CHAPTER THREE: Encounter
"You're nothing! You hear me? Nothing!" a man screamed as he slapped his wife for the third time.
"Daddy, don't hit Mommy! Stop, Dad, stop!" a little boy screamed as he tugged at his father's rugged arm.
Suddenly the arm swung, and the back of the fist struck the boy soundly below his eye. The boy hit the ground and slid for about three feet before hitting a coffee table. The lamp that sat on the table fell and hit the ground one inch from the boy's head. It then shattered.
"Stay out of this, Cletus," the man said.
"For the love of God, stop this now!" the man's wife yelled.
He proceeded to punch her in the throat.
"Don't you tell me what to do, bitch! I'm a grown man, you understand? You better learn to stay in your place, woman. You're nothing, and Cletus will probably be nothing just like you if you keep coddling him. I'm gonna raise him to be a real man," the man said.
"You wouldn't have to hit me if you were a real man!" the woman screamed.
The man proceeded to grab her by the throat and slam the back of her head against the wall. He then drug her up the stairs by her hair, and soon young Cletus could hear a door slamming. After hearing the sounds of a fist making contact with a face, he could hear his mother's screams from upstairs.
"Get off of me! Let go!" the woman screamed.
"Shut the hell up and take it like the whore that you are," the man replied.
Cletus could feel tears forming in his eyes. Running upstairs, he opened the bedroom door and saw his father on top of his mother.
"Leave my mom alone!" screamed Cletus.
"You little piece of shit, you best get out of here if you know what's good for you!" the man yelled back.
Cletus grabbed a nearby chair and broke it over his father's back. After a moment of hesitation, the father grunted, turned, and punched Cletus square in the jaw. Cletus fell back once again.
"Alright, boy, you wanna be a man? Come on, and I'll show you how to be a man. Come on, Cletus, take a swing at your old man," the man challenged.
Cletus rose to his feet, and then rose his arm, but he did not punch.
"Come on, boy, be a man!" the man screamed.
"Fine," replied Cletus.
Cletus's arm then changed to black and red, and a spear shot from it and into his father's heart. And then...
"Mom! Dad! No!" screamed Cletus as he shot up in the bed.
Looking around, Cletus surveyed his surroundings. He was in the bedroom of the Johnson residence, with Michelle Johnson, whom he had raped repeatedly, still tied to the bed beside him. It was four in the morning, and yet she was not asleep. The few times that she did drift off to sleep, it was only for a few minutes, and then she would wake up again to find her husband's killer in the bed beside her. However, when she looked at him now, she did not see the murderer who ruined the lives of her entire family. She now saw pain in his eyes. When he noticed her looking at him, his face instantly reverted to the insanity that she recognized.
"What are you looking at?" Cletus said coldly.
"Nothing," she replied quietly, and turned her head away.
Cletus rose from the bed and walked down to the kitchen. Just outside of the kitchen, little Amber Johnson was still tied to a chair, but she was asleep. She was only eleven years old, and the entire ordeal had her exhausted. Cletus walked past her into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the refrigerator. After downing about a third of the bottle, he stared down at the bottle with disdain. He remembered his parents, and how they solved every problem with liquor. A low growl began to form in his throat, and it elevated into a scream as he angrily hurled the bottle at the far wall. The loud crash of the bottle caused Amber to wake up. She immediately found herself staring into Cletus's hate-filled eyes.
Her instincts told her to lower her eyes, but Cletus grabbed her by the chin and forced her to stare into his eyes.
"Like what you see?" asked Cletus.
Amber did not reply. Instead, she began to cry.
"You don't have anything to cry about, kid. Look at you. Your parents are loaded. You got a nice house, and your mom and dad don't beat you on a daily basis just as a way to pass the time!" Cletus screamed into the little girl's face. "You...you don't know how good you have it...well, now you will know. What, you think I'm wrong for killing your dad? You think I'm wrong for killing your little brother? Bitch, you have no idea..."
Just then, the front door opened slowly, and in walked Mark. His body was covered with dirt and blood, and his eyes were blank, like a zombie.
"Hey, you're back! How'd it go?" asked Cletus.
Mark did not reply.
"No kiddin'!" exclaimed Cletus. "Well, the news comes on in an hour, so I guess that's when I get my status report on your night out."
*******
The next morning, Mr. Parker's homeroom was unusually quiet. Many of the students sat and stared at the floor. Jennifer glanced at the clock on the wall, wondering when her teacher would arrive.
"Jenny, you okay?" asked Jackie.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I'm just wondering if Mr. Parker heard what happened last night. I wonder where he is," said Jennifer.
