so small," Tanya gasped as she looked at us all, her eyes especially going wide as she stared at Dan. Then she winced and exclaimed, "God, I'm hungry..."

Tanya was immediately ushered to the kitchen where Theresa began piling large amounts of food in front of her. She gulped everything down, eating such a large amount of food that I almost feared she would empty the entire pantry. All I could do was stare at her as she ate while simultaneously trying to pretend that I wasn't. Everyone else was doing the same, with Dan looking quite nervous as he did so.

"If that's what the sickness does to you," Eddie whispered into my ear, "I can't wait."

I merely nodded my head at that, wondering what it would be like to be so big and strong. After all, if that weird sickness could do that to someone like Tanya, then what could it do for me? What could it do for someone like Dan, who was already pretty muscular? I didn't really want to know what it could do to Dan, but I certainly wouldn't mind finding out about myself.

Once Tanya finished eating, she stood up again and looked at as all with a strange expression. She looked as though she couldn't quite believe how big she had become and thought that this might be some sort of a joke. Then she insisted on standing beside Dan and comparing their heights, shaking her head in amazement once she had done so.

"This is so weird," she said, staring at Dan and giggling weakly. Then she looked down at herself and the blanket she was wrapped in and blushed, "I don't have any clothes..."

"Actually," Michael mused, rubbing at his beard, "I found several boxes of jumpsuits in a room. They seem to be in just about every size, even ones big enough for you. These might not be very flattering, but at least you will have something that fits."

Michael and Theresa took Tanya to the back room and showed her the boxes of plain white jumpsuits. Michael hadn't been kidding when he said they came in all sizes since some were the right size for small children while others came too large for even Tanya to wear. Once she found one that fit her, she disappeared into another room to get dressed.

"What do you think?" Tanya asked once she came out, showing off the jumpsuit she now wore. She scowled, "It's ugly..."

"But at least it fits," I pointed out.

"Yeah," Eddie grumbled, leaning over and whispering to me, "Too bad we had these because I wouldn't mind seeing her going around without anything to wear."

"I wonder what Alice will say when she gets back from picking fruit and sees this," I mused to Eddie.

Eddie just snorted, "She'll probably give some feminist lecture on how all women should be bigger than guys."

"I don't know," I shrugged, "She's rude and bossy to everyone, not just the guys." Then I chuckled, "She'll probably just be mad that she wasn't the first one to get big. I mean, imagine how easily she'd be able to intimidate us and boss us around if she was that big."

Eddie shuddered, "I don't want to think about that. I just hope I grow bigger before she does. There's no way I want to be smaller than her."

"You're assuming that we all grow larger," Michael said, having overheard our conversation. "We don't know what this strange sickness is doing to us. For all we know, the rest of us could all die."

I grimaced, not wanting to think about that possibility. I'd been thinking about it quite a bit over the last few days, so seeing Tanya and realizing that it might make me better instead had been a large surge of hope. Unfortunately, I couldn't deny that Michael had a very big point. We had no idea if the sickness would do the same thing to the rest of us that it did to Tanya.

"You're ruining the mood," Eddie responded, refusing to give into Michael's reasoning. I could see the gleam in his eye as he imagined what it would be like being big and muscular. He was probably day dreaming about going back to civilization and having girls throw themselves at him.

After this, Tanya vanished to find some privacy where she could investigate her new body, and avoid our curious stares. I noticed that Dan disappeared as well, though he seemed to do so in the opposite direction. I couldn't help wondering what would happen to their relationship now that Tanya had changed like that.

I took my shift at the watch, looking out at the ocean with the binoculars and trying hard not to think of the aches and shivers I'd been feeling. They were extremely uncomfortable, but I couldn't very well complain since everyone was feeling symptoms of the illness. In fact, I was lucky in that I didn't have the severe diarrhea that several others did.

"Damn," I winced as I was hit with another attack, my whole body cramping up for a minute and dropping me to my knees. As with every other time, it quickly passed, though that didn't make me feel a whole lot better. I knew I could expect another attack to hit before long.

Just a short time later, Alice came out onto the patio, surprising me by bringing me a glass of water and some fruit. "I thought you might be getting hungry out here," she said almost defensively.

"Thanks," I responded, just a little surprised since Alice wasn't known for being the most thoughtful person on the island.

Alice stood there for a moment, silently looking out of the ocean and acting almost as though I weren't even present. This was a bit more like the Alice that I was familiar with. Then she said, "Tanya's change is certainly...surprising."

"Yeah," I agreed, not sure how else to put it. "I didn't even think it was possible to grow that fast."

"It does seem to go against normal physics," Alice scowled, "It goes against everything I know about matter conservation. Where did that extra mass come from?"

I just shrugged, "I don't have a clue."

We both just stood there, staring out at the ocean in silence. It was strange to realize that this was the longest conversation that I'd ever had with Alice, and the longest I'd heard her talk without threatening, lecturing or trying to boss someone around. At the moment, she almost seemed like a normal human being.

Finally Alice turned to leave without saying good-bye, pausing just long enough to say, "I almost forgot. Dan collapsed and had to be taken to bed too."

"Three down," I whispered once Alice had left, "Six more to go."

It seemed that we were all collapsing due to this sickness, one person at a time. So far Tanya had come out of it all right, and then some, but we had no idea if the same could be said for everyone. Then I gulped, afraid that my turn to find out would come soon enough.

Part 6

I looked at Eddie across the small table that we were playing cards on, scowling as I did so. We had both thought that a game of cards would distract us from all of our problems, though it had done little towards that goal. Instead, we found ourselves snapping at each other and arguing as we too our frustrations out on each other.

Things had been pretty strained since Dan had collapsed yesterday, and they only grew worse when Michael had followed him this morning. As of now, four of our group had gone unconscious, with only one of them coming out of it so far. And Tanya had been so drastically changed that none of us could believe it.

"It looks like I win again," Eddie smirked as he showed me his hand, "What's this...five of the last seven games?"

"Bite me," I snapped back.

After staring at Eddie's smirking face, I looked around, spotting Alice sitting on the couch and reading a book she'd found. It was one of those old classic books by Jane Austin or someone, but she seemed to be pretty caught up in it. But other than the three of us, there was nobody else in sight.

Ellen was still with Jimmy and had barely left him at all since he'd collapsed, and now that Michael had gone down as well, Theresa was giving him a similar treatment. I wasn't sure that I'd seen either Ellen or Theresa at all since around the time Michael had just fallen flat onto his face in a bunch of intense seizures.

Of course, Dan was out of it too, but to my surprise, Tanya didn't seem nearly as concerned about him as I would have expected. Instead of sitting beside her boyfriend while he was sick in bed, she'd been running around marveling at her new size and strength. In fact, she was currently busy with a set of weights that we'd found, measuring just how strong she'd become. I hadn't even seen her in at least an hour.

"You want to play too?" I asked Alice, more to be polite than because I thought she's accept.

"No thank you," she responded, barely glancing up from her book. Eddie glared at me for making the offer. He didn't like Alice at all and seemed offended that I had somehow ended up on relative speaking terms with her over the last few days.

"Just go ahead and deal the next hand," I glared back at my best friend, "I'm going to kick your ass this time."

"Promises promises," Eddie snickered as he began to shuffle the cards.

We were halfway through our next game with Tanya finally made a reappearance. She stepped into the room, wearing just her white jumpsuit and towering over everyone present. She seemed to be both self-conscious of this fact and amused by it at the same time.

"Guess what," Tanya exclaimed, "I can bench press almost four hundred pounds." She stood there, proudly flexing her muscles though I couldn't really see them through the jump suit.

"Great," I rolled my eyes, suddenly feeling weak and scrawny in comparison. It was hard to believe that the hot and sexy babe that I'd been drooling over on the ship could now bench about twice what I could. It just wasn't fair.

"Do you guys want to come see?" she asked me and Eddie, giving the sexy pout which was no longer quite as effective with her new size. In fact, it seemed a bit...odd.

"Why not," Eddie sighed, putting the cards down and glaring at me, "It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Hey," I protested, "I was just about to win this game..." Eddie just laughed though as he left the table, making me realize that this was probably the real reason he chose to quit playing.

Once Eddie had left the room with Tanya, I was left alone with a stack of cards and nobody to play with. Of course, Alice was on the other side of the room, but she'd already made it clear that she had no interest in playing. In fact, I didn't even think she ever played games. Reading a book was the closest I'd seen her come to really letting down her hair and having a good time.

I remained where I was, playing solitaire for about ten minutes when I realized that Alice had come over and was watching me. She looked a little embarrassed for a moment, but quickly recovered. "I'll play a game or two with you if you're still interested," she offered, adding, "I've found a good spot in my book to take a break."

I blinked in surprise, then told her, "Sure..."

Alice and I played through one hand and were starting on our second when I heard a loud scream coming from one of the bedrooms. "That sounds like Ellen," Alice exclaimed, jumping to her feet and rushing towards her room. I dropped my cards, silently cursing since I a great hand and following after her.

I rushed into the bedroom Ellen and Jimmy shared, only to see the 8 year old boy laying in bed, his whole body shuddering and shaking in a horrible seizure. At first, I almost didn't even recognize him since he looked so different from the last time I'd seen him, but Ellen was standing over him, staring at him in shock and horror.

"He just started shaking and changing," Ellen cried out in panic.

I could only stare at Jimmy with my mouth open, stunned to see that he was noticeably larger than before. My first thought was that he was growing bigger, just like Tanya had, but I quickly realized that he was changing in other ways. His was noticeably longer and was getting lighter in shade as I watched. And his chest... His chest was slowly welling larger.

"Holy shit," I exclaimed, my eyes going wide. "He's starting to look like a girl."

Ellen only screamed louder at that, dropping down to clutch her son. "Why is this happening?"

Just then, Eddie and Tanya came bursting in as well, all curious to see what was happening to Jimmy. Tanya's eyes went wide and she gasped, "He's not changing the same way I did..."

"Get out," Alice snapped, pointing towards the doorway, "It won't do any good having everyone in here."

"I'll go get a towel and some ice water," I said, remembering that it had supposedly helped Tanya while she was going through her surge of changes. I left the room as fast as I could while Eddie and Tanya were almost shoved out.

Jimmy continued to change for the next two hours, his body being hit by waves of seizures and being transformed even more each time they came. Every time into the room at him, he had become more and more girlie. Soon however, he didn't look girlie so much as womanly. Jimmy wasn't just getting bigger...but older. His body was developing all the traits of an adult woman and then some.

Ellen spent the entire time by Jimmy's side, her reactions shifting between uncontrollable sobbing and just staring at him in shock and horror. She was obviously having a difficult time dealing with the situation, and strangely enough, Alice was the one who kept her from panicking entirely. Alice stayed by her side, remaining calm and level headed.

"Figures she wouldn't freak out," Eddie told me, still upset at having been kicked out of the room and being allowed to remain there and watch. "That bitch has ice in her veins."

"Like this is any different than when Theresa kicked us out while Tanya was changing," I pointed out, hardly able to believe that I was defending Alice.

Eventually though, Jimmy's transformation ended. He woke up, changed and confused, but no longer sick or having seizures. Ellen was relieved that Jimmy was all right, but she was horribly confused by his new appearance and didn't seem to know what to do. This only left Jimmy even more scared and confused so he sat there crying.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw just how much Jimmy had changed. Jimmy no longer looked anything like his old self or even remotely like a little boy. The former 8 year old now looked like a 20 year old woman, or more specifically, like a complete and total bombshell, with long blonde hair, stripper sized boobs and a killer figure that would make any guy drool. It was no wonder Ellen was too stunned to think clearly.

"Did you see that kid?" Eddie asked me with a look of disbelief, glancing towards the room that Jimmy was still hiding inside of. "I mean, holy shit..."

"Definitely weird," I nodded my agreement, feeling even more apprehensive about this weird sickness than before. Until that moment, I didn't even think it was possible.

"How come it did this to me," Tanya asked, gesturing down at herself, "and then it did that to him?" She sat there was a look of confusion on her face, as well as a hint of jealously. It was no surprise since Jimmy now looked even sexier than she had before she'd been changed.

Alice sat a short distance away from the rest of us, having been quiet until then. She stared out the window with a strange expression and said, "This can't be happening... Human's don't just change like this. It's impossible."

"Impossible or not," I pointed out, "It's happening."

"He looks like some kind of bimbo," Tanya announced with a jealous expression, something which I found ironic since I'd thought of her as being a bimbo.

Alice got up and announced, "I'm going to see if Ellen is all right."

Of course, I knew her real motivation was curiosity. Like the rest of us, she had a hard time accepting that the sexy babe in that room was really just an 8 year old babe. I knew that I was fighting the temptation to go in for another look, though the fact that Ellen was in there chasing out anyway who approached to closely helped keep my curiosity in check.

Alice was just walking past when she suddenly froze and let out a loud gasp. She started to collapse but I quickly caught her, "Thanks," she gasped weakly. She tried standing back up, but it was obvious that she wasn't in very good condition. In fact, she was beginning to shake and spasm.

"Oh no," I grimaced as Alice collapsed entirely, her body going into seizures for nearly half a minute before finally going motionless. "It just got Alice..."

"About time," Eddie muttered, almost smirking.

"Just think if she gets muscles like Tanya's," I pointed out to him.

Eddie suddenly went pale, "Oh shit..."

"We've got to get her to bed," I said, trying to lift Alice but finding that the she was a little heavy to move easily. "Can you help me Tanya?"

Tanya blinked in surprise, "Why me?"

"Because you're the strongest one here," I reminded her with a roll of my eyes.

"Oh yeah," Tanya blushed in embarrassment, then came and picked Alice up, gasping, "Wow... She's so light..."

While Tanya carried Alice to her bedroom, I turned to Eddie and gulped, "It looks like there's only four of us left. I wonder who's next..."

"Well I sure as hell hope it's not me," Eddie said with a visible wince. He had been previously hoping that the sickness would make him as big and strong as Tanya, but since he'd seen what it had done to Jimmy, he no longer wanted any part of it. I only nodded, agreeing with him completely. Somehow though, I didn't think that either of us would be that lucky.

part 7

I sat back with a book in my hand, though I scarcely paid any attention to it. For one thing, the book itself was boring, though didn't exactly have a lot of choices here on the island. For a second, Alice was still unconscious in her bed just a few feet away from me.

Ever since Alice had collapsed yesterday, it had been up to me to look after her and occasionally run a damp rag over her forehead to try calming her fever. As it was, Alice had made such a poor impression on everyone else that I was the only one who was willing to look after her right now. Of course, Theresa or Ellen might have at other times, but Ellen was still busy with the now transformed Jimmy and Theresa had collapsed herself sometime during the night.

"Come on," I sighed, pulling the rag from the bucket of cold water and squeezing it out before setting it on Alice's forehead. "Don't let this kill you... You might be a major bitch sometimes, but you sure don't deserve to die on this Godforsaken island."

Of course, I knew that there was a good chance that Alice wouldn't die from the sickness since of the six people who'd gone down now, none of them had died. In fact, the two who had woken up from their bouts of unconsciousness had found that they had somehow changed a great deal. Tanya had become an amazon while Jimmy became some kind of babe, so there was no telling what it would do to any of the others, Alice included.

Just then, a wave of the sickness hit me again. My whole body was wracked with aches, nausea and chills, almost enough to make me think that it was my turn to go unconscious now. However, they passed after just a minute, at least for the most part. I still felt somewhat sick, just not too overcome with it to move.

"Damn," I grimaced, taking a deep breath and trying to regain my balance.

After a minute, I got up from my chair to go check on the others and get myself something to eat. While I was at it, maybe I could get someone else to keep an eye on Alice for awhile, though I doubted it. There were more people down with the sickness than there were those of us still moving, and Alice fell on the bottom of the list for people to care about. I couldn't help but feeling sorry for her, thinking that it must be a lonely existence not to have anyone close to you.

"She really must be sorry if all she has is me," I shook my head with pity.

When I reached the central living area, I found that Jimmy was now dressed in one of those white jump suits that Michael had found. It was plain and boring, but he still looked pretty damn hot in it. His breasts looked as though they might explode from the confines at any moment.

"My chest feels funny," Jimmy complained to his mom, who hovered right beside him, glaring at Eddie who was trying hard not to stare too much. I could see why since Jimmy kept grabbing at his now monstrous breasts, obviously unused to having them. "And it's so big and heavy..."

"Hey man," Eddie greeted me, "Is the bitch any better?"

"No," I responded with a sigh, wishing that he'd stop calling her that while she was sick and unable to defend herself. It just didn't seem right. "How about the others? Is anyone else changing?"

"Not yet," Eddie shrugged, "We went and checked on them ten minutes ago."

"I wonder if anyone else is going to end up like me," Tanya mused, flexing her arm and shaking her head in disbelief as she stared at the muscle. "I feel so strong now..."

"You sure are big," Eddie said, staring at her breasts which seemed to have increased in size as well so that they were still the same size in proportion to the rest of her body. He licked his lips unconsciously as he stared at her, a fact which Tanya noticed and seemed to be amused by.

