Kevin returned to his office with only minutes to spare before he was scheduled to see his first patient, but if he delayed any further, the only opportunity he would have to perform this task would be well into the evening.
Contacting the Colorado Board of Health was not a particularly glamorous activity. Hollywood would have people believe that any physician could instantly get a teleconference with top physicians and government officials. Instead, he had to download a PDF form, fill it out, and fax it in. When he went to the page to remind himself of the procedure and obtain the latest form, a message in red appeared at the top: We are experiencing heavy volume at this time.
As Kevin began filling out the form, Heather entered and dropped a pile of folders on his desk and muttered, "This is going to be a long day."
"Just help me keep the coffee pot full, please," said Kevin.
"You and me both."
Kevin glanced up. "I had noticed you looking a bit tired. Are you all right?"
Heather yawned and stretched her arms above her head. "I had a rough night."
"Worried about this mess?"
"That and my sleep was interrupted by an altercation on my block," said Heather. "Apparently, Laura Tanner is not the only one with a tail. A nine-year-old girl has one. Her father was being accosted by another man demanding he keep that quote tailed freak unquote away from his kids so they don't 'catch' whatever it is she has."
"Oh, fun," Kevin muttered.
"This despite the fact that everyone in the other man's family already has at least the colored hair," Heather muttered. "Anyway, it escalated to a shouting match and then fisticuffs until the cops showed up."
Kevin finished entering the summary of the symptoms into the form before leaning back in his chair and regarding Heather with a concerned look. "Did you see the write-up I did on Laura Tanner?"
Heather hesitated before responding, "Yes, I did."
"Then if you follow through the implications of what her sister observed--"
"I would rather not, but being in denial doesn't help anyone, does it?"
Kevin stroked his beard. "I don't know what to tell my patients anymore. Perhaps I've been contributing to the denial by reassuring them that there's no guarantee they'll get any further symptoms, but I don't want to jump to conclusions myself."
"I think at least one of your patients sitting in the waiting room is here because of his new tail," said Heather. "He won't tell me what's wrong beyond 'hair where it doesn't belong'."
"So that's three people with tails," Kevin said. "We may be forced to assume that's the next stage. Let me finish with this first, and we'll get right to it."
Heather leaned over and peered at his screen. "Colorado Department of Health?"
Kevin nodded. "I know this is a long shot, but did any results from the blood work I sent in yesterday come back?"
"Not a single one," said Heather. "The lab is swamped right now."
On the form, he entered info on the lab and the tests that were run against various hair samples so the Department of Health could pull the reports directly. He then added in the general comments section: I have found a positive correlation between these symptoms and those who have recently been infected with influenza. In all cases, the new symptoms started six to ten days after the influenza symptoms subsided. He looked it over one more time and turned his laptop towards Heather. "This look good to you?"
Heather leaned forward, her eyes sliding back and forth. "Yeah, I think that covers it."
Kevin sent the document to the fax machine, only to have it queue up when it initially got a busy signal. He drummed his fingers on the desk. "Now what?"
"I think I have an explanation," said Heather. "I heard a report on the news this morning before I came into the office. There's been a sharp spike in new influenza cases in the US, mostly along the Front Range."
Kevin's eyebrows rose. "How bad?"
"About a hundred thousand new cases in the last week," said Heather. "Breckenridge and Silverthorne were hit almost as hard as us. The mayor of Breckenridge wants the ski resort to voluntarily close to reduce further exposure, but they're having none of that, not with as snowy as the spring has been."
"Can't give up that last-minute revenue, can we?" Kevin said in a dry voice.
"Now you see why I'm starting to get a little worried."
On the fourth attempt, the fax machine connected, and the document started transmitting at last. "Anything else for me before we see our first patient?"
"I got a call from Janet Turner," said Heather. "She should be in town within a few hours."
"Still on track for seeing her father tomorrow morning?"
"As far as I can tell," said Heather. "Assuming that she can get him to go."
"From what Laura told him about him, I'd consider making a house call." The fax machine finally declared success, and Kevin stood. "All right, let's go face the day."
