Man and Beast
Part One
Jack Davis walked along his route as he had done a dozen times before, with his flashlight held tightly in his hands. The moon that hung over the sky shone brightly down on him. He looked inside one of the habitats and made sure everything was secure with a quick glance.
He was a security guard for Florida's largest preserve for alligators and crocodiles. He took a deep breath of the air and wiped his brow of sweat. "He, Sammy, come in."
"Sam here." A voice called back from the other side of the line, "What's up?"
Jack scratched his earlobe, "Where the hell is Mike, he was supposed to meet me right by the gate."
"I don't know." There was a pause, "Last I heard, he was by the western alligator tank. Go check there."
"I'm on it." Jack turned the radio off and began to walk down the lonely and dark road towards the tank. His eyes slowly ran across the terrain. He had been here for ten years, a loyal and dedicated man who went about his work with a passion, no matter how dull.
The sounds of animals in the night were all around him, and most men would be shaking in their boots by now. However, Jack had long ago become accustomed to their various noises.
Jack sighed as he made his way along the perimeter of the tank, "Damn, where are you, Mike?" The wind blew gently against his skin and made sure that he didn't become too comfortable.
It was then that his eye spotted something. He turned his head around and saw a human figure leap over the ledge of the perimeter and vanish behind some bushes.
"What the hell?" Jack shone his flashlight towards the bush only in time to see somebody, dressed in a white lab coat and purple pants run into the darkness. "Mike! Is that you, man?"
Silence was his only answer. Jack slowly walked towards the gate that led down into the tank. He gazed inside for any sign of Mike or that elusive figure. Without meeting any success, he decided a closer investigation was necessary. He pulled the keys from his pocket and used them to open the gate. With only his flashlight for protection he entered the tank.
Jack slowly entered the tank, keeping a close eye on the sleeping gators. His flashlight shone across every inch of the large habitat. He saw something zip deep into the bush and saw what he thought was a hand. "Whose that!" He barked. When no answer came he reached for his stun gun and slowly entered the bush.
"Hello?" He asked as he swept his gun across the tank. "Whose there?" It was then that he spotted it. An eye was staring at him from behind the bush, just one foot beside him. "Jesus Christ."
He spun around and aimed straight for that which stared at him even now. Before he could bring his weapon to bear, a green and reptilian hand stretch out and caught his fist within its grasp.
Unable to speak, Jack merely watched in terror as the face behind the bushes emerged. "My God." He murmured. The reptilian face snarled angrily and opened its jaws slowly. "What are you?" He said feebly.
The monster licked its teeth and stood fully out of the bush. His lab coat and torn pants seemed to contrast with his animalistic nature. "Human."
"Don't kill me." He begged, realizing that he was at this creature's mercy.
"Food." The monster growled. He crushed Jack's hand with ease and shattered every bone that was there. The guard couldn't even manage to scream.
He flipped Jack over and slammed into the ground. The roars from the creature quickly silenced the screams, as the other alligators joined in on the feast.
Peter Parker walked through the terminal, with both his duffle bags in each hand. "They're boarding our flight?" He inquired. The terminal was bustling with people on their way to the plane.
The terminal was literally bustling with activity as people traveled in nearly every direction, often fighting against each other to make sure they made their flights.
"Looks like it." Said Gwen Stacy, walking alongside him, checking their tickets. She looked at Peter and frowned, "Are you alright? You look a little nervous?"
He nodded, "This is my first trip on a plane." He laughed, "I guess I thought I'd be handling this better."
"Well, I'll be there to get you through it." Gwen gently said. She looked at Jill as she walked past the couple, "Hey."
Jill grinned and turned around, "Hi Gwen." She looked at Peter awkwardly and merely continued on ahead.
Peter slowly sighed in response to Jill's dismissive nature. He wondered if he was getting used to it by now. He began to realize how many people from his class were actually going on this trip and couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive.
They finally reached the end of their journey and found themselves at the end of a line that was moving towards the interior of the plane. Peter took a deep breath, "Here we go." He said shakily.
Gwen grabbed his arm, "You'll do fine." She said squeezing his arm calmingly.
"I hope so." Peter responded.
The boarding went on without incident. Peter put both of his bags into a compartment after finding out that he had a window seat, but wondered if that was a good thing or not. He relaxed into his seat.
"Peter, I've got to use the bathroom. You'll be fine?" Gwen said standing beside her vacant seat.
He nodded, "Sure." Peter watched Gwen vanish down the aisle. He looked out the window, at the asphalt and technicians'; making sure everything was ready for take-off.
Clasping both hands together, Peter couldn't help but laugh at his own dread at flying. He had never done it before, and supposed that it happened to everybody. Of course not everybody swung through the city at perilous heights.
His ever-faithful spider-sense flared. He contorted his back and neck and easily dodged a small ball of paper that zipped by and collided with the back of the chair in front of him. Soon there after, Peter could hear somebody cursing at the apparent miss.
"Oh no." Peter remarked at hearing the voice and peered behind his table, only to see Flash Thompson and one his lackeys sitting two rows behind him. He sighed and leaned back into his seat, "That's just great." Even with his newfound powers, Flash still brought a great deal of terror to Peter's life, just not directly anymore.
