It's a Monster

They seemed to have the opinion that no new restaurant in town could officially be considered open for business until the two of them had been there. They had a list on the refrigerator of the places they loved and another for the places they hated.

As far as Beth was concerned, Galan in an unguarded moment, told me that Beth was beautiful too. He talked about her large body as if she was some sort of Rubenesque goddess. I could tell from the way that he spoke and almost broke down that he had loved her immensely.

One of the things that had originally disgusted me, was my mother and Galan's sex life. She had told me about the rules he had put down for her, and I had been shocked. But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became.

His insistence that she never wear clothes around the house when they were alone together fascinated me. And some of the things they did together sexually, were things that I had never considered. Neither apparently, had my mother until she tried them. As we'd spoken I got the idea that my mother had an inkling that my feelings towards Galan were changing or already changed.

* * * * * *

Beth

When I woke up Friday morning, I was confused. I didn't remember coming home. I didn't remember getting into bed. I made myself a cup of strong coffee and tried to remember what had happened. I had brief flashes of disjointed memories, but no cohesive idea about what had happened the day before.

I remembered grabbing my clothes in the middle of the night. I vaguely remembered getting into my car. I don't remember the drive home, but the evidence clearly shows that I made it. I had a splitting headache and an attack of guilt and self-loathing.

I remember taking the formula, the day before, and I remember having sex with Craig. Or at least, I remember the beginning of having sex with Craig. I must've blacked out from guilt while he was fucking me. I couldn't believe that I had cheated on Galan yet again.

He was right to have dumped me. I was some sort of whore. How the fuck was I going to get him back if I couldn't keep my God damned legs together. The worst part was that since I had spread my legs for Craig, it would only be a matter of time before he told his friends, and then they would be bending me over desks and fucking me in closets all over the building. I decided then and there that I would have a backbone this time. I would never have sex with anyone again until things were fully resolved with Galan.

I quickly dressed and headed for work with my head feeling as if a thousand monkeys were playing a drum solo inside of my cranium.

I got several ugly looks as I stepped into the building's parking structure. I had parked my car sideways, blocking several of the other residents in their spots. I must've been drunk when I parked. Maybe Craig drugged me. That was probably why I let him fuck me in the first place. I didn't think it was my formula because I had taken it plenty of times with no ill effects. I decided to give Craig a piece of my mind when I got to work.

A few moments later, I arrived at the building full of piss and vinegar. I had worked out exactly what I was going to say to Craig, and none of it was nice. I noticed that the parking lot had been sectioned off and there was a really large crowd watching several ambulances and police cars.

After I parked in the section, they still allowed us to use, I walked over to one of my coworkers which was watching what was going on. It was that woman Glory, that Galan was friendly with. Talking to her would be a good thing. Maybe I could get some information about Galan from her after I found out what was going on.

When I walked up next to her, she noticed me and started talking. Glory always had an expression of pity in her face when she saw me. I once thought that it was because she understood what losing Galan had felt like for me. However, now almost three months later, I realized that maybe she just felt sorry for me because I was fat.

"My God, it's horrible!" she said.

"What's horrible," I asked.

"Do you see that thing over there and the one over there and those smaller piles over there?" she asked.

I looked to where she was pointing. There were several objects over a small area of the parking lot that were covered by sheets. Each object had a forensics team gathered around them taking pictures and measurements. There were also people measuring the distances between the objects and taking pictures of the ground or something on the ground.

I nodded to let her know that I had seen what she was talking about. "That used to be Craig," she said. My stomach lurched, and I had to fight to keep its contents contained.

"Apparently something, perhaps some kind of escaped animal got to Craig before he made it to his car," she said.

As we watched a small, bent over shriveled up woman was being led over to the area around one of the piles. I didn't know her name, but I had seen her at some of the company's parties. I recognized her now as Craig's wife.

She broke into tears and started screaming hysterically as they showed her one of the objects.