"I don't wanna be a girl," Jimmy abruptly stated, trying to cross his arms and give a look of determination, though it only looked comical since he couldn't even cross his arms due to his massive chest. "I don't wanna have cooties..."

"Sorry kid," Eddie teased him, "You've already caught them. Why else do you think you turned into a girl?"

Jimmy just stared down at himself with a renewed look of horror while Ellen snapped, "Don't fill her...his head with such nonsense." Then she tried to reassure Jimmy, "You don't really have cooties..."

But Jimmy looked at her tearfully, "Does this mean I have to be a mommy some day?" Ellen nearly choked at that while Eddie burst out laughing.

"Your turn will come," Tanya told him, seeming a bit amused herself.

I nodded and grabbed some fruit to eat, realizing that I missed the fresh fish that we had been eating. Since most of us were either down with the sickness or knew that we could collapse too at any time, we were staying in the house. The only one who still went down the long path of stairs to pick up fresh supplies was Tanya, and she only bothered with the fruit.

After eating, I checked in on Alice again then went the rounds to check on everyone else. Theresa and Michael were both completely unconscious and showed no signs of things worsening or improving. But when I checked on Dan, I was surprised at just how much smaller he now looked. It was as though most of his muscles had just burned right off over the last few days.

Just then, as though the sickness had been waiting for some sort of sickness, his body began to shake and spasm. It was the same thing that had happened to both Tanya and Jimmy in the final hours before they awoke. It was what happened to them when their bodies were changing.

"Oh shit," I gulped, rushing out to the others, "Dan's beginning to change."

All of us rushed back to Dan's room, though Ellen chased Jimmy out as she didn't want him to see it. We all just stood there and watched Dan for a minute before we thought to grab a bucket of cold water and a rag to help with his fever. Tanya stared down at him with an expression that was more curiosity than concern.

"He looks like he's getting smaller," Eddie said after Dan had been in his seizure stage for about an hour. "I wonder what he's gonna look like when he's done."

"I don't know," I said with a grimace, not sure that I wanted to know. So far, the weird sickness didn't seem to be making much if any sense at all. Somehow, I had a feeling that watching Dan's final transformation would only confuse me about it even more.

While the others were keeping a close eye on Dan, I went back to check on Theresa, Michael and Alice. Thankfully, none of them were starting on that seizure thing too because I didn't want to even think about what it would be like having everyone go through it at once.

Dan continued to change as he went through what seemed to be the final stages of the mysterious sickness. He had lost almost all of his muscle mass, as well as a good deal of his height. But more than that, it was becoming obvious that he was not only getting smaller, but younger as well. He looked like a teenager and seemed to still be getting younger.

When Dan finished his transformation, all of us just stared at him in stunned disbelief. I could hardly believe what I saw, though I knew I shouldn't have been surprised considering what had happened to both Tanya and Jimmy. And as I had expected, I was only more confused by the sickness than ever before.

"Holy shit," Eddie gasped with a look of fear, "I hope that doesn't happen to me."

Dan remained motionless in his bed for a short while after he had stopped changing, relaxing now in what seemed to be an exhaustion rather than sickness induced sleep. I only wondered what he was going to think about himself once he woke up and discovered how he had changed.

My curiosity didn't have to wait too long before Dan began to stir, then opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around with an expression of confusion, his eyes going wide when he saw Tanya standing there.

"It wasn't a dream," Dan said, staring up at Tanya and gulping.

"You look so cute," Tanya responded, grinning down at him.

Dan blinked, then looked down at himself and let out a loud scream. It wasn't surprising since his age had continued regressing until he was now only a 5 year old boy. He was small compared to all of us and absolutely tiny next to his girlfriend.

"What the fuck happened to me?" Dan cried out, jumping out of bed and standing there without any clothes on, his new position making the size difference between himself and everyone else even more obvious. He screamed and ran from the room so we chased after him.

"Wait," Tanya called out, "You're not the only one..."

When we got to living room, Dan stood there frozen, staring at Jimmy with his mouth wide open. Then he blinked and gasped, "Who's the babe."

"That's my son," Ellen told him in an icy tone.

Dan's eyes widened in surprise and he stared at the now self-conscious Jimmy even harder, then up at Tanya and down at himself. He was obviously confused and I couldn't blame him. At the time he collapsed, Tanya had been the only one to have been changed by the sickness. He must have expected that he would have woken up as some sort of huge bodybuilder rather than as a little boy.

"The sickness," I tried to explain, feeling a surge of sympathy for Dan as well as fear that I might end up like him, "It's changing everyone differently. It turned Jimmy into this," I gestured at the former little boy, "And it turned you into a kid."

"No," Dan gasped, his childish voice choked with horror. He ran to the bathroom, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that he didn't have a stitch of clothes on. After he'd taken a good long look at himself in the mirror, he staggered back out, his face pale with an expression of shock and disbelief. "No way," he gasped, "No fucking way. You've got to be fucking shitting me..."

"Now Danny," Tanya said, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips, looking down at him with an expression of mock disapproval. "Little boys shouldn't use such language. Don't make me wash your mouth out with soap."

Dan just stood there, suddenly looking extremely intimidated as he stared up at the giant Tanya in front of him. He had to be thinking about just how small, weak and helpless he was now, especially compared to his girlfriend. But as horrible as this was, I had a feeling that things would only get worse.

Part 8

I frowned as I watched Dan hurry through the house, trying to get away from Tanya without much success. Ever since he had woken up to find he'd turned into a little boy some hours earlier, he'd been forced to deal with Tanya, who was treating him like a little boy and patronizing him. She even insisted on calling him Danny, which frustrated him to no end.

"Talk about payback," I shook my head.

Dan had always been pushy and enjoyed intimidating other people with his size, and he tended to patronize Tanya a bit when he talked to her. Of course, that has now changed a great deal. She had become an amazon, a virtual giantess compared to him, while he was stuck as a small and helpless child. She was obviously enjoying this turnabout in their relationship a great deal, a lot more than I would have expected since he'd been her boyfriend.

"Come on Danny," Tanya called after Dan with a grin, "You're going to have to start getting ready for your bed time."

"Ouch," Eddie said as he came up next to me, shaking his head, "Talk about harsh."

"I'm just glad it's not me," I told him with a scowl. And I could only hope that when my turn came, I wouldn't end up in the same kind of situation as Dan.

"How's Ellen doing?" Eddie asked me after a minute, "Jimmy's pretty worried about her."

I let out another sigh at that. Ellen had succumbed to the sickness and collapsed just a little over an hour ago, and Jimmy had completely freaked out to see his mom go into seizures then go unconscious. It was all we could do to keep him from screaming and going insane, as if he didn't already have enough trouble dealing with his changed body.

"About what you'd expect," I sighed, "When I checked on her a few minutes ago, she was completely out."

"Damn," Eddie grimaced, looking more worried than I'd seen him in awhile. Even during the time being lost out in sea he didn't look quite this worried. I could easily imagine what had to be going through his head, especially after seeing how both Jimmy and Dan had come out of the sickness. "God, maybe this shit is why there's nobody around. Maybe it killed the owners off or something...."

"I don't know," I sighed, feeling more than a little worried myself. I was trying my best not to think about what would happen to me and everyone else.

Just then, Jimmy came into the room, looking like a bleary eyed bimbo who had been crying. He rubbed at his eyes, acting very much the child that he still was inside and whining, "When's my mom gonna get better...?"

"She's sick," I tried telling him, trying hard not to look at his chest, "Just like you were. I can't promise anything, but everyone else has been waking up after just a couple days of it..."

That didn't seem to comfort Jimmy much, who complained, "I feel really funny." He was grabbing at some parts of his body that made me blush and turn around, unable to look at him since I knew that he was really an 8 year old boy inside of that stripper body.

"Damn this is weird," I sighed after Jimmy had left the room.

Eddie nodded agreement, "No shit Sherlock. This is even worse than the time I asked Lucy Randall to go out with me, only to find out she'd come out of the closet half an hour earlier and I hadn't heard."

"What about the time Bobby Simmons started hitting on you and asking you on a date," I reminded Eddie with a laugh, "right in front of that girl you were trying to impress..." My old friend just groaned at the memory and how embarrassed he'd been.

"Anyway," I sighed, "I'm going to check on everyone again."

As I turned to go towards Alice's room, Eddie groaned, "You're not still looking after that stuck up bitch, are you? I mean, shit, it's not like she'd look after you."

"Someone has to keep an eye on her," I responded defensively, "And it's not like anyone else is going to. Besides, I'm checking up on everyone since everyone else is too distracted to bother."

I sighed, wishing that the others would help a little more, but Jimmy was too young, Tanya was too busy messing with Dan, and Eddie seemed to think that staying away from those who were still down might keep him from getting it himself. That left me as the only person who was willing to check on everyone who was sick on a regular basis.

After I went in to check on Alice, I put a cold cloth on her forehead and sighed, "I guess you should be waking up before too long." Then I shook my head, "I just wonder what you'll turn into when you do."

I stared at her for several minutes, thinking that she was surprisingly beautiful when she was asleep. Of course, when she was asleep she wasn't scowling, berating anyone or trying to get her way. Then again, I reminded myself that she wasn't always behaving like that, or at least she hadn't been for the last few days before she went down.

When I left Alice to check on the other's who were unconscious, I found that Michael was going through the early stages of the seizures which indicated that he would be transforming and coming out of his coma soon. So far, he didn't look much different than normal, just a bit thinner. However, his changes soon became more noticeable as well.

Over the next several hours, Michael continued to go through the transformation while the rest of us could only watch. Like Dan, he became younger, making us fear that he would share the same fate. But Michael stopped regressing much sooner than Dan had and changed only a little more after that.

By the time Michael awoke, he was barely recognizable as the same person. Instead of being middle aged, he was now in his twenties. Instead of being bald, he now had a full head of thick hair. And instead of being overweight, he was now trim and muscular. He wasn't bulky like a bodybuilder, but he was definitely ripped and well tone. He looked like he could have been his own son.

"Incredible," was all Michael could say once he had a chance to look himself over, "I was never in this kind of shape even when I was this age the first time." He stared at himself, obviously impressed by how he had changed, but that was quickly replaced with concern for Theresa, who was still unconscious.

"How did he get so lucky?" I overheard Dan mutter to himself bitterly, "How come I didn't change like that?"

"Man, did you see him?" Eddie whispered to me as we left Michael alone with his wife, "He's like, thirty years younger."

"Looks like he got lucky," I responded, thinking of both Jimmy and Dan.

I looked at Eddie, seeing him there with a thoughtful expression, similar to the first time he'd seen Tanya, before he realized that the sickness could have such vicious transformations as what Dan and Jimmy had gone through. I could see the mental wheels clicking as he imagined what it would be like to come out of this the same way Michael had, fit and in great shape.

"Too bad you can't afford to lose thirty years," I pointed out to him, more than happy to burst his little bubble.

Eddie winced and I smiled to see the renewed look of worry. I felt a little bad for pushing his buttons like that, but it was so much fun and he wouldn't hesitate to do the same to me. As he had once told me, "That's what best friends are for."

Just then, Dan came running past with Tanya chasing after him at a leisurely pace, "Come on Danny," she called out, "It's time for bed..."

"I am NOT a little kid," Dan yelled back at her, eager to get away from her constant and overwhelming teasing.

Leave him alone," I told Tanya with a roll of my eyes, "How would you like being turned into a kid again?"

You've got a problem with me little man?" Tanya demanded, walking right up to me and staring down, intentionally reminding me just how big she was now and trying to intimidate me. She was obviously trying to flex her new intimidation powers and see what she could get away with.

I took a deep breath and tried hard not to let her see just how intimidated I was feeling. "Yeah," I told her, "You're acting like a total jerk. You're even worse than Dan was."

Tanya winced slightly as though I'd touched a nerve. Then she quickly shrugged it off and turned around, "Whatever..." But as she walked off, she did so in the opposite direction.

Dan stood back and glared at me with no sign of gratitude at all. It was obvious that he resented the fact that someone like me would actually have to save him from his own girlfriend, or former girlfriend since it was obvious that their romantic relationship was done and over with.

"She's kind of hot when she's annoyed," Eddie whispered to me, glancing after Tanya.

I was about to respond when suddenly I was hit with another wave of the sickness. I dropped to my knees as my whole body was wracked with chills and aches. These had become so common that I didn't spend much time worrying about them anymore, but after a few seconds, it became very obvious to me that this was much worse than normal. I felt a surge of terror as I realized that this was it, that it was finally my turn to collapse.

My whole body began to shake and spasm uncontrollably and I collapsed to the ground into a burst of seizures. I couldn't control my own body anymore and could barely even make sense of what was going on around me. The aches and chills had increased a hundred fold until they were overwhelming me.

"Lee," Eddie gasped as he bent over me with a look of fear and concern.

I tried to respond but my throat wouldn't work quite right anymore. I was scared, more so than I've ever been of nearly anything in my life, except for leaving the sinking ship. But then, the darkness closed in and I too collapsed into total unconsciousness.

Part 9

When I awoke, feeling groggy and vague, I slowly became aware of two things. The first was that all the chills, aches, pains and nausea that I'd been feeling for the better part of a week were gone. The second was that there was someone hovering over me.

"You're awake," she said, sounding nervous and relieved at the same time.

It took me a moment to realize that this was Alice because she didn't quite look the same as before. She looked younger, in her early twenties instead of her thirties, as well as a little more beautiful. Of course, that last could have been because she was actually smiling for once. Then I noticed that her breasts seemed a bit larger as well.

"Stay here," Alice told me in a gentle but firm voice, "Try to stay calm..."

"Stay calm?" I gulped, deciding that I definitely didn't like the sound of that warning.

Alice ran to the door and left the room for just a few seconds while I began to slowly sit up, though it was difficult as there seemed to be a lot of weight on my chest holding me down. But before I could gather the energy to really move, Alice was back inside with several other people rushing in behind her.

Theresa stood beside Alice, staring at me with a look of concern. She too had changed since I'd last seen her, which wasn't surprising considering that everyone who became sick seemed to be changing. Like Alice, she looked younger, in her late twenties rather than in her forties. But even more noticeable than that was the fact she now had a pair of massively sized breasts, almost the size of beach balls. They made her look like some kind of stripper or something and she was obviously having a difficult time maintaining her balance as a result.

"Oh," Theresa looked down at herself in embarrassment when she noticed me staring, "As you can see, we've all been going through some changes."

"That is certainly an understatement," Michael stated as he looked down at me.

Then I noticed the little girl who was standing behind Michael. She had to be maybe 9 or 10 years old, and she looked vaguely familiar. It took me a moment to recognize her and realize that this was Ellen.

"Holy shit," I exclaimed, staring at her.

Ellen cringed, looking even more self-conscious than Theresa. I could only imagine how horrible this had to be for her, being turned into a little girl while her son Jimmy became an adult. That kind of role reversal sounded like some kind of twisted joke, and I could only imagine that it was even worse than that for her. Unfortunately, that only reminded me that I still didn't know what the sickness had done to me.

"Careful," Alice warned me with a concerned look, "Please try to stay calm."

I didn't like the sound of that so sat up as fast as I could in order to see the damage. It wasn't easy with he weight on my chest, and once I was sitting up and staring down at myself, I gasped on shock. I had a large pair of breasts. They weren't as large as Theresa's, or even half her size, but they still seemed enormous.

"Everyone out," Theresa snapped, "Give her some room..." Then Theresa and Alice ushered everyone else out of the room, leaving me by myself.

"Her?" I gulped, fearfully pulling back my bed sheet and looking at the rest of my body. Obviously 'her' was now the correct pronoun for me now. "God no..."

I grabbed my breasts, horrified that they were indeed real, that they were flesh and blood, part of my own body. Then I desperately grabbed to the empty spot between my legs, feeling sick to my stomach as I did so. I looked over the rest of my body which now seemed to be completely female and nearly screamed. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the fact that I had been expecting to wake up differently, and the knowledge that nearly everyone else in the house was going through their own drastic changes as well.

After a minute, I slipped my legs over the edge of the bed and sat there, still staring at myself. My arms and legs were now smooth and hairless. In fact, my entire body seemed to be hairless other than that the long hair that now ran down my back and the hair in my nether regions.

"Damn," I whispered, realizing that I seemed to have a really sexy body. I had killer legs, a slender waist and a well toned body, not to mention a great rack. If I'd seen a girl with a body like this, I probably would have started drooling and having fantasies right away. As it was, this was more like a nightmare.

I took several deep breaths, trying to stay calm. I wasn't the only one who'd gone through extreme changes, at least that was what I kept reminding myself. Dan and Ellen had both been turned into little kids. Jimmy had changed into a babe too, and since he'd been a little kid, it had to be even more of a shock for him. If they could all manage without panicking and screaming their heads off, I could too.

Then I looked around my room and noticed the white jumpsuit that was folded up in the chair. I carefully picked it up, realizing that it looked to be about the right size for my new body. That was all the invitation I needed to put it on, finding that it was a bit snug in the chest but otherwise fit fine.

