My first attempt at writing a story for this site. It's going to be a multi-chapter story with each chapter focusing on a particular character in the story.

 azsolaazsola is also planning on doing a series of sketches for the series in the future!

Special thanks to  azsola  hdalby33  Zedexand  Sugarboy for allowing me to use their characters!


Chapter 6: Once Bitten, Twice Grown
(Alek)

Alek and Sugar helped Callum get back to the camp without baring himself in public. Luckily his pants were tight enough that even though they no longer had a button they managed to stay up without much issue. Once they finally arrived, they walked him over to his tent and he quickly jumped in and zipped the flap up. They stepped away to give him some space, but based off of the sounds coming from the tent it sounded like he was having a hard time finding another pair of pants that fit properly.
Alek looked over at Sugar, “do you think that this could be caused by…” he started.
“I don’t know,” Sugar replied flatly. “You’ll have to ask Kent when he gets back.”
Alek thought better of pushing the subject as Sugar did not sound like he was in the mood for having a discussion of this kind. Alek was fairly certain though that Kent wasn’t going to want to talk shop with him though. Regil and Zed and remained behind to assist in any ways that they could.
After a moment Callum came out of his tent wearing a pair of shorts with an elastic band that looked skin tight on him. “They were the only thing that I could put on, anything with a button wouldn’t clasp.”
“Well hopefully they’ll have to do,” Alek said with a twinge of doubt. If Callum was infected, and was having the same reaction as the Dhole they saw earlier… he may not be able to fit in any of his clothes soon enough.
“Perhaps, until we figure things out you should remain confined to your tent Callum,” Sugar suggested. “It’s not that we don’t want you out and about, but if you are indeed infected we want to minimize the possibility of spreading it to everyone else. Callum pouted but nodded as he crawled back into his tent.
“I’m going to leave it open though, It’s really warm out today,” Callum called from inside the tent.
“Fine, not a big deal either way.” Sugar shrugged.
Alek scratched his scales as he turned back towards the Dhole village, he contemplated walking back when he saw Zed coming his way from afar. He walked with a hurried stride and definitely looked irritated.
Failing to think before speaking Alek immediately asked, “What’s gotten up your crawl?”
“You’re an idiot,” Zed said pushing Alek out of his way. “We have one person sick with a disease that does who knows what with species that aren’t Dholes, and as you just saw a bit ago can cause a Dhole to… to…” Zed seemed to have a hard time finishing his sentence.
“Blow up?” Alek offered.
“Yes, and possibly literally because during the time we were there he was still growing.” Zed was on the verge of panic, “This is not how this was supposed to go, what kind of a disease does this?”
“Well, let’s calm down a bit,” Alek said in his best attempt at a soothing voice. “We don’t know for sure that the disease is what caused that Dhole’s…. um… increase in size. Also what happened to Callum could be completely unrelated. I mean, he hasn’t exactly been going easy on the berries that we’ve been finding, maybe that could be the reason his clothes don’t fit anymore.
“I hope you’re right,” Zed said with a shudder, “because if you’re not we could be… could be…”
Zed’s face twisted into a grimace, and for a moment Alek thought that he was going to yell. With a quick twist away, Zed let out a mighty sneeze behind him, intentionally avoiding Alek. Unfortunately he didn’t realize that Sugar had been walking up behind him and he managed to spray him in the face.
“Ugh, no… that’s just… gross man,” Sugar said whipping the snot out of his eyes. “Thank’s a lot.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were there!” Zed said with a mortified look on his face.
“I’m going to go wash off at the lake, at least there aren’t any more lizards ready to jump out at me now.” Sugar said with a huff.
“As far as you know,” Alek said with a smirk. Sugar walked off stripping off his shirt as he walked, Zed look back at Alek who shrugged. “I thought you were about to yell, not sneeze.”
“Umm guys,” came Callum’s voice from the tent. “I think there is something wrong.”
Zed and Alek looked at each other before walking over to the tent. Inside the tent lay Callum, sprawled out all over the tent. Laying on his back and breathing heavily it was obvious that he was uncomfortable. What immediately grabbed Alek’s attention however were his clothes. His shorts from earlier, while tight before, were now visibly too small for Callum causing indentions in his legs which were swelling larger where is pants weren’t confining them. The shirt which had covered him previously was now riding up show a significant amount of his stomach even while lying down.
