The Unknown

It was January 15th 1942.  World War II was in full swing with the American Army entering the war after what happened at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.  Twenty year old Elizabeth Becket stood in line to enlist in the U.S. Army.  Growing up within the city limits of the city of Chicago, Elizabeth knew what life could be like being poor.  Her parents were both high school drop-outs.  Her mom got pregnant with her at the age of 15.  Her father, who was 16 at the time, had to get a job so he could support his new found family.  Growing up Elizabeth was taught that she had a choice in life and her parents pushed her to excel in school so she could make something of herself in life.  So she had the choice to move up in her social class because America thriven on 'nobodies' making themselves 'someone'.  This was the reason why she had such a dedication to her Country, the USA.  She wanted to join the military to support her country, knowing full well that she would most likely get a job that required her to be secretary or as a Nurse assistant or some other menial job.  But she didn’t care; all she wanted to do was to support her Country’s effort in remaining a Sovereign Nation from the Nazi’s and Japanese.

Standing at a mere 5’ 1” Elizabeth didn’t have the height to intimidate someone physically.  Her small frame only accented this perception.  Yet her tenacious attitude and ability to figure out complicated information with ease more than made up for her height, her intense brown eyes only accented her tenacity.  Brown hair, cut in layers that hung down to her shoulders, helped her to keep her eyes free of hair and to focus on her studies.  Completing two years into college, Elizabeth thought college could wait because her Country needed her.

After two hours of waiting in line Elizabeth finally made it up to the recruiter.  The recruiter asked Elizabeth several questions about why she would want to enlist.  She answered as truthfully as she could without compromising her ability to qualify to enlist.  In the end the recruiter was happy and set her up for a physical, testing, and a mental evaluation.  

In the next several weeks Elizabeth went through many vigorous tests to make sure she could be a productive member of the military.  Passing every test Elizabeth was given the green light to go to basic training.  Two months later she was processed and was sent to basic training.  

During basic training she was exposed to a rigorous regiment of being a soldier.  When she graduated, spring was in full swing, Elizabeth was proud of her accomplishments so far.  

With basic training out of the way the only thing left was to be processed out and into whatever job they assigned her.  Waiting several days, to go along with mounds of paperwork, she finally got her orders.  Excited to see what training she was going to get she opened up the letter as she walked out of the human resources building.   Reading it, the letter said:

To Private First Class Elizabeth Becket (PFC),
It has come to our attention that your physical scores, as well as your intelligence level, have been top notch.  You are to report to Fort Knox for your Armor and Calvary Support Training by May 20th of the year 1942. You are a part of the select few who will take part in this program.   You are the top of the top in the U.S. Army and we are sure you will make your Country Proud.  

Sincerely,
Colonel Frank R. Walker  

Elizabeth was shocked, that gave her only nine days to get from her basic training center in Georgia to Fort Knox, Kentucky.  The nine days wasn’t what shocked Elizabeth but how soon she would go to training and that it would be combat related training.  Women never got those assignments in the military.  Smiling, Elizabeth could only run to her bunk and get started in backing up; an hour later Elizabeth was packed and ready to go.  Walking out of the dormitory Elizabeth looked back for a second, thinking of the experiences in basic training she had.  Shaking her head, Elizabeth just shook the memories off and went on towards her future, excited that she could be more useful on the battle field against the Japanese or the Nazi’s.  

A taxi stopped in front of the main entrance to Fort Knox, it was the day of her required check in and Elizabeth open the door and stepped out of the cab.  Standing to full height Elizabeth breathed deeply, with a smile, knowing that she was doing exactly what she wanted to do.  

“Ma’am here is your luggage,” stated the taxi driver.

“Huh?” responded Elizabeth, questionably.  Not realizing she was actually starting at the base.  

“Your bag ma’am, I just got it out of the trunk for you,” said the driver.

“Oh, right,’ said Elizabeth, shaking herself out of her trance.  ‘Thanks for the lift and keep the change.”  As she handed the overweight man 2 twenties for the cab ride.  

With a smile the man responded, “Thank you, ma’am.”  With that he got back into the cab and drove off.

Hesitating for a moment, Elizabeth found the courage to gather her things and walk towards the entrance.  Several moments later she was on base and walking into the Administration building to check in.  With no actual secretary in the lobby Elizabeth started to wonder so she could find the right room to check in at.  

“Private.  Private!  What are you doing here?”  Came a voice from behind her.

Turning around Elizabeth saw a man coming towards her.  She noticed that it was a Commissioned Officer, with the rank of Captain.  He looked to stand about 6’ tall, dark brown hair, dark eyes and naturally athletic.   Automatically going to Attention Elizabeth responded, “Sir, I’m here for duty Sir.”