Damn this is embarrassing," I muttered, bracing myself to go out with the others and face them. I didn't want them to see just how shaken up I was to wake up like this.

When I stepped out among the others, everyone was there waiting for me. Dan's eyes nearly bulged out of his 5 year old head and he exclaimed, "Holy shit!"

Watch your mouth Danny," Tanya warned him with a swat on his behind.

"You're a girl now too," Jimmy burst out, looking almost relieved that he wasn't the only one.

I just stood there and let them all get a good look at me while I simultaneously looked at Alice, Theresa and Ellen, still a bit curious about their changes as well. Theresa could barely standing up straight with her massive new breasts, but Alice seemed to have come out of the sickness in good shape.

"Where's Eddie?" I asked once I realized that he was the only one missing.

"He collapsed just a few hours after you," Michael told me with a frown. "He hasn't started changing yet but I expect he will be at any time now."

"Oh," I sighed, relieved that I didn't have to have my best friend see me like this yet, but a bit worried for him at the same time.

I stayed out there with the others for just a minute before I made my way to the bedroom, more than a little curious about what I now looked like. I went straight for the mirror and stared at myself in stunned disbelief.

"No way," I whispered, feeling even more shaken up than before.

Of course, I already knew from my own self examination that I looked like a sexy woman, but seeing it in this perspective was another thing entirely. I definitely looked like a hot and sexy babe, with brilliant blue eyes and golden blonde hair that went down to my mid back. But what was even more eerie was the incredible resemblance I now had to Jimmy. There was no doubt in my mind that the two of us could pass ourselves off as sisters if we wanted, though probably not as twins.

I stared at my reflection for several minutes, feeling increasingly heavy knot forming in my stomach. Finally I turned away with a wince, wondering how I was ever going to survive looking like some sort of Penthouse centerfold.

And as I left the bathroom, I said the only thing I could think of at the moment. "I am in DEEP shit now!"

Part 10

I sat in the living room for several hours, still stunned to wake up as a sexy looking woman. I didn't know what to think about my transformation or what to feel. It was more than I could easily accept, yet it could have been even worse.

"Are you going to be all right?" Alice gently asked as she came up beside me, giving me a look of concern.

"I guess," I forced a smile, "At least I didn't end up as a little kid."

I gestured to Dan, who was trying to stay out of Tanya's sight. Apparently, she hadn't been giving him much slack during the time I was unconscious, though she didn't seem to be treating Ellen the same way.

Alice sat down beside me but didn't say anything more for several minutes. Finally, she said, "I heard that you were looking after me while I was sick." She didn't look at me while she said this.

I nodded slowly, not sure what to say to that. "Um...yeah."

Alice turned to look at me with a strange expression, staring for several seconds before saying, "Well I appreciate it." Then she abruptly changed the subject, "This has to be quite strange for you."

I looked down at myself and my impressive bosom, wincing slightly as did so. "That's an understatement. I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to this. I hope we can find a way to fix it or something."

"It's strange for everyone," Alice sighed with a strange expression. "Look at Ellen. She not only has to deal with being turned into a child, but with her son as well. That is quite a situation, especially yesterday..."

"Yesterday?" I asked.

Alice hesitated for a moment, then leaned towards me and quietly said, "Yesterday, Ellen walked in and caught Jimmy masturbating. She nearly panicked at that and acted almost as though he'd killed someone. Michael asked us not to tell her that we found Jimmy doing it again this morning. She hasn't accepted that Jimmy's new body comes with hormones that he's never experienced before, and that he's feeling their effects." She gave me a look which made me suddenly wonder if this was her subtle way of warning me that I could expect similar reactions to new hormones.

"It sounds...complicated," I frowned.

"You have no idea." Alice shook her head.

"At least you got off pretty easily," I pointed out, feeling jealous of her for that. Of course, at the moment, I was really feeling jealous of Tanya and Michael as well. "It didn't seem to do too much to you."

Alice just stared at me with a strange expression before saying, "You have no idea." Then she stood up, giving me a nervous smile, "I know this won't be easy for you, but I...I can help you if you'd like. I mean, you'll need to learn about hygiene and the like." At this point, she was beginning to blush rather brightly. She excused herself and rushed off, leaving me stunned.

"Was that the same control freak bitch from the boat?" I asked in surprise. Alice hardly seemed like the same person at all, and it wasn't just her altered appearance.

Once Alice was gone, Tanya came over to me, looking a bit hesitant as she sat down. "You know," she nearly whispered to me, "Alice stayed with you almost the entire time you were sick."

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

Tanya nodded, "After she woke up and found out you'd been looking after her, she insisted on it. She said something about you always being there for her."

I stared at Tanya, thinking that she must be joking at first. Then again, Alice had been the first face I saw after waking up. Even so, I never would have expected Alice to look after me the way I'd been doing to her.

Just then, Ellen and Jimmy came racing into the room, with Ellen yelling furiously. It was so strange to see a 9 or 10 year old girl yelling at a sexy adult woman, or at least that was how it appeared. But Ellen was indeed yelling and looking as though she were throwing some sort of temper tantrum.

"I can't believe you," Ellen snapped at Jimmy, "I already told you that you're way too young for that kind of thing. You're being very naughty..."

"But it feels good," Jimmy whined, making me suddenly realize what was going on.

"Oh boy," I gulped, feeling sorry for both Jimmy and his mom. This wasn't a normal family situation in the least.

Ellen grabbed Jimmy's arm and tried yanking him back to the room, but he easily pulled away and she fell backwards, landing on her butt. At that moment, I could see the look of realization appear in both their eyes. Jimmy gasped as it finally dawned on him that he was now much bigger and stronger that his mom. At the same time, Ellen stared up in horror, realizing just how weak she was now compared to her own son. There was no doubt in my mind that this new understanding they both possessed would change their relationship.

"Come on," Michael said, rushing over and getting between them, "There's no need for this. He helped Ellen to her feet and quietly told her, "I think we should have a talk." He gave a meaningful glance towards Jimmy, then led her from the room so they could get some privacy.

At this point, Tanya went to Jimmy and led him out to the patio so she could calm him down and keep him distracted. Dan came out of hiding with a look of relief that he wasn't the one who had to deal with Tanya at the moment. He looked so hesitant and nervous now that I had a hard time believing that he was really an adult man rather than the little boy he appeared.

"I guess being treated like that can do it to you," I sighed as I thought about the way Tanya insisted on treating him like a child.

That just made me look down at myself again and wince, wondering how I would change if people started treating me differently. Since I looked like this, I expected that I'd be treated quite a bit differently than normal, even from these people who knew who I really was inside. In fact, I'd already noticed that it had started already. Michael seemed more distant and polite towards me while Theresa had given me several jealous glances. I could only imagine what Eddie would think when he finally woke up.

"Eddie," I muttered, thinking of my friend and feeling guilty that I'd been too distracted by my changes to even keep an eye on him. "I hope you have better luck than me man."

I was just getting up to go check on Eddie when Theresa started cursing in Spanish. I looked over and saw that the white jumpsuit she was wearing had two large wet spots on the chest. I stared, but it was more from the sudden curiosity as to why there was a jumpsuit for someone with chest measurements like hers. Her breasts were enormous, so anything that would fit them would have to be custom made.

Then as Theresa suddenly rushed from the room as fast as she could, looking both angry and embarrassed, I turned to Alice and asked, "What's going on?"

Alice frowned for a moment, then told me, "She's lactating heavily." She shook her head, "Whatever this sickness is, it played that little joke on her so she keeps leaking all over the place."

"Oh," I responded, feeling a little pity for Theresa, but not much. Waking up like this had kind of put a damper on my ability to feel much pity for other people at the moment. "It seems to have played a joke on almost everyone."

"Yeah," Alice sighed with a strange expression.

"I'm going to go check on Eddie," I said, getting up to leave and but losing my balance and nearly falling flat on my face. I grimaced, ignoring Dan's laughter and even Alice's sympathetic look to try leaving the room with what little dignity I had left.

As I left the living room, I overheard Alice snapping, "Go ahead and laugh it up....Danny." For some reason, I couldn't resist smiling at least a little at that.

Part 11

I stared at Eddie as he began to wake, not sure what to think of the transformation that he had just finished going through. Of course, it wasn't much of a transformation when compared to what most of us had to deal with so I couldn't help but feeling jealous.

"Lucky bastard," I muttered, having been half hoping that he'd wake up as a sexy babe as well. I felt guilty for even thinking of that since I sure as hell didn't want to be this way and didn't really want to wish it on my best friend, but there is some truth to that old saying 'misery loves company'.

Eddie didn't really appear much different than normal, other than the fact that his arm hair had vanished and he somehow seemed to be more fit and healthy. The only glaringly obvious change that Eddie had gone through were the pair of B cup breasts that he now sported on his chest, but from the noticeable bulge in his covers, it also seemed his manhood was still intact.

"Lucky bastard," I muttered again, this time a little louder.

Eddie blinked and opened his eyes, taking a moment as he focused on me. Then he quietly gasped, "Jimmy?"

"No," I blushed in embarrassment, unable to look him in the face, "It's me...Lee." I took a deep breath, "This is what that sickness did to me."

"Holy shit," Eddie gasped, staring at me with a look that was half shock and disbelief...and half lust. Then his eyes widened even more and he gasped, "Oh no..."

Eddie sat upright to look at what the sickness had done to him and immediately noticed the breasts he now possessed. He cupped them both with a look of disbelief and horror, then his hand immediately snaked under the cover to check on his equipment. He let out a sight of relief when he found that it was still there, then he suddenly looked surprised again.

"What the hell?" Eddie demanded, throwing back the blankets that covered him in spite of the fact that I was right there.

What had so shocked Eddie was immediately obvious, and nearly as much a shock to me since I hadn't pulled back his covers while he was transforming. His penis was...huge. It was a foot long, possibly even a little longer and looked like something a porn start might have. And since it was fully erect, I could get a very good, though very unwelcomed look at it.

Eddie grabbed his enlarged equipment and stared at it in amazement for a moment before exclaiming, "My balls are gone..." This as he reached for them, his face went pale and he gulped, "Oh shit... No fucking way...."

"What?" I demanded.

I was disgusted at the idea of checking out my best friend's private area, but undeniably curious as well. I took a look at what was freaking Eddie out and gasped in disbelief. It seemed that his testicles had pulled up into his body and vanished during his transformation. But more than that, there was something else in their place. Right between Eddie's legs was a woman's vagina.

Eddie's scream immediately brought everyone in the house running, and he rushed to cover himself up as they all started to burst through the door. "What's going on?" Michael demanded with a look of concern.

"Eddie's change," I gulped uncomfortably, glancing at my friend who sat there with a look of shame on his face. I grimaced, then explained why Eddie had freaked out like that.

"He's a hermaphrodite?" Michael asked in surprise.

"What?" Alice gasped, pushing her way through and staring at Eddie in surprise.

This attention only made Eddie even more uncomfortable and he screamed, "GET OUT! Just leave me alone!"

"Come on," Michael gestured for everyone, "Let's give him some privacy."

It took a minute to get everyone else out of the room, which was surprising considering just how fast they'd all come in. Once everyone else was gong, I told Eddie, "Your clothes are on the chair, but I guess your pants might not fit well right now. I'll go get you a jumpsuit." Then I looked down at myself and sighed, "Just about everyone else is wearing them now."

After I'd brought Eddie a jumpsuit, I left him alone so he could get dressed, and look himself over in privacy. I knew very well how he had to be feeling at the moment, though I still thought he got off pretty lucky compared to me. Sure, he'd gained a few extra parts, but he hadn't lost anything, and he still looked like his old self while I looked like some kind of bimbo or stripper.

"Just great," I stared down at myself with a bitter grimace.

"Are you all right?" Alice asked as she came up beside me, giving me a concerned look.

I hesitated a moment before telling her, "I don't know." I shook my head, "I just don't know..."

Alice nodded a little sadly, "I can't say that I know what this is like for you, but you will survive it. You're not the only one around here whose gone through changes."

I wanted to argue with her, to snap that it was different for me, that somehow my situation was worse than anyone else's. But the truth was, I knew she was right. Everyone had been changed to one degree or another so we each had our own problems to deal with. I was sure that Ellen would say I'd gotten off lightly and Dan might as well since at least I was still an adult. Jimmy, on the other hand, had been transformed almost the exact same way I had been...except he'd started out as a kid so had to be even more shocked by it.

"Thanks," I told her with a weak smile. Then I looked over at Jimmy, who was sitting back on the couch, staring down at his chest with a strange expression and then glancing at his mom before staring at himself again. "I guess he's got it worse than I do."

"At least now that everyone is done," Tanya pointed out with a grin, "we don't have to worry about that stupid sickness anymore."

"Maybe," Michael said, looking a little worried. "We still don't know what caused it, so for all we know, we might be able to catch it again."

"Oh shit," Dan exclaimed, quickly dodging out of Tanya's reach when she went to swat his behind.

"But maybe," Ellen pointed out with a hopeful look, "Maybe if we caught it again, it will change us back to normal."

I saw the looks of hope flash across almost everyone's faces. However, Alice said, "I wouldn't count on it. It might just make us all even worse off."

"She's right," Michael sighed. "We have no idea how the sickness works."

"I have noticed something," Alice said quietly, almost shyly. She was looking down at the ground, acting quite unlike her normal self.

Everyone else was ignoring Alice and continuing to talk, but I was curious because of the way she was acting. "Wait," I said loud enough for everyone to hear me. Then I looked at Alice, "What was that?"

Alice gave me a look of appreciation, then repeated what she'd said a little louder. "I have noticed something." Now she had everyone's attention and continued, "Haven't you noticed that some of us have gone through the same changes?"

"So Ellen and I both turned into kids," Dan grumbled, giving Tanya a wary look in case she came towards him. "It's just coincidence."

"Ellen did end up a lot older than Danny," Tanya smirked.

"But she was older than him before this happened," Michael pointed out thoughtfully. "That could very well have something do to with why he became a much younger child." He looked to me, and then Jimmy, "And these two look like they could be sisters..."

"I don't know," Theresa scowled, "There are nine of us here, but only two of the transformations were repeated. That doesn't seem like much of a pattern."

"Three," Alice said quietly, then repeated it loud enough to get everyone's attention again. She scowled as she said, "Three of the transformations were repeated."

"Three?" Tanya asked while everyone stared at Alice with a blank look.

Alice hesitated for a moment, looking extremely self-conscious. Then she stated, "Eddie." She took a deep breath, "Eddie and I have the same transformation. I'm a hermaphrodite now too." She stood there, glaring at everyone in the room besides myself, as though daring them to make something of it. I wasn't sure why I was spared that glare.

Everyone stared at Alice for a moment in complete silence, and more than one pair of eyes went to the front of her pants. Finally, it was Michael who broke the silence by saying, "Nine individuals with only six...possibly even only five end results."

"Five?" Theresa asked in surprise.

"Like Ellen and Dan, I became much younger," Michael stated. "It is possible that my being older than either of them resulted in my not becoming as young. Then again, I was never this fit or athletic even when I was this age the fist time, so I can't be certain."

"Either way," Alice said, sounding much more confident again as she looked around the room, "It seems that our transformations might not be quite as random as we thought."

"Oh shit," I whispered, staring at Alice in surprise. I didn't know what this all meant, but I doubted that it meant anything good for us.

Just then, Eddie finally made his appearance, dressed in a white jumpsuit like nearly everyone else. He paused to take a look around and asked, "Okay...what did I miss?"

Part 12

I was alone inside of my room with the door locked to guarantee my privacy. I was spread out on my bed with one hand massaging one of my breasts while the other was snaked between my legs, fingering my moist sex and bringing me an incredible amount of pleasure.

Ever since I had woken up as a woman just a little more than half a week ago, I had discovered that my new body had a somewhat higher sex drive than I was used to. I found that I got turned on, aroused and horny fairly easily, which felt extremely strange with my new parts. At first I had done my best to ignore this, but last night I had finally succumbed, masturbating in my new body and exploring the new sensations it provided. All I could say was WOW. It felt absolutely incredible.

"If Jimmy is feeling the same things I am," I mused, "It's no wonder Emily can't get him to stop." The former little boy didn't have any experience dealing with hormones and the like, and now he had to deal with this. It had to be extremely strange for him and Ellen wasn't making it any easier, in spite of her good intentions.

Once I was finally finished, I cleaned up and got dressed in my white jumpsuit again. I couldn't help but thinking that this body would probably look pretty damn hot in something like a bikini, stiletto heels or other such items, but I knew very well that even if those kinds of clothes were available, I'd probably never wear them other than in the privacy of my own home while satisfying my curiosity. Admiring a hot babe who wore that kind of stuff was a whole different thing than being one.

When I left my room a few minutes later, I blushed a bit, thinking that everyone might know what I've been up to. Fortunately, no one gave any indication of it. Then again, everyone was pretty busy with their own things anymore. And since we were no longer getting sick and collapsing, everyone was going back down to the beach again in the search for food or at least some time away from the house and everyone else.

