Another one of @padalickingood ‘s OC’s Angel. Their design was just way too perfect, this was a lot of fun to do. Check out their stuff! They are an amazing artist seriously.
Pairings: Minor, barely there Jack/Geoff, mentioned Ray/Ryan & Michael/Lindsay
The beginning of the end of humanity started like any other day.
Jack rose with the sun as usual, greeting his cats and dog with a gentle pet and a hello; He made himself breakfast and made sure everything was ready for work. He watched the news- nothing important or pressing. A slow day. One of his cats, Ellie, chirped up at him, and launched herself onto his lap. “Hey, Ellie. What’s wrong?”
She purred happily, bumping against his bearded chin in greeting. In the background, Patrick didn’t notice his dog, Emma, shying away from him. Her tail was tucked firmly between her legs, ears down in submission. “Alright, Ellie, I gotta go to work. I’ll see you guys later!” Jack ushered her off his lap, and grabbed his keys and his wallet.
Driving to work was terrible. Downtown Austin, Texas traffic was torture in every sense of the work- rude drivers, dumb drivers, angry pedestrians and broken lights halting his progress at every possible moment. Thankfully, he still got to work with plenty of time- waking with the sun was useful. Jack turned his equipment on, and headed to the kitchen. He called out a greeting to his best friend, Geoff.
“Mornin’, Geoff.” He murmured quietly. His friend startled from his half-asleep state, and gazed around for the source of the voice. His sleepy blue eyes woke up a little more at the sight of Jack.
“Hey, Jack. How was your drive here?” He asked. Jack just huffed a sigh, and Geoff laughed his jolly laugh. Jack couldn’t help but flinch- where had this headache come from? “You alright, bud?” Geoff stepped closer in concern.
“Yeah, just… I just got a random headache.” Jack rubbed at his temple, frowning deeply. “It’ll go away soon, hopefully. I got a lot of editing to do today.” Geoff’s brow furrowed in more concern, but he nodded anyway.
“Alright, if it gets any worse, let me know. I’ve got some painkillers in my desk you could use.”
“Thanks, Geoff.”
They parted ways for the time being, and in walked the next two guys that shared an office with Geoff and Jack. Gavin and Michael wandered into the kitchen, bickering amongst themselves.
“Gavin, what is that even supposed to mean?!” Michael shouted, tone angry but face happy and relaxed. “Dude, 90% of the time you don’t even make sense.”
“Wha- Michael! It makes perfect sense!” Gavin put his lunch into the fridge, and hopped up onto the counter. “Have you ever actually seen a bird lying down? The only time I haven’t seen a bird standing was when it was dead! I swear, Michael, I-” Gavin’s rant stopped abruptly when his breath hitched. He sat still, staring into space for a moment.
“Gavin, you alright? What’s wrong?” Michael grabbed a water from the fridge, and came back up to find Gavin frozen. He stepped over, placing a hand on Gavin’s shoulder, and shook gently. “Gavin?”
“Gah!” Gavin gasped. “Michael, can you get me Geoff’s painkillers? I just got the worst pain in my back!” He arched back, trying to make the pain fade- it didn’t work, sadly. Michael nodded silently, and ran to grab the meds. Gavin rubbed at his back the best that he could at the odd angle he was at, but to no prevail. Michael came back, and offered his good friend the meds and a glass of water.
“Dude, don’t scare me like that.” He murmured.
“Sorry, Michael, didn’t mean to. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again. Let’s go, time to set up for work!” Gavin hopped off the counter, meds downed and smile back on his face.
The last two coworkers walked in together, waving at Michael and Gavin as they passed one another. Ryan rubbed at his temple, sighing quietly as they put their lunches away. Ray wandered into the office, setting up his equipment, and offered Ryan his good quality headphones- noise cancelling. “You’re probably gonna need these more than I will.”
