"In here," the polar bear growled as he shoved me into the dimly-lit room. I cringed at the
medical equipment. Three shadowy figures leaned into monitors before turning towards me as
I stumbled.

Beats being fed to the narwhals, I thought. Any chance of going home was gone, however. I
glared at the fiendish-looking staps on the wall. Something told me I wasn't going anywhere
soon. What I had thought was an exit interview from my temp position at this global
distribution company turned out to be a trip to this basement lab in the R&D building.

I had been lured by the lofty salary and the allure of working for one of the biggest
corporations on earth. A foot in the door. Another rung on the ladder. Now I was being
stripped and tied to a metal wall in this sinister-looking lab room. I yelped as my bare
skin hit the cold surface of the wall and winced as restraints dug into my wrists.

The bears were not gentle with me as they latched my ankles to the wall. So, this is it,
eh? I meet my end in this cold basement as some weird test subject. The shadowy figures
stirred and approached as the last of the restraints clacked into place. One of them stood
taller than the others: Dasher. I recognized his face from the executive profiles section
of their site. Maybe I could bargain with him. Work for free. Something. Anything to get
me out of here.

He said nothing as he watched the bears prepare the IV, then studied my face. His cold
glare was made even more sinister by the greenish dim light. A fleeting thought danced
about my brain: I wondered if the CEO knew about this. Probably not. He spent most of his
time on the road, meeting with retailers and leaving it up to the reindeer to run things.

It hurt. The IV wasn't gingerly inserted into my vein. Blood ran hot down my bare arm.

A grin. Imperceptible at first. Then, he spoke.

"You've been most valuable here, but your position has been... eliminated. I do hope you
understand."

I only shot him a bleary, confused look. The IV hurt like hell.

He flicked his ears and continued.

"It's probably best not to tell you what we're... excuse me... I'm going to do to you. Let's
just say we are expanding. The world keeps getting bigger, you know. Profits can only go
up if we keep up with demand."

He turned the knob on the IV bag. I blinked slowly as I realized there were actually three
bags. One was red. The other green. The third was white. They swirled together into the
clear tube as he released each valve. It looked like a candy cane as it entered my wrist.

"To keep up with demand," the reindeer droned on "I realized we needed more...help. Oh,
the recruiters failed us. Gigantic salaries and generous benefits didn't get us any more
qualified applicants. Turns out, it became easier to... make... new employees."

My head spun as he spoke. My veins burned as the wretched concoction made its way through
my body. The air smelled like peppermint. My feet and hands went cold, from either the
restraints or the vile experiment.

Ouch. My skull ached fiercely. I lifted my head, only to clank against the metal wall
behind me. That was strange. The back of my head was still inches from the wall.

Dasher turned an iPad around in his paws. He was grinning wider now. He flipped it over
and showed me the selfie cam. I watched my mouth drop open as I saw why I had bumped up
against the wall.

I had antlers.

To be more precise, a long rack of antlers like Dasher's were unspooling out of my skull
as my ears stretched and spun away from me. I thought my beard had somehow grown, but
it turned out there were dark patches of fur growing everywhere on my face. I looked to
my right and watched as my arm disappeared under a thick layer of the stuff.

My heart raced. I was losing my humanity. There were whispers of this in the break room
from time to time. Innuendo and rumours.

I only know now that this was truth.

"You're getting a promotion!" Dasher was excited now. His eyes danced as he studied my
metamorphosis. "To be successful, we needed someone like you. Well, almost like you. Now,
you are perfect."

The pain was slowly being replaced by warmth as the fur continues unabated across my
form. My toenails and fingernails turned black and grew around the tips of my fingers and
toes. Thicker fur covered my shoulders and chest. Fear had long been surpassed by the
wonder of it all.

-

I watched as another 767 freighter lifted into the cold, night sky. Soft flakes of snow
swirled about the tarmac. I chuckled to myself as I thought back to those events in the
lab so long ago. Now I was in charge of logistics, walking about in the winter night
shirtless, my thick fur keeping me warm as I evaluated the airside activities. Never once
since then did I think of going home. This was my home now.

Becoming a reindeer turned out to be the best present Santa ever gave me.