Tina slammed her locker shut and rested her forehead against the door. "Way to bring down my mood, Laura."
"What are you talking about?" Laura said in a cross voice. "I'm the one with the ... you know ... not you."
Tina lifted her head and turned towards her friend. "I don't mean that, I mean the stuff about it being related to the flu."
"Bob had already said that."
"Yeah, but it's one thing when just anyone says it and when a doctor says it." Tina paused. "Well, Bob's not exactly just anyone, but you know what I mean."
"It's not like this is my fault."
Tina smirked. "Well, you were one of the first to get the flu."
Laura's eyes widened. "You're not seriously going to blame me for this? There were other people in that grocery store who got sick same time I did!"
Tina sighed. "Sorry, maybe this was a bad time to make a joke."
"Besides, I thought you wanted 'magically colored hair' as you put it."
"Yeah, but I'd rather not have a tail, thank you." Tina craned her neck. "You do hide it well."
"For now, anyway."
"So now that your doctor thinks it's flu-related, what's he going to do about it?"
"He said he was going to contact the Colorado Department of Health."
Tina snorted. "Like the government is gonna help. If they didn't do it in the first place."
Laura frowned. "That's not even remotely funny, Tina."
"Wasn't meant to be."
"You seriously think they'd do something like this?"
"Not intentionally," said Tina. "The government and the military have been known to engage in fuckery and not tell the population unless they're forced to. Go look up the environmental clusterfuck that was Rocky Flats."
Rocky Flats was a decommissioned facility in the western Denver suburbs where the military once created plutonium cores for nuclear weapons. Violation of safety regulations eventually led to severe contamination of the soil, some of which was spread by the wind to residential areas. The government eventually paid out millions in fines and lawsuit settlements, and it remained a sore point with many Colorado residents into the present day.
"So if you don't think my doctor reporting it is going to help, then what will?" Laura asked.
Tina grinned. "By harnessing the power of the internet, of course."
"I thought people would be already."
"Well, yeah, some have been tweeting and blogging about their hair and eyes."
"So isn't that enough?"
"Apparently not," said Tina. "I haven't seen anything in the news except some fluff pieces speculating if it's some sort of weird new fad or viral marketing for an upcoming film. Some newspapers and TV stations in Denver have a news tip form on their websites. I submitted to a few of them this morning."
"So maybe you'll get something there."
"Maybe," said Tina. "Or maybe they need something more than just hair and eyes."
Laura's eyes widened. "You don't seriously want me to post pics of my--" She lowered her voice and leaned forward. "--my tail, do you?"
"Why not?" said Tina. "Just a pic or two would be enough to--"
"I am not posting pics of my naked butt on the internet!"
Tina rolled her eyes. "Oh, for heaven's sake, I didn't mean that. Find some old pants you don't need anymore and cut a hole in them. Or I could lend you some."
Laura clutched her books tighter. This was the last thing she wanted to do, but she couldn't get away from the voice in the back of her head telling her this was an important responsibility. "I don't want to do this alone."
"Then let's ask around," said Tina. "There has to be someone else with a tail. Maybe we can convince them as well."
Laura took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll try."
Soon after Laura had left for school, Sarah had sat down in front of her computer to try to work on her book. After spending a half hour staring at the blinking cursor on her document without typing so much as a single letter, she realized she had spent all that time thinking of everything except her book.
She regretted having sent Laura along to school, even if it had been at her daughter's own insistence. Harold's cabin fever had become too great to keep him in the house, leaving her with no one to talk to. He had asked her to accompany him, but she had believed she needed only her book to distract her.
Sarah placed an elbow on the desk and leaned her head against her hand. She brought up her web browser and idly clicked over to CNN. The top story was some geopolitical dust-up concerning trade with China that had no immediate relevance to her life. Her eyebrows rose slightly as she spotted a story under the domestic headlines titled "New Flu Epidemic in US?"