“I’m so… hot.” Callum said breathlessly.
Yeah you are, Alek though for a moment before pushing it out of his mind. This is not the time for that he thought. Alek looked at Zed “What should we do?”
“Let’s try to get him out of the tent, so that he can get some air,” Zed replied grabbing one of his legs. Both he and Alek tried their hardest but were unable to move him.
“Ohhh nope, he’s not moving,” Alek said completely dropping the leg that he was holding, “he’s too heavy.” Zed released Callum’s other leg with a heavy thud. For a moment they both just stared, unable to do anything. After a moment Callum let out and uncomfortable whine right before… rip! His pants split down their seams, allowing his flesh to push through and make room. He let out a soft gasp as his short were ripped to tattered shreds.
“We have to do something,” Zed was nervous.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Alek replied watching Callum continue to visibly expand before them. “We just have to wait until it stops.”
They continued to watch has Callum slowly continued to grow, his shirt riding up his ever-enlarging stomach. Eventually Callum’s breath slowed, as did his swelling, before stopping completely. What was once a large stomach, now was now a gigantic mound which rose and fell with each labored breath. With Callum lying on his back it was impossible to see his face as his stomach blocked the view without walking into the tent. It stuck up over a meter in the air and spread out on either sides of his body. They could tell that he was trying to move, but all he was succeeding in doing was causing his body to ripple like it were made out of gelatin.
“Uhh, guys?” Callum called, “I can’t really move, could y’all help me out?”
As Callum continued to struggle but was definitely not getting up any time soon. The two walked into the tent, and tried to help lift him up, but the best that they could do was get him in a place where he could sit upright. He groaned as he finally manage to find a point where he was able to stay seated without toppling over.
“Whoah, that was a trip in a half,” Callum said trying to find his equilibrium. “Everything feels so… heavy.”
“Putting a lot of weight on at once will do that,” Alek said slapping his side and watching as his stomach rippled again. “Can you stand?” Alek asked.
“I… I don’t think so,” Callum said as he rocked back and forth on his butt, failing to make any headway. “If it hasn’t stopped you may have to cut me out of the tent.”
Alek laughed, “If you get any bigger we will have to roll you everywhere else.”
Callum laughed at this, “heh, it was probably my destiny anyway.”
Callum was taking everything well considering, and Alek was glad that he was keeping calm despite Zed looking like he was going to freak out.
“I… I need a drink,” Zed said putting his hand to his head.
“I think you’re out of luck there, I’m pretty sure nobody brought anything,” Alek said shaking his head.
“Well, I’m going to go ahead and… lie down,” Zed said making his way over to his tent disappeared behind the flaps.
“I guess I’ll just… wait for the others then… not like I have anything better to do,” Alek said somewhat listlessly, not actually quite sure what to do. He wandered around the camp for a bit, but he didn’t see anything that really caught his eye. Not much of a bodyguard when there isn’t anything to protect. He eventually wandered back over to Callum’s tent who was trying to lift his now much heavier arms.
“Having trouble are we,” Alek asked with a smirk.
“You try moving you’re arms when they feel like the weigh 5 times what they did previously,” Callum said trying to lift his arms above his head before they gave out and flopped down to his side. “Well, if I try to lose the weight I’ll be able to do my weightlifting by just moving my arms.”
“If you try?” Alek asked. “You’re kind of, less than mobile at the moment.”
“Well yeah, I mean I’d definitely want to get back up on my feet, but I don’t mind really being… bigger I guess. I’ve always enjoyed having a larger frame,” Callum said pushing his hand into his stomach to feel the give of it. “Plus, this is… indescribable.”
“Do you mind if I…” Alek was surprised at himself at failing to be able to ask his question.
“Feel it?” Callum finished his sentence for him. “Sure, I mean… it’s not like I can stop you even if I wanted to.”
Alek reached out and put his hands on both sides of the dragon’s stomach. He began feeling a bit flush as he pushed in and felt the soft fat in his stomach give. Callum closed his eyes as Alek began to rub his stomach in small circles. Callum let out a soft moan as Alek continued, he couldn’t help it, he felt like he was in some sort of trance. Several thoughts began racing through his mind, the largest of which were wondering what would happen if the infection in Callum wasn’t finished, what if he continued to grow, what if…
