Chapter Text
The outbreak's gotten worse.
More people are dying, more people are becoming like zombies. The facilities used to hold anomalies are too small to handle the growing numbers, which means more anomalies in public… which means more deaths.
To make matters worse, some of the infections have gotten so bad, some anomalies have grown large. Their senses have enhanced, and their hunger is insatiable. Some remaining survivors are committing suicide because they already know that they won't make it.
The world is becoming unsuitable for life.
Sometimes, at night, Head Nurse has dreams. Dreams of flowers she can't name. A garden, at night, constellations visible in the sky. They're pleasant dreams, she does like them- but why do they keep happening to her?
Sometimes she dreams of shapeshifters attacking her.
The first sneaks up on her, taking her by surprise and bites her neck. Sharp, jagged teeth digs straight into her flesh, and Head Nurse lets out a guttural scream. Tears prick at Head Nurse's eyes, pain pulsing through her veins like lava pooling down an erupted volcano. She can feel the blood dripping down her back, staining her shirt. It hurts so bad, it almost feels cold.
The scent begins to attract others- another shapeshifter lunges at her and tears her meat from her forearm. The pain is tortuous, yet Head Nurse can't actually do anything but stand and watch as her body is mutilated, gore dripping onto the concrete sidewalk. Rows of spear-like teeth rip out the muscles from the back of her knees, licking up the blood that pools beneath. Her bone is showing now, and the pain has gotten so excruciatingly agonizing it's almost gone. Subsided, a dull, faint ache gnawing at her.
She's almost at the edge of death, release, when she spots her, a coworker, transformed and having turned, coming her way. And Head Nurse can only watch as she reveals the knives of teeth in her mouth, a large, forked tongue slithering out as she begins to bite and tear at her face.
Why would she do that?
Head Nurse's eyes shoot open, skin clammy. Her body is soaked in sweat, clothes sticking to her as she sits up, breathing heavily. God, that… it… it was so vivid, it almost felt real. Like a cruel preview of her death, telling her what to expect.
Tears threaten to spill from her eyes as she throws her legs over the side of her bed. A walk, she needs to calm herself down- yes, that would help. Maybe out in her backyard, where she knows anomalies can't get inside. Yes.
Her feet pads down the stairs, completely disregarding her slippers before turning the door handle to the backyard.
Head Nurse hasn't had a dream so vivid and scary in years. She's gotten dreams of the anomalies before, yes, but… none of them have felt as real as that one.
The night air cools her down, a gentle breeze whipping through her ivory-white hair. The woman walks through the path she had laid out when she first got this house, smooth stone against the bottom of her feet. The garden always helped calm her down.
Moonlight spills onto the grass, the fresh scent of rain lingering in the air. A large oak tree looms over a part of the garden, providing shade during the summer. But Head Nurse wasn't paying attention to that part of the garden.
Alyssum. Small, white flowers, sat in a bush. Head Nurse crouches next to the clump of flowers- they weren't particularly her favorites, but they were beautiful, especially in the night. Bowing her head down, she gently grasps a handful of the flowers still attached to the stem, and lets the tears fall.
She was doomed. The anomalies, they were going to get to her, they were going to tear her. Limb by limb. And she won't have a chance to live by then.
What even is the point of living when you were doomed to die?
Sniffling, Head Nurse slowly stands up and lets the flowers go. They spring back into the bush, right back where she left it. Gosh, she needs to go back to sleep or she was going to practically be a zombie at work.
She sighs, face still wet with salt. It's whatever, she can just… oh, there's a petal on her wrist. With a manicured finger, she brushes it away.
It's not going away.
She tries again, harder. It still doesn't. Shaking her wrist doesn't work, either. In fact, it seems to make it worse, because there… ooookay, she really needed to sleep. Either she was hallucinating, or there was white ink oozing from the petal, which was still there.