Ellen was in the living room, staring out the window and scowling. I knew that things had to be hard for her, watching her son transform into a sexy woman that she'd never be able to compete with, and then losing so much of her age and turning into a child herself. She was doing absolutely everything she could to keep control of Jimmy, and slowly losing ground.

I frowned slightly, remembering how Jimmy had tried taking a lesson from how Tanya treated Dan and treating his mom the same way. He'd come to the conclusion that he was now the adult and she was the little kid, so she had to do what he said. Fortunately for Ellen, the rest of us had sided with her and tried convincing Jimmy that no matter what she looked like, she was still his mom and he had to listen to her. However, I didn't know how much longer that would work since he was becoming more rebellious against her authority with every day.

As I walked through, I saw Michael and Theresa both rushing back towards the room that they still shared. But whether this was so that they could have a bout of sex themselves, or just so Theresa could have some privacy while she milked herself again, I had no idea. And honestly, I didn't much care.

"So, where's everyone else?" I asked Dan, who was sitting back and reading a book. I doubted that he'd done much of that before coming to the island, but since he was no longer the physical presence he had once been, it was his new way of occupying the time while avoiding notice. Ever since Tanya had started treating him like a kid, he'd been trying more and more to avoid attention.

Dan looked up and me and stared at my breasts for several seconds before finally responding, "I think they went down to look for fresh food."

I just nodded, already knowing that this was probably the case. However, that hadn't been the only reason for talking to Dan. "You know," I said hesitantly, knowing that this was a tender subject for him, "I've talked to Tanya about the way she's been teasing you, but she doesn't really listen."

"She doesn't listen to much of anyone anymore," Dan grimaced, muttering, "Bitch," under his breath.

Seeing that this wasn't going to be a good conversation, I turned and decided to go see if I could find some of the others. I especially wanted to see Eddie, who had been sort of avoiding me over the last few days. It was like he couldn't really believe that I was Lee and didn't know how to treat me. It kind of hurt having my best friend act like that.

A short while later, I reached the bottom of the long flight of steps and walked to the lagoon. To my surprise, Eddie was the only one there in sight. It was a big of a coincidence since he was the one I wanted to find, but I wasn't about to question it too much.

Eddie was sitting at the end of the dock fishing, though it didn't look like he'd caught anything yet. I walked up and sat down beside him, though neither of us said a word for several minutes. I finally broke the silence with, "Hey...catch anything?" It was a silly thing to ask since I could see that he hadn't with my own eyes, but that wasn't the point.

"Naw," Eddie shook his head and sighed. "I'd probably get better luck going over there," He pointed to the far side of the lagoon, "I think some of the fish are hiding around that big rock."

"You could move," I suggested though neither us did so.

After several minutes, Eddie said, "God, it's hard to believe that's you... I mean, you look like..."

"Like some bimbo or stripper?" I offered, knowing exactly what I looked like.

"Yeah," Eddie admitted, looking a bit embarrassed. He didn't look at me, "I mean... Shit... It's like everyone's changed."

"You did too," I reminded him, knowing that his changes were just a little easier to hide under his clothes. "But hey, I'm still me in here, even if I can save a bundle on porn just by looking in the mirror.

Eddie laughed at that, "I guess that's one way to save money."

"And besides," I winked at him, "Once we get home, I'll be able to go into the girl's locker room in the gym."

"Yeah right," Eddie sighed, "When we get home, we'll be freaks. I mean...look at me."

"At least you still look like yourself," I pointed out. "No one is even going to believe I'm me."

Eddie nodded and we were silent again for a minute before he asked, "So...what's it like?"

I snorted, then reminded him, "You've got the same parts I do."

"Yeah," he blushed brightly, making me laugh. I knew he was pretty self-conscious about those extra parts, though he'd certainly been loud enough when bragging about his increased manhood. He seemed to think that the extra size in his old equipment sort of made up for the new female equipment, though I couldn't be sure. "God it feels weird having it...."

I nodded at that, having an idea of what he meant. He'd mentioned a few days ago that he was always getting a hard-on anymore, and I couldn't help but notice it through his jumpsuit most of the time. And though Eddie didn't talk about it, I suspected that his new female parts were getting excited at the same time.

"Just imagine how much you'll impress the girls with that THING," I told Eddie. "Jane Clark will really regret that she ever turned you down for a date."

"Oh yeah," Eddie laughed, "I bet if I went into that store where she works with you as my date, she'll have a heart attack. And that jackass Dave... He'd die of jealousy."

"All I know," I sighed, "Is if my brother Ken finds out about this, I'll NEVER hear the end of it. My only hope is that we can find a way to change back before we get rescued...or hell...that we don't ever get rescued."

"Don't talk like that," Eddie grimaced, "I don't want to even THINK about being stuck on this shit hole island for the rest of my life. I want off her. I want to go back where there's pizza joints, movie theaters and lots of babes who don't have weird issues..."

"Good luck," I rolled my eyes jokingly, "From what I understand, EVERY woman has weird issues."

"Including you," Eddie teased.

After this, Eddie and I slipped back into our normal type of conversation, almost as if nothing strange had happened to either of us. It was good to be talking with him like this again since I'd kind of missed it. I guess he just needed to remember that I was still me inside, and perhaps, I needed to get past some of my own self-consciousness as well

Eventually, Eddie abruptly stood up and asked, "You wanna go swimming?"

"We don't have any swimsuits," I reminded him, "And besides, I don't think I'd want to wear a bikini or whatever even if I had one."

"Who said we need swimsuits?" Eddie grinned as he stripped out of his jumpsuit, then dove into the water naked.

I just stared at Eddie in surprise, wondering at the same time just why I was surprised. I knew him well enough to know that he was probably doing this to either show off his massive manhood and brag about it, or to see if he could get a good look at me naked. And knowing Eddie, it might very well be both of those things.

"Come on in," Eddie called out, "the water's fine..." Then he added, "And as warm as it is, it feels great."

"I don't think so," I responded, standing there with my arms crossed in front of my chest, or at lest trying to cross them with my breasts in the way. "I know what you're up to buddy boy."

Eddie gave me a 'who me?' look of mock innocence and exclaimed, "What are you...chicken?"

"Oh no," I groaned, closing my eyes and dreading what I knew would come next.

As I expected, Eddie began a series of taunts, daring me, double daring me and indicating that I was too much of a chicken to go skinny dipping with my best friend. I knew Eddie well enough to know that he'd attempt something like this, and I knew myself well enough to know that I'd eventually give in, just to shut him up if nothing else.

Finally, I snapped, "Fine, you win." I unzipped my jumpsuit and pulled it down enough to expose my chest and reveal my breasts. "This is what you really wanted to see, isn't it?"

"Wow," Eddie's eyes widened and he climbed out of the water to get a better look at me. His eyes were locked straight on my chest, much to my embarrassment. "Now take the rest off and come on in."

Just then, I heard someone cough from behind me and turned around to see both Tanya and Alice standing there with their arms full of fruit. Both of them were staring at us with looks of surprise. Tanya was staring at Eddie's crotch, a look of interest appearing on her face. Alice had a look of interest in her eyes too, but to my surprise, it was while staring at ME.

"This is NOT what it looks like," I stammered in embarrassment, zipping my jumpsuit back up and glaring at Eddie since this was all his fault.

"I don't know what it is," Tanya giggled, blushing a little as she did, "But I know I like the view..." Alice started laughing at that and the two of them quickly turned around and hurried away.

"Just great," I glared at Eddie again before marching off.

Eddie just blinked, "Hey, what did I do?"

I just continued walking away, unable to stop thinking about the way Alice had been staring at me. It was the unmistakable look of interest and attraction, which left me more than a little confused. Was Alice really attracted to me? I shook my head, wondering what if I'd just imagined that look, if it wasn't really aimed at me and I'd just been mistaken. But what if I wasn't mistaken?

Part 13

"Hard to believe it's been a week," I sighed as I stared at my reflection in the mirror, still unable to get used to the sight of a sexy blonde woman where my face should be. It had been just a little over a week since I had transformed into this buxom beauty and I was still a bit startled every time I looked into the mirror.

I stood there for several minutes, feeling a mixture of emotions. I couldn't help but admiring the figure in the mirror and even being attracted to her, but I certainly didn't want this to actually be me. The only thing I could tell myself was that if I had to be a woman, at least I was a good looking one.

"Damn," I muttered as I turned my attention away from the mirror.

I was beginning to turn myself on again, which wasn't much of a surprise considering how easily that happened nowadays. It seemed that I'd been secluding myself in my room for a little masturbation session at least once a day now, sometimes even twice. Sure it felt good, but getting horny so easily was also something of a nuisance.

Then as I left the bathroom, having finished my business some time ago and then spent the following fifteen minutes in front of the mirror, I shook my head and sighed, "I just feel sorry for Jimmy. The poor kid has no idea what's going on with his new body."

A minute later, my thoughts about Jimmy suddenly seemed prophetic. I arrived in the living room in time to see him yelling down at Ellen. "You can't make me," Jimmy yelled at his childish mom, "You can't tell me what to do."

"Don't take that tone with me," Ellen was snapping back at him, standing on the tips of her toes to gain just a little more height though still failing to look very intimidating in her 10 year old body. "I'm your mother."

"You're a little girl," Jimmy snapped back, looking rather smug as he said it, "And if you're naughty I can spank you...."

"Jimmy," I gasped, rushing over to Ellen's rescue.

"I know things aren't easy right now," I told him, "but you can't yell at your mom like that."

"She's just a little girl," Jimmy pouted, looking like he was about to cry. It was strange seeing such a childish expression on the face of a grown woman. It made him look even more like some kind of bimbo.

"She's your mom," I told him firmly, "She might look different, but she's still your mom and you have to listen to her."

"But I don't wanna," Jimmy cried out, turning and running away.

"Damn," Ellen grimaced, shaking her head, "I wish he'd just listen to me. He is far too young to be doing those kind of things..."

I frowned, realizing how this argument must have started. "You caught Jimmy playing with himself again." It was a statement instead of a question.

Ellen nodded, looking extremely uncomfortable. "He's just a little boy."

"Not anymore," I told her quietly, earning a sharp look and the beginnings of a protest. But before Ellen could say anything, I continued, "He's suddenly got the body of an adult, along with all the hormones. Most kids get used to the hormones over a couple years, but he's got them all hitting him all at once."

"I know that," Ellen said defensively.

"Do you?" I asked her, suddenly remembering one of those birds and the bees talks I'd had with my dad only a few years back. "If his hormones are anything like the ones I've got since changing, he's got to be going insane. I mean, he's got a whole new body, all sorts of new emotions and desires and no experience or knowledge about any of it. He's got to be scared and confused as hell. If he doesn't learn about what he's feeling from you, he'll just learn it somewhere else."

With that, I turned and left Ellen to think about what I said. I would have gone looking for Jimmy to have a little talk with him, but I thought I saw Michael heading in that direction. Theresa was sitting back on the couch, which she seemed to be doing most of the time now since she was a bit too top heavy to move around easily, but I from her expression I thought she might be thinking about going after her husband.

"Where's Eddie at?" I asked, looking around not noticing his absence. Of course, half the crew were gone at the moment so I suspected they'd gone down fishing or looking for more fruit. "I'm getting sick of seafood and fruit."

After a minute, I decided to go join the others, deciding that it would be better than staying cooped up in the house. I grabbed a basket so I could carry some food with me when I came back, then I began the long walk down the stairs.

When I reached the lagoon, I found Alice and Dan both hanging around out there, though neither of them seemed to be paying much attention to each other. Alice actually smiled when she saw me which made her look quite beautiful. It was a big difference from the scowling ice queen who had first landed on the island with us.

"Lee," Alice greeted me with a nod.

"What's up?" Dan asked, not seeming to really care.

"Not much new," I responded, glancing first at Alice and then Dan.

I was a little startled to see the two of them hanging out together like this, even if they didn't seem to be talking or anything. Alice had started out as something of an outcast among the group, though that seemed to have changed over the last week. Ever since she had come out about having gained a little extra during her transformation, she seemed to have been accepted by the others a little more. Then again, it might have had more to do with the fact that she'd stopped trying to boss everyone around and finally relaxed a bit. As for Dan, he'd been avoiding people for the most part since his transformation, especially after the way Tanya had been treating him.

"So where's everyone else?" I asked, looking around and seeing no sign of Eddie.

"I don't know," Alice responded with a strange expression, glancing quickly at Dan. "They must be out gathering fruit."

"I'd go and help but I'm too little now," Dan spat out bitterly. He glared at his tiny hands, making me realize how difficult it had to be for h him, going from being the biggest and strongest person on the island to the smallest and weakest. He was only a little kid and didn't have the physical strength or stamina to do much good anymore. It was no wonder he was frequently withdrawing from the others.

"Well," I said thoughtfully, "I'm going to go look for some, and I think you're small enough that I should be able to lift you up to get the stuff out of my reach."

"I am NOT going to be picked up," Dan snapped, jumping to his feet, "Not my some stinking stripper chick." Then he stormed off, leaving me feeling even worse.

"I was only trying to find something he could still do," I told Alice defensively, "I just figured he needed something to feel useful..."

"I know," Alice sighed, looking at me sympathetically, "He's pretty frustrated, but he shouldn't have taken it out on you like that."

With a shrug, I told her, "I don't take it personally." I looked down at myself and sighed, "I do sort of look like stripper now."

"Well maybe if you had some stiletto heels," Alice laughed, "and maybe a feather boa."

"I'd look pretty silly in all that stuff," I laughed as well, just imagining that I'd probably fall flat on my face...or my chest the first time I tried walking in stiletto heels.

"But I think you'd look pretty sexy in it," Alice grinned.

"Maybe," I grinned back, sitting down next to her, "But I'm sure I'd feel pretty silly."

Alice and I sat there, talking and joking with each other for the next half hour. To my surprise, she was quite funny and a lot of fun talk to. She had a sarcastic sense of humor that nearly had me rolling on the ground. It was something of a shock to me when I suddenly realized that I liked Alice...or at least this Alice. She was smart, friendly and funny. This new Alice was a hell of lot better than the one from the boat or when we first arrived on the island.

Alice was in the middle of telling me a story about one of her employees who'd tried calling in sick to work with the bubonic plague when I noticed Tanya and Eddie emerging from the thick brush together. I was about to wave at them to come and join us when I saw Tanya bend over and give Eddie a passionate kiss which he returned. Then as they broke apart, they finally noticed Alice and I sitting there a short distance away.

"Oh," Tanya blushed, "I didn't see you guys." She blushed even brighter, then hurried to the path that led back to the house.

"You aren't surprised," I stared at Alice.

"No," she shrugged, "I noticed them spending a lot of time together lately."

I hurried to Eddie and asked, "You and Tanya...?"

Eddie looked embarrassed as he nodded, "Yeah..."

"For how long?" I asked carefully.

"Just a couple days," Eddie quickly responded, "I guess I really impressed her when she caught us skinny dipping."

"Wow," I shook my head, "I wouldn't have guessed... I mean, I didn't think she was your type now that she's changed."

Eddie paused for a moment, then said, "Well, she may be big now...and three times as strong as me, but she's still pretty hot." Then in a quieter voice, and a glance towards Alice to make sure that she was far enough back that she wouldn't hear, "She he doesn't mind my extra parts," he grabbed his chest with a grimaced, "And she's probably the only girl around who can handle big Ed now that he's such a monster."

"I guess that's true," I said uncertainly, then I forced a grin, "Well, good thing you two hooked up."

"We're not in love or anything," Eddie quickly assured me, trying to prove that he hadn't suddenly gotten all soft on me, "We're just in lust with each other." Then he shrugged, "But who knows."

After Eddie excused himself and rushed up the trail after Tanya, I couldn't help shaking my head, surprised that he hadn't told me before, and that I hadn't noticed anything on my own. They were such an odd pairing that I never would have guessed it. However, I couldn't help but feeling a little jealous of my best friend as well. After all, here we were trapped on a strange island and he had found someone who was right for him. I wished that I had that kind of luck.

Part 14

I quietly looked around as I left my room, feeling both relieved and embarrassed at the same time. I just hoped that no one had overheard me or guessed what I was up to. It had been my second bout of masturbation today, but I couldn't really help myself. Ever since my transformation, my hormone levels had been through the roof and I was getting turned on at the drop of a hat. I wasn't the only one who'd been effected like that though.

Though I wasn't sure, I thought that Michael and Theresa might both have heightened libidos as well. They were constantly off on their own, milking Theresa which I understood was an erotic process, and doing other things as well. They certainly spent a lot more time together in private than would be necessary for just draining her.

Eddie had a nearly constant hard-on, something which he'd complained to me about several times. Considering my own transformation, I had a hard time feeling any sympathy for him. And ever since he and Tanya had gone public with their relationship a few days ago, they were constantly running off together to fuck like rabbits.

There was one large advantage for Eddie and Tanya's new relationship, at least for Dan. Now that Tanya was being kept busy, she was leaving her former boyfriend alone and barely even teasing him at all anymore, and that was mostly just to keep calling him Danny. However, a lot of the damage had already been done as she'd shattered his self-confidence and the once obnoxious jock had become a quiet loner.