Stopping just short of her the Captain stated, “Show me your orders Private.”

“Yes Sir,” as she immediately dove into her pack.  A moment later she pulled out her orders and handed it to the Captain.  

Thumbing through it the Captain gave a few ‘uh-huhs’ before he looked back up at Elizabeth.  “I see you are a part of the new pilot program.  You are among a select few who are a part of this.  Consider yourself lucky.  Now follow me.”

The Captain walked off while Elizabeth, picking up her stuff, tried to catch up.  They both walked out of the building and passed several more single level beige buildings before she was led into another beige, single level building.  They walked through a whitewashed hallway, then through the fifth door on their right and into a room that wasn’t much bigger than a 20’x20’; filled with metal chairs and a chalkboard at the front of the room.  Elizabeth looked around the room, only to find 3 other women in the room, who looked to be about her age and rank, and another Commissioned Officer, whose rank Elizabeth didn’t see.  

“Sir, here is your last recruit,’ said the Captain.  ‘I found her in the HR Building.”

The other Commissioned Officer, a man who looked to be no bigger than 5’ 6” whose hair had started to grey walked up to the Captain.  That’s when Elizabeth notices his rank, he was a Colonel.  

Thank you Captain,’ he said as he took my orders into his hand from the Captain’s hand.  ‘That will be all.”

The Captain Saluted the Colonel, he saluted back and the Captain turned and left the room.

“Well you are Private Becket,’ said the Colonel.  ‘I expected someone taller by how your drill sergeants talked how good you are.  Take a seat Private.  You are just in time for your orientation.”

Without hesitation Elizabeth did as she was told, sitting two rows behind the nearest girl.  

“I am Colonel Frank R. Walker and I want to welcome you here.  Now girls, you all have been chosen to be a part an experimental program that will support the Calvary and Armor units on the battlefields.  You four will be a part of the first four ever to be a part of this program.  I must tell you that there will be some physical changes that you must endure to be a part of this program.  If all of you will agree to that we will get started immediately.”

Being excited, all four women agreed to the program without knowing the details.

“That’s great,’ said the Colonel.  ‘I now ask you four to take these pills that I give you so we can get you started in you training.”  

Colonel Walker gave the girls 6 pills each into 1 oz. cups and handed it out to the girls.  “If anyone needs water there is a water fountain in back.”

All four women walked back to the water fountain and took the pills, then swallowed them.  At first all of the women thought it was just some type of multivitamin because they all felt fine.  

Elizabeth was the first to feel something wrong.  She felt her stomach wretch with a pain that was similar to the flu.  Bending forward as if she was about to throw up, Elizabeth grabs her stomach in pain.  

Instead of her throwing up, Elizabeth feels a pulling sensation in her behind.  Looking backwards at her butt.  Wide-eyed in fear and curiosity, Elizabeth saw that her pants were starting to strain against the growing flesh of her hips and behind.  Panicked, she tried to move forward, as if she was trying to get away from the changes, only to find that it is beginning to become harder to walk.  Hearing a ripping sound Elizabeth looks backwards and down to see what was happening.  What she saw took her breath away, her hips were tearing through her pants; furthermore she realized that the ground was seemingly farther away from her.  She gasped in awe.

Feeling tightness in her feet, Elizabeth looks down only sees her feet breaking through her shoes, they wear covered in a black substance.  Looking like her feet were joining together. That is when she recognized that her feet and toes were actually melding together and changing into what looked like hooves.  The surrealness of what was happening shocked Elizabeth.  Her legs become itchier and itchier as coarse brown hair started to grow on what was left of her 'human' legs.   The world around her continued to become smaller and smaller.  Looking down in a shocking matter, Elizabeth fully accepted that a light brownish colored hair had taken over her legs and her behind; which continued to grow outwards and away from her from her upper human half.  The weight of the growing appendage started to throw her balance off.  Yet, as Elizabeth felt herself start to fall backwards she felt two more appendages quickly grow from the farthest back position of her grown body.  The chairs around her were being pushed aside by the size of Elizabeth’s new body.  Before fell backwards, the two new appendages turned into horse legs and hooves grew out of the new legs; they hit the ground before she lost all of her balance and she regained her balance.  The ground around her continued to become smaller several more seconds before it stopped completely.

Looking around in shock, Elizabeth noticed that the other three girls’ upper bodies were attached to horses.  Where their hips should have been was actually the front shoulders of a horse.  They had the bottom half of a horse.  Blinking several times, as if she didn’t believe what she saw, Elizabeth looked backwards and saw that she too was attached to the lower half of a horse.  

Looking back at the Colonel, she stated, “What just happened to us?  I thought we were going to be trained in Calvary and Armor support.”