It was kind of trippy, actually, watching the ink form patterns on her bronze skin. It took Head Nurse a couple seconds to realize there was now permanent ink on her skin, drawing out a four-pointed star on the inside of her wrist.
Good god, how sleep-deprived was she?
The answer was probably very, because she didn't seem to notice the huge fucking anomaly- probably the size of her oak tree- looming behind her. She only turns around when she notices the shadow, and screams.
She was going to die after a stupid moment in her backyard. She was going to die and become a shapeshifter and infect others.
Fuck, fuck, she wasn't ready, goddamnit!
The shapeshifter roars, slime acting as spittle. The slime ends up everywhere, and it was fucking gross, but Head Nurse needed to fend for herself. She inhales sharply- what can she do? She can't run, no- she wasn't going to go without a fight.
A hand reaches towards her, and the woman begins to sprint for her life. It barely misses her, but she's barefoot and the stones are wet, and so she tumbles into the Alyssum bush anyway.
She feels around inside the bush for a rock, maybe, but instead her fingers curl around a stick. Whatever, sure.
Stick in hand, she shakily stands up. The shapeshifter hasn't turned to face her yet, and Head Nurse gets ready to chuck the stick at it before getting a better look at it.
It was made of polished wood, the top curved into a sort of half-circle. Alyssum flowers stuck to it, and it made her wrist tingle with a sort of… fire, but like a tiny fire. Whatever, a stick is a stick, and-
A blinding light beamed from the wood, making Head Nurse wince and look away. The light, a pastel green, began to engulf her.
The first change came from her head. The top of her head began to twitch, before two big ears sprouted from her hair, cat-like and sensitive. Alongside that came a long tail, the same white as her hair.
Speaking of, her long, curly hair, unkempt and messy from bed, began to comb itself, leaving it down. The ends touched her hips, and not a single imperfection showed itself.
Then came her outfit. What she wore for sleep- a simple nightgown- formed into an off-white, flowy, bouncy skirt, reaching her knees in length. A corset-like top fit over her lanky torso, the long sleeves transparent. Gold sandals with long straps appeared on her feet, it having no heels.
Her makeup had randomly done itself, giving her prominent gold eyeshadow that matched her sandals. Her earrings changed themselves to the Alyssum flower, the same flower appearing in her hair.
Finally, a golden bow tied itelf on the back of her head, the ribbons fading to white at the end.
She did a little twirl and held her staff tightly before the light disappeared.
"Woah?!-" Head Nurse barely had a second to look over her outfit before the shapeshifter roared again, green spittle splattering over her and her surroundings.
The newfound cat-woman reared back in surprise, wiping off the slime that had gotten on her face. "I just got this… oh, you are going to pay!"
Handling her staff, Head Nurse didn't think. She only said what had popped up in her mind at the moment.
She pointed the curved end of the staff at the shapeshifter and yelled with all her might; "Gardenia Rhapsody!"
A beam of white light appeared, and Head Nurse harnessed it towards her. It became a bright, glowing Gardenia flower, and so, Head Nurse released it.
It hurtled towards the shapeshifter, hitting it straight in the eye. The shapeshifter visibly winced, stepping backwards- maybe it was burning the anomaly?
Eventually, yet slowly, the anomaly shrank in size. It became the size of a normal person, before blinking, and- woah!
The woman who was once an anomaly stood still in shock for a second, before running away out the… oh, the backyard door was unlocked.
But Head Nurse wasn't focused on that- first off, what the fuck was that magical stuff- and second- anomalies can become humans?!
That was helpful information for later… very, very helpful! She could reverse the anomaly process! She can save everyone, herself!
She took one last glance at the Alyssum bush, moonlight shining on the flowers.
"Head Nurse, did you hear about the magical girl last night who had cat ears? Do you think she's real?" Secretary said as he walked up to her, at the coffee machine. "I heard she was fighting one of those huge shapeshifters."
Head Nurse spit her coffee all over poor Secretary's face.