Prelude to Day Zero.

Okay so I'm stalled on Prelude. I'm going to start the next section while I can remember where I wanted it to go.

Pain. Four walls, a floor and ceiling all covered in a flat white foam rubber sealed to the concrete. there is a spigot on the wall that drops a glop of pain killer and food when a hand or face moves past it. Another that drops purified drinking water. after a swallow of plastic tasting food and a bit of water there is the waiting for the seizures. Move away from the spigots so you don't end up dumping more food and water down the drain.
    Something is different this time. The seizures don't come other than a bit of a weak shiver. 
James B. Collins looked at his hands. Splotchy green with a rough skin. Still changing but at least they are now the same size and not malformed from the bones changing. "I'm too old for this crap." he says out loud. The meds kick in and this time the pain actually backs off enough for sleep rather than causing him to pass out.
   With sleep comes drifting dreams of how this all came about. Some things that changed the world were first the "regenerative capacitors" that would recharge overnight. they were expensive and bulky but very reliable pulling free electrons from their surroundings and converting them into usable power. They were made obsolete when super conductors were finally built and the first Aether converters were invented, starting out as something of a novelty they quickly grew as they became more and more useful eventually becoming small enough to power passenger cars without too much power lag. Dead zones where the Aether was too thin to power things were mapped out and towns would pop up in high concentration areas using huge A-converters to supply areas where it did not exist. The A-converters continued to advance even as super conductors were strung next to the old steel and copper power lines. Aether generators were finally constructed but there was some loss between the converters and the generators so  electricity was still run from high concentration areas to power cities where the aether would be used up by day to day activity.
   Another huge discovery went along the lines of genetics. Starting with a way to alter dogs so they no longer came with the genetic defects of over breeding. A side effect of this genetic adjustments was immunity to several forms of cancer as well as an extended life span. A dog could be expected to live nearly as long as it's human family. Intelligence could be boosted as well giving dogs the capacity of a human ten year old and changing the dew claw into a basic thumb. Another made human life more bearable by getting rid of many diseases as well as making birth defects very rare. There was a fad of giving children adjustments in the womb to give them "kitty ears" and such. This practice was brought to a legal halt when a doctor got sloppy and added a sheath to a boy whose father wanted him "Hung like a horse."  Once they were legally blocked the "street doctors" stepped in and there were mistakes galore.
  Another thing that showed up at this time was the "Snuggle Bunny", the "Snuggle Pup", and the "Snuggle Kitty" for children. Basically a pet that grew with the child and was a built in best friend. Soon it was found that "Snuggle" turned into "Slut" or "Hump"as these pets were sold to less savory types and turned into sex toys.
At about this time the transformation became more stable and people could have themselves changed into animals or anthros meaning human rights applied to one set but not the other. Pets rights activists were changing themselves and their children into the "exploited" farm animals and showing up among the farms to protest.



(update 3/19/17)

   The bombs and missiles began. Who struck first and why is still debated but the results are what the survivors have to deal with. In my area someone had weaponized the gene treatment turning it into a "Random Gene Bomb" causing random mutations to any living thing it came in contact with resulting in a 99.9% death rate either directly or indirectly. Another that hit the area was a modified mold that ate into the superconductor that made most modern tech possible.
The first was speculated to remove the local population from the power generators that supplied the big Aether producers so they could take control of the power. The second destroyed the Aether generators as well as the best means to get power to the rest of the world so it is believed that these were not done by the same group or country.
  The aether bombs themselves were a nuclear or for a smaller effect carbonite pumped aether bomb deemed more politically correct because it spread aether radiation rather than hard nuclear radiation. It was also much cheaper to build so every terrorist group was developing one.