I frowned as I looked around, fighting back the urge to return to my room and play with my nipples a little more. I tried to change the direction of my thoughts so as not to get myself any more excited than I already was. I didn't know if it would do much good though since I was always getting turned on anymore and there didn't seem to be much besides playing with myself that I could do to keep it under control.

As I walked through the living room, I saw Alice sitting back and reading a book. She looked up at me and stared for a moment before suddenly lowering her book to her lap and looking away with a bright blush. I just stared at her for a moment longer, admiring now nice she looked and wondering why she seemed to embarrassed. However, I turned my own attention away from her a moment later when I began to feel even more turned on.

"Damn this," I muttered as I hurried past Alice in embarrassment, hoping that she didn't notice the effect she was having on me.

I went out to one of the patios to get some fresh air and cool off my libido some. I shook my head, hardly able to believe I was getting that turned on at the sight of Alice. Of course, she'd been pretty good looking before we ever got to this island, but ever since her own bout with the sickness she'd become younger and hotter. And since she wasn't acting like some kind of control freak anymore, I was able to appreciate her looks even more.

"This is just weird," I muttered, unable to stop thinking of Alice or wondering if the penis that her sickness had given her was as big as Eddie's. "No... Don't go there." I shook my head to shake those thoughts free from it, though it did little good.

Just then, I heard a sound from over the side of the patio and went over for a look. To my surprise, I saw Jimmy climbing along a ledge, grinning as he did so. That sight suddenly made me realize that even though he looked like a grown woman, he was still very much a little boy inside, and little boys loved to climb.

"What the hell are you doing?" I gasped, staring down at the nearly vertical rock face he was clinging to and the ground far below. "Get back up here... You could fall..." I felt a surge of fear, knowing that if he fell from that height he would very likely kill himself.

"No I won't," Jimmy argued, "I know what I'm doing..."

"Here," I braced myself and reached down for him, "Grab my hand and I'll help you get back up."

"No," Jimmy snapped stubbornly as he climbed back to the ledge, "I can do it myself..."

Jimmy slapped my hand away as he grabbed the ledge of the patio to pull himself back up, but then he suddenly lost his grip and dropped. We both screamed at once and I frantically tried grabbing for him, though he had dropped just out of my reach and was clutching tightly to some rocks, scrambling with his feet to get a better grip. He screamed and cried, a look of absolute terror on his beautiful face.

"What's going on?" Alice demanded as she ran onto the patio to check out the screams, followed immediately by both Ellen and Dan.

"Jimmy!" Ellen cried out in horror as she saw her son clutching the side of the cliff, screaming and crying.

"Grab my hand," I told Jimmy, trying to bend over far enough but I wasn't able to quite reach.

"Let me try," Alice said, leaning heavily over the edge of the balcony and stretching down as far as she could until she could touch Jimmy's hand. They both stretched even further until Alice grasped his hand, then she gasped, "Oh shit," as she lost her balance and began to fall over the edge.

"NO," I gasped, jumping onto her legs and holding her tight. I kept her from going over, but she was still clutching Jimmy and there was no way I could possibly pull them both up since I wasn't quite as strong as I used to be. "I wish Tanya were here," I grimaced, knowing that her strength would be useful. Hell, even Eddie would be better than just me and a couple of kids who were all we had at the moment.

"Please don't let go," Alice cried out with fear in her voice. "I don't know how much longer I can hold Jimmy..."

"Mommy!" Jimmy screamed in a panic, no longer even thinking clearly enough to grab onto any of the ledges and footholds that he'd seemed to find with ease just a short time before.

"Jimmy," Ellen was screaming frantically, jumping around and looking just as panicked as her son.

Dan immediately ran to me and grabbed hold of Alice and tried to help me pull her and Jimmy both up, but even with his help I could barely budge her at all. He glared at Ellen, "Come on and help us pull them up..."

"But Jimmy," Ellen cried out tearfully.

"Alice has him and we have her," I pointed out impatiently, "Come on and help..."

Ellen finally came over and grabbed Alice too, and with her help, we were able to slowly pull Alice and Jimmy back up. After a few minutes, Alice was able to get enough leverage to actually do more than just hold onto Jimmy while he was able to finally get his feet onto some ledges that stuck out. After that, it was easy to get them both back onto the patio, where everyone promptly collapsed.

"Mommy," Jimmy cried out, clutching Ellen possessively and sobbing tearfully.

"It's okay," Ellen reassured him, trying to comfort him, "Everything is all right now." But after a minute, she demanded, "What in the world where you thinking?"

I stood up again and let out a sigh of relief that everyone was all right. And as I watched Ellen and Jimmy, I noticed that their relationship seemed to have gone back to that of a normal mother and child...for the moment. I didn't know how long this would last, but it was nice to see them acting like a family again.

After another minute, Ellen pulled away from Jimmy and stared at him for a moment. "Jimmy," she said carefully, "I think we're a bit overdue for an important talk."

"About what?" Jimmy asked tearfully.

Ellen hesitated a moment, looking nervous and uncomfortable before she helped him to his feet and led him back into the house. The last thing I heard her say before they were out of hearing was, "The birds and the bees...and your new feelings...."

Once Ellen and Jimmy were gone, I was startled to notice that Alice was still there, staring at me with a strange expression. "You know," she said slowly, taking a careful step towards me, "This was the second time you saved me from going over the edge."

"It was noth...," I started to say, but Alice cut me off with a kiss.

I was completely surprised when Alice grabbed me and kissed me straight on the lips, and not just a little peck but a passionate kiss. My hormones immediately surged and I was sure that my nipples were poking out hard enough to be seen through my jumpsuit. A thought even passed through my mind that people might even see the wet spot soaking through my crotch, but I didn't care. I was so turned on by Alice's kiss that I just wanted it to continue. When she pulled back a minute later, I felt incredibly disappointed.

"Thank you," Alice told me, looking self-conscious and nervous, expressions that I wasn't used to seeing from her.

"You...you're welcome," I gasped out, still a bit dazed and confused.

"You...you're the only one who's ever looked out for me," Alice said quietly, staring at me with blushed cheeks, "You're the only one who's ever given a damn about what happened to me. I thought you were cute as a boy, but now you're absolutely gorgeous. I just want to kiss you and..."

It was then that I noticed the clearly visible bulge in the front of Alice's jumpsuit. My eyes widened in surprise and all I could do was stare, making her even more self-conscious than before.

"You...you're into girls?" I gasped in surprise.

"Not really," she started to respond, then blushed, staring down at the ground, "I've never had sex with a woman if that's what you mean, but I guess I've always been bi curious. It's just that ever since this," she gestured down at her bulge, "It's just gotten a lot stronger. I'm always turned on now...and I'm always thinking about...about you."

"Wow," I gulped, not sure what to say to that. All I could do was stare at her, feeling extremely turned on myself.

"I know this can't possibly work," Alice exclaimed almost tearfully, "I mean, I'm almost twice your age...even if I don't look it anymore. I'm an ice queen, control freak, bitch...according to almost everyone who knows me. I have almost no experience with real relationships and haven't even been laid in over five years. And now I'm some sort of hermaphrodite freak as well... I know it couldn't work but..."

This time it was my turn to silence her with a kiss. I grabbed Alice and kissed her on the lips just as passionately as she had kissed me, if not even more so. My entire body screamed with desire and my hormones seemed to have been turned up full power. All I could do was think about how much I wanted her.

"I don't know if it will work," I quietly told her after we finally broke apart a few minutes later, "But I'm willing to give it a try."

Part 15

Alice and I waited until no one else was watching then we quickly slipped into my room. The truth was that at the moment, I didn't care if anyone else knew what we were doing, but she thought it might a little too awkward to explain.

Once the door was closed and locked behind us, I paused, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious. I looked at Alice, amused to notice that she was looking a bit hesitant and nervous at the same time, quite unlike the arrogant and pushy woman I'd first met.

Then Alice stared at me with a look of desire, making me feel all warm and squishy inside. My nipples were so hard that I was sure she could see them sticking out through the front of my jumpsuit. My crotch had to be soaking through as well. Alice just stood there for a moment, a noticeable bulge in her crotch. I choked a little at the sight of that.

"You're beautiful," I told her in a breathy voice, "I thought so when I first saw you, but..."

"But I was a stuck up bitch," she finished for me, taking a deep breath and unzipping her jumpsuit. She lowered it enough so that her fantastic looking breasts were now exposed.

I only nodded, my attention locked on her breasts. I licked my lips unconsciously, making her smile. Then I carefully undid my own jumpsuit, lowering it enough to reveal my own breasts. Alice stared at them, blushing as she did so.

"I've always been a bit attracted to women," she admitted self-consciously, "I just never really admitted it to myself."

Neither of us said a word as we stepped closer to each other then embraced in a passionate kiss. My hormones surged even more and I thought I was going to orgasm right there. We continued kissing for several minutes before we began to undo each other's jumpsuits so we could get undressed.

Once I was naked, I felt extremely self-conscious. I mean, mentally I was still a guy but my body certainly didn't show any signs of it. I wanted to be admired for being big, strong and well hung, but none of those things was true anymore. It wasn't my manliness that was attracting Alice to me, so I couldn't resent my body at the moment.

I stared at Alice, admiring her sexy and feminine body. It was definitely better and than it had been before her bout with the sickness, but there was one aspect of her body that obviously stuck out. She had an 8 inch cock between her legs. It was larger than my old one but smaller than the one Eddie now had. Perhaps this was because Eddie had started off with a penis so it had just grown much larger, while Alice had started off with breasts so ended up with hers being much bigger than the ones he'd grown.

"It keeps sticking out and getting hard," Alice told me with a blush, grabbing her new equipment. "Is it always like this for men?"

"Pretty much," I admitted, feeling a bit uncertain about having someone waving a cock around in front of me, even if she was a sexy woman otherwise.

I was feeling far too horny to be picky about something that minor at the moment and before I realized it Alice and I were kissing again, then collapsing onto the too small bed.

"I've never made love with a woman," Alice reminded me nervously.

"I have," I grinned, bending over to lick one of her nipples.

"I haven't had a lot of experience with men either," she moaned in delight.

"Just shut up and enjoy it," I told her, sucking on her nipple and getting a louder moan.

At first, Alice was pretty hesitant and awkward about knowing what to do, then she began using a combination of what she knew she liked and what I was doing to her. It felt utterly fantastic and made me actually grateful for the moment that I had my sexy new body. It was so responsive and felt so good...

Eventually we got to the part that I had been most afraid of, that a large part of me had been completely dreading. But at the same time, the new female equipment between my legs was quivering with desire. My mind said I should penetrate, but my body wanted something else entirely...it wanted to be penetrated.

"We don't have to do this," Alice told me, looking a bit concerned. She was probably having the same conflicting desires I was, but from how hard her new cock was I knew what her body wanted.

I bit my lip for a moment, knowing that it was only my mind that was hesitating. My body wanted it...craved it. My body had been craving this since the moment of my transformation. Finally, I looked her in the eyes and said, "Do it... Put it in."

Alice hesitated a moment then carefully positioned herself and began to slide her manhood into my new hole. I gasped at the sensation of something going up inside of me. Of course, I'd already slipped my finger up there during my masturbation, but this was a lot bigger than a finger. It felt strange...but kind of good at the same time.

"It feels so good," Alice gasped, echoing my own thoughts, "So different..."

"God yes," I gasped.

Then Alice giggled, "I wonder if you could put your finger up in me while we're doing this."

I blinked, thinking that this request was a little kinky, then again absolutely everything about this seemed kinky. I reached between her legs to where her vagina was just under her new cock, slipping one of my fingers up inside and massaging, getting a moan in response. Only then did she start to really pump me.

Alice and I were both caught up in strange new sensations and pleasures. I had no idea how long we continued to have sex, but it seemed both like forever and not nearly long enough. I had a dozen orgasms at least and had no idea that anything could feel as good as this. My new body was amazing...as was Alice's.

Eventually Alice and I eventually collapsed beside each other, exhausted and satiated. "Thank God I've still got my old parts," she giggled into my ear, "Otherwise I would have had to stop a long time ago. This way I can keep going while my..my thing recharges."

"It certainly recharges faster than mine ever did," I sighed, feeling a bit jealous. "It lasts longer too."

"And the feelings I get from this and my old parts at the same time," Alice exclaimed in delight, "It's like having the best of both worlds. It's fantastic."

I just smiled at that, "It feels pretty damn good from here too." I gave her another kiss.

After a few minutes, Alice quietly asked, "Does this mean I'm a lesbian? I mean, what am I...what are we?"

"I don't know," I answered her honestly. Then I played with one of my nipples and giggled, "But I think I kind of like it..."

Part 16

I hurried down the long flight of steps to the beach, smiling as I did so. I was running a little late and should have been down there already, but I'd gotten caught up scratching an itch and lost track of time. Sometimes this damn libido of mine was pretty inconvenient. And as I'd learned after having sex with Alice, to really get my urges scratched would take more than just my own hands.

When I reached the beach a few minutes later, Alice was standing there with an impatient look that turned to one of delight as she saw me. "What took you?" she asked.

"I got a little caught up," I told her, grabbing her and giving her a passionate kiss. I could feel the bulge in her pants pressing up against me, telling me I wasn't the only one with an itch that needed to be scratched.

"Very nice," she whispered as we pulled away. She blinked, then asked, "Are you ready to go looking for food?"

"Of course," I tried not to roll my eyes, holding up the large basket that I'd brought with me.

Unfortunately, we'd all been on this strange island for so long that we'd used up most of the food supplies that we'd found stored in the house. At the rate we were going, we figured that we had only enough food there left for another week...perhaps two if we stretched it. That was why we'd all started gathering more and more food from the island itself. My only fear was that the island might not be able to support nine people long term.

"Dan, Ellen and Jimmy went down the beach looking for shellfish and crabs," Alice told me thoughtfully, "I thought we could go in and pick some fruit...and get a little privacy."

"Sounds great to me," I grinned back, grabbing her for another passionate kiss.

When we broke apart a minute later, I turned to see both Tanya and Eddie coming out from the bushes, both grinning and looking quite pleased. Eddie took one look at me and laughed, "Way to go..."

I blushed at that, feeling a little self-conscious. Alice and I hadn't tried keeping the fact that we were now an item a secret, especially not when it was almost impossible to keep secrets in our current living conditions. However, it was still a bit embarrassing to have other people comment on it, especially after everyone had thought Alice was such a bitch before.

"Leave them alone," Tanya teased Eddie, suddenly reaching over and picking him up. He offered a bit of a token struggle as she slung him over her shoulder, but he didn't fight too hard. Then Tanya winked at us before walking towards the path to the house, telling Eddie, "You and I have some business to take care of."

Alice stared after them for a moment then burst out laughing, "I can't believe what the sickness did to her. Your friend certainly has his hands full with that woman."

"Definitely," I shook my head, then chuckled, "I can just imagine the look on his dad's face when he brings her home to meet them."

Alice laughed louder, "I can imagine that they'd be shocked."

"The understatement of the year," I grinned, then sighed, "If we ever get home that is."

"There will definitely be some interesting explanations if we do," she agreed more sedately, giving me a long look before glancing down at her front side, which still had the bulge in it.

I stared at Alice for a moment, my eyes going down to her bulge before I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the bushes with a wink, "Come on...we have to pick some fruit."

Alice and I went into the brush and trees until we were well out of sight of the beach, then we grabbed each other in a passionate embrace and started to undo each other's clothes. I was definitely excited, and now that we had a little privacy we were able to do something about it. I ignored the fact that Tanya and Eddie had been doing something very similar nearby which spoke of how little privacy there actually was here. At the moment, I was too turned on to care.

About two hours later, Alice and I left the brush with a basket full of fruit. Of course, very little of that time had been spent gathering the fruit, but the rest of that time hadn't been wasted by any stretch of the imagination. I felt completely satisfied at the moment with my itch more than scratched, and Alice could say the same.

"I guess we should be getting back before dinner," I told Alice as we stopped by the lagoon for another long kiss.

She nodded reluctant agreement, then brightened up, "And up there we'll have a bed to continue our playtime."

I couldn't help laughing at that, "I see you've already gotten used to thinking with that thing between your legs."

Alice blushed horribly at that, sticking her tongue out and me and say, "Maybe, but you seem to like it."

We took our time making the long walk back up the steps to the house, and as soon as we entered I half expected someone to make a comment about what Alice and I had been doing besides gathering fruit. Fortunately, Tanya and Eddie were the most likely to know and neither of them said a word. I was surprised at just how much I cared about Alice and how much I loved having sex with her, but it was still embarrassing since everyone knew about her extra equipment and the fact that I was really a guy.

Dan, Ellen and Jimmy had returned from their foray to the beach, and though I had no idea where Dan was at the moment, Ellen was in the living room teaching her former son how to behave like a lady. It was amusing to just stand there and watch this for a few minutes, though I gulped as I realized that I could probably use some of these lessons myself.

