The sun shone bright on Gray's eyes, disturbing his rest.
"D-Did that really happen?" Gray asked himself. He froze. His voice sounded... different. Deeper, and more scratchy. "That fall must of done more damage than I thought." He put his hand over his head. Once again, the good Doctor froze. His head felt hardened and scaly. Slowly, Gray opened his eyes. The hand in front of his face was covered in dull orange scales. The fingertips ended in sharp claws. The palm was covered in yellow scales. "Dear God." Gray mumbled. He slowly sat up and looked his surroundings over. He was in some sort of hospital bed. His eyes turned to his body. It was covered in similar scales to his claw, his stomach and chest yellow. His body was leaner, more defined. He felt stronger. Several IV tubes entered his arms. "Mirror." Gray growled. "I need a mirror!" He bellowed. He easily tore the tubes from his arms and rose to his feet. His toes also ended in talons. An orange tail followed behind. He tumbled and nearly fell several times before he finally reached a sink. He studied his new face. A snout shot out from his face, scales covering everything. Sharp teeth filled his mouth, a forked tongue licking them. His pupil was pure yellow and is iris was red and elongated like a cats.
"S-Sir?" A meek voice called out. Gray immediately turned to the origin. Standing in the door was a terrified being. It was short, only half as tall as Gray. It was furred, colored grey. It's eyes were large and the terror was obvious in their green depths. Atop it's head was a mane and behind it was a quivering tail, both dark blue. It's four legs ended in hooves. A horse, Gray thought. Or more accurately a pony given the size.
"Who are you?" Gray growled.
"M-My name is Stephanie Rivers." The pony said quickly.
"What the Hell did you do to me?" Gray ordered.
"N-Nothing!" Stephanie eeped. "I found you outside two days ago. Y-You were pretty banged up." She explained.
"You're lying! You had to do something to me I'm a goddamn dragon!" Gray nearly roared. Stephanie curled up into a ball, the way she was shaking making her crying obvious. Gray sighed. "I'm, I'm sorry." He began. "This is just so impossible." He crouched down until he was eye level with the pony. "My name is Evelyn Gray and I am apparently a dragon." He grinned. Stephanie laughed a little. "But I don't know what's going on. Do you?" Stephanie rose to her hooves.
"I don't have anything to tell you. All I know is that I woke up on May 23rd and I was a pegasus. E-everyone is gone. It's been two weeks and you're the first person I've meet. Long Beach is deserted." Stephanie explained. Gray froze, hopefully for the last time.
"Long Beach?" Gray looked down at her. "Are we in California?!" He asked. Stephanie looked at him, confused.
"Yeah. We're pretty close to the coast and LA." Stephanie explained.
"No no no no no no no no." Gray began holding his head in his claws. "Last thing I remember it was the night of May 22nd! And my lab is in New York City!" He said.
"How?! I found you in the alley!" She said.
"So you're telling me I travelled two weeks into the future and to the other side of the country?!" Gray asked. "I need to get back to New York. Something very important to me was stolen. Something important to the whole planet!" Gray explained. "Thank you for the help but I need to go." Gray turned to leave.
"Wait!" Stephanie called out, loud. "I-I can't be alone again! I went through Hell these past two weeks! Learning how to walk, how to eat, how to get dressed!" Tears once again filled her eyes. "I'm coming with you." Her nurse uniform was ragged. Gray looked her over. He sighed.
"Fine. You can come. Before we leave, we need supplies and a vehicle. Preferably diesal. After that we'll start the journey to New York and the Human Preservation Institute, the group who robbed me. We'll need to find my wife once we arrive."
"How do you know they'll be there?" Stephanie asked.
"What?" Gray asked, his head tilted.
"I've searched the entire city and I've only found you. Out of the thousands of people in Long Beach, we were the only people left." Stephanie explained.
"We have to have hope. I pray my Martha is ok." Gray sighed and looked towards the ground. "The fact we're both here proves that there are others out there."
"I have food and medicine stockpiled in the hospitals freezer. We can scavenge other supplies from around here." Stephanie offered. Gray nodded.
"Good. How are you keeping the power going? It should've run out by now." He noted.
"I have two generators. One of them is powering this room and the other is powering the freezer." Stephanie explained. Her hoof rubbed the back of her head. "The generators are pretty big and I have a lot of food. I think we'd need a U-Haul to transport it all."
"Then a truck we'll get." Gray looked out the window. "The sun is starting to set. We'll gather everything in the morning." Stephanie yawned.
"Sleep sounds amazing." She simply stated. "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm stuffed. I'll sleep here." Gray offered.
"Sleep tight, tomorrow's going to be big!" Stephanie giggled. "See you in the morning Evelyn." Stephanie left the room and shut the door behind her. Gray sighed.
"My wife may be gone. Dear God, let her be fine. I'll even love her as a goddamn pony. Just let her be fine."
When I read the title, I imagined a being that could only eat apexes.
Tips of mountains, toblerone, plants.
Other than that, an interesting start.
Hm. Not bad.
Is Evelyn a Dude or what cause that's the vibe I'm picking up from what you've told us so far and I don't really wanna go back and check?
6161707 Yes Gray is male. The fact I fancasted him as George Clooney should point towards that.
6159885 well the term Apex Predator also refers to an adult species that has no natural predators and pretty much rules the territory.
6161967
i bet u think yer cool 4 bulling me feget
6161991 I am deeply wounded by these accusations
You are aiming the dragon as more anthro here then given the nature of moving and going by the sounds of it. The approach to the fuel does provide a good motivation too. Best of luck with this story.
6164529 Well the teenage dragons were pretty anthro, which is the age I'm aiming for with Grays transformation given how old dragons can be.
6164859 Thank you, i hadnt considered the rough height range too,
I'm not looking forward to this character realising that even if he finds Martha, he's going to outlive her by a large margin.
Stuffed? Did I miss something? He's been unconcious for a day and hasn't eaten a thing. Perhaps this is his lizard metabolism slowing down his digestion?
6168296 Yeah this first chapter could use some work. The reason for Martha calling him Doctor was because, originally, she was supposed to be a lab assistant. I didn't mean to leave that part in.
When it comes to Gray gunning the truck and almost hitting her, it's because the truck was pointed in her direction and the previous attempts haven't worked (another reason to add a dues ex) so Gray didn't anticipate that it would shoot forward.
As for the biofuel, the converter does something inside the machine but my technobabble isn't good enough to explain it.
As for Martha not being allowed to hear the conversation between Alexander and Gray, she's a science partner not a business partner. I'm going to make that clearer in the first chapter.
As for Alexander throwing Gray out the window, Gray is pretty close when he calls him a madman. He's really arrogant and egotistical. He believes he can figure out the machine easily.
Martha is getting pictured, I just need to get a good actress in mind. The fancasting isn't as important as the story so that's why I was willing to post without having one for her.
And the being stuffed part is indeed apart of his new biology. Adult dragons can sleep for at least a hundred years so I think their energy consumption is efficient.
Thank you for pointing these out. It allows me to edit each mistake to make the story as perfect as possible.
6168933 glad to help! I look forward to seeing more
I was wondering when we'd see a dragon. This is interesting so far. I await the next chapter.
This story has potential, but it feels incredibly rushed, Especially this chapter.
Also, Dr. Gray just woke up, and he already wants to sleep again?
I gave you an updoot. Now, give me an update!
6409515 sorry for the terrible wait between updates. First, Metal Gear Solid V comes out. And then my love of Ben 10 returned full force. And school is a thing. The next chapter shouldn't be too long.