First prize goes to
Big round of applause everyone, and go fave the story here.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9112730/
Congratulations :)

Full list of prizes and ranking winners: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3984186/

Halloween At DiminuTech Labs
Misora Hunter

Halloween At DiminuTech Labs
As dictated from a pocket cassette recorder in disrepair by: Truth

SPLASH!
The chlorinated water rushed into the void I had created when I leaped into the deep end of the rooftop swimming pool. All around the edge, I saw their eyes. Glowing bright in the dimness of early evening, numerous sets of shining eyes. Rows of gleaming teeth forced into disturbing grins by the absence of flesh and the laughter; that mirthful, joyous, horrifying sound that chilled the very blood in my veins.
Happy little faces, that had once warmed the coldest parts of my heart, now twisted. Misshapen beyond repair, and yet still somehow adorable. Adorable, yet grotesquely gory… agorrable? I accredit this to the large eyes, soft colors, and general compactness of the creatures before me. That had been the goal, after all, to create the most delightfully appealing creatures we could with the DNA provided to us.
I suppose the fact that they are still visually pleasing even after becoming decaying little monsters with a hunger for flesh should be a source of pride. As I treaded water as quietly as I could, praying that they would lose interest and slink off into the twilight, (everyone knows zombies can’t swim, after all), I thought back to how this had begun.
It had been a Tuesday, of course. Nothing good ever comes from a Tuesday. My partners and I had decided to call it good for the day; it was Halloween, after all. Real science took a backseat to because-we-can science… looking back on it now, that was probably where it all went wrong. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Our goal in the branch of genetic manipulation at DiminuTech Labs was to create a new pet. An entirely new pet, something the world had never seen before and would never see without the aid of science. After glowing cats and domesticated foxes, (which I still believe to be one of the most ridiculous endeavors I’ve ever heard of as foxes are not now and will never be social creatures), the higher ups allowed us access to any DNA we asked for and demanded an entire line. They were to be intelligent, loyal, and above all, irresistible to any sentient being who looked upon them. And succeed we did.
After innumerable failed attempts to merge this DNA with that DNA, we finally cobbled together a line of specimens that we were sure would appeal to the masses and the little test-tube hatchlings would fly off of the shelves. From a basic, lithe quadruped mammalian structure, such as found in felines and canines, we “went to town.” Fur and eyes in every color of the spectrum, ears in every shape and size, patterns ranging from stripes and accents to spots. And not just circular spots, but hearts, stars, moons, anything we could manage to code an exact shape for. Once we successfully added in the top-of-head hair tuft found on anthropomorphs, we began to incorporate the tuft in every design that followed; this could also come in any color found in nature.
One we accomplished this, we truly began to challenge ourselves, adding extinct and mythological elements. Wings of griffins, of dragons, we spliced in dinosaur DNA, built the foundation for multiple tails, and several other fantastic elements. Not a single one of these creatures would grow to more than two feet from nose to tail. We programmed the basic pet commands, combined with a curious and playful nature. They never shed and require less food than other creatures of their size. This resulted in a slightly greater need to sleep, but as heart-meltingly charming as they were awake, they were simply darling when sleeping. Listen to me gush; this is science, after all.
The heads of the lab were immensely pleased with our success, and they tested extremely well. Everything was all set for our new line of genetically engineered pets to be the hottest things this Christmas, now it was simply a matter of creating enough to meet the expected demand. And so it came to pass that we were all sitting around that fateful Halloween, coding the DNA and preparing the gestation chambers. No one really wanted to go home, it always seemed like there was more we could be doing. The time to leave the lab came and went, largely unnoticed, and it wasn’t until it was almost midnight when someone finally suggested candy.
An intern fetched some chocolate bars from the vending machines in the cafeteria and as we sat around opening them, a thought occurred; none of us had ever tried irradiated chocolate. Oh, many was the time where we would cook a Cup-O-Noodles with a high-powered laser, (something about the taste that a microwave just can’t compete with), but irradiated chocolate, there was a treat befitting of Halloween. We lined up every kind of chocolate bar we could get our hands on and irradiated them all with the smallest dose of gamma rays possible. It gave the chocolate a very interesting quality, but the aftertaste left much to be desired.
All of us had been allowed to keep one of the original specimens for ourselves, and my own little Mongrel had just awoken from a nap. One of the earlier successes, he had the basic canid body with a white tiger fur pattern, bright blue eyes, and a silver-blue hair tuft. He had climbed into my lap and started looking at me with those gargantuan eyes. I knew one should never feed a dog chocolate, so I turned from him to get some of the food we had engineered specifically for them when I felt a tugging in my hand. Turning back quickly, yet sadly not quickly enough, I watched in amazement as Mongrel tore into the chocolate bar and gobbled it down. He looked at me, tongue lolling out, tail wagging, grinning stupidly with chocolate all over his tiny face. I couldn’t help but smile back, perhaps chocolate didn’t really hurt anything and that was just a myth.
But then, everything went wrong. So horribly, indescribably wrong; however, I shall try. The smile faded, then vanished completely. He doubled over in pain, his eyes laced with panic, confusion, and most of all, fear. I fell to my knees beside him, helpless to do anything but gaze in horror as his eyes went pale, he fell onto his side, and ceased to move. The pain, I was heartbroken. One moment of negligence, and my little Mongrel would never smile at me again. As the tears began to form in my eyes, I gazed at his lifeless form. The other specimens gathered solemnly around him, as if they knew what had happened. This brought the matter to the attention of my fellow scientists and we all watched, speechless, not really sure what to do. A failed experiment was one thing; this was something else entirely.
Mongrel was mine, and disposing of his body was my responsibility. As I bent forward to pick him up, I thought I saw movement. Thinking it just the wanton delusion of an aching heart, I ignored it. A specimen by the name of Kal Woofie leaned forward and forlornly licked Mongrel’s still face… and for his efforts, got his lower jaw bitten off in a sudden burst of movement!
Stunned, shocked, words fail to express the panic and terror that occurred in that room. The specimens that were bitten by Mongrel quickly turned into flesh-devouring monstrosities themselves. They fell upon each other, and then turned on us. In that first moment, we almost didn’t run. Even with faces half-missing, bones poking out, and organs flopping on the ground, they were still breathtakingly cute. Fortunately, most of us came to our senses and ran for it. Those that didn’t… I certainly hope they stayed dead and didn’t join our creations in the realm of the undead.
I fear I may not live much longer and thus felt the need to record how this all started, we never meant for this to happen. Perhaps one day, this record will be found by someone who can understand our research and might be able to develop a cure. If not, I suppose it is a fitting end for the world. Not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with the howling, mirthful peals of precious little monsters.
Whomsoever finds this record, if you learn one thing, let it be this: Never feed your genetic experiments irradiated chocolate.