What she didn't know was that minutes earlier, her teacher, who would normally be wearing a shirt and tie, was instead a few blocks away and wearing red and blue tights. Mr. Parker was not battling traffic on his way to work. No, instead he was battling a big guy in a rhino suit.
The Rhino had been attempting to kill Spider-Man for the last twenty minutes, but he had not landed a single punch.
"Dude, cut it out, you're making me late for work!" said Spider-Man as he dodged a punch and leapt onto a lightpole.
"I'm really gonna do it this time, Spider-Man! I'm really gonna kill you this time!" yelled the Rhino.
"That's what you said last time. And the time before that. And the time before that. And so on and so forth..."
"This time's different, wallcrawler!"
"Oh, please. You and the whole Sucktacular Six couldn't beat me."
Peter fired a webline at another lightpole that was a few feet away. Then, after tugging on it, he swung and planted both feet squarely into Rhino's jaw. The blow stunned the big man, which bought Peter a few seconds. A Volkswagen sat nearby. Peter prepared himself, and lifted the car above his head. Finally he waited for Rhino to turn around.
"Hey Rhino," called Spider-Man.
The Rhino groggily turned around.
"Catch," said Spider-Man as he slammed the car on top of his adversary.
Spider-Man stepped back. If Rhino was going to get back up, he wouldn't know how to put him down again so quickly. The guy with the horn on his head did get back up, with steam blowing from each nostril. Rhino lifted a fist into the air, but then it slowly lowered. His eyes rolled back, and his massive body crashed into the ground at Spider-Man's feet.
It was at that moment that Peter noticed a neon clock that was on the side of a nearby bank.
8:27
Peter leapt into the air, fired a webline, and swung to the school as fast as he could.
"Crap crap crap crap crap" said Peter.
And so, just as Jennifer was wondering where her teacher was, Mr. Parker came through the door.
"Morning, class," Peter said.
Everybody in the class was quiet.
"What's wrong?" asked Peter.
"Mr. Parker, more people got killed last night," said Kyra.
"They were killed the same way that the guys were killed last week," said Sharia.
"Oh...does anybody know where this happened?" asked Peter.
"Um...somebody was killed on my block," a girl in the back said.
"Really? Tell us, Crystal," said Peter.
"My neighbor, Mr. James, was killed. Somebody broke into his house and...his daughter told me that whoever did it had slit his throat and...and..." Crystal lowered her head.
"That's alright, Crystal. Anybody else know anything?" asked Peter.
"Yeah, this girl was killed outside of the Knicks game last night," a boy in the class said.
"A guy who owned a corner store was killed too," another boy said.
After a few more students told their stories, there were a total of eighteen victims.
"Mr. Parker, do you think it could be one of those...you know, those supervillains that Spider-Man is always fighting?" asked Jennifer.
"I'm not entirely sure what to think. What I can say is, the safest thing to do is stay around people you trust. When you're walking home, walk with friends. Be with your family. Don't walk around alone, especially at night. Look out for each other," said Peter.
The bell rang. The students slowly rose and filed out of the room.
"For those of you who have me for Chemistry, I'll see you later. Everyone else, be safe, and anybody come to me if you need to," said Peter.
A few students nodded or said their thanks, and eventually Jennifer was the only one left.
"You okay, Jen?" asked Peter.
"Mr. Parker...my brother is missing," said Jennifer.
"Steve? I thought he was getting his act together," said Peter.
Peter remembered when Jennifer's brother had overdosed and nearly died, but, as Spider-Man, he had gotten Steve to a hospital just in time.
"I don't think it has anything to do with drugs. Not unless Shade came back..." said Jennifer.
Peter remembered Shade well. He was an enforcer for a gang that held its territory in Jennifer's neighborhood. But Shade was gone, after being defeated by Spider-Man in the Astral Plane.
"I don't know what to think, Mr. Parker. Whoever's been killing people this last week, I think that he may have killed Steve..."
"You don't know that, Jenny. Try to keep your head up about this," said Peter.
"I'll try," said Jennifer as she left the room.
Peter watched sadly as his student left the room. It was killing him that even his alter ego couldn't help her. At least, not yet. He started wondering about the man who he had battled with the previous day, and the mysterious red spike that flew from his head after the fight. After school, he would leave and track the signal of his Spider-Tracer. Maybe something would turn up.
*******
The body of a young man lay in an alley.
His body had been there for a little over a day.
Rats gnawed at his corpse.
Worms and roaches crawled over his body.
There was a large wound in his chest. Something that had been carved in.
His name was Steven Hardesty.
He was Jennifer's brother.
And his eyes had just opened...
*******
Peter could feel the vibration of his cell phone as he left the school. He took it from his pocket, looked at the number on the screen, and then answered.
"Home of the whopper, what's your beef?" said Peter.
"Peter?" Aunt May was obviously confused.