Gwen soon returned to her seat beside Peter, "Anything happen while I was gone?"
Peter clenched his teeth and felt a great deal of nervousness build up in his chest, "No."
"Okay." Gwen replied, oblivious of the truth.
"How long is this flight?" Peter asked.
"Just a few hours. Why?"
Peter shrugged, "Just curious." He leaned against the mirror as the stewardess began to inform the passengers that they were about to take-off for Florida. "This is going to be a long day."
Meanwhile, back in New York City… "Mrs. Connors, do you have any idea where your husband may be? Asked the tall and imposing FBI agent.
The raven-haired wife nervously held the napkin to her eyes and wiped several of the tears away, "You people told me he died!" She replied angrily.
Several days ago, there had been an explosion in his classroom. At least then, she knew what she was dealing with, but now what the agents told her had completely turned her world upside down.
"No remains were found at his lab, he must have not been there. Did he ever say anything, about trouble at work or with people that might wish to do him harm?" The agent inquired listening to every bit of what the woman had to say. He was inside the Connors' home, standing in her kitchen.
"Nothing." She replied panic-stricken, "I-I mean, he was having trouble with his experiments, but not anything serious."
The agent nodded, "Yes, these experiments. He was conducting research in the regenerative properties of lizards. The school forbade him from further research and according to the wreckage we found at his lab it seems he ignored them." He took a moment to carefully word his next statement, "Is it possible, that Dr. Connors may have destroyed the lab in order to lash out at the school?"
Mrs. Connors' face became bold and outraged, "No! Curt is a gentle man and he would never do such a thing. Now get the hell out of my home."
The plane had successfully landed several hours after leaving New York behind. For the first time in Peter's life he had left the state and the city. It was a slightly exhilarating feeling if he hadn't been sick to his stomach.
"You did great, Pete." Gwen said encouragingly as they picked their bags up and slowly made their way to the airport's exit. "You only puked in the bathroom three times."
"Well, you can stick a fork in me because I'm done." Peter said slowly rubbing his unsettled stomach. "Where are we staying?" They stopped near a newsstand.
Gwen smiled, "Everybody that came pitched in for the money it would take to book us all into a nice hotel. You're going to love it."
"Well, well, well. Its Peter Parker." Flash Thompson confidently approached his old enemy, "With Gwen Stacy." He said smiling, "You need to learn to stop bringing these things home whenever you find one lost on the street."
"Shut up." Gwen snapped back.
Flash's face quickly formed a scowl, "Why? You need to fight his battles for him?"
Peter saw Flash taking a more aggressive stance towards Gwen and intervened facing the jock head-on. "Unless you want to end up like that car, the last time we clashed, I suggest you back off, Thompson. Now."
"One day I'm going to find out how you did that, Parker." Flash coldly responded before fading back into the crowd.
Gwen raised both her eyes and patted Peter on the back, "I'm impressed."
"Don't be." Peter responded, "My knees are shaking." He wondered why for a moment but found no answer. "Come on, let's get to that hotel."
As they left, Gwen spotted Mary Jane Watson moving around the airport. She quietly watched her competition and with a graceful tug pulled Peter out of the airport before the two could run into another.
The Lizard slipped into the lab through the window. He wasn't far from the preserve that now served as his base of operations. The lab was empty but the equipment inside would serve his needs.
The tattered lab coat barely hung over him but seemed to be a reminder of what he once was. Lizard stomped across the lab and pulled a sealed vial full of alligator blood from his pocket that he had obtained from the animals at the preserve.
He walked towards one of the cabinets and ransacked them for what he desired. Lizard eventually found it, another vial full of human blood. "Yesss." He murmured.
Without further delay, he placed both vials down on the table and searched the drawers for an array of chemicals. After several long minutes passed, free of interruption, he placed all his materials on the table.
He grabbed a rather long test tube and began to mix the chemicals into them to form a foul smelling blue formula in the tube. "At lassst." Lizard used a syringe to extract the liquid out of the tube. He gazed at the formula inside and hissed eagerly.
Using the syringe, he injected the formula into the vial full of human blood. Within moments the composition began to change and Lizard could see the difference. He nodded and did the same with the alligator blood. The results were similar and the elation that Lizard felt were obvious.
He couldn't help but wait in the shadows when he heard a scientist approaching. The opportunity he presented was too much for Lizard to ignore.
The scientist opened the door to the lab and entered. Upon seeing the state of the lab and the blue-colored formula in the test tube he could only frown and scratch his head, "What in the hell did this?"
Lizard popped out from the shadows with the syringe, full of his new formula, and advanced on the scientist. The human had only mere moments to react before the creature was on him, and he wasted those precious seconds by screaming.
The Lizard slammed the end of the needle into the man's neck and wasted no time in pumping the formula into the man's bloodstream. Within seconds his compound was flowing through the scientist's body and the change was evident.
Looking proudly at the results of his labor, the Lizard slowly hissed and eagerly rubbed his hands together. "Everything isss almossst ready."