The Werewolf App 3.0

Samantha sighed and sat up in her padded office chair. She brushed aside an errant lock of her long luscious blonde hair and cracked her neck. She glanced down at the digital clock in the right hand corner of the computer screen and scowled at the time indicated by the pixilated numerals. She reached down to her purse - tucked beneath her desk - to retrieve her phone.

"Samantha?"

The voice - inquisitive and gently reprimanding - had come from behind.

"Sir?" squeaked Samantha, dropping the phone into her purse before whirling around in her seat.

A forty-something bearded man wearing a well-ironed pair of khakis and a robin egg blue long-sleeve shirt stood at the threshold of her cubicle. He had curly brown hair peppered with light grey patches which somehow made him appear both old and young. An employee RFID card hung from his neck; it looked brand new.

"How are those records coming along?" he asked.

Samantha's lips tightened into a forced smile. It was pretty clear he hadn't poked his head in to check on her progress.

"Fine, Tim. Going fine," she replied.

Tim just stood there for a few seconds. His face betrayed nothing apart from slight annoyance.

"...So, yeah, going to get back to work," said Samantha, already turning back to her workstation.

Tim frowned and shook his head as though he had finally reached some difficult decision.

"Look, I know it seems a bit harsh, but we need to follow the new cell phone policy," he said slowly, as though explaining something complicated to a child.

Samantha's cheeks reddened. Then, she realized he'd made a tactical error. She smirked briefly before adapting an expression of mild indignation.

"Uh, excuse me?" she said. "Why would you...why are you bringing this up now?"

Tim sighed.

"Look, I saw you reaching down-" he gestured vaguely at her purse.

"I was getting some lip gloss!" exclaimed Samantha. She turned, bent down and produced a small plastic cylinder from her purse. She held the tiny thing in the air as though brandishing a piece of crucial evidence in a murder trial. "I wasn't going to screw around on my phone, okay?"

Tim did not move. His expression did not change.

"Okay," he said, nodding.

With that, the middle manager walked away.

Samantha counted ten seconds and peeked out to make sure he was truly gone before muttering a series of expletives. Many of them involved Tim, a can of gasoline, a match and a jagged rusty metal pipe. She dropped the lip gloss back into her purse and, after a moment's hesitation, grabbed her phone. She checked the time and, to her total lack of surprise, it matched the time on her computer. Samantha sighed. She really didn't know what she had been expecting.

Then, she noted the date.

"Crap, the meeting," she groaned, slapping her forehead.

Samantha considered her options. Just going into the weekly meeting and doing her job was out of the question. Last time she'd tried that she'd staggered home with a splitting migraine. The new manager did not seem to consider meetings an opportunity to organize and plan. Rather, he treated them as an opportunity to demonstrate, using as many words and PowerPoint slides as possible, that he was doing all the real work in the company. Worse yet, when he got into full presentation mode his voice seemed to suck all of the energy out of the room, rendering it a dull, stifling purgatory. And since she had to take the minutes there was no ducking out early. A few painkillers could alleviate the headache but not the boredom. A stiff drink could alleviate both, but that was risky and she didn't have anything on her...

Samantha looked down at her phone and realized she was texting a friend. She had also opened her Instagram. She furtively looked over her shoulder and saw no sign of Tim. Simultaneously relieved and irritated, she started idly scrolling through a series of pictures a girlfriend had posted. Then, an alert popped up.

It was the Werewolf App - that magical little program that could change her into a werewolf and back again. The experience was amazingly pleasant, if not outright arousing. She used it more or less daily now and would have never turned it off if it weren't against the User Agreement.

Samantha slowly tapped the alert. The app opened along with an announcement window.

"Brand new feature available," she read aloud softly. "Stealth mode."

Her blue eyes widened as they scanned the text. Apparently, the new mode would make people see her altered form as 'normal.' She would still be visible. She could still talk to people and they could talk back. But everyone around her would behave as though nothing were out of the ordinary. The announcement went on and on about 'perspective filters' and 'psychic invisibility' but Samantha got the gist of it. Using this new option, she could enjoy all of the features of the app without having to worry about being caught. She could strut down Main Street in broad daylight and no one would see anything strange or terrifying about her!

A naughty smile formed on her red lips.

Samantha tucked her phone into her skirt pocket, rose, stepped out of her cubicle and hurried down the hall. She spied Tim ahead but preempted his inquiring look by asking him if he was getting ready for the meeting. He hesitated, but nodded to her as she passed. She took a left, then a right and then arrived at the bathrooms.

As Samantha closed the stall door it occurred to her that if the feature worked as advertised she could have used it right in her cubicle. She considered heading back, but ultimately decided to stay in the bathroom. Apart from the possibility stealth mode wouldn't actually work there was still a chance Tim would see her with her phone.

She shut the toilet lid and then carefully lowered herself onto its smooth plastic surface.

"This is going to be epic," she said mischievously.