"Sorry, Aunt May, I knew it was you. What's up?" asked Peter.
"Oh, I just wanted to know if you were still coming over for dinner tonight," said May.
"Oh, yeah, about that, I may be a little late."
"Why is that?"
"Uh...I gotta...work late..."
"Peter, no. You can't possibly be thinking of doing what I think you're doing."
"I just have to follow a lead, Aunt May."
"Have you been watching the news lately? Or reading the paper? I don't want you to go out and get yourself killed!"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Well, at least call me every ten minutes to let me know you're okay."
"I would, but I tend to keep it turned off when I'm...uh...wearing my other hat."
"Peter, I..."
"Aunt May?"
"Just make sure you get here, young man."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I love you, Peter."
"I love you too, Aunt May."
Peter pocketed the phone. He felt awful for worrying his aunt the way that he did. Even now that she knew his secret, it didn't make things that much easier for him. Pushing that thought aside, Peter walked into an alley, changed his clothes, and began his journey.
It wasn't long before Peter found himself at a suburban home, where Captain Payne was just leaving. The captain got into his car and drove. Spider-Man carefully and stealthily followed the car for a few blocks. Eventually it stopped. Peter knew where they were: the morgue.
The captain walked through the halls, with Spider-Man trailing him. Eventually Captain Payne stepped into a room where there were several people talking. All of the people were standing over a body. Rather than go through the door, which would have been stupid, Spider-Man instead worked his way through a ventilation shaft and listened from above.
"So, we get any I.D. on this clown?" asked Captain Payne.
"His name's Johnathan Johnson," a man in medical scrubs replied.
"And who is he?" asked Payne.
Spider-Man listened for awhile as the people inside spoke about the deceased man's information. He made note of a few things. Most importantly were his wife and children, who nobody had seen for about a week. Eventually, he heard something that was very important: an address. The family's home was in Queens, not far from where Aunt May lived. Spider-Man had to investigate.
"I'm going to organize a search. I'll personally be going to this house to check things out," said Captain Payne.
"It could take quite some time to get a search warrant," another cop said.
"I know, but I have a special interest in this. This guy killed one of my men, and I'm just slightly curious as to what that thing was that flew out of his head," said Payne.
The captain may have planned upon visiting the house, but Spider-Man would get there first.
*******
Michelle lay on the bed alongside her daughter Amber. The mother and daughter were both tied up in the bed, with Cletus pacing back and forth above them. They were both very thin and pale, as Cletus only fed them enough to keep them both alive so he could continue to torture them, but now he grew tired of the game. Night had fallen upon the house. The only light in the bedroom came from the T.V. The previous night's murders were all over the news, and only Cletus knew that it had been Mark who had killed all of those people.
"Alright, I've made my decision," Cletus said at one point.
He pointed a finger at Michelle.
"I'm sick of raping you. It's just not fun anymore," said Cletus.
He then pointed a finger at Amber.
"I'm sick of hearing you cry and whine."
The symbiote covered Cletus's body. His right arm formed into a curved blade.
"Eenie, meenie, miney, moe," he recited while moving the blade back and forth between Amber and Michelle.
"Chop off Venom's pinky toe, if he hollers gut him so, eenie meenie miney..."
The blade stopped on Amber.
"...moe."
"No!" screamed Michelle.
"Yes..."
Just as Carnage rose the blade into the air, he heard a thumping sound downstairs. Running to the top of the stairs, he saw where the noise came from.
******
Ten seconds earlier...
Spider-Man very cautiously opened the first door window and climbed in. His Spider-Sense buzzed the second he stepped in. Before he could react, somebody grabbed him by the shoulders, turned, and through him against the far wall. His body hit the wall with a thump. Reaching up, he hit a light switch and got a good look at his attacker.
"Mark?"
Mark did not reply. Instead, he leapt forward and clamped both hands over Spider-Man's throat. Peter rolled back, pressed both feet into Mark's abdomen, and monkey-flipped him head-first into the wall. Mark's body went into the wall and he hung there. The second he came out of the wall, he turned and kicked Spider-Man hard in the chest. Spider-Man flew back, flipped, and landed on his feet. Before he could continue fighting, something snaked down the nearby stairs. Before he could react to his Spider-Sense, several symbiotic tendrils wrapped around his arms and legs. One in particular wrapped around his throat and squeezed it tight.
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise!" said Carnage.
"Carnage...should have known..." said Spider-Man.
"Hey, Mark, wanna have some real fun? Prove to me that my experiment worked!" said Carnage.
Carnage formed a knife from his symbiote and tossed it to Mark. Mark caught it and advanced upon his prey.
"I want you to gut Spider-Man!" ordered Carnage.
END OF CHAPTER THREE