"If I'm going to be stuck like this," I whispered to Alice, "I might need you to give me a few pointers..." I gestured to where Ellen was telling Jimmy to sit with his legs crossed instead of with them spread out.

Alice stared at me for a moment then nodded, "I'd be happy to, though you seem to be managing all right so far."

I watched Ellen and Jimmy for a few more minutes, then glanced over to Theresa who was sitting back and muttering some profanities in Spanish. The front of her jump suit had two wet spots, which wasn't the least bit unusual. Since her breasts were the size of beach balls and she was constantly lactating, she needed some specialty bras to keep things under control. Unfortunately, that kind of thing wasn't available here on the island so she was having to make due the best she could.

"I wish I could get down to the beach," Theresa told Alice with a sigh. She gestured to her chest, "But with these monsters, I can barely get around here at the house. I can't imagine how difficult it would be going down all those stairs and then coming back up."

"You could always lean on us for support," I told her sincerely, then gestured to Tanya, "And she might be able to help you out a bit."

Theresa chuckled and said something in Spanish again before saying, "I don't really like the idea of being carried around like some kind of child."

"So, where's Michael?" Alice asked, pointing out his absence. I hadn't really thought about how strange that was until she pointed it out, but he always stayed close to Theresa since her transformation.

"He's in our room reading," Theresa shrugged, "He found some book a few hours ago and hasn't put it down since." Then she grabbed her chest and scowled, "And speaking of Michael, I'd better go find him so he can help milk me..." She muttered another Spanish profanity and added, "I feel like some stupid dairy cow..."

Just then, Michael stepped into the room, pausing at the doorway to slowly look around at all of us who were sitting around with a grim expression. The only one of our group who wasn't present was Dan, and Michael seemed to frown more as he noted that particular absence.

"About time you came out," Theresa teased him with a grin, "I was afraid that I'd have to take care of myself again..." Then she paused to stare at him for a moment, her expression turning serious, "What's wrong honey?"

"I know..." Michael said quietly. He looked around the room again and announced, "I know what happened to us. I know what caused the sickness."

"What?" everyone gasped at once.

"How?" Alice demanded, a hint of the old bitch creeping into her voice.

"I know," Michael stated as he held up a brown leather book for everyone to see, "I know because everything is explained in here."

Part 17

Everyone stared at Michael and the brown leather book that he clutched in his hand, holding out so everyone could get a look. It wasn't very big and looked like it could have been a diary or something.

A moment later, Michael confirmed my suspicion by announcing, "I found this hidden in the room Theresa and I share. It's a journal belonging to one of the people who lived here."

"A journal?" Eddie exclaimed, "Cool..."

Michael nodded, a grim expression on his face as he looked around. "It explains almost everything." Then he paused, "First I think we should get everyone here."

I quickly glanced around the room, already knowing that Dan was the only one absent but having to look anyway. I frowned, knowing that Dan would definitely need to hear this too, though I was impatient for Michael to just tell us what was going on.

"DANNY!" Tanya yelled for him.

"I'll get him," Ellen said, glaring at Tanya and then rushing to find Dan.

I couldn't help noticing the way Ellen was concerned about Dan, or that they had been spending a lot of time together. Of course, I didn't think it was for the same reason I was hanging out with Alice or Eddie was with Tanya, not when both of them were physically children. Instead, it was because they were the only ones who really understood what the other was going through.

Dan and Ellen came back just a minute later. It hadn't taken long for Ellen to find him, but everyone else was getting impatient anyway. Tanya glared at Dan especially hard and I suspected that she was thinking about spanking him or something, and that she just might have if she wasn't more interested in what Michael had to say.

"As I said," Michael repeated, more for Dan's benefit than anyone else's, though it might also have been a way for him to get his thoughts in order, "I found this journal hidden under the mattress in my room. It was written by a man who lived in this very house just several years ago."

"I can't believe we're finally gonna get some answers," Eddie said.

"Shhh," I urged him to be quiet, wanting to hear the rest.

Michael nodded, "According to the man who wrote this journal, he was a college student who was offered a million dollars to come here and be a subject in an advanced medical research experiment. When he arrived, he found that there were five other subjects, making three men and three women total."

"This is beginning to sound like the Island of Doctor Moreau," Alice commended with a grimace, glancing down at herself before looking back to Michael.

"Who's Doctor Moreau?" Tanya blinked in confusion.

"I think he's the guy who invented radiation," Eddie grinned, though I couldn't tell if my friend was teasing her or if he was actually serious.

"Doctor Moreau invented radiation?" Jimmy asked his mom with a curious expression.

"No honey," Ellen put her hand on his, turning to glare at Eddie, "He's a character in a story about a mad scientist who turned people into animals."

"He turned animals into people," I corrected, thinking of the movie version I'd seen a few years ago.

"Can we get back to the point?" Alice asked, carefully keeping the bitchiness from her voice and trying not to sound too pushy.

Michael opened the journal and looked at one of the pages for a moment before he continued, "Doctor Rudolph Vernelli was the scientist running the experiment...at least according to the writer, and he had developed a retrovirus that was capable of drastically altering the human body." Michael paused at that to look around the room, letting what he said sink in.

"This sickness," I said unnecessarily.

"Shit," Dan exclaimed, then winced and glanced at Tanya as though expecting to be slapped for using profanity.

After a minute, Michael continued, "Doctor Vernelli claimed that this retrovirus was originally created to cure the sick and injured, but that it was much more powerful than he'd expected. He told these volunteers that they were there to help him discover the limits of what this retrovirus was capable of. Then he injected each of them with this retrovirus, or at least different variations on the retrovirus that were designed to change each of them in a different way. All six of the subjects were injected with a unique retrovirus variation and none of them was told what theirs was designed to do so as not to influence the results."

"This is sounding more and more like a mad scientist movie," Eddie said, earning an elbow from Tanya.

"The symptoms that the subjects went through sound very much like the ones we all suffered," Michael stated, "Each of them had some differences in their symptoms...and in how they transformed." He paused again to look us all over. After a moment, he read through one page, "The writer says that he gained feminine sexual organs, turning into a fully functional hermaphrodite."

Eddie and Alice both gasped at that, while Eddie gulped, "Oh shit..."

Michael continued as though there had been no interruption, "One of the other men grew very tall and heavily muscled." All eyes turned to Tanya who looked self-conscious. "The last man regressed in age until he turned into a child."

"No fucking way," Dan exclaimed, staring at Michael, then down at himself in horror.

With a nod, Michael looked around the room again and finished, "One of the women developed massive breasts and began lactating heavily, the second woman became younger, healthier and much more fit than ever before, while the last woman went through some of the most dramatic changes. She went from being a petite Asian woman to being a blonde and busty Caucasian."

At that last, all eyes darted to me and Jimmy. Alice grabbed my hand and gave a comforting squeeze. We all just sat there, staring at each other and thinking about what Michael had said. The conclusion was obvious. Six separate versions of the retrovirus had been created for the original experiment subjects, and somehow all nine of us had each caught one of those six viruses.

"Damn," I gulped, "This Vernelli guy must have been real kinky to intentionally do this kind of thing to people."

"Definitely," Alice grimaced, glancing to her own lap.

Michael waited a minute while we absorbed this before coughing to get our attention. Then he read, "After the transformations, several of them noticed other side effect such as increased libido."

"Yeah," Eddie grinned, "I definitely noticed that." Tanya blushed at the comment while Alice and I chuckled. That definitely seemed to have been a common side effect, with perhaps only Ellen and Dan being spared.

"So how did we all get the virus?" Theresa asked, "None of us got any shots."

"The virus must have been contagious," Alice grimaced. "Those people were all over this house so probably left everything completely contaminated with the various strains."

"And we're sleeping in their beds," Dan pointed out, looking almost sick.

"There's something about that in here," Michael said, holding up the journal again.

"Go on then," Tanya said impatiently.

"First off," Michael continued, "Doctor Vernelli told the subjects that the retrovirus is completely inert and won't do anything until the infected person becomes exposed to a specific chemical compound. This trigger compound as he calls it, turns the retrovirus on so that it can start changing the person."

"I don't remember any kind of trigger compound or anything," Ellen said cautiously.

"Doctor Vernelli put it into the water supply the subjects drank from," Michael frowned, "The water supply for this house."

We all groaned at that, cursing the minute we'd stumbled onto this house. If we'd never come into the house, we probably never would have been infected with the retrovirus and we sure as hell never would have gotten the trigger chemical. Now we'd all been changed in ways that most of us never would have imagined.

"There's more," Michael held up his hand. "According to this, Doctor Vernelli and his assistant drank coffee that had been made from the water supply, not being concerned because neither of them had been given a shot with the retrovirus. They only discovered that the retrovirus had become contagious after they themselves started showing the symptoms of infection."

"Serves the fucking bastard right," Dan grimaced while Eddie and I both nodded agreement. "I hope he got turned into a kid too."

"Does it say anything about a cure?" Alice asked, going right to the important part that we were all interested in, or at least most of us.

"Not exactly," Michael scowled. "Secondhand information from Doctor Vernelli says that once the virus becomes active, it can't be stopped until it runs it's course. Afterwards, enough of the virus remains inactive in your system that it leaves you immune from further infections from these strains. The subjects were NOT pleased to discover this as they had all expected to be returned to normal once the experiment was completed."

"I'll bet they were pissed," Eddie nodded understanding.

"But a million dollars can go a long way to settling bad feelings," I pointed out.

"Once Doctor Vernelli determined that he had become infected with the same strain as Theresa," Michael glanced to his wife, "He was determined to complete a new strain of the virus that was designed specifically to remove all traces of the previous strains from a person's system so that they could become infected again."

"Then he'd be able to infect himself or any of the others with a new strain of his choice," Alice mused aloud. "He could change himself back...or in any other way he desired."

"Precisely," Michael nodded. "However, Doctor Vernelli didn't have the materials to complete this new resetting strain here on the island so he would have to return to the mainland. He wanted to leave immediately, before he reached the transformation stage of the infection and became incapacitated. Everyone else insisted on coming along so they could be sure he'd change them back to normal as well."

"So they left and haven't been back since," Eddie sighed.

I don't know," I frowned thoughtfully, "Why haven't we heard about this Vernelli and this retrovirus before? I mean, it would be BIG news..."

Unless the government covered it up," Dan said with a serious look. "I mean, think how much they could use this kind of thing..."

Actually," Michael said grimly, "There is just a little more."

What more could there be?" Theresa asked him, "They went back to get a cure, so all we have to do is find this Doctor Vernelli."

Michael shook his head, "The last entry in the journal can explain the fates of Doctor Vernelli and his subjects."

Go ahead," Alice urged him.

Michael took a deep breath. "The journal's writer made it quite clear that he didn't trust Doctor Vernelli and that he believed the doctor had no intention of ever changing him or the others back to normal. The final entry in the journal was written shortly before they left in the island in Doctor Vernelli's yacht. In the final entry, he claims that he overheard Doctor Vernelli and his lab assistant talking the night before and making plans to unleash a strain of his virus into the general population as soon as they reached the mainland, transforming everyone possible to suit his desires."

"Holy shit," I exclaimed.

"He really is a fucking mad scientist," Eddie blurted out.

"Watch your language," Ellen said, glancing at Jimmy and looking a bit shaken.

Jimmy just sat there with a confused expression, not really understanding what was going on but knowing that it was serious. At that moment, he looked even more like a blonde bimbo than normal. The only thing missing were the sexy clothes and perhaps some bubble gum for him to blow bubbles with. Of course, I knew that I didn't look much better, but at least I lacked the vacant expression.

"The journal doesn't say how Doctor Vernelli planned on changing people," Michael admitted, "but the writer was absolutely convinced that it was not in any way good. In fact, he clearly stated his intention to stop Doctor Vernelli at all costs. His last statement in the journal was that he planned to use a home made bomb to sink the ship, Doctor Vernelli, and all samples of the virus while they are in the middle of the ocean, and then have himself and his fellow subjects escape on the life raft."

"Oh shit," I whispered.

"He obviously left his journal back here to explain what happened," Alice said thoughtfully, "And since you said it was hidden, he'd probably done that to keep Vernelli from figuring out his plans."

"Did he make it though?" Ellen asked, "Did his plan work?"

"I don't know," I scowled, "I mean, we've never heard of this guy and this whole experiment, and it would have been all over the news if these guys had shown up..."

"So either something went wrong with his plan and they all went down with the boat," Alice said, "Or they made it to shore and were smart enough to say hidden so they wouldn't be treated as lab rats or freaks."

"I guess it doesn't really matter if they made it or not," I grimaced, "We're still stuck on this damn island."

We all burst out talking for a minute before Michael calmed everyone down with the statement, "There is one final thing...something that may be quite important." Everyone immediately froze and gave him their full attention. He continued, "The journal says that only the six experiment subjects lived here at the house. Doctor Vernelli and his assistant stayed at their lab facility on the other side of the island."

Part 18

"There's a secret lab on this island?" Dan gasped in shock, echoing what we all thought as we stared at Michael.

"No way," Eddie blurted out, "We already searched the island..."

"Not all of it," I reminded him quietly. When Eddie looked at me, I pointed out, "You remember the first day when we hit that rock wall while trying to go around the island? Then we all went the other direction and found this house. We didn't really look any more than that."

"Because there were a lot of rocks and rock walls on the other side of the lagoon...part of this huge hill we're on," Alice added thoughtfully.
Michael nodded, "And then we all started getting sick and didn't feel like exploring any more. The fact is, there's a large part of this island we never explored, and to get there we'd either need to negotiate around the rock outcroppings along the beach, or cut through the trees and brush."

"May I see that journal?" Alice asked, holding her hand out.

After Michael handed her the journal, she started to look through it while the rest of us talked. It was chaotic, with everyone trying to talk at once so no one could really get anything out. Eventually, Michael was able to get some semblance of control again.

"I think we need to go check this lab out," Theresa said, trying to get up but finding it too difficult with her massive breasts. She muttered some profanities in Spanish before saying, "I don't think I'll be able to go."

"I'll go," Eddie and I both said at the same time. I was eager to see this lab and find out if it had anything in it that could help us.

"I don't know," Tanya responded hesitantly, "It sounds kind of gross. I mean, what good would it do anyway?"

"I think we should send a small group to investigate," Michael announced. "There might be a working radio at that lab...and possibly some information on this retrovirus and the cure."

That immediately caused excitement and talking. Eddie and I both still wanted to go, as did Jimmy, though Ellen firmly insisted that he stay behind and that it might be too dangerous for him. To my surprise, he only offered a token resistance before listening to her. It was obvious that she herself had no intention of going either.

"I'll go," Dan said, standing up and giving a look of determination.

"Get real Danny," Tanya laughed, "You're too little to do anything useful."

"Well, you're a lot bigger and I don't see you being useful either," he snapped at her, earning a look of surprise from almost everyone, including Tanya. Dan had been so intimidated by her since his transformation and the abuse she gave him that it had to take a lot of determination to stand up to her like this. "At least I'm trying to do something."

Tanya was about to snap at Dan, perhaps even pick him up and spank him again when Alice announced, "I'm going too." She clutched my hand and looked at Michael, "Do you know exactly where this lab is?"

"No," he admitted, looking a bit embarrassed. "The journal only says that it's located on the other side of the island."

A few minutes later we determined that most of us would go and look for the lab since the more people we had the easier we should be able to find it. Only Ellen, Jimmy and Theresa were staying behind, and both Jimmy and Theresa would gladly come along if they could. Tanya on the other hand would have preferred staying behind but had been shamed into going by Dan. She even glared at him several times, blaming him for making her come, which made me chuckle.

We started on our trip by loading up with some food and water, then making the long walk down the steps to the lagoon. It was slow going since Dan's short legs couldn't keep up with the rest of us, but for once he seemed to have found his courage again and I don't think anyone other than Tanya wanted to squash it. So we were all patient with Dan and took our time.

Once we reached the lagoon, we turned around and went into the brush, following the large rocky outcroppings and the base of the hills until we managed to eventually get around to the other side and saw the beach again. It looked very much like the beach we had already seen, though this side of the island was much rockier. Still, we didn't waste time cataloguing the differences and instead started walking along it, sure that any lab would have to be visible from the beach or at least leave signs like another path we could follow.

"I don't like this," Tanya complained almost the entire way, "This is a waste of time. We'll never find anything useful there." And then she got to the heart of the issue, "God, I hate doctors... They creep me out..." She shuddered visibly at that last.

It was strange watching something as big and muscular as Tanya whine and pout like a little kid. More interesting though was the fact that the more Tanya whined the more confident and determined Dan seemed to become. It was as though her showing all this weakness was helping him forget his fear of her and find his courage again.

Eventually we saw a large rock wall in the distance, completely blocking the beach and stretching a bit into the water. I groaned at the sight since I suspected we'd just gone all the way around the island and that this was the other side of the rock outcropping Eddie and I had encountered on the first day. We'd come all this way and hadn't seen any signs of Dr. Vernelli's supposed lab.

