Slumped over the doctor's office I fidget in my seat. With each of my wheezing breaths I feel the cloying moisture rise up from my mask, my feverish flushed face only growing more uncomfortably warm the longer I'm left waiting for the doctor to come to check on me.
The moment I had come into the waiting room, rugged up and sweating profusely beneath the heavy layers, I had quickly been ushered into a private room. The receptionists had kept their distance, quickly outfitting themselves with plastic face shields and rubber gloves as they lead me to a quiet and isolated wing of the practice.
It had started only a day or two ago, a bit of the sniffles combined with a slight headache. I had been having trouble sleeping beforehand, leading me to chalk it all up to my immune system being thrown for a loop by the wildly varying amounts of rest. However, by the next day my whole body ached as sweat poured from my searing hot forehead. I'd called a doctor immediately, describing my symptoms as best as I could. Thankfully, and worryingly, I had been given an emergency appointment for the next day as I was warned to drink plenty of water and stay away from others.
Swaying in my seat I barely notice as the door to the office opens, a tall young man carefully walking into the room. He is decked out with full protective gear, from a face shield and mask to a large disposable gown and latex gloves. In his hands he carries a little set of paper strips, one simple one while the others contain a series of lines separating them into groups for some reason.
"Hello Mr. Hughes" croaks the young man, a few faint droplets of sweat forming on his forehead beneath his tied back black hair. "I hear you're feeling rather awful" he continues, trying to chuckle a little in a reassuring manner.
"What gave..." I begin to chuckle back, coughing heavily into my mask as I feel the rough and raw throat being to sting in response to the laughter. "What gave it away?"
Placing the test strips on a nearby desk the doctor quickly begins to race through a series of tests, checking vitals and temperature as fast as possible to limit exposure to whatever he suspected I had.
"High temp...elevated heart rate..." he mutters, moving to a desk as he begins to look for something. "Any aches? Muscle pain? Joint pain?" he asks, trying to assess my overall condition.
"Yeah I... my arms have been cramping up and feel weak as hell" I explain, rolling my shoulders a little reflexively. "And my wrists and knees have been popping and crackling, but that's nothing..." I continue to explain before getting cut off.
"And have you been eating? Any food cravings?" the doctor continues, finally retrieving a little white box with a blue button from the draw.
"I...yeah I've been starving" I grumble, taking a deep breath. "But...you know what they say, feed a cold and starve a fever"
"Well..." the doctor hisses through clenched teeth, the looming figure in protective gear pacing back over to me with the tiny box in hand. "That's not exactly medical advice. If this comes back positive...well the lack of food would explain some of the symptoms..." he explains, gesturing towards me. "Hold your hand out, you're going to feel a little prick."
Following his instruction I watch as he places the white box on my middle finger before pressing the blue button. A sharp click emanates from the little device, a quick little sting piercing my finger a split second later. Wincing slightly I follow the man with my eyes as he snatches up the plain-looking and dabs it against the building crimson droplet on my fingertip.
The paper quickly takes up the blood, the red liquid quickly defusing through the nearly see-through strip. After waiting less than a minute a small purple line begins to form at the top of the strip, the doctor wincing as he lets go of my hand.
"I have good news, we know what you have. Bad news, it looks like it's Viral Second Puberty.
Second Puberty had been a well-document, albeit rare, genetic disease. Lingering deep in those unlucky few's genetic code the disease acted like a hormonal and phenotype timebomb, activating under conditions that were still unknown to medical science.
Once activated the subject would undergo a drastic hormonal shift, the enhanced surge of hormones causing the disease's name, their body flooding with the sexual hormones of the opposite sex than they currently presented. Their genetic code would also rapidly change, the X or Y chromosome either gaining or losing a leg as their body would rapidly begin to alter in terms of phenotype and genetic expression.
By the end of the process the subject would be left looking like a brother or sister they never had, the flooding or hormones during the change often leaving them with enhanced expressions relating to their new sex.
Thankfully, this disease was genetic in nature and therefore confined to those unlucky few who inherited it from their parents. However, as we all know...life finds away.
While the origin is still unknown at some point recently a humble virus ended up adopting the genetic code that triggers Second Puberty from some unlucky soul. With the complex payload in tow it slowly began to spread, with weaseling its way from country to country before anyone had noticed. While highly transmissible, due to the genetic bloat of the complex Second Puberty causing payload the virus was exceptionally weak and often defeated by the immune system before it could reach the critical mass required to cause Second Puberty symptoms.