She selected her 'default' form - eight feet tall, blonde fur, Olympian physique coupled with curves that would have made Dolly Parton green with envy. She also ticked the 'change clothing to accommodate' option since the last thing she wanted to do was buy a new set of clothes (and underwear). And, sure enough, a new option had appeared - stealth mode. After selecting it, Samantha checked the total price and winced.

"Jeez, not cheap," she said. She shrugged. "Eh, worth it."

She tapped the 'ready' button. After a few seconds, all that remained was to press the 'activate' icon. Heart pounding, Samantha lowered a finger towards the phone.

The moment she touched the screen, a loud metallic clang filled the bathroom.

"AH!" yelped Samantha, leaping. The phone flew out of her hands.

"Sorry," called someone on the other side of the stall.

Samantha fumbled for the phone in the air for a second before it dropped to the floor with a disconcerting pop. She scooped it up and saw to her horror a jagged crack along the upper right corner of the screen. Everything looked fine below the crack, but the area above it was a scintillating mess of colored lines. She could make out the words "Congratulations! You are now a werewolf" on the part of the screen that was still working.

Samantha looked down at her body. Nothing had changed. She waited a few seconds longer. Then nearly a minute. Nothing happened.

"Crap crap crap crap-crapcrapcrap," she whispered furiously as she repeatedly tapped the screen and return button.

Her phone was frozen.

Giving up, Samantha pocketed her phone with a harrumph and stepped out of the bathroom stall. A woman washing her hands glanced over her shoulders at Samantha as she emerged and gave her a look.

"Sorry! Sorry!" said Samantha before hurrying back to flush the empty toilet.

* * *

"...And as we can see on the chart here, projections from the second quarter have panned out. However, client retention has dropped approximately thirteen percent since the beginning of the fiscal year. We do not presently know if this is due to customers switching to a competitor or because they simply no longer had need of our services. Management is looking into putting out a survey or maybe even hiring a consultant to get to the bottom of this. In any event, we may experience a drop in revenue in the near future and so should be prepared to reduce expenses. While it is unlikely to necessitate a cut in staff, we should consider..."

Samantha grimaced as Tim's words blurred into a meaningless drone. She did her best to take the minutes but didn't understand half of what he was saying. She glanced up at her fellow co-workers. She doubted many of them understood much of what he was talking about, but still they listened. Or at least pretended to.

Suddenly, Samantha felt her phone vibrate under her skirt.

She sat up in her seat. The meeting had been so boring she'd completely forgotten about the incident with the app in the bathroom. Her free hand slowly crept down under the table into her pocket. She did not actually take the device out, however, since Tim was literally standing a few feet away.

"...So at the advice of marketing we're considering several different rebranding strategies. These, of course, will not be implemented this year or even next, but..."

Samantha withdrew her hand and relaxed somewhat. It was probably just a text or alert. And the fact she was still receiving texts and alerts meant her phone was still working. She just needed to replace the screen. Annoying and costly, but not a disaster.

The phone vibrated again. Thankfully, the sound couldn't be heard over Tim's relentless blather. Samantha adjusted her skirt and glared up at her manager. She noted, with disgust, the stink of his cheap drugstore aftershave, his dull, generic khakis, his tail...

Samantha did a double take.

"...So are there any questions? No? Good. Let's move onto building issues. First, the painters are scheduled to come two weeks from tomorrow..."

Tim had a tail! A long, bushy, golden-brown tail was poking out of a hole in his pants!

Samantha stared mouth agape at the newly formed appendage. She looked around the room. No one was reacting. No one was pointing. No one was screaming or jumping up in panic. No one besides her had even seemed to notice something was wrong.

"...Is everything alright, Samantha?"

Samantha blinked. Tim had turned and was looking directly at her, puzzled. Suddenly, his nose darkened and bulged. His nostrils flared and the bridge of his nose stretched out along with his jaw. Sharp white fangs emerged from his blackened lips. Yet his actual expression did not change in the slightest.

It took every last ounce of Samantha's restraint to simply smile weakly and say "Uh, all good."

Tim shrugged. His ears shifted upwards and grew larger, tufted and pointed. His muzzle finished forming and his forehead now had a noticeable slope. More to the point, his entire face was now covered in a fine layer of fur - whitish yellow below his jaw and mottled brown above it.

Samantha's phone buzzed again.

It hit her. The damn thing was turning OTHER people into werewolves! And the perspective filter meant they weren't feeling it or seeing anything wrong!

Tim turned back to the projector, tail wagging behind him.

"...I was saying, we'll need volunteers to move the files over to the new room. Janice from accounting has already..."

Over the next few seconds he grew a good two feet taller and almost a foot wider at the shoulders. His blue shirt expanded along with his body yet it still strained against the growing mass of muscle and fur beneath it. Before long, he resembled a body-builder - or particularly jacked professional wrestler - dressed in humongous albeit tight-fitting business casual. Melon-sized biceps flexed as he raised the laser pointer, clutching the relatively tiny thing between two over-sized clawed digits. His shiny black dress shoes and socks faded away as his feet transformed into digitigrade paws, adding another few inches to his height. Samantha watched as his lower body underwent a similar metamorphosis, adding pound after pound of thick, gorgeous sinew. His khakis now clung to his furry legs (and bubble butt) like spandex.