Sarah clicked over to it and read: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a sharp rise in the number of reported cases of influenza along the Front Range. Areas hardest hit in terms of percentage of the population infected include Breckenridge, Lazy Pines, and Silverthorne. A growing number of cases have been reported in Boulder, Denver, Grand Junction, and Phoenix. CDC officials believe that the new outbreak has been helped in its spread by the booming ski resort tourist trade in Colorado. A very snowy winter and a wet and cold spring have combined to set near record-breaking numbers of tourists over the past month. A CDC spokesman stated, "We are studying the situation carefully but see no cause for alarm at this time. I should remind everyone that we are still in an active flu season, and spikes like this are not uncommon. We recommend that the public follow the usual precautions to help protect themselves and to prevent further spread. More information can be found on the CDC's website at www.cdc.gov."
Sarah flinched slightly when her cell phone rang. She yanked it out and tensed when she saw it was from Greg. "Hello?"
"I really debated with myself as to whether to call you or not, Sarah," said Greg. "Especially after what we talked about last time."
"Then you wouldn't have called me if you didn't think it was important, would you?"
"True, but at the same time, if you don't think it's safe for us to talk--"
"You obviously think it is," said Sarah. "Or you're willing to take the chance."
"But are you?"
"If this is just about my research, then maybe not right now," said Sarah. "I'm worried about my family's safety, but not in the way you're probably thinking."
"Actually, I might know," said Greg. "You've got something odd going on in that town. It's starting to make the rounds on social media. Something about weird hair and eye colors."
Sarah sighed. "It's ... worse than that."
"Then maybe we better take the chance and talk."
Sarah's heart thumped. "Does this have anything to do with what's been happening to us here?"
"To be honest, I have no idea. It just seems a hell of a coincidence that your odd hair color started the same day you were at the site."
"Turned out my daughter Laura already had the problem worse than me."
"Sorry to hear that," Greg said in a more subdued voice. "Maybe we shouldn't talk, then."
"Greg, right now, I'm desperate for anything, so I'll take the chance. What is it?"
"I went back to the site," said Greg. "Something had really bugged me about how those petroglyphs were destroyed."
"You said it must've been acid."
"I had a chemical expert look at it. To put it mildly, he was stumped. He knew of no acid or solvent that worked that uniformly, at least not at an odd angle like that."
Sarah paused. "Then it was machined off? A grinder or sander that took off the top layer of rock?"
"With as crumbly as that particular strata is? Hardy," said Greg. "This thing almost has a mirror-smooth finish now. I have no clue how they did it. You might as well list 'magic pixie dust' as a viable cause."
"Oh, come on, Greg, there has to be a logical explanation!"
"I haven't even told you the really way out part of this yet," said Greg. "The pics I took turned out really well. So well that I could do some substantial edge detection analysis."
Sarah knew where this was going. "Did the artist sketch an outline for the final figure?"
"Yes," said Greg. "We didn't see it because the petroglyphs were in shadow, but under the camera lights, the contrast showed up nicely. The incomplete horse-like creature was intended to have a horn."
Sarah leaned back in her chair. "So it may be a more ordinary animal, like an antelope or pronghorn--"
"No, you didn't hear me right," said Greg. "A horn. Singular. As in located in the middle of its forehead."
Sarah hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"That the artist scratched in a crude outline of a horn, yes," said Greg. "I'm sure of nothing after that."
Sarah ran a hand through her hair. "This could go any number of ways. Whatever people they made contact with could have conveyed to them legends of pegasi and unicorns as well as the concept of horses. Maybe with the language gap, they confused reality with fantasy and thought they were being told about different types of the same species. That could be a huge boost to my theories if true."
"I suppose that's the most logical explanation."
"Why would you think it would be more fantastic than that?" asked Sarah. "Or have anything to do with ... um ..." She trailed off as she thought back to Laura's tail, and what Laura had said her sister had seen.
"Something wrong?"
Sarah shook her head. "No, it's fine."
"Maybe I'm being paranoid," said Greg. "It's just too many bizarre things happening in such a short time."
"I realize that, Greg, and I admit, it is really strange," said Sarah, "But I'm a scientist. While that means keeping an open mind and maintaining a willingness to abandon old theories when they no longer hold true, I also need hard evidence. So things are going rather oddly both in my personal life and my career, but they're two separate oddities right now."