I was confused. I had assumed that the large object was Craig's body, and the rest were his property like his briefcase and other things he carried.

"From what we've heard," continued Glory. "Whatever did this to him, bit a big assed chunk out of his neck, and ripped his arms and legs off. There are parts of Craig scattered all over the parking lot and there are still some parts they haven't found yet."

I passed out then.

* * * * * *

Grace

It wasn't fair. After a few weeks of running with Galan, I had gotten to the point where I loved our runs. So that morning I was in a good mood. As we settled down to run the last mile, I was up for a challenge.

"Winner gets to ask the loser any question that she wants and he has to answer it truthfully," I said.

"You're on," he laughed as I took off running. I had gotten the jump on him and I looked back to see that he was just standing there. I thought for a moment that he had twisted his ankle or something, but then he started running.

I was running a bit faster than we normally ran together, but Galan was gaining ground on me as if I was standing still. He continued to gain ground until he was even with me. And then he loped past me, galloping ahead as easily as a gazelle outpaces a tortoise. It was simply unfair.

I already knew the question that I wanted answered. It had been driving me crazy for weeks. It was a Friday morning a week before Halloween and one week from then was my endgame. I had to find a way to save Galan from the pain he would go through if I was successful. He was simply too good a guy to have his heart broken twice in the same year.

The way that he answered my question would have a big effect on everything. But as he ran away from me, seemingly without effort, I knew I'd need to come up with another way to find out what I needed to know.

When I got back to his car he was smiling as he waited for me. "So do you have to answer a question for me?" he asked. I just nodded. His smile made him seem like a big puppy. He was happy, playful and eager to please. The man obviously had no idea of his effect in women.

"What can I do to get your mom to like me more?" he asked.

"You're doing fine, Galan," I said. "Any woman in her right mind would love the amount of attention you pay my mom." I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

We went home and stopped off to get fresh blueberry muffins and coffee for breakfast. We had seen a commercial on TV the night before advertising Tim Horton's blueberry muffins and my mom had mentioned wanting to try them. Apparently my mom's wish was Galan's command, but at least he bought me breakfast too.

The three of us had breakfast together before Mom headed off to work. She called us less than an hour later and told Galan that one of their coworkers had been killed by some sort of wild animal in the parking lot.

What surprised me was the way that Galan took it. He left for work early so he could make sure my mom was okay.

"Galan did you know this guy Craig too?" I asked.

"Yep," he said. "He's in sales like me."

"Well are you upset about him dying?" I asked.

"Nope. Fuck him. He was an asshole," said Galan cheerfully. "I just need to make sure Glory is alright."

The more he talked about my mother like she was some sort of saint, the more jealous I became.

"Galan, I'm not working right now and you're really busy," I said. "I'm trying to convince my mom to go to your company's Halloween party next Friday evening. It's a costume party. Should I go out and get you a costume when I pick up hers?"

"That would be great," he said. "I had forgotten about the party. I wasn't even sure that Glory wanted to go. She's really weird about people we work with knowing anything about us."

"Okay, I'll call you from the costume shop and let you know what you have to choose from," I said. I was thinking about how easy this was going to be.

* * * * * *

Beth

For the last few days I'd been having some sort of dreams or flashbacks. They were awful. All I saw in them was blood cascading down over a man's body. I felt like some sort of vampire because while I was having those dreams, I could almost taste the blood.

I put it all behind me though and went back to work. After only 2 days, everyone seemed to have gotten over Craig's death. Or at least they'd written it off as a bizarre occurrence that would probably never happen again.

The one good thing about it was that with everyone thinking about Craig, no one had time to worry about picking on me. And through it all, it was business as usual at the lab. There were a lot of people including Brent talking about the fact that there was virtually no way of stopping Galan from becoming the new sales manager.

Galan was simply a drug selling machine. He also sold the company's other products, including wraps, bandages, supports and other therapeutic devices. Brent was claiming that Galan had not only simply taken over all of Craig's clients; he was making inroads on some of Brent's clients as well.