Despite this obvious weakness the virus was taken very seriously, with not many people wanting to risk having their genes altered by some foreign invader. However, due to the high transmissibility people still shared it around though symptoms rarely ever made themselves known.
It was in these infections that the varients were born, each taking on new genetic code from their host as they adapted to their environment before moving on;
Standard Cases
Most cases of Viral Second Puberty came from the original strain, the virus merely replicating the effects of Second Puberty in the host. Over days of fever and pain the body would begin to reshape, a desperate hunger forming as the rapidly rebuilding body cried for fresh material to add.
By the conclusion of the process the infected would simply look as any other Second Puberty subject would.
Late-Onset Adulthood
Likely born from young adults who caught the virus while enjoying their carefree youth, this variant surprisingly enough caused some beneficial changes in the host. Restoring telomeres and repairing genetic code, the variant known as Late-Onset Adulthood would rapidly shift the infected as to present them as a young adult somewhere between the ages of 18 and 22
These changes were not simply skin deep, the additional work leaving them as a young adult both inside and out. By the end of the process the infected often appeared like some kind of younger sibling, or even as their own child in cases involving subjects of advanced age
Early-Onset Milf
The inverse of Late-Onset Adulthood, the variant known as Early-Onset Milf would ravage certain segments of genetic code as the subject is artificially ages beyond their years. Usually ending sometime in their 40's or 50's, the changes caused by this variant are thankfully exclusively skin deep and aren't likely to affect the life expectancy of the infected individual.
By the end of the process the infected often appears similar to one of the parents, often being mistaken as an aunt or uncle of the family.
Personal Based (Twin) Variants
While infected yet asymptomatic, a rare variant can form. Extremely short-lived, only being able to make a single jump before dying out in their second host, the variant known in the media as the 'Twin' variant was rather aptly named. The Personal-Based Variant takes on a whole copy of the initial target's genetic code, the sheer size of this act making the virus untenable and barely able to survive long enough to infect one other target before dying out inside of them and ending the new variant.
However, the infected second host, so long as the virus can begin Second Puberty symptoms, has the longest and most intensive change ahead of them out of all the variants. Slowly but surely their own genetic code is replaced with that code that formed the unwieldy variant, eventually turning the infected into an exact copy of the initial host.
Group-Based (National/Racial) Variants
Born from concentrated infection amongst communities of similar nationalities and races, the virus will attempt to adapt by on-boarding more genetic material relating to the communities phenotype. While not successful in assisting in improving transmissibility or generating symptoms, this additional code does become an issue where someone from outside that group becomes infected. As the disease runs its course the infected is shifted from the inside out, presenting features found in the community the variant was born from.
By the end of the process the infected are left not only the opposite sex but also appear to be another race or from some other community.
Multiple Variant Outcomes
While rare given the weak nature of the virus, in a few rare cases some patients have reported coming down with combinations of two or more variants. While some are naturally incompatible, leading to one winning out over the other, some can create some expected or strange effects.
Examples include;
'Twins' and Late-Onset Adult - Usually results in the infected looking like a younger sibling
Group-Based and Early-Onset Milf - Usually results in the infected becoming an older person of their new racial group
'Twins' and Early-Onset Milf - May result in appearing like the initial host will look like in their 40's or 50's. However, due to the complete nature of the 'Twins' variant, it may only result in the infected looking like a slightly older sibling instead.
Swallowing hard I look up at the doctor, my neck aching as I crane it to look into his all too serious eyes. My heart hammers in my chest, though only a little faster than it had been all day, my stomach churning in despair as it craves material to build the new me.
"You...That must be..." I croak out, coughing hard into my mask as the doctor flinches slightly.
"I'm sorry, but can I get your hand again?" he asks, grabbing the segmented strip in anticipation. Whimpering softly I hold out my hand, the doctor snatching it up before squeezing my finger as another droplet of blood begins to form.
Reaching down with the paper the doctor smears my blood in a line across the bottom, letting go of my hand in an effort to reduce contact with me for any longer than he needed to. Watching the paper with interest we both simply stare in silence, the only sounds I'm able to hear being the sound of my heart in my ears and my wheezing breath.
Holding the paper up to the white fluorescent light the doctor inspects the results, exhaling a little as he turns to me.
"It looks like you have a...
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