"Yeah, you're probably right," said Greg. "Maybe I used a connection just as an excuse to tell you about this."
If Sarah had not been so emotionally wrapped up in her family's plight, she could have chastised him for first suggesting that there could be a danger to her family over her theories and then goading her into talking to him anyway.
She rubbed a temple with her free hand. Moments like these led her back to past arguments between her and Harold. He never outright accused her of putting career ahead of family, but the subtle implication was sometimes there.
"I better get going," Sarah said in a subdued voice. "Thanks for calling, Greg. Try to keep in touch."
"Will do," said Greg. "Take care of yourself and your family."
He hung up. Sarah lingered on his parting words. "I try to," she said in a low voice.
Tina paused at the entrance of the cafeteria. Her eyes widened as she stared. "Wow, it looks like a hair dye convention."
Laura looked about as well. More than two thirds of the assembled students sported some sort of luridly colored hair. The color transformation was complete for about half of them. "I've been seeing this every day."
"Yeah, but I don't, since I usually go home for lunch."
"But you're here the rest of the time," said Laura.
"There's a big difference between glancing at people in passing and seeing it all in one go." She pointed. "Look. She didn't have curls at the ends of her hairdo before. The dude next to her didn't have that funky wave in his hair."
"How do you remember stuff like that?"
Tina gave her a half-smirk. "I told you, I'm into hair-styling. I tend to remember people more by their hair than anything else, unless they're really close friends like you. All it takes is a new haircut for me to be like 'duh, who are you again?'"
The flow of students into the cafeteria picked up, and students started bumping into them as they passed. "We're kind of blocking the way, and it's getting crowded," said Laura. "We better get in line."
Tina nodded and started towards the food line. "I managed to find four other people who admit to having tails,"
"I found only one," said Laura a bit sheepishly. She had stuck largely to people she knew at least in passing. She didn't feel quite as comfortable walking up to complete strangers. "He's not really hit in the head with your idea."
"Yeah, that's kinda the reaction I got as well," said Tina. "Bad luck that the attention whores don't have tails yet."
Laura shivered as they grabbed their trays. "Yet? I don't like the idea of this continuing without any end in sight."
"Join the club," said Tina. "This can still happen to me eventually, especially if your doctor is right about the flu causing it."
Laura looked over the food selection. Yesterday had been chicken cutlets, and she had managed to eat most of it, only to suffer indigestion later. At least it had cleared up in time to allow her to enjoy her mother's rice-and-bean enchiladas that evening. She grabbed a plain burger and a side of fries. "So you can't get any of them to do it?"
"I'm working on wearing them down," said Tina.
"But in the meantime, it comes down to me."
"It doesn't have to."
Laura eyed the salads. They looked particularly tasty. She grabbed one and set it on her tray. "But if I don't, who will, right?"
"All I'm saying is that if someone is the pioneer, it will spur the others," said Tina as she gathered her own lunch. "Lead by example, that sort of thing."
Laura never considered herself a "leader" in any sense of the word. She remained thoughtfully quiet as she paid for her lunch.
"Come over to my house after school," said Tina. "I even have some old jeans that I think will fit you that I don't use anymore."
"I have to watch Jenny," said Laura as they headed for a table.
Tina sat down. "Bring her along. Yeah, she's an annoying little brat, but I can put up with her for one afternoon."
Laura tried to sit and yelped in pain, jumping back to her feet.
"You okay?" said Tina.
"Stupid tail," Laura muttered. She slid more gingerly into her seat. "It's longer now, and it keeps getting caught under my thigh."
"So will you do it?"
Laura picked up her burger and looked it over. This close, it didn't appear quite as appealing as it had before. "Yeah, all right."
Tina smiled. "Trust me, this will work out."
Laura lifted her burger, sniffed, and scrunched her nose. "Tina, does your burger smell off to you?"
Heather met Kevin as he was heading back to his office. "Perfect timing," said Kevin as he continued walking. "You'll want to hear this. I found an inconsistency in the symptoms."
"Yes, making the waters even more murky is exactly what we need," said Heather in a sour voice.