I knew why he was doing it. It was Galan's way of getting back at them for the way they had ruined our relationship. It made me feel really good. Two months after our break up and Galan was still not over me. I wondered how long he would stay angry at me. He wasn't dating anyone. I knew that for a fact. It was actually worse than not dating anyone. I heard from the grapevine that Galan had moved in with Gloria. It was almost like moving in with his mother.

I was sure that all I had to do was to give him some time and some gentle persuasion. If things went my way, I could get Galan back. All I had to do was wait.

In the meantime, I was constantly working on my formula. I wanted to find a way to make the changes last longer. In a perfect world, the changes would be more controllable and permanent. But a drug company wouldn't really want the effects to be permanent. Perfect as a product would mean that the effects only lasted a day or two. That way, customers would have to keep buying the formula.

I mostly worked on the formula after work, so the tap on my shoulders was a big surprise. I turned to find Todd standing behind me. He had a nervous look on his face.

"Beth, during all of the drama with ... What happened to Craig, somehow the police never interviewed you," he said.

"Why would they have wanted to talk to me?" I asked.

"Because you were the last person to see him alive," he said.

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

He looked around nervously.

"Only three people have keys to my office," he said. "I've spoken to Brent. He hasn't used my office since ... Uhm ... Since Galan caught us. So that only left Craig. And on the night he was killed he was in my office with someone before he left here."

"Okay Sherlock, maybe he was. What does that have to do with me?" I asked.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of panties. They were very obviously mine. "I think we should talk about this," he said. "I'll be in my office."

I put down the vial of chemicals I'd been testing. I cleaned up my lab and went to his office. On the way there, I took a gulp of my formula. I figured that fat Beth wouldn't have a chance of negotiating with Todd, but maybe Hot Beth could.

It was strange; the formula hadn't quite taken effect when I walked into his office. I had made some progress. The effects came on smoother. In fact I was growing and changing in front of Todd.

But since he was so busy looking at his desk, as he spoke to me, he never noticed it.

"Beth, you're a nice girl," he muttered. "I hate what we did to you and Galan. You just need to have a little bit of faith. He'll forgive you. You know it wasn't supposed to be like that. What you and I started was a lot more innocent and it never would have ... "

"But it did," I said. "You all got lucky. You all got off Scott free. Galan didn't go to your wives and he didn't go to the old man. The only ones who lost were Galan and me. So what the fuck do you want Todd?"

He looked up at me in shock. He had never heard me swear before. And when he looked up he didn't see fat Beth, he saw Hot Beth. His mouth dropped open.

"B - B - Beth!" He stammered. "Y- ya look different!"

"I've been working out," I smirked. I felt invincible. I walked around the big desk closing the space between us. "How about this," I said.

His eyes were huge and so was the tent in his pants.

"I'll give you one more for the road. But you have to promise me that everything between us goes no further." I crooned. My voice was as smooth as honey.

"Uh uh okay," he said as I pulled my blouse open.

"How do you want me?" I asked.

"Could we start with a blowjob?" he asked. I dropped to my knees in front of him. I fished into his pants and pulled out his dick. It was the worst possible thing he could have asked for. He was already so excited by my formula enhanced body that he was about to pop at any second.

My lips and tongue connected with his hyper sensitive dick as my fingers stroked his engorged balls. Both of us were excited adrenaline flooded both of our systems. Raw testosterone in the form of sperm squirted from his dick into my mouth and down my throat.

Todd's moment of euphoria was short lived; as was Todd. I felt the changes in my body almost immediately. Due to the changes in the formula, I kept my consciousness this time I was there for the entire process, but I couldn't stop it.

I was powerless to act as anything other than a witness. As the sperm went down my throat and entered my system it mixed with the adrenaline I was making due to the excitement and danger of the situation. The potent mixture supercharged my already volatile and unstable formula and made huge changes in my body almost instantly.

