In the weeks immediately following the breakout, nothing of significant note occurred aside from the occasional news story about the creatures being suppressed and any bodies confiscated and incinerated. Hasbio breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared the lost biotoys would turn up in due time.
SIX MONTHS LATER
It started slowly at first, a video on Triktok showing a roadkill biotoy in rural Pennsylvania as it slowly succumbed to its wounds, begging the 'nice hoomin behind the camera for help before ultimately expiring. Then, a gaggle of girl scouts in Pittsburg get harrassed by nearly 200 of the strange creatures and abandon their wagon full of cookies in their haste.
The scenarios became more and more frequent, happening anywhere from northern Connecticut to lower North Carolina and as far west as the middle of Kentucky. Hasbio ran itself ragged trying to run interference on so many sightings/ recordings and filed for bankruptcy 2 weeks before the start of summer, receiving the first summons to testify about the origin of these creatures.
The summer of that year was bad, it was really really bad. The worst heat wave to strike the US since 1936, combined with the least amount of rainfall since the dust bowl meant that soon, water reserves began to drop all along the united states. Projected to last 8 months, the reserves were drained in just 2 leaving scientists scratching their heads as to why.
The great swam was the answer, 37 billion fluffies amassed on the upper corner of Tennessee. Coming down from the dying brown Appalacian mountains they’d called home, the fluffies spread out once again in record numbers.
Decimating the already low yield that year, the states took individual action to protect their interests. From mass burnings, crushings, poisonings, to city-wide kill orders. Nothing could be done to put the genie back in the bottle now that the fluffies had overrun every major metropolitan area.
Soon after, the first whisperings of skettiland would begin to wind through the collective consciousness of the various megaherds. The journey had begun.