Kevin gave her a humorless smile. "I knew you'd be thrilled. Anyway, I've had four additional people with tails see me today. If we include Laura, that's five total. Laura and one other have upper back pain. Another has headaches centered around the forehead. The last two have neither."
They reached Kevin's office. Heather closed the door behind them and said, "Are you going to update the Colorado Department of Health?"
Kevin sat down at his desk. "I'm still hoping for the blood work to come in, so I can see if there's anything telling there. If not, I'll update them by this evening." He glanced at his phone. "There's a call for me on line one?"
Heather frowned slightly. "The police chief. He can just cool his jets if you ask me."
Kevin leaned back in his seat. "Yes, I know, he's such a ray of sunshine," he deadpanned. "Normally, I'd be inclined to agree, but I can guess what he wants to talk about, especially if he's had to deal with more incidents like the one you mentioned last night."
"I just know you don't care for his attitude."
Kevin drew his chair forward and reached for the phone. "Maybe, but I don't want to be standing in the way of him doing his job." He punched the button and lifted the receiver. "Doctor Conner here."
"Doc? This is Chief Barrows," said a scratchy, deep voice.
Kevin rubbed the bridge of his nose. One of the things he liked about a small town was the more casual relationship he could enjoy with even those in power, but John Barrows would have none of that. He was too used to the political power he had back in New York City, which gave him the "right" to call people by their first name or a nickname, but in return he expected nothing less than an acknowledgement of his station. Kevin suspected John came to Lazy Pines only so he could say he became Chief of Police somewhere. "What can I do for you, Chief Barrows?"
"I wanna know if there's something I need to worry about concernin' the welfare of the town folk."
Kevin had to parse the man's words carefully. John still spoke with a thick New York accent that was hard to understand sometimes. "Could you be a little more specific, please?"
"I mean, all this weird hair shit," John rumbled. "People are startin' to freak out about it, and it's runnin' my officers ragged. Not to mention the last perp we brought in had a goddamn tail. What the hell's up with that?"
Kevin realized he should have involved the police a little sooner, but he didn't care for John's attitude. He tended to treat Lazy Pines as if it were a big city, rarely trying to connect with people on a personal level. Kevin's view was not unique; several officers who were Kevin's patients sometimes griped about him. "I don't know yet. All I know is that it may be related to the flu."
John chuckled. "Well, good thing I insisted on all my officers wearin' those masks when it first blew into town."
At the time, Kevin had thought it anything but. The flu had hit so hard that seeing all those police officers wearing masks touched off a bit of a panic. He had spent most of his time reassuring his patients that this was not some sort of Hollywood-style infection apocalypse.
"That kinda brings me back to why I called you," said John. "I need to know what to expect with this weirdness. I wanna have something to tell the people."
"Right now, you know as much as I do, Chief Barrows," said Kevin. "I've already contacted the Colorado Department of Health, but I won't know anything more until I hear from them."
"Well, shit," John grumbled. "There's gotta be something I can tell them."
Kevin was reluctant to give anyone false hope, and he certainly didn't want the police dispensing medical advice. "Try to reassure them that everything humanly possible is being done for them. As far as we know, none of these symptoms appear debilitating."
"Thanks, Doc," said John. "What about the chances of my officers comin' down with the flu? Some of 'em are still worried about that. If things are going to hell in a hand basket, I don't want them distracted."
"The infection should have more or less burned itself out," said Kevin. "But there's always the chance someone will bring it in again from outside."
"Mebbe I should order the men to wear the masks again," John rumbled.
Kevin barely managed to suppress a sigh, hooding his eyes with his hand. "Chief Barrows, I would really appreciate it if you didn't do that. I think that would needlessly scare people. Just follow the usual precautions, at least until the Department of Health tells us otherwise."
"Well, I hope they get their ass in gear soon before we really start hurtin'," John snapped.
"You're not the only one. I'll call you back if I hear anything."
"Right," John grunted before hanging up.
Heather smirked. "I take it he wasn't pleased?"
Kevin replaced the receiver. "I just hope he doesn't wind up doing more damage. The man may be competent at police work, but he is far from a people-person."