But as we got closer, Eddie exclaimed, "Look..."

Just a short distance ahead of us there was a boat dock...or at least what was left of one. It was half collapsed, probably having been destroyed in some storm. There was no boat, but the very sight of it filled us all with excitement. The last time we'd found a dock like this it had pointed us to the house.

"It's around here somewhere," Michael grinned, looking around carefully. "Maybe it's off the beach and in the brushes."

"The brush could have overgrown it after he'd left," Alice pointed out excitedly.

"Let's start looking in the brush," Michael suggested, pointing at the ones closest to the dock.

"I want to check that out," I pointed to the rock wall that was now fairly close. "Maybe I can climb up it and get a good view of the lab."

"Brilliant idea," Alice grinned at me proudly, making me blush.

Michael nodded, "I'll go check the brush then while you take care of that."

Alice and I both started walking towards the rock wall while Dan and Michael headed away from the beach. Eddie and Tanya just stood where they were for a minute before kissing and going in separate directions, with him joining me while she went with Michael and Dan.

"Do you think this is the same one we ran into before?" Dan asked me as we stared at the wall. "It could be the other side..."

"It could be," I nodded, "It could be really thick too..."

"There's only one way to know for sure," Alice told me, "It seems we'll have to find a way up. Maybe there will be an easier path up top from in there." She pointed towards the trees and brush.

"Wait," I gasped, running along the wall towards the brush. I paused just as the sandy beach ended and stared in amazement, "It's here... It's right here..."

Right in front of me was a small concrete building about the size of a garden shed sticking out of the rocky wall. There was even a door in the front of it, revealing that this had to be the right place. Michael was right about the lab becoming overgrown, but he was wrong about the location.

"WE FOUND IT!" Eddie yelled for the others.

"You genius," Alice whispered, giving me a passionate kiss. I definitely wanted to continue this and take it to the next level, but unfortunately we weren't alone.

Once the others rejoined us, we went closer to the building. It had a thick metal door which was halfway open. I peaked inside and saw that the inside was covered with sand and bird poop. Obviously the wildlife had taken the building over after Vernelli left.

"It's just the entry way," Michael stated the obvious, gesturing the boxes that lined some of the walls and then the large passageway that continued to the side, "It's built into the rock wall."

"Like we couldn't have guessed that," Eddie rolled his eyes.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," Tanya grimaced, "I mean, he's a mad scientist and all... What if he booby trapped the place?"

"From the looks of this place," Alice said, looking at the complete mess all over the floor, "I'd say he left in a hurry and probably didn't think anyone could find it."

Just to be cautious though, we took our time as we went inside. Eddie found a light switch on the door and hesitated a moment before flipping it. To our amazement, it was still working and the lights came on. Half the lights were burned out, but there was still more than enough to see with.

Once we were past the entry way, we entered a large room that proved this was indeed the lab. There were tables, counters and shelves, all filled with beakers, vials, microscopes and various other scientific equipment. It was also a complete and total mess, having suffered a bit from the elements and wildlife. There were even lots of books that scattered along the floor, pages torn, shredded, and faded.

"Shit," Dan spat out, "If there ever was anything in here it was probably wiped out."

"Disgusting," Alice winced, "This place is absolutely filthy."

"He obviously left in a hurry," Michael repeated. "He might have been expecting to come back fairly quickly as well."

"Before he was blown up," Dan added with a faint smirk.

"This place isn't nearly as well set up as the house," Eddie muttered as he looked around.

Michael nodded, "I would guess Doctor Vernelli had this lab built for his research sometime earlier and then later had the house built for his subjects once he was ready for the testing stage."

I just nodded and looked around, noticing a book on one shelf that didn't look that bad. In fact, out of all the books and papers in this lab, it seemed to be the most intact, though that didn't really say much. I opened it up and saw that it was a hand written journal of some sort, but it was filled with scientific jargon, lots of numbers and some strange formulas. I guessed that it had to be where Vernelli was recording some of his research notes, though half the pages had gotten wet and were so faded or too badly smudged to make anything out at all. There were a dozen or so similar books, each one in even worse shape and most of them seemed to be covered in bird poop as well.

"Disgusting," I grimaced, about to put the book back where I'd found it when I looked up and noticed that the others were already leaving the lab through a door in the back. I quickly shoved the book into basket I'd been carrying my lunch in and followed after them.

The next room we entered into could only be called a great room. It was a large open space with a third of it being set up as a kitchen and dining room, while the rest was a combination of living room, library and monitoring station. There was a large desk covered with video screens, though they were all dark and unlit. I didn't know if this was because they were turned off or because they had all burned out, nor did I really care.

"If I had to guess," Michael mused as he looked at the blank screens, "I would guess that these were set up to monitor the house."

"That makes sense," Alice nodded agreement. "Why have a house full of experiment subjects if you can't monitor them all the time. There are probably a lot of hidden cameras that we never noticed."

"That makes me feel kind of creeped out," Tanya complained, looking around nervously. "I mean, what if he was watching me while I showered..."

"No one's been here in years," Dan pointed out, "These things probably don't even work anymore."

"Pretty weak setup though," Eddie commented, "I mean, the lab rats live in luxury while the mad scientist who runs the place lives in this rat hole."

"At least it's not as messy as the lab," Alice pointed out.

We looked around the great room for several minutes but we didn't really find anything useful. The whole library seemed to contain a bunch of scientific books about nanotechnogy, viruses, biology and some scientific subjects that I'd never even heard of. However, none of these were written by Vernelli and wouldn't contain anything about the retrovirus he had created.

Next we went into a hallway that led to a bathroom and two bedrooms, both of which were fairly sparsely decorated. Still, we couldn't resist going through them in the hopes of finding more clues or at least something useful. One of the rooms was obviously that of Vernelli since it had a few things with his name on them scattered about, but nothing that told us much about who he was.

Suddenly, Eddie exclaimed, "Look what I found." He pulled a box from under the bed and dumped the contents out on the bed. Several dozen pornographic magazines were scattered about, all of them looking fairly old and worn out.

"Great," Alice rolled her eyes and gave Eddie a disdainful look, "You found Vernelli's porn collection."

"Can't you think of anything else?" Tanya demanded, though her eyes immediately went to Eddie's crotch.

"I guess even mad scientists have to beat off," Dan muttered as he turned and began to look through the dresser drawers.

"But look at the titles," Eddie said, pointing them out. "Monster Mounds, Leaking Ladies, She-male Sluts and this other stuff."

"Oh," I gasped, suddenly seeing what Eddie meant. There were not only magazines on sexy women, but ones for women with huge breasts, women who were lactating, she-males, and even hermaphrodites. "I think we found Vernelli's inspiration for his retrovirus strains..."

Everyone else just gave me a blank look for a moment then one after another they all understood what I was referring too. "Just great," Tanya grimaced, "He was a sexually repressed mad scientist with a lot of kinky fetishes."

"I suppose it makes sense," I said, shaking my head slightly.

"Why?" Alice asked.

"Well," I said slowly, glancing at the magazines, "Imagine you're a mad scientist with a virus that can change people in any way you want and you're about to test it to see just how drastic you can make the changes. Could you resist slipping in a few changes that push your buttons and satisfy your personal fantasies? And he could probably rationalize it that he was just being thorough about how extreme he can make the changes."

"Very good point," Michael nodded.

We searched the rest of Vernelli's room without finding anything else, which was a bit disappointing since we'd all been hoping to find something about either a cure or at least on the virus that he'd intended to unleash on the general population. But after seeing his stash of pornography, I had a feeling that it would probably turn out to be a retrovirus to turn people into huge busted hermaphrodites with severe lactation and high libidos. After mentioning this suspicion to the others, they all agreed that it sounded as plausible as anything else.

"With a sexually repressed mad scientist," Eddie chuckled weakly, "You never know what you'd get."

After we were finished searching both rooms, we went down the hallway, wondering where it would lead. At the end of the hallway was another metal door, just like the one in the entrance we'd come through. However, this door was not only closed, but it was locked from the inside as well. Of course we unlocked it and went through.

The other side of the door was dark, lit only by the weak light coming from the hallway and another source some distance ahead. The floor was uneven and a little slick while the sound of waves splashing was very clear. It wasn't until Michael found the light switch that I could see where we were. We were inside of some large cave.

"Wow," I exclaimed, "Get a load of this..."

The cave looked natural instead of man made, though there were obviously a few things that had been put there by Dr. Vernelli and his people, such as the lights. There was even a large body of water with a cave entrance on the far end that led straight into the ocean. The whole thing was very impressive and I couldn't help but suddenly thinking of that old movie Goonies, where they found an old pirate ship in a similar place. Of course, there were no boats of any sort in the water.

"A natural cave made by the waves," Michael said, sounding quite impressed himself. "No wonder Doctor Vernelli chose to establish his lab here."

"Holy shit," Eddie suddenly exclaimed.

"Yeah," I grinned at him, "It is pretty wicked looking."

"No," Eddie pointed upward excitedly, "THAT!"

I looked up along with everyone else and gasped as I saw what had caught Eddie's attention. Almost directly above us was a large boat, suspended from the ceiling by chains and pulleys. Each of us just stared at it for a minute before we looked at each other and started to cheer loudly. We'd just found our way off the island.

Part 19

We all stared up at the boat for several minutes, overcome with excitement and relief. Since the boat was over my head, I couldn't make out a lot of details, though I could tell it wasn't a huge yacht or anything. However, it certainly wasn't a tiny row boat either. I don't know much about boats, but I was pretty sure it was big enough to carry all of us off this strange island.

"I don't see any holes or cracks in the hull," Michael stated as he carefully looked over the bottom.

"It's been held up out of the water for years," Alice mused, "It didn't have a chance to really go bad."

"But we don't know what kind of condition the rest of it is in," Michael scowled thoughtfully, "It might have been pulled out of the water for a very good reason."

"Damn," I grimaced, imagining the worst. "I hope it's in good enough shape to use."

"Well, let's get it down and find out," Eddie suggested eagerly. It was a sentiment that everyone agreed with.

Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that lowering the boat was more easily said than done. Not only was the motor for the winch completely inoperable, but a lot of the chain and parts had become rusted from the salty ocean air. It took us nearly two hours before we were able to get the manual controls to work, then slide the boat hoist framework and lower it into the water.

As soon as the boat settled into the water, all six of us began to loudly cheer. We'd finally done it. And best of all, from what I could see the boat actually looked to be intact. A minute later, Eddie and Michael were it to the small dock to keep it from floating away, then we all climbed aboard for a closer look.

"It looks like it's in good condition," Dan said as he looked around.

"It's kind of small," Tanya complained.

I snickered, "It's a lot bigger than that stupid raft we were all stuck on."

"There's even a small cabin down here with a bathroom," Eddie exclaimed.

Michael just looked everything over, then he lifted a panel in the back, revealing the engine which looked to be in good condition. I wasn't a boat mechanic, but I didn't see obvious missing pieces or a lot of rust. He nodded, seeming satisfied. Then he went to the front control panel and tried to start it.

I crossed my fingers then groaned in disappointment when he shook his head, "It won't start."

"Not surprising," Dan commented, "It's been just sitting here for years and my car won't start if it just sits there for a month."

"Maybe it needs gas," Eddie pointed out.

Alice hadn't said a word as we looked over the boat, but now she gestured to the side, "I saw several large barrels marked as holding fuel."

"I noticed a box of tools in the cabin," Eddie pointed out.

Within minutes, Michael, Eddie and Dan were busy at work, trying to figure out how to get the boat started. Michael was the only one of us who had ever done any real boating while Dan and Eddie both had a bit of experience working on car engines. Tanya, Alice and myself were all standing back without much to offer. I wanted to get in there and help but was afraid I would be more hindrance than anything.

Eventually, Alice sighed, "Why don't we go back to the house to let the others know what's going on."

"Great," Tanya let out a sigh of relief, having been a bit tense since we'd come into Vernelli's lab. "I can't wait to get out of here."

I glanced at Tanya and kept a straight expression, not wanting her to see me chuckling. I don't really know why, but she seemed to have some serious issues with doctors and scientists, as though she expected them to use her as a guinea pig for some experiments or do something to her if given the opportunity. Of course, I probably shouldn't laugh considering that it was the very mad scientist whose lab we were in that had done this to us all, that had changed me into a sexy blond girl, but I couldn't really help it. After all, since Vernelli's retrovirus had turned her into an amazon, I hardly thought she had much reason to complain.

Once we left Vernelli's lab and stepped back onto the beach, Tanya let out a long sigh. But just a minute later, she complained, "Figures... The guys are working on the boat while the girls are sent away."

I nearly choked at that comment, glancing down at myself in spite of myself. I might have the body of a hot looking babe, but I didn't consider myself one of the girls and it was startling to realize that Tanya did. I glanced to Alice who was holding back a laugh.

"Don't try to make this a sexist thing," I told Tanya in annoyance, thinking of several girls I used to know who had a habit of doing that with any issue that didn't go their way. I'd always thought that it was a great way for them to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions or failures. "It's a skill thing. They know how to fix the boat and we don't."

"And I'm the one who suggested we leave," Alice added, deciding to side with me. She gave me an odd look, then had a thoughtful expression the rest of the way back. Maybe she was thinking about having unfairly used the 'sexism card' herself in the past. I don't know and she didn't share those thoughts with me.

When we returned to the house, the responses were about what I expected. Theresa and Ellen jumped in excitement, or at least Ellen did. Theresa looked as though she would have if she hadn't been too top heavy to move around that much.

"We're can leave now?" Ellen gasped in delight, "Finally..."

"First we have to get the boat working," I reminded her.

"What am I going to do?" Ellen went pale, looking down at herself and wincing, "My God...I look like a little girl... What am I going to do? I'm a freak... And poor Jimmy can't go to school like that..."

"I don't have to go to school anymore?" Jimmy grinned, apparently liking the idea.

"It'll be all right," Theresa comforted her, "We're all going to have problems going back home, but we'll all manage."

"I can't wait to get back," Tanya added with a broad grin. After getting away from the lab, her confidence had come back and she was acting just as cocky as before. It was a good thing Dan wasn't around right now since he usually got the brunt of her attitude when she was like this. She flexed her arm and stared at the powerful looking muscles with a smirk, "I can't wait to see the look on my friend Kim's face when she sees me like this. She's gonna totally flip." Then Tanya's expression turned almost evil as she added, "And I can't wait to go see my ex-boyfriend Jake..."

"Poor guy," I muttered, not knowing her former boyfriend or anything about him but feeling sorry for him nonetheless. I saw how she treats Dan now so could only imagine what she'd do for someone she held a bad grudge against.

"But I look like a little girl," Ellen was nearly crying, ignoring Tanya's antics and bragging.

"It'll be all right," Theresa hugged her and continued to comfort her. It was quite a strange sight, and if I didn't know better I would have sworn that it was a mother and daughter together instead of two friends. And when you threw Jimmy into the mix as well...

I turned away from them and sighed, realizing that Ellen was right. There were going to be a lot of problems for most of us, especially those who had been changed the most. There was no way people were going to believe that I was really Lee Carvin. I'd never be able to go to college like I planned when I looked like this, not without creating a whole new identity or something, and I was pretty sure I didn't know the right kind of people to pull that off.

"Theresa is right," Alice told me as she came up beside me and held my hand. "We'll manage...somehow. We can figure that out later. For now, we need to focus on one thing at a time..."

"And that means getting off the island," I sighed, knowing that we had to get off the island before my problems really became problems. Until then, they were largely problems in waiting and I wasn't much different than anyone else on the island.

"First things first," she told me with a nervous smile, just as nervous about returning home as Ellen and me, though not quite ready to admit it. I knew that she would have her share of problems too, though at least she could hide hers a bit more by wearing baggy pants.

After a minute, I took a deep breath and said, "Well, in that case I guess I should go on back down to the boat to see how they're doing. Maybe I can do something else to help."

"I'll come with you," Alice told me.

"Not me," Tanya said emphatically, "Let those losers do all the work."

Theresa glared at Tanya, obviously not liking her husband being referred to as a loser. However, she just gave me a weak smile, "I'd come and help myself if I could. I've been on boats before, but I'm afraid I'm not a lot of help like this."

"Can I help?" Jimmy asked eagerly.

"Well," Alice said thoughtfully, "When we're ready to leave, we'll need to have a lot of food and supplies ready to take with us."

"Then we'll get started gathering everything together," Theresa said confidently, glaring at Tanya as if daring her to argue.

Alice and I waited a little longer then returned to Vernelli's lab with some food and water for the others. When we went inside, I was pleased to hear the boat's engine turning over, though it wasn't quite running just yet. Still, it was a lot of progress from when we'd left.

"It's almost there," Eddie grinned at me like an idiot.

Dan stood there with a serious expression on his face as he looked into the engine, creating quite an image since he looked like a little boy. However, the fact that he was useful seemed to have helped him regain his confidence even more. I only hoped that Tanya didn't come along and shatter it again since she seemed to take a great delight in doing just that.

