Not groaned. Screamed.
She stumbled forward, falling to the floor. She caught herself before her face hit the dirt. Her legs wouldn't stop shaking. Her whole body began to tremble like she was freezing to death. Something was wrong. It was different. Where was the fever? Where were the warnings?
There was nothing. Just the shaking. Then the bones began to snap.
Oh my god, came a voice inside of her before her entire body was ripped to pieces by the agony she was forced to endure for several torturous minutes. It was intensified because of the smaller time period and was the worst attack she'd ever experienced.
Her spine snapped and she couldn't move. She cried out, sobbing into the dirt. It clung to her saliva that pooled out of her mouth and down her lip. She tried to turn but was pinned to the floor by her misaligned spine. It cracked again and her whole back was straighter at the base curving down at the shoulders, like a canine.
She lay on her side willing herself to get up or move as she screeched. She managed to stand on her hands and knees when suddenly the muscles around her knees pinched in the front and stretched out at the back, forcing the bone to dislocate forward. Her scream was deafening in her own ears. She fell to the floor, her knees now grotesquely deformed but actually shaping into hind legs.
The bones in her hands and feet clicked and crunched and stretched into the claws of a predator. Her skin remained the same colour, but she saw through the fog of pain that strange fibres were pushing through her skin like hairs. It sent a peculiar pins-and-needles sensation sweeping across her entire body, only just detectable through all the pain. They were a whitish colour and the length of her human nails. She saw her fingers stretched out in front of her, clawing the dirt; the fingernails now pointed; a thick layer of skin had grown over her human nails turning them into sharp razors. She'd seen these before.
She couldn't scream properly as the attack overwhelmed her. Her voice sounded like her vocal chords were being tugged as her throat began to stretch; the skin stretching with it as the neck curved upwards, making her feel like she was constantly tipping her head back.
When she couldn't sob or scream anymore, she panted and the sound that came out was deeper. It reminded her of the time she had growled, stunning herself at the sound she'd made.
When it was over she lifted herself up. Everything was stiff and sore, like after visiting a chiropractor- and having a one-on-one with a sumo wrestler.
She was still on her feet but her knees were pointed the other way instead of being behind her elbows when she crouched. She turned her head and found her neck moved much more loosely; she was able to look right behind her. Her neck had somehow lengthened, or had extra bones that fitted into place and now she was able to hold it up effortlessly while on all fours.
It was the craziest and yet the most fascinating experience. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't bloodthirsty and she was still herself.
She hadn't lost her mind. Yet.
Or had she? No she was really there. She'd really Changed.
But... She surveyed what she could of herself without a mirror. She was different. She didn't look like the others. She was smaller and weaker in appearance. Her physique was more human than Beast if that made any sense at all in the grand scheme of things. She was a Beast. And yet she wasn't. What was she? And how the hell was she supposed to Change back?
“Shit,” came a strange snarl in place of her voice. Her words were audible but distorted by her Changed vocal chords. She understood herself though. Perhaps other Weres could too.
To say she had been horrified and scared stiff, imagining this moment every night for two months had been an understatement. Now it had happened, she felt differently. It was not what she had expected. It was still scary but not in the way she had imagined.
She thought about her argument with Driver. Had her emotions made this happen? Somewhere in her mind she felt that it had. Was the Change driven by emotion?
Searing, writhing pain stabbed through her muscles, her bones, in her head, tearing her from her thoughts. “It's over. It should be over! Why isn't it over?!” she roared. She collapsed onto her back, her claws lashing the air as the pain consumed her. Then her vision blurred and everything went dark.
When she opened her eyes she heard her name. Someone was calling her.
She craned her eyelids open and looked sluggishly around. Everything was blurry but she made out a face, close to hers, looking down at her. Her vision cleared gradually until she saw it was Alf's face. His golden skin, his blond, floppy hair, and his blue eyes; all were welcome guests.