When Bob heard Laura and Jenny arguing up ahead in the hallway, he considered taking a different route. He had started to turn away when he saw Tina out of the corner of his eye.
"Heya, Bob."
Bob stopped and turned towards her. "Hey."
Tina grinned. "You're so quiet, I wouldn't have known you were back in school if I hadn't run into you. Feeling better?"
"Yeah. I've been back in school for a few days now. You?"
"I've stopped coughing up my lungs, yes," said Tina. "Want to come along? I was looking for Laura anyway."
Bob resisted the urge to correct her assumption that he tended to seek out either Laura or Jenny at the end of the school day. "Sure, why not? She's, uh, this way."
Tina snorted. "Yeah, I can hear. We better hustle before they kill each other."
"It's bad enough you have to watch over me," Jenny snapped as they approached. "Now you want to drag me to your friend's house to do something stupid."
"Will you stop being so obstinate for two seconds?" Laura said through clenched teeth. "And this is not stupid."
"You just said yourself you didn't want your tail out for everyone to see."
Laura blushed and face-palmed. "Will you please keep your voice down about it?"
"Why?" Jenny demanded. "You're about to let it all hang out anyway."
"What's the ruckus about?" Bob asked.
Jenny whirled around, the pink hair in the back of her head whipping about. "Laura wants to post pics of her curly orange butt on the internet."
"Just my tail," Laura hissed. "I'm keeping my clothes on."
"And Tina was dumb for suggesting it."
"Tina is not dumb," Bob said.
Tina smiled and bumped her fist lightly against Bob's arm in silent appreciation for the support.
"And I think this is a good idea," Bob added with more confidence in his voice.
Both Laura and Jenny looked at him and said roughly at the same time, "You do?"
"I don't think anyone outside of town is taking this seriously yet," said Bob. "So anything we can do to draw attention to it would be worth trying."
"Wait, I have an idea," said Jenny. "Have Bob look after me while you go off on your tailed lark."
"Jenny, Mom gave that responsibility to me specifically," said Laura.
"You never heard of delegation?"
"I'm not interested in watching Jenny," said Bob.
Jenny folded her arms and sighed. "Fine."
Laura looked over to Tina. "Sorry about all this."
"Hey, it's all right," said Tina. "But it is reminding me how good it is to be an only child."
Bob glanced over to Laura and Jenny. As much as he had enjoyed spending most of his childhood in the Tanner household, and he did love his "adopted" sisters, he could wish for the simplicity and quiet that would have been his mother's household.
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Can we get going? I want to get this done soon enough so there's enough time to do something more interesting."
"Yeah, let's go," said Tina. She turned to Bob. "You coming along?"
Bob hadn't intended to, but if he was being invited, he felt it awkward to refuse. "Uh, sure. I'm kind of interested to see if it gets a decent response."
Tina frowned as she clicked reload for the third time before her dashboard displayed properly. "There, finally."
Bob looked over her shoulder. "Something wrong with your internet?"
She glanced at the modem and router. "Nah, it's cool. Tumblr just does that sometimes. It's like it's in perpetual beta or something."
"Sorta like the latest version of Windows," Bob mumbled.
Tina snorted. "Heh, yeah. Too true. Let's See What We Can Break Today!"
Bob was glad she was not looking at him, as he was sure he had blushed. He had not quite meant to blurt that out. He tended to say things like that to himself when he was alone. He managed a small chuckle without sounding too nervous.
As Tina idly scrolled down her dashboard and occasionally clicked on posts, Bob glanced behind him. They were alone, Laura having left to retro-fit one of Tina's old jeans to accommodate her tail. Jenny had hung out a bit until she got impatient and followed.
"If you don't mind me asking, you just got over the flu recently, right?" Bob said.
Tina turned her chair around and nodded. "Yeah. At first I was really glad I did, and now ... not so much."
"You worried about this happening to you?"
"Of course. Aren't you?"
Before Bob could answer, the sound of pounding on a door came from down the hallway. "Come on, Laura, what's taking you so long?" Jenny cried. "Insert tab A into slot B. It's not rocket science!"