Samantha goggled.

Oh no! He's hot!

Her phone buzzed again.

Immediately the co-worker to her left - a somewhat heavy-set middle-aged brunette named Darlene - grew a pair of lupine ears. Then, a long yellow tail popped out of her rather ample derriere. Soft yellow formed in patches along her arms. Mass that was previously just fat evolved into pure muscle. Then, her already impressive bosom began to inflate like a pair of balloons. Just like Tim, Darlene did not seem to register the transformation apart from shifting slightly in her seat and absently adjusting her swelling blouse.

Overwhelmed and just a little bit frightened, Samantha turned and continued jotting down the minutes as best she could. But soon enough, she risked a peek up and saw to her shock that Darlene had gone from a frumpy office frau to a busty blonde anthropomorphic she-wolf with an Amazonian physique barely contained by an XXXXL wool blouse and pantsuit. She could see the outline of her bra poking through the strained fabric.

That was the funny thing about the 'change clothing to accommodate' option - it worked, but the modified clothing always wound up being a tad too undersized and on the verge of bursting open.

Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.

One after another Samantha's co-workers transformed into enormous, muscular, well-endowed werewolves. Blonde fur blossomed over every inch of exposed skin. Claws replaced nails. Tails jutted out from seats. It was as though some kind of bizarre virus was rapidly spreading from person to person. Chairs creaked and armrests bent under their ponderous weight. Then, one chair simply snapped. All heads turned towards the sound.

"Sorry," said the office worker - a formerly short and skinny salesman, now the bulkiest and brawniest werewolf present. "I think a...a bar broke or something," he murmured in a deep basso profundo, glancing down at the sundered seat. "Maybe I put on a pound or two..."

Samantha stifled a giggle. It looked like a full grown man trying to fit into a baby chair.

"Looks like we'll need some new furniture for the conference room," remarked Tim. He turned. "Could you look into that, Samantha?"

"Mm? Oh, oh sure. Yeah. No problem."

"What's so funny," asked Tim, cocking his furry head.

"N-Nothing," said Samantha, blushing. He REALLY looked cute now, with his soulful blue lupine eyes, pouty lips, chiseled, bearded muzzle and long, flowing golden hair.

"Mmm. Try to get something solid but inexpensive. As I said, we need to watch our budget in the upcoming quarter."

"Yessir."

Samantha was now the only remaining human in the room. She carefully scooched away from Darlene but still found herself pressed on both sides by hulking, furry bodies. Her head was mere inches away from her co-worker's gigantic, heaving furry boobs. She could feel the heat radiating from them.

"I think we need a new table too," commented the werewolf on her other side. "Seems like it..." he furrowed his brow in bemusement "...Isn't enough to accommodate everyone now."

"Yep," said another co-working, stretching their arms and almost grazing the ceiling in the process.

Samantha waited with baited breath for her own transformation to begin, but it never did. She wondered if she actually hadchanged but was blind to it like the rest of them. No. It seemed pretty clear that the app was malfunctioning and affecting everyone BUT her. She gazed around at the surreal scene of a group of large, burly and undeniably sexy werewolves calmly holding an office meeting, seated in absurdly undersized chairs. Suddenly, she couldn't take it any longer.

"What is it now?" sighed Tim as Samantha rose from her chair cupping her mouth.

"I...I...sorry," stuttered Samantha, still covering her lips. "I...bathroom. Need to go."

"Go ahead," said Tim, waving a paw.

As Samantha scurried out of the meeting room one of her co-workers leaned towards another. The tabled actually groaned under the weight of her elbow.

"I saw her in the ladies' just before the meeting," she whispered. "Think she's okay?"

"Don't know, she's been acting weird," muttered the other co-worker softly, gently scratching her fuzzy yellow neck. "Might be that time of the month."

"Carol!"

"Well, it might!"

* * *

By the time Samantha finally stopped laughing, her throat had gotten sore.

"Not what I had in mind...but...Best. Meeting. Ever!" she chuckled, wiping tears from her eyes. "Still, better turn it off now."

She stopped leaning on the hallway wall and took out her phone. The upper part of the screen was still busted but she was still able to navigate the app. Just when she was about to tap the 'end transformation' button she saw how much she had been charged.

"What the fu-...no way!" she cried angrily.

She quickly went to her account and checked her sales history. She had been debited the same outrageous fee ten times today.

Her face paled. The damn thing had charged her for transforming all of her colleagues!

"Samantha!"

The young blonde yelped and looked up. Tim was standing a few feet away, arms folded, with a furious look. He was actually growling.

"I told you to stop messing around on your phone during business hours!" he snarled, fangs bared. "We need to finish the meeting. Can't you go fifteen minutes without the damn thing?"

"Sorry! Sorry sir! Won't happen again!" gulped Samantha.

Tim snorted like a bull.

"See that it doesn't," he said. "Come on."

Samantha pocketed her phone and meekly followed Tim back to the conference room.