“Thank you, Ray. I really appreciate it- I woke up with this headache, and I thought I could handle it.” Ryan took the offered headphones, slinging them over his neck for the time being. “Now I gotta make sure you’re okay- you were kinda skittish when I went to pick you up this morning. You sleep okay?”
“Huh? Oh- yeah. Dunno, maybe I had a nightmare? Just woke up kinda nervous. Nothing too major.” Ray brushed aside the concern, shrugging good-naturedly.
Jack stuck his head into the kitchen, smiling brightly at the sight of the two missing friends. “You guys ready? Gonna start filming our first video of the day soon.” Ray nodded, and they both headed to the office.
~~
“Good lord, does everyone and their mother have a headache today?” Geoff muttered to himself later that afternoon. Filming was done for the day, thankfully- now they just had to edit said videos. Making content for their YouTube channel was both the easiest and the hardest job- the sense of fulfilment they all got when they knew they made a really good video was unbeatable, but the editing process was long and boring. Geoff stood from his desk, and checked on Jack.
Poor Jack was sitting at his desk with his head down, hiding away from the bright lights of the office. “Hey, Jack?” Geoff asked quietly. His friend grunted as an answer. “Do- hm. Do you think we should just call it for today? Everyone’s in a bad state right now.” Geoff knelt by his friend, peering between the quieter man’s arms to catch a glance at his eyes. Jack sighed, and finally sat up, keeping his eyes closed.
“I think we should, yeah. I honestly don’t think I can do much in this state, and Ryan and Ray aren’t far behind.” Jeff glanced behind him, seeing Ryan and Ray in a similar state to Jack. Jesus, he thought, I’m glad mine isn’t that bad yet.
“Yeah, alright. I’m gonna talk to Burnie, and he’ll make the final decision for the rest of the company,” Geoff stands fully now, addressing those in the room that he had some control over. “The rest of you can head home though. If you don’t think you can make it home yourself, you can crash at my place, my headache isn’t that bad yet.” Geoff smiled at Gavin’s thumbs up from his desk, and he started to pack up.
~~
“Jesus! Jack, what happened?!” Geoff launched himself from his couch, fluttering his hands over his best friend’s tired shoulders. Jack’s eyes looked dead, his face was flushed, and he was panting lightly.
“Threw up. You got anything for muscle pain? Back- no, everything hurts.” Jack muttered, leaning heavily into Geoff’s side as they guided each other to the kitchen.
“Yeah, hold on.” Geoff deposited Jack in a chair, and grabbed some more meds. He rubbed a warm hand over Jack’s shoulder once they were downed, thinking to himself. “Let’s go to bed early, buddy. I’m feeling really tired myself.” Jack nodded, and they slowly hobbled to the guest bedroom where Jack would sleep for the night. Geoff made sure he was as comfortable as possible, and headed to his own room alone. He sighed sadly as he got into bed, made sure his phone was on silent, and soon fell into a fitful sleep.
It was the last time he would fall asleep as a human being.
~~
Geoff woke to an ear shattering roar. He yelled awake, panic gripping his brain and his legs up and out of the bed quickly, and he sprinted to Jack’s room, nearly knocking the door off of it’s hinges. The room-
“Holy shit-” The room looked like a murder scene! Blood coated the bed, the sheets were torn to shreds, bloody footprints trailed to the bathroom, were those chunks of meat on the bed?! “Jack!” Geoff pounded on the bathroom door, which was locked tightly. “Please buddy, please be in there!” No response. “J-Jack, please!” He tried the door again, but no luck. He backed up, crouched down to put his shoulder forward, and charged. The door broke away, splintering heavily, but Geoff didn’t care.
The bathroom didn’t look any better that the bedroom. Bloody handprints coated the sink and mirror, clumps of his best friend’s red hair were matted to the wall, more chunks of something were in the sink, and Jack-
His best friend since middle school sat in the shower, alone, shivering, covered in blood and scratches, naked except for a tattered pair of pajama pants barely clinging to his hips, jesus christ!!
“Jack, Jack, Jack, please be okay buddy, talk to me-” Geoff rushed forward, but was stopped by an extended arm.