Bob rolled his eyes and sighed.
Tina smirked. "Annoying little snot, isn't she?"
Regardless of whether Bob believed that or not, he never felt it was his place to complain, at least not to Harold and Sarah. "You could say that."
"Must drive your parents nuts."
Bob refrained from acting on the otherwise instinctive need to correct her. She didn't need to hear the sordid details of his special family situation.
Tina observed him for a moment. "So why'd you ask about me?"
Bob hesitated, not having expected the question. "I guess I was just interested."
He knew it was a lame answer, but Tina seemed to accept it. "How do you feel about this whole thing?" she asked.
"I really hadn't thought that far. Maybe I was hoping someone would figure this out by now. There has to be some sort of logical explanation."
From out in the hall came the sound of a door opening, followed by Jenny's cry of, "Finally!"
"I'm not leaving this bathroom until you repeat your promise to me, Jenny!" Laura called out.
"What, again?"
"Yes, again."
Jenny sighed. "I promise I won't make fun of your tail or include it in my stories. Okay?"
A pause. "Okay," Laura said in a soft voice.
Tina and Bob turned as Laura appeared at the door. She hesitated, blushing faintly before stepping inside. Bob's eyes immediately widened. "Wow."
"And a half," Tina murmured.
Laura's tail now extended halfway down her thighs, emerging not so much from a hole in the back of a pair of faded and threadbare jeans as a large, ragged slot cut through the band at the waist. "I'm sorry, Tina, I had to cut more material than I thought," said Laura. "My hair is just to thick to pull through a hole." She frowned at Jenny. "It's not as simple as tab A into slot B!"
Jenny shrugged and flounced onto the edge of the bed. "Whatever. Let's just get this done."
Laura's eyes came level with Bob's, and her blush deepened.
"Oh, um, sorry for staring," said Bob. "I hadn't seen it for myself before now."
Tina grabbed her digital camera from her desk as she stood. "It's definitely longer than I had expected it would be."
Laura tried to adjust the fit of the jeans to little avail. "I don't like how much of my butt is exposed."
Tina crouched beside Laura. The slot Laura had cut was at least a inch wide and three inches long. "Don't sweat it, I'll pick tasteful camera angles, but we do have to make sure people can't say it was just pasted or clipped on."
"I really wish someone else was doing this along with me," said Laura.
"Soon as I get these posted, I'm going to text the other tailed students I met earlier," said Tina as she snapped a picture. "And shamelessly guilt them into following suit."
"What makes you think they'll post pics of their butts just because you told them to?" Jenny asked.
Tina took two more pictures. "Because I specifically chose people that sort of look up to Laura."
Laura's eyes widened. "They what?"
Tina smiled. "I guess there's something to be said for being a lot more responsible than kids our age tend to be."
"Sorry I asked," Jenny murmured.
"Um, well," Laura said in a awkward voice. "It's not like I was trying to draw attention to it."
Bob refrained from saying "That's the point," but he knew Laura had a history of avoiding the spotlight. Back before coming to Lazy Pines, when they believed they were going to stay put for a while, Laura had involved herself in community projects and volunteered a lot around school, but she always turned down anything that hinted she had to take a lead position. She would drop out of the activity if the pressure became too great for her to take a leadership role.
Tina stood up. "Okay, that should be enough." She turned and dropped into her seat before the computer. "It'll take me a while to get this stuff off the camera and resized."
Jenny bolted to her feet. "Then let's get going. I don't want to wait around for this."
Tina looked over her shoulder. "You might as well, I haven't used this software in ages."
Bob craned his neck. "I'm familiar with it."
"You want to stay and give me a hand?"
"Yeah, sure."
Laura turned towards the door. "Let me get my jeans put back on and my tail stuffed into them."
"Don't take forever this time!" Jenny called out.
Tina sighed. "Jenny, why don't you give your sister a fucking break, huh?"
Jenny frowned. "What's it to you?"
"I'm her friend, remember? I don't want to see her get hurt."
"I'm not trying to hurt her," Jenny said in a softer voice. "I always talk this way to her."
"Yeah, well maybe this time you need to back off."
