Dustin sat under a large leaf, watching the rain come down.  He almost wished he had kept the aquatic skin, because his fur was soaked.  It worked fine for keeping the water off for a while, but that while was several hours ago.  Thankfully, the weather seemed to deter most things from moving, because all of the heat signatures he could see, were still in the same spots.

  “Only a little under a year to go,” he grumbled to himself, glancing at the PED on his arm.  He wished it would tell him more, like how much time he had left, but he was stuck with this low-end piece of crap the government couldn’t give away.

  He still needed to find something to eat, and shelter.  Pulling another strip of fabric from his ruined suit, he continued weaving the strands into a rope.  It was his hope, that he could make some kind of nest high up in one of the trees, where the larger predators couldn’t reach.  Besides, the genetic material he had gotten from the turtle, hardened his skin, and made his bones stronger.

  He had been hoping for a shell, or something more, but he would take what he could get.  After all, he only got a smear of blood from the thing.

  A crash to his left, had him up and moving.  There was something large coming towards him, and he wanted nothing to do with it.  Hiding behind the tree he had been leaning against, he watched a large three-legged creature, with huge spikes coming out of its forehead, rush past him and crash into a tree.  The tree shuddered, and a shower of fruit and bugs fell to the ground.  The fruits were purple and oblong, kind of like pears.

  The creature had thick grey skin, that actually reminded him of a rhino or elephant’s skin.  It was gobbling up the fruits as fast as it could.  Large tentacles were coiled on it’s back, probably able to attack anything that came after it.  He could tell from the way it was eating, that it didn’t have any sharp teeth.  Probably just an herbivore.

  Reaching for one of the fruits that had fallen next to his foot, he jerked his hand back when it wiggled.  Splitting open, hundreds of tiny bugs began crawling out. They reminded him of spiders with all their legs and giant fangs.  If they didn’t have wings, he might have stomped them.  Shuddering, he stepped back, out of the way.  Shaking his head, he moved away from the scene, and headed towards the open water.  Thank goodness it was still raining so those things couldn’t fly up.  He imagined they might form a swarm, and wanted nothing to do with them.  This rain didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon, so he might as well get a move on.

  Crouching on the shore, he used a stick to spear some of the small fish with spines.  They were green that faded into shades of white; blending in well with the slime that grew in the water.  Rubbing the spines off on a tree, he thought about swallowing them whole, like the creature had done earlier.  What if he couldn’t digest it?  With his stomach growling, and his whole body feeling weaker, he decided he couldn’t afford to waste anything.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The fish didn’t have much of a flavor, too slimy to really linger long in his mouth.  When nothing happened, he continued fishing.  Keeping an eye on his surroundings, and in the air, he noticed several things were starting to move about, despite the rain.  And then, just as suddenly as it started, the deluge stopped.

  In the silence after the storm, all he heard was the dripping of water.  Then something, maybe a bird, called out, and the familiar noises he was used to returned.

  Dustin fished until his stomach was full.  He needed to find shelter, and if he could do it here, on the edge of the water, that would be great.  Then he only had to live a boring life of fishing for the rest of the year.

  The thing in the water seemed to disagree.  Before he could jump out of the way, his leg was locked into the jaws of a scaled beast, dripping slime and mud from the water.  It’s yellow eyes, all six of them, were locked onto him, as the long thin teeth dug deep into his leg.  He could almost feel the thick heavy tongue caressing the side of his calf, as the teeth dug deeper and blood poured out.

  Clamping his mouth shut to keep from shouting in pain, he looked around wildly for something to grab.  The tree behind him was just close enough to latch onto, and his fingers dug deep into the soft bark as it tried to drag him into the murky water.

  Grunting in pain, he grabbed the rock he still had from earlier, and bashed it in the eyes, when it paused from trying to drag him away.  It locked it’s two front feet into the mud and gave a tremendous jerk.  Only holding on with one hand, was a bad idea, because once he landed his first blow, it jerked him again, and managed to get him into the water.  Pounding with all his strength, Dustin wailed at the thing’s eyes, until it finally let go of his leg.

  He saw it swim off, using a tail twice as long as its body, to propel it deeper into the murky water.  Blood tinged the water, and he knew he had to get out of there fast.

  Scrambling back onto shore, he cursed his misfortune.  There were deep punctures on either side of his leg, and as he tore more of his clothing for bandages, he found a tooth, still deeply entrenched.  Holding it up, he hesitated before putting it into the port.  How many evolutions could this thing handle before it ran out of juice?  He couldn’t remember the specs on it, because honestly, he had never looked.

  (GENETIC MATERIAL ACQUIRED.  BEGINNING ANALYSIS)

  (AVAILABLE EVOLUTIONS: SHARP TEETH, SCALED HIDE, COLD BLOODED, AMPHIBIOUS, BREATH-HOLDING, HERMAPHROMORPH, NICTITATING MEMBRANE)

  “I don’t want the herma-whatever, but the rest are fine. Initiate evolution.”

  There was a chance, whenever he evolved, that any damage he had, would be partially healed.  That was his hope, as his leg was completely mangled.

  (EVOLUTION INITIATED)

  Backing further away from the water’s edge, he watched as the fur that had been soaked, began to be replaced with tight scales.  There was a slight pressure in his mouth, and as he ran his tongue over his teeth, he could feel them growing sharper.  The chill from the rain was gone, but he also felt a bit more sluggish.  That might be a problem.

  Standing up on the mostly repaired leg, he admired his newly clawed hands and feet.  Glancing at himself in the water, he chuckled.  He looked like one of those lizard men from some sci-fi movie.  If being cold- blooded didn’t cause any issues, he might keep this transformation.

  Now he had to find a safe place to rest and sleep.