“D-Don’t come any closer, Geoff. There- there’s something very wrong with m-me.” Jack’s bloody hand trembled violently, fingers clenching and relaxing sporadically. Geoff nearly cried at this best friend’s state, but kept moving.
“No matter what might be wrong with you, Jack, I don’t care. You’re in serious pain, and I want to help.” Geoff stepped into the shower with Jack, crouching down low with him. Jack finally looked at him, and Geoff could see one of the changes. Jack’s eyes… they were amber, nearly glowing in the sunlight that filtered through the window. Through the blood that matted down his hair, Geoff could see that Jack’s ears were gone, leaving only bloody skin behind. Jesus, his ears are gone. More studying let Geoff see that Jack’s hands were changed too- all of his fingernails were gone, sharp claws replacing his fingertips. The claws retracted sporadically, making Pat’s hand twitch in pain. Something in his hair moved, and Geoff leaned closer to look. Something fuzzy was angling towards him, working it’s way through the rest of Jack’s matted hair. Geoff shook his head, and looked back to Jack’s eyes.
“Jack, I’m with you, buddy. What’s hurting you?” Jack’s eyes remained trained to Geoff’s head, wide and scared. Jack reached up, as if he was going to place his hand on the side of Geoff’s head, but they landed on something before he could feel it. “What the-” Geoff reached up as well, and felt something hard coming out of the side of his head.
He vaulted out of the shower, skidding in front of the mirror to try and figure out what was- HORNS?! Ram’s horns were growing out of his temples, curling sharply and ending in a dull point near his ears- which were different as well! They were in the same place, but they seemed smaller, growing longer and thinner as well. He… Geoff was part ram now. The horns, the ears, he flailed around his back to feel for a tail- he had a tail, for god’s sake! A small, stubby tail grew right above the hem of his pants, twitching in agitation. Geoff made a noise of panic, but when he ended up bleating, he clapped a hand over his mouth. He turned sharply to Jack, eyes wide in confusion.
Jack was standing in the shower now, shaky hands trying to figure out what was in his hair. They… they were his missing ears. They had moved from the side of his head to closer to the top of it, rounder and shorter that normal. Something moved behind Jack, and he frantically grabbed at whatever it was.
A tail as well. This one was long and lithe, ending in another tuft of red hair. Jack started panting again, coming close to hyperventilating, and Geoff stepped closer.
“Jack, buddy, it’s okay. We’re here, we’re alive, we’re not going to hurt each other. We- we can’t be the only ones dealing with this, everyone in the office felt exactly the same yesterday! We’re going to figure this out, I promise.” Geoff gave his best friend a strong hug, feeling the thicker hair that grew around Jack’s chin scratch against his horns. “Let’s get cleaned up, okay?” Jack nodded, and finally stepped out of the shower, standing fully. “... Whoa… Buddy, you’ve grown. A lot.”
Where Jack normally stood only two inches taller than Geoff before, he was now at least a full foot taller than him, and his shoulders were a lot wider as well. He had just… expanded overnight.
“Geoff, you did too. Your arms and legs are bigger.” Jack pointed out, and Geoff glanced down to see that his legs had indeed grown thicker- like he had climber’s legs.
“Jesus, I really am a ram, aren’t I? Do you know what you are?” Geoff smiled slightly, grabbing a few rags to start cleaning the blood away. Jack started with his hands, and moved on to his head, cleaning away the fuzzy ears that kept twitching back and forth.