"I just thought having her post pics of her butt on the internet is stupid," said Jenny. "It's not going to fix anything."
Bob's eyebrows rose.
"Oh, right, and you're not all pissy about this cutting into your time," said Tina. "Sure."
Jenny's jaw clenched. "I'm going to wait in the hallway," she said as she rushed out.
Tina shook her head. "Honestly, I have no idea how you and Laura put up with her. What a self-centered brat."
Bob said nothing and simply glanced at the door. Was he mistaken, or had that been the first time that Jenny had even hinted at being concerned over fixing what was wrong?
Kevin had been going non-stop with barely a fifteen minute break for lunch, thus he took shameless advantage of a last-minute cancellation in his schedule to duck out of his office for a short break. If he had any hopes that the change in scenery would give him a new perspective, they were quickly dashed. Enough people in the town were affected by this strange affliction that it reminded him of his continued ignorance no matter which direction he looked.
During the flu outbreak, when three-quarters of the town were sick simultaneously, it had felt eerie to walk down depopulated streets. It felt like standing in the middle of an apocalyptic pandemic in miniature. His sense of unease had been mitigated by the fact that he knew exactly what was affecting his patients and could rightfully reassure them that they would be healthy again.
On the way back to the office, he stopped at a convenience store for some coffee, despite his own admonishments to his patients to avoid caffeine so late in the day. When he moved to the counter to pay, a cop was in line ahead of him. The cop turned and gave him a smile," Hey, Doc Conner. Long time, no see."
Kevin raised his eyes to the man's face and had to think about who this was. "Rick, is it?"
"Yeah, that's me," said Rick. He finished paying for his own coffee and stepped aside. "I know it's been a while since I've come in for a checkup, but--"
Kevin waved a hand in dismissal. Patients he ran into that he had not seen in his office in some time always felt the need to apologize. "Come in when you feel you need to."
"Yeah, I figure you've been kinda busy lately anyway."
Kevin started to pay for his purchase. "You could say that, yes."
"I heard the Chief talked to you today."
Kevin collected his change and moved off to the side. He took a sip of his coffee before replying. "Yes, but I don't think he was pleased when I didn't have any answers for him."
"Nothing ever pleases him, so I'm not surprised."
"In that case, maybe you can confirm if he was on the level with me. Are things starting to get out of hand?"
"There's been some trouble, yeah," said Rick. "But more from people who haven't had most of the stuff happen to them yet. A few people get tails, and they freak out that it will happen to them next."
Kevin looked around. Other store patrons glanced their way. He gestured for the officer to follow him out of the store. "I have to be honest with you," Kevin said in a low voice. "The appearance of a tail is likely the next symptom after the hair and eyes. It's been consistent so far."
Rick adjusted his hat. "I was afraid of that. The Chief is going to want more details."
"I'll inform him as soon as I can," said Kevin. "Right now, my primary focus is on the Department of--" He cut himself off when his cell phone vibrated. He pulled it out and glanced at the caller ID. "I better take this, it's from my office."
"I gotta get back on patrol anyway," said Rick. "Good luck dealing with this."
Kevin waited until he was back in his car before answering. "What's up, Heather?"
"Kevin, I'm sorry, but you need to get back to the office right away," said Heather in a harried voice.
"I was on my way back right now. Is everything--?"
A voice erupted in the background. "This is a waste of time! You're taking me away from finding the truth! I refuse to be denied!"
"What the devil is going on over there?" Kevin demanded.
Heather turned away from the phone and called out, "Janet, please! Keep your father quiet!"
Kevin's eyebrows rose. "You have Fred Turner there?"
"Yes, Janet just brought him in now."
"But he wasn't scheduled until tomorrow."
"I know," Heather said. "But when Janet saw the condition he was in, she panicked and dragged him down here."
"Does he have the unusual symptoms?"
"Oh, it's worse," Heather said in a low voice. "He's got the hair and eyes. And a tail. And fur. And ... ears on the top of his head. But, my God, the worst is his feet."
"What about his feet?"
"Hooves," said Heather in a hollow voice. "His feet have turned into hooves."