“Ahem,” came a cough from behind Alek. Callum’s eyes shot open, and Alek quickly turned to see Kent standing outside the ten with a small notepad in his tight grip. He did not look pleased.
“Ah, I was just…” Alek started.
“No,” Kent stopped him literally grabbing him and pulling him out of the tent. Alek flew past him almost hitting the table before Kent bent down next to Callum in the tent. “Callum, at this point it’s fairly obvious that you are infected, and as I can see here you seem to have had the same reaction as the one Dhole in the sick bay.”
“Oh, umm yeah.” Callum seemed at a loss for words, his eyes flicking back and forth between Alek and Kent.
“I need to ask you,” Kent went on without stopping to hear explanations, “In brief time since we last saw you, you must have gone through quite a growth spurt. Did anything happen to you during that time? Did you feel anything in particular?”
“Did I feel…” Callum begin to thing while still somewhat worried about what Kent had witnessed. “Oh!” A wave a realization went across Callum’s face, “yes I began to get really hot, like my whole body became warm and tingly.”
Kent nodded, as if he were expecting this, “Then I think I at least partially understand what’s going on.”
“You do?” Callum said incredulously.
“Well, not everything but certain things make since now.” Kent stood up and made his way to the table. Alek turned and saw that Regil was standing next him, his face was screwed up in a scowl. He looked like he was going to say something before he just flicked Alek in his temple and turned away.
“Oww, rude,” Alek whined.
“Zed, you may want to come out here,” Kent called into the tent, ignoring Alek’s complaints.
“Umm… you go ahead, I’ll listen from in here.” Zed called, his voice wavering slightly.
“Oh, okay.” Kent sat down, and opened his spiral. “Well first things first. Based off of the information that Regil was able to get, the Dhole’s are familiar with this disease, it’s something that has been going on for… decades… centuries? It’s hard to say for certain, the Dhole’s don’t keep the most exact records.”
Alek got up off the ground and walked towards Kent. He opened his mouth, and Kent flashed him and angry look. Alek closed his mouth.
“Anyway,” Kent continued. “I have come to the conclusion that we are dealing with a virus, and this virus has been around for a long time. However, it hasn’t always existed the way it does now. A long time ago those who were infected were… well they didn’t exactly last long. The virus made the Dhole’s lose weight quickly, and considering the fact that most of them don’t have a whole lot of weight on them to begin with… well you can get the idea.” Kent took a breath to let that sink in before continuing, “At some point though, the Dholes… well they stopped dying. They didn’t stop getting sick, but the virus didn’t cause them to lose weight to the point of death. However, occasionally a case would come across where an infected Dhole would not only not lose weight, they would gain weight. It would generally come in waves, the weight gain would be… slow and steady, but it would amp up with a slight fever at times, and during these times the weight would pile on extremely fast.” Kent looked over at Callum when saying that last part.
“There is another small thing. You can be infected more than once, and if someone is infected again and has already gained a fair amount from the previous infection the effect is… magnified. This may be due to some effect the virus has on fat cells in the body; more tests are needed. There have apparently instances of Dhole’s becoming so massive they can’t be moved.” Kent paused at that last statement.
“So… how many of these ‘heat spikes’ am I going to have?” Callum asked slightly alarmed.
“Hard to say, it varies. Some who have the weight gain symptom have no spikes, some have several.” Kent replied. Callum looked slightly disappointed by the lack of a definite answer, but didn’t press any further.
“There is good news however. Aparently this side effect is extremely rare. Like one in a thousand rare. So the fact that both Callum and the Dhole are being affected, means that the likelihood of anyone else being affected in this way is extremely low.”

“That would be great news,” came Zed’s voice from out of the tent as he made his way out, “were it not for the irony.” Zed was looking down at his torso, and while it wasn’t much Zed had his hand pinched around the slightest amount of pudge that was now inhabiting his stomach region. “In this case, it looks like lightning may have struck thrice.”