The first thing I noticed was the rage. Anger completely filled me. I hated Todd for what he had forced me to do. At the same time I remembered that he had been one of the reasons that I was no longer with Galan. Todd had to die. Even as my conscious mind said no, something far more primal and far more in charge said yes.

"What the fuck?" uttered Todd, a mixture of fear and shock coloring his features. Thick black wire-like hairs sprang from my arms and face. My arms thickened and my legs did as well. I got even taller and bigger. I lunged for Todd but he was far quicker on the uptake. He dove to get clear of me and scrambled to his feet. He ran out of the office into the deserted main room and onwards.

He was screaming as he got to the main entrance but there was no one there. Still quick on his feet he remembered what had happened to Craig and realized that once I was out of the building, he would never be able to outrun whatever I was. So instead of going to the deserted parking lot, he ran out the front door instead of the rear door. He was hoping to make it to one of the close by businesses or at least to get into close proximity with other people so someone might be able to help him.

He was running for all he was worth for the gas station on the corner when I spotted him. As I got bigger and angrier, I apparently got stupider as well. It had taken me more than a few moments to get the door open. But once I got outside of the building I made up the distance between us with almost blinding speed.

I caught up to a screaming Todd, just as he got to the gas station. He was screaming his lungs out for help. The people inside of the station were turning to point at him, at the same time that I leaped for him and tore open the backs of his legs with my claws. Yes God dammit, I had claws.

With his ham string muscles and his calves shredded, Todd could no longer run. He turned to look at me as if begging for mercy.

"Please!!" he begged. For a fraction of a second my conscious, rational mind debated with my primal urgess and quickly lost. One of my huge hands grabbed Todd by his head and the other grabbed his upper arm. My jaws opened and I bit deeply into his neck severing his jugular vein, his esophagus and his larynx. I shook my head and ripped his throat out. Blood was all over my face and body.

The people on the gas station looked on in horror. I threw Todd's remains down and beat my chest in triumph. I roared at the sky as Todd's body jerked beside me, dying even as I roared again in triumph. The people in the gas station were too shocked to move. Then a little girl screamed in terror and started crying. That forced them to act and one of them moved to lock the door to the station as if that could possibly have stopped me.

The entire process from my secondary change into the monster to Todd's death had taken less than five minutes. I could feel lethargy and weakness tugging at me. I leaped away and disappeared into the darkness even as I began to change back into a useless fat girl.

Behind me I could hear the people in the gas station yelling for someone to call the police as I headed back the way I came. By the time I got back to the lab I was almost back to normal, useless Fat Beth. I went around to the back of the building, got into my car and sat there feeling exhausted. There were still several cars in the parking lot. I was so physically drained that I knew there was no way I could drive home.

I started the car and slowly drove out of the parking lot even as sirens closed in on the area. I saw the light from the first police cars as they pulled into the gas station. But I was almost a block away and heading away from them. I pulled into the parking lot behind an apartment building that was only five blocks away.

I hoped that the police canvassing the area wouldn't make it that far. I also hoped that I could hide among all of the cars owned by the occupants of the building. I curled up on my back seat under my emergency blanket and went to sleep.

When I awoke, my mouth tasted awful. Then I remembered what I or what whatever I had turned into had done. Strangely enough I had no regrets.

I still felt as if I had run the Boston Marathon with a piano on my back, but I was sure I could make it home. I turned on the stereo, looking to see if there was any news about what had happened. As soon as I touched the knob, music came out of the speakers.

"Everybody was born in it. Sure as hell gonna die in it.

"Some people don't give a shit. Whether or not they're full of it."

I started laughing as soon as I heard it. It was one of Galan's favorite songs. Galan had introduced me to metal. The music was raucous and heavy but at the time joyous and energetic.

"It's on my mind most of the time. That's when you find we all go blind."