“I- I think I’m a lion, which is terrifying.” Geoff helped Jack clean his tail, noticing the new tufts of red fur that grew from his the backs of his calves. Another part of lion anatomy. “I’m a predator, Geoff. You’re prey. What- what if I go crazy one day? I don’t wanna hurt you, or anyone…”
Geoff could feel his own tail twitch in sadness behind him, and he grabbed Jack’s hand. “Dude, you’re not gonna hurt me. You’ve been bigger than me the whole time we’ve known each other, and you’ve never hurt me. Why would that change now?” He threw away the bloodied rags now, and ushered them out of the bathroom. He flinched at the state of the bed, Jack’s old ears still festering on the sheets. “Let’s just…” He gathered the sheets up, and tossed them in the garbage. “- I can get new ones. Do you think you could handle checking the news? I’m gonna ask the guys if they’re dealing with this at all.” Jack nodded silently, and lumbered away, having to duck slightly under the doorway to the living room.
Geoff headed back to his room, stumbling only slightly as he tried to figure out his new center of gravity. His horns were rather heavy, but he felt like his legs were stronger than before, being able to carry the new weight with ease. He finally grabbed his phone, and noticed a long list of messages from almost everyone at the office. Wow… we weren’t the only ones. His tail started to shake with excitement, and he shifted from foot to foot as he read each message carefully.
Michael sent him a picture of himself in the mirror, with Lindsay standing beside him, holding their own newly formed tails in front of them. Michael’s looked a lot like Jack’s, leading Geoff to believe he was some form of cat. Lindsay’s looked fluffier, and shorter- it curled like a Husky’s tail.
Gavin sent him a picture of himself splayed on his couch, massive wings emerging from his back and spreading over the back of the couch. They were massive, white with black edges, and rather thin for a bird- they reminded Geoff of an Albatross. There were a few white feathers mixed in with Gavin’s light blonde hair as well.
Ryan and Ray sent him a picture together of them standing in front of their shared mirror. Ryan seemed to share horns with Geoff- his horns were longer, more pointed, and his ears were bigger as well. A small tail stuck out from behind Ryan, grey with a black tuft of hair at the end- it seemed like Ryan was a Texas Longhorn. His shoulders had grown wider as well, nearly dwarfing Ray’s smaller frame.
Ray was the only one that seemed rather sheepish about his transformation. Long ears stood up straight from his head, short black fur almost blending into his black hair. His nose was a little smaller than before, and upon more reading of their message, there was another picture of Ray’s tail- a small ball of white fur. He was a rabbit!
He headed to the living room to join Jack, sitting down next to the severely dipping cushion his friend sat on. The news spoke about transformations all around the world, everyone becoming part animal. The anchor was a snake, apparently- her s sounds were slightly drawn out, her eyes were yellow, there were small scales around her fingers.
The President himself had transformed, just like everyone else. He was a lot like Gavin, massive wings sprouting from his back. His, however, were a deep gray, with a few grey feathers sprouting from his head as well. His sharp nails and nearly black eye showed that he was a Harpy Eagle. A strong animal to lead the nation, then. Jeff was proud.
“Any news from the crew?” Jack spoke up. Geoff nodded, handing his phone over.
“Gavin’s an Albatross. Ray is a rabbit, Ryan is a Longhorn, and Michael and Lindsay are common household pets! Cat and a dog.” Geoff cracked a laugh. “Looks like you’re the biggest predator, buddy. Oddly ironic- you’d never hurt a fly. You gonna be okay?” Geoff leaned into his best friend heavily, keeping Jack’s attention on him and not on the news. It took Jack a moment to nod.
“Y-Yeah, I think I’ll be okay. We’re gonna figure this out together, yeah? I can’t be the only predator out there.” Jack sighed shakily, nerves getting the better of him. Geoff nodded strongly.
“We’re going to figure this out, Jack. Together, as a pack.”
(From the original post:) padalickingood‘s AH Hybrid AU has finally got to me because this is all I could see when Ryan was arguing with everyone about that damn deer at the end of GO #72.
I had a go at Aib’s splodgey, painty type backgrounds because they look really nice and I am not good at backgrounds.
ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE DOING COMMISSIONS AND I HAVE NO MONEY TO PAY THESE WONDERFUL ARTISTS TO MAKE THINGS AND I JUST. IT'S FRUSTRATING BECAUSE I AM IN AN ARTIST BLOCK RN.
