Not All Human, Chapter 1

Out on the open road, Troy rode alone on his rusty green motorcycle.
He was always alone.
He was lost in his thoughts when he saw a bar at the side of the road. He checked his watch. Two-forty-seven. He had time. He’d just walk in, ask for directions, maybe grab a drink of water, then leave.
Troy almost laughed. Directions to where? He had no destination. He was just moving.
He removed his helmet as he walked up to the door of the bar. A cool breeze came from inside, and he was greeted by the loud voices of the customers and the smell of beer. It was quite busy there, and he struggled to make it around a certain group of people who were in a rather heated argument. Finally, he found an empty table and sat down. He figured he’d rest for a bit before going to the counter.
A man across the room caught Troy’s eye, and the man started making his way through the crowd. His short blonde hair was cut neatly, parted at the sides, and his green eyes met Troy’s with a warm greeting.
“Are you from here?” He asked Troy, catching him off guard. Troy averted his eyes. He knew better than to speak to strangers, especially in bars. Yet, the man sat at Troy’s table, right across from Troy, making him difficult to ignore.
“Hello, I’m Victor.” The man said. Troy looked up.
“Troy,” he replied, holding out his hand hesitantly. Victor shook it.
Victor stood up. “I’ll be right back,” he said, walking away. Troy watched as he went up to the counter, said something to the woman there, and walked back with a tray of buffalo wings and a bottle of orangish liquid.
“On me,” Victor said with a smile. Now Troy was suspicious. He’d only just met Victor, and he was offering Troy a meal? Troy eyed the plate. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. He sighed. His hunger had won over his instincts.
He carefully picked up a single wing and took a bite. It tasted delicious, and Troy shuddered. How long was it since he’d had a decent meal? He barely managed to thank the man in between bites.
“I’m glad to see you’re enjoying it,” Victor responded and offered the bottle to Troy.
“I don’t drink,” Troy said. He had a bad feeling about it. He wondered if this man was trying to drug him. The drink was probably spiked.
Victor persisted. “Come on, now. A little alcohol never hurt anyone.” Troy had a feeling that refusing would lead nowhere, so he accepted. Victor poured him a cup.
Troy pressed the glass against his lips and pretended to drink it. He hoped it was enough to convince the man. Sweat dripped down Troy’s forehead as he tried his best to fake it. He set the glass down on the table.
“It’s not really for me,” he said. “As previously mentioned, I don’t drink.”
Victor shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He took the bottle back to the counter, and Troy stood up to leave. He waved to Victor without looking at him, and exited the bar. His stomach was full, but he felt as if he were forgetting something.
Water! Of course!
Troy reached into his backpack to see if he had any. He didn’t feel like running into Victor again by going back into the bar. Sure enough, he was down to only a few sips. He groaned. This wasn’t going to get him very far.
Reluctantly, Troy rushed through the doors, asked the woman at the front to fill his thermos, and left. Walking back to his motorcycle, Troy suddenly felt uneasy. Like he was being watched.
He ignored the feelings, driving away. He glanced back at the building, unsure. He wondered if the buffalo wings were poisoned.
Great, Troy thought as the engine started. Now I get to collapse in the middle of the road. Strangely, his stomach returned to normal as he drove further, so he thought little of the occurrence.
He must’ve been driving for hours when an unusual buckling sensation shot through his legs. He assumed he was simply tired until a similar pain in his hands caused him to lose control of his bike. He swerved off the road, tumbling into an empty field a few yards from the highway. He shouted in frustration.
He stumbled over to where his helmet had landed. He felt odd in his own boots, as if they were too small for him. In response to the tightness, he took them off.
He caught his reflection in his helmet’s visor. His face seemed distorted in the dark glass, but Troy knew it was only an illusion of lack of sleep and light.
Impulsively, he touched his nose. As he had suspected, his face felt normal and certainly not melting off; However, he did feel a sort of prick in his neck. He reached behind him to investigate.
A dart?
What seemed like a tranquilizer dart had been lodged in Troy’s neck. And by the looks of it, it had to have been in there for a while. He wondered if it was causing him to hallucinate.
Troy scratched his head. Curiously, he felt something hard stuck in his hair. He tried to yank it out, but that only resulted in pain.
Stupid tranq dart, Troy thought angrily, It’s messing with my senses. Troy dug through his backpack until he found his handheld mirror. It was hard to make out the shapes in the dim light, but he managed to scope the problem.
Troy screamed when he saw the two sharp, black horns protruding from his scalp. He grabbed at them with no avail. They were rooted in his head. Panting, he quickly picked up his helmet. He attempted to put it on, but it would not fit because of his horns.
His heartbeat thumped in his ears. He looked around frantically, searching for any signs of people. What was happening to him? Was it the dart? Adrenaline pumped through his body, fueling him to dash over to his motorcycle faster than he’d ever done it before.
He struggled to turn on the bike while simultaneously putting his boots back on. Like his helmet, they wouldn’t fit. He eventually gave up and tossed them over his back. His knees bent awkwardly as his bike started up, and he fell over. Glancing at them, he realized his legs weren’t legs, but rather haunches, and Troy yelled out a curse. He tried to stand up, but found it difficult on account of his rapidly changing body.
Before Troy could regain his balance, a tail split his pants. Troy didn’t dare look back at the revolting sight. He was already terrified by the green scales that were crawling up his legs. He shook his entire body as if it would make the scales fall off, but he could already feel his stomach churning.
He ran across the field and into the open road. He hoped a car would come by and see him. Unfortunately, none came. Troy was now a reptilian beast from the waist down, and he knew the worst was yet to come.