Finally, the engine turned over and started to rumble. It sounded pretty weak at the moment, but it was running. We all jumped and cheered, except for Michael who just stood there with a pleased smile. However, he announced that they would still have to do some adjusting before the boat was actually ready to leave.

I just nodded and turned to Alice, "Let's tell the others the good news."

The next two days after finding the boat passed in a blur. Michael, Dan and Eddie spent nearly every minute going over the boat, fine tuning it to make sure that it ran as smoothly and reliably as possible. The rest of us scrambled around, gathering up as much food, water and anything else useful we'd be able to take with us.

When the time came, the boat had been taken around the island several times on a test drive and was now parked at the dock in our familiar lagoon. This would make it much easier for Theresa to get to the boat, as well as easier to bring our supplies aboard.

"I can't believe we're finally going to leave," Eddie said as we stood back and stared at the boat, nervously wondering who would be the first to board and leave the island for the final time.

I just nodded and looked around, first at the island and then at Alice. As hard as it was to admit it, I was going to miss this island a little. Some of the most incredible things in my life had happened right here over the past weeks. If it hadn't been for this island and even the strange changes it caused in me, I never would have ended up with Alice.

Dan was the first to board the boat, hopping on and then glaring at the island with a look of fury. He had a lot to hate the island for, having been reverted back to childhood and then bullied mercilessly as a result of coming here. Tanya boarded next, pausing just long enough to pat Dan on the head in a patronizing manner.

"Let me help you aboard," Michael told Theresa who lost her balance and nearly fell over while trying to climb aboard. She muttered a stream of profanities in Spanish, then settled down in the boat with a relieved sigh. Michael smiled, "We'll be back to land before you know it."

"I don't like this," Jimmy said as he climbed onto the boat, looking at it as though it might suddenly bite him. "That other boat sank..."

"This one won't," Theresa assured him.

Ellen climbed in after her son, but looked even more nervous. She finally said, "I was just thinking..."

"Never a good thing," Eddie teased, earning a kick to his shins from Tanya.

Ellen gulped, "The weird sickness that did this to us... If we go back, won't other people catch it from us? I mean, no one was in that house for years and it was still contagious. I don't want to be some sort of Typhoid Mary. Not for this..." She gestured down at herself.

Michael hesitated just a moment before answering, "I'd already thought of that myself."

"What?" Dan gasped, "You mean we can't go back without infecting others?"

"Not at all," Michael quickly responded. "Remember, Doctor Vernelli designed the retrovirus to remain dormant unless the infected person has the trigger chemical in their system..."

"So we could inject the damn virus straight into someone," Eddie exclaimed in realization, "and unless Vernelli happened to come by with that trigger chemical, it wouldn't do a damn thing."

"I wouldn't have phrased it quite that way," Michael chuckled, "But it is accurate."

"Good," Ellen let out a sigh, looking quite relieved.

This talking about Vernelli suddenly reminded me of the book I'd found in his lab...or in what was left of his lab. It was largely smeared, faded and illegible, but I'd been so busy over the last few days that I hadn't been able to look through it and see if there was anything useful that could be made out. That was all right though as it was packed in with my luggage and I had a feeling that there would be plenty of time to look through it once we were at sea.

"What are you thinking about?" Alice asked me.

"Just about Vernelli and this place," I sighed, looking at the island. Now that I knew I wasn't going to be stuck on it for the rest of my life, I could admit that it was beautiful. In fact, it would have made a fantastic vacation resort...if it wasn't for the whole sickness changing everyone. "In a strange way, I'm almost going to miss this place."

"Well I'm not," Dan said emphatically.

Alice and I just stared at each other for a moment and chuckled before grabbing each other and going into a long and passionate kiss. When we finally pulled apart, we climbed onto the boat without a word, holding each other's hands. I didn't know what was going to happen once we got back to civilization, but I was confident that at least I'd have Alice by my side.

Then after Michael started the boat and we pulled away from the dock, Dan spat at the water behind us, echoing most of our thoughts as he exclaimed, "Good bye strange island...and good riddance."

Part 20

I walked down the street, feeling fairly self-conscious about the way that the men I passed were looking at me. After all, I knew exactly what they were thinking and it wasn't unexpected considering the way I looked. I was not only a hot looking blonde with somewhat bimboish looks, but I was dressed in clothes which flattered my body, meaning that they were fairly sexy.

Of course, I knew that I could remove some of this attention by wearing baggy clothes, cutting my hair really short, wearing thick glasses, and a variety of other such things, but none of that would completely hide my well stacked body. And the fact was, as embarrassing as it was to admit, I was becoming a bit vain. If I had to be stuck as a woman for the rest of my life, I was damn well going to be a good looking one...even if it did draw more attention than I was really comfortable with.

"Maybe I'll get used to this some day," I muttered, glancing around and feeling as though I was caught in a heavy crowd, even though there weren't too many people around. Of course, it was quite a bit more populated than that strange island had been. "I kind of doubt it though."

It's been two weeks since we had escaped the island and returned to civilization and I was still trying to get used to being back among so many other people, especially when my body was so different from when I left. It wasn't easy, but I was slowly getting used to being a woman in the eyes of everyone around me. Maybe some day I would even think of myself as one, though I wasn't going to hold my breath.

Once we got back, we all decided against going to the police or reporting what had happened to us. Telling everyone about Dr. Vernelli and his retrovirus experiment wouldn't be easy or easily believed, but more than that, we all just wanted to get back to normal lives...or at least as normal as we could. There was little doubt in anyone's mind that if we went public with Vernelli's experiment and what it had inadvertently done to us, we would spend the rest of our lives as lab rats or treated like freaks at the very least. Instead, we would try keeping our changes a secret, at least as much as we could.

I frowned, a little surprised to realize how much I missed the others. After we'd returned to civilization, just about everyone had split up and gone their separate directions, back to their old lives as much as they could. Since I'd spent so many weeks with these people, living with them and getting to know them, not to mention everything we'd all gone through with the shipwreck and the sickness, I knew that we all shared a bond that no one else could possibly understand.

Michael and Theresa returned home, though I don't know how they explained their youthened states or her massive breasts. Fortunately, Michael told me that they had enough money to keep them well and comfortable for a good time to come. They'd be able to take their time settling into their new lives and dealing with Theresa's nearly constant need for assistance.

Ellen and Jimmy had both been altered far to much to ever return to their old lives or any semblance of them. There was no way Ellen could return to work or get a job anywhere, other than perhaps selling Girl Scout cookies. Nor did I think Jimmy was able to take over as wage earner for the family, though he couldn't very well go back to school either. They would both have to adjust quite a bit to their new lives and the way people treated them. Fortunately, Michael and Theresa had offered taken them in, offering them a place to live while they straightened things out...no matter how long it took.

"They'll both need a LOT of therapy," I sighed, knowing that Ellen took the loss of her adult stature hard while Jimmy was having to deal with hormones and feelings that he'd never before imagined. As difficult as things were for those two on the island, I could only imagine them getting worse now that they were surrounded by other people who didn't know who they really were. "I'll cross my fingers for the both of them."

Then there was Dan, whose self-imagine and confident had been completely shattered due to both his severe age regression and then Tanya's subsequent treatment of him. Fortunately for him, some of the damage had been undone by his work getting the boat running and all of us off the island, though I didn't think he'd ever fully recover. In some ways, that might even be a good thing in the long term, though I doubt he'd ever agree with that.

I had no doubt that Dan was in for a rough time in the years ahead since it couldn't be easy being turned into a five year old boy. But since he'd gone home to his parents, at least he would have people who cared about him looking out for him, even if they did probably end up treating him like a kid again.

"I just wish I could have been there when he explained who he was and what happened," I shook my head, knowing that it had to have been quite the conversation. Somehow though, he'd convinced his family and then moved back in with his parents, passing himself off a his own son to everyone else. "I wonder if they'll make him go to school again."

Eddie got off pretty easy in that he can hide his transformation by wearing loose clothes. He'd already gone back home to his family, letting them know that he's all right. And to their complete shock, he even brought his new girlfriend Tanya home with him. I just wish I could have seen the looks on their faces when they saw her.

"Somehow," I sighed, "I don't think that relationship is going to last."

As Eddie had told me on the island, it was mostly about sex, and now that they were away from the island they both had a lot more options. He told me that he'd already caught Tanya flirting with several guys at the gym and even he didn't think it would last much longer.

And then there was Alice and myself. After we'd gotten back to civilization, there was no question that we'd stay together when everyone else went their separate ways. What we had together was too nice to just give up like that, so instead I had moved into her condo with her where she was helping me get used to my new gender and what was expected of me.

I had no illusions about being able to return to my old life, especially since I had been transformed more drastically than any of the others except Jimmy. I didn't have the slightest resemblance to my old self and didn't know how to convince them of my identity. I didn't know how I could possibly tell my mom, dad and brother Ken that I now looked like some kind of bimbo sex symbol. So far, Eddie had told them that I was alive and well, and I had even sent them an E-mail, explaining that I was alive but that an accident had 'changed' me a great deal. At the moment, I thought I'd get them used to the idea slowly and then eventually break it to them when the time was right. I just had no idea when that would be.

When I reached the condo I let out a sigh and walked to the front door, pausing when I saw the doorman Jacob walking by and coughing. "Are you all right?" I asked the old man who I suspected had a bit of a crush on me. He'd been nothing but nice to me since I moved in so I couldn't help but being nice back.

"Oh, I'm fine," Jacob chuckled, "Just coming down with a cold is all. It's probably due to being out in the rain last night, at least that's what my daughter thinks. Personally, I think it's a bit of a crock since a bit of rain never hurt nobody, but try telling her that."

I just smiled at Jacob and nodded, remembering that just the day before he had been going on about how unlucky it is to walk under ladders. Why her superstition was acceptable but his daughter's warnings about the rain weren't, I didn't know.

"Well, you have a good day Miss Lee," Jacob told me, "I've got to get back to watching the entrance. Lillian Norris is expecting some visitors that I'll need to let in."

After Jacob had continued on his way, I went inside the condo, knowing that Alice wouldn't be home yet. She'd been busy at work, trying to get things straightened out. Apparently they'd all thought she was dead and had given her position to someone else so now she had to deal with that. I knew it was annoying for her, but to her credit, she hasn't slipped back into her old bitch mode, though I might have to comfort her a bit when she finally returned.

I stopped in front of the large mirror by the entryway, looking at my reflection the way I did nearly every time I passed in front of a mirror. I wasn't dressed all that sexy, wearing a nice blouse and slacks as well as comfortable shoes. It wasn't like I was wearing high heels and something skimpy, but with my figure, it was no wonder guys were staring at me.

"I wonder," I mused, briefly imagining what I'd look like if I did wear a skirt or dress. So far I'd completely refused to even try such feminine clothing on, but I couldn't help imagining how good it would look on my body. "At this rate I'll talk myself into trying it all on. I mean, Alice has already gotten me wearing makeup so who knows where it will all end."

A few minutes later, I settled down on the couch and pulled out the book I'd found in Dr. Vernelli's lab. I'd looked through it a number of times since leaving the island, but most of the parts that were readable were still in sloppy writing or scientific notation that didn't make much sense to me. Even Alice hadn't been able to make much of it. Still, that didn't stop me from looking through it and wondering exactly what Vernelli had put in this particular journal.

While I was looking at one of the pages that was mostly faded, I held it up to the light and was able to make out some of what it said. I gasped as several words at the top caught my attention. Those words were 'chemical trigger'. I immediately started looking over the next few pages, unable to read all the handwriting but making out the names of chemicals like hydrofluosilicic acid and silicofluoride. There were even some lines that seemed to be a bunch of random numbers and letters thrown together. But what drew my attention the most was the name of some chemical at the bottom of a page with a heavily drawn circle around it and the written comment saying this was it.

It was just then that Alice came home, entering the door with a sigh. "I can't believe it," she exclaimed, "Most of those people actually seem disappointed that I'm still alive, especially Jonathan who got my old position."

"It didn't go well?" I asked cautiously.

"A little better than I expected," Alice admitted with a chuckle.

"Oh," I encouraged her. "Did they give you back your job?"

"No," Alice actually grinned, "They didn't think it was fair to kick Jonathan out after he'd just gotten the promotion."

I frowned, wondering why she was so happy if she hadn't gotten her job back. "So why are you smiling?"

"Because I got a new position," Alice grinned, "They were looking for an experienced manager and I was available. It'll be a little different from my last position, but to be honest, I think I need something a little different."

"So you're getting a promotion," I grinned.

Alice shook her head, "Not really. It'll probably be a little less stressful than my old position and I'll still be paid the same. However, I think it might give me some more free time as well." She winked at me, then added, "I always worked too much anyway."

"Cool," I grinned, getting up and giving her a long kiss. My body was immediately responding in ways that were becoming very familiar to me. I could feel the bulge forming in her pants which brought a smile to my face. Then I abruptly remembered what I'd been doing before she came home and had to make myself focus again. It wasn't always easy with my new libido.'

"What?" Alice asked, seeing the serious look on my face.

"I was looking through this again today," I held up the book, "I think it's the journal Vernelli wrote his notes on the trigger chemical in."

"Why do you think that?" she asked, giving the book a thoughtful look.

"Because it says so," I grinned, pointing to the badly faded page. "And it even has the trigger chemical's name right here." Alice stared at the chemical name for a minute while I added, "I just don't know what all these random numbers and letters mean." I pointed to where it said Na2F2 and another spot where it said FNa.

"I think those are supposed to be chemical formulas," Alice said slowly.

"Chemical formulas...," I whispered, straining my brain to remember my chemistry class from a few years ago. Now that I thought about it, I think she was right. These did look like some of the formulas that we'd used in class, though I didn't remember what elements went with the letters.

Then Alice pointed to the circled trigger chemical name, "Sodium fluoride... That sounds so familiar." She shook her head, scowling with a look of concentration. "I've definitely heard of that before."

"Let's see then," I suggested, hopping onto her computer and running a search on Google. As soon as the results came back and I looked them over, I went pale and whispered, "Oh shit..."

"What?" Alice asked, looking over my shoulder then echoing, "Oh shit..."

"Vernelli's trigger chemical is fluoride," I gasped, "the same shit they put in drinking water and toothpaste..."

Alice and I stared at each other for a moment, thinking the same thing. The only reason we'd all felt it was safe to leave the island while infected with Vernelli's viruses was that they'd need the trigger chemical to activate. We were sure that it was safe, that the trigger chemical was some complex formula that only he knew. I don't think that any of us dreamt it could possibly something so common most people were exposed to it every day.

"Maybe that's not really it," Alice suggested, her voice shaking nervously. "Maybe we read the journal wrong. It couldn't be something so common..."

I just sat there with a sinking feeling in my stomach, thinking of Jacob and his 'cold'. I hadn't thought about it at the time, but he'd been showing a few of the symptoms of the sickness. In fact, there had been several people around the condos showing those symptoms over the last few days, symptoms that I had passed off as colds or hay fever. I had been so sure that these viruses we carried couldn't be spread...

"That is the trigger chemical," I told her grimly, "I think we've already infected a couple people around the condos. And if we've infected people, then so have the others."

"We have to call the others and warn them," Alice exclaimed, already reaching for the phone.

I just nodded and let out a sigh, "It's already too late... I mean, we've all been running around for nearly two weeks and have probably infected dozens of people each. I think..."

"It's too late," Alice finished for me, looking somewhat shaky. She sat down and looked me in the eyes. "You know what this means?"

I scowled, "That there's going to be a huge epidemic of people changing the same way we all did?

Alice nodded slowly, then gave a weak chuckle, "It also means that things are going to get very interesting before long."

"That's an understatement," I agreed grimly.

I thought about what this all meant, about what the future would hold and let out a sigh. We...all nine of us who had escaped the island had inadvertently spread a sickness that reshaped flesh and bone, transforming people into different forms. Before long, there would be more of us, more people who were infected. There might be hundreds, thoughts, and perhaps eventually millions. I felt a knot in my stomach as I realized that eventually, a large part of the world might be changed by this.

"And to think," I made a weak joke to hide the surge of guilt that I felt, "Some day they'll say it all started with a mad scientist, a shipwreck and a strange little island..."

The End

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Comments

a good story

I liked this one, Morpheus.

"we can turn it all around, because it's not too late, it's NEVER too late" -(never too late, Three Days Grace)

Another great read

I was thinking about who the queen of scifi/fantasy TG stories is.
I don't think you are the queen.
"Imperial Overlord Empress"? Yes.. that's better.:)
**Sigh**

Words may be false and full of art;
Sighs are the natural language of the heart.
-Thomas Shadwell

I remember

when you began posting this back on your site. It was fun revisit it. You would think he would've picked less common triggers, but he was planning on infecting the world and our protagonists were far too eager to return home. Oops!

Grover

Intresting

Hypatia Littlewings's picture

What an interesting place the world is about to become.

good story ,silly ending

I was glad Alice and Lee stayed together ...that is where it should have ended IMHO .

Stephen J

Cure

The only positive is that with such a widespread infection that there be a rush to develope a cure

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna