<strong>Eric, Jack and Sandy</strong><br/><br/>Rachel screamed as she clambered back into the SUV. The crab swung an enormous claw, catching the open door and ripping it free with little effort.<br/><br/>Jack reached for the nearest weapon, a "No Parking" sign, and ripped it out of the ground. It felt to him like pulling a weed, and he wielded the metal post club style, a block of sundered cement hanging from the bottom of it. Jack did a short run then jump, hoping to leap over the crab. However, despite his newfound strength, he discovered he didn't have the power to pull it off and landed right in front of the crab.<br/><br/>He swung the sign at the monster's nearest legs, sweeping them out from under it. The body of the crab crashed to the sidewalk with a thud that cracked the cement.<br/><br/>In reaction, the crab swung out its nearest claw, striking Jack heavily directly in his chest. He flew back through the air a good twenty feet, hitting the street hard on his back. It hurt, a lot, but he didn't feel injured.<br/><br/>Inside the SUV, Eric was handing off Scrap and moving out of the vehicle, going to a metal light pole. As soon as he was out, Virginia floored it, driving the car away from the crab. She stopped halfway up the block, looking out the window to see how the battle turned out.<br/><br/>Eric sunk his fingers into the pole. The metal was much more resistant than the rubber tire had been, but his fingers dug into it like it were tough clay. Eric pulled, wrenched two long strips from the pole, leaving a gaping hole. With a few quick motions of his hands, he reshaped the two strips into short, metal spears.<br/><br/>Sandy had reached under the car she previously had been lifting, and she hoisted it again. With a grunt, she swung it around and slammed it toward the crab. The hood of the car smashed into the upper carapace of the shell with a resounding crack. Underneath the wreckage the crab's legs spasmed a few times, then lay still, the thing killed.<br/><br/>Virginia and Rachel got out of the SUV and ran back to the scene of wreckage.<br/><br/>Rachel looked at Eric holding his newly fashioned spikes, the girl's expression surprised. "I guess that blue light we saw got you after all," she said.<br/><br/>"Looks like it got most of us," Virginia added.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Alana</strong><br/><br/>Rene is looking more horrified by the moment as she watches Alana. "How can we have the same hallucination?" she asked sharply. "And I didn't even touch the light!"<br/><br/>Alana felt motion underneath her clothes, and looked down to see bulges rising and falling down her chest and legs. It looked like there were squirrels running underneath her clothes, but she knew it was her skin.<br/><br/>Before anything could be said about that, Alana's entire body collapsed to the floor in a fleshy puddle, her clothes fluttering down on top.<br/><br/>Rene screamed in horror, nearly falling over herself as she turned and stumbled over a chair in her desperation to get out of the emergency room. She slammed through the double doors out into the hall, screaming.<br/><br/>Alana also was surprised, to find her point of view coming from the perspective of the floor. She felt strangely liquid. The next instant she was back on her feet, fully herself, though naked now, standing on her clothes.<br/><br/>She stood in cold amazement for a moment, processing what just happened. It was impossible, but it happened. She realized she had returned to her natural shape because she had wanted to. And if she wanted to, she could change into any shape she willed.