“Help! Someone, help!” Troy shouted. He didn’t care if no one could hear. He just wanted to make himself feel better. At least you tried, his thoughts would tell him. “Anybody! Please! I don’t know what’s happening! Just please, someone help me!”
Silence.
Troy wouldn’t cry. He couldn’t. He was tougher than that, although he secretly wanted to. He didn’t know if he’d be physically capable of crying when the transformation was complete.
He fell to what was left of his knees. His entire body ached, and his clothes felt too small. He shook his head in defeat.
Finally, after Troy had lost hope that he would ever be rescued, he saw the headlights of an old Ford truck rounding the corner. He stood up, shaking, although he was almost knocked over again from the wings that burst through his jacket.
“Hey! Over here! Help!” He shouted. As soon as the car came to a stop, Troy walked over to the driver’s window. It looked like the man inside was… laughing. When the window rolled down, Troy’s heart dropped.
“Victor,” Troy snarled. “You son of a--”
Victor laughed. “Sorry, Troy. But a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” He pulled out a tranq gun and shot Troy square in the forehead with a real anesthesia dart. “It’s nothing personal.”
Troy’s head swam. His body fell to the ground, limp. The last thing he could remember was the sensation of cold hands throwing him into the backseat.

When Troy regained consciousness, he was in a dark and damp room. He tried to move, but his body was still in the process of changing. His eyesight was blurry, and he couldn’t make out his surroundings. All he could hear was the sound of dripping water and his own labored breathing.
Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. With each passing moment, his body transformed further. He could feel his skin hardening and his tail lengthening. His wings had fully emerged from his jacket, and he could feel the wind gusting through them.
As the hours passed, a figure emerged in the darkness. It was Victor, holding a small torch. “Mornin’, Troy,” he said with a smirk. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”
“What the heck did you do to me?” Troy growled.
“I had to test my new formula on someone, and you were the perfect subject,” Victor said, his voice filled with pride. “You’re the first successful transformation.”
Troy raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Successful? You’ve turned me into a monster!”
“Not a monster, Troy. You’re a dragon,” Victor chuckled. “A powerful, magnificent creature. And I’m going to make a fortune off of you.”
Troy tried to move, but his body was still too weak and changing. “Let me go,” he growled. “You can’t just turn me into a freak show for your own profit.”
“Oh, but I can,” Victor said, walking closer to Troy. “And I will. People will pay top dollar to see a real-life dragon. And you’re going to be my ticket to wealth and fame.”
Troy’s heart sank. He was trapped and alone, and now he was nothing more than a spectacle for others to gawk at. But he refused to let Victor win.
"I'll never be your ticket to anything," Troy snarled.
Victor chuckled at Troy's defiance. "I didn't expect you to want to cooperate at first anyway. But once the serum does its job...," Victor paused. "Never mind all that. Just enjoy your last moments as a human-- half-human, anyway." He walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing through the empty air.
Troy kept his eyes on Victor as he left. Troy growled under his breath, an awful noise that was a mix of human and animal. His body still wouldn’t move, and Troy could feel everything the transformation was doing to him. The only thing he could occupy himself with was watching his hands become claws-- slowly, slowly, scaling over and lengthening into sharp points. Troy sighed. Troy knew he’d never escape this catastrophe as a human. At least it was almost over.
Soon, there was no more light in the room, and the only sound was Troy’s heavy breathing. Eventually, even that ceased, and he was beckoned into the quiet peace of darkness.
Not even his slumber lasted long, though. Victor prodded Troy awake with a cold hand.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead," Victor sneered. "I hope you've been enjoying your stay."
"Just shut up and leave me alone!" Troy snarled, but instead of words it came out as a completely inhuman roar. Embarrassed, he snapped his jaw shut, finally realizing the full extent of his transformation. He took a few deep breaths to try to calm down, but it was too late. His eyes burned with fire, and his mouth felt dry. As he looked around, he realized he was in a cage. He stared up at Victor, who was laughing. Troy's throat burned and smoke poured out his nostrils. Enraged, he breathed a small plume of fire Victor's way.
Unfortunately for Troy, he had a terrible aim and missed Victor by a few feet.
"Nice shot," Victor spat. "Let's see how bold you are when I mutate you even worse."
Troy roared.
Victor laughed harder. "That's what you said before."
For some reason, it irritated Troy more than anything else. He roared again, this time aiming at Victor's face. However, no fire came, just a small, sad, puff of smoke. He watched helplessly as Victor taunted him, mocking his lack of power.
"You're pathetic," Victor cackled. "I can't believe you're mad about me making you famous." He laughed until he coughed and had to calm down, but he kept taunting Troy. "I'm helping you, kid! Think about it-- before you met me, you were all alone. No one knew who you were. But now, look! An opportunity to be so well known and you refuse it!"
Troy wanted to yell back, wanted to tell Victor that he'd never wanted fame, but he couldn't talk-- his voice was gone. His lungs ached from screaming and he couldn't breathe. His tail lashed in uncontrollable spasms, his wings flailed about, and he began hissing. He couldn't stand being mocked anymore. So he swiped at Victor with his claws, wanting to hurt him, but they barely scratched his expensive leather pants.
Victor only chuckled and muttered to himself something about conducting more research. Deep in thought, he began to leave again. "Don't get any ideas, Troy, I'll be back in a few minutes," Victor turned to look at him. "Or do. I don't care. Remember your past life, Troy, and say